this post was submitted on 15 Dec 2024

43 points (80.3% liked)

UK Politics

3139 readers

173 users here now

General Discussion for politics in the UK.
Please don't post to both [email protected] and [email protected] .
Pick the most appropriate, and put it there.

Posts should be related to UK-centric politics, and should be either a link to a reputable news source for news, or a text post on this community.

Opinion pieces are also allowed, provided they are not misleading/misrepresented/drivel, and have proper sources.

If you think "reputable news source" needs some definition, by all means start a meta thread. (These things should be publicly discussed)

Posts should be manually submitted, not by bot. Link titles should not be editorialised.

Disappointing comments will generally be left to fester in ratio, outright horrible comments will be removed.
Message the mods if you feel something really should be removed, or if a user seems to have a pattern of awful comments.

[email protected] appears to have vanished! We can still see cached content from this link, but goodbye I guess! :'(

founded 2 years ago

MODERATORS

[email protected]

I'm American. Don't make the same mistakes we made. (lemm.ee)

submitted 1 week ago* (last edited 6 days ago) by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

14 comments fedilink hide all child comments

On November 5, 2024 we made a grave error. We sent Donald Trump back to the white house. A man who has according to the Wikipedia article about his campaign increasingly espoused violent and authoritarian rhetoric. He has used dehumanizing language against his political enemies, and his 2024 campaign regularly espoused anti-immigrant nativism and anti-transgender fearmongering. Trump's embrace of far-right extremism and harsher rhetoric against his political enemies has been described by historians and scholars as populist, authoritarian, fascist, and unlike anything a political candidate has ever said in American history.

Although I knew he was going to be bad I could not have anticipated just how bad things would be. When the news started coming in about his cabinet picks I started to feel terrified. Here he is consolidating power just like a dictator would appointing people who would have fealty towards him and be willing to carry out his will even when it goes against our laws and norms. Not only that one of his appointees Tulsi Gabbard seems more loyal to a local Hawaiian cult and Russia than to the US and our allies.

I worry for our future and worry for all the people Trump is going to harm. I especially feel sorry for all the people in other countries who didn't vote for Trump who will suffer because the damage Trump causes isn't just going to stay contained in the US. His presidency is going to have negative effects on the global economy and even on the planet itself.

Trump claims to represent the comman man but he actually is for the billionaires who will benefit from his tax cuts and stripping of regulations that protect us ordinary people. With Trump our rights will be taken away and the rich will get richer while the poor get poorer.

The corruption of the billionaires buying elections have never been so apparent with Elon Musk spending $277 million of his money to get Trump elected. Now Elon musk wants to do the same thing to your country by donating £78,000,000 to Nigel Farage

I'm determined to do what I can to try to make things better even though I'm a nobody. When I found out about Elon Musk's possible donation to Nigel Farage I felt inspired to share my experience and try to warn the UK about Elon Musk and Trump. The things I described could happen to you, they can happen anywhere. I urge the people in the UK to reject Elon Musk's attempt to interfere in your politics.

I noticed a pattern if you see someone who exhibits some or all of these traits you know they are not someone you'd want elected.

Strongman personality
Claims to be for the common people (but are actually for the billionaires and the elites)
Xenophobic
Sympathetic towards Putin and other dictators

A person who fits this description is nothing more than a conman. You will get poorer, the rich will get richer and your rights will be taken away.

Think about this list and think who matches some or all of that description. Think about if you'd want to live in fear everyday like I do now. Then realize you can help stop it. You can help simply by spreading the word and talking and listening to people. This is fascinating article I'd highly recommend you check out: https://www.vice.com/en/article/how-to-change-a-voters-mind-is-deep-canvassing/

all 15 comments

sorted by: hot top controversial new old

[–] [email protected] 22 points 6 days ago* (last edited 6 days ago) (2 children)

I said this elsewhere, but I'll say again.

Brexit not only predated Trump, but was one of the factors that led people to believe he wasn't a meme candidate, and could actually seek not only the GOP nomination from Jeb Bush, but the White House from Hilary Clinton.

In terms of Brexit and right-wing think, Euroscepticism and outright racism has been a thing here for decades. We had dealt with it in the past by treating these people like the mindless nutjobs that they are. They were the people you shunned in pubs or told your kids not to talk to. Sadly, they're normalised through the internet.

