For every action there's an equal and opposite reaction?

Positive change is not the plan. As per "The Despoiling of America", the plan is to break American society until people are so destitute they will accept any change. At that point, Trump declares martial law and governs through presidential decree. He uses the special powers he has given himself to remove the separation of church and state and Avada Kadava, you have an evangelical dictatorship. Combined with vote suppression, evangelicals will be in power forever.

Thats called "Accelerationism" and its stupid, as history keeps proving

in a way, i said this and many other on reddit. he will destroy the GOP from within, they are pretty much without power if trump is not in charge, and most of the old guard gop have mostly left

I kinda had the same “look on the bright side” outlook for Covid and was disappointed.

The country was in decline for at least a decade before Trump took office.

Well 4 years of that decade was Trump being in office, and 4 other years was the result of people being willing to vote in literally anyone who wasn't him. So really 8 years of that decade was Trump's fault. And the other two years? Not bad.

As for the rest, Trump is cutting funding for research like crazy. That won't just affect things today, that's going to make stuff shitty for decades. And that's exactly the kind of harm that the emotion-laden American news and social media simply won't cover. So I don't think there will be a backlash, rather the opposite - politicians will realize bullying scientists, government agencies, immigrants, and other voiceless Trump targets is just good politics, and keep doing it.

Of course future prediction is hard, so who knows what will happen. But I'm not seeing the path for this to turn around anytime soon. The same media that created MAGA, and made it even more popular 4 years after it proved itself to be a horrific disaster is the same media we have today. Democrats will probably win the next two elections because people can see what Trump is doing in real time, but after that I have no hope for America. If I have to predict the future, I'd guess the EU becomes the new global leader, driven by relatively high democracy and pro-science policies compared to the rest of the world. This could even occur in a relatively short time frame, like 5 years.

If the Reagan administration's legacy is any indication, no, no it won't. Things will continue being fucked and getting worse decades from now.

This post breaks literally rules #1, #2 and #3 of this community. Crazy.

Mods please wake up and DO YOUR JOB.

Reading these responses is so sad. I can see that a large number of people on here have fully embraced cynicism and active pessimism. This is the most damaging attitude possible when trying to create change. If you have this mindset, you're not only not helping to make positive change, you're actively working to drain any energy from those who might be in a better and more productive place than you.

To the OP, don't give up hope. There are thousands of people around the country working right now to change things and resist the downfall of our country in whatever ways they can. The number is growing every day with each new outrage and attack, and energy is building quickly. If you can't donate your time, donate your money to progressive organizations (look up the 50501 project for help finding them).

Nothing is going to change with blind optimism, but history is on our side, and it shows that when things start to hurt for people in their day to day lives, real change is possible. This is not the first fascist takeover in history, and it won't be the last. Some older folks have literally lived through similar times in our own country (see: McCarthyism for example). Nothing is inevitable and no one can predict the future, no matter how believable their claims may sound.

To the cynics, you're absolutely allowed to feel how you feel. I feel quite cynical myself a lot of the time, too. Just remember that when you mock and shout down people trying to move forward, you help create the future you're so resigned to. Not all of us are so ready to roll over and take it. If you won't help, please at least get out of the way.

/soapbox

Thought this would happen the first time, woke up to him winning again.

Shit needs to get a lot worse before it gets better apparently

People forgot what Trump was like 4 years ago and re elected him. So no, it will not facilitate any change.

I have cystic fibrosis, it’s a genetic disease and my lungs are (were, I got a new set) especially impacted, I thought COVID could possibly change the world for the better for people like me, improved access via remote work or telehealth etc. that people would be more reasonable and understanding to those with lung disease, that the medical sector would start looking more heavily into lung health, lung rehabilitation, the issues around lung disease and immune-disregulation etc. but really very little has happened and there’s been no significant permanent changes and people chose to keep denying illness and disability exist… I think the virus of the trump presidency running through the US will have the same negative effect where a lot of people die and not much else happens

That's a legit societal theory called "accelerationism". Make everything so awful that people will realize what's happening and instigate massive backlash.

Except... the first time this was tried, in the 30's, we got WWII instead of solutions. So maybe not that great of an idea after all.

"Let the OrphanGrindingMachine cook," he said to the crowd.

no, but it will be good for punk rock and comedians… everything else will hurt.

There's so much negativity here... Don't let it take away your hope.

Things are looking really bad right now, yeah, but losing hope only ensures misery.

"Hope for the best, prepare for the worst."

You should read some US history if you think that is going to happen.

At best there will be slight improvement for a couple decades while nobody in the administration or who helped to destroy the government suffers any consequences and they just do it all over again.

There’s three ways to get rid of cancer:

• Poison it. Diminish its numbers to the point where it never comes back.
• Excise it. Cut it away from the rest of the host.
• Do nothing. It’ll die once it consumes the host.

Eating granola and berries or sitting there with hopes and praying for change is option 3. I’m on team option 1. Time to get active.

Ha!

Hahahahahaha!

Hahahahahahaahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahhahahahahahahahahhahahahahahahahahahahahhahahagahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahhhaahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaahahahahahahhhahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahabahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahabahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahababahababababahahahahahahahabaahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha!!!!

Hahaha....

Haaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhh.....

Ha.

No.

Making things worse only makes things worse.

The problem is that there are 70+ million "frogs" in this country who are being told that being boiled alive is good for them - and they believe it without question, and will fight anyone that says otherwise.