Trump is a cheating, lying, crook. But if he really will attack the sacred cow of the defense budget, that is a silver lining to his cloud.
The US defense secretary, Pete Hegseth has ordered senior leaders at the Pentagon and throughout the US military to develop plans for cutting 8% from the defense budget in each of the next five years, according to a memo obtained by the Washington Post.
Mostly right now, It could be that almost no one has any idea what to do.
We haven’t seen this in about forever, since 1860 at the start of the Civil War.
What Trump and the fascist GOP are doing are deliberately wrecking the central government.
This is creating a power and needs vacuum
That pushes all the power and responsibilities down to the 50 states. Which already had a lot of autonomy under the US constitution.
They will have to deal with such government functions as air traffic control, bird flu, CDC levels of disease prevention, education, food safety, fraud prevention, various financial rules and regulations, what is left of the social safety net and so on.
At some point, it is going to occur to the Blue states that if the Federal government isn’t doing anything except selling out the USA to its enemies while invading Canada, that…we don’t need or want them any more.
The USA could just end up collapsing into fragments.
Look at the USA today. What reason does the USA have to even exist?
It’s at war with its own government and at least half its people already.
Every once in a while some Texas politician threatens to secede.
We should have just jumped at the opportunity.
OK, Bye. Don’t forget to take Oklahoma, Arkansas, and Louisiana with you.
We would be better off today without them.
kitcarmsays
Opposition is occurring, it’s just being drowned out in the media because of Trumps antics. That and it’s still very early, organized opposition doesn’t happen overnight. Plus we’re ignoring that opposition is quietly rising but once again, going under the radar. Public outcry also doesn’t automatically translate into action or vice versa. The fact that Democratic candidates have so far swept most local special elections since November also indicate a quiet growth of protest (one that Dems should tap into asap). Perhaps people realize that voting has more weight to it compared to protesting on a street or complaining on social media. Moves are being made but being so neglected by the media that even staunch liberals seem to be ignorant of it and think nobody is doing anything.
Deepak Shettysays
The question is still what should be done ?The media are like headless chickens (as are we) -- every days outrage is replaced with a new one. Its also a collective action problem -- one principled person opposing or quitting doesn’t do much -- a significant number of people have to take action and have to be willing to suffer consequences -- The people in power are a petty vindictive bunch after all -- and take actions that cause innocent people to suffer (like a strike) -- and even that may not work given that a good number of people are on board with Trump and his policies -- he said he would do it , they voted for him , he is doing it (Russia, Israel ,gutting of agencies, deregulation, tax breaks, mass deportation , harassment of immigrants, conflicts of interests, lack of ethics -- all told before hand and all approved by a majority of the voting public)
The Democrats , even though they are perpetually incompetent , cant really do anything without a majority in one chamber (atleast) -- so it would have to be the people.
So what next ? Peaceful strikes ? Federal agency workers refuse to work , and whatever breaks breaks ? Trump tower employees refuse to show up for work ? Tesla workers/ Space X/Twitter unite and quit en masse ? All men/women practice social distancing from anyone remotely associated with the Republican party or their billionaire supporters ?
Or violence ?
Its easy to say no one is doing anything or not doing the right thing. Perhaps Tom the dancing bug should also have a cartoonist somewhere bravely opposing the current regime by their craft -- is that the thing that will break the regime?
What the situation needs right now -- is an Inspirational figurehead who could perhaps inspire acts of targetted civil disobedience (like do not allow a single Musk business to operate ) -- and be willing to get jailed for it -- There is no equivalent of such a leader in the US.
Trump is a cheating, lying, crook. But if he really will attack the sacred cow of the defense budget, that is a silver lining to his cloud.
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/live/2025/feb/19/trump-musk-ukraine-executive-orders-doge-politics-latest-updates
Mostly right now, It could be that almost no one has any idea what to do.
We haven’t seen this in about forever, since 1860 at the start of the Civil War.
What Trump and the fascist GOP are doing are deliberately wrecking the central government.
This is creating a power and needs vacuum
That pushes all the power and responsibilities down to the 50 states. Which already had a lot of autonomy under the US constitution.
They will have to deal with such government functions as air traffic control, bird flu, CDC levels of disease prevention, education, food safety, fraud prevention, various financial rules and regulations, what is left of the social safety net and so on.
At some point, it is going to occur to the Blue states that if the Federal government isn’t doing anything except selling out the USA to its enemies while invading Canada, that…we don’t need or want them any more.
The USA could just end up collapsing into fragments.
Look at the USA today.
What reason does the USA have to even exist?
It’s at war with its own government and at least half its people already.
Every once in a while some Texas politician threatens to secede.
We should have just jumped at the opportunity.
OK, Bye. Don’t forget to take Oklahoma, Arkansas, and Louisiana with you.
We would be better off today without them.
Opposition is occurring, it’s just being drowned out in the media because of Trumps antics. That and it’s still very early, organized opposition doesn’t happen overnight. Plus we’re ignoring that opposition is quietly rising but once again, going under the radar. Public outcry also doesn’t automatically translate into action or vice versa. The fact that Democratic candidates have so far swept most local special elections since November also indicate a quiet growth of protest (one that Dems should tap into asap). Perhaps people realize that voting has more weight to it compared to protesting on a street or complaining on social media. Moves are being made but being so neglected by the media that even staunch liberals seem to be ignorant of it and think nobody is doing anything.
The question is still what should be done ?The media are like headless chickens (as are we) -- every days outrage is replaced with a new one. Its also a collective action problem -- one principled person opposing or quitting doesn’t do much -- a significant number of people have to take action and have to be willing to suffer consequences -- The people in power are a petty vindictive bunch after all -- and take actions that cause innocent people to suffer (like a strike) -- and even that may not work given that a good number of people are on board with Trump and his policies -- he said he would do it , they voted for him , he is doing it (Russia, Israel ,gutting of agencies, deregulation, tax breaks, mass deportation , harassment of immigrants, conflicts of interests, lack of ethics -- all told before hand and all approved by a majority of the voting public)
The Democrats , even though they are perpetually incompetent , cant really do anything without a majority in one chamber (atleast) -- so it would have to be the people.
So what next ? Peaceful strikes ? Federal agency workers refuse to work , and whatever breaks breaks ? Trump tower employees refuse to show up for work ? Tesla workers/ Space X/Twitter unite and quit en masse ? All men/women practice social distancing from anyone remotely associated with the Republican party or their billionaire supporters ?
Or violence ?
Its easy to say no one is doing anything or not doing the right thing. Perhaps Tom the dancing bug should also have a cartoonist somewhere bravely opposing the current regime by their craft -- is that the thing that will break the regime?
What the situation needs right now -- is an Inspirational figurehead who could perhaps inspire acts of targetted civil disobedience (like do not allow a single Musk business to operate ) -- and be willing to get jailed for it -- There is no equivalent of such a leader in the US.