this post was submitted on 08 Feb 2026

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The Lesser Evil (lemmy.zip)

submitted 1 week ago by Sine_Fine_Belli@lemmy.world to c/progressivepolitics@lemmy.world

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cross-posted from: https://lemmy.zip/post/57350918

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[–] HaveAnotherTacoPDX@lemmy.today 32 points 6 days ago (2 children)

I don't think this is gonna sound "civil", because I genuinely think we are so completely fucked in the US that if we want to avoid either a Somalia-style civil war (which is really bad BTW) or a dictator in power … we need to do some pretty drastic stuff. And … even this is kinda dangerous IMO, but also IMO "safe" was something that went byebye in the 2024 election.

We must primary worthless Democrats like Schumer anywhere we can. "Ohhhhhkaayyyy…" FUCKING NO DAMMIT, NO MORE! This surrender bullshit has to stop and that means he's gotta be removed from "leader" at the least. Then we need to get every Democrat we can into office, with strong leadership in the Senate and Stronger in the House. We must flip the Senate.

Next, Vance needs to be impeached. Yes Vance. Congress doesn't actually need "cause" but claiming an army of fucking stormtroopers have "absolute immunity" to murder Americans is cause enough. He's gotta go. And Congress must refuse to appoint his replacement. Because when you then impeach Trump over … pick a crime, really? That makes the Speaker our president. You see why I said this is dangerous, because one party rule always is corrupt. If we come out of this with a democracy where elections matter it'll be a miracle.

The new president can begin firing Trump's cabal of feckless, corrupt incompetents, and sith lord Stephen Miller too. At that point we need a special counsel to start investigatin' and referring people for prosecutions as the evidence is collected. And the prosecutions need to happen. I don't think people accept less than that. The evidence has to come out, and people need to be accountable. That is gonna include some in Congress. (Although frankly every Republican in Congress had access to classified info that proved a lot of Trump's crimes from the start, so IMO they're all co-conspirators. But I doubt even firebrand Democrats have the guts to charge them all.)

This is a monumental task and I have no idea how it gets accomplished.

[–] HarneyToker@lemmy.world 11 points 6 days ago (1 children)

None of your plan is realistic because no one in a position of power to do anything agrees with you.

[–] HaveAnotherTacoPDX@lemmy.today 11 points 6 days ago (1 children)

If you're an American voter, you are. That's the thing about sea changes in politics. They come from people who have very little power. And we do have very little power. It happens when there's a damned lot of us, and not until then. The last time was when they kicked out the railroad barons and created anti-monopoly laws that are still on the books, mostly unused since the 70s. The time before that was pre-civil war. And before that was the revolutionary war itself.

These things don't always have to be done via war, but they do have to be done by an overwhelming majority of people. Fatalism doesn't help. Organizing does.

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[–] ameancow@lemmy.world 8 points 6 days ago* (last edited 6 days ago) (1 children)

We've already seen great progress on a local/community front with new progressive, even socialist mayors and representatives being elected to major positions of power, flying in the face of the narrative that all elections are rigged.

The USA is huge and made of 50 individual states each with their own varied systems of rules and political allegiances, and the GOP and this dumb administration broadly have been way overreached thinking they can strangle the entire thing into submission.

We can absolutely get this thing turned around if we keep this effort towards our local representation and leadership. We can work on deposing every incumbent Democrat and actually getting in people who want to go against the mainstream status-quo and finally squash this old-money, monoparty kayfabe.

Your biggest enemy in this is going to be other self-described leftists who think that it doesn't matter, that politics cannot change anything and expect immediate reward in the form of some kind of "armed revolution" and anything less than that is too boring and slow for their attention spans.

Otherwise, the USA is a huge, slow-turning boat, the things that happen now have an effect months or years downstream, so it's very hard to predict overall public feelings as more and more of Trump's admin wrecks shit and creates problems for people. We can easily capitalize on this.

https://www.progressivevictory.win/ is an organization who helps link people up with progressive candidates in their area to help support or volunteer to help. They helped get people like Zohran Mamdani and Katie Wilson elected recently among others.

(Save your angry pushback Lemmy browsers, I block doomers, tankies and edgy teenagers with glee, get off your ass and do something useful.)

