Donald Trump spent his first 100 days back in the Oval Office driving an economy that the world envied to the brink of crisis, risking America’s reputation as a financial safe haven and fostering fear among voters who’ve lost confidence in his leadership.

Americans were desperate for relief from high grocery prices and bought into Trump’s promise to make America affordable again in November 2024, partly out of nostalgia for the pre-pandemic economy of his first term.

But the president deliberately and singlehandedly adopted policies that are almost certain to spike prices even more; that could lead to shortages; and that have CEOs and small businesses dealing with chaos and the possibility of a recession.

      • tburkhol@lemmy.world
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        8 hours ago

        My mom will still tell you that things would be much worse if Harris had won. Can’t say how, but she doesn’t hear the sarcasm when I suggest we’d all be learning Mandarin online while recovering from forced gender reassignment surgery and seems to consider that a legitimate possibility.

      • JasonDJ@lemmy.zip
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        8 hours ago

        Most of those women were raised brainwashed by their church and family to be subservient to their man. In retrospect, giving those women in particular the right to vote might’ve been a mistake. It essentially just doubled the weight of their spouses vote.

        That’s the drawback of universal suffrage, not just women’s suffrage…most people are idiots and easily manipulated. Women just moreso because of countless generations of oppressive patriarchy.

        But there’s no real good way to test a voter without opening the floodgates for fraud and discrimination…so here we are. Idiots in charge.

        • SaltSong@startrek.website
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          8 hours ago

          Vimes had once discussed the Ephebian idea of ‘democracy’ with Carrot, and had been rather interested in the idea that everyone had a vote until he found out that while he, Vimes, would have a vote, there was no way in the rules that anyone could prevent Nobby Nobbs from having one as well. Vimes could see the flaw there straight away.

          -Terry Pratchett, The Fifth Elephant

          He had such a way with words, he did.

          • JasonDJ@lemmy.zip
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            7 hours ago

            I really, sincerely hope that this current series of events leads to a period of American Enlightenment where we have a renewed focus on education, science, and the arts.

            The weakest point in a representative democracy is very much so the uneducated public. The bigger their voter pool, the more they can drag down everyone else.

            Probably won’t, most of us will probably be dead long before that happens, and certainly before we could reap the rewards of it. But it would be nice.

            • SabinStargem@lemmy.today
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              25 minutes ago

              I am expecting the US to splinter, with people shuffling around to the splinter that best represents their ideology. It will be messy, but I think Blue States will benefit from no longer having to appease the Turdpublican mindset.

            • ijedi1234@sh.itjust.works
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              5 hours ago

              The way the state handled the uneducated masses in White or Black was to keep a common enemy.

              In that work, everyone gets an implant that helps them live longer and provides immunity to disease, but it causes a major weakness to the substance “Black Matter”. Black Matter is a substance discovered in the mid-21st century, generated by extreme emotion like mania and rage. Since Black Matter can actually kill people with the implant if the concentration is too high, nearly everyone with an implant is united in keeping Black Matter under control.

              The intellectuals and scientists, provided they are trusted by the state, are allowed to handle materials that cause people to generate Black Matter. The rank-and-file don’t really mind this, since they trust that the state will keep their best interests in mind. After all, if the state doesn’t keep their best interests in mind, lots of unrest will occur, which means massive Black Matter generation, which means mass death.

              • JasonDJ@lemmy.zip
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                5 hours ago

                I’m really not looking forward to finding out how well “Mutually Assured Destruction” works in the real world. Lately, that seems to be the controlling-party’s entire ethos. As long as it hurts them more.

                • ijedi1234@sh.itjust.works
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                  5 hours ago

                  Interestingly, that appears to be how the implant people in White or Black took over. Red and Blue blew each other up, causing many to sign up with the implant people. And what remained of Red and Blue in opposition to the implant people were nearly eradicated by the late 2090s.

                  A second MAD failed against the implant people because their hold on the world was too strong. It took until the 27th century for their (human) opposition to become a noticeable threat again. Until that time, people were mainly kept in line by the fear of Black Matter, which could be likened to toxic waste.

    • NoneOfUrBusiness@fedia.io
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      8 hours ago

      Americans will delude themselves into thinking Harris lost because of identity politics all the way to the concentration camps.

      • UltraGiGaGigantic@lemmy.ml
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        1 hour ago

        They have to, or else they will be forced to change the democratic party and everyone knows deep down that democrats will never ever ever change.

    • Steve@communick.news
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      8 hours ago

      What actual percentage of the American people do you think believes a woman can’t be president? And I mean, believe her nature as a woman makes her unfit, not people who believe the electorate won’t vote for her.

      Do you know any polls in the last year that indicate how big a contingent that would be?

      I’d be shocked if it was over 0.5%. Even over 0.2% would be very surprising to me. Of course to get polls that precise you’d need to ask like 100,000 people.

      • Crazyslinkz@lemmy.world
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        8 hours ago

        Unfortunately, it’s not black or white. I recall a woman saying she wouldn’t vote for Kamala because she thought America wasn’t ready for a woman president.

        Is that her nature as a woman or people that believe the electorate won’t vote for her?

        It almost sounds like passing the buck, I won’t vote for her because of everyone else’s opinion 🤷 idk, I don’t have the answers.

        • Steve@communick.news
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          2 hours ago

          That would very clearly be an example of thinking “the electorate wouldn’t vote for her”.

          If it was her nature as a woman, the reason would be some thing like “Because women are bad at _______”.
          Something clearly misogynist; Instead of just thinking everyone else is misogynist.