I do not believe the american people realize how much damage is being done.

[shockey80]

Trump is destroying our democracy. It is going to get really bad before he is removed. I cannot believe this is happening. He is going to hurt all of us in ways we cannot imagine.

I wish everyone here the best of luck. Do everything you can to protect yourself and your family.

I have been talking to a financial advisor about my retirement money. I want to protect this best as I can. I am giving money to my union to protect my union. It is scary how little control and protection we have of our own lives. FUCK!

[kimbutgar]

1. I feel the same way

I inherited a house that I wanted to covert into a duplex but now might sell and hoard my cash. So much uncertainty and I am 5 years away from social security which might not be there.

[liberal N proud]

2. Will the country ever be able to recover?

That is my worst fear.

[NurseJackie]

32. Nope. This is the beginning of our once great nation's sharp decline.

[bdtrppr6]

33. hopefully followed by the proverbial

beautiful phoenix rising from the ashes. i'm not seeing hope in that, but we truly have very little else at this point. our country is being run by the biggest assholes imaginable and they do NOT GIVE A FUCK for anyone or anything but themselves. Louise Linton is our Marie Antoinette but even worse. And they all just laugh and laugh at the destruction and terror they are sowing.

everyone hang in there and remember there are many others that know this is not right and are doing what we can to fight in our own little ways. try and keep your mind strong and true to your reality, make it be so. information and teaching peace is the best start.

[onethatcares]

3. you are correct on that

sure they stand around and discuss how stupid he sounds during his speeches but they don't look at the backburner items he does as far as enviromental, labor, and civil rights.

[imanamerican63]

4. I have been saying this for some time now!

You are 100 percent right and we all have to be worried!

[Warpy]

5. Broadcast media sure won't tell them

and too many people rely on radio and TV to stay informed.

It's not going to dawn on the frogs that the full boil has been reached when they look for the way to get out of the pot and realize this gang of thieves has taken it all away from them.

[BigmanPigman]

6. Some are so willfully ignorant they won't know or care ever.

These are the people who do not vote at all or only decide while at work or home on election day. AAARRRGGG!!!

[Petrushka]

38. I agree! And . . . here's something to think abut: What's really going on. ---

http://www.collective-evolution.com/2017/07/29/noam-chomsky-discusses-how-trump-the-media-distract-us-from-whats-really-going-on/

[KY_EnviroGuy]

7. IMO, we're screwed regardless of tRump

So long as our country operates on the follow equation:

Assets owned =>
Proportional right to social and financial power =
Proportional right to political access =
Proportional right to justice =
Proportional right to control media content and access.

We're screwed.

[Duppers]

22. +100

Citizens United.

[bdtrppr6]

34. +1000

[KY_EnviroGuy]

37. Also helps to...

have control of the capital markets and mergers and acquisitions, elect highly political judges, have you own cable news network and hundreds of politicized radio stations, have hundreds of market/special interest lobbyists, have your own private team of Russian hackers and social media shit-stormers, just to name a few.

However, I do agree that excessive high-wealth money injected into our elections is the biggest factor. I'm all for a simple contribution law: $5 per candidate per voter, period. No corporate money, period. No lobbyists, period. No TV, internet or radio ads, period. Force our politicians (public servants) back to door-to-door during elections with brochures, and force them to do their own homework and research in Congress.

Those measures seem extreme, but they do demonstrate how corrupt our system is.

I am a dreamer!

[Duppers]

39. Me too, a dreamer.

[kerry-is-my-prez]

8. Most wouldn't notice unless their cable teevee was taken away from them. Then they would be

rioting on the streets.

[mtngirl47]

20. My theory is, as the communications companies become monopolies

the prices will go up and up. People are addicted to their smart phones and TV--so at first they will sacrifice other luxuries to keep their media. Then they might even buy less food so they can keep their media. But eventually they will not be able to afford it and they will wake up one day and realize that the pretty life they were promised on TV doesn't exist and they will take to the streets to demand their stuff....not so sure if they'll also be demanding their rights.

[Jimbo101]

9. Nixon, Reagan, Bush I, Bush II, Trump,...

each planted seeds for the next, worse than before.

