In my almost 80 years of life, yesterday takes the cake, I think.

[MineralMan]

I've been around for just a few months short of 80 years. So, I have lots of events I can look to from the past when an evenT strikes me as a big deal. Clearly the second inauguration of Donald J. Trump is such an event. No question about it. But how big is it?

In my opinion, it exceeds the impact of the string of political assassinations in this country in the 1960s. And those, beginning with JFK in 1963, were life-changing.

Landing on the moon was a big deal, too, but its impact was more of a slow transition to a more technological world than an instant life-changer.

I was only a week old when the USA dropped a nuclear weapon on Hiroshima. That was a huge thing, but I didn't recognize it as such at the time. That took years to hit me.

There was the 9/11 attack on the World Trade Center. I watched that unfold in CNN that day, from the moment the first video of the first plane popped onto the screen. Another huge deal, but not as impactful as that Hiroshima bomb. Still, it changed things here in the USA.

And now we have Trump's second inauguration. Its impact is still developing, of course, but its promise is more frightening to me than any of the other things I thought of as huge events. Will American democracy disappear into tyranny and chaos? I think it could. So, I'm going to put yesterday at the top of my list. I don't know whether I'll live to see the final result of it, but many people I know and care about are going to.

I'm worried. Very worried.

[PittBlue]

1. I agree...

I am terrified.

[Trust_Reality]

46. It is too late to be worried or frightened.

It's here.
Unite. Strategize for safety. Plan for trouble and trauma.

[DENVERPOPS]

70. Totally agree

We should prepare, in our own personal lives, to take care of ourselves and our families and true friends.

In a nut shell, Trump & the RepubliCON Party is prepared to crush everyone below the top 1% in short order, and reward loyalist sadists.

I, for one, will no longer back the Dem Party, until I see some sense of Leadership that has long been lacking.
And that person should have a spine and be ready and willing to fight back, big time.

For quite some time:
The Dems have been walking down the jungle path, swatting at mosquitoes, and oblivious to the herd of charging elephants....(pardon the pun)

........Taking the High Road, while facing a large force of those who specialize in Guerrilla Warfare, and three dimensional chess...

[MadameButterfly]

75. i agree

Starting with putting someone like AOC as committee head for oversight instead of the competent but invisible Connolly and the person Timothy Snyder recommends (i think a Conn. Senator, not sure which one) instead of Dick Dubin for the Judicialry Committee. Old school politics not working any more.

[magicarpet]

2. Fascism is no longer attempting to kick in the frontdoor and rip it off its hinges.,...

.... The Nazis are in the house and trying to takeover the deed to the property - and toss us out to the curb and gutters.

[people]

31. Perfect description -- unfortunately.

[FakeNoose]

42. Well they can't toss us out ... we're the ones who pay taxes to the government

You don't think the MAGAcult (or the oligarchs) are going to pay $$ to support the government, do you?

[magicarpet]

45. Well the Hispanic immigrants pay into Social Security and Medicare

.... but as non citizens are not allowed to draw a check for services. They pay in to keep Social Security afloat,... but never receive a pay out.

American workers if sent to slave camps and then forced to work for USA industries but paid little to none - dirt wages is a very good deal. They still pay taxes. Then locked into involuntary servitude were their meager wages pay for a bed, three meals, toilet facilities, showers, and exercise yard. Clothes, shoes, toiletries, and other odds and ends can be purchased at the re-education training camp's company store.

Industry is happy because they have ultra cheap labor. Labor/prisoners are happy because their basic needs are being met. 11 million illegal immigrants have been deported,... so the Fascists and White supremacist are giddy and happy.

[JMCKUSICK]

3. I'm with you,

I'm really scared too and as much as keeping a positive attitude will help me personally, I just hope it's justified for my country.

