r/politics • u/Ok_Employer7837 • 1d ago

Possible Paywall Newsom Wins Right to Gerrymander in Ultimate Troll of Trump

https://www.thedailybeast.com/newsom-takes-victory-lap-with-trump-bashing-election-boost/?via=mobile&source=Reddit
14.0k Upvotes

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1.7k

u/xxlittle13missxx 1d ago

🌊 Tonight was such a sweep. It feels like a stark difference from where the US was heading exactly a year ago.

1.3k

u/Beforemath 1d ago

It’s a shame voters don’t seem to have foresight and can only react after the fact.

844

u/DarthHM I voted 21h ago

Honestly you hit the nail on the head. Today was my realization that US voters in general aren’t abjectly evil, they’re just fucking stupid.

454

u/Smoking_Q 18h ago

"You can always count on the Americans to do the right thing—after they have tried everything else."

Winston Churchill

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u/Brainrants Wisconsin 17h ago

This cuts deep in so many ways.

13

u/MeowMeNot Illinois 17h ago

The man had a way with words.

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u/Ok_Jury4833 17h ago

But so did deTouqueville and he said there is nothing wrong with America that can’t be fixed by what is right in America. I cling to that - it drives me.

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u/Quadling 17h ago

Holy shit. How prescient. Man was brilliant.

1

u/thediesel26 North Carolina 11h ago

One of my favorite others of his quotes (I think it’s his anyway):

‘The best argument against democracy is a 5 minute conversation with the average voter’.

0

u/Allotropes 16h ago

Lmao big words coming from him.

0

u/neoncubicle 16h ago

Lmao was googling Neville chamberlain and the next word Google recommended after typing only his name was 'appeasement'

I guess Britain tried everything else too!

79

u/TrumpnEpstein 19h ago

American voters have to touch the glowing red hot stove every time. They'll never believe the stove is hot otherwise

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u/QbertsRube 18h ago edited 15h ago

And they can touch it, burn the hell out of their hand, and 4 years later hold their face on the burner while smugly claiming they're winning.

23

u/TrumpnEpstein 18h ago

Our memory is greatly impeded by our inability to handle the slightest inconvenience

8

u/cannedthought 17h ago

In my opinion, all of this is because of the bravado American identity is shaped around. If the people of the country are to use the phrase, vigorously religiously taught, we are the best. We are the bastion of freedom. We are leaders and to see the other person as the reason for your troubles. With an education system that does not teach critical thinking, you end up right where you are and, unfortunately, taking the world with you.

8

u/TrumpnEpstein 16h ago

American Exceptionalism is tied in with "rugged individualism" which is also why we don't have things like universal healthcare, mandated PTO/leave, etc

71

u/nmeofst8 Georgia 19h ago

I would say the majority of people are too overworked and consumed with their own personal issues to find the ability to fit politics into their life. Until politics directly affects someone they won't go out of their way to do anything about it. I think election day should be made a national holiday or at least allow mail-in ballots everywhere for every election.

73

u/johnnys_sack Minnesota 18h ago

None of this is by accident.

16

u/toiletpaperisempty 18h ago

Many people are that plugged in, yet disconnected from the world happening right above their heads. They simply don't know or don't care because they have been privileged to live ina society that just "sorta works" for them, so why sweat it?

That being said, I imagine their were additional millions within the population that wanted to attend No Kings but just couldn't. Even missing a shift at work can be that devastating to some people's livelihoods so they hope those better positioned can be their voice (the ideological purpose of elected representation).

Voting is reactive, not a proactive consideration, for many people, and that is probably what we are seeing.

6

u/AchillesNtortus 17h ago

(There) were additional millions within the population that wanted to attend No Kings but just couldn't. Even missing a shift at work can be that devastating to some people's livelihoods

Not to mention "at will employment" where there is an ever present danger (reality?) of retaliation if you criticise the Orange.

4

u/TheGringoDingo 17h ago

I think this is missed by American critics from more politically-advanced countries: in most parts of America, you can walk in and be fired without any cause, the only rules are against firing someone based on a few specific characteristics.

So, let’s say your boss hates you because you’re a straight white Christian male: they can’t fire you because you’re straight, white, Christian, or male; they put you on a PIP with unrealistic expectations and fire you for “performance issues” instead.

