106 comments

  1. I too thought it could “never happen here”. “Americans are too smart to believe in outlandish lies and conspiracy junk.”….I was SO wrong!

    1. It has been a successful real life understanding of how a hitler comes to power. Don’t y all agree?

      Who knew there was so much depending on the « honor system » to keep politicians half useful.

      The founding fathers knew! More then two centuries ago. It’s fu**d

    2. Conspiracies like Trump colluded with the Russians? That police are all racist? That the 2016 election was not legitimate? That the supreme court is not legitimate?

    3. The conspiracies you are referring to are only believed by people who want to believe them. You can’t possibly think anyone who is a liberal could suddenly vote republican based on anything they read online.

  2. The worst thing about Trump isn’t what we’ve learned about him, it’s what we’ve learned about our family, friends and neighbors that support him.😔

    1. @unwishfulthink Your 1st lie: there was no hack, who was Seth Rich, DNC staffer? 2nd lie: the dossier is fake – fact. 3rd lie: they’re dissolving that committee, nuff said. #4 lie: He triggers you snowflakes, lives rent-free in your heads but you’re the smart one? Mmkay You suit your profile name.

    2. @PerilousTimes Seth Rich??? You still at that conspiracy theory? Fox News had to pay Seth Rich’s family a 7 figure settlement. Would you like to pay that too?

    3. @unwishfulthink You think the story is over? I really don’t care about Fox News, good for them. Now go pour yourself a tall glass of “get over Trump” and be sure to use a straw so you can suck it up princess!

  3. In the 90’s I went to school in America.
    My fellow students asked me ” how come no one in your country could prevent Hitler, why did people not do enough to stop it? this could never happen here!!
    Well here is how, take a good look.

    1. @Mike Hitler was a dictator responsible for the death of a massive ammount of Jews. Donald Trump is a man who was president for one term and hurt people’s feelings on Twitter.

    2. @ChinChin Both have used the Nationalism playbook to a T. Give them an enemy based on percieved social stereotypes and standings, then tell them to fight for their countries (which is actually their) values.

      This of course goes for anyone in any country, those who want power will use this method as it is just so easy.

    3. @ChinChin he also was the first President that sewed so much doubt I to the election results so as to maintain power – his words – as a direct consequence he created the energy that whipped his followers into a frenzy. So while I agree he was a one term President his stance and perspective of anything and everyone who doesn’t agree with him led to people/law enforcement dying on the 6 of January.

      I can appreciate people who tell the truth “Trump got us riled up and we went out for blood” while I don’t agree with the end I can respect and appreciate straight shooters. What insults me is when people tell me not to trust my eyes and ears.
      By the way – I don’t look at you with contempt – I am engaging you because I desire to understand you and your position(s) and I’m hopeful that through our fact based exchange that we can both walk away more enlightened about what threats exists in our country and how we can overcome them TOGETHER.

      IF EVERYTHING THE LEFT do is correct! AND
      EVERYTHING THE RIGHT do is correct!

      Then I fear our dialogue is over before it even begins. Let’s speak in spirit and In truth… Shall we?

  4. College education , in my opinion has nothing to do with it. I am not college educated. I understand the difference between facts and unproven or even disproven conspiracy. Trying to avoid being condescending, however I believe it comes down to rational thinking. Also being able to be critical in your examination of your views, beliefs and actions. Having true empathy and reflection. Problem solving, and skepticism. Basically intelligence.

    1. Education doesn’t make you smarter just more knowledgeable. It’ frustrating to work on something as a vocation and then to have entire sections of the population say what you know can be figured out with some common sense. It reminds me of every DYI resuce show I’ve ever seen. Sure, you could probably figure out your home remodel by yourself by using common sense. Or you could listen to someone who has become an expert in what you are trying to learn.

    2. The difference between Republicans and Democrats is that Democrats hate white people, hate men, and they especially hate white Christian men.
      Until the Dems stop listening to emotionally damaged, purple-haired, fat Gen Z women with a chip on their shoulder, they’re going to be in for hard times at the polls.