[bucolic_frolic]

4. Cheer up

25% tariffs are so clearly antagonistic internationally, and deflationary to the point of depression, plus he's going to raise prescription drug prices. These are reverse money multipliers. Contraction. Eggs may be $1.59 at some point, but no one will have the cash to buy them.

[walkingman]

5. The next 100 days will be very telling. I said before the election it would tell us what

kind of country we really are - I think we all know now. Our "exceptionalism" was just an illusion.

[dchill]

29. Exceptionally horrid, perhaps.

[OldBaldy1701E]

62. "I think we all know now."

Some of us knew a long time ago. We were derided and insulted as being 'un-American'.

[walkingman]

64. Yep, as they used to say on the drag...."Onward through the fog" ☮

[Ocelot II]

6. We will have to wait and see...

For now there's not much we can do other than pay attention, and also try to help those who will be harmed the most. We can volunteer for and contribute to organizations that assist immigrants, trans people, others in Trump's immediate crosshairs, because they'll need it.

[MineralMan]

7. We don't have much choice at this point.

We definitely have to be watchful and ready to protest moves that threaten our democracy. And, yes, we must look after those who have the least power and help them retain that.

[markie]

8. worried,

angry, sad, very worried, very sad, very angry..... me thinks the anger supersedes all the other emotions I so desperately want to do something

[MineralMan]

9. Anger is good, unless it keeps you from finding ways to

block the plans of the other side. Stay watchful and keep looking for ways to slow all of that down.

[B.See]

71. Yes, I too, more angry than

any of the other feelings. And not as much at MAGA, their antichrist, and his sychophants, because I always knew who and WHAT they were and are So that no low to which they go will surprise me.

No, I'm more angry at the ones who knew better or SHOULD have: the enablers, turncoats, disaffected, disengaged, 'undecided ' and the like.

The ones, with and without power and influence, who either failed to do their jobs, or rise to the occasion.

Those derelict of DUTY, to our country and our democracy.

What to do? Keep lending power to TRUTH and truth to power. Keep calling out their malice, their greed, their lies and deceptions.

The rest, they'll manage to fuck up on their own.

[patphil]

10. I'm 78, and have seen all the same stuff you have.

Trump is a monster, no doubt. But the most frightening part of his ascendancy back into the Oval Office is how many people wanted him there.
It's and indictment of the national consciousness to see how easily 77 million Americans were willing to elect a man who is dedicated to the end of Democracy in the United States.
Not to mention how many eligible Americans chose not to vote...nearly 90 million.

https://www.usnews.com/news/national-news/articles/2024-11-15/how-many-people-didnt-vote-in-the-2024-election

Apparently there are a whole lot of people in the US who don't care who runs the country.

[IA8IT]

30. FOX/Hate Radio consumed by voters equals garbage in garbage out voting results while believing they're patriots.

[Dem4life1234]

55. I remember

I remember when he first started popping his filthy mouth about politics. It was right around 2015.

I never thought people would take him seriously as there have been clowns like him (Palin) who were laughed out of politics.

And yet here we are. And he never seems to get his just karma. It's taking too long.

[calimary]

73. Sheesh, you can say that again.

“…he never seems to get his just karma.” It IS MOST DEFINITELY taking too long, dammit!

I’d suggest finding a local Indivisible group. Ours took a long break after the election and membership had slumped, but we’re back now. At the zoom meeting we had Monday evening there were 10 people, eight of ‘em new arrivals. And three of ‘em were interested in writing asks for our weekly Call to Action email! Woooohooooooooo!!!

[Dem4life1234]

80. I need to do that

Because I have been on quiet rage mode lately.

[BigmanPigman]

11. I've been thinking of Rip Van Winkle

and how I wish I could go to sleep and skip through the next few decades and see how things have changed due to the fucking moron without experiencing them.

[Ferryboat]

12. Those who reach the sunset years ,have seen things.

Not 80 but it's approaching. Living through world changing events, or those seemingly inconsequential moments. You don't forget.

