So Trump feels like he's been doubling down on buddying up with Putin as of late, with the observations I see being that he's trying to fix the problems with fuel prices caused by his war with Iran, as opposed to just admitting defeat.

How concerned should I be about this? I know Russia's invasion of Ukraine is going to fail, and have dire consequences for both countries, but I worry that Trump buddying up with the fascists is going to keep prolonging it. Which I am certain is going to make the consequences even worse.

Obviously: VOTE!!! But also:

“Republicans are increasingly shifting money from offense to defense, pouring resources into once-safe states including Texas, Kansas and Nebraska while retreating from races in North Carolina and the House.”

https://www.law360.com/articles/2538036/doj-pushes-congress-to-expand-death-penalty

How likely is this to pass? Is this something to worry about especially following the two recent death penalty situations.

More Trump Fails!

Another article explaining why Hungary shows not all is lost.

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Full text of this article below:

For years, Viktor Orbán was Europe’s most infamous prime minister. He ruled over Hungary for a decade and a half, and his government often made the headlines for the awful things it was doing – to LGBT people, to the European Union, to the rule of law, and to anyone daring to stand in their way. The grip that his party, Fidesz, retained on the country seemed unbreakable and ever-tightening. Elections had happened and potential challengers had been and gone, but Orbán prevailed.

Then Péter Magyar entered the fray. A former Fidesz minister, he left the party then decided to go at it alone, launching his own Tisza party to fight against his former boss. No-one really knew what his politics were, and the Budapest left wondered if he’d merely be more of the same. I visited the capital a year before the election and though there was some optimism in the air, no-one got carried away.

He probably wasn’t going to win and, even if he did, he just wouldn’t be able to get the crucial two-thirds majority in the parliament. Even if that were to happen, there was no saying what he’d do with all that power. Hungarians, browbeaten by 16 years of Fidesz, refused to get carried away. Everyone else, meanwhile, kept watching the country’s slow descent into authoritarianism. When, in March last year, Orbán banned Pride marches, Europe was scandalised, but was there really much they could do?

In the end, Hungarians took care of it. Six months ago this week, they went to the polls and put their faith in Péter Magyar, giving him the parliamentary supermajority he needed to put the country on a different path. Still – still! – there was reticence, which I saw even as people celebrated in Budapest and a sense that people shouldn’t be too pleased. Of course it was good news that one era was finally coming to an end. But could they really trust Magyar, a former Fidesz figure, especially as he’d spent the election campaign saying as little as possible?

As it turns out: they could. Earlier this week, his MPs voted to remove the anti-LGBT provisions Fidesz had snuck into some “child protection” legislation back in 2021. It is now no longer illegal to “promote” homosexuality or gender transition to under-18s in Hungary, a move warmly welcomed by campaigners everywhere.

Though this was the first time Magyar took specific aim at homophobic legislation, his government has been extremely busy elsewhere. Last month, members of parliament voted overwhelmingly in favour of lifting the immunity of former ministers Balázs Hankó and Miklós Seszták, allowing them to be investigated in separate criminal cases. The former is accused of sending €46m in cultural funds to public figures – which authorities believe amounts to illegal campaign financing – while the latter is suspected of taking €30m in bribes linked to bus tenders.

Both investigations are part of Magyar’s “Road To Jail” programme, which he campaigned on during the election, and which turned into “Operation Purge” in June. As the prime minister explained over the summer, the initiative will “close those long decades when Hungary could be held hostage by organised political and economic criminal groups”.

This all-important mission has mostly been handed to the recently established National Asset Recovery and Protection Office, which does what it says on the tin. The hope, clearly, is to clean up Hungary’s politics and its state as quickly and efficiently as possible.

It is a beautiful thing to witness, and an important one too. Though Americans are currently wondering if a way back really can be found for their broken, divided country, Magyar’s republic ought to show them that, with enough will, anything is possible. Even Hungarians doubted it could happen, until the very last moment – but their PM is now proving their cautious pessimism wrong.

