Have we officially entered a new political era?

Yes those days are over OP. This happened some time ago and was cemented and ramped up with Trump's second presidency from hell.

R1, good. We've had a couple of Democrat presidents who still cling stubbornly to this outdated model from... the 80s? 70s? 1950s? I am not sure exactly when, but that "working across aisles" bullshit has always involved Democrats grinning while taking it up the ass from Republicans.

Fuck that shit.

The right lost their collective mind when Obama got the Dem nomination in 2008. Sarah Palin was the end of normal. After the election when Mitch McConnell was asked his main objectives for the new legislative session, he simply said “To make Obama a one-term president”. That was the end of normal. The teabaggers and the “Obama wore a tan suit” brigade were the end of normal. We are now lightyears deeper into the shit nebula.

[quote] The teabaggers and the “Obama wore a tan suit” brigade were the end of norma

I am so very glad that I get to outlive the "Obummer in a tan suit" crowd!

My only hope is that all MAGAts get to live long enough to either get their comeuppance or see the nation change into something completely alien to them.

[quote] Yes those days are over OP. This happened some time ago

I agree, R1.

But right now, it feels different.

Like I'm actually afraid to voice my opinion on anything political right now.

The consequences could be bad, particularly if you are a Democrat or Progressive.

I feel like the right-wing is out for blood, and it's a 100% "you're with us, or you're against us" mentality with them right now.

Very Hitler-esque.

MAGATS and Republicans are very myopic. They don't understand nuance, and they don't understand compromise.

Democrats are always guilty of "bothsides-ism," but Republican MAGATS are not. If you are not one of them, then they view you as the enemy, and they will treat you as such.

These are very dangerous times for us.

Politics has become poison.

It's now a bloodsport.

James Madison warned us in 1792 of the danger of Faction. Because that IS the Republican ideology: our team GOOD other team BAd. Madison said this is what destroys republics, and he said the best way to prevent it to tac the rich tto mediocrity and support the poor to comfort. Otherwise, those who profit immoderately off the operations of government will invent interest "real and imagined" to keep the people at each others throats. ANd tha'ts what's happened since we allowed the rich to build a lie machine that currently employs more than double the number of people in the advertising industry for the specific purpose of lying to the American people.

R6, aww well isn't that swell for good 'Ol James Madison of 1792?

It's too bad he's not right here right now -- living through a Putin-controlled Trum -- to offer us some more pearls of wisdom in 2025.

Time for another black president

Btw R6, I am pretty sure James Madison or the people of that era would not tolerate an absolute shit-for-brains imbecile for president, and especially not one compromised by a hostile enemy nation!

They likely would have hanged Trump for treason. Or drawn and quartered him. As he deserves.

Trump's speech declaring the United States a dictatorship, is going to sound something like this....

^He'll be dead before 2028. Did you see his recent StrokeFace?

And the rest of the GOP? They're going have a hell of a time scrambling. Trying to apologize too late. Trying to disassociate themselves from the stink of Trump. It's one thing that makes me glad to be 41. To spend the next 40 years making *absolute* sure that the living MAGAts will always account for themselves and their vote. They don't deserve to be forgotten.

This is now officially the FAFO (Fuck Around & Find Out) era.

From your lips r11

Yes, we have.

Bump

People are losing their jobs for not canonizing a slain talk show host and daring to accurately quote some of his hateful remarks. The President sits in the Oval Office and calls Democrats evil vicious enemies. The Republicans in Congress meekly pass whatever their leader demands, no matter how harmful.

Yeah, it’s different now. The question is whether we will ever be able to recover.

I hope the next Democratic president uses all the powers that the Supreme Court and the passive Congress have given to Trump to make some real change. I guess that's just a hope, because they always back down.

R17, you know, I truly do believe that the next Democratic president will have come of age on the farther side of World War II and the 20th Century.

And so hopefully, he or she will hopefully recognize that holding hands across aisles with Republicans is no longer a viable possibility?

And that when the Republicans keep slapping us in the face.... over and over again... the correct response isn't to "go higher" or turn the other cheek?

[quote] The good 'ol days when Democrats and Republicans could supposedly "hold hands across aisles"

Dumb thread is dumb.

Everyone says we are headed for a civil war. I say, what war? 95% of guns and weapons are owned by one side. I don’t even know anyone who owns a gun. What we are headed for is a fascist police state.

R19, except is it?

We've gone from the days of Dianne Feinstein and Chuck Grassley likely fucking each other during the Great Depression to the Susie Collins and Mitt Romneys having friendly little brunches with one another to... this. To Jasmine Crockett and Nancy Mace.

There is no longer any reason to pretend and be "friends" with another.

