You forget their mastery of necromancy.

They’re claiming Russia is losing 1,200 soldiers a day. They’re delusional.

I wish I’d seen it. Sounds darkly funny.

Do you have the clip by chance? Or better still, is there a cache of all the videos, articles and posts of Ukraine being a “totally normal democracy”? I remember there was a giant shareable document breaking down and