• @shalafi@lemmy.world
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    8 months ago

    My trap card has been activated. I play “Personal PTSD”.

    January, 6th 2021 was not fucking, “bare speculation that third parties might interact with the individuals President Trump comments on”.

    Through social media posts, he summoned up a goddamned army of lunatics to overthrow my goddamned country. They captured the Capitol of the United States of my fucking America. I’m so pissed off I could fucking choke.

    I watched 01/06 go down live on CNN, all fucking day. Anyone else? I can’t watch 60-seconds of those videos, not 60 damned seconds. The fear and anger and revulsion and hate and revenge lust, I can’t do it. Can anyone else? Now I truly know what “triggered” means.

    I’d comment more, but I can’t think straight, and the words “gallows and a mass grave for traitors” don’t generally get good reception.

    But seriously, his social media posts are harmless, just a man practicing free speech.

    • @Kit
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      188 months ago

      I watched it live and was pretty underwhelmed the whole time. The coverage really didn’t capture the gravity of the violence imo. It just seemed like people lazily walking past barricates. I didn’t even realize that shit was going down until well into the day when there were reports of injuries.

      • girlfreddy
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        138 months ago

        I watched it online through Xitter and it was fucking wild!

      • Dark Arc
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        108 months ago

        It definitely depended on the feed, but there was some violent window smashing and screaming/yelling/trying to break down doors.

        The news crews really weren’t set up for “action movie” style coverage with all the key points of interest. That’s part of why it didn’t “look” that bad. Like, if you look at most gas station robberies, they don’t look that bad either … because the angles aren’t dramatic, they don’t make you “feel” the moment.

    • Flying Squid
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      8 months ago

      Trump’s called those seditionists “hostages” in a speech the other day.

      EDIT: Also, January 6th was the day I quit my online gaming group. I just didn’t feel like having that sort of magical fantasy life when this shit was happening for a while. I regret it now, but the group broke up anyway (not because of me quitting).

    • @pete_the_cat@lemmy.world
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      68 months ago

      I was shocked that it happened, but I knew it wasn’t going to amount to anything. I’m actually surprised that only one of those fuckers got shot. What sickens me more is I’m probably distantly related to her (her last name is my mom’s maiden name).

      • Dark Arc
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        128 months ago

        but I knew it wasn’t going to amount to anything

        It really almost did though. There should be a statue of that black capital police officer that drew the mob away from the senate chamber without firing a shot.

        • @pete_the_cat@lemmy.world
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          8 months ago

          A hundred or two hundred people couldn’t overthrow the government. They could certainly hurt prominent people and cause mayhem, but it wouldn’t have a serious effect on our country’s government, it’s not like they could start passing laws and affecting the country’s infrastructure, like what happens in Coup d’etats in third world countries or where this is a heavy militia behind it. It got out of control because they didn’t use lethal force until absolutely necessary. If they said “get any closer and we open fire” it would have been over in a few minutes once all those pussies started seeing their other “freedom fighters” gunned down in front of them. self preservation is the first law of nature. They would have scattered like cockroaches at the first sight of light.

          • Dark Arc
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            8 months ago

            You’re getting down voted, but I think your point makes sense … at least on the surface.

            Ultimately though, it would’ve caused a constitutional crisis if Congress was unable to swear in Biden. It would basically be up to the courts to decide who the president is, and Trump could presumably ask for emergency powers from the reduced head count (likely of loyalists) in Congress … which would’ve created further conditional crises. Not to mention martial law was something Trump’s team (it hasn’t yet been proven to be spoken of directly by Trump or to Trump) was considering using along with the instruction act to squash protest.

            Basically, it would’ve depended on two things:

            • What the courts did
            • What the military did

            And that’s never where you want your government to be. It might not have made the table collapse itself, but it certainly would’ve made the table wobbly and put it in a weakened position where it could be much more easily smashed.

            It really depends on how much faith you have in institutional leaders and members of those institutions to “see through” the county. If the military leaders or a large majority of the rank and file went “TRUMP TRUMP TRUMP” and state governors got behind the overthrow (or didn’t react quickly enough to replace important seats in Congress) that probably would’ve spelled the end of the US.

            Fortunately, we didn’t have to find out how that version of the story ends.

            • @pete_the_cat@lemmy.world
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              8 months ago

              I think a lot of people are exaggerating the outcomes, yeah it may have delayed having Biden sworn in, but not by long. Also I don’t think Trump could have outright instated Martial Law, especially when he was the one causing the disruptions. The president isn’t all powerful, the system of checks and balances exist, and not everyone was for Trump in the government, so there definitely would have been pushback against a lot of things. For all we know, if it actually did happen, he could have been forceably evicted from the office and charged with treason outright for essentially becoming a dictator. Stuff like this has never happened in our country so whose to say what would happen exactly.

              Like you said, it definitely would have made things messy for a bit, but I highly doubt it would have led to “the downfall of the US”. Hell, The Civil War couldn’t even bring the downfall of the US over 150 years ago and that was multiple states banding together with tons of guns and support, over the course of a year or longer (I forget how long it lasted). This was like 200 people with no guns, it was only scary because the Capitol Police didn’t use deadly force (except in one case) so you had mobs of angry people, which is always scary no matter where it happens. I can guarantee you that if shots started to ring out, 90% or more would have said “fuck this, it isn’t worth dying for” (even though they say they’d die for Trump) and ran for cover.

