Summary
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez warned that the Trump is deliberately overwhelming the public with chaotic news to induce passivity.
Citing Steve Bannon’s “flood the zone” strategy and historian Michiko Kakutani’s comparison of Trump to Mussolini and Hitler, she argued that Trump uses the internet to spread disinformation, much like past dictators used film and radio.
Urging people to stay engaged, she emphasized that collective resistance can slow harmful policies and that small acts of opposition make a difference.
Urging people to stay enraged
ftfy
Here is an interview with PBS Frontline where Bannon describes the strategy of overwhelming the media: (at 1:26:19) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pm5xxlajTW0&t=5179s
Yeah, we had a class of independent professionals that delivered verified news directly from sauce to the pleb, all on a fixed wage as not to have financial stimulation that would affect the quality or contents is said reporting.
Hey look who decided to pretend to give a shit about anything now that the head of her party isn’t in office anymore. Gonna dust off your shoes and go find a 20 year old concentration camp to cry outside of again? Mustn’t be passive!
Genuinely depressing watching this Pelosi 2.0 completely fail to induce any scrutiny at all from these feckless liberals (you reading this)
Homie, the news never reported even once that Trump openly started he wanted to reenact Operation Wetback. He explicitly referenced it multiple times. Not a peep from news media. Do you think they covered anything AOC did at that time? Also, your getting into the same kind of logic used to attack Trump opponents ‘‘Hillary has been in politics since the 80s why didn’t she destroy ISIS YET! Why didn’t she entirely fix the federal taxation system!!’’
She didn’t because the first lady of Arkansas has just about zero political abilities to effect anything on a federal level, same with the president’s wife, and a senator from NY also. No power to dictate national policy on every subject, there actually are a lot of limitations of power in the legislator and for the Secretary of State. These aren’t free for all positions where you wake up and go ‘‘hay let’s make it illegal to burn trash nation wide’’ and you just get that law passed with no issues.
AOC is a legislator. Not the president. Not a cabinet member, and not The Glorious Queen of America. She also isn’t in the leadership of the DNC, and she butts heads with them constantly, she’s easily the most vocal Democrat that comes out and pressures the party to actually put their money where their mouth is. She is literally the person that made Pelosi commit to relinquishing power to younger members of the party. You want to jump up her ass for not fixing everything? That’s not how any of this works.
I am engaging with her only at the level on which she acts. Her purely symbolic and performative objections to the concentration camps on the border evaporated when her team got into power.
Just like your objections to genocide magically appeared when your team lost it again.
Fuck off tankie
Fuck you nazi
Nazis don’t know about tankies since ANYTHING left of the overton window is ✨Evil Communism ✨. At worst they’re a well informed liberal. In any case you should be well aware that propaganda is a thing. The naivety is thinking it’s one-sided or that it need be anything beyond omission.
I just saw someone on Lemmy say the other day something along the lines of “he’s only been in there a month”
Hell, at that point it was barely 2 WEEKS.
Wouldn’t say I’m burnt out but sure as shit I’m struggling to keep up.
2020: 2 - again: 2: the 2nd 2020: the sequel
You know why I’m burnt out? Because I don’t see hardly any Democrats pushing the fuck back.
I see a bunch of Democrat voting for Republican bills knowing they’re fucking horrible. I see and hear a bunch of Democrats voting for his unqualified nominees and then taking about bipartisanship. I see Fetterman slobbing all over Trump’s toadstool supporting ethnic cleansing all fucking day long with not a single move to kick his stroked ass out. I don’t see Democrats doing fuck all.
I can handle bad news, I can’t stand the spinless, enabling Democrats.
Honestly, you can’t go by news reporting alone if you want to actually see what democrats are doing, you need to actually look at they do to be transparent from their own sources, the news is avoiding covering anything negative about Trump to an absurd degree.