    1. @Jen Kem Let me guess. You think Democrats should decide what’s fascist speech and what’s hate speech.🤣 Who’s gonna censor Biden’s fascist speech.

    2. @Joboygbp Edwards hahahaha – you’re pretty funny……trump would never have been elected except for putin’s interference – and his stoolies MTG, pedophile gaetz and carson and others continue the fandom and lies….boebert and mtg have explicitly stated they think there is nothing wrong with christian nationalism…is that you?

    3. As long as corporate power controls Congress and the rest of our government, our society and human life in general are always going to be controlled by that hegemonic corporate elite that is focused on wealth, power and globalization , and values like human growth, human development, and people in general will continue to be marginalized, propagandized, and appeased to. We need social structuring now more than ever, and we have the means to easily put us on that path. If the powers that be wanted the general public unified politically and fully engaged in critical though and political discourse, they would have created a political structure for us that would allow us to do so. Our system enslaves the majority of Americans into a life of working at the cost of their dreams and the quality of their life. That’s a fact. But a group of very talented computer science people and students could create something to change that if someone like our President just gave them the nod end encourage them to do so. You have my permission to use the following essay to promote a democratic structural platform so that individual everyday citizens can participate in the political process in a meaningful and constructive way.
      _______________________________________________________________________________________
      For those of us who would like to know how people can come together and change society for the common good, it is crucial to be aware that we now have the means of doing that quite effectively. It’s called the internet. Nothing holds us back from acting on our own and pooling our resources to build a democratic political structure that would give the general public a powerful voice throughout society.

      We need to establish an online democratic political platform in which any concerned citizen can securely log in and participate in the political system in a highly constructive and meaningful way — which would help to ensure that whatever Congress does that it will always be in the public’s best interest — and this would translate into the ability of the general public to exert and wield real democratic power upon the government, and thus society itself.

      Such a democratic structure, which would essentially be a public web portal, would serve multiple functions — including basic things like voting in an election, which has already been done successfully in a number of countries, or allowing people to express their opinions on any issue and have those opinions recorded and tabulated for government offices to see the results of and to analyze.

      The political platform could also be a place where people educate themselves about our true history of imperialism, how society actually operates, about the nature of neoliberalism, how it began, and the devastating effect that it has on the poor and the working-class, or the history of class struggle in American history, or how American anarchists were the ones who were behind most if not all of the major social progress that was ever achieved throughout our history. All of this kind of historical information, which has not been part of traditional teachings, would do a tremendous service to the public by enlightening their minds and to give them a whole understanding and approach to what is possible.

      The central function of this direct-democracy platform, however, would be the encouragement, promotion, and facilitation of the two most important activities that a free and democratic people could ever do — critical thinking about the society in which they live and engaging in rational, political discourse.

      People would gather around a common cause — like a social injustice or some other systemic flaw in society — that they are passionate about, form into a group, or several groups, which would basically take the form of an online chat room but that would be set up in a highly constructive and intelligent way, and simply begin sharing their concerns and expressing their thoughts and ideas on achieving a logical, reasonable, and practical solution to the problem. The rational discourse would undoubtedly lead to some form of brainstorming sessions where a common sense solution could be produced. Once finalized, the people’s official proposal (perhaps known as a pop) would then be voted on by the participating public, and if passed with a majority vote, then it would be sent to Congress for special consideration.

      This is how American people can harness real democratic power, and if it can be done here in this country. with all of its diversity and so much political divisiveness and so many distractions, it could be done just about anywhere where there is broad-band access. This is not a fairy tale. This is quite real, and we can do this.

      Each member of Congress would receive some kind of rating based on how responsive the representative is to the general public — who would be regarded as the main constituents of Congress — and every time that an individual logs into the platform, one of the first things seen would be the rating of their Representative and Senators. The rating system would be an additional tactic to pressure politicians with so that members of Congress always act in the best interest of the people.

      And so, this is what a public, online, democratic political platform could do. Such a democratic mechanism would be a political game-changer because then there would basically be no limit to what a concerned and engaged citizenry could achieve.

