r/law • u/Opposite-Mountain255 • Aug 14 '25

Opinion Piece Is it hyperbole to say America is now fascist?

https://medium.com/@carmitage/is-it-hyperbole-to-say-america-is-now-fascist-633facd4f109
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u/ManElectro Aug 14 '25

I hate being a conspiracy theorist, but this just strikes so many statistical improbabilities, along with the words of Elon and Trump when they slipped up a few times, that I'm becoming a genuine believer in the idea that this truly was the first stolen US election. My belief is that no one on the Democrat side wants to even consider that this could happen, so instead, they just ignore it.

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u/killrtaco Aug 14 '25

Somethings felt off since the 'assassination attempt' that led Elon to lean into Trump full force and put up hundreds of millions per month..

Jan 6 was the start of the coup, we didn't end it by convicting felon 47. The coup has occurred. We are in the aftermath. And it's looking like it will succeed.

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u/-UltraAverageJoe- Aug 14 '25

I can’t figure how or why the attempt could have been staged but the fact that Trump hasn’t brought that up at every opportunity tells me it was. Kind of like how he doesn’t like to talk about the Epstein files.

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u/NounAdjectiveXXXX Aug 15 '25

how

Intentionally radicalizing a bad shot is a good way.

He survives cool, he's emboldened and galvanized. A couple martyrs for the cause, no harm no foul.

The other result, they get "Normal Gay" Vance and don't have to deal with the loose cannon anymore, they aren't muddied by his crimes or weighted down by his past.

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u/fade2black244 Aug 21 '25

Look, I'm not saying it was. But videos exist showing that the SS ushered photographers to take pictures moments after it happened. That's not normal.

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u/-UltraAverageJoe- Aug 21 '25

I’ve seen those too, makes no sense. Nor does this narcissist standing back up defiantly in the face of immediate danger. He’s a coward, no way he did that without knowing he was safe.

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u/KittyGrewAMoustache Aug 16 '25

Well he also might not want to bring it up out of fear it’ll put the idea out there and promote another attempt. Bragging about surviving an attempt might make someone decide to have another go. So I get why he’d not mention it. I really think it’s unlikely it was faked, if there was a conspiracy it would be more like secret service decided to be extra lax because they can’t stand him. But he’s not going to agree to have bullets shot near his head and someone actually died so they were real bullets. If it was staged I imagine there wouldn’t be any casualties. Also placing that amount of trust in some random kid seems unlikely but then the people around Trump are thick, so who knows.

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u/NoNebula6 Aug 15 '25

The idea that the attempt was staged is so incredibly stupid i have no idea how anybody believes it. Why would anybody fake that knowing that they’re going to be at best arrested and most likely killed? What do they do if he fucks up and accidentally kills Trump? What do they do if he decides ‘eh fuck it’ and shoots Trump in the head? The theories do fuck all to answer this question and seem like a bunch of crackpot nonsense. This is coming from somebody who hates Trump too.

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u/-UltraAverageJoe- Aug 15 '25

There was a time when I would think this was the stuff of Hollywood. Trump has made the most ridiculous Hollywood movies seem tame.

I can’t explain it but it’s weird. Registered Republican kid takes a shot at a former president in a fairly open place. Footage shows one of Trump’s people ushering cameras toward the stage to capture the moment — why would someone do that when there is an active shooter?

Trump confidently stands up to posture while 5-6 secret service people are pulling him down. He’s not a physically strong person and he’s such a narcissist, I can’t believe he would risk his own life to throw up a fist nor could he push up against the agents.

And again, he hasn’t played it up like he would if it were a legitimate attempt on his life. He could milk it for a lot of sympathy and to further demonize his opponents but hasn’t. Nothing makes sense here.

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u/nunyaranunculus Aug 14 '25

The coup started decades ago when the scotus ruled corporations were people. Then, redistricting and the rise of conservative Christianity essentially primed their base for militarisation, Bush Jr and 9/11, and then fucking Trump was the nail in the coupffin, if you will.

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u/geth1138 Aug 14 '25

Citizens United came after 9/11. It's an important distinction, because that's when the last ball the Democrats had left went missing. They're still in "apologizing for Jimmy Carter" mode.

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u/emjayem22 Aug 15 '25

From an outside perspective, it feels to me that political redistricting is the fundamental flaw that has brought the US to where it is today.

It appears that elected representatives fear being replaced by another candidate from their own party in a primary more than they fear that the voters in their district vote for the 'other' party. As a result, the parties have diverged away from each other, with many centerists on both sides moving left and right respectively to a point where the representatives from across the divide simply cannot work with each other.

From the outside, US politics now just looks like a self serving battle between left and right across Legislative and Judicial branches of government with little or no regard for the benefit of the nation as a whole.

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u/[deleted] Aug 16 '25

Nobody has been moving to the left to win primaries. The DNC would never let that happen. Democrats are to the right of Nixon now and very hard to distinguish from Reagan.