[–] 7101334@lemmy.world 4 points 6 days ago* (last edited 6 days ago) (6 children)

Your biggest enemy in this is going to be other self-described leftists who think that it doesn’t matter, that politics cannot change anything and expect immediate reward in the form of some kind of “armed revolution” and anything less than that is too boring and slow for their attention spans.

I'm a secret third thing: a self-described leftist (is there another kind? do I apply somewhere?) who thinks electoral politics will never save us, and armed revolution doesn't have the critical mass to save us any time soon.

I think America is the only thing that can kill America, and that that outcome is inevitable, and the duty of any person of conscience is to organize and bond their community together so the fewest possible number of people die during that collapse. This means different things for everyone, but it should include growing food if you're fortunate enough to be in a position to do so, then freely giving it away to neighbors.

That's not doomerism. I think the world that comes after will be better, but the turbulence leading there will be horrific.

With that said, I do admire your revolutionary optimism and I'd prefer you be correct than me. Feel free to block me anyway though, I don't really mind that either.

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[–] IAmNorRealTakeYourMeds@lemmy.world 23 points 6 days ago

"more cameras", "more training"...

are just codewords for "more budget", a white supremacists masked gang, led by probably history's worse pedophile. and the "opposition" is asking to raise their budget.

[–] TigerAce@lemmy.dbzer0.com 22 points 6 days ago (4 children)

Centrist dems? The Democrats are right wing. The Republicans are far right. There is no left or centre in US politics. If any is centrist, they are considered communist. What Americans consider to be left is still considered right by the rest of the world. The only centrist American politician I know of is Mamdani and the only slightly-left one I know of is Bernie Sanders. But the Democratic party is definitely on the right side of the spectrum.

[–] BlameTheAntifa@lemmy.world 6 points 6 days ago

By only electing for DSA candidates, the party can be pulled leftward.

Unfortunately, I believe the only way we will ever get another fair, uncompromised election is by making extensive use of louisettes.

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[–] Switorik@lemmy.zip 13 points 6 days ago (2 children)

I had a co worker today say trump was the lesser evil between him and Kamala. Then proceeded to say he was better than Biden, Obama, and Bush. I've lost all respect for him.

Another one said there's no reason to worry about politics because you can't fix them. They also vote republican, 100% only because they supported the second amendment.

There's nothing you can say to change their mind. We're just fucked as a country because our average IQ seems to be in the single digits.

[–] Knock_Knock_Lemmy_In@lemmy.world 3 points 5 days ago

Did you push for a reason why Trump was the lesser evil?

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[–] herseycokguzelolacak@lemmy.ml 15 points 6 days ago

This is the difference between Chaotic Evil and Lawful Evil.

[–] BarneyPiccolo@lemmy.today 5 points 5 days ago

They can use the money they save on face coverings to pay for the body cameras.

[–] Fedizen@lemmy.world 15 points 6 days ago* (last edited 6 days ago) (1 children)

No justice, no budget. ICE shouldn't get another bloody dollar until every officer that has violated any law or constitutional provision is in jail. Democrats voting to fund ICE need to be named and shamed as trump boot lickers. Pressure should be made toward the DNC and state parties to expel them.

[–] Ensign_Crab@lemmy.world 5 points 6 days ago (1 children)

ICE shouldn’t get another bloody dollar

Ever.

They are fundamentally a fascist institution. They cannot be reformed. The only people they hire are the sort of people who apply to join ICE, and there is no good reason to do that.

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[–] greedytacothief@lemmy.dbzer0.com 8 points 6 days ago

Having body cameras is great, but only if there's consequences for acting illegally. ICE knows they won't face any repercussions while fascists are running the government.

[–] GreenBeanMachine@lemmy.world 10 points 6 days ago* (last edited 6 days ago) (3 children)

Because there are no leftist dems. All are either centre or center right.

And there are no center republicans, all are either far ~~left~~ right or extreme far ~~left~~ right.

Their goals are the same, just slightly different methods.

[–] HarneyToker@lemmy.world 8 points 6 days ago (2 children)

You must mean “right and far right”

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[–] ohulancutash@feddit.uk 5 points 5 days ago (1 children)

I mean, the long game means there would be evidence for the long shot that sanity imposes itself in the future.

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[–] Tollana1234567@lemmy.today 10 points 6 days ago* (last edited 6 days ago)

they are center right, not even center specifically. schumer and 13 other senators, + hakeem are all closer the og gop.

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