Most people I encounter have no real sense of what has come before, or sense of historical trends.
As a child when playing war fighting German/Nazi, we knew who were the good guys.

NEVER thought that child hood play would be reality in the sunset years.

[BonnieJW]

25. I wish I could get my kids to leave the country eith my grandkids

I would help them, but they don't realize how bad it's going to get. I think my teen grandkids are going to experience the resurrection of the draft, both men women. And I think felon47 will use the military the same way putin uses his.

[young_at_heart]

48. I'll be 86 in September (if I'm still here)

For some reason I can't get Ken Burns' epic about the 'War in the Pacific' out of my head. I was too young to have any memory but Burns brought that horrible situation to life. What those poor boys and men went through and the sacrifices they made makes my blood boil at today's mess. Was it all for nothing? I fight depression every day.

[Botany]

13. Trump, Musk, the GRU, and the crypto boys cheated and our democracy might never be the same

Trump, “Musk was very good with those vote counting computers” aka center tabulators.
Those tabulators were part of our voting systems and never should have been under Musk’s
control or watch.

[Butterflylady]

16. I agree,

I wish someone would investigate, I don't believe dump won all those swing states. I know it will not do anything now but it could be useful in the future if we know what happened.

[Botany]

20. Trump has publicly admitting to Musk being into the Central Tabulators during the elections.

https://www.democraticunderground.com/100219921248

[MustLoveBeagles]

37. I didn't know that about Eloon the Nazi

I'm now not as quick to dismiss vote fraud claims. On election night I kept thinking about how the high enthusiasm for Kamala didn't translate to votes. Maybe it did

[Botany]

43. In every election post the overturning of Roe in every place no matter red and or blue voters turned out ...

… to support a woman’s right to choose her own health care and her own bodily autonomy but in November
of 2024 where were those voters? Trump told the World on September 4th that he didn’t need anymore
votes and that it was all taken care of. He know the fix was in.

Btw google France, Musk, and the GRU and see if things look familiar.

[Dem4life1234]

56. That is the terrifying part

When you start dabbling in voting machines that is an issue.

[Botany]

58. The central tabulators were further down the line from the voting machines

So when people say the voting machines are secure they are right but it doesn’t
mean the election was clean. The central tabulators I think are what Trump was
calling the vote counting computers.

[questionseverything]

63. I would bet they don't do it the same way every time

First tptb give out felonies like candy so people can’t vote

Then they make it hard to vote by requiring two forms of identification, which cost money btw

Then they supply two machines for thousands of poor people and many machines for a few wealthy folks

If things are still moving too quickly, oops now the electronic poll book won’t open so no one can vote

Of course they can always call in a bomb threat to stop voting

Now at the end of the day if the scanner “misses” 2 or 3 votes a precinct, no one would notice and even if they did, everyone would assume it was an honest glitch ( no one onsite would ever have to change anything, it would be programmed that way before delivery)

If all of this isn’t enough to guarantee a republican victory, shave a couple more votes per precinct on the reporting page either by missing dem votes or adding repub votes or just the tried and true “undervote”/ overvote “ story

And no one can ever prove they did it because no one in a position of power will demand we hand count our paper ballots and then carefully oversee those numbers being transferred to the reporting page

Ty for being brave enough to address this

[yellow dahlia]

67. We keep spreading the message. Thanks

How can someone manipulate (aka steal) the election, and then be allowed to keep the spoils?

I ask the question every day,

[99MainSt]

14. It was truly a day of infamy

The United States of America will continue under the same name but may not persevere with a government "of the people, by the people and for the people". I consider the Trump era to be the culmination of gradual decline dating back to 1981 when Reagan fired the striking Air Traffic Controllers. This second election of Trump is monumentally unfortunate for all but a small handful of the American People.

IMO, the dropping of an atomic bomb on Hiroshima is not really in the same category. It was the beginning of an era of existential threat to all Humankind that continues to this day. Unlike the climate crisis, there is nothing gradual about a nuclear conflagration. The fact that Hiroshima and Nagasaki are, so far, the only instances when nuclear weapons were actually used on people is testimony to their unparalleled potential for harm.