Perhaps most importantly, it is giving us all hope – hope that decline isn’t irreversible, and that the damage populist politics can do to a country doesn’t have to last forever. It’s a useful lesson for those across the pond, as they’re living through their own Fidesz days today, but it should also be kept in mind by the French, the Brazilians, the Poles, and everyone else looking at their next elections with apprehension. There may be tough times ahead, but things can and do get better.

Most of all, though, the audience for Magyar’s masterclass should be those seeking to emulate him, on the left, the centre, and whatever parts of the right remain faithful to democracy and the rule of law. Back in April, when Hungary voted, Tisza stood at 52% in the polls. Half a year later, after months of hard, sometimes controversial work, the governing party’s level of support is now at 61%. As it turns out, voters really do love it when politicians take on the crooks; who knew?

So, I'm not really scared about news like this since it's been a long time since I've seen them and then nothing happens sometimes, but still, could this really happen?

I've talked a lot about the midterms and any types of reasonable and unreasonable shenanigans that might happen on the actual day, but I wanted to also talk about what I think is actually likely and completely unlikely to happen after the actual election is over, since this can be where a lot of doomer goalposts have been prepared to move to already.

One thing that I think is unfortunately likely after the election is done is that the admin will very likely call the election fraudulent. From claiming that non citizens voted, non living citizens voted, saying that space lasers were used (A conspiracy that can be reused for either admin or doomer), or by just saying the word fraud over and over again.

Something I don't think will happen is martial law/takeover afterwards. No matter if fraud is used as an excuse, nor if old executive orders from the Eisenhower admin are used, this just isn't happening, and I won't get too far into it because I always do, but it just isn't realistic in a country this big, this spread out, and this non-obedient.

However I do think that there is a chance of court cases being involved by the admin against any democratic victories to attempt to devalue or prevent them from entering office entirely. I think that this is very likely to not succeed just as 2020 cases failed.

I can't believe I'm saying this, but I really don't think that when the hit game GTA 6 releases in November that some sort of takeover of the entirety of the US will commence due to enough people being distracted enough to look up from their screens. I feel like the explanation of why this won't happen speaks for itself.

One thing that I think could maybe be attempted but won't succeed is the chance for the house clerk to be fired and replaced with someone who wouldn't allow the upcoming congress to be allowed in. This is a strategy that is very dumb and could very well be used, but I think that it is a losing game and is only delaying the inevitable for people like Johnson who are probably leaving congress afterwards. Amandasmildtakes made a great video about this that goes into detail for why this theory isn't the absolute victory that some make it out to be.

And for the Professor Jiang fans out there, no I don't think that the war in Iran will escalate enough to have troops sent, a draft started, federal agents taking over cities, elections being cancelled or rigged, and the global economy crashing all in 2027. This guy predicted the outcome of 2024 and that a war in Iran would start, not that big of a track record to go off of to believe all of this based off of supposed "scientific methods".

I also think that the next congress after getting in will be more focused on investigations and blocking any federal court picks, cabinet members, and if the senate is won, supreme court nominees, whilst stopping any damaging bills and policies from being enacted otherwise.

I know that there is no real chance for Democrats alone to impeach and remove anyone given the required numbers. Even if all optional senate seats are won, the numbers aren't there for a democratic supermajority (Plus one to account for Fetterman), to remove. Sure, there is a chance that republicans might join in at the last moment, but I wouldn't put my bet on that one. Impeaching without having the necessary numbers isn't a good way to spend time so I don't think this process will be started either.

And finally, after the midterms democracy and elections will still be there. I've seen so many of those posts saying "This is what is going to happen" before describing every doomer theory known to man, but I think that copypasta isn't in any way a realistic vision of the future, and that the only long term danger is that the bot accounts using that same paragraph are gonna have to push the goalposts again and again afterwards.

“In broad strokes, their opinions were unchanged. While they believe the election is likely to face challenges — such as federal agents interfering with the voting process — they ultimately do not expect a significant number of voters to be disenfranchised or the final results to be illegitimate. If anything, fewer things are keeping them up at night now than in the spring.”