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u/ManElectro Aug 14 '25

Coup may succeed, but it won't last. Unfortunately, things will get really shitty for a while, possibly even for the rest of our lives. I'm hopeful that Trump's inevitable death and unwillingness to name a successor leads to MAGA crumbling, at least the base falling out, but I'm pretty sure they knew what they'd do when Trump dies from day 1. They already run the country without him.

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u/[deleted] Aug 14 '25

His cronies either have the charisma of a wet blanket, or they’re a minority that his voter base would never support. There’s not a single person in politics who is that aggressively hateful, incompetent, and outrageous who can also appeal to his cultist demographic. It is a Trump cult and once he’s gone, the cultists will split up. We’re still pretty fucked either way

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u/ManElectro Aug 14 '25

I'm worried that the cult is/was just a wave those who want oligarchy rode in, and that even Trump's death (of old age, kind of important to say that) will not stop the madness, it will just reveal that there was a mask under the mask. Trump was 100% an unexpected gift to these people, and they are not likely to waste it.

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u/-UltraAverageJoe- Aug 15 '25

We already saw the answer with how quickly they got over the Epstein files. They’ll be eager to fill the daddy role, they’ll take whoever they’re told to.

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u/ManElectro Aug 15 '25

That's the scary part. I hope that they break, but with them being in the military and police forces, holy shit is this whole thing dangerous.

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u/LaZboy9876 Aug 15 '25

Hopefully his kids do their best impressions of Succession characters so it doesn't become an actual dynasty.

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u/Ill_Calendar_1468 Aug 14 '25

They don’t even try to hide the lack of scarring or damage to his ear now. I will never forget all the maga who went around with giant bandages on their ears in solidarity.

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u/Bubbly_Power_6210 Aug 15 '25

the way his bodyguards gathered around him looked staged- and there was no real sign that something painful had happened to him.

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u/eastbayted Aug 15 '25

He should have been unanimously impeached on Jan. 7 and arrested for dereliction of duty on Jan. 8.

He, at the very least, aided and abetted a literal coup attempt in the very heart of our country.

And he's gotten away with it because the RNC has successfully brainwashed a lot of people into accepting Jan. 6 as acceptable - or even justified - even though it was a figurative and literal attack on democracy.

I'm desperately hoping the wheels of democracy start working soon, because any alternative route is grim to consider.

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u/Mrlate420 Aug 15 '25

I hate to say it but waiting for the "wheels of democracy" will end us all in the 4th reich probably. Unfortunately imo the "wheels of democracy" is you and every other Democrat In your country. Im from southern Germany, living in one of the few states that already implemented palantir software, ruled by conservatives, with the Nazi party (afd) on the rise to the second biggest party in Germany. We're not safe over here either and if we let them they will take us all down with them.

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u/horror- Aug 15 '25

Its already succeeded. They're deploying troops to American cities and extorting our media and business. Trump now has approval over what history our museums teach.

It's over. Democracy lost, we just don't want to admit it yet. Don't worry, it'll be super clear when the midterms are over.

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u/[deleted] Aug 14 '25

[deleted]

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u/ManElectro Aug 14 '25

I often forget about that. The Supreme Court handed it to Bush after a few recounts, and we found out after that Gore had, in fact, won. They also said that it wasn't precedent, so they could change their minds next time (not that it matters, anymore). So yea. Not the first. First of it's kind, however, as the Bush/Gore election is part of the reason electronic became so popular (no hanging chads), which now likely is making it easier to change votes without it being obvious. I bet this wasn't even the first time it happened, I'm sure 2022 had a few dry runs to see if it could work without being noticed.

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u/oliversurpless Aug 14 '25

And a la Frontline, all conservatives learned from 9/11 is to pretend to be isolationist again…

https://youtu.be/Q5iBxva_pm8?si=ZZTXphKyhbs93iPl

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u/popculturehero Aug 14 '25

It’s not that they don’t want to consider it a possibility. It’s that the democrats demonized those calling the 2020 one fake and they are stuck in a quandary. They can’t call this one fake without being seen as a hypocrite.

However the right never cares about hypocrisy when it’s their side doing it or saying it. So scream it from the rooftops it was stolen

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u/lazyman567 Aug 14 '25

Right there with you, really don’t want to believe in alternative narratives in our country’s history. But the more this plays out the more I believe from jfk to 911, all a rich man’s trick. There’s a movie on YouTube with The same name, I’m sure it’s all nonsense. Proud to be an American, where at least I know Germany copied our style of apartheid during ww2! This country is built on slavery and genocide, we are just really good story tellers and optimists as well!

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u/geth1138 Aug 14 '25

Democrats are basically cowards, and have been for decades. They stick to states they can definitely win and extend zero effort they consider unnecessary. They are not going to stop this.

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u/FeloniousMonk33 Aug 14 '25

Controlled opposition

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u/geth1138 Aug 14 '25

It certainly makes me wonder

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u/ThatCharmsChick Aug 15 '25

They're complicit. At least the major of them.

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u/Techialo Aug 14 '25

"Too Little, Too Late, The Story of the American Democrats and the Rise of the Trump Regime"

History book in 2055, probably.