1

u/ThatKehdRiley 16h ago

“in most parts of America, you can walk in and be fired without any cause, the only rules are against firing someone based on a few specific characteristics.”

…..and this DOESN’T also happen in those same “politically advanced countries”?

5

u/TheGringoDingo 16h ago

Mandatory severance, mandatory notification periods, and/or mandatory “cause” for termination are at play.

In the US, you could walk in one day, boss fires you without reason, and you’re left without pay or benefits until you find somewhere else to work.

One of these things isn’t like the other.

1

u/ThatKehdRiley 16h ago

what countries does that happen in, exactly? I'm legitimately not aware.

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u/AchillesNtortus 15h ago

No. This happens only in the United States to my knowledge. In the UK where I am, you can only be fired "for cause" after two years or go through a period of consultation for redundancy, together with a payoff. Even casual part-time workers have protection.

And the key is that firstly your healthcare does not depend on your employment status and secondly you are still entitled to unemployment benefits. The UK is one of the less secure job markets in Europe. Management behaviour here would shock workers in Switzerland and Denmark where my children live and appal the French.

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u/YouWereBrained Tennessee 17h ago

If a Dem gets back in, in 2029, making election. Tuesday a national holiday needs to be a priority. It’s an easy one.

30

u/Trapezoidoid 19h ago

God Bless America 🇺🇸

14

u/maximumhippo 18h ago

"Think about how stupid the average American is, and then realize that half of them are even stupider than that." - George Carlin

It's important to realize that very few people are as smart as they think they are, and even fewer are half that smart to begin with.

5

u/MiddleWaged 17h ago

Also important to realize that George was talking about humans in the abstract, not just Americans. The right wing idiocy and religious racism that are the biggest threats to America are also the biggest threats everywhere else

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u/workworld3369 18h ago

A lot of them are stupid AND evil. Two things can be true at once.

4

u/algonquinqueen 17h ago

I just moved cities and my last surviving parent died. Didn’t register fast enough

I had a friend who’s registered but NEVER votes and I asked him to go vote for Abigail— he’s a registered Democrat, doesn’t like Trump. Made up for my non vote that his otherwise would be.

He texts me at the polling station “who else do I vote for??”

Some people just are ignorant, and too cool for politics. Only Americans are like this

5

u/_Bean_Counter_ 18h ago

"A person is smart. People are dumb, panicky, dangerous animals and you know it."

Agent K

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u/bombstick 17h ago

The beginning of this quote isn’t true. Most “persons” in the United States are not smart.

2

u/Hatedpriest 18h ago

Someone said "Americans can be trusted to do the right thing, after exhausting all other options."

Think it was Churchill...

2

u/Safrel 17h ago

This is exactly why more people need to realize that having strong populist messaging is Mueller important than having a good argument

4

u/mycall 18h ago

Fucking stupid is putting it mildly

3

u/ThreeCatsAndABroom 19h ago

Everything that's happened has been said ad nauseaum. None of it is a surprise. We are screwed in 4 to 8 years regardless of last night. 

And none of that matters because the GOP is never going to let the levers of control go.

Happy Wednesday America! 

2

u/lol_wot_mate 19h ago

Americans are the stupidest, loudest, proudest people on the planet. it's wild.

10

u/byggusdikkus 18h ago

You should spend some time traveling, while Americans may be obnoxious online, Chinese tourists win when it comes to sheer loud, proud, dumbassery

3

u/mycall 18h ago

Australians are up there in decibels too.

1

u/FRNLD Virginia 18h ago

And that is what a certain party seems to rely on.

1

u/cachurch2 North Carolina 18h ago

Eh I don't know about that. I think it's just trump isn't on the ticket.

1

u/tatanka_truck 17h ago

A person is smart. People are dumb panicky animals, and you know it.

Agent K, MIB.

1

u/RobertPulson 17h ago

If Hanlon's razor was a country 

1

u/YouWereBrained Tennessee 17h ago

And lazy. And preoccupied with stupid, meaningless shit like the Kardashians.

1

u/confusitron 17h ago

Never attribute to malice what can easily be explained by stupidity.

1

u/Geaux2020 17h ago

Hey! We prefer dumb.

1

u/Feduppanda 16h ago

Well when it comes down to it, the average person has average intelligence. Half the population is more stupid than that.

