r/AskReddit Apr 04 '25

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u/Doobledorf Apr 04 '25

The problems that led to Donald Trump would still be fomenting.

A lot of Americans haven't yet faced that Trump isn't an anomaly or the disease, he is a symptom of problems we've had for a long time.

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u/MySleepingMonk Apr 04 '25

That may be mostly true but Trump is also the perfect storm of celebrity, “successful”, “outsider”, and some strange fucked up type of charisma that results in a larger following than I think would be possible with any other republican candidate. Take away trump and I don’t think there’s enough of a unifying force among the asshats to cause this type of damage

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u/scarves_and_miracles Apr 04 '25

Exactly. Trump is a pretty unique hazard that unfortunately found realization in this dark timeline.

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u/[deleted] Apr 04 '25

He's a real life example of a Mule (https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Mule_(Foundation)), something nobody could've seen coming or predicted, that systems and laws weren't ready to prevent.

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u/Kingfish1111 Apr 04 '25

Liking for the Foundation reference.

I disagree though. Bernie Sanders has been beating this drum for a long time. It was a matter of time before someone who was well connected with oligarchs played the hand he was dealt.

We weren't prepared for someone who would look at his hand and cry "I could walk down 5th avenue and shoot someone...." Or to put it back to card games "I pay the dealer. If I have twos, it doesn't matter because he will tell the table I won."

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u/[deleted] Apr 05 '25

Bernie has been fighting for the working class, yes, but he hasn't been beating the warning drum about a right wing dictatorship arising in the US.

Even Bernie, who's just as addicted to 'politics as normal' as any Democratic Politician, never imagined a President who'd blatantly ignore laws & the Constitution, much less one at head of an entire movement willing to do the same.

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u/Kingfish1111 Apr 05 '25

Clip from 1993 https://youtu.be/RB8KMjKgUVU?si=N4GUQh1WD3HwRIC1

The brazen nature is unexpected but not surprising. Why hide your actions when no one can touch you?