We're also no strangers to rich cunts dominating our politics. Musk is child's play compared to the damage the Murdoch's have rought on our shores...

I think Farage has had his moment, and I don't see him landing a second term. What I do think is that America needs to focus on what to do post-Trump. You need a candidate that'll not only fix all the problems of the past, but who will spend the next four years building hope.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 6 days ago

We’re also no strangers to rich cunts dominating our politics. Musk is child’s play compared to the damage the Murdoch’s have rought on our shores…

Don't forget the original rich cunts that have never stopped dominating our politics (despite swarms of bootlickers insisting they don't get involved despite masses of evidence to the contrary) - the royals and their gentry.

I get that OP is trying to do a good thing, it's a nice gesture, but it also feels like they've only just now started paying attention, while some of us, especially on this more left leaning site, have been aware of and dealing with how fucked we (as Brits, but also as a global working class) are for quite a while longer (and no, I don't mean Thatcher-Reagan, but much further back).

Trump isn't the problem, he is a symptom, and focusing on him is counterproductive - if he died tomorrow (🤞🤞🤞) or got jailed for his crimes (never going to happen) nothing would change, because the systems that enabled and encouraged him to the top will remain in tact and continue chugging along uninterrupted, pushing the next wannabe dictator to the top.

Abolish capitalism. Abolish monarchy. Abolish the state. Abolish hierarchy.

It's the only way out with some hope at the other end.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 6 days ago (1 children)

You're right about Murodch. One man has arguably single handily caused lots of damage to the world with his post truth media empire. I hope you're right about Farage. I agree with your assessment that we need a good candidate to fix our problems. Someone who can inspire us and make things better.

[–] [email protected] -1 points 6 days ago

we need a good candidate to fix our problems

As long as you continue to expect playing within the rules those in power have set out for you to free you from their system, you are wasting your time and energy, exactly as intended.

Electoral politics are nothing but theatre and a sham designed specifically to ensure the people have no power to structurally change society.

Stop expecting it, and someone else you place in it to "represent" you, to save you.

[–] [email protected] 19 points 6 days ago (1 children)

In Europe, we make similar mistakes: the right wing promotes the right, the left wing berates the right wing and the media constantly report on the absurdities of the right wing or reinforce some right-wing theme. As a result, the right wing gets all the media attention and people wonder why the right wing is gaining strength.

[–] [email protected] 12 points 6 days ago

That's a really good point. From my research the left wing should focus on organizing and being unified instead of reacting to what the right does.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 6 days ago* (last edited 6 days ago) (2 children)

Three simple steps, to rectify the issue of Trumps:

Legislation which would make a public lie with an intention to mislead the public a criminal offence. In the UK most of Brexshit human propaganda tubes, with BoJo for starters would end up in prison. I am only referring to factual lies (£350 million anyone), not to broken promises.
Proportional representation. While it is not an universal panaceum, it helps if more than one party must form a coalition. It helps with learning compromise.
Compulsory race sensitivity courses for people expressing racist views. Like speed awareness courses. In longer term that should help by educating the society.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 6 days ago

If Boris Johnson was sent to prison we'd have to compensate the prisoners for emotional distress.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 6 days ago

That's brilliant! I really hope we can do those things here.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 6 days ago (1 children)

I would really prefer US to have an "isolationist" (improving domestic living standards, remove sanctions that prevent other countries from conducting trade with one another, don't help with genocide etc) foreign policy. Trump isn't that despite what he claims.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 6 days ago

Right, he only pretends to want peace when it benefits Putin. I ended up editing my post to remove that bullet point. When I wrote that I was really thinking about the fake kind like Trump does but I realized it's just a distraction from the bigger message so I just deleted that part of the post.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 6 days ago (1 children)

Mate have you seen Labour? They're like the democrats, we're already doomed to a reform/conservative-reform coalition government in the next election. Besides, the only trait in the list that Farage has is xenophobia. Doesn't make him less dangerous.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 6 days ago

I'm getting a bit sick of this. They've been in power for about 15 minutes let's not consign them to the same heap that Tories occupy just yet.

Can we please give them a few years before we start on the "they're all the same" rhetoric?

[–] [email protected] 5 points 6 days ago

You shouldn't blame yourself or voters in your country. It was the liberal party in the US that failed to garner any support due to it's support of genocide and other factors. These are failings of the political system both countries have inherently that are designed to fail this way, they need to be overthrown and not negotiated with.