Even if you don’t give a f*ck about decency, it is simply irrational to do it like that if it were about saving. The only goal of this can be to create trauma and more violence, like one person in the article rightfully quotes.

The useless grifters are in the Trump administration.

I suspect they transcend political party. Joe Rogan asked Elon about the worst of it. Elon paused, reflected, and said they couldn't cut the worst of it or he might get a target on his back - like get shot. That was a very disturbing moment.

And you ate it?

I mean, the worst of it is likely to be some subset of defense contracting. How sure are we that a company in the business of doing covert violence would never resort to the use of covert violence?

The problem with conspiracy theorists is they thrive on the truth being just out of reach. Blatant corruption is not interesting to them, it has to be something slightly unknowable.

So when the richest person in the world, who is part of a party that controls all three branches of government and the military, tells you "Oopsie, we actually can't cut the important stuff because we might get in trouble," you guys actually eat it up.

That was the explicitly stated goal of the creators of Project 2025. “We want to put them in trauma.”

Yes. They've said it even more blatantly.

“And so I come full circle on this response and just want to encourage you with some substance that we are in the process of the second American Revolution, which will remain bloodless if the left allows it to be.”

These people do not believe in America as it exists or the promise of what it could be. They hate us and they want to destroy what we have to create something fundamentally different.

> Political violence against disagreeable people is disturbing and I wish you would condemn it.

If the end game of those disagreeable people is to literally ruin one's life, violence as an answer is understandable.

>I don't know who this person is

Pretty much the most important person behind what is going on in this country right now from an ideological and policy prescription perspective as it relates to the executive.

He sounds like a policy nerd who helps write EO's. I think Trump himself and his military advisors have more impact.

Name any act of violence that has been committed by a "left" person this "political season," whatever time frame that encompasses.

Are you in the states? ICE protests that get violent. Burning Tesla dealerships. Assassinations. The list is long and growing.

Just write one down. Any particular place and date.

Please don't comment like this here. You can make your points with substantive arguments rather than trollish snark like this.

They didn't want to engage and rather be impish so I terminated the conversation impishly.

There are organisations keeping track of this.

"All the extremist-related murders in 2024 were committed by right-wing extremists of various kinds, with eight of the 13 killings involving white supremacists and the remaining five having connections to far-right anti-government extremists. This is the third year in a row that right-wing extremists have been connected to all identified extremist-related killings."

[0] https://www.adl.org/resources/report/murder-and-extremism-un...

The ADL sure are reaching with those 13 whole murders in 2024. They are such a reputable unbiased organization, too.

Meanwhile LA had mass anti-ICE riots this year that were clearly organized, at least 1 death, $20 million in damages.

That riot's funding was pulled after IRS investigation threats, and poof, violence and mayhem stopped overnight. Then we all moved on to the next dumb news story.

Where are the right wing violent mass formation events? White supremacy is a left wing media fiction; it lives only in wojack memes as far as I can tell.

"Donald Trump is a fascist" justifies violence in this country, clearly. Calling anyone Hitler or any group Nazis is a dog whistle for violence, and the left throws those appellations around constantly.

The reputational damage of being crybullies is finally catching up, though. That makes it difficult to turn the page and win legitimately at the ballot box with attractive candidates on a coherent platform.

So what will the left do? Accelerate? (DOOMED to fail) Pause on the violence and go all-in on stealing the vote? (tough with all the pending EO's, but doable) Pivot to new politics? (but to what, and aren't they exhausted with made-up causes??) Seethe in decline? (regroup, husband dwindling resources, hoodwink another generation down the line)

2026 or 2028 - I imagine those are make-or-break years for the political left in the states, maybe globally.

I predict break because the liberal democracy experiment appears to have crashed. I'm praying the left chooses the seethe option so we can all catch our breath and relax for a bit.

Huh?

I think it's hard to make a case that the left is meaningfully more violent, even weighing in stuff like riots/arson/looting (and it's not actually fair to pin all that on the left, when we know so much is opportunistic and only loosely ideology-driven).

But you can't name an act of violence committed by someone on the left recently? Not one?

Saying "bloodless" is telling.

Psychological violence is being committed and they're calling out physical violence.

It's a fantastic method of argument. But only a sociopath would use it.

