u/SweetMany7339

A girl I was dating found an earring in my bed after being together for 6 months. To this day, I have no idea how it got there.

Luckily she was the trusting type, and in that situation she wasn't wrong to trust me. I think it helped how distraught I was because I both knew I was innocent, and knew I'd never believe her in a million years if the roles were reversed, so I was panicking.

I have no idea what your situation is like, but stranger things have happened.

I feel like it's going to be a "when you take into account the size of the universe, it's impossible for life not to exist" thing just so trump can say "i found aliens give me nobel peace prize"

The Iran War or continuing the Iran War?

She may not sell her body but she sure has the soul of a whore.

You sound undereducated, borderline retarded. Good luck with that.

The problem seems to be that stamping authoritarian ideologies completely requires using authoritarian tactics, which, by definition, opponents of authoritarianism are unwilling to do.

This isn't true at all. Do you just state your opinions as facts?

WOW this is HORRIBLY frustrating. First project and this shit happens?

Holy FUCK this is annoying.

https://preview.redd.it/ilfilamtrzyf1.jpeg?width=1320&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=98544c9812ed936fef99d4017315b8f57989b93a

People are framing this as MAGA turning on Vivek, but X is just as much to blame. The same anger we feel towards MAGA is felt towards us (with little to no justification) because of Elon's outrage-based algorithm. Elon/X needs to be stopped--it has gone WAY too far.

Those people are out for blood and Elon just keeps on pouring gasoline into the fire.

Ohhhhh I see what you're doing.

You're taking what I said hyper-literally and pretending that you didn't know that I meant "perceived realities" so that you can act condescendingly toward me.

Doesn't this strike you as unnecessarily combative and a bad faith tactic?

the whole "i forgive you" thing was so painfully performative. i didn't feel like something was off UNTIL that moment.

While we're on the subject of realities, could you tell me what you agree/disagree with on this timeline?

1980s

Ronald Reagan, backed by the Heritage Foundation, sets the stage for the next 50 years by dismantling the New Deal system:

• Guts unions

• Deregulates industry

• Pushes trickle-down economics

• Turns “government is the problem” into doctrine

⸻

1990s

Fox News launches (1996) as a “conservative alternative” but evolves into partisan media.

Glass-Steagall repealed (1999), laying the groundwork for the 2008 collapse.

⸻

2000s

Housing market collapses (2008); Wall Street gets bailed out, the public left behind.

Citizens United case introduced — a legal push to overturn campaign finance limits.

Rupert Murdoch realizes fear + rage = ratings. Outrage is addictive. Glenn Beck joins Fox News (2009), triggering a shift to outrage-based content.

⸻

2010s

Citizens United passes (2010), legalizing unlimited corporate spending. Money becomes power. Rich elites now supersede politicians in influence. Gives millionaires a reason to become billionaires.

Occupy Wall Street (2011) — billionaires take notice: the public is waking up. Billionaires join Heritage / the right to bring the nation to authoritarian rule.

Mid-2010s :: Younger generation of conservatives begin activism, influencers like Ben Shapiro, Charlie Kirk, and Tucker Carlson see real traction

Trump begins his rise (2015): Immediately erodes trust in press, courts, elections. "Fake News” weaponized to fracture consensus reality. Polarization of truth begins — people live in separate realities.

⸻

2020s

Pandemic accelerates the wealth gap.

QAnon and disinformation spread unchecked across social platforms.

Musk takes over Twitter (2022), amplifies conspiracies and silences dissent. Tunes algorithm to encourage division between red and blue.

Billionaires, tech oligarchs, and dark money now control policy more than Congress.

⸻

I have two questions:

1) Do you agree with this version of events? Why or why not?

2) When presented in this manner, what narrative do you think I'm trying to push?

If you aren't self-aware enough to realize we live in two different realities by now, then maybe you're the problem. I'm not saying that directed at all Trump supporters, just you.

