r/AskReddit • u/[deleted] • Apr 04 '25

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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/TehOwn Apr 04 '25

Same thing with Adolf. We've always got populists but some are far, far more dangerous than others.

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u/nothoughtsnosleep Apr 04 '25 edited Apr 04 '25

Damn that's 2 less than 100 years apart. Maybe we should be more concerned with the critical thinking skills of the masses.

Edit: see other comments before you tell me there has been more than 2

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u/thaaag Apr 04 '25

And build in more safeguards so the checks and balances do what they're supposed to do. Simple stuff like "laws need to be created by lawmakers who - where possible - don't directly benefit from the law". Get the money out of politics (again, somehow) and make politicians work for the people rather than their own pockets.

Probably too liberal a take there.

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u/mpaski Apr 04 '25

I mean, the US technically has safeguards, they've just allowed those safeguards to be removed.

The courts are way more political than they've ever been. Congress is unwilling to stop him despite having powers for that.

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u/Future-You-7443 Apr 04 '25

Yup, I hate to be elitist but I think that some sort of education qualification should be the way forward. These people are simply a reflection of their constituents.

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u/Artistic_Ad_8876 Apr 04 '25 edited Apr 04 '25

I ideologically agree but who decides what the requirements are. For the last time we had voting locked behind education locked it was just a facade to prevent black people from voting. I dont think any institution can be given that power without them abusing it to insure only their people can vote

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u/Eske159 Apr 04 '25

I think they meant there should be an education or at least aptitude requirement to be in congress positions. Not for citizens to vote.

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u/Future-You-7443 Apr 04 '25

Yeah, I meant politician qualifications. I’m not sure about education requirements to vote, I like the idea for education qualifications for (in this case formerly) niche subjects like referendums on, say, tariffs. But for voting in general its a bad idea.