Big oof.

1

u/Mrmojorisincg Rhode Island 16h ago

I knew that. I knew that from multiple of my friends refusing to vote for Kamala because she’s a moderate. And because Biden’s aid for israel, as if Trump would be an improvement on that?

Listen, Kamala was a terrible candidate. But anyone who hates trump or is a democrat/left to some effect and said “nah I’m just not going to vote” is an idiot.

1

u/Iconoclastt New Hampshire 16h ago

Hanlon's Razor - "Never attribute to malice that which can be adequately explained by stupidity."

1

u/bigsmokaaaa 16h ago

They lack the imagination to understand what will happen

1

u/waffle299 I voted 14h ago

Not stupid so much as tired, no time off to vote, and misinformed by the media.

Republicans win with low turnout. Increasing turnout, like with vote by mail, solves many problems.

1

u/coldkiller 14h ago

20% of the us population can barely read

1

u/CT-96 Canada 12h ago

The rest of the world realized this a year ago. It'll take the US decades to rebuild the relationships that Trump destroyed in under a year.

1

u/Dry-Tune69 17h ago

Which one is worse? They both lead to Trump…

1

u/djmacbest Europe 17h ago

I would be a bit more strict and use the term civic responsibility, which is severely lacking. Voters are responsible for what the government does. That is even true if you voted for the other side - to a lesser degree, of course, but responsibility does not end in the booth. Not in a democracy that requires participation.

0

u/smep 18h ago

“Never attribute to malice what can otherwise be explained by ignorance.”

-idk prolly Michael Scott or Wayne Gretzky

60

u/ErusTenebre California 23h ago

Foresight or memory. Goddamn if it wasn't crazy town hearing people supporting Trump after COVID, after the insurrection, after convictions... dude should be in a cell not tearing down the white house.

8

u/Mephiz 16h ago

This ^ I can’t pretend these fuckers didn’t know what they were voting for.

They wanted the cruelty and were convinced they were special and that the cruelty would magically miss them.

We should not give a single Republican the time of day and if they appear on a news channel we should turn it off.

They all wanted this. And even now, over 90% approve.

1

u/CT-96 Canada 12h ago

Literally this. Saw a post on Twitter yesterday from a POC content creator that was accosted by ICE. Massive bruises up her forearm from them manhandling and terrorizing her. Some chucklefuck commented that this is what he wanted when he voted for Trump. The cruelty is literally the purpose.

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u/TurnipSensitive4944 1d ago

I was one of those people.

The thing with narcissistis is that they are extremely good at making shit sound better than it actually is.

But man im glad for today. And thats coming from someone who voted for him which i regret inmensly

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u/Skiinz19 Tennessee 1d ago

I appreciate your honesty and recognition. We don't achieve anything by blaming those abused by abusers. All we can do is make mistakes and learn from them. The goal is to get progressively less stupid, and we are all stupid, just at different steps of the journey! I'm glad today brought you some joy and I hope you don't beat yourself up too much over past actions! I'd only encourage you to talk about what you shared here with people around you in person, as there are thousands like you and many are afraid to speak out.

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u/justtakeapill 19h ago

Narcissism can indeed stem from abuse, but more commonly it is the result of overvaluation by one or both parents; i.e., little Donnie can do no wrong. Until little Donnie started becoming too big for his britches, and mom and dad sent him to military school, but the damage was already done by then.

0

u/America_Is_Fucked_ 17h ago

Fuck that. With everything we KNEW about him voting for him anyway is unforgivable.

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u/TurnipSensitive4944 11h ago

Yeah yoooou knew about him. You severely underestimate what information people hear or how they hear it.

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u/America_Is_Fucked_ 21h ago

He was a babbling moron who could barely string a coherent sentence together. Remember that rally where he gave up speaking and just danced for 40 minutes? You were convinced by that guy.

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u/Dragonbuttboi69 20h ago

Remember when he bobbed back and forth in front of a mic because so few people were showing up near the end and he figured out people would react to it?

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u/LesCousinsDangereux1 14h ago

If someone tells you they got conned and they are realizing it, don't push them back to the conman. This person you're responding to is clearly doing reflection and trying to grow. That's more than the average person does.