      I am talking about an online platform, that’s it, that records, tabulates, and graphs the voice of the public so that any representative in government can simply log in and see how their constituents feel about the issue and learn about any specific ideas or proposals that they may have in resolving a particular issue. If the majority of people are dissatisfied with the representative’s response, then the people would have the ability to make that known and to be put on the democratic record of that Congress member.

      Students, individuals, corporations, and organizations are continually establishing some kind of online platform or web-site in order to perform a particular function or set of functions for society, and the building of a direct-democracy platform would be no different except that it would be a platform that every citizen can benefit from. Participation in this platform would undoubtedly require a certain amount of time and energy from the individual, and this would be understood. Most people make time for doing all kinds of things in their lives that are not totally necessary, and so, I would think that making time to voice their concerns and ideas about how to advance human growth and human development in the most effective way possible would be something that people would definitely want to do.

      We don’t need the government’s permission to begin working on such a grand, social project; we just need to start doing it. It would be helpful if celebrities in the mainstream media or perhaps certain organizations who specialize in producing public-interest campaigns could create a presentation to promote the establishment of an online democratic structure. Anyone involved in such efforts should expect some sort of backlash from the existing power structure, but if the public campaign is done in a very intelligent and strategic way, and if different prototypes are made for the public to try out and to get comfortable with, which would help to promote the overall concept of the project, then the powers that be will bend. A good name for such a democratic platform would be NOAM out of respect for the still living, renowned intellectual, thinker, and advocate for social change, Noam Chomsky.

      A possible slogan for the activists of such a movement could be: Keep Calm, and Make the Logical Argument. When you hear voices from the media start downplaying and ridiculing the importance of critical and logical thinking, or accuse us of being reckless and irresponsible, that would be a good sign of the cracking of the existing power structure.

  5. My mom used to tell all her friends and family that Americans are stupid. I used to always said she was wrong but now I realizes she was so right.

    1. @The End
      There’s nothing at all ‘declining’ about my country.
      😉😊😇
      (Your response is rather like the puerile ‘primary school’ ‘argument’ “I’m rubber, you’re glue”. 🤣🤣)

    2. @Defext Official because we don’t want to learn how to be a good British/French colony. We’ve got our own history to keep track of. You have nothing to learn of your own creation, you only exist to act as a physical barrier to the US from the Russians.

  6. People seem to think freedom of speech means you can say whatever you want wherever you want without criticism or consequences. That isn’t how it works. You are free to act like a bigot, and people are free to treat you like one.

    1. @Jacob Watson facts matter whether you like it or not. This is not a disagreement of them because you obviously don’t know them. You buy stories, you believe fairy tales as long as they fit your narrow minded viewpoint of the world.

    2. @Kevin D Ahh, so a private company can say certain speech can’t take place either within or on their business?

    3. @Jason Richmond Jury disagrees with you, they had all the facts and you see what you want to see, that’s just old prejudice.

  7. If we actually lived in a country of laws we would not have to worry about trump showing up on inauguration day in 24 he should be in jail way before then !

    1. and if this were a fair and unbiased country, hillary, bill, obama, fauci, biden, schumer, pelosi would be in there already. but until you realize that trump is not the problem. biden is. have you paid attention to the cost of things lately. that is all biden not trump. do you know that our country is about to run out of diesel fuel, this country and its supply chain live on diesel fuel. that is all biden. but you will not believe that because the biased news will never tell you about it.

    2. @Michael Morningstar Well, someone who has been proven to try to overthrow a government should not at the very least be barred from working for that government again, but he should be in prison. Trump is not in prison for some reason, but the idea that he is allowed to even run again is insane. There is something very wrong with our system of government.

      I’ll put it to you like this… If you’re caught stealing a bag of chips from the grocery tomorrow. You’re not allowed in the grocery story anymore. Even if they let you off the hook and don’t send you to jail for larceny, you’re barred from the store.

    1. @TIMOTHY HARRIS ESQ bullseye. but then again, leftists and progressives are so patently uneducated. they probably think that getting cut in half on Omaha Beach on D Day was easier than their dealing with the existence of Trump.

