Hardkill

Some of you on here may hate me for saying this, but now that I've looked into this One Big Betrayal Bill more in-depth, there's actually ONE other good thing that came from it besides the extension of the middle class tax cuts, and that is the historic funding for updating our immigration enforcement and border security. I didn't think that Trump and enough Republicans in Congress were serious about that. I thought they were all bark and no bite on that matter because they never really addressed it during Trump's first term despite all of their blustering about it back then, the small amount of legislative accomplishments even when the Trump and his party had both Congress and the presidency from 2017-2019, and Trump's incompetence. To be clear, this bill went from one extreme to another. The amount of funding the bill will provide to ICE was definitely overdone. More likely than not more people in America including many immigrants, are going to suffer such unimaginable horrors and such inhumane treatment. If such negative effects occur from the bill pertaining to immigration and border security, which again, is probably is going to happen, then I really hope that Trump and his party all pay a truly major political price for it this year, 2026, 2027, and 2028. However, a lot of the border-related stuff that was in the bill was needed given how outdated the infrastructure for our border security and immigrant enforcement was almost 2 decades.

Yeah, but we don't even know for certain if Elon is really serious about this third party idea of his. He says a lot of crazy things.

Yeah, but the fear and anger of the declining percentage of white people as the percentage of black and brown people is growing in our country has now been greater than ever before. The fear and anger of Christianity in America dying in this country has now been greater than ever before. Also, Democrats should try to win back the majority of white people in this country after not having ever won the majority of whites at the presidential level for decades.

Yeah, I really think the Democrats may have no choice, but to also sound like white Judeo-Christian Nationalists as they promote more left-wing economic populism.

He's going to need to really prove himself to have a broad enough appeal for the country and be a true fighter for the working class. Even then, it's not clear that he will be able to overcome the smears made on him by the right-wing and anti-mainstream media in this day and age.

That's the kind of false equivalency that plays right into the hands of authoritarians like Trump.

Good Question. To me, the No Kings protests far outshining Trump’s humiliating parade, liberals maintaining control of the Wisconsin State Supreme Court, and Omaha, Nebraska electing the first Black mayor in the city’s history (and the first Democrat to win the mayoralty since 2009) are probably the only things to be proud of so far in America in 2025.

I get what you guys are saying. America is still better than most countries on the planet, including every least developed country and every developing country in the world. However, I don't think the USA is necessarily better than other developed countries in the world like Canada, UK, France, Australia, Scandinivia, Japan, or Israel, and other developed countries out there in the world. Also, I worry that America may no longer become a great country.

DId you vote for Trump?

I hope so. Although, like Leo said before, the right-wing much more easily unites their party nominee in an election, regardless of the circumstances, than the left-wing does.

@Ulax You’re right about how idealistic and naive Green can be. Though we need a healthy amount of green to keep pushing societies towards greater progress. What do you suggest those in stage Green should do?

Oh, cool. Our country could definitely use graphic designers like you to help clearly illustrate American politics. For someone who isn’t an activist, pundit, or professional political expert, your Substack—and your writing on U.S. politics—seems really impressive!

Thanks for his post. Are you actually a professional political activist?

Allan Lichtman actually recently published his latest book "Conservatism at the Core" which talks about what true American conservatism is and how corrupt it has been for over 100 years. I haven't gotten his book yet, but I definitely want to buy it and read it eventually.

What if Democrats lose again in 2026 in 2028 because either Trump and his party cancel those elections or because too many people stay home and not vote in large enough numbers for the Democrats because of how toxic their party brand is as well?

They only needed a simple majority in both chambers of Congress to pass this bill via budget reconciliation in the Senate and they got it done with razor-thin majorities in both the US Senate and US House.

I hope you're right. Though I don't see the light at the end of tunnel right now. There's no clear viable strategy at this point to save itself, let alone save the country.

According to the consensus of numerous Independent experts, it's the worst bill ever enacted since the mid to late 1800s. The Democrats better fucking figure out how to use this as major ammunition for the 2025 off-year elections, 2026 midterms, 2027 off-year elections, and the 2028 presidential election year. However, I fear that Trump and his party could steal or cancel all elections starting in 2026. I also fear that the Democrats and progressives will bungle it up again, especially in 2028.

Yeah, I was thinking that too. I actually didn't realize until recently that Bush was responsible for the PEPFAR program which saved over 25 million lives around the world.

The Bush administration's wars in Iraq and Afghanistan were no doubt unmitigated disasters that cost over 6,000 American lives and trillions of dollars, failed to achieve lasting peace or stability, and left both countries in worse condition than before in many respects. Moreover, Bush ended his presidency with the worst recession since the Great Depression. However, do you think that all of the things that happened during the administration of Trump's 1st term including how he governed, eroded our democracy, and the historic amount of hard right judges he appointed on the federal level courts, what he's currently doing and more of what he will do during his 2nd term presidency all not worse than what Bush or any other past Republican president ever did?

But the policies of Trump/MAGA are more destructive to the country than even the policies of Reagan/Bush type of Republicans. The Republicans during presidencies of Eisenhower and Nixon had really good policies for the country some of which moderate if not progressive leaning for the country before the party shifted more and more to the far right.

I thought that was good, but I still worry about him being easily perceived as a woke urban coastal elite from San Francisco, especially with dominance of the right-wing media being able to magnify that,

Yeah, I agree with those points you made, but what are Democrats going to do to figure out there messaging and optics issue? How are they going to be able to agree enough as a whole that the Democratic Party is moderate to traditional leaning on social issues, but economically populist on economic issues instead of just having many Democrats on one side of the party who are too left wing on both social and economic issues on one side of the party and then having too many Democrats on the other side of the party who play it too safe by trying to present themselves as being ideologically to the “center” or being a “me too Republican”?

He undoubtedly won the Democratic nomination in a landslide.

That's very true. A mixed economy is the best way a society can function and thrive. It. also makes sure that neither the government nor big businesses become too powerful by having the public sector and private sector check and balance each other. However, I think more things need to be nationalized including: More of the healthcare industry being owned by the government. Having a parallel public option within the grocery system and publicly supported grocery stores in food deserts. Fully funded, fare-free public transit that’s reliable, safe, and green. More social housing or publicly owned housing, alongside some rent control and tenant protections. End private prisons and have all incarceration handled by the public sector. Public funding for independent journalism or publicly-owned platforms free from algorithm-driven profit models. Public broadband networks, especially in underserved rural or poor urban areas. Public banks at city/state/federal levels and a public postal banking system. Public ownership of electric utilities, or publicly-owned renewable energy companies. Ideally, this would more or less lead to: Universal single-payer insurance such as Medicare for All, but hospitals/doctors remain private or mixed Public utilities as options, public green energy investment, anti-monopoly reforms Public or postal banking coexisting with private banks Municipal broadband in underserved areas, with private ISPs still allowed Massive expansion of social/public housing, but private ownership remains More fare-free, publicly run mass transit, infrastructure investment Public grocery stores in food deserts alongside private stores Public drug manufacturing for essential meds only End private prisons, fully public control over incarceration (this is full control here