They are definitely the controlled opposition. In some cases it’s the same sponsors and in other cases it’s not. It’s a slightly more benevolent but also more elitist bunch of oligarchs funding the Democrats. There is more overlap in corporate interests though.

The Republicans never seem so pathetic when they are out of power. Besides, they have been (intentionally) pathetic for decades, not six weeks. Do you remember Trump disappearing when he lost to Biden?

At least the midterms is right. This midterm should be an easy sweep for the Democrats, but they are already blowing it. Democratic strategists are already openly declaring their intention to double down yet again on strategies that always fail. No matter how many elections you bungle as a Democratic strategist, they will always take you back.

Maybe they could help clue the Democratic party into the seriousness of the situation.

The hard power will be the next thing to go. Trump and his buddies are trying to make the US into Russia, and that comes with all the problems that rotted the Russian military from within. We already have plenty of corruption, but our generals have enough integrity to put their foot down when something might impact combat readyness. Trump’s loyalist buddies care only about the grift.

I’m not sure “drifting” is quite accurate.

That’s kind of a weird question. Russia isn’t communist and arguably never got further than state capitalism under the Soviet Union. Russia is certainly a dictatorship/oligarchy now, but so is the US (with extra steps that are currently being dismantled anyways).

The ones that will remember are the ones being purged.

We had that chance. We picked Biden instead. Now it’s “find out” time.

as with any war, there’s never a solution that’s going to please everyone.

I hear Hitler was particularly displeased with the way WWII ended. Pleasing everyone ain’t the goal here Skippy.

Ending the war, by itself, is a good thing.

If either side thought that, there wouldn’t be a war. Obviously there are “bad things” associated with ending the war that are considered worse than continuing it.

Do you think that if the Ukraine military and government surrendered completely today that it would mean peace? Not a chance. Russia would be oppressive and an uprising would begin the moment formal hostilities ended - as would be right and proper.

Russia does not have the manpower - in training or just raw numbers - to effectively occupy and quell rebellion in Ukraine. The result would be a bloody quagmire for at least a decade, and it would arguably be worse than the current formal hostilities.

That’s a lot of hand waving just to say “Iranian men are rapists because America”. It wasn’t Zionists calling them habitual rapists, it was you. Zionism is bad, but take some personal responsibility brother.

So… locking up the rapists wasn’t an option? A statewide educational campaign against rape was impossible?

Are Iranian men just born different from other men, or is there something in the culture that could be addressed?

JD Vance is waiting on the wings.

Anyways, it’s not Trump making these decisions. He’s just signing whatever the Heritage Foundation puts in front of him. Trump isn’t even capable of actually writing an executive order.

He pretty much did. Corporate media did him dirty, but revolutions have to assume that will be the case. I don’t give establishment Democrats any slack when they whine about media coverage or voter apathy, so I don’t give progressives any either. We gotta win a game that we know is to some extent rigged.

There is no savior coming. That’s what grass roots movements are for. It’s gotta be the people.

Nobody is confused about the fact that Netanyahu is giving the orders, but Biden kept sending cash and weapons (in violation of US law), kept participating in the coverup, and joined the chorus trying to frame anti-genocide protesters as antisemitic. I’m sure he has some stern words for Netanyahu, but that’s not pressure. Biden ought to be in prison. He’s lucky to just have a nickname.

In 2016 Bernie we was running as an issue candidate. Nobody, including Bernie expected him to become a serious contender against the anointed one. He came far closer than expected, close enough for Hillary to never quit whining about it. There is also no such thing as “close” in a primary because once the media declared a winner, the remaining states all avalanche to the expected nominee.

It’s hilarious that you think Carter and Bernie are all that similar. Carter was the first of the neoliberal Democrats. He had integrity, unlike the Democrats to follow, and he was solidly non-interventionist, but that’s pretty much where the similarities end. Carter never had the popularity that Bernie has maintained for over a decade. No Democrat since FDR can match that.

With many thousands of state and local elections across the country, I do agree that there have to be niche circumstances where a third party strategy works, or might even be best. Even so, I just don’t see that as something that can be built on to ever start winning at a national level.

Even in the case of Bernie, he runs on an “independent” brand, but it’s understood that he is a Democrat.

There is no doing it the hard way. That’s an adolescent fantasy. The wealthy will just coop any such movement to gain even more control.

Winning has to start with massive reform of American culture, and the wealthy have just consolidated control over social media, making it even harder to reach people. The one thing we have going for us is that the US seems to finally understand that the system is broken.

The US is hardly unique in this. Every nation has a closet full of skeletons, and there is a lot of evil happening in the world today that isn’t the fault of the US.

The inevitable outcome I was referring to was the rise of fascism, and it became inevitable the moment we didn’t take the historic opportunity to overthrow neoliberal control of the Democratic party. That was the window to a better world, and we missed it. A Bernie presidency would never have bowed to Israel and genocide.