    1. @FUSTER CLUCK: yer digging yer own grave. Stop before you aren’t able to climb out.

      Trump isn’t a savior, he loves only himself, you’re just a pawn in his game.

    2. @Joe Costa:
      “Indeed I tremble for my country when reflect that God is just: that his justice cannot sleep for ever: that considering numbers, nature and natural means only, a revolution of the wheel of fortune, an exchange of situation, is among possible events: that it may become probable by supernatural interference!”
      -Thomas Jefferson

    3. The Republicans don’t want to govern and legislate, because they want to rule and dictate. They don’t want the USA to be a constitutional republic anymore, because they want it to be theirs.

    1. Unless Trump is called to account for his many crimes and enough people finally see the cruel little man that DeSantis is (and those like him), I see Maher’s predictions coming true. 2022 will be bad, 2024 will be hellish.

  8. I recall that before Trump was elected Michael Moore said Trump if elected he would be the last president of the US – he might yet be right.

    1. @TDSjackasses what school did you go to? Trump’s only served one term. He can still be elected to a second one. It’s rare, but Grover Cleveland served two non-consecutive terms.

    2. @OptimusWombat yeah I figured that what was being said. American patriots won’t let that happen. I think he’s on a downhill slide honestly.

  9. I’ve believed the “personality trait” theory for a long time, but the problem is when that personality trait leads them to thinking its OK to just get rid of democracy you’re pretty much forced to treat them as enemies.

    1. Under personality types. I believe that conservatives fall into the “strong father types. I am the leader, no questions just do as I say.
      More liberal folks fall under the help the poor nurturing Mom types . I have found this observation to be true in my life. See if it works for you.

    2. Which ideology are you referring to? Because it looks that way to people on both sides. You do realize that, right?

    3. thanks for voting for the Illegals, I had to call the cops and medics because someone was overdosing on Fentanyl in my california front apartment complex

  10. “Democracy is the belief that the people know what they want
    and deserve to get it good and hard” … H. L. Mencken

  11. To me, the most shocking revelation about the past Trump era was that so many Americans can’t reason for themselves. Instead they chose to believe what is being told to them and what is convenient rather than evaluate if it is in their own best interest.

    1. @Richard Reese Dude. Did you read the Mueller report? Dude, did you read the REPUBLICAN lead Senate Intelligence report that I mentioned?

    2. @Michael Morningstar The orange man is gone and yet here you are still whining. You sound triple-vaxxed.

    3. @andy99ish My mistake was that I used the word “opinion”. I’m not actually talking really about opinions, so my bad. Not half… likely barely a *third* of (the voting) public in the US denies objective, demonstrable facts. they base many of their opinions on their falsehoods, and so their opinions are irrational. The phrase “psychological malfunction” is sloppy enough that I could easily drop *irrational beliefs* into that soup. But to be clear, I *don’t* believe that this large segment of the population has a *psychological disorder.*

      The fact that a large portion of the public doesn’t “trust the media” doesn’t hold any sway with me. I’m not a fan of logical fallacies, such as argumentum ad populum. There are large portions of the public who believe *many* batshit crazy things, such as angels, talking donkeys and virgin births.

    4. @randal gibbons
      @ > “Nothing like being vague as to leave no trace of an actual opinion.”
      R U saying no trace of an actual ( . ) 😊 🤗

  12. I’m not understanding why People have to feel the need to be provocative and offensive. You can say what you want, but if you are saying it to make someone mad, you have to be prepared for what comes with someone’s anger. If we get back to a place where we respect each other, life won’t be perfect, but we will have much more strength in unity.

    1. Truth may not be enough. We may have to trick and condition them on a mass scale to become enlightened individuals — using mass propaganda techniques to get people to be reasonable …in the same kind of way that our government convinced people to hate the Germans and to support our involvement in World War I in 1918. The Woodrow Wilson was the first to use propaganda on a mass scale for getting the public to think about things in a certain way. That’s what happens when an entire industry, now a country or perhaps the world, rests its economic stability on war and conflict.