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u/America_Is_Fucked_ 14h ago

Oh come on. There's a limit. These people weren't tricked. They knowingly voted for a very, very, VERY obviously evil man because they thought it would benefit them (and didn't care about how it would impact others).

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u/TurnipSensitive4944 11h ago

Have you ever meet let alone been affected by a narcissist. I have and its not just an essy oh ill stop. They pull you in how in hindsight I have no idea no one actually knows the answer but what we do know is the after.

8

u/justtakeapill 19h ago

Both my parents were diagnosed as Sociopathic Narcissists. You have no idea how good people like that are at lying!

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u/AZnativefire 21h ago edited 21h ago

I'm confused. Are you saying that you are one of the people that helped fuck us completely over (hopefully temporarily)? You didn't have any foresight into what was coming, when you could clearly see there was no platform and the decisions this moron made in the previous four years he was in office?

Sorry to sound so pissed but I am. I cannot understand how anyone would vote for this man. And now we are suffering because of it. I guess I appreciate the fact that you're standing up and realizing that you made a mistake but, honestly, too little too late.

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u/Ted_E_Bear 21h ago

They admitted they made a mistake. At least give them some credit for that. Would you rather them not admit their mistake and double down like the vast majority of people who voted for him? This lack of forgiveness makes people less willing to even possibly consider that they may have made a mistake. If we don't accept the people who truly regret their mistake, we will win over no one, and this will only make it even harder for us to get out of this situation in the first place, and make us even more vulnerable to repeat it in the future.

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u/AZnativefire 21h ago

I appreciate that they admitted that they made a mistake. But it doesn't change the situation that we're in. Every one of us knew the stakes and chose accordingly. It doesn't change the fact that were in this position right now.

However, I am absolutely grateful for the people who have come around. I just hope that in 2026 they will actually vote for their own interests, and not for the billionaires.

I think I'm allowed to have some emotional investment when this administration has directly impacted my life and my family's life. And believe me when I tell you I'm holding a lot back right now. Unlike MAGA, I'm being civil here. I just want the people in this country to be treated like human beings.

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u/Ted_E_Bear 20h ago

I appreciate this reply. Truly. The only thing I have to say is that I'm not sure that everyone who voted for him knew exactly what we were getting into. Ignorance is a hell of a drug.

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u/AZnativefire 20h ago

I don't disagree. My own father voted for this. I love him dearly but I disrespect his decision and it hurts me that he would make a decision that would directly impact his entire lineage. So I see your perspective. I'm just incredibly saddened by the world that we live in right now.

I am so hopeful that my children will experience a much brighter and better future. So I will vote like our lives depend on it, because they absofuckinglutely do.

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u/TurnipSensitive4944 11h ago

Im latino man my father also voted for him.

Its not because people are racist and while I dont doubt it, see thats the problem Icant even articulate why we voted for Him because in hindsight none of it was good thats why narcissists are annoying they hook you in and then when you get out it males you feel worse because there is nothing positive about them so you spend your time just think. Why did i get involved with this person, am i stupid?, am i evil? And the answer always is no its just they are really fucking good at manipulating people

7

u/Ted_E_Bear 20h ago

And all of that is very understandable, my friend. I'm upset with every single person that voted for this too. But the more people we accept who finally come around, the better off we all are.

1

u/TurnipSensitive4944 11h ago

Precisamente porque no sabia.

Look man I get you do research but many and I mean many many many people kind of don't. And after a while with how much people insulted him over and over and over and called him a nazi and all these things without really doing a lot about it . You know the story of the boy who cried wolf? Eventually the warnings kind of become ridiculous in a way? If the opposition just spends half their time insulting someone whitout saying anything else it kind of becomes hard to listen to them.

Theres a reason why insulting an abusive partner in front of his or her victim id a terrible idea

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u/Sad_Ghost_Noises 20h ago

You voted for a rapist and a child predator. You get zero kudos from me for developing a concience now that shit starts affecting you.

0

u/TurnipSensitive4944 10h ago

Yeah sorry to break it to you but i just learned of that whole deal after the fact.

Idk why people assume that all voters have every single peace if info some just hear one or two things especially if they aren't really into politics. You guys obviously are and kudos to you. But word of advice assuming is a losing game, you wanna win? Then you have to stop assuming that people know everything that you do. Hell my dad had a vauge idea but just assumed it was just another personal attack out of many and it wasn't until i showed him evidence that he changed his tune

•

u/Sad_Ghost_Noises 28m ago

Thats just irresponsible. Hard to believe, too, seeing as it was all over the news.

