4 ms·

For those who think this is exaggeration, remember that JD Vance wrote a heartfelt endorsement for the skull book, the one arguing that anyone who opposes MAGA

For those who think this is exaggeration, remember that JD Vance wrote a heartfelt endorsement for the skull book, the one arguing that anyone who opposes MAGA is a secret communist revolutionary who needs to be crushed by any means necessary to avoid an imagined communist genocide that they allege we are all plotting. Absolutely wild shit. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unhumans https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unhumans It's not even midterm season yet, they are already testing the waters by conducting extrajudicial deportations of random Hispanics to labor camps in El Salvador, and the sitting US President is on record saying the El Salvador labor camps need to be expanded by 5x to accommodate the "home growns." Dark times ahead.

trhway 1y ago
The issues of speech, hate, deportations are the very visible ones. The less visible is for example changing the nature of US government. The old government bureaucracy which was focused on protecting people - consumer protection, EPA, civil rights, etc. - is being dismantled, and new bureaucracy is being built in place to enforce myriad of new restrictions and dole out import/export/tariff quotas, exceptions, and other government favors (those being given out as favors is a key here). The old bureaucracy was progressive. The new is conservative and oppressive, and will be keeping tight chockhold on the main drivers of the progressivism - free trade and tech innovation. (don't take my word for it, just look at such bureaucracies in other countries)
- yupitsme123 1y ago
  The old bureaucracy stopped being progressive long ago. I believe the EPA protects the environment about as much as I believe DOGE is about creating efficiencies. At this point these organizations are just tools for the administration in power to hand out favors and therefore maintain support. The worthwhile work they do is secondary. Trump is simply getting rid of the ones that aided democrats and creating new ones that will allow him to aid his own supporters. Also I don't see the connection between progressivism and free trade/tech innovation. If anything, the latter only aid the status quo rather than helping it to progress.
  - kashunstva 1y ago
    > believe the EPA protects the environment about as much as I believe DOGE is about creating efficiencies. The EPA is (was?) an enormous set of programs encompassing a range of environmental concerns. Undoubtedly some are more effective than others. But to claim without evidence that it is ineffective is disingenuous. I was around in the 60’s and 70’s. Interestingly, the EPA was established by Richard Nixon, in an age when his party was also about creating things rather than indiscriminately dismantling them.

trhway 1y ago

The issues of speech, hate, deportations are the very visible ones. The less visible is for example changing the nature of US government. The old government bureaucracy which was focused on protecting people - consumer protection, EPA, civil rights, etc. - is being dismantled, and new bureaucracy is being built in place to enforce myriad of new restrictions and dole out import/export/tariff quotas, exceptions, and other government favors (those being given out as favors is a key here). The old bureaucracy was progressive. The new is conservative and oppressive, and will be keeping tight chockhold on the main drivers of the progressivism - free trade and tech innovation. (don't take my word for it, just look at such bureaucracies in other countries)

yupitsme123 1y ago
The old bureaucracy stopped being progressive long ago. I believe the EPA protects the environment about as much as I believe DOGE is about creating efficiencies. At this point these organizations are just tools for the administration in power to hand out favors and therefore maintain support. The worthwhile work they do is secondary. Trump is simply getting rid of the ones that aided democrats and creating new ones that will allow him to aid his own supporters. Also I don't see the connection between progressivism and free trade/tech innovation. If anything, the latter only aid the status quo rather than helping it to progress.
- kashunstva 1y ago
  > believe the EPA protects the environment about as much as I believe DOGE is about creating efficiencies. The EPA is (was?) an enormous set of programs encompassing a range of environmental concerns. Undoubtedly some are more effective than others. But to claim without evidence that it is ineffective is disingenuous. I was around in the 60’s and 70’s. Interestingly, the EPA was established by Richard Nixon, in an age when his party was also about creating things rather than indiscriminately dismantling them.