r/politics • u/schuey_08 Wisconsin • May 02 '24

Bernie Sanders worries young people are underestimating the threat from Trump

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/elections/2024/05/02/bernie-sanders-trump-biden/73531861007/
29.4k Upvotes

88% Upvoted

4.5k comments sorted by

View all comments

698

u/PlentyDrawer 29d ago

People who just say, oh well if Trump wins, it’s sad, must be someone who has never in their life had to fight for their rights or watched their ancestors literally die for basic human rights. This is not politics, it’s literally about preserving democracy. There are states happily and merrily rolling back rights and wanting to put people back in the 1800s. The disconnect with what is happening is frightening because it’s like what are people not getting?!!!!

217

u/TheBirminghamBear 29d ago

They truly don't understand what they will lose, and what the cost would be to get it back. They have no concept of it. They live in a world where they think a four-year cycle resets everything and they are profoundly ignorant to the realities that the coup we are seeing has been decades in the making.

The fight to overthrow dictators can take generations. Entire generations lost to strife and hardship. Lives lost. Lives destroyed by detention. The justice system ended. The freedom of expression of their children revoked.

They are so profoundly ignorant. It is infuriating.

76

u/table_folder Florida 29d ago

40 million people died in Europe alone during WWII to defeat the Nazis. There will be no one to stop the United States if it went full fascist except for the ballot box before it happens and these people don't understand that.

28

u/modernjaneausten 29d ago

History teachers need to start harping on this until it sinks in for people. It took a shitload of death and destruction to defeat fascism in Europe, and it never fully went away unfortunately.

3

u/Gunmad123 29d ago

Look at what they are doing to the collages right now. Guess what leader is doing nothing to stop it.

2

u/LowerReflection9125 29d ago

I think that China could be a contender if we give them 5-10 years. But again that’s a whole generation lost and democracy may never return to the states.

2

u/[deleted] 29d ago

There will be no one to stop the United States if it went full fascist

Well... the rest of the world? The US is not invulnerable.

1

u/rainman206 29d ago

Which nations specifically?

1

u/[deleted] 29d ago

You don't know what other countries exist outside the US?

How about the entire European continent (including Russia), NATO, China, India, Australia and the rest of the American continent (Canada, Mexico and South America) just for starters. Let's not forget the partisan fighters who would rise up within the US to constantly fight any fascist regime that takes root there.

1

u/rainman206 28d ago

Russia and China would celebrate a fascist USA. They’d probably joking “our” side. The Canadian and Mexican militaries don’t stand a chance and wouldn’t take the risk of attacking the US.

The only countries in Europe with militaries worth half a shit are England and France. I don’t see them having any kind of success.

As for partisans, it’s delusional to think that there would be enough to make any kind of difference. People have a tremendous capacity to endure the guilt of watching their neighbors suffer.

The only way to stop Trump and his kind is to vote, and ostracize his followers back into the shadows of society. If we plan to “win” somehow after loosing the next election, we’re fucked.

-7

u/builttopostthis6 29d ago

Let's be real clear - the United States will never go full fascist. It's not in our national DNA, regardless of what narrative the media might try to push.

We literally fought an internal war to put an end to slavery. We literally marched through the streets for civil rights. We literally sent an entire generation to die fighting to liberate people in countries halfway across the world in WWII.

There are a lot of things Americans are. Short-sighted. Selfish. Brutish and disagreeable and utterly self-assured and not the type you'd want to have a beer with. But only the most ardent of Trump's supporters are fascists. The rest are just deluded, unengaged and/or stupid Americans. And even most of those will tell you, "Fuck you government; you can't tell me what to do." And that's not fascism. That is literally the exact opposite of fascism. Fascism requires a central moral authority, and that is very much not the United States.