The people calling themselves "militia" are overwhelmingly in favor of this lot.

That was Trump's 'magic', somehow appearing that he related with those types. Probably mostly accidentally because of his limited vocabulary, resulting in a very basic style of communication, in combination with only seeing the way the world works at a first-order effects level.

And yet having enough reach to be on their radar.

Scott Adams (crazy I know) had a good point about calling Trump a mass hypnotist. He seems to have a way of speaking that lets people hear whatever they want to, it's mystifying.

> mass hypnotist

Hmm, where have I heard that before, the last time the fascists took over and we had a world war about it.

I wonder if the militia types like Trump because people like you, talk about them, like you do. Regardless how much Trump is on their side, he is your enemy, they are obviously your enemy with the disdain you feel for them, so its at worst an alliance of convenience.

The "so called well-regulated militia" hasn't been a real thing in the USA since shortly after the "founding" of the nation (if it even existed then). The closest thing (maybe) might be the National Guard, but these day they're clearly mostly just puppets for the rich and powerful.

Well-regulated militia is the National Guard. Note the term well-regulated. They’re military personnel that belong to the states, but still operate alongside the regular force. What do you mean by puppets?

In practice as well as in law they are controlled by the federal government.

Only a couple of states actually have their own militia that is independent of federal government.

Eh, there are a lot of anti-Trump and "liberal" gun owners, but I think nearly all of them know that if they go all violent and rogue against this admin it's only going to be used to justify much worse.

I'm kind of curious if New Yorkers will try and do a tea party impression with the Russian diesel ship though.

Yea, those self-styled militia types obsessed with hoarding guns and cosplaying as soldiers were always going to be on the side of the authoritarians.

They may style themselves as militias, but they act like paramilitary forces.

As far as I can tell, that's what "militia" means in modern parlance? If you're not an organ of the state - military or police - and you're an armed organized group, that's paramilitaries.

They act like 8 year old boys.

> they will never wake up

I'm on the ground and the conversations are changing. There is significant damage that will take decades to repair, but I do not think it impossible.

We broke the trust with allies on so many levels and you should continue to hedge, because America might not be peaking on absurdity yet...

I'm interested in seeing the chaos of a republican party with all the ideas of power that Trump has given them, but without any of them having the godhead position that Trump has in order to keep the rest of them in line. There will be a bunch of wannabe Trump's, and all the puffery that goes with it, but without the large supportive entourage. It will be infighting like never before seen.

And if the Democrats don't do an absolutely stellar job of trying to fix things, and making life at least seem better for most of the US voting public, then an entirely chaotic Republican party could still get back in.

... and that's saying nothing of the possibilities for repeats of Jan 6th come midterm results or the 2028 election.

> And if the Democrats don't do an absolutely stellar job of trying to fix things, and making life at least seem better for most of the US voting public, then an entirely chaotic Republican party could still get back in.

Pessimistically, this is my expectation. The Oligarchy has become so out of hand, i.e. corporate-government-media collusion. The Dems are doing the same "Win at all Costs" so we can "Dominate those who think differently" thing. We The People have to take the reins back.

That's my reading too. If they don't sew it up this time around they're going to be in jail for life, the lot of them. So they must be getting a bit desperate to cling to what they've made because any step back is going to embody the risk of losing it all.

I don't think anybody has ever been able to corral the Democrats the way Trump has the Republicans. If they were that controlled, you wouldn't have The Squad and Fetterman in the party.