I burnt out long ago when I saw Democrats being full rightwing and most Americans being “enlightened centrists” doing shit. For me the tipping point was the Supreme Court stealing the election from Al Gore.
But I think what was most frustrating of all was the years of being called am extremist by most when pointing out the Democrats weren’t stopping fascism and later that Trump would be the end of democracy during his first term. I remember so many fucking people saying that taking out Trump by any means possible was “extreme”, only to see some of those same people now wish for the exact same damn thing when it’s much more difficult to do so.
I’m glad I left that country years ago. Ultimately the reason there’s a lack of unions, justice, and more there is because it’s a country full of broken people, ruled by broken people.
Many immigrants thought it was great simply because they weren’t being actively hunted to be killed or no longer dealt with unaffordable food (like my parents). They came from even worse countries at the time and when the USA wasn’t that bad, so they keep quiet and just try to live on, and just accept injustice because it’s all they’ve ever known. And the natively born there either are deluged with propaganda so they never pull the wool out of their eyes and never taught to think critically or are systematically broken down into poverty, injustice, and violence so they lose hope.
I don’t think Americans will do what’s right, even when only one path is now left open. But maybe I’m wrong, and like the old quote they’ll do the right thing at the last moment when they realize they have no more choices.
Either way, it doesn’t directly affect me anymore. I tried fighting back, but a small group can’t fix a broken people. Maybe completely shattering them is what’s needed instead.
In the meantime, I’ll keep helping those seeking help where I can, especially the 🟦🌸⬜🌸🟦 seeking to leave to safety.
AOC talked about exactly this in her video (it’s over an hour long, but when you have time, I’d say it’s worth a watch). There was a specific effort to start this madness after Congress adjourned for the week, and there’s been a scramble to get back for continued pushback.
And, even for democrats we presume to fight for these issues, there is complacency where people only whine on social media without making themselves known directly to their representatives. That’s important both for people in Democrat, and Republican districts, to make it known their constituents are not blind to these problems.
Yeah, contacting your rep is always a great idea but come on, do you really think that it needs to take massive amounts of contact in order for Democrats to realize “don’t vote for any Republican neo Nazi cabinet an member” is the right move?
Come on man, do you really think we have to tell them this? This is something that’s just so blatantly obvious, such a low bar, one has to wonder how crappy are Democrats and their leadership.
Yeah actually I think you do. Make it clear that under no uncertain terms that your democratic senator should immediately begin doing everything they can do to grind the capital to a halt that you and other like you will be relentless in ensuring that they’re not re-elected.
The short answer is: Yes.
The long answer is: YEEEEESSSS.
Politicians come in varying types, and most want to hold what power they have. It’s all they have - they’re literally at risk of being fired every few years. Many of them know what the right thing is to do, but worry that more domestic issues are their voter’s real concern. So, if they confirm a whack job in Congress while taking a back room deal to boost employment numbers in their state, they’ll do it - perhaps reluctantly.
But that CHANGES if their office is flooded with calls, or even just signed emails. It is a BIG oh shit moment: “Wait, people actually care about what’s happening in Washington as opposed to here??” The biggest problem reps have had, as repeatedly echoed in interviews, is they don’t know which issues are most significant to their voters. The result may be a matter of trading favors to be given table scraps, etc.
It is OUR problem too - we thought it was a common sense, braindead position not to vote for a diaper grandpa that spends 90% of its time drooling over Fox News, but the active voting population disagreed! So don’t think it is a hard mistake to make!
Every time people with experience judge these issues, they have recommended the same thing. Even if you live in a red state that won by 30 points, even if you live in a blue state that won by 20.
I encourage you to watch the movie Darkest Hour. London Parliament did NOT think it would be an obvious decision to oppose Hitler, AT ALL. They insisted Britain would chew them up for pushing them into a “pointless” war against a legitimate machine of progress and industry. It finally took Churchill going nutso and taking a subway ride in public to get a chance to actually see how people felt.
