this post was submitted on 17 Jan 2026
583 points (98.5% liked)

politics

27636 readers
3336 users here now

Welcome to the discussion of US Politics!

Rules:

  1. Post only links to articles, Title must fairly describe link contents. If your title differs from the site’s, it should only be to add context or be more descriptive. Do not post entire articles in the body or in the comments.

Links must be to the original source, not an aggregator like Google Amp, MSN, or Yahoo.

Example:

  1. Articles must be relevant to politics. Links must be to quality and original content. Articles should be worth reading. Clickbait, stub articles, and rehosted or stolen content are not allowed. Check your source for Reliability and Bias here.
  2. Be civil, No violations of TOS. It’s OK to say the subject of an article is behaving like a (pejorative, pejorative). It’s NOT OK to say another USER is (pejorative). Strong language is fine, just not directed at other members. Engage in good-faith and with respect! This includes accusing another user of being a bot or paid actor. Trolling is uncivil and is grounds for removal and/or a community ban.
  3. No memes, trolling, or low-effort comments. Reposts, misinformation, off-topic, trolling, or offensive. Similarly, if you see posts along these lines, do not engage. Report them, block them, and live a happier life than they do. We see too many slapfights that boil down to "Mom! He's bugging me!" and "I'm not touching you!" Going forward, slapfights will result in removed comments and temp bans to cool off.
  4. Vote based on comment quality, not agreement. This community aims to foster discussion; please reward people for putting effort into articulating their viewpoint, even if you disagree with it.
  5. No hate speech, slurs, celebrating death, advocating violence, or abusive language. This will result in a ban. Usernames containing racist, or inappropriate slurs will be banned without warning

We ask that the users report any comment or post that violate the rules, to use critical thinking when reading, posting or commenting. Users that post off-topic spam, advocate violence, have multiple comments or posts removed, weaponize reports or violate the code of conduct will be banned.

All posts and comments will be reviewed on a case-by-case basis. This means that some content that violates the rules may be allowed, while other content that does not violate the rules may be removed. The moderators retain the right to remove any content and ban users.

That's all the rules!

Civic Links

Register To Vote

Citizenship Resource Center

Congressional Awards Program

Federal Government Agencies

Library of Congress Legislative Resources

The White House

U.S. House of Representatives

U.S. Senate

Partnered Communities:

News

World News

Business News

Political Discussion

Ask Politics

Military News

Global Politics

Moderate Politics

Progressive Politics

UK Politics

Canadian Politics

Australian Politics

New Zealand Politics

founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
top 50 comments
sorted by: hot top controversial new old
[–] CharlesDarwin@lemmy.world 172 points 1 week ago (10 children)

I cannot imagine being such a dimwit as to be one of the people just now waking up to this.

I mean....did these people really not see his first term? Did they really think that the only reason he failed in his first term was because of Covid?

[–] WalrusDragonOnABike@reddthat.com 88 points 1 week ago (6 children)

"What do you mean? Covid happened under Biden, as did anything else bad that happened during Trump's presidency. "

Unironically have had to walk people through the timeline because they seriously believe covid entirely happened during Biden's term.

[–] Eldritch@piefed.world 26 points 1 week ago (1 children)

And for those that think you're joking. The showdy is often relevant.

I forgot about the O'Reily clip. Impressive levels of cognitive dissonance that people go through to justify their feelings on events. I'm still baffled that people can misremember basic timelines facts involved with one of the biggest disruptions of people's lifetimes that only had happened a few years ago. Realizing how fictional people's memories were about even recent major events made it a lot more understandable how people were so easily manipulated in to thinking a billionaire conartist was somehow going to try to help them this time.

