this post was submitted on 14 Nov 2023
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God, none of it matters. You'll always have one dickhead or another in office. Losing sleep over who is president is nuts to me. We're in dystopian times now. Just don't think about it
I'd argue it does matter. For me as a foreigner it matters, because it's not unlikely Trump will leave NATO. Without NATO, it's not unlikely that Putin decides to try and grab some Baltic states. The order of the world hangs in the balance and if it tips over, it will get much worse than many of us can even imagine. I'm not confident that Biden can fix anything, but I'm fairly sure the outcome for the Western world will be much worse under Trump.
While there are many other pressing issues about our democracy (from an American perspective), this is the strongest issue I take.
I can't see things turning out well with Trump as a wartime president, particularly if he just keeps America out of important matters on the world stage (or worse yet, panders and sides with those who seek harm to America and the 'West'. Let your allies weaken enough/succumb to your 'enemies', and it ultimately weakens oneself.
I get the feeling, but I think it's hard to argue that Trump won't accelerate the dystopia. Biden won't make it better, no way no how, but Trump and his neo nazi rhetoric seem far worse.
But, still, can't lose sleep over it. Build up a lil nest egg to flee on instead.
Flee where? Canada is no safer, they have QAnon nuts too. Europe’s not looking amazing. Are you thinking Asia? That’s a bad pick if/when the battle for Taiwan kicks off. Africa is not very developed. And Oceania (Australia included) is just too close to the South China Sea to be safe. Unfortunately, we can’t just flee. We have to make a stand, or we’re all lost to this growing global tide of authoritarianism and outright fascism, the way we had to make a global stand in the 1940’s. Thankfully a world war hasn’t broken out, and we still have the hope of influencing our political systems at home before it’s too late.
Equating voting in a ballot booth to fighting Nazis in the forties is a bit grandiose...
But I got family overseas, so I'll probably start there.
I’d say preventing the rise of another web of right-wing leaders is just as important as fighting a war after they’ve claimed their power. We see ourselves in quite a similar position to the post-Great War, with many governments swinging hard right, media turning to support that, and the base for those future right wing leaders in the Americas and Europe being solidified. I’d say if anything, the way you’ve brushed this off is quite flippant.
But best of luck if the need flee arises! Hopefully if it’s Europe, it’s nowhere the Balkans. You wouldn’t to hop from a frying pan into the fire of a Russian invasion without NATO at full power with US backing (and odds are if Trump wins he pulls out of NATO).
The fight against Fascism won't be won in the ballot box, especially with America's backwards election systems. But, at least in that field, unless you live in a swing state, one's participation in that system is largely irrelevant.
It’s been won in the ballot box already, as recently as 2020. Each fight repeats (here we are looking at the next round in 2024), but the ballot can be won and the overt fascist candidate prevented from succeeding and rolling out Project 2025. Swing states matter most, but as we’ve seen since 2016 unexpected states can still swing their vote. And I’d much rather we handle it civilly through voting rather than go for the Huey Long fix, like happened in 1935.