We Are A Nation In Extreme Crisis Right Now We Just Do Not Know It Yet.

[TheMastersNemesis]

We are like the passengers on the Titanic. We are sinking and the reality really will not hit us until the last minute. Unless we can stop Trump and the GOP in the 1st hundred days we will not recognize this country anymore. And our allies will mock us and deride us because we have elected a complete dangerous insane fool as president.

I really hate to be so cynical and pessimistic but how can I feel good about anything right now with the shit that is coming down already?

[still_one]

1. I think a lot of folks here are sensing it pretty quickly

[Cosmocat]

66. This country is now an emergent authoritarian fascist

State. I've been posting it here and telling people this since November 8th.

[still_one]

68. oh yeah, you are right on that

[vlyons]

2. I know it!

God damned straight I know it! I am extremely worked up over what Traitor Trump has done to the EPA, CDC, and FDA with all the gag orders on scientists.

[DesertFlower]

3. our fears are coming about. i'm watching

MSNBC right now and heard about his executive orders for tomorrow. one is to build the fence.

[superpatriotman]

4. Agree

Congress cannot save us. Obama cannot save us. Bernie, Hillary...they cannot save us.

This is going to take something far more angry. Far more offensive.

This is going to get messy or we lose the republic.

[Katara]

31. Checks and Balances

But Congress should save us. The Republicans are so power hungry to push through their agenda, and destroy anything Obama created, they cannot seem to see there is an insane person at the helm. Or maybe they just don't care. The only one who has voiced any real concern is John McCain. That this is happening is unfathomable, I fear for this country. I am disgusted with our Republican Congress. They have NO PRINCIPLES.

[hedda_foil]

43. Welcome to DU Katara. Very nice first post :-)

[world wide wally]

47. I'm afraid you are absolutely right.

This is some serious shit.
We were all worried about Trump but his enablers (the entire GOP) are a true fucking menace to America as well. I knew they were assholes, but I honestly couldn't come to grips with them being out and out traitors to the country.
I am looking to the CIA to come up with something now that can't be denied.
The entire GOP is working for fucking Putin!

[roamer65]

5. I am praying the deep state actually does exist.

[manicraven]

51. Me too.

[TDale313]

6. I think many of us do know. n/t

[Phoenix61]

7. I think we do know it

I think the only good thing about Twitler's cabinet picks is they are hostile to the agencies they will be running but have no idea what they are doing. I don't see the staff being particularly accommodating in any manner. Heads of agencies can issue orders, edicts and decrees all day long but I think actually implementing anything is going to prove difficult. Bureaucracy moves very slowly.

[Doreen]

8. I have known it!!!

We are in a lot of danger.

[CentralMass]

9. Yes, breathe deep the gathering gloom.

[AJT]

39. Watch light fade from every room.

[Jacob Boehme]

10. Yes, and while we're sinking on our 'Titanic'....

... The Republicans are busy rearranging the deck chairs.

[TheMastersNemesis]

11. Meanwhile They Are Seizing The Lifeboats And Throwing Out The Women And Children.

[colsohlibgal]

12. Some Of Us Do

His muzzle edict for various agencies is another play right out of Hitler's Third Reich.

Americans who are not Nazis or big racists and voted for this disaster better wake up fast.

He is not your friend. He lied through his teeth and is still lying. He is a boastful lying liar.

Millions of illegal voters????? He is clinically insane.

I am planning on flying to Paris in June, to visit a friend, and maybe I should investigate staying there.

[democratisphere]

13. I knew this was going to be an extreme crisis long ago.

I just never knew it was going to be this extreme. All rethugliCONs have sold their souls to their master.

[regnaD kciN]

17. ...or this fast.

I thought a time might well come when Mad King Donald, sensing his political prospects fading, might seek to use, uh, "extra-Constitutional methods" to keep his grasp on power. I just never imagined we'd see that barely five days into his administration...and at a time where there was yet not even remotely a need for it.

[AgadorSparticus]

14. We have all feared it for the past 2.5 months.

It is it out control. I wonder if the GOP will stand with all this

[TheMastersNemesis]

15. No. GOP Will Fan The Flames.

[zentrum]

16. Yes, something is already shattered.

The paradigm is shattered. The idea of America is shattered.

[yuiyoshida]

18. CALIFORNIA is a life boat....

I feel fairly safe here, unless Trump sends in troops to arrest Governor Jerry Brown and take over this state like the Fascist he his.