[–] CharlesDarwin@lemmy.world 10 points 1 week ago

No wonder the same bunch think Biden had "the worst economy", LOL. Cannot even recall basic recent history.

load more comments (4 replies)
[–] ImInLoveWithLife@lemmy.zip 47 points 1 week ago (1 children)

The majority of my coworkers have casually stated the last week, "I don't agree with the way this is all happening.", but still overall support the agenda and hold their line. It's a combination of ignorance and stupidity. They're just fascists without even knowing. I live in a deep red area and from what I can gather when I hear talk out in the street, most people are either completely unaware or excited "they're taking America back." There is no convincing these people. I have tried for years and years, and when they seem to hear you and begin to digest what you've said, they come back the next day more sure than before that Facebook and Fox keep them informed. Many of them can't tell you what the three branches of government are or how many Senators there are or provide correct answers on the simplest of civics questions.

[–] gustofwind@lemmy.world 32 points 1 week ago (1 children)

It’s truly incomprehensible to most blue/libs that magas and conservatives are genuinely and permanently deranged cultists

They really believe it’s possible to use words and logic to convince them of things, hence the poster being confused why they aren’t convinced of anything

[–] gAlienLifeform@lemmy.world 19 points 1 week ago (2 children)

Because our elected officials refuse to talk like this and many constantly stress how bipartisan they try to be with everything. Saying "about 35% of this country are raving psychopaths who can not be compromised with and must be disempowered" is not an easy feel good campaign message but it's what people need to hear.

[–] gustofwind@lemmy.world 11 points 1 week ago

Yeah it’s incredibly dangerous to simply ignore or pretend that these are rational people to negotiate with

They certainly aren’t negotiating with us so I’m not sure when these compromise is king types will realize this is a kill or be killed situation

load more comments (1 replies)
[–] N0t_5ure@lemmy.world 30 points 1 week ago (3 children)

A majority of Americans polled in the survey -- 58% -- characterized Trump’s first year of his second term as a “failure,” according to the poll.

Just 42% of respondents said Trump’s second term has been a success.

Imagine how dim the 42% must be.

load more comments (3 replies)
[–] infinitesunrise@slrpnk.net 23 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) (5 children)

The majority of Americans have significant, legitimate material and social grievances that cause them real duress. Most are surrounded by a curated low-information media environment and society that reinforces punching down, zero sum in-out group thought, scapegoating, etc. And the only official political choice they're ever allowed is between two preselected corporate stooges.

I think we're the dimwits if we're confused as to why Trump has so much inertia.

[–] phutatorius@lemmy.zip 13 points 1 week ago (1 children)

The majority of Americans have significant, legitimate material and social grievances that cause them real duress.

And yet, most of the grievances that Trump bleats about are neither significant nor legitimate. "THEY'RE EATING THE DOGS AND CATS!!!"

Quit pretending those fools are reasonable and have anything behind their hatred besides stupidity.

And the only official political choice they’re ever allowed is between two preselected corporate stooges.

Go on, say that both sides are the same.

load more comments (1 replies)
load more comments (4 replies)
[–] HazardousBanjo@lemmy.world 15 points 1 week ago (19 children)

The people who support Trump after even 2018 are literally so cognitively disabled, I would genuinely submit for consideration that those people are as true to NPCs as possible. 

Your average cockroach is more capable of self reflection and complex critical thinking than your average Trump supporter.

Bacertia is a better candidate for holding its own personal, and expansive personal thoughts than a Trump supporter.

ChatGPT is more capable of hallucinating genuine human empathy and emotional intelligence than a Trump supporter.

Cosmic background radiation is more grounded to Earth than a Trump supporter.

These people are simply stupid beyond repair and shouldn't be respected as equals in any capacity.

load more comments (19 replies)
[–] running_ragged@lemmy.world 12 points 1 week ago

Im in Canada and have friends who believed his second term would be mostly as feckless as his first.

They didn’t understand how project 2025 meant he was going to be coming out of the gate with someone else’s agenda with all of the key players, including scotus in his back pocket. It all lined up to mean shit was going to go down fast and hard.

Look where we are one year in. 3 more years to subvert or nullify the next election.

load more comments (3 replies)
[–] radio@sh.itjust.works 97 points 1 week ago (2 children)

He has virtually no support from Democrats while 9 in 10 Republicans back Trump.

Nothing has changed. The fascists still like fascism, they just wish eggs were a little cheaper.

