Summary
Donald Trump’s decisive victory in the 2024 election leaves no room for ambiguity or an “asterisk” in his legitimacy, as he won both the popular vote and the Electoral College.
This outcome represents a clear mandate from American voters, who knowingly chose Trump’s policies and approach.
The anticipated results include pardons for January 6 participants, attacks on the press, and an administration filled with controversial figures.
By voting for Trump, Americans prioritized divisive rhetoric over democratic values, accepting the resulting turmoil.
On one hand, it’s going to be funny watching them cry about it once the consequences of their actions start to impact their lives negatively.
On the other hand, I live in Canada, so it’s going to fuck us over too.
Do not underestimate the allure of a man who offers you a boogeyman to blame all your problems on, while promising you that only he can stop it. That allure is very difficult for many people to overcome. One of the other problems with it is that even if they do see the consequences of their choices, it’s just as easy for Trump to convince them that those problems are the boogeyman’s fault too. It doesn’t have to make sense, and Trump doesn’t care if it does as long as it keeps the rubes in line and focusing their anger on anyone else but him.
This is a cult following. Any attempt to show them that their problems were caused by Trump will only cause them to MAGA harder.
Eventually the house of cards fails when things get bad enough. The ride is going to suck though.
Remember, with doublespeak they’ll continue* to blame the democrats while their Republican leaders dismantle their rights, the economy, and the government right in front of their eyes.
It will be a repeat of 2020. They’ll leave the country in shambles and then people will vote Democrat to fix everything.
When and where do you think those votes will be happening? In the zero future elections?
You’re assuming that there will be a free and fair election in 2028.
I don’t think that’s a given anymore.
Trump has openly stated that he plans to abolish voting
This is extremely optimistic. Voting, as we understand it, is not going to exist.
As a fellow Canafian, I think we will have our own issues soon/currently, so I’m not going to have time for schadenfreude. Granted I live in Ontario and a folksy goon has been in power with no plans for so long that maybe I’ve lost my sense of humor.
Hopefully this election interference situation blows up in PPs face and the cons collapse.
I feel dirty hoping for such an outcome but it feels hopeless when someone like PP, who is obviously making a cynical power grab, has so much popularity. Canada is infested with fascists just like the US and I’m getting pretty worried about the future of humanity.
Unless Petey gets caught being boring or balls deep in a hog, I doubt it’ll move the needle. I hate to say that, there’s a lot I’d hope would move the needle at all, but in my own family it’s mask off, fuck “minorites”, give me more, so… yeah.
At this point even the Libs ditching Trudeau won’t shift things enough. We’re in exactly the same situation as the states; the corporatist, pro-capitalist centre-left party refuses to actually address the real problems that people are facing, so they turn to a right wing populist in the hopes that maybe they will.
I think leftists in Canada need to actively court the right.
Not in the way the democrats did by actively pivoting right, but by acknowledging their concerns, validating their beliefs that the liberals fucking suck, and trying to direct their frustration towards actual solutions, not a nazi like PP.
idk. It seems fucking stupid but I don’t know what other hope we have.
I actually completely agree. This is exactly the point Bernie was making when he said that the Dems brought their loss on themselves by abandoning the working class.
Canadian leftists need to really focus in on issues of cost of living, access to housing and education, the things that working class people are worried about.
I’m queer, and I’m married to a trans woman. I’m not saying the left should give up on talking about issues of inequality and social justice. But I am saying that we need a message that resonates with working class voters, not just people on the margins.
We need to make unions cool again. We need to get the rugged individualists excited about solar power (what’s more rugged and self sufficient than powering your home with nothing but the light of the sun?). We need to start talking about cutting those millionaire and billionaire elites down to size.
This isn’t easy. We’ll need to find careful ways to shape these messages, because there are a lot of thought terminating cliches that you’ll trip up on if you’re too direct. But I think the possibility is there. Even when you can’t talk about “socialism” and collectivism, you can still say things like “community” and “people having each other’s backs.” Appeal to the ideals that they want to think they believe in.
Very well said, thanks for chiming it.
I’ve lived am extremely privileged life and have only just started engaging with this stuff but I’m feeling pretty hopeless. The Libs are firmly neo-liberal, the NDP don’t seem capable of any sort of positive messaging, and the Cons have nosedived into neo-nazism.
Local advocacy and education seems like the only way forward for progressive thinkers.
I think my next step is going to be to sign up for NDP membership, so that I can use my voting power to push that party into a more explicitly progressive direction.
That and, as you said, getting involved in local advocacy and education. That part is going to be trickier since I just moved to a new province so I’m basically starting from scratch.