Light at the end of the tunnel

[angrychair]

Yes, he won the election but this is it. His power and reach has limits now. He cannot run again. We are already seeing it. Senators and others are already balking at his choices and his demands for uncontested recess appointments. Pushing back on Musk as his special advisor position and the types of cuts they are suggesting.
As far as his replacement, the MAGA cult is at the end of their rope.There is no Republican with his cult of personality. He has made a point to crush the life out of any possible rivals. Now that the election is over they need to move on to figure out who they have in an era without TSF. They have to move on to find a viable candidate of some kind. It sure as hell isn't Vance. Or DeSantis. Or Nikki Haley.
They are hurting and the playbook they have been using won't work next time. They won't have the Democrats to blame for all the nation's woes next time. They problem is that is their whole shtick. They've spent the last 5+ years blaming Democrats but they is going to be near impossible to blame Democrats when they are the people in charge.
While this is likely to be a horrible four years, it will be the last time we have to see or hear him again.

[Skittles]

1. they will never, EVER stop blaming Dems

REPUKES NEVER, EVER TAKE RESPONSBILITY

[angrychair]

4. That might be true my dear friend

But who is going to believe them? They will have at least two years in which they control everything.
This election was an anomaly. They will destroy any aspirations for the Latino vote when trump does his "dictator on day one" thing and starts putting brown people in concentration camps for forced deportations and the price of groceries skyrockets and tariffs that make interest rates rise and costs of goods to go through the roof.
The only people to blame will be Republicans.

[Skittles]

5. the CULT will believe them

and the election in 2016 was an anomaly - THIS one was confirmation over half the voters approve of authoritarianism

[Ex Lurker]

7. Most people who voted for Trump are not cultists

The true believers are a relatively small number. The others can be reached.

[Skittles]

9. bottom line is, they fell for Trump's con

doesn't say much about their critical thinking skills, does it?

[angrychair]

12. No, it doesn't

But reality is one hell of a brutal teacher.
There is a lot of people just months away from learning a lesson they will never forget.
It won't be easy for any of us. Especially the most vulnerable in our society.
Fortunately there is a lot of good, honest people, a lot of lawyers, activists and people like us, out there that will fight him for every single millimeter of ground. It will be ugly. We may not win every fight. But neither will they.
It's ok. You have every right to feel the way you do and anytime you need to scream I'm here for you. Scream way. We got this.

[Alice B.]

24. Just reading a Jamelle Bouie Bluesky post on this very thing

There’s a difference between his base of lunatic followers and the “marginal” voter that actually gave him the win. There was another in the thread that said something to the effect of “people think they all have a red hat stashed in their closet,”

Sorry for not linking; I’m doing this on my phone and struggling back and forth between the app and DU. I’ll have to come back and edit this with it.

[travelingthrulife]

19. I've already seen this movie. They can and will believe him.

[geomon666]

2. Be cautious...

Sometimes the light at the end of the tunnel is actually a train speeding towards you.

[angrychair]

8. No

As I've have said and will continue to say, it's easy to become jaded and callous. I mean ",jaded" should be my middle name. I get it. Not only do I genuinely believe what I'm saying I cannot believe anything else. My mind and body cannot afford any other outlook. If I go down that road I will be an empty husk long before his four years is over and I refuse to let that man take my body and mind from me.
To be unequivocally clear, the light at the end of the tunnel is hope.

[geomon666]

32. Don't get me wrong...

I do hope you're right.

[MrWowWow]

3. The light at the end of the tunnel is

an approaching train.

[angrychair]

10. No

As I've have said and will continue to say, it's easy to become jaded and callous. I mean ",jaded" should be my middle name. I get it. Not only do I genuinely believe what I'm saying I cannot believe anything else. My mind and body cannot afford any other outlook. If I go down that road I will be an empty husk long before his four years is over and I refuse to let that man take my body and mind from me.
To be unequivocally clear, the light at the end of the tunnel is hope.

[MrWowWow]

11. Believe ANYTHING you want!

It doean't make it so. Desktop hippy hopefulness is a spectator's sport. Democracy is not.

[angrychair]

13. Friend you can yell all you want

I am unmoved. Nothing I've said implied what you said. Not sure why you are lashing out at me for sharing a message of hope but that's ok. I get it. Scream away if that helps. Can't hurt my feelings.
I focused on the future. A future that will never again include a trump as president.

[Blue Full Moon]

28. Both of you are right.

Always hope for the best and prepare for the worst. To win elections the democrats need to be more aggressive and don't be afraid to go after their opponents.

[The Wandering Harper]

17. "The light at the end of the tunnel is an approaching train"

"Believe ANYTHING you want!"

[recovering_democrat]

6. Hope for the future

I watched several football games today and this message seemed to be something that cheered me up for the future.