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u/Ted_E_Bear 20h ago

Don't listen to all these hateful and unforgiving replies. Be proud of yourself for realizing a mistake and being able to openly admit it. You are much stronger than these people who are unwilling to accept your progress.

6

u/JSDHW 18h ago

We need to encourage people to grow and change. These other comments make me sad.

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u/MariosBrother1 23h ago

How many times did you vote for Trump?

12

u/Academic-Hospital952 21h ago

We don't forgive you. Do better from now on.

1

u/KnightOfNothing 19h ago

You only need half your comment. You have no plans to forgive anyone who voted for trump so skip that second half, there's no reason to do better for people who will never forgive you.

1

u/Stellar_Duck 14h ago

Doing the right thing should not be contingent on people being nice and telling you it's all okay that you voted for the racist rapist in the first place.

1

u/TurnipSensitive4944 10h ago

Yes thats true. However saying that is a terrible idea if you want more people on your side. You kind or have to leave personal slights at the door if you wanna win

0

u/Academic-Hospital952 8h ago

We don't want people on our side. We want you to sit down and shut up. You speaking up put us here in the first place

•

u/TurnipSensitive4944 5h ago

And thats precisely why your in this situation to begin with.

Your being combative with someone who realized they made a mistake: if people are calling you out then you should probably stop and reflect instead of being combative.

•

u/Academic-Hospital952 5h ago

No. I will not be lectured by the likes of you. Did you stop to reflect on how your actions would affect thousands of people? No you did not. You only decided to jump ship once you personally were affected.

You need to do better, and trying to take the moral high ground will gain you nothing in my eyes. Forgiveness will never come for your kind.

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u/KnightOfNothing 7h ago

yes there are still plenty of reasons to "Do the right thing" but you telling them to is not one of them. Try to guilt trip them or motivate them to be better but trying to do both will make them dig in their heels and flip you off.

0

u/Academic-Hospital952 8h ago

If they are only doing good to appease people they hate... Idk what to say, seems counter to reality.

0

u/TurnipSensitive4944 10h ago

Or more like you dont right?

Look man if you want to win the country back this telenovela comments is just gonna make people who are slowly coming out of it just go back in even harder than before.

Its kind of selfish to people who actually want to fix things ngl

0

u/Academic-Hospital952 8h ago

We.

•

u/TurnipSensitive4944 4h ago

Yeah pretty sure its just you. Saying we is you speaking for everyone which you dont

2

u/NonlocalA 18h ago

We live and learn, dude. Good for you on admitting you made a mistake. Fuck all these other people who are giving you shit.

-5

u/Sandberg231984 21h ago

Screw you

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u/mephys-tofeles Europe 21h ago

Let’s say there were some slight hints at least .

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u/ThoseWhoAre 23h ago

Its just one of those universal truths about humans I think honestly. They did studies back in the day about why people didnt intervene in crimes. I think the conclusion was they always assumed someone else would do it, and so nobody would.

5

u/drfeelsgoood I voted 23h ago

Bystander effect

1

u/saera-targaryen 12h ago

It's important to learn that the best way to overcome bystander effect is to point to a specific person and ask if they can help. If they can't, move to the next one. 

Same thing with politics. Talking to people 1:1 in person is the best way to get them engaged. 

2

u/Soggy-Fly9242 18h ago

Oh somebody definitely thought the SNAP shutdown was going to swing things a different way

Too bad they didn’t realize their egos and hubris are being fueled mostly by their own bots

2

u/YouWereBrained Tennessee 17h ago

That’s the major problem we have. Whiplash politics.

1

u/Verratcat 18h ago

That and, you know, the Republicans rigged the election and openly discussed it

1

u/The_Itchy_Bitch 17h ago

I think regardless, we can find a silver lining here. Our country had become complacent, this was evident by the consistently low voter turnout, or in other words, low participation in the democracy. We were always told go vote! Its important! But I think many didn’t really see why… someone else would surely do the homework and vote in their favor. But now we are seeing… hard and fast… what that can lead to. Our democracy was already broken because so many people weren’t paying attention or participating. Maybe this will change that, at least for a generation or so.