We are not "friends."

R19, would you care to explain why that's dumb?

[quote]Everyone says we are headed for a civil war.

The US is already in a social civil war which has been ratcheting up over the past decade (since the appearance of the Tea Party, Trump and MAGA on the political scene) - now it's looking like the civil war will progress to a physically violent civil war because that's what MAGA needs so they can solidify their control over the power structure of the US permanently. They will do this by restricting the "left" in various ways (it's coming now) and then using every trick in the book they can think of to make it extremely difficult to impossible for Democrats to win elections to regain power. Like what has been done in Russia, Hungary, Turkey etc. This isn't a joke and alarmingly, most Americans don't seem to grasp this gravity of this situation and are just watching it happening while they are arguing about trans people.

They did tell us this is what they were going to do via Project 2025 and most people ignored the threat. Project 2025 said and I quote; "the country is in the midst of a “second American Revolution” that will be bloodless “if the left allows it to be.”

And we have allowed it so far. But now, we better just snap the fuck out of it and face some difficult truths or what we know of the USA will be replaced with MAGA where Democrats can't win future elections and the MAGA party will rule for generations.

[quote] And we have allowed it so far. But now, we better just snap the fuck out of it and face some difficult truths or what we know of the USA will be replaced with MAGA

[Bold] WE [/bold] have not allowed it. We never allowed for it.

The entire GOP and all of the Older Democrats have allowed this shitshow. They still live in some imaginary, make-believe world where we are still friends, where Republicans and Democrats still hold hands and sing kumbaya.

Wake the fuck up.

We're dangerously close to a situation like the Hutu vs. Tutsi radio now.

R25, the Republicans are going to WISH they end up as forgiven as the Hutus.

Some of us have no intention of ever letting them(or others) forget.

When both political parties turn against Israel, THEN it's a new era.

Otherwise everyone is just peeing in the kiddie pool

R27, when you are dealing with a bunch of Republican retards who believe shit like the meme linked below,....

Death probably befits them better.

R28 is that Israel's greatest defender?

Ask Golda Meir, my dear R29

Btw R29, do you think Golda woulda fallen head-over-pussy for the man pictured at R28?

I don't think so. She coulda done better

All I know is that Superman would have dumped that

Ugly hag Lois Lane for

Beauty Queen Golda Meir - Queen of the super human Jewish team squad-

In a second

[quote]WE have not allowed it.

Yes WE have R24. Because it's already happening/happened. We've done nothing because we expect someone else to do it. And we're still doing nothing while we watch it slip away.

But I do strongly agree with what you've said about "entire GOP and all of the Older Democrats have allowed this shitshow". 100% yes. But the GOP doesn't exist now - it's the MAGA Party and they all either want this or those that may not exactly want this - they have no other choice other than to quit and join the left - which isn't going to happen.

As for the Democratic Party - worse than useless. Biden set us up for failure in 2024 by not standing down sooner and hiding his condition. Then, post election - the Democratic leadership has been woefully out of its depth and unable to meet the moment. To the point where they barely exist now. The Democratic Party has to be cleaned out to get rid of all the ancient politicians who are beholden to corporate and special interest donations, who have led us into this mess. This must start with Schumer and Jefferies and then we must get rid of all of the old-school Democrats who are unable to communicate with the public, do not possess the skills or understanding which every politician in 2025 requires to operate in the current political climate - which as OP has pointed out is a new political era where the old rules are gone and will never return. Yet they refuse to retire to let other better equipped Democratic politicians take their place. I do 100% agree with you that they (MAGA Party and Democratic Party) are both responsible.

But WE, the people, are also responsible for doing nothing. It's going to take us all getting out on the streets en masse and doing the hard, unpleasant yards to ward off this takeover of the US government - if it's not too late. This is a progressing civil war - and it's going to hurt to fight it. I don't think Americans are up to it but I want to be proved wrong.

R33, I am ready for the hard work.

People my age (older millennials) have *always* known that we are going to get slammed.

R20, we’re already in a Civil War.

It’s taking place online, via social media, with the caveat that every now & then, an edge-lord “soldier” from the meme universe, will pop its head out of its own ass, equipped with a rifle or automatic weapon, and either attempt to kill someone, or actually succeed at doing so.

[quote] But I do strongly agree with what you've said about "entire GOP and all of the Older Democrats have allowed this shitshow".

But didn't ya know that, ah-ha-ha, Scalia and Ruth Bader-Ginsburg, were BFFs? They held slumber parties and double dates and lively chatter at the water-cooler all the while weighing our American rights.

What a gas for them! Isn't that cute?

The corruption of America today is something never seen before.