[–] gAlienLifeform@lemmy.world 24 points 1 week ago (2 children)

Except there are fewer people identifying as Republican than ever before so that statistic doesn't mean all that much. When people go from approving to disapproving of Trump they just leave the GOP because it's a cult that is extremely hostile to dissent, so the ratio of Republicans who approve of him stays high while his popularity with the general public continues to go down.

load more comments (2 replies)
[–] favoredponcho@lemmy.zip 23 points 1 week ago (3 children)

I don’t want to live in the same country with these people.

load more comments (3 replies)
[–] markovs_gun@lemmy.world 47 points 1 week ago (5 children)

I legitimately cannot comprehend polls where people who voted for Trump in 2024 changed their minds.

Trump- "Hey I'm going to do all this terrible shit"

Voters- "I'm going to vote for Trump presumably because I like his platform"

Trump- *does exactly what he said he was going to do*

Voters- >:(

[–] spizzat2@lemmy.zip 35 points 1 week ago (2 children)

I recently overheard a conversation between two people complaining about how, after the election, their friends unfollowed anyone who followed Trump.

Their argument was "I only voted for one issue. It's not like I have time to know everything."

It was an aggravating interaction, but also a strong reminder of just how ignorant the average voter is.

[–] CharlesDarwin@lemmy.world 17 points 1 week ago (1 children)

I only voted for one issue.

Hm, I wonder what that was.

Regardless, it's not like someone is going to spend four years on one issue.

[–] tigeruppercut@lemmy.zip 31 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) (1 children)
[–] CharlesDarwin@lemmy.world 15 points 1 week ago (1 children)

IKR? These people wanted to pretend they were picked on, the poor dears, for espousing small government, personal responsibility, waging war on "socialized medicine", trading wicked memes about "Going Galt" or how the nine most terrifying words in the English language are "I'm from the government and I'm here to help".

No, it's always about them wanting to force people to host the worst versions of what a human being might say on their private platforms - spreading xenophobia, anti-gay, anti-trans, misogynist hate speech, or spreading outright lies about, oh, I don't know, a pandemic.

Gosh, I wonder why what offends conservatives the most is when people want to disassociate from them for this last stuff? I mean, if it's not a central plank of their movement and their platform?

load more comments (1 replies)
[–] CharlesDarwin@lemmy.world 12 points 1 week ago (1 children)

I think a lot of them heard what they wanted to hear. Certainly few wanted to read anything about Project 2025, even though it was a click away. Or voted with their "tribe" and know next to nothing about that tribe's decades long platform, Taco's specific agenda, Project 2025's agenda, or the conservative "movement" that underlies all of it.

Or they were simply racist AF and thought all the undesirables were going to be whisked away as if by magic and without any kind of visible consequences like women shot and children gassed. Or they thought he "didn't really mean it" but he's a miracle-worker on the economy...

load more comments (1 replies)
load more comments (3 replies)
[–] nialv7@lemmy.world 47 points 1 week ago (1 children)

42% approving is way way too high.

[–] designated_fridge@lemmy.world 18 points 1 week ago (1 children)

Yeah this is the scary part. Idiots like Trump will always exist. The fact that so many Americans will follow an idiot is the worrying part.

load more comments (1 replies)
[–] switcheroo@lemmy.world 32 points 1 week ago (2 children)

Apparently a lot of people in the US don't think mocking a disabled person to be "too far". Or raping children.

Fucking morons.

[–] BlameTheAntifa@lemmy.world 10 points 1 week ago

The US has a cancerous culture of selfish, self-centered narcissism and blind, feudal loyalty to money and those with money. No amount of monstrousness tugs the heartstrings until it impacts them personally. Slowly, those same selfish, evil, self-centered scum are realizing that the suffering they wanted to inflict on others impacts them. They will gain no self-awareness from this and learn nothing, continuing to metastasize even even after Trumpsolini is finally dead and rotting in the ground.

load more comments (1 replies)
[–] rauls5@lemmy.zip 27 points 1 week ago (6 children)

The only thing these polls demonstrate to me is that about 40% of the voters are morons and should be stripped of the right to vote.

