Holy Crap - The Revolution is about to start

[Elixir]

1) "existential threat" Do you actually know what that means, or does it just sound like a good rallying cry to you? An existential threat is literally a threat to our entire existence.

BULLSHIT

Stop with the gaslighting.
An “existential threat to American democracy” is NOT the same as a literal threat to our entire existence (unless you’re someone like Gen Kelly whom Trump has threatened to execute). It means that democracy will cease to exist in America, Capische?
Just stop, Emily. Your RW apologetics are wearing terribly thin and making you look rather less than honest.

 

[Emily Lake]

Please note that neither of these readings implies that I think there was any fraud at all - I don't. The point is that people read into it what they want it to say. Those who oppose Trump will read it the first way - as him trying to justify tossing the constitution out the window. Those who support him will read it the second way - as him warning of the threat to the constitution from democrats.

My point is that, no matter how it's interpreted, both interpretations are nonsense—and there is no evidence that Trump doesn't buy into it.

And my point is that they're nonsense without having to exaggerate them into something insane.

 

[Emily Lake]

Their statements aren't a call to arms. They are a call to the polls. The risk is real.

You think so, do you?

This has been framed as an "existential threat" to the nation, by someone who intends to become a dictator acting within a fascist state.

What do you think is going to happen if Trump wins the election? Are you going to sit idly by and say "Oh, well, it was a fair election, the people have spoken"?

 

[Emily Lake]

This is a frightening hybrid of Moore-Coulter and Gaslighting.

Perfectly described.
Emily knows what she’s s doing. I try not to ascribe to malice that which cluelessness is sufficient to explain. But absent any ability to tell us the difference between the TRUTH and the statement “Trump is an existential threat to democracy”, and her resorting to accusations of hyperbole, malice rises to the top of possible explanations.

Oh baloney - you ascribe malice constantly.

 

[Elixir]

Oh baloney - you ascribe malice constantly.

Brilliant ad him Emily. Par for your course. Provide an example.

I don’t gaslight, representing “existential threat to democracy” as a death threat.
I leave that shit to RW apologists.

 

[Emily Lake]

1) "existential threat" Do you actually know what that means, or does it just sound like a good rallying cry to you? An existential threat is literally a threat to our entire existence.

BULLSHIT

Stop with the gaslighting.
An “existential threat to American democracy” is NOT the same as a literal threat to our entire existence (unless you’re someone like Gen Kelly whom Trump has threatened to execute). It means that democracy will cease to exist in America, Capische?
Just stop, Emily. Your RW apologetics are wearing terribly thin and making you look rather less than honest.

Dude, seriously, that is LITERALLY WHAT AN EXISTENTIAL THREAT IS!!!!!!

It's not gaslighting to accurately identify what the phrase means.

And I stand by my question to you, since you've reiterated that you absolutely 100% believe it to be true: What will you do if Trump wins?

 

[Emily Lake]

Oh baloney - you ascribe malice constantly.

Provide an example.

Every other goddamned post you make about me.

 

[Elixir]

Dude, seriously, that is LITERALLY WHAT AN EXISTENTIAL THREAT IS!!!!!!

Is English your first language?
When someone says (truthfully) that Trump is an “existential threat to democracy”, it doesn’t mean “OMFG HE IS GONNA KILL ME!!”
It means Trump poses a threat to the existence of democracy. Can you wrap your brain around that?

Would you be more comfortable if someone said “trump intends to bring an end to American democracy”? Is “existential” too big a word to apply to a democracy? Even though it has existence? Literally?

 

[Gospel]

If the left has to trump up Trump's badness so egregiously, it makes it seem like it's crying wolf. He's already bad enough that nobody should have to exaggerate it.

I think the Democrat voters concerns are largely driven by a genuine fear of repeating Germany’s historical mistake of not confronting authoritarian threats early on, rather than simply aiming to smear Trump. And it’s not as though Trump hasn’t given them reasons for alarm. For example the Russia investigation, which he labeled a 'witch hunt,' was triggered by suspicious behavior on his part. As I’ve mentioned before, when he had a meeting with Putin that typically requires security detail and official records but chose to meet privately without oversight, I expected people to be suspicious. . While the investigation didn’t conclude that Trump colluded with Russia, it did uncover actions that landed figures like Paul Manafort, Michael Flynn, and Roger Stone in serious trouble. I personally don’t see alarmist rhetoric as problematic, so long as it doesn’t dehumanize a group of people and remains focused on the parties actually involved.


Democrats criticize Trump specifically = Good
Trump labels all Democrats as bad = Bad

Republicans criticize Kamala specifically = Good
Kamala labeling all Republicans as bad = Bad (though I haven’t seen this)

It's different.

 

[Elixir]

Oh baloney - you ascribe malice constantly.

Provide an example.

Every other goddamned post you make about me.

