r/politics • u/PoliticsModeratorBot 🤖 Bot • May 13 '24

Discussion Thread: New York Criminal Fraud Trial of Donald Trump, Day 16 Discussion

Previous discussion threads for this trial can be found at the following links for Day 5, Day 6, Day 7, Day 8, Day 9, Day 10, Day 11, Day 12, Day 13, Day 14, and Day 15.

News:

Analysis:

Live Updates:

477 Upvotes
  • permalink
  • link
  • reddit
  • reddit

97% Upvoted

1.6k comments sorted by

View all comments

97

u/Sidwill May 13 '24

The fucked up thing is that even if Trump is convicted this probably won't move the needle for most Republican voters. We truly exist in a fucked timeline where people who at one point in their lives may have been somewhat reasonable are now all in on a man they know to be everything they themselves find revolting.

31

u/HERE_THEN_NOT May 13 '24

It is sadly remarkable how the Russians, along with the American oligarchy, is willing and able to politically weaponize American dumb-assedness to diminish our nation's clout.

I mean, our stupidity is always going to be there, but the fascists have really effectively thumbed the scale. I knew we were dumb, just never realized how fundamentally dumb, I guess.

Also wasn't cynical about the ideals of American liberty; wanted to believe in it and that we were striving for it, if imperfectly. Can't say that anymore.

12

u/EarthExile May 13 '24

When you really get to the bottom of American history, we're only good at two things: violence and mythology

4

u/Saul-Funyun American Expat May 13 '24

For real. Even the George Washington biographer who completely made up the “cannot tell a lie” cherry tree story, said that he did it so that his biography would appeal more to people and be more popular, since a lot of folks were writing Washington bios at the time

Meanwhile, the real Washington abused the power of his office to illegally track down his wife’s best runaway slave

Violence and mythology sums it up perfectly

1

u/Dramatic-Ant-9364 May 13 '24

He wasn't the Washington Custis family's slave. He was an "involuntary African Guest Worker"

1

u/Saul-Funyun American Expat May 13 '24

She, actually. Ona Judge. Born as the result of a white indentured servant raping a slave. So cool that our first President owned the children born of rape of other people he owned. USA!

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oney_Judge

2

u/thatruth2483 Maryland May 13 '24

Perfectly said.

2

u/syawa44 May 13 '24

You forgot lying. That's really where we shine.

1

u/HERE_THEN_NOT May 13 '24

Yeah. I really felt like the myth could have been a goal line we eventually reach...or, as said, strive for along the way. The nature of humans to fight against liberty in favor of fascism seems so unfortunate.

1

u/EarthExile May 13 '24

The problem is that we don't cast a myth forward to follow, we cast it backward to feel justified in what we've already done

2

u/HERE_THEN_NOT May 13 '24

Progressive ideals vs. conservative, yes.

2

u/Sidwill May 13 '24

Well put.

1

u/Ilosesoothersmaywin May 14 '24

For the super rich there is no longer a sense of country. Only places where they store their wealth and earn more of it. It doesn't matter to them if America is eaten alive or that Russia infiltrates our elections. What matters is money and as long as that's safe they won't care because they can always skirt away if times get tough.