[LisaL]

19. But we don't all live in CA.

[yuiyoshida]

22. True however...

You are welcome to move here, no one is asking for "papers please!" at least not yet...

[LisaL]

28. We aren't all going to fit in CA.

[yuiyoshida]

32. California is almost the size of the country of Japan....

and their population is around ...127.3 million (2013) We got room to grow!

[GReedDiamond]

71. Yes. As an L.A. area 40+ year resident, believe me...

...we are out of room right now; rents skyrocketed in the last 3-4 years; 50,000+ homeless on the streets/living in cars and recreational vehicles; freeways clogged, surface streets overburdened and in need of much repair; and it's too difficult and/or expensive to park your car when you get where you're going.

As a result, I hardly go anywhere anymore. I may have to turn to uber...

[sarcasmo]

23. Glad my lease is up.

[yuiyoshida]

24. Plenty of room in this state....

Jerry Brown will not take shit from anyone, and if they want to get tough, well then they Will have to invade us, like Hitler Invaded Poland...

[progree]

27. With the Raiders leaving the state, doesn't that turn California into a desolate wasteland? nt

[yuiyoshida]

30. I am sure you are kidding...

Sports franchises never ran this State.

[progree]

37. Yes, I was kidding. I know you are a big fan. The Autumn Wind and all that.

Seriously, we need some of the surplus Democrats to move from California to some purple states, not the other way around.

Edited to add: California also has had its share of notorious Republican governors.

I was born in Long Beach California, and that was my "home state" during my childhood even though I lived overseas most of the time. My parents and sister have lived in San Diego since the early 1980s.

I just gave away a vineyard to Population Connection in December -- 15 miles west of Fresno. It's been in the family since the 1920's.

[AJT]

40. Those of us that are retired

may lose Social Security, then you'd have a state filled with destitute old people to support. Not financially viable.

[yuiyoshida]

55. You know there was a time a ton of people got in their

covered wagons and ran out to California with the though of gold in "Them There Hills:"...and it was a huge undertaking.. That pretty much worked out, didn't it?

[AJT]

57. Sadly there was also a time

when people got in their wagons, and trucks, and poured into California from the dust bowl of the Midwest and got beaten and there were laws passed to send them back.......

[yuiyoshida]

58. of course not as bad as the

Chinese exclusion act. This allowed Chinese to set up their own Chinatowns in California to survive and the only jobs they could have was working their own Restaurants and or Clothes cleaning business. Most were told to get out and go back to China, and even in some cases (Santa Barbara) their Chinatown was burned to the ground.

[woodsprite]

54. I think he is planning on "punishing"

Sanctuary states and cities. I'll have to see if I can find where I read it yesterday.

[yuiyoshida]

56. He can try...This is still a free country

until its not.

[The Liberal Lion]

20. It's bigger than trump

Trump is only a symptom of a much larger disease. What is happening we can resist to some extent, but we can not stop. The collapse of western civilization is what i am talking about. We are in the end days of capitalism. It was already failing during the 70's, we just failed to listen to those who were warning us (myself included). As the fabric of capitalism frays, and we don't begin a transformation into a more economizing, and egalitarian economic system, so to does our social fabric fray and become ever looser. We can march, I hope it helps, I fear it won't. There are no decent republicans (elected) left. They have all signed on for madness. We (liberals and progressives) have no offices of power. The best thing we can do is become self sufficient and prepare for the deluge. I say this to you because this was a very on-point post, but it doesn't see the larger issues. In 2008/2009 we had the opportunity to transform our system into an economy that works for everyone. We have the proper tools and technology to do it. We failed, we decided to once again save capitalism. And when we did we sealed our feat to have this orange madman sitting in a place he does not belong, the White House. I'm afraid that the Rubicon has been crossed. Correctly you have surmised that this ship is going down, but you need not sit on the deck waiting for your fate. There are still lifeboats, get in, and don't look back.

[hedda_foil]

45. Exactly, Liberal Lion. Exactly.

We knew what needed to be done in '08-'09. We had FDR's template to work from. We had the tools and technology to save ourselves and the planet. But we didn't use them and here we are as civilization is overthrown by an orange monkey.

[sarcasmo]

21. Fast and furious. Like a boxer get knocked senseless.

[BadgerMom]

25. I know it!

[Cha]

26. Some of us do

[Stonepounder]

29. I made a post on Sunday that was roundly panned saying we were totally screwed.

Amazing how attitudes change in just a couple of days.