Hey, if the shoe fits … methinks she doth protest too much. What motive have you ascribed to the rampant hyperbole you allege?
I’ll definitely own the fact that I have zero confidence that you are not a bad actor, based on the fact that you misrepresent things that you are demonstrably cogent enough to avoid misrepresenting. Like the meaning of “existential threat to democracy”.
IMHO that is much worse than say, Swiz’ cavalier rejection of all reason. I can almost respect that, wearying as this election cycle has been.

 

[Jimmy Higgins]

This has been framed as an "existential threat" to the nation, by someone who intends to become a dictator acting within a fascist state.

What do you think is going to happen if Trump wins the election?

For me? Depression. Coming to the realization that "They are eating the pets" is enough to engage enough voters to swing an election to him.

I just hope, if he does pull it off, that it is known on election night. Then hope I can sleep. I couldn't sleep Election Night in 2016 and just went to work 3 AM. It was quite depressing to have been so wrong about America.

Are you going to sit idly by and say "Oh, well, it was a fair election, the people have spoken"?

What other option do I have. I'm not a narcissist. It really would suck that people would in large enough numbers support the man who tried to overthrow the results of the last one. But in 2024, there will be no hope in the world the results would right itself, so pretty stuck with hoping there is enough inertia in the Bureaucracy to hold Project 2025 back.

 

[Elixir]

What other option do I have.

Act like a Republican start shooting stuff up, attack the Capitol, fight like hell, fight fight fight - just like Democrats did in 2016.
Of course that was back when fewer of us realized that TRUMP IS AN EXISTENTIAL THREAT TO AMERICAN DEMOCRACY.
But personally I have no other plans than I had in 2016, other than to go full cash before he crashes the stock market again.

 

[Jimmy Higgins]

1) "existential threat" Do you actually know what that means, or does it just sound like a good rallying cry to you? An existential threat is literally a threat to our entire existence.

BULLSHIT

Stop with the gaslighting.
An “existential threat to American democracy” is NOT the same as a literal threat to our entire existence (unless you’re someone like Gen Kelly whom Trump has threatened to execute). It means that democracy will cease to exist in America, Capische?
Just stop, Emily. Your RW apologetics are wearing terribly thin and making you look rather less than honest.

Dude, seriously, that is LITERALLY WHAT AN EXISTENTIAL THREAT IS!!!!!!

You seem to be upset that Elixir isn't being triggered by a phrase that you swear is really a call to a game of solitaire. Maybe that should be a sign to you that you are misinterpreting what the DNC means, instead of trying to pull the 'real truth' out of Elixir.

And I stand by my question to you, since you've reiterated that you absolutely 100% believe it to be true: What will you do if Trump wins?

You seem to be saying Elixir is lying. Also, if memory serves, Elixir is older than Biden, which is so old Elixir has a negative Social Security number! I'm not expecting him to have plans other than to listen to Paul Harvey and whine about the children on his lawn.

 

[Elixir]

Elixir is older than Biden

Wwwhaat?
Born in 1950, myself. Isn’t Sleepy Joe like, 110 or something?

 

[Jimmy Higgins]

Elixir is older than Biden

Wwwhaat?
Born in 1950, myself. Isn’t Sleepy Joe like, 110 or something?

Hmm... I could have sworn you were older. Biden dates back the the ice age... several ice ages ago.

 

[Loren Pechtel]

What you seem to miss is that bullshit from Trump outweighs and out stinks the bullshit from the left both in quantity and quality. You sound like McConnell and Johnson whining about Harris calling Trump a fascist while keeping silent about Trump's pumping up of the violent right.

I don't miss that fact, LD. I simply don't see any rational need to take out of context and/or hyperbolize Trump's statements and actions to try to make them seem even worse. They're already bad.

The thing is the MAGA crowd tends to speak in dog whistles. Thus people have become sensitive to the dog whistles. This might be a case of seeing a dog whistle in the ramblings of a moron--or it might really be a dog whistle.

 

[Loren Pechtel]

The problem with your problem is that denying or ignoring the facts that Trump is an existential threat to democracy and has declared he'll be a dictator on day one, and that Republicans are trying to set up a fascist nation, doesn’t help us avoid the fact that Trump US an existential threat to democracy or keep Republicans from setting up a fascist nation (see Project 2025) or letting Trump be a dictator on day one…
The BIG difference that Emily wants to sweep under the rug, is that those accusations are spot-on and Trump’s counter accusations of all those same about things are lies.
It’s all more of the same “No puppet no puppet YOU’RE the puppet!!
And yes, he’s still Pootey’s puppet.

So let's walk through your post.

1) "existential threat" Do you actually know what that means, or does it just sound like a good rallying cry to you? An existential threat is literally a threat to our entire existence. It's the possibility of a massive asteroid strike causing an extinction event that takes humans out of the running completely. If you truly and genuinely believe that Trump being elected is going to cause the entire US to cease existing completely... then is there a limit to what you would do to prevent that? What is out of bounds if you actually believe Trump is going to make the US no longer be a nation?