Well agree to disagree about expecting more/better out of democratic leadership but hard agree on contacting your local rep.
And the media! When Musk did a Nazi salute they all fell all over each other to run cover for him and “both sides” the issue. When his obvious government wrecking DOGE agency torches important programs it’s just presented as a “tough efficiency program”. The whole mainstream media is trying to pretend everything is normal.
To be fair, I don’t think the overall USA really cared about nor directly responded to the OG Nazis until… 12/7/1941? Of course, that was just the Nazi allies.
deleted by creator
„People who haven’t done anything have lots to say”
deleted by creator
If voting against him wasn’t a problem then they should’ve done it.
Stop making excuses for nazis and nazi enablers.
deleted by creator
Biden and his allies aren’t being punished at all. He’ll be fine. Harris will be fine. That’s why they supported a peaceful transition of power. The plebs are the only ones getting punished.
Biden shat the bed so hard people were willing to endure fascism to punish him and his allies.
But that’s exactly what the Republicans wanted. Any voter who got to that point has effectively fallen for their propaganda and still believes it was their own well thought out decision.
Removed by mod
Wait are guillotine memes etc getting pulled now? First time I’ve seen it happen!
Apparently :(
Is this loss?
took me a minute
I’m glad to hear it coming from her.
Because it is burning me out fast. I need to take a break, especially right now because of so much on my plate. But then I can re engage.
deleted by creator
No. I won’t give up.
Who are you talking to? Who talks like this? Is this some “familiar AI bot” thing m
Oh look. A bot accusing someone of being a bot. How cute.
Great, now I’m burnt out and feeling guilty about it.
“Do what you can. And what you can do is enough,” she said. …Ocasio-Cortez reminded her followers several times that no deed of resistance is too small.
Honestly, continuing to exist/taking a moment to be nice to yourself in an administration that hates you counts. Keep existing.
A lot of these click-baity titles and over-simplified summaries seem to be adding to this very problem of guilting people for being overwhelmed.
Unfortunately that’s the system but please don’t feel guilty for being human. Kindness and compassion is resistance, and starting with yourself is a valid step.
Fuck the forces who are selling a solution to a problem they created but are trying to say is your fault. /endrant
thank you
Yes. Together we are a non-neutonian liquid. Do what you can, and what you can do is enough.
The first thing she said is to take a breather. If you’re unfocused, tired and afraid you can’t do anything.
The second thing is to learn, educate yourself, figure out that Trump, Musk and billionaires are not stirring up chaos and havoc just because they feel like it. If these were 100 unconnected random actions, tackling them feels impossible. Once you understand that it’s all around the theme of Musk, Trump, media-owning billionaires want maximum money and minimum accountability, their actions simply fit within that and a strategy to tackle it is easier.
Third is to “lock in”, focus your energy on what you can do, big or small. Even if you are too afraid to talk to another soul, knowing your rights is still action. Knowledge is power. Talking to your friends and family is action. Calling and writing to your legislators is action. Joining a protest/rally/meeting is action. Organizing, volunteering leading is action. The point is do it to what level you are capable at the moment. There are far more non-billionaires than billionaires. Every bit of action counts.
Last, make them abuse their power, do not just allow them to or assume they will. They are going to do horrifying things, you don’t have to submit to it in advance. You can slow it down.
The thing the idiot billionaires didn’t realize is that they already had maximum money and minimum accountability.
Money. Which would you rather have, a million dollars or a million rubles? By grinding the US economy to a standstill, they may have more dollars, but they’ll be worth less.
When they complete turning us into a fascist oligarchy, they’ll have more accountability, not less. Nearly every single one of them will have to spend more time worrying about getting thrown out of a window by a “superior” or shot in front of a hotel on their way to a conference.
They’ll have to fear everyone above and below them. They discarded a set of rules that originated from general agreements to help us all get along, and have chosen power and blood as the deciding factor over laws. Well, that goes both ways. Democracy requires some good faith, and we’ve taken that for granted.