I don’t consider myself a Doomer. I’ve been following the sub for the past year and it has helped me out numerous times. But the possibility of the polls overestimating the democrats is something that has come into my mind this past week or so.

Do you think it’s possible?

This is very concerning to me, especially as a New Yorker. I worry that this could prevent a blue wave from happening in the midterms

Election day is coming closer and a big blue wave is coming. Donald is doing everything that would not even last forever once the new Congress is seated come January 2027.

That’s all you need to know. Don’t be scared and keep voting.

And even in Canada, I’m not scared of the Alberta referendum either, even though I live in Ontario, because the huge majority of Albertans know that separating is very costly for them and for their province.

PS: I also believe the hits on data centres in Russia is causing Donald to go crazy too

Sorry for yet another post debunking the Elon conspiracy, but I’ve noticed doomers are always treating Elon like he’s some powerful force that is unstoppable. It’s getting really tiring and has to stop.

Elon is a petty rich boy who is a daddy’s boy who takes his autism to the extreme (this is coming from someone who is autistic).

Yes he is evil and is using his companies for evil. But we need to treat him just as incompetent as he is

Sort of the third part of my posts talking about why I don't think the midterms will be rigged and why I don't think that martial law will happen, I want to talk about why I believe wholeheartedly that people's attempts, whether it be by doomers or by the admin, to claim that elections won't matter either in the long run or due to some sort of inevitable tampering, is not only devaluing elections as a whole, but it also acts as a way of voter suppression, and only hurts more than it could ever help.

I've said this before, but one of the most dangerous aspects of claiming that elections don't matter is that it has the adverse effect of making people less likely to go out and vote since they imagine that them voting would then be a supposedly pointless endeavor. In an election like this, every vote is important. And people not voting because they don't think it matters could actually impact many crucial and likely very close races to come.

This can also come in the form of the admin implying that "something" had to have happened with 2024 which could then happen in November as well. People like Trump, Musk, and the latter's ex girlfriend and grifter Ashley St. Clair making very vague and ominous quotes that have people convinced that some nefarious actions happened to alter 2024, although the supposed means of how this happened are of course not said by any of them. And as a result doomers claim that any hope for this upcoming election is lost as well.

I strongly believe that the three of them said this stuff not to admit victory, but because they want to lower faith and legitimacy in elections across the board for the left and once again act as a sort of voter suppression. And it also helps that given the lack of any actual evidence for these claims, and to be honest no actual admittance of a crime just implying that "something" happened, makes it easier to deflect blame for what was said.

Also I know that they don't have a secret win button due to nobody on the right acting confident about the midterms at all. On top of that I feel that if there was this giant upcoming conspiracy to steal all elections like this, then people like AOC, Bernie, or any other major progressive leaders would say something about this, especially since they are not beholden to corporate money about these things and are much more likely to talk about such things.

And now you have so many doomers across social media already saying that the election is guaranteed to be rigged so heavily that neither the house nor the senate is won by Democrats and that democracy is over as a whole. And if it isn't being rigged by space lasers, then people are being brought in during a nationwide blackout to change out ballots, and if not that then it's martial law, and if not that, then it's the next thing. Theory after theory after theory. None with any evidence, but enough to make people more paranoid for November 3rd and terrified to go out and vote.

Now I know that nothing I can say will convince some about the legitimacy of either 2024 or this election. And there may be some that incorrectly assume that I believe that there will be no attempts to cheat or suppress votes on election day, even though I push for focusing on smaller and more likely methods to make it harder for people to vote. But I do hope to make my case clear that people trying to tell you that voting or the midterms don't matter because cheating, dictatorship, or both sides supposedly being the same have a very likely ulterior motive for this.

Voter suppression comes in a lot of different forms, and in this case by making it seem like anyone who votes blue will be arrested on the spot by the polls or that all races will end up red by November 4th are seeming to be the next evolution of this. If making people less likely to vote or protest due to fear won't work, than by making it seem worthless is the next attempt.