Always have been
this post was submitted on 27 Aug 2026
201 points (99.0% liked)
politics
30941 readers
3319 users here now
Welcome to the discussion of US Politics!
Rules:
- 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:
- Articles must be relevant to US politics and contain quality and original content. Social Media adjacent hosts like Substack are allowed, but ONLY if they tie back to a company/subsidiary. No personal or friend group blogs and no self-promotion. Articles should be worth reading. Clickbait, stub articles, and re-hosted or stolen content are not allowed. Check your source for Reliability and Bias here.
- 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 other users of being bots or paid actors.
- No memes, trolling, misinformation, or low-effort posts/comments (including reposts). If you see posts like this that anger you, do not engage. Report, block, and live a happier life than they do. Any slap-fight is subject to comment removals. Fights full of rule violations will result in temporary bans to cool off.
- No manipulating votes via bots or alt accounts; this will result in permanent bans. 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.
- No hate speech, slurs, celebrating death, advocating violence, or abusive language. This will result in an account ban. Usernames containing racist, or inappropriate slurs will be permanently banned.
We ask that the users report any comment or post that violate the rules and use critical thinking when reading, posting, and commenting. Users that repeatedly have 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. The reason(s) behind moderator action(s) are publicly available through the Modlog.
That's all the rules!
Civic Links
• Congressional Awards Program
• Library of Congress Legislative Resources
• U.S. House of Representatives
Partnered Communities:
• News
founded 3 years ago
MODERATORS
He's already starting with this emergency shit
How have we gotten to the point where president can announce he's going to commit treason and they let him?
Well the US has refused to hold him accountable for anything to date so why wouldn't he?
I really hate that this is an actual thing that I, as a millennial, have to add to my fucking BINGO card.
No shit
Prepare how?
It’s in our hands. Protect Democracy, the ACLU, the Brennan Center for Justice, and many others are preparing for whatever may come. Protect Democracy offers guidance on your local elections with state-by-state rules. Know the law. Be prepared. Volunteer at a polling place.
Yay, actionable advice!
In what other ways as well? Concealed-carry volunteers willing to delay and obstruct ICE presence? Hopefully there’s enough armed leftists around willing to do this. It could mean imprisonment and death for them. We’d also have to be prepared for the possibility of intimidation through violence and opposing access of fascist goons to areas around the ballot booths and boxes.
At the juncture, they’re going to try EVERYTHING to repudiate the election results. It’s certain that Trump will declare martial law.
I’m all for doing SOMETHING, but I haven’t really been inspired by the responses of our elected officials and judiciary thus far and remain very skeptical as to what they will do.
I really really hate even thinking about it, but everyone who is confortable handling a firearm needs to carry one to the polls. Not because everyone is going to form a militia, but because it will make anyone trying to intimidate people consider their actions more carefully.
Make sure it really is concealed and there’s no metal detector at the entrance. It is a federal crime to have a firearm around voting polls. The jackboot thugs have no problem using the law against you, while disregarding it themselves.
Prepare for him and his cohort of traitors to ignore them entirely if they don't go their way. They have the broad support of the people with guns, both in and out of uniform. They've tried it once before, and you can bet they've learned from their mistakes.
It is really quite difficult to vote fascism out. I cannot believe Americans thought they could put their necktie in that woodchipper twice and survive.
Not all of us did or do, no one wanted to listen that wasn't already in nearly complete agreement with me. Even those who were visibly emotionally devastated, frightened, or enraged after the election have slid back to thinking it'll only last 2 years if midterms are a blue wave or a historic flip. Apparently I'm the negative one for understanding that there is little if any chance we'll vote our way out of this hellscape.
My deepest sympathies, from one Cassandra to another.
They really weren’t fucking around when they called the qualities of that title a curse
It can't possibly be a surprise to anybody.
The two signs that Trump never intended to win any other election fair and square are:
- All he does makes him unpopular. He clearly has zero concern for appearing likable and attracting votes.
- He said so - and when Trump or his cronies say something, believe them.
"prepare" by doing nothing
You ever hear the story about the farmer and the horse?
Some days when I’m stressing out about all this shit, I remind myself life is just a string of things happening that are all interconnected somehow.
Even if no one does shit, these goons are unintentionally creating the conditions they oppose and fear the most. The pitchforks will come out when the food supply is ultimately disrupted and the dollar collapses.
I think you must've skipped a line in that article you sent:
And it certainly doesn’t mean that we rationalize and passively accept injustice in the hopes that one day it’ll lead to a good outcome.
I can't accept that my loved ones may be rounded up and deported by reminding myself that it'll probably all work out in the end. Real people have been killed, more will be, and shrugging acceptance is not an appropriate response.
I’m in full realization that millions will be oppressed and we’re in for a heap of suffering. The misery will be great.
I’m not saying things going this way is a “good” thing. It just reminds me that to exist means to suffering and the ignorance/delusions of human beings will always lead to preventable suffering. Accepting this fact of existence =/= condoning or being cool about it. It’s just acknowledging that we will inevitably experience some form of suffering in our lives, and trying to control all possible outcomes to prevent all suffering just leads to more suffering.
It’s also a reminder that we cannot accurately predict with certainty the actual experience of events playing out. Life is unexpected chaos in the end.
You can still advocate and fight for the rights under these conditions.
It doesn’t mean we can’t resist. It’s just going to take people sacrificing their lives for that cause. Even the Indian independence movement, which based itself on nonviolent resistance, resulted in the death of many due to the cruelty of British forces.
Thanks, Merrick.
Could you prepare to, like, not let him do that? That would be best.
Sincerely, The World
Best they can do is wave some signs around a couple of weekends per year.
Fuck you man
Best of luck, from his next target...
I'm trying to decide if I should use marijuana on election day to help me cope with this or not. On the one hand, sometimes marijuana helps me process emotion by numbing it. On the other hand, sometimes marijuana makes things worse by making me think less rationally.