[–] Catoblepas@piefed.blahaj.zone 20 points 1 week ago (4 children)

A practice that has never gone wrong or been misused in American history! 👍

load more comments (4 replies)
[–] ptz@dubvee.org 13 points 1 week ago (1 children)

I realize you're probably not serious, but, still, voter disenfranchisement is both a slippery slope and a tactic employed by those everyone calls fascists. Two wrongs do not make a right and all that.

load more comments (1 replies)
load more comments (4 replies)
[–] Martinus@lemmy.world 21 points 1 week ago (4 children)

"Failure" and "gone too far" are understatements and give the impression it was all by accident.

load more comments (4 replies)
[–] homesweethomeMrL@lemmy.world 20 points 1 week ago

He has virtually no support from Democrats while 9 in 10 Republicans back Trump.

So, ‘disastrous’ in the sense of clickbait headlines, but in practical terms, A-OK.

[–] JeeBaiChow@lemmy.world 19 points 1 week ago (1 children)

Uh... and what exactly are these americans doing about it...?

[–] kadu@scribe.disroot.org 12 points 1 week ago (1 children)

Sharing angry rehearsed AOC videos on Reddit and writing "wake up america 😡", aren't they brave? Isn't that the greatest opposition you've ever seen?

[–] BanMe@lemmy.world 12 points 1 week ago (3 children)

Protests are becoming more frequent around here, even in the cold Southerners are not prepared for. This weekend I drove under a FUCK ICE protest on an overpass, with a FUCK ICE sticker on my car, to a store and passed a panhandler with a giant FUCK THE POLICE sign. Then my Mexican neighbors reached out to thank me for putting the sticker on my car. I feel a sense of alignment around me. I'm in Arkansas of all places. (I'm omitting quite a bit of anti-trans shit this weekend but that's another story).

load more comments (3 replies)
[–] Baphomet_The_Blasphemer@lemmy.world 18 points 1 week ago (3 children)

His first term was a failure, I don't even know how to describe his second so far.

load more comments (3 replies)
[–] Randomgal@lemmy.ca 16 points 1 week ago

Oh no the polls lmao.

Meanwhile citizens are murdered in the streets. Glad THE POLLS are going to fix that real fast

[–] ClownStatue@piefed.social 15 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) (4 children)

Some notes:

  • Restoring safety to the United States (39% to 35% who said he made progress)
  • Bringing law and order back to our cities (42% to 33%)

Speaks to the information bubble most MAGA/Conservatives live in. Right-wing media has been banging the "they're coming for you kids" drum for decades. According to them crime has always been terrible, and cities are the worst hellscapes for people to live. It ignores that statistics don't back this up at all, rural communities were/are-being devastated by opioids/fentanyl/meth, and actual per capita crime rates in big cities are generally lower than in smaller areas.

  • Bringing back free speech to America (41% to 27%)

More right-wing media propaganda pushing the narrative that social media and the "main-stream media" (you know, as opposed to Fox News - the most watched news network in the US for over 20-years running) have been silencing conservative viewpoints. You know, viewpoints like:

  • Trickle-down economics work.
  • Immigrants are taking everyone's job, and it's the immigrants' fault, not the employers.
  • Man-made climate change is a myth or overblown. This one has morphed so much over the years. It used to be that all climate change was a myth. Now, they say it's real, but not our fault. One day, they might actually get there!
  • Trans people are in some way, lesser humans. Replace "trans" with "gay" or "black" and you have a conservative plank of ~30- & ~60-years ago, respectively. Notice a trend?

So basically, social media is trying to point out bullshit, and conservatives are noticing that "bullshit" mostly covers shit they say. Not to say liberals don't also spout bullshit, but it doesn't tend to become planks in the national party's platform.

  • Keeping our children safe, healthy and disease free (40% to 26%)

Not even touching this one. The safe part is covered above. Remember "Stranger Danger," anyone?