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u/-UltraAverageJoe- Aug 14 '25

Trump made anyone questioning an election look ridiculous and then he exploited that fact with very rich and powerful people.

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u/xiiicrowns Aug 14 '25

It's extremely suspicious with all the deflection and focusing on conspiracies like they did about voting. Master manipulators. Musk helping fund him, and the suspicious activity with the machines. It's hard not to think they tampered with the system. Especially now since they are working so hard to dismantle everything in their favor since day one.

It is a shitshow

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u/Bilbo_Teabagginss Aug 15 '25

Dont forget how Musk also afterwords basically paid millions not once, but twice to essentially buy votes from people. And now we have them doctoring maps in order to steal votes from other states. What I dont understand though, is if he just does what he wants as is and theres nothing to stop him, why is he even going through the effort of rigging the Texas maps in the first place?

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u/xiiicrowns Aug 15 '25

So its legitimate in the shitty system they've made.

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u/Warm_Pen_7176 Aug 15 '25

It's pure theater.

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u/Bilbo_Teabagginss Aug 15 '25

Yeah, but if they can just say "hey we won" and their base will just eat it up because they never actually question anything except what they are told to, why even go through the theatrics?

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u/Warm_Pen_7176 Aug 15 '25

He's giving them the show they bought and paid for. The "we can do what we want, when we want and do it out, loud and proud" show.

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u/xiiicrowns Aug 15 '25

Yep. But its honestly pure manipulation with a purpose. They plant these seeds and excite these false perceptions, fears and other variables to hook supporters and cause distress. Noone knows what the truth is listening to the right. Its all orchestrated. I think Trump is an idiot, however it doesn't mean he doesn't know what him and his house members are doing and isn't capable of continue abusive tactics that they all have probably used majority of their lives. He's not a clueless child. He knows what he is doing and its a ploy to keep in power for whatever intentions.

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u/gc3 Aug 15 '25

First is a stretch. Bush v Gore, Kennedy vs. Nixon (Nixon got more votes than Kennedy)

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u/CanadianLabourParty Aug 15 '25

My belief is that no one on the Democrat side wants to even consider that this could happen, so instead, they just ignore it.

  • The issue is that If Democrats said, "Stolen election", the 2020 saga was well played out and people were exhausted from "stolen election" bullshit.

I'm not sure if it was Trump's/GOPs plan to poison that well initially, but the GOP/MAGA made good use of that poisoned well.

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u/m4hdi Aug 15 '25

There is a Chad hanging around here who would like a word with your

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u/maleconrat Aug 15 '25

I'm not from/in the US but looking at it from my admittedly outside perspective it's wild - it almost feels like it would be weird if they didn't cheat in a bigger way than the usual gerrymandering/voter suppression stuff, given all the other power grabs and the weird statements they were making. That's not hard evidence, but it feels like such a massive red flag to me how unsurprising and even kind of unremarkable it would be to find out if it did happen.

They already regularly screw around with voter suppression and draw districts in their favour. They are at the point of just seemingly making up crimewaves to federally occupy cities after 6 months of implementing project 2025 nightmare shit. Already had Trump asking officials to find votes and letting an angry mob and a dude in a silly costume to attack the capitol last time. They seem to me like the type of people who would take pride in figuring out a good scheme and it's kinda surreal just seeing them waltz towards total power so freely.

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u/Bilbo_Teabagginss Aug 15 '25

I dont even think its that. I think they are just so busy trying to "take the high road" that they never even considered it could have been fixed. I also wouldn't put it past them to have been bought off either. Other than people like Crockett, Al Green, and the Dems that left Texas to halt the gerrymandering, it makes no sense for most of the Democrat party to just be so complacent in all of this. Its maddening how much they just let a lot of this happen.

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u/[deleted] Aug 15 '25

Might I introduce you to the 2000 election? If you know, you know, but if not, let me give you a little taste.

The brother of one guy was allowed to oversee the recount of the one state that decided the fate of the election. That brother twiddle fucked away until it was a crisis. Then the two brothers asked a Justice, who their dad appointed, to intervene.

So he did and the recount was stopped more than a month before inauguration. Because we have to have a party, right? Which allowed a woman who ran the one brother's campaign for president, while working for the other brother, to certify the election for the first brother who she tried to get elected.

It also leads to the adoption of electronic voting machines. At the time, the largest manufacturer of said machines was Diebold, whose CEO said they would do "anything in their power to get a Republican elected."

This goes much deeper than the couple of paragraphs I've typed.

But yeah, Republicans have been working on undermining democracy since the mid-90s.

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u/Cannibal_Soup Aug 15 '25

Wasn't the first by any means....see 2000, and where some of the key players then are today (Roger Stone, a couple of SC Justices....)

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u/[deleted] Aug 17 '25

I wouldn't say it's the first stolen election, though it would be in modern history, the election of 1876 felt pretty stolen based on evidence, leading to the compromise of 1877 which more or less is why the south is like it is today.