Rachael Maddow is reporting tonight that the EPA has basically been shut down. All grands a programs frozen, no talking to anyone, no emails, no social media, even speaking engagements have been cancelled 'until further notice'.

Smoke and mirrors, folks, smoke and mirrors.

That's what all the big, silly lies are all about. Watch the big talking head and pay no attention to the man behind the curtain.

And how long do you think that we really have free press?

[workinclasszero]

49. We will be drinking lead in no time like Flint and never know it

Streams and rivers will become cesspools of filth.

National parks shutdown and sold to friends of Trump for pennies an acre.

Stripped mined and clear cut into oblivion.

America what did you do, you fucking FOOLS?!

[Thekaspervote]

33. Agree phoenix61

My sister and husband both worked a decade at Argon Ntl lab in Chicago. The wheels turn very slowly. Schumer, which I feel is getting a bad rap here is truly holding their feet to the fire. He is a wise sly fox... he's simply keeping his friends close and his enemies closer. Don't be fooled thinking he's making back room deals with don the con. He's much smarter than that.

[tenorly]

34. We made it through Hoover and Bush, and we'll make it through this.

[Hamlette]

38. Having lived through it, Reagan was worse than Bush IMHO

he started the whole anti-intellectualism, he basically destroyed California's wonderful system of free junior colleges, he started the whole supply side trickle down nonsense and talked about limited nuclear war. Think about that for a minute. We all think nuclear war is so awful no one will dare start one but Reagan said we could have a little nuclear war and it wouldn't be that bad.

Trump is all that times a thousand but it started with Reagan. Bush was just too stupid to play his role, or he maybe wasn't as bad as all that. He might have screwed it up because he wouldn't go for the juggler. Yes, I miss him now. Reagan, I still hate with every fiber of my being. Maybe it was because I was 30 when he was elected and know we survived and had a few good years after that so Bush didn't look so bad.

I think Trump is worse. I honestly have no way to predict what will happen. We are at the mercy of the republicans in congress.

[tenorly]

41. Reagan got the neo-fascist ball rolling, I agree.

The national experience itself though was no doubt more painful for most people under Dubya than under Bonzo.

As for Trump, I guess it's early to make predictions as yet - but he could indeed outdo Bush in terms of the severity of the coming debacle.

God help us all.

[Crunchy Frog]

69. Hoover gets a bad rap.

Take a look into what he was doing before becoming president, especially during and after WWI. Compare it with what Trump's spent his life doing, and then get back to me.

Bush was horrific, and helped pave the way for Trump, but was still operating within recognizable restraints and norms, and had real checks on his power.

We're now entering terra incognita, and I'm not at all sure that we will make it through in any kind of recognizable form.

[tenorly]

70. I agree to some extent. He wasn't the real problem; it was Treasury Sec. Andrew Mellon.

It was Mellon who created the backdrop for the Great Depression - and did so intentionally, with a Charles Koch-like "my fair share is everything" mentality.

We know this from Mellon's own words, recapitulated in the the Mellon Doctrine:

“Liquidate labor, liquidate stocks, liquidate the farmers, liquidate real estate - so we may pick the wrecks from less competent people.”

Hoover's unforgivable mistake was to adopt this as policy.

In fairness though, Hoover may not have had much of a choice, as powerful as Mellon was. It was our incredible good fortune that FDR had cojones as big as he had.

[Thekaspervote]

35. Please don't be all doom and gloom

I'm not saying this because I'm wealthy or think that I will remain untouched by all that is happening. When you give in to despair, you/we have lost before we have even put up a fight. That's what they want. Don't give in don't give up please I beg all of you!!

[riversedge]

36. yup.

[marlakay]

42. Talking to neighbor about cabinet picks

She said its obvious he is trying to end the government with picking people to stop every department.

When you think about all the bankruptcies he has had he must believe destroying things is ok.

He wants to be known as doing big things, but that only works if the replacement is better.

When i read of his temperament I fear he will punish us for speaking up, but we can't stop because maybe he'll have a mental breakdown and that will make him step down.

[hay rick]

48. Bankruptcy is the only word longer than two syllables in his vocabulary.

It's so much easier to break things than build things. I see a presidential temper tantrum (Trumper tantrum?) in our future. God help us all.

[susanna]

44. Oh, I'm well aware.

Rearranging the deck chairs as we speak.