Several teams had some terrible experiences, problems, losses, and seemed very sad with results. Lots of others were encouraging the future for all of them. I will look forward to the future with those results.

[kelly1mm]

14. There will not be any more elections, or so I was told right here on DU, if President Trump won. nt

[angrychair]

15. It's easy to become jaded

To close the door. Pull the covers over your head and never come out again. I so want to do that I feel it down to my bone marrow. I won't be doing that though.
I have a 6 yr old niece though. I have her mother. My sister that I love with all my heart. I have a spouse. That has had me body and soul for over 30 years. I have dear friends. I have family.
I have no better place than here.
No, there will be other elections. There will be a future in this country.
If there are no more elections what would I tell my 6 yr old niece? I cannot give up on her future because what may come is hard or imperfect or ugly. She deserves a better future than one motivated solely on hate and vengeance.

There will be an election in 2028 and we have to be ready for it.

[Freddie]

26. And 2026

If we can survive the next 2 years. If enough people FINALLY see what’s happening we can win some midterms. The House was so very close.

[kelly1mm]

16. If there will be future elections (let me guess 'the most important election ever!') then I was lied to

right here on DU and by Democratic lawmakers. The VP Harris campaign specifically said President Trump is a fascist. And now we are making sure there is a smooth transition ...... to fascism?????

Part of me wants to believe it is true that President Trump is about to engage in fascist rule and there will be no more elections or else it was all misinformation/disinformation/hyperbole from the Democratic side.

[morillon]

18. Does it have to be one or the other?

I think there is an absolute danger this will occur. It's right there in front of us in what they've said they want to do, and I don't feel like it's hyperbole to say there's a danger of fascism. We have a chance to stop it, to make whatever "good trouble" we can, in the words of the illustrious John Lewis.

The happy future, IMO, is that those of us who CAN turn this ship in a better direction DO just that, and we never have to find out what it's like to have Putin-style elections or none at all. The happier future would've been that people weren't so deluded, and they heeded these warnings, and we didn't have to go to all this good trouble to clean up their mess. But that's not what we've got.

[John Shaft]

22. Am I the only one who feels like they

got . . . took? Been had?

Been swallowing shit my whole life, why does it feel like the joke is on the rest of us who aren't billionaires?

I wonder what kind of persuasion it would take for a person to abandon their principles just to save their own skin.

[travelingthrulife]

20. Trump told you he would be a dictator on Day 1 and he also told you that you

would never have to vote again after this election. Trump said he might not leave the office this time.

[kelly1mm]

23. Yes. So like I said at the beginning, there will be no more elections. nt

[Blue Full Moon]

29. That could be a possibility

Wait to see if any of the republicans are loyal to The United States of America or are they loyal to Mammon.

[morillon]

21. Making a prediction: defeat by a trillion papercuts

Last time he was in office, we had the big, amazing, everyone's-talking-about-it protests. And we may still have those. I can totally see that happening.

I think this time around there's going to be a trillion papercuts, malicious compliance, hand-to-hand mental and rhetorical combat. Some days, even thinking about these damn people is gonna be fucking exhausting. I've already had a day or two like that. We don't even have to be coordinated, just focused and determined to throw a wrench in anything they try. There are a lot of us.

They need us -- our money, our work, our clicks, and our eyeballs. I think we can deny them a lot of the latter two. I'm already using AI engines and feed readers to streamline my news reading so I don't read every last shitty little "OMG!" story about him and his cadre of dumbasses. That is so very toxic, and I don't lose anything by skipping his bullshit or just reading a 3-line summary. Having him on screen gets them eyeballs and ad money. Starve 'em out, I say.

[dalton99a]

25. Very likely no hope and joy in the next four years

And no, there is no karma. She's giving blow jobs for drinks in a bar

[The Madcap]

27. Don't forget

Father time is looking at the clock in eager anticipation

[republianmushroom]

30. But there are work arounds for the convicted felon.

Such as, he runs as vice president on a ticket with Jr. as president, after being sworn in, Jr. steps aside guess who becomes president for the third time. The best deterrent is his age and health both physical and mental. But there are work arounds.
45 months and counting

[angrychair]

31. No

No person shall be elected to the office of the President more than twice, and no person who has held the office of President, or acted as President, for more than two years of a term to which some other person was elected President shall be elected to the office of the President more than once.

So even if that plays out like you say he has already served 8 years and serving again would violate the "more than once" part of the amendment.
Not to mention the idea of this country electing Don Jr as president is so absurd it's absolutely ridiculous. That guy is as unlikable as he is stupid.

[republianmushroom]

33. Well you know who owns the supreme court.

The convicted felon did win the last election. But age and health, both physical and mental, will do him in before the end of this term. I don't hink it will be the courts.
Hell, he lead an insurrection, with no investigation and was awarded impunity by the Supreme Court.
Politics has gotten strange and is getting stranger.
45 months and counting.