I didn't think it could get worse than Bush II, but McCain / Palin proved that wrong - and Trump / Pence (speechless) -

- can't imagine anything worse - but I'm sure the GOP / Alt Right will find someone - they always do.

[Initech]

10. They do know, they just don't care.

All they care about is that liberals weren't elected, because that's what the radio, church, and Fox News told them to think.

[Skittles]

11. that's the Trump-humpers, but they are vastly outnumbered

[MrScorpio]

12. At some point, we need to confront the wingers who support him...

And ask them, what is more important to them... Either their hatred of the left, so much so, that they only care about our negative reactions to Trump's statements and actions, or what's ultimately and objectively good for America itself and how Trump is destroying all of that?

If they believe that they're not living in this country (and world) with the rest of us, we need ask them where they really believe they ARE living.

So far, their reactions to the way we respond to Trump shows that they're only interested in schadenfreude. They practice an extreme amount of disassociation from anyone they can't identify with. It's their coping mechanism.

Also they really don't care about how the country is being harmed by Trump, it's only matters to them that the "right" people are being harmed BY Trump and that it upsets the left. They refuse to acknowledge the fact that we're concerned for the harm that Trump causes on ALL sides, not just our own, because they can only reference us through their own tribalist point of view.

Importantly, in order for these people to avoid seeing that the harm Trump causes eventually affects everyone, regardless of their status, his supporters engage in delusional thinking, which stipulates that Trump's harmful actions only affects the Left.

However, the one thing that we all can trust Trump to do is that he'll eventually betray and cheat those who become foolish enough to trust him. It's only a matter of time for that to happen to everyone in this country, as long as he sits in the Oval Office.

When that happens, it's incumbent upon these people to cease and desist with the "fake news" excuses. That what's really happening is that they're getting screwed by Trump as well and that it's happening right in front of their noses.

For the more thick skulled and hateful of his fans, it's going to take long time for these people to realize that they're hey're getting screwed by Trump. The key to this is helping them connect the dots from Trump's actions to their own particular lives. Especially since they can't or won't relate to people unlike themselves.

But let's also consider the fact that one of the hardest things for any honest person to do is to admit is when they're wrong. It's practically inconceivable for some hateful, ignorant hypocrite of a Trump supporting RWNJ to do that, but it's not completely impossible.

We just need to help them see the light.

[smirkymonkey]

16. +1000

[Mr.Bill]

13. So far most of what has been done is being done by Executive Orders.

That means it can be reversed by Executive Order. Theoretically, a Democratic president can fix the damage on day one of his/her term. But it does get worse every day. Four years of this shit will leave some damage behind. Mueller need to hurry up, but I fear that no matter what he finds, Congress will do nothing to remove Trump from office.

[BlueJac]

14. This is a hugh truth to what is happening......

and people are so quite about........outrage should be everywhere!

[BzaDem]

15. Of course not. Only a small portion of the public is engaged enough to know how fragile democracy is

Normally, presidents of both parties do not strike at democracy's weakest points. This president is different. That is why large and unprecedented numbers of establishment Republicans did not vote for him, and did not want to see him win.

Many people (including myself) ascribed too much importance to this, and found out on election night how little elite opinion can matter on what are essentially process issues. (They may be process issues that are foundational to having a democracy in the first place, but they are still process issues.)

Most people (even many well educated people) have little idea how fragile democracy is, and have little idea about the scope and degree of the damage Trump is causing. This is true even of many who despise Trump and voted for Hillary.

[thegoose]

17. It's awful

An ugly, orange and not even good con artist is destroying an entire nation. It's completely insane! Meanwhile, the courts are being stacked with Wingnuts and environmental protection is being rolled back. People don't know that because they're watching the Cheeto's appalling behavior either with disgust or adulation. It's time for the media to stop saying, "Is Trump doing this....or is he doing that?" Equivocation is over.

I live in San Antonio and was enraged last night to see that he was pardoning a racist pig while Hurricane Harvey was approaching landfall. Of course, he'll make a speech to blame the victims and talk about his yuuuuge election victory.