[LittleGirl]

15. I turned 65 last October

and I feel like we are witnessing the end of America. All I know is that I can't wait to read the news (because I won't be watching) that 45 has kicked the bucket. Gone from our lives. Forever. That day will be a celebration around the world. I hope it comes soon, very soon.

[Jarqui]

17. One Golden Showers video may have been all it took to destroy America ... nt

[Lucky Luciano]

77. Till Lindemann thought of that

Warning…it’s as offensive as it sounds. Heavy as F too.

?si=zozw_AVHoqd3NX9u

[Celerity]

18. K & R

Happy birthday in advance, btw!

[MineralMan]

19. LOL! Don't rush it...

[Celerity]

22. lol

[johnnyfins]

21. Well, TSF pardoned the J6 criminals.

1500 of them, including the seditious conspiracy mfers. If he is willing to do that, he is capable of anything. Keep your eyes wide open for atrocity.

[LastLiberal in PalmSprings]

69. And the SCOTUS pardoned him.

So there is now a line of Untouchables which extends from the very top to the very bottom.

I've already made arrangements for an airplane to tow a huge "WE TOLD YOU SO" banner at every red-themed (e.g., NASCAR races) event whenever Felon 47 signs away another right or benefit we've held most dear.

[twodogsbarking]

23. 73 on Pi day. Trump has fooled some but many are like him. That disturbs me the most.

JFK assassination changed things. Walter Cronkite crying. Jackie, Caroline and John jr. standing and watching the funeral procession. Shit you don't forget, but some must have.

[Codifer]

24. I am your age.

For so many years I had warned the odd regulars at the pub that this nazification of the United States would be the result of rush limbaugh bullshit. Maybe I became a joke... a fool. I wish I had been wrong.

[republianmushroom]

26. chuckle chuckle, Man it is not over yet, wait for it more is coming.

48 months and counting, be patient we have been told.

[dchill]

33. 48 months and counting...

That's gotta be some serious Garland-jitsu. Ninja style.

[republianmushroom]

35. Yup

[bluestarone]

27. One thing. Maybe we'll finally

See how many military and Government people support this monster. We have to know exactly what we are up against. We will ALL be surprised by the huge number that is. Sit back, because our country is in for a hell of a ride.

[spanone]

28. 'America' just opened the door to nazis and fascists and released 1500 insurrectionists.

Welcome to the 'golden age' of dictatorship

[krkaufman]

32. Second plane

There was the 9/11 attack on the World Trade Center. I watched that unfold in CNN that day, from the moment the first video of the first plane popped onto the screen.

A thread in the last couple days posted a meme image from FB or somewhere relating yesterday to 9/11, specifically to the second plane hitting the WTC towers. When the second plane hit, the danger/threat was clear.

[Niagara]

60. Here's the thread

https://www.democraticunderground.com/100219924993

[Vinca]

34. I'll be 76 in a couple of weeks and I feel exactly the same as you do. It's frightening.

This morning, I woke up at 4 a.m. and couldn't get back to sleep worrying over it all. It's like we're being held prisoners by a bunch of seriously deranged loony tunes.

[Magoo48]

36. Thanks MM.

I too don’t know if I’ll see the end of this term or the eventual outcome of this fight for Democracy.
But, as you say, I do have kids, grandkids, and friends who will.

I’ve decided to do all an old man can do as often as I can do it. Leaving “it” to be defined as needs be. I’m not gonna piss and moan about every outrageous thing he does; it’s a waste of time and words.
I believe the old money power base were scared shitless by the 60s and slow marched us to where we find ourselves now using a loosely nit plan with a overriding goal of protecting wealth, privilege, and capitalism. Here we are, where vulture/extraction capitalism must inevitably terminate; fascism.