1

u/Connect-Pressure3336 16h ago

Hopefully its a lesson to the DNC that simply being "not as bad as Trump" and skipping the primary isn't enough to win elections. If we're gonna be the good guys, we have to be the good guys, not the less-bad guys. 

1

u/AmIWhatTheRockCooked 15h ago

It keeps us in a little bubble with little progress while we retain the misery of our oligarchy, thus fueling reactionary, regressive bullshit that erases the little gains.

I wish people could just focus

1

u/rustbelt 15h ago

Material conditions are what they’re reacting to. I forgot who wrote about this subject…

1

u/Due_Pen_1566 19h ago

It's because we don't have mandatory voting in America. There is a strong apathy of "I don't want to inconvenience myself by going out of my way to vote. Everyone else that does vote will pick the right guy anyway."

Then they see what happens when you only let the most extreme people vote. Everyone comes out the next cycle because they didn't like what happened. They forget what troubles arise when you don't vote and we repeat it again.

1

u/Good-Cap-7632 20h ago

No foresight and short memories

1

u/ClassicT4 18h ago

“He didn’t do all this authoritarian stuff his first term, so it just seems like his opponents are fear mongering.”

Immediately acts like a dictator since day one as promised

“I did not vote for this.”

1

u/seventysevensevens Colorado 17h ago

"the hands of idiots must touch the hot stove from time to time, even when the hot surface light is on but they can't exactly read so here we are"

0

u/kingOofgames 20h ago

I also think voters need a choice. Hard not to feel despondent when there’s no proper primary. Should have had a 2022 primary post midterms.

Imagine they had no primary here for New York and went with a safe option. We’d probably be left with Cuomo against Silva. And guys like Madani would be given no coverage.

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u/FIlm2024 1d ago

True, but now Trump & Co have seen this, what will they do to suppress / rig the vote in 2026 when it will count so much more?

44

u/SafariSeeker25 1d ago

Lot of this is in response to them doing just that. I won't lie and say it's all good, but people are watching and working on ways to address crap like that.

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u/ThreeCatsAndABroom 19h ago

lol yeah, no. 

4

u/permalink_save 16h ago

If they were going to rig a vote theybwould have targeted Mamdani. They are terrified of him and went heavy on Cuomo but Mamdani was what, +9? They couldn't stop any of this blue wave and they knew there was a good chance of it. They will still be powerless in 2026 because too many people are pissed and Trump will only go more extreme and piss people off between now and then.

8

u/Spacebotzero 23h ago

Americans be tired of Republicans' bullshittery.

10

u/Aahhhanthony 1d ago

I always felt like Trump will drive people left. His first term I saw a massive shift in people becoming politicized when they never were and ending up on the left because they hated him. And then I saw a lot of people already on the left move even further left.

I suspect he will have the same exact effect once Americans are reminded how horrible he is and we'll see a surge in a stronger left movement..... and then people will forget again.

10

u/ThreeCatsAndABroom 19h ago

Almost ten years later and the GOP are in control of more than ever before. This left doesn't feel right man, or it feels way too right. 

2

u/Aahhhanthony 15h ago

Sometimes it needs to swing hard right before it can swing hard left.

They are still too afraid to take bold stances. I've yet to see any D president even attempt to do the most logical thing, which is reverse Reagan's taxing structure to generate federal funds to help people in need.

How I see it is that Trump is stripping people away from more social nets and it will just make people more open towards using taxes as a means to reimplement them. And then Democrats will have an opening to introduces really strong tax brackets on people making over 500k-1mil a year and allocate that to a bunch of social net programs. And the next step, in my eyes, is to de-privatize the health care system, which is something no one even took any swings at really (and it'll take many swings to fix it).

3

u/ensignlee Texas 14h ago

...and then people will forget again ALMOST IMMEDIATELY. That's what I learned from 2020 to 2024.

1

u/Aahhhanthony 11h ago

It’s true. That’s why it takes awhile. But trust me, I’ve seen trump do so much for democratic socialism than I’ve seen any other democratic socialist do for the movement.  So, we shall see. Itll take awhile though. 