[RKP5637]

28. The man is a highly dangerous crackpot, and so much of congress is compliant, complicit or impotent.

[AlexSFCA]

18. most people don't realize it

In fact, back in february I took two months break from all news and I felt great! like nothing was happening. Apathy is running deep, people are getting tired of staying alert and friends on facebook no longer post anything political. In fact, DU is the only place I talk politics now.

[Chasstev365]

19. REPUBLICANS MUST BE MADE TO OWN EVERYTHING TRUMP DOES!

Otherwise, Democrats will lose again in 2018!

[n2doc]

21. The thing that scares the crap out of me- we are about to go into a recession

All the financial indicators are pointing towards it. And when it happens these fuckers are going to do everything they can to punish the 99% while they remain capable of doing so.

[Blue_true]

23. My sense is most people are not paying attention.

Eight years of competent leadership under President Obama lured lots of people to sleep and caused some to demand the sky or else. No one seem to recognize how close the country came to destruction in 2008. The Obama progress allowed the right to cherry pick hot button issues and ride them to electoral success.

[Binkie The Clown]

24. The average American will not realize until that damage touches them personally.

And so far, it hasn't touched the "average" (i.e. middle class white Christian straight) American personally.
The average American can insulate themselves completely from Trumps shitstorm by simply turning off the TV news. Other than that, the shitstorm doesn't extend for enough to enter their own living rooms. Yet.
(First they came for the Muslims, and I'm not Muslim. Then they came for the gays, and I'm not gay.....)

[RKP5637]

27. ... like how the good Germans did as their country collapsed into a horror show. n/t

[Fritz Walter]

25. Is becoming an expatriate a viable option yet?

When 45 was swept into office, some of my friends with overseas connections chatted about relocating to another country. And which one would they like to call home.

We agreed to watch and wait. Leaving behind family, friends, property and income-streams were huge barriers at the time. But recent events have changed perspectives. None of us want to become the metaphorical boiled frog, but then we don't want to miss opportunities to exercise our freedoms to which we've become so accustomed.

At a dinner party last weekend, some of us revisited that discussion. This time, the question was "where" rather than "if" or "when."

My choices included: Canada (especially BC), Austria and Denmark. For various reasons, Caribbean islands and Central America are ruled out. For now.

Bottom line: if we don't achieve major political change next year, many of us may bid farewell to our familiar surroundings for survival and sanity reasons.

We need to get out the vote in '18. For all the right reasons. Way too much is at stake.

[RKP5637]

26. I never believed this could happen in the US through elections and a democratic process, especially

after all of these years. Our democracy is more fragile than thought, and I am startled by those wanting to take it down, especially when it starts at the top!

[elmac]

29. the trumpsters don't care

they are all about destroying things so bad that their rapture fantasies come true.

[ffr]

30. You got it right.

Protect you and yours. This is only going to get worse as Mueller's investigation closes in on tRump's illegal activities.

[LibArts]

31. I agree with the first assertion

I think we can survive this but I truly think we need to learn to unite.

[KY_EnviroGuy]

35. Shockey, it could get much, much worse if..

the markets crash. Many experts are saying a big correction may be coming, but I wouldn't put it past his people and Wall Street to help induce one. Their asses are covered regardless with hedges.

What better cover for his de-regulatory blitz, anti-immigration war and GOP calls for tax cuts and austerity?

[Motley13]

36. even though our country is in danger, I believe our constitution will save us from the fascist

that was elected.

I have to believe that!!!!!

I think our founders prepared us for someone like this fascist

[progressoid]

40. The horrifying thing is that his 34% actually believe he's making America great again.

[dalton99a]

43. They're loving the shit show

[LittleBlue]

41. I think it's time to divide the country

At some point we have to accept that certain states simply don't want to be progressive and will fight it tooth and nail. They're going to keep electing guys like Shrub and Dump.

Let the Republican states go their own way, and we go ours. The EU is also becoming unstable. Brazil is a mess. Russia failed. Turkey is transforming into an Islamist dictatorship. Large, unwieldy, multicultural democracies are unfeasible in this current age.

[haveahart]

42. A third of them don't care. A third of them don't know. And a third of them are terrified.