[MineralMan]

38. I appreciate your response.

As for what I might be able to do, I don't know. I hope I find some opportunities, though, to convince others.

By the way, I've been meaning to compliment your on your resistance symbol.

[mnhtnbb]

79. Overriding goal of protecting

white, male wealth, privilege, and capitalism.

The white patriarchy is to be protected at all costs.

[Initech]

39. It's been an extremely disturbing 24 hours.

And as Christopher Titus said, we're in the opening credits of this shit show.

And all of this was because some folks couldn't handle being locked down or having to wear masks. And they listened to stupid idiots on social media instead of facts.

[Jilly_in_VA]

40. 80 in June

We are going to St. Thomas in March. That. of course, is in the American Virgin Islands. One of the day trips we have planned takes us to an island in the BVI. I'm tempted to hop off and ask for asylum. A person can dream, can't she?

[azureblue]

41. In my opinion

Trump is a chaos agent - he is making a lot of smoke and noise to keep the rubes hooked. But it's a cover for the rich (and Trump) to fleece the country, which is why he had them on stage with him and not GOP congress people.

The Rubes - MAGATs - will never admit they were fooled. They will go over the cliff still singing Trump's praises. Even as Trump makes their lives harder.

We can't do anything to change the minds of MAGAs - they will have to learn the hard way. And the hard way is here..

Trump has dementia. But Dementia progresses, and Trump is getting worse. Eventually there will be no way to hide it.. As long as the media covers for him, his handlers can keep him more or less acting sane (even his inauguration speech was crazy) he will stay in power. The GOP are letting him run his grifts, so they can get rich, too.

[Joinfortmill]

44. Me too. This is more like 1933

[Hekate]

47. We're close behind you, in my household. I didn't think I'd live to witness my country roll back the 20th century

We were born nearly at the halfway mark of the 20th century and along with traumas, we experienced so much progress, and benefitted from the progress that came before we were born.

I was proud of social and scientific progress — and those were the American achievements I thought could not and would not be taken from us. The terrors of “childhood diseases” that crippled and killed huge numbers of children before the age of 5 were removed from our lives, and then tragically forgotten.

The creation of this SCOTUS made me very uneasy, and their actions to undo voting rights and access rattled me. But it was Dobbs and its interior commentary that made me look at the entire 20th century as a narrative that was being smashed. Too many people said overturning Roe “took us back 50 years, “ but it didn’t — it was a gigantic step backwards to 1900 and everything was at risk.

Those with vast power and vaster money — really hate America and its people.

[MineralMan]

49. Yes. This is going in the wrong direction, for sure.

We have always had a reactionary political wing, but we have always managed to keep it in the minority. Now it is rising again. Trump is nothing but a tool in that quest by reactionaries.

I remember the John Birch Society and its attempt to go far right in the 50s and 60s. Most of those people are dead now, but the battle against their ideas continues. We have forgotten or lost track of that, and we're paying for it now.

Trump is a distraction. He is most definitely not in charge. Others are. I don't have any answers, though, nor solutions.

[Hekate]

51. Yes, this

[Beck23]

50. We are at the 4th turning.

When most of those who experienced the horrors of the past are gone, and now the lessons have to be learned again.

[Aussie105]

52. Trump is out to punish all of America for . . . something.

He hates himself, he hates all of you, and that includes any member of the human race.

Total loyalty is demanded, and even then, he can barely stand you.

Decent into madness, collective chaos, it's going to be a bumpy ride!

How long before the faithful start thinking it is one step too far?

Increased price of groceries, unavailable commodities because the workers are on a bus to a detention center, pardoning the J6 boyz, putting up drug prices, there are only two genders, what will it take?

[Dem4life1234]

53. When they man said

When that man said that Apartheid Clyde was good with computers, that told me what I needed to know and how fucked we are.


When they start messing with elections, that is a problem.



It's that helpless feeling, and for the first time, I do not feel safe in this country.