Or is this just a fancy-sounding phrase that you've heard repeated over and over by "your side" so you parrot it without thought?

I don't think he would have a problem with selling the US out to Putin or Xi. Or there's the possibility of him pushing the button.

Note, also, that civilization is far more fragile than it looks. If the grid goes down hard enough it's not coming back up. We aren't an agrarian society anymore, if the grid goes down few people will be able to get food. A lot of people won't even be able to get water. I can easily picture mismanagement doing this.

2) "dictator on day one" is another bit of intentional propaganda that you're repeating.

His literal words are propaganda??

“Under no circumstances, you are promising America tonight, you would never abuse power as retribution against anybody?” Hannity asked Trump in the interview taped in Davenport, Iowa on Tuesday.

“Except for day one,” Trump responded. Trump said on the “day one” he referred to, he would use his presidential powers to close the southern border with Mexico and expand oil drilling.

Trump then repeated his assertion. “I love this guy,” he said of the Fox News host. “He says, ‘You’re not going to be a dictator, are you?’ I said: ‘No, no, no, other than day one. We’re closing the border and we’re drilling, drilling, drilling. After that, I’m not a dictator.’”

Left leaning media latched on to this and reframed it and fed it to you with a cherry on top. So now you dutifully repeat it, saying that Trump vows" to be a dictator "on day one".

Dictators don't simply stop being dictators.

3) Republicans are trying to set up a "fascist nation". Again, same as with "existential threat", and also calling anybody and everybody a nazi. It's hyperbolic rhetoric that you've been fed, and that you repeat over and over.

It is my opinion that you're thoughtlessly regurgitating the talking points you've been handed, because in some way they resonate with your own views.

And here's my question: If you actually, genuinely, completely believe that Trump being elected is an actual literal existential threat that will result in the US no longer being a country, that Trump will actually literally be a dictator, and that Republicans are actually literally going to set up an actual literal fascist nation... What are you prepared to do about it?

If you actually believe the things you say, and you're not just being a mouthpiece passing along catchy phrases... are you going to sit idly by if Trump wins the election?

You can see something heading for catastrophe but be powerless to do anything about it.

 

[Emily Lake]

Dude, seriously, that is LITERALLY WHAT AN EXISTENTIAL THREAT IS!!!!!!

Is English your first language?
When someone says (truthfully) that Trump is an “existential threat to democracy”, it doesn’t mean “OMFG HE IS GONNA KILL ME!!”
It means Trump poses a threat to the existence of democracy. Can you wrap your brain around that?

Would you be more comfortable if someone said “trump intends to bring an end to American democracy”? Is “existential” too big a word to apply to a democracy? Even though it has existence? Literally?

OMG. I didn't suggest that Trump was going to kill you or any individual person, JFC this is ridiculous.

 

[Emily Lake]

If the left has to trump up Trump's badness so egregiously, it makes it seem like it's crying wolf. He's already bad enough that nobody should have to exaggerate it.

I think the Democrat voters concerns are largely driven by a genuine fear of repeating Germany’s historical mistake of not confronting authoritarian threats early on, rather than simply aiming to smear Trump. And it’s not as though Trump hasn’t given them reasons for alarm. For example the Russia investigation, which he labeled a 'witch hunt,' was triggered by suspicious behavior on his part. As I’ve mentioned before, when he had a meeting with Putin that typically requires security detail and official records but chose to meet privately without oversight, I expected people to be suspicious. . While the investigation didn’t conclude that Trump colluded with Russia, it did uncover actions that landed figures like Paul Manafort, Michael Flynn, and Roger Stone in serious trouble. I personally don’t see alarmist rhetoric as problematic, so long as it doesn’t dehumanize a group of people and remains focused on the parties actually involved.


Democrats criticize Trump specifically = Good
Trump labels all Democrats as bad = Bad

Republicans criticize Kamala specifically = Good
Kamala labeling all Republicans as bad = Bad (though I haven’t seen this)

It's different.

"Deplorables"

 

[Emily Lake]

This has been framed as an "existential threat" to the nation, by someone who intends to become a dictator acting within a fascist state.

What do you think is going to happen if Trump wins the election?

For me? Depression. Coming to the realization that "They are eating the pets" is enough to engage enough voters to swing an election to him.

I just hope, if he does pull it off, that it is known on election night. Then hope I can sleep. I couldn't sleep Election Night in 2016 and just went to work 3 AM. It was quite depressing to have been so wrong about America.

Are you going to sit idly by and say "Oh, well, it was a fair election, the people have spoken"?

What other option do I have. I'm not a narcissist. It really would suck that people would in large enough numbers support the man who tried to overthrow the results of the last one. But in 2024, there will be no hope in the world the results would right itself, so pretty stuck with hoping there is enough inertia in the Bureaucracy to hold Project 2025 back.

My concern is that there are enough people who are NOT like you, and who WILL engage in violence.