The founders understood this. It’s why they invented our system of democracy. It wasn’t just out of the goodness of their hearts. That all happened around 1776, as you know.
Between June 14 and July 27, 1794, hundreds of nobles, shopkeepers, clergy, corset makers, vintners, and other “suspicious” citizens were executed by guillotine at Place de la Nation in Paris.
That sentiment didn’t arise out of the blue. It was around for decades before it got to that point. The founding fathers were very aware of what was happening there. The English civil war happened in the mid 1600s and the king was executed.
It turns out constant power struggles were often not great for those in power.
But we’ve forgotten that. So now, instead of learning from history, we’ll repeat it.
The key is to tune out and organize your resistance with your peers. Find energy in love for others
most people are in denial and carrying on like business as usual, making plans for 5 year projects as if the last remaining shreds of whatever used to pass for “checks and balances” were not being obliterated as we speak
Do your best to dislodge them. Coach them up on growing root vegetables
something something horse to water…
i’ve tried. it’s decision paralysis in addition to denial. people don’t want to think about living in the new amerikkkan trumpistan. so they don’t. any suggestion to take any action is “overreacting.”
to be honest, you need to be careful about who you talk to about what. everyone has a price, and yes most prices are pretty low. but even with trusted close friends, don’t assume they won’t sell you out to save their own kids, just like you would do
Coach them on how to install a VPN so we can still inform ourselves.
TailsOS, too
What is TailsOS? Is it easy? I want to reduce the barrier to entry for being safe online. I think a lot of people don’t know where to start, so they get overwhelmed with complex solutions. They end up giving up before they get started. So I’m trying to convince people by helping them do easy things. Maybe TailsOS is a lesson two kinda thing?
It’s constant dead cats on the table.
Exactly. People need to stay focused. Trump and his henchmen are going to do everything they can to keep the masses fighting amongst each other while they rob us blind. This is what “class war, not culture war” means.
That’s both party’s strategy since Reagan got his former opposition on the take.
Thats what both parties are bribed for.
Stoke social issue wedges and protect our oligarchs grift economy from us.
You can have scapegoating and oligarchal exploitation or affirmation ribbons and oligarchal exploitation. That has been the extent of our voter’s power for half a century.
Im glad the Dems support trans rights, and vote for them as harm reduction, but don’t pretend DNC neoliberal democrats give a shit about a poor Trans person’s right not to die in an underpass of exposure for the crime of being poor as a warning to the other poors.
deleted by creator
I have started to want this to become an extension of hate speech laws - if a lawmaker makes remarks or policy advances that target a specific marginalized protected class (eg, race, sexuality) while also engaged in other policy decisions, they must provide EXTREMELY compelling evidence of those policy advances (just about always impossible) or face extended criminal prosecution for attempting to use the threats as a distraction.
As a non American I’m burnt out. Wish something decisive would happen (hopefully something good too)
decisive thing happened last november
Trump’s first term was like this for me. Every day was like watching a car crash and waiting, praying for someone to do something.
I told myself I wasn’t going to do it this time, but we’ve gone from the slow-moving car crash of the first term to a full-on NASCAR accident happening every day. Not paying attention feels like they’re winning, but there’s only so much I can take
I’m running off of spite at this point.
It’s the only thing that keeps me going.
Don’t forget two to four daily servings of revenge, for emotional health! Consult your emotional health pyramid for feelings details.
Do you guys ever sit there and kinda feel numb?
You know eventually things may escalate and things feel like if that happens, it’ll start a very bloody and horrific result. And when that happens a lot of things will drastically change.
A beginning of horror - Just because humans do always what they do in history - especially leaders.
They’ve known for so long what they could have done to make things better. But they choose not to everyday. Why do a lot of them go bad? Why does this always happen? Are we all doomed to repeat a cycle until the Earth dies?
Just a cycle of greedy humans making others suffer.
