• marcos@lemmy.world
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    2 天前

    The US has been clearly moving downhill since 2001. But the acceleration they got this year has been incredible.

    And for everybody not there, remember they have the largest nuclear arsenal on Earth.

    • BarneyPiccolo@lemmy.today
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      2 天前

      2001?

      Dude, it started long before that. One could argue that it was Newt Gingrich, and the Contract With America in 1994. Or the repeal of the Fairness Doctrine in 1987, which allowed unregulated propaganda. Or 1986, when Rush Limbaugh’s show proliferated around America, quickly becomes the Conservatives most successful recruiter and indoctrinator. Or in 1974, when the Republicans took advantage of the post-Watergate chaos, and passed a new tax code that baked in Trickle Down Economics.

      Personally, I maintain that it all started in 1968, when Bobby Kennedy was assassinated. He would have ended the Vietnam War earlier, saving thousands of lives, and taken America in a completely different direction. Instead, Nixon was elected, and took us down the path of evil that has led to us being occupied by treasonous, corrupt, pedophile MAGA Nazis.

      • ultranaut@lemmy.world
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        2 天前

        I think the failure to prosecute Nixon and the gang of criminals around him is where it started. If they were brought to justice back then everything would be different now. All of the breakdown we have now flows from the lawlessness that failure unleashed.

    • Doomsider@lemmy.world
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      2 天前

      Largest conventional military as big as the rest of the world combined plus the nukes. The US is beyond scary.

      • marcos@lemmy.world
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        2 天前

        Yeah, I don’t know how well their supply lines would cope against basically the entire world. But it’s still scary.

        • NoneOfUrBusiness@fedia.io
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          2 天前

          Not the entire world, not by a long shot. Realistically the entire third world would have absolutely no problem trading with Trump’s America, at least not any more than with business as usual America. Then you have Europe which is ran by pussies who would never go to war unless European mainland territory (i.e. not Greenland) is threatened, which would never happen, and Japan and South Korea are right out. This leaves the only realistic belligerents as Canada and/or Mexico if they’re invaded, Venezuela and/or Iran if Trump picks a fight with them and China if and when they decide to take Taiwan. And of course throughout all this Russia would support America, providing easy access to resources and shipping. Point being: Even in a WWIII-ish scenario America will have plenty of people willing to give it resources for the war machine; the “against the entire world” thing is very eurocentric and unduly optimistic. Now that I’m typing this out, I’d honestly bet on America in WWIII.

          PS: Europe has plenty of fascists who would trade with America in such a scenario.

    • NewNewAugustEast@lemmy.zip
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      2 天前

      Long before that. So much of what happened in the 50’s and 60’s is the same as today. Witch hunts, denouncing education for the wrong people (poors and women), surveillance, illegal wars and actions, detaining people for no reason, no checks and balances.

    • mrmanager@lemmy.today
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      2 天前

      Just enjoy the ride until it ends. People are worrying but there is not much anyone can do.

      The true test of being here is managing to stay a good person in the middle of a world telling you to become a bad one.

    • Bluefalcon@discuss.tchncs.de
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      2 天前

      Damn, I just had the conversation with my partner saying this. The patriot act kicked all of this off. The invaded our privacy in the name of protection. We didn’t get protection then and now we are being actively attacked.

    • Socialism_Everyday@reddthat.com
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      2 天前

      This isn’t the US going downhill, it’s the US incarnate. The country is founded on the genocide of Native Americans, Hitler openly expressed admiration and inspiration from the Manifest Destiny. In the early 1900s, the US was already applying so-called big stick ideology and staging coups in Central America. Hell, when was Jim Crow repealed? This isn’t the US going downhill, it’s the US doing what it’s always done, but slightly towards the inside too.