  • Stopping the weaponization of the Justice Department (41% to 21%)

More right-wing propaganda. Same as the "free speech" bullshit above.

  • Being a peacemaker and unifier (47% to 25%)

Ignoring that this man has never in his life given off either vibe, how does one expect to find any "unifier" candidate when the to predominant political arguments in the US are:

  • They have propped up a useful idiot demigod to consolidate/maintain power and overturn/reclassify/rewrite large portions of the Constitution and Federal Law at the expense middle- and lower-class Americans. But we will still offer up massive concessions on immigration, funding, etc. in order to keep the government operating and not punish those same Americans for Washington BS (for which a significant percentage of them voted).
  • They are absolutely evil. They are woke Satanists. God wants you to hate them with every fiber of your being. They want to let rapists and murderers flood this country to take your jobs and children. They want to force your children to be gay or trans. They want you to rely on government for your every need so they can control you. They deserve nothing because we are 100% right; and if you can't see that, you're either not listening to us or you're one of them.
load more comments (4 replies)
[–] MrSulu@lemmy.ml 13 points 1 week ago

Here in the UK, we were promised millions per week for the NHS, better jobs and "oven ready deals" to replace our relationship with the EU. Over 50% of people who voted fell for that bullshit. Some are upscaling to the further right Reform (UKs equivalent to MAGA). Telling bold lies will fool too many people, again and again. We cannot sit back. The motivated gobshites will vote us into oblivion.

[–] Gsus4@mander.xyz 13 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) (1 children)

Meanwhile, project 2025 is ongoing. They'll discard him once they're done having him absorb all the outrage and providing plenty of distraction.

load more comments (1 replies)
[–] ExLisper@lemmy.curiana.net 12 points 1 week ago

Just 42% of respondents said Trump’s second term has been a success.

I'm not sure 42% approval is a disaster. In Europe that wold be an amazing result. Even in USA with all the gerrymandering, voter suppression laws and constitution in general giving advantage to red states that could be enough for them to win another term. Definitely enough to stop democrats from getting anything done.

[–] FisherOfSaints@lemmy.world 12 points 1 week ago

while 9 in 10 republicans back Trump

In a sense the only part that matters in terms of the problem we face.

The hard core might be contracting a bit, but it is hardening as a result.

[–] devolution@lemmy.world 12 points 1 week ago

Racism and entitlement. All you need.

[–] Xilia112@lemmy.world 11 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago)

Man, here at france, patrs has burned for way less than this.

I hope they eventually wake up and see that the only way to stop this obvious dictatorship forming is torches and pitchforks. But modernized.

[–] wirebeads@lemmy.ca 10 points 1 week ago (4 children)

How any U.S. military officer (not the Nazi ice assfucks) could look and think taking a military order for him is in the best interest of their country is a good idea is beyond me.

The guy says whatever comes out of his mind and changes it minutely after who ever he’s talked to.

I guess distraction from his life as a snuff film producer is high on the list right now.

load more comments (4 replies)
[–] MyMindIsLikeAnOcean@piefed.world 10 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago)

Hyperbole aside…the fascists have already taken strong steps to suppress, disqualify and gerrymander away Democratic votes to extend the large advantages they already had.

Before Trump Dems needed to be +3 to win, when he was elected they needed +5…just to overcome Republican cheating. We’re looking at as much as a 10% margin required going forward.

42%, if that’s even a real numberr, coupd more than enough to secure a victory. This isn’t even accounting for the fact that Trump and his cult will just change the numbers if they lose.

[–] LMurch@thelemmy.club 10 points 1 week ago (1 children)

Narrator: but the Americans did nothing and let him go further.

load more comments (1 replies)
[–] JoMiran@lemmy.ml 10 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) (3 children)

A majority of Americans polled in the survey -- 58% -- characterized Trump’s first year of his second term as a “failure,” according to the poll. Just 42% of respondents said Trump’s second term has been a success.

Isn't that the average spread of Democrat versus Republican voters has been? About 52/48?

load more comments (3 replies)
load more comments
view more: next ›