I don't know the answer, TMN. I just don't know. His followers refuse to see what is right in front of them. How DO you combat that? I'm still working on it. As fast as I can. It may not be enough, but I will have tried.

[workinclasszero]

46. Threatening to felony arrest American citizens for using their right to protest and assemble

Killing ACA and sentencing 40000 plus Americans to painful and needless deaths per year.

Promising to destroy Medicaid by making it a block grant to states.

Imposing a gag order on every part of the government, threatening to invade the third largest American city with "feds" (national guard?) to impose martial law? Shoot to kill on site? Just plain terrorize the citizens of Chicago??

Saber rattling against China with its 2,285,000 million man army and nuclear weapons, viciously attacking the news media, telling bald face easily proven false lies over and over again.

And that's week one.

Trump is a tyrant and an enemy of freedom IMO.

Plus a traitor Russian spy/mole.

Looks like all those purist's greens and Ivory tower leftists were right.

No difference between Dictator Trump and Hillary at all and thank God no more email worries!

[world wide wally]

50. Even scarier. He is keeping his cabinet groups from a small wel knit group to make it easier to

coordinate. Goldman Sachs (5), Exxon (2). and a few other assembled billionaires. 2 or 3 Generals for military experience. Then Ben Carson because every team needs a mascot. Even every cowboy gang had someone named "Cookie.
This well coordinated group already has an hierarchy and their mobilization will be easy.
Their plan is already unfolding and it ain't pretty.

It would help if his supporters weren't all braid dead assholes, but that is pretty much out of the question. The military will do whatever DerTrumpefeurher tells them to do and between 52 Republican Senators, they don't have enough backbone to make one man or woman.

I am afraid a serious fight is coming.... a firefight


I'm too old for this shit

[Pachamama]

52. Majority of DU knows we are in deep shit as a Nation

We saw this coming....it's here and the worst hasn't even begun...

[rumdude]

53. Curious, how old are you?

[kydo]

59. Oh the reality hit me hard around 11pm on 11/08/16

I will end up in a forced labor camp. I do not do well under authoritarians. I am half Mexican.

The USA died that night.

That's why my bug out plan for when the shit hits the fan was to make the long trek through hostile red territory to California. That or hold up in our zombie apocalypses ranch. The draw back to that is it is in north Florida. Very red orange man lovers. Ick!

These are fall back plans. I plan to stay and fight.

In a way I am glad AMC was showing a Rocky marathon. And Epix is showing Creed. And tons of channels keep showing Red Dawn.

We have a fight. We are oddly the underdog. We need to train like Rocky so we can be strong for the fight. Then we need to fight like the Wolverines and take our damn Country back!

[CrispyQ]

61. I've had an underlying sense of dread since election day.

I think a lot of people are in denial about how bad it really is.

[wildeyed]

62. I am not at all confused about that.

People wanted revolution, well here it is. Problem with revolutions is the unintended consequences.... Also, they are exhausting. But buck up, comrades, we can still pull this out! From great change comes great opportunity. Stay alert, adapt to change and exploit your opponents weakness.

They are not adapting to their new status well. They used to pivot to "system is corrupt" or "Clinton's emails" when press asked uncomfortable questions. That doesn't work now so they just dig themselves in deeper with lies. Trump is obviously mentally unstable. He is already less entertaining as a leader than he was as a candidate. Press is turning on him. His party will too. In the meantime, liberals need to protect ballot access, keep the press amused and make the entire GOP own their mess in midterms. There is already HUGE grassroots energy on our side. Way more than GWB. We can make them pay for the shit they are making us eat right now. Just fight like hell!

[kentuck]

65. Heh...heh...heh...he said "comrades"...

[kentuck]

63. I think you are correct, but...

...the real enemy is Paul Ryan and the Republicans, not so much Donald Trump. He is an excellent foil and deflector for the Republican agenda. Just sign on the dotted line, Donald.

But, the wall will not be build unless Congress appropriates the funds. It is nothing but a PR stunt until that happens.

When Trump signs those "executive orders", he is signing off on the Republican agenda. And Donald is willing to take the slings and arrows as they do their Republican deeds.

[sarcasmo]

64. The protests this spring and summer are going to send the Dictator into a panic.

[Greywing]

67. His poll number will drop ... he'll try to scoff at polls but it will play in his mind

especially as protestors will remind him continously that he lost the popular vote. And other information will come to light as the intelligence community (who are serious about the oath they took to defend the United States of America - not the president) gets to work.