[RANDYWILDMAN]

54. The sheer amount of ignorance and hate

is staggering

[totodeinhere]

57. Sometimes I think I am lucky to be in the same age group you are in.

I want to continue a long life, but at the same time I accept my mortality. I don't think I will live to see the worst of it. I fear for younger generations because they will live to see it.

[kskiska]

59. I'm 80 and I hate to think it's going to end like this.

I was born under FDR during WWII. I was sitting on my dad's shoulders when Harry Truman come through my home town on a train during his 1948 campaign. The dispiritedness I feel today is at a new low.

[Jspur]

72. I'm 41 and I was born under Reagan who was the complete

opposite of FDR. All I heard growing up was how great this country once was. I felt the for my whole entire life I was watching America's decline in slow motion from being born into Reaganomics to seeing 9/11 as a young adult and then the two wars Bush started and then the financial crisis and now Trump being president again. Granted there were some mirages along the way such as the 90's boom economy and Obama being elected as president that at times these mirages masked the decline of this country, but the decline was always there in my eyes. As weird as it sounds, I'm not in despair about what has happened in the last 48 hours with Trump but then again, I'm a cynical person by nature. I expected him to do what he did. The problem with this country is you have a combination of too many people who are racist and also who are brainwashed to worship the rich. It's the weakness of this country and I haven't seen this country being able to overcome this weakness in my lifetime and Trump is just a reflection of this weakness.

The only positive I take out of this is it's given me a new purpose in my life which is for the rest of my life I will be devoted against fighting against these corrupt elites. It will be a long battle, but we have to change the current messaging and narrative in this country that these billionaires are good people and that they are geniuses that care and know what is best for the public when in reality they are selfish and are reckless when it comes to the safety of the public. Not enough of people are convinced yet that these billionaires are evil which is one of the reasons why Trump was able to win.

[moondust]

61. Complicity this widespread

is rare. Echoes of 1930s Germany. Only this time there are a million little Goebbels out there stoking hate and propaganda on some of the largest platforms. Even Hitler spent nine months in prison after his failed coup, which obviously wasn't enough but it was more than nothing.

[Keepthesoulalive]

65. We must resist

We must do little things that make us uncomfortable, turning off the news channels they are not good guys, no breakfast newspaper, finding other ways to communicate with family and friends. Don’t feed the beast that is going to eat you. Buy as little as you can and try to make it local. Join your local party if it is safe and find like minded angels. The Unitarian church stood by southern blacks and some paid the ultimate price. This is really bad but we must push back any way we can even through our ptsd.

[PatSeg]

66. Yep, this is the big one

It is going to get a whole lot worse before it gets better. I doubt I'll live long enough to see a better world spring from this nightmare.

[yellow dahlia]

68. I worry most about my nieces and nephews,

and their little ones.

I wish I could fix this world for them.

And I worry about our most vulnerable in society who will lose their safety nets.

I too am very worried.

[C Moon]

74. Friends from the UK say they watch on thinking we're idiots, but also fearing what will happen to the world.

[True Blue American]

76. I remember the 2 bombs very well and was so relieved

Because I know how many men were fighting both wars. None of us know how destructive it was.

[returnee]

78. I remember some others.

-Nixon/Bush/Reagan’s treasonous violations of the Logan Act
-Bush v Gore (with all the voting irregularities that preceded it)
-Voting irregularities in BUSH v Kerry, particularly in Ohio
-Citizen’s United
-Congress’ failure to convict TSF on two impeachments
-SCOTUS failure to remove TSF from the Colorado ballot
-SCOTUS (unnecessarily delayed) immunity ruling

The Kennedy and King assassinations (in my lifetime) and the Business Coup against FDR and his failure to prosecute the offenders (not in my lifetime) warned us of the vehemence, determination, and boldness of the right in overthrowing democracy. It’s been coming for a long time, with each step as important as the next.