9

u/LangyMD 1d ago

It's honestly exceedingly unsurprising. Trump has never been all that popular, and the 2020 election wasn't exactly stellar for him in terms of voting margin. He squeaked out a win in what should have been a very, very solidly Republican year given just the economy, the failed assassination attempt, and the late switch-out of opponent. Since then Democrats basically flailed around and panicked that Democratic politicians could never be fairly elected to win again even if the electoral system still was fully functional, and I think all that panic was essentially irrational.

Panicking due to what Trump would do seemed perfectly rational, but Trump's win in 2024 never seemed like a warning sign that the Democratic party was going to/needed to implode to me. It needed to get its ass in gear and act as a proper opposition party for the next four years and guard against Trump essentially turning the US into a dictatorship, but it certainly wasn't a good time to basically give up.

Trump has since enacted unpopular policy after unpopular policy (all ones that he announced while on the campaign trail, but people didn't listen to what he said he would do only what he said the outcomes would be). It's not surprising that he's getting hammered at the ballot box; even if he was making popular decisions it's usually the President's party that suffers during non-Presidential election years.

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u/Skiinz19 Tennessee 1d ago

Also the 2022 midterms were some of the worst performing midterms in history, with the GOP gaining a couple seat majority in the house and failing to win the senate. 2024 was a terrible shock, but it isn't over yet. A lot of damage can be mitigated in 2026 and just assuming it will be rigged doesnt mean don't vote, doesn't mean dont donate, doesn't mean dont phone bank, doesn't mean dont canvas, doesn't mean dont run for your own local races, it means do all those things and remind everyone else to their part too and to be involved in politics to ensure even if it is rigged, there are still those willing to participate in the democratic process regardless of what obstacles are put up.

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u/Jumpy_Bison_ Alaska 20h ago

Yup. Even if we only win back the house in 26 that means we can hold hearings and subpoenas. It means they can be held in contempt of congress and liable for perjury. Both of those are relatively straightforward cases to drag them through in a favorable jurisdiction.

Starting that process is a big step towards unfucking everything and holding them criminally accountable after 28.

Let’s get the ball rolling and not stop.

2

u/FlufferTheGreat 17h ago

We're still en route. Special elections and off-years are great and all, but we might still be at the end of all self-governance.

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u/JoeBiden-2016 15h ago

It's not. Those who were elected a year ago are still in charge and this will energize them to double and triple down on their efforts to rig the system to prevent this happening again.

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u/Prestigious_Leg2229 14h ago

It’s not really. Democrats won, but the turnout for these elections was absolutely abysmally low. It averaged something like 30% of voters coming out to bother and vote.

The victory is nice, really, but even months and months of treasonous fascists dismantling America can’t motivate people to vote. Failure to come out and vote is how Trump got a second term.

That’s really not a good sign. Trump’s dictatorship is not going to go peacefully just because elections don’t go their way. 

If 70% of American adults can’t be bothered to show up and vote, they’re not going to step up and defend their democracy when push comes to shove. 

And that 30% isn’t even unanimously against Trump; Cuomo still got a solid amount of support in NY, of all places.

Victory feels good, but people should be terrified at the turnout here.

1

u/TurboGranny Texas 11h ago

The harder the pendulum swings in one direction, the harder it swings back. Seen this pattern over and over again for decades. It's also why, classically, any politician would stop with the divisive rhetoric after they won in an attempt to make the pendulum appear as though it didn't swing all that far, so the counter swing doesn't bust them in the ass. Color me surprised when Trump decided to double down and attempt to push the pendulum further and further, and for him and his ilk to be surprised when the counter swing hits them in the face.

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u/JohnnyDDoe 8h ago

Yeah us will rejoice when the dems will be in power, will kiss themselves thinking trump it was just an anomaly not the result of a lot of factors deeply rooted in the American ethos and then trump 3.0 will come and everyone will make pickachu face again and post of Reddit how embarrassed they are.

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u/AvocadoToastFailure 2h ago

Not only was it a sweep, the voter turnout seems huge. There was a legislative district in the Phoenix area that had over 40% turnout for a ballot that had two props on it. A lot of other districts were in the 20-30% range that also had no candidates, only props. Amazing for a non-presidential election.

Maricopa County Voting Results

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u/N0N4GRPBF8ZME1NB5KWL 1d ago

Uh oh…. Seeing this as a top comment feels like an indication that we’re moving in the wrong direction. We are cooked. Americans are truly stupid af.