The cruelty is the point.

> “The vibe they gave was ‘So, what is it that you do here?’ and ‘Why can’t AI do that?’” —TTS worker

From what I've read, this particular group of children naively thinks "AI" can and should do everything. As in, they think it's literally magic and have no clue how it or computing works. I remember reading about how one was asking on twitter how to use AI to convert word processor documents between formats, when that's a simple classic computing task. I'm afraid the next generation is going to think the only tool they need is a sledgehammer.

> when that's a simple classic computing task.

In fact it is not simple (e.g. convert PDF to MS Word or MS Word to Libreoffice without losses).

> I often find myself guilty of not reading the article but only the comments here myself, so in case this is you: Go take the time and read it, even if it's painful.

The problem isn't that we need another document showing how terrible these people are.

The problem is that we don't have people proposing effective, concrete steps to stop them.

Maybe make the other side less horrible so people vote for them?

how could they be anything other than less horrible than the clowns currently voted in?

By continuing to react and lose elections.

That’s a good question for the DNC!

By being uninspiring and boring and losing because of it.

Republicans promised a bulldozer the size of a small city and they're delivering. Sometimes people prefer winning even if it means they lose.

They went big and the Democrats went home, offering "sensible policy" and "reasonable governance" and programs for Pell Grant recipients who start a business that operates for three years in disadvantaged communities.

None of that is bad on its face but it doesn't win elections. Especially when Elon is promising a Sandals resort on Mars.

Even if you disagreed with Bernie, the guy was willing to go big and bold and cared about what he was promising. It doesn't have to be universal healthcare. It can be UBI or building a solarpunk future or colonizing the bottom of the ocean. The Space Race. The Great Society. Morning in America. The New Deal. Something big and exciting and someone we believe really, really wants it.

The Republicans are promising front row seats to the end of the world and the Democrats are promising to check everyone's tire pressure. Understanding why the former can appeal more than the latter is the key to winning future elections.

Vote in enough Democrats in the midterms to take control of Congress. Most of what the president has been doing is only possible because Congress hasn't stepped up.

Judging from many of the comments here and in other threads, it seems like no document is actually making people see how terrible these people are. Not even here of all places, where one could assume a decent capacity for rational thought. They either don't want to see the violence, or cannot see it, or condone or even support it. Which doesn't make rational sense, since it only leads to more violence, which I doubt can seriously be the end goal, to escalate us into extinction.

You don't even need to bring morals into it or care about anyone else than your own peers. It just doesn't make any sense other than self-harm and a comprehensible yet pointless expression of own pain.

And nearly half the country's voting population don't care or are cheering it on.

You seem to imply that the current administration has approximately a ±0% net approval, but that does not seem to be the case.

https://www.economist.com/interactive/trump-approval-tracker

> The problem is that we don't have people proposing effective, concrete steps to stop them.

Here's an effective, concrete step.

NATIONAL BOYCOTT OF ALL NON-ESSENTIALS.

It's far easier and less painful for the participants than a general strike (cause, you know, you won't get fired from your job for not spending money), but will bring MAGA's handlers to the bargaining table in a week. The only thing those ghouls love is money, and they only thing that scares the shit out of them is not making any.

It's also never going to happen (because there's no fucking way the dems want the hoi polloi to have that kind of power - and thus, they won't lift a finger to organize or assist it.)

This should be the top comment.

Do your life perspective a favour and read the article.

If you're a US tax payer, do the future of your country a favour and read the article.

I personally feel like I have done net good for society through my work and and how I’ve treated people and it felt like a slap in the face when Joe Biden personally said that I would be getting fired from my job at a federal contractor because I disagreed with him. I won’t ever forget what he did to me and I feel like people should be talking about this just as much as they talk about DOGE. I won’t speak too much about DOGE but I feel that it’s important to say my truth about the matter and that I feel a form of catharsis and justice in the dismantling of bureaucracy that infringed on my rights as a human being. I welcome anyone who would like to discuss this with me because I have much more to say on the topic.

You could post what you said exactly that got you fired here in this thread.

Got the exact quote and the context?

It is very plainly visible that society has not been benefited much from the public service of many of those people. In fact, it has declined dramatically.