I happened to read some articles from a couple years ago, forecasting Trump's 2024 presidential bid, and completely missing the mark.
And it occurred to me that a lot of these political forecasters are just completely failing when it comes to Trump (at least, that's been my impression).
And something popped into my head. The character of The Mule from Asimov's Foundation series completely eluded Hari Seldon's psychohistory forecasting. He was an individual so far out of the norm that someone like him couldn't be predicted and accounted for, to devastating consequences.
I certainly don't think Trump is a genius telepath like The Mule, but he certainly seems to be trying to set himself up as a dictator, like The Mule, and he seems to be having much more success at his attempt than most people thought possible.
It's a scary time, and we don't have R. Daneel Olivaw pulling strings in the background to get us back on track.
Can someone explain to me when the Republican Party switched from being about small government to supporting authoritarian rule?
I'm not crazy, am I? Those are two fully incompatible ideologies, right? Like, 200 executive orders in a single day, and dozens every day for the following week doesn't exactly scream small government to me. It screams massive government overreach, from my perspective.
Am I misunderstanding something?
And when did it happen? Did Reagan do it? Did he start it and it happened gradually? If I were a student in a world history class in Europe in 2090, how would that teacher explain this?
#HelpMeUnderstand #AskFedi #AskMastodon #USPol #USHistory #USGovernment
Trump says he wants to 'clean out' Gaza and move Palestinians to Jordan and Egypt. Trump also confirmed he had instructed the military to resume shipments of 2,000-pound bombs to Israel, which had been paused over concerns about civilian casualties.
So, we finally get a cease-fire, and now that Trump is back in office, he wants to start the war back up again? 
US Politics: election results
US Politics: election results
In case you hadn't heard since Election Day, the popular vote was not quite the slam dunk for Trump as it appeared on the day.
In fact, Trump did not win a majority of the votes cast. He won 49% of the votes. Harris won 48% of the votes.
If we didn't have the Electoral College, and implemented ranked voting, there's a decent chance Harris would have won, if the other 3% choose her as their second choice.
Trump is appointing an anti-vaxxer as his Secretary of Health and Human Services.
If there is another pandemic, we're goners.
https://youtube.com/shorts/U_i6PyNf_AQ
Now I understand the Electoral College.
US Politics
US Politics
The second person to do a thing will never be as impressive as the first.
It's not particularly impressive that Trump will be the second president to serve a second non-consecutive term.
It is "impressive" (straining that word a bit) that he'll be the first convicted felon to be elected president.
Dark humor about US politics
Dark humor about US politics
Vladimir Putin re-elected President of the United States
https://www.legorafi.fr/2024/11/06/vladimir-poutine-reelu-president-des-etats-unis/
US Politics
US Politics
Oh crap. I just realized our president-elect is a convicted felon, and has to go to court in a few weeks to be sentenced for his crimes.
So many of these races are neck and neck between Jill Stein and Chase Oliver for third place.
Here's a thought I had. When Taylor Swift was dating Connor Kennedy, Bobby Jr's son, did he ever show her his dad's whale head?
A woman who took part in the January 6th insurrection has broken free of the cult of Trump, admitted to her crimes, and is now supporting Harris for president.
Most men, if you ask them what their favorite historical empire is, will tell you the Roman. But J.D. Vance's is the Ottoman.
What the Presidential Debate looks like to me. #PresidentialDebate #USPol #Politics
Caption
Still from Nightmare Before Christmas of Oogie Boogie arguing with Jack Skellington
Driving home from the grocery store today, I saw a bald eagle as roadkill on the side of the road. Seemed like a pretty good analogy. 
#USPol #TrueStory #UnitedStates