It's happening here. Right now. - ThreadSky | a Reddit-style client for Bluesky

brendannyhan.bsky.social • 7 days ago

It's happening here. Right now.

“These first two months have been much more aggressively authoritarian than almost any other comparable case I know of democratic backsliding,” said Steven Levitsky, a Harvard political scientist and coauthor of “How Democracies Die” and “Competitive Authoritarianism” www.nytimes.com/2025/03/20/w...

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caminvan.bsky.social•7 days ago

Got two buddies, one who has veered very right and one who has always been more anti-government in general, and both believe the COVID restrictions and reactions were more tyrannical than what is happening now. It's a perspective which I don't agree with, but that I find interesting.

billthepony.bsky.social•7 days ago

Sure, seems like we're knocked out on our feet.... It just hasn't dawned on the brain yet

rwillemann.bsky.social•7 days ago

I am 80, a Vietnam vet and watching our democracy being rapidly flushed. I can barely go out in public without screaming this to everyone. How is everyone not in a tumult?

ingemarknows.bsky.social•7 days ago

This reign of terror can & will make anyone or any organization an enemy. And the GOP is enabling it.

walterdragon.bsky.social•7 days ago

We need people to start recognizing that this isn't just another administration: This is a regime.

brendannyhan.bsky.social•7 days ago

Worse than Hungary or Poland or Turkey. https://www.nytimes.com/2025/03/20/world/europe/trump-courts-defiance-autocrats-playbook.html

papaturk.bsky.social•7 days ago

I dunno, arresting your opponent who will end your two decade long reign with made up charges (all the allegations are connections and deals from when they themselves ran one of the world’s largest municipalities) is pretty bad. Don’t get me wrong tho, that’s exactly where we’re headed.

bastillesam.bsky.social•7 days ago

Whom are you talking about?

a3beljaars.bsky.social•7 days ago

American voters have chosen this madman to demolish US democracy, now they have to deal with his legacy for the next decades...

payne588.bsky.social•7 days ago

But it's worse largely because decades of billionaire-backed preparation, organizing, and escalation on the right went unchallenged.

The crisis "wasn't here yet", and then it "wasn't here yet" again...but now that it is, countermeasures aren't possible because they needed to happen years ago.

usuarioaleatorio.bsky.social•7 days ago

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l23_-1v__Fg

usuarioaleatorio.bsky.social•7 days ago

This is still the position of 80% of elected Dems.

cliff-d-w.bsky.social•7 days ago

Trump would rather be emperor over a 3rd rate backwater than president of the world's greatest country

bastillesam.bsky.social•7 days ago

Greatest no more

cbarcus.bsky.social•7 days ago

It is already worse, and it is still just beginning. To catch a glimpse of the horrors that are coming, check out the greatest atrocities of the 20th century perpetrated by the likes of Stalin, Mao, Pol Pot, the Kim family dynasty, Hitler, etc. America needs to wake up fast and stop this assault.

bastillesam.bsky.social•7 days ago

We need systemic reforms to avert Fascism. Next time thete will be another Trump.

cbarcus.bsky.social•7 days ago

Why did Biden transfer power to this traitor, instead of recognizing the pervasive failure of our democratic institutions to defend our democracy against this existential threat? I think it can be argued that Biden violated his Article 2 oath and plunged us into a perpetual constitutional crisis.

bastillesam.bsky.social•5 days ago

Trump won the election and by denying Trump the right to be the POTUS after his win would've been a greater crisis. He would've become a bigger and worse version of a person whom he wanted to prevent folks from; The folks who elected Trump.

bastillesam.bsky.social•5 days ago

Biden: I am usurping the power of the electorate in order to protect the electorate from the usurpation of power by the other guy whom the electorate elected.

cbarcus.bsky.social•4 days ago

1/ No doubt there would have been a great deal of chaos, and yet that traitor Trump violated his oath immediately, installed plenty of Kremlin operatives to the highest and most sensitive positions, and is dismantling our constitution while preparing for war with our allies.

walterdragon.bsky.social•4 days ago

This isn't an administration: This is a regime.

grumpyg33k.bsky.social•7 days ago

Well, it's not like he advertised it in 2023. But he promised it would only be for a day.

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/dec/06/donald-trump-sean-hannity-dictator-day-one-response-iowa-town-hall

dmswojcicki.bsky.social•7 days ago

he wants to go from 1933 to 1944 in 100 days.

chuckyflow.bsky.social•7 days ago

The good thing is that it should be easier to prosecute upon their ouster. While Trump might never see punishment, those that aided and abetted will not have an out.

ottersimple.bsky.social•7 days ago

Libs told us to vote for the genocider, then are acting all surprised when things are bad.

Tedious.

bastillesam.bsky.social•7 days ago

The POTUS in office is a genocider. Is he not?

ottersimple.bsky.social•7 days ago

Yes, just like you wanted.

bastillesam.bsky.social•5 days ago

I didn't want him. I wanted the other lady. But you need to ask this question to yourself.

ottersimple.bsky.social•5 days ago

I agree that you wanted a genocider. I didn't.

jonp214.bsky.social•7 days ago

But this is why it’s not sustainable. Why this is So Dumb. You establish a competitive autocracy by slow boiling it, systematically taking control over the state apparatus. Whereas Elon (let’s be real he’s running things) is smashing and grabbing, *destroying* the state apparatus.

bastillesam.bsky.social•7 days ago

That's why it's more dangerous. The goal is to dismantle the government not to control it. Control will be in the hands of a few individuals.

msbarnes.bsky.social•7 days ago

When we said “American exceptionalism” we should have specified the direction of said exceptionalism

jenrm.bsky.social•7 days ago

"The first republic since Rome" sounds good, until you hear that other republics copied it many times, with more info, and innovations, and the first one incorporated almost none of those innovations via amendment. Computer scientists do *not* expect "unpatched legacy code" to work well 🫠

drstevenquest.bsky.social•7 days ago

And Fox is telling their zombie viewers that it’s federal judges who are threatening democracy by pushing back on Trump.

cesttopper.bsky.social•7 days ago

They did this in Brazil under Bolsonaro. It's Steve Bannon's playbook.

cesttopper.bsky.social•7 days ago

Not FOX, I meant big media

roddd.bsky.social•7 days ago

They still do. To those who wish to misinform, intention is more then enough. Seeing this happen in many different places just shows how it's the same story - not that we didn't know it.

snowbirdie.bsky.social•7 days ago

People dumb enough to vote twice for Trump are more than dumb enough to not understand how essential the separation of powers is in a democracy

markabuchanan.bsky.social•7 days ago

Previously the New York Times, very soon.

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