ALoafOfBread

The difference is that people who joke about bombs in airports typically don't actually think bombs in airports are a good idea.

I think the dems have been losing for decades in essentially every political arena because the repubs have cartoon villain mastermind Mitch McConnell pulling the strings and the dems have fucking Nancy Pelosi behind the curtain fixing races against Bernie, etc.

This was a thread about making the specific argument you're mad at me for making

The date is January 20, 2030. President Rafael Theodore "Ted" Cruz, Canadian Zodiac Killer suspect, enters the Whitehouse for the first time as Commander-in-Chief. He giggles stupidly through his nose as he steps into the Oval Office, patchy beard catching his spittle. His prodigious belly jiggles beneath a too-tight dress shirt and suit jacket as he walks. The seams of his pants strain with effort.

"Oh boy, are we going to do great things in here," Ted says to no one in particular. His arms outstreched, he completes a full spin before plunging his face into Trump's chair and inhaling deeply. The prior administration's aides left it here for him, specifically as he requested. He savors the musky, faintly fecal aroma, his crooked member growing turgid, almost long enough to press against the inside of his trousers - but not quite. Teddy shivers at the sensation.

"EVERYONE OUT!" his voice cracking as he authoritatively commands his aides to leave the room. He can't take the arousal anymore. They stare at him open-mouthed, but they comply. They'll always comply now. Ted smiles smugly, assured of his stately presence and presidential demeanor. Kneeling before the well-worn leather chair, Cruz meticulously unbuttons all but the top button of his shirt and tosses his jacket aside. Arms shaking, he drags the shirttails erotically over Vienna sausage nipples. Giggling, he says to himself, "Wouldn't want to get you messy," before throwing the shirttails over his shoulders. He feels majestic. Like Count Chocula from the cereal boxes mommy would never buy him. But now mommy is so proud of him and he can buy all the Count Choccy he wants. And oh, does he want.

Ted whips out his phone but fumbles it. Wormlike, he inches across the floor to retrieve it. Retaking his position before the chair, he sniffs again. "Please look into the camera, no face detected," his phone reads. He looks, poutingly at the camera. He tries smiling. He tries frowning. But still, the phone will not recognize his very normal human face. A face mommy even called handsome once. He begrudgingly enters his password. He holds up his Whitehouse ID to log into PornHub and navigates to the incest section by muscle memory. "Hot Latina MILF Makes Teen Boy a Man" catches his fancy. "Teddy's been a good boy, mami," he whines in a feigned Cuban accent. His hands are cold and sweaty with excitement. As he pushes play, his fat finger slips and the share menu pops up.

"Oh no Teddy you've done it again, don't post it to Twitter like the last time - and on 9/11 too, you were so naughty," he shivers with an erotic sense of shame. "Oh, X, I'm sorry Elon," he says, looking over his shoulder. "No, it's okay, keep going," says Vice President Musk before crawling into an armoire, beady eyes glinting through the cracked door.

Teddy's finger hovers over the X on the share menu, trembling. He catches a faint whiff from the chair and spontaneously orgasms. The muscles of his hand sieze up. "Oh Teddy look what you've done..."

Ahh yes, that critical <0.5% of the population that would have tipped the scales to reverse the dems 3.5M vote deficit.

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Steelman:

The US is currently a fascist, imperialist state. It has brutalized the global south, indigenous people, and POCs generally since its founding and will continue to do so unless the status quo is disrupted and changed significantly.

The Democratic party supports the same militaristic policies and the same neoliberal economic system that the Republicans do. The primary difference between the parties are various social issues that may make life somewhat better or worse for US citizens, but will never address the core problems of fascism, imperialism, and capitalism. Both parties support and protect the status quo. This status quo only benefits the bourgeois class and rich white people and harms literally hundreds of millions of others around the world.

The Democratic party is the only one of the two major parties that the Left has any degree of leverage over since the Democrats want the Left to vote for them. So, organizing to essentially boycott the Democratic party is a powerful method of protest that could effect real policy change. It is possibly the only effective method of protest left since the US police & surveilance state is cracking down on protests and the Left has no chance protesting violently against the most powerful military the world has ever seen.

The only way to make that threat matter to the Democratic party is to follow through if the demands aren't met, even - or especially - if it means a second Trump term.

The liberal establishment has ignored and abandoned the working class for decades while dangling the carrot of milktoast social democratic reforms that rarely come to pass, but they blame the same people they abandoned for not energetically voting for them. They say it is a moral imperative to vote for them, but they are incapable of bettering the lives of working class people.

Strawman:

It would hurt my feelings too much to vote for COPmala Harm-us. Plus, Trump would let Putin annex Ukraine. Also, I'd risk touching grass if I went outside to participate in bourgeois electoralism. Gross.

Reality:

You can, and should, do more than one thing. Voting for Kamala is effectively playing defense against outright, full-throated fascism a la Mussolini even if you'd still consider the US fascist - it is clearly worse under Republicans. So vote, play defense, AND organize to raise class consciousness, provide mutual aid, protest when possible, and contribute to socialist causes. Letting Trump win would be a bad move. But, ultimately it is not the Left's fault that he won. He won the popular vole and the electoral college vote by a large margin - larger than all third party socialist/socialist-adjacent candidates' votes combined.

Thank you so much for the reply! That is extremely helpful.

What rifle and in what caliber do you most recommend for home defense and cheap, relatively plentiful ammo that is shortage-resistant?

I am considering a cheap Palmetto State Armory AR kit chambered for 5.56 NATO rounds so I could also fire .223s. Is brand particularly important, or are most ARs on the market good enough for practice and emergency use?

Thank you for your service

It really isn't leftists' fault, though. Trump easily won the popular vote and flipped georgia, pennsylvania, and wisconsin from their dem vote in 2020. Low voter turnout/voter suppression are the real culprits - along with dems failing to do almost any of the things that could've changed this outcome. Leftist memes did not lose dems the election. Voter apathy and the sheer popularity of fascism did.

Fascism is quite popular here. We have a lot of racists. We have a lot of uneducated people. We have a lot of self-interested petty-bourgeoise.