Do you understand how seeing things from only your perspective makes you the very problem you're snidely remarking on?

You understand that the U.S. has entered a state that is functionally authoritarian in many respects, or at the very least has crossed the threshold from “democratic erosion” to “authoritarian‐leaning regime”, right?

Here are 3 things happening in America that do not happen in democratic societies, they only happen in authoritarian:

    1.    Federal/military troops deployed for routine domestic law-enforcement in cities without clear legal justification or local consent.  

2.  Federal agents (e.g., U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement) operating in enforcement raids while masking their identities (no visible badge/agency identifier).  

3.  Use of long-term presidential emergency powers or novel legal frameworks to bypass usual institutional checks (legislative or judicial) in domestic security operations.  

The weight and speed of recent developments (especially in immigration enforcement, domestic deployment of federal/military forces, and suppression of protest rights) push it beyond mere concern and into active regime transformation.

Democratic structures can exist under authoritarian rule, but once authoritarian practices dominate, the system is no longer democratic. Fascism may be a stretch, authoritarianism is not.

What points, if any, do you disagree with here? Do you still believe the US isn't authoritarian? Do you believe it is backsliding into authoritarianism?

Do you understand that on the political spectrum, an American "radical leftist" is on the same point as a "moderate conservative" in my other places in the developed world?

Europe, Canada, Australia--in these places, labor protections, universal healthcare, free college, wealth tax, strict gun laws--are mainstream center-right to centrist.

Do you think that it's possible that labeling us "the radical left" may actually be just an attempt to normalize a far-right ideological stance and vilify any who stand against it?

Guys, this shit spreads like a virus, seriously. Americans--real Americans, not MAGA--have watched as nearly half the population has just... changed. People we've known our whole lives have been suddenly radicalized against us.

I'm not exaggerating, for a while there I suspected it could be something in the water--dead serious. But It's a mixture of social media algorithms, outrage politics, and tribalism.

For Gods sake, nip that shit in the bud.

Now.

Like, right now.

Before it's too late.

Agreed. What's the point of being the President if you can't harass the people who didn't vote for you?

The way that Trump and Andrew talk about this with Epstein is very similar.

both have "wink wink nudge nudge we need to be subtle because this is pedophilia but only as subtle as we choose because who's gonna stop us lol" vibes

I want to know who he's yelling at to do something?

He's the president of the united states. he's the one who should be doing something.

The way it stands that absolutely sounds like he's encouraging MAGA to take action.

It won't last. It's too phony to have any real staying power. Sure we're plunging headfirst into it now but just wait.

In 1989 Boris Yeltsin visited a grocery store in Texas and was stunned to see the abundance of food and variety. No guards or rationing or special access. He later wrote that it shattered his faith in the Soviet system knowing they were lying about Western poverty.

For him and the other elites, it destroyed the illusion that Soviet scarcity was normal, and within two years the USSR collapsed.

The truth always wins, it's just that for a while it's not gonna matter like it should.

by next year he'll be the 2024 recipient.

i got downvoted to hell in that first thread announcing her when I asked if people understood she was heavily right-leaning, and said this felt like the Nobel Committee putting their stamp of approval on authoritarianism.

Welp.

Okay is there at least a petition? I know it's just a petition but a headline "30% of Americans have signed a petition to impeach Donald Trump" would be huge.

No one, and I repeat, no one, could turn a blind eye to this level of corruption.

MAGA isn't a cult, and they're not brainwashed, it just seems that way due to some of their self-defense mechanisms.

They are a tribe.

They willfully and purposely ignore truths and parrot falsehoods in order to preserve its identity and sense of belonging. Tribes are much more dangerous than cults.

it does, but it's not comparable to the extreme right.

that's why i always thought Trump picking the "woke left" as the enemy was such a weird choice. i mean Antifa? really?

but guess i was wrong. Trump could have vilified Santa Clause and MAGA would be foaming at the mouth, out for blood.