              • Dark Arc
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                38 months ago

                I think you’re probably right. There’s still those seeds of doubt in my mind though

                • @pete_the_cat@lemmy.world
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                  18 months ago

                  😊

                  Of course there is always the “what ifs” that pop up and some of our imaginations tend to run wild with these things. It’s important to keep a level head and look at past conflicts that have been quelled. Our government isn’t a house of cards on a folding table.

    • @Custoslibera@lemmy.world
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      48 months ago

      The punishment for treason is death.

      I still can’t understand how no one has been executed for their involvement in Jan 6.

      • @grue@lemmy.world
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        248 months ago

        WTF? His reaction is entirely justified and appropriate for anybody who isn’t a motherfucking MAGA traitor.

  • squiblet
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    8 months ago

    Of course it is. It’s amazing that he is allowed to do this.

    on September 25, Trump’s lawyer John Lauro argued against the special counsel’s motion for a gag order in the DC case, calling it “bare speculation that third parties might interact with the individuals President Trump comments on.”

    Sigh, his f’in lawyers. Yes, that’s the concept.

    • BeautifulMind ♾️OP
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      368 months ago

      …except it’s not speculation at all. There’s a long history of Trump saying shit like ‘somebody oughta do something about [x specific person, for y reasons]’ and then randos in his audience volunteer to do ‘something’ like mail pipe bombs to them, or make threats to them and/or their families.

      • eric
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        118 months ago

        It’s the definition of stochastic terrorism.

        • sweetviolentblush [they/them]
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          68 months ago

          You’re right on the mark, and or anyone who may not know:

          Stochastic terrorism refers to political or media figures publicly demonizing a person or group in such a way that it inspires supporters of the figures to commit a violent act against the target of the speech. Unlike incitement to terrorism, this is accomplished by using indirect, vague, or coded language that allows the instigator to plausibly disclaim responsibility for the resulting violence.

    • @EatYouWell@lemmy.world
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      68 months ago

      I mean, it’s literally their job to do everything they can to protect their client from the legal system.

      Don’t blame the lawyers, blame the client.

      • squiblet
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        108 months ago

        People who work for him deserve their forthcoming disbarments.

      • We’re not talking about Saul Goodman defending gangsters by enforcing the law.

        How many of his lawyers have been complicit, prosecuted, and convicted already? That should tell you what kind of people they are.

      • Flying Squid
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        38 months ago

        The only lawyer willing to take his cases should be a public defender at this point. He never pays his bills and he’s in serious trouble. He’s gotten the shittiest lawyers money can buy at this point, but they’re still lawyers that actually think he’s going to pay them. Meaning they believe in his lies.

        So I do blame the lawyers.

    • @some_guy@lemmy.sdf.org
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      48 months ago

      I almost cut off my relationship with my mother in 2020 because of her politics and some stupid shit she quoted me from Fox News that was exposed with a five second web search. I really feel your pain.

      A friend gave me the wisdom that “it’s harder to open a door than to shut one.” That saved us. I implemented a “no politics” rule with my mom and we’ve been good ever since. She still (accidentally, I think) makes off-hand remarks that are silly, but we stick to the rule and we’re much better off. I can’t save her from her shitty views and it’s best that I not try.

  • @some_guy@lemmy.sdf.org
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    108 months ago

    Terrorists. The funny thing is that they don’t seem to understand what a terrible light they shine on their cause.

    • Schadrach
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      28 months ago

      Not among the cult. If you listen to his followers, having the gag order lifted was the only way to defend himself publicly and that order was San affront to his first amendment rights and placing it in him should be prosecuted as election interference.

    • @0110010001100010@lemmy.world
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      378 months ago

      We all know captain bone spurs wouldn’t do anything himself. It’s all the crazies that worship him and have a basement with more weapons and ammunition than a gun store.

      • uphillbothways
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        118 months ago

        How all those ‘manly men’ supposed ‘patriots’ could follow “a guy with Umpalumpa makeup, doll hands, and a penis that looks like Toad from Super Mario Bros”… That’ll be a subject for multiple dissertations in a future, hopefully better society to be built after this one has either been fixed or upon its ashes.

          • @EatYouWell@lemmy.world
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            118 months ago

            He hates (is afraid of) the same people they hate (are afraid of), and makes them feel like it’s OK to be public about that hatred (compensating for being afraid).

            What they haven’t realized is that he hates them too.

      • girlfreddy
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        18 months ago

        Remember, he said himself he “could stand in the middle of Fifth Avenue and shoot somebody and wouldn’t lose any voters.”

        He controls his followers.

    • Nougat
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      108 months ago

      The hands and penis - he didn’t choose those. We don’t mock people for things they didn’t choose.

      Hit the makeup as hard as you want.

    • @TheJims@lemmy.world
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      48 months ago

      Or a guy with a robotic army of violent right wing extremists hanging on his every word and worship his as their messiah.