    2. If something is offensive or provocative is always decided on the receivers end. Basically anything someone says, can be seen as offensive or provocative to the right receiver. So your proposition doesn’t work as a general rule. There will always be things that upset you or things you say that upset the other. We should rather listen to eachother in the most stoic fashion possible to reach a better understanding and can therefore strive for a common outcome.

    3. @Chris Johnson You may be making a rash generalization in the same way that people think all liberals want to come and take away everyone’s guns. The intelligent liberals know this is an impossibility. I think we are being divided by sensationalist headlines, not by victim mentality.

    4. It’s like the film Ideocracy. The dumbing down of our society. Eating poor, sugar as nutrition. Addiction. If we try to watch people who speak intelligently, not look for culture war issues, putting down marginalized groups, maybe that will help many. US should establish some boundaries or ways to objectively evaluate whether all the fake and propagandists news should be permitted on TV at all to fill the airwaves 24/7 anymore. Also, remove fake titles, clickbait bs content and study it’s impact on dumbing down our society, causing mass rise in ADD, impulsive cognitive thinking disorders. Also, helpful read… book called Choosing Civility, The Civility Project. Learn how to be civil in public discourse. Phones hijack people very easily and get you on a hamster wheel which is very similar behaviors found in alcohol and drug addicts.

  13. The detail Maher is missing here is that a hand has always been out to Trxmp voters. The hatred from that side has been so stirred up and turbocharged by rhetoric that they don’t even know it’s there. We can talk all we want about unity but I’ve never heard the right ever once appeal to that idea without taking shots at whoever they want to leave behind.

    1. Yes! Thank you! It’s all about the rhetoric. Since the post-WWII era, the GOP has used rhetoric to appeal to whatever their base was at the time. The McCarthy era was bad, but it’s nowhere near as dire as what we see today. All political ads have become attack ads, regardless of the party involved. It’s all stimulus/response with no consideration for the residual effects.

    2. I’m going to disagree. I can forgive anyone who voted for Trump once. If there’s anyone who is still supporting this garbage with all the cards on the table, everything shown since 2016 and Jan 6? We’re talking about lost causes of people here. They might as well be a different species.

    3. The Left is so misguided. Everyone knows that if they are disagreed with – you are a racist or bigot or a Nazi – but they have a short memory and tendency to pretend it never happened. Such hypocrites!

    1. V E R Y P R O F O U N D …
      WE WON’T SEE DRUMPFS EVIL TILL HE HAS CONTROL …. A G A I N !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
      AND THEN ???? IT’S OVER … AMERICA BECOMES A TOTALITARIAN STATE …
      CAN YOU SAY qUEEN DAUGHTER POKAVANKA … PRINCE DON jR .. PRINCE ERIC …

    2. @SouthernCross lol, what a load of crap. I got news for you. Many of the conservatives have NO freaking clue what they stand for. Back in 2016 many of those same folks decided a lying, cheating draft-dodging tv game show host was their guy. So much for their conservative values. Their guy cheated in every relationship, cheated employees, mislead Trump University applicants and sucked up to psychotic murderous dictators. He deserves prison and those imbeciles still supporting him need help and deprogramming. Btw, name one election the Democrats lost and then staged a violent assault to interfere with a constitutional process. Of course u can’t because there’s never been one until Jan. 6, 2021. Go back to your koolaid and watchkng faux Faux Propoganda

  14. I’m more relieved that I’m 64 years old with health problems. I’d be very scared to be a child having to grow up in this pathetic country.

    1. @randal gibbons That’s a very, very interesting thought, I’ve never seen it like this before. Thank you so much for sharing it!

    2. @randal gibbons you seem to consider merely surviving an accomplishment and you are setting the bar generally low. I’m merely taking into account how many young people do not have the general well being that their predecessors had in recent generations. If I am wrong about higher rates of depression, mental health issues, anger, etc among young people compared to those who were raised in the 1970s-early 2000s you can tell me how

    3. Not to worry Democrats will lose.
      You future will be safe.
      Truth to a Democrat is like sunlight to a Vampire. 🌞🌞🌞🌞🌞🌞👹👹👹👹🔥🔥🔥🔥

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