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We've been in 1984 for much longer than this administration and the previous and the one before that. We've been in Orwell's world longer than I've been alive a

We've been in 1984 for much longer than this administration and the previous and the one before that. We've been in Orwell's world longer than I've been alive and longer than my parents have been alive. Obama spent ever day of his tenure at war and bombing people with drones. Bill Clinton was very anti-immigration. Web and Rupert revealed how the CIA was funneling cocaine into the US from South and Central America. This has been happening a long time. President Twitter's idiocy is just batshit insane enough that people yell about it now, but it's all there to make us angry and mad at one another. This is just another thing to make us angry. We are in the 24/7 hate.

enraged_camel 9y ago
This is the worst kind of whataboutism. Yes, Obama and Bush and Clinton did things we didn’t like. That doesn’t mean they are even remotely comparable to Trump and his administration.
- scrollaway 9y ago
  > That doesn’t mean they are even remotely comparable to Trump and his administration. They're not, but the Trump administration has been allowed to get to where it is through the abuse of an increasingly broken system. Every administration puts policies into place that will last longer than the administration itself. For every administration you trust, that enables potential abuse, you have to ask yourself "Maybe I trust the current administration, but what about the next one?". This is a point that I, and many others, tried to make during the Obama era. Unfortunately, few listened. Politicians themselves didn't care. Obama did a lot of wonderful things for the US, but he also centralized a lot of power into the White House, and look how that's turning out. People are so easily tricked into believing the government forever has their best interest at heart, as long as the current person "in charge" is affiliated with their party. Democrats, in years past, enabled today's abuses of power. Republicans today, enabling the abuses of power for the years to come. It's as if the majority of voting citizens have zero ability to predict consequences. djsumdog is right, the system has been broken for a long time. America is just coming to terms with the cultural shock of seeing it all play out at high speed instead of it being a slow boil. I am optimistic however, that this shock will end up being the wake-up call the US needed to start seriously fixing itself, so hope is not lost.
  - grigjd3 9y ago
    You gotta lay at least 50% of the blame on a congress that refused to do anything of value for the centralization of power in the presidency. When the only legislation that can ever be passed in name a bridge after a general, there's serious problems.
    - gizmo686 9y ago
      More than 50%. When the legislative branch breaks, the executive branch has 2 options: assume the power that should be in the executive branch; or let the government slowly atrophy due to lack of management. Neither of these are good options, but if I were president, I would view my primary job as keeping the government well functioning. Without congress doing there job, this means increasing the scope of the executive branch.

enraged_camel 9y ago

This is the worst kind of whataboutism. Yes, Obama and Bush and Clinton did things we didn’t like. That doesn’t mean they are even remotely comparable to Trump and his administration.

scrollaway 9y ago
> That doesn’t mean they are even remotely comparable to Trump and his administration. They're not, but the Trump administration has been allowed to get to where it is through the abuse of an increasingly broken system. Every administration puts policies into place that will last longer than the administration itself. For every administration you trust, that enables potential abuse, you have to ask yourself "Maybe I trust the current administration, but what about the next one?". This is a point that I, and many others, tried to make during the Obama era. Unfortunately, few listened. Politicians themselves didn't care. Obama did a lot of wonderful things for the US, but he also centralized a lot of power into the White House, and look how that's turning out. People are so easily tricked into believing the government forever has their best interest at heart, as long as the current person "in charge" is affiliated with their party. Democrats, in years past, enabled today's abuses of power. Republicans today, enabling the abuses of power for the years to come. It's as if the majority of voting citizens have zero ability to predict consequences. djsumdog is right, the system has been broken for a long time. America is just coming to terms with the cultural shock of seeing it all play out at high speed instead of it being a slow boil. I am optimistic however, that this shock will end up being the wake-up call the US needed to start seriously fixing itself, so hope is not lost.
- grigjd3 9y ago
  You gotta lay at least 50% of the blame on a congress that refused to do anything of value for the centralization of power in the presidency. When the only legislation that can ever be passed in name a bridge after a general, there's serious problems.
  - gizmo686 9y ago
    More than 50%. When the legislative branch breaks, the executive branch has 2 options: assume the power that should be in the executive branch; or let the government slowly atrophy due to lack of management. Neither of these are good options, but if I were president, I would view my primary job as keeping the government well functioning. Without congress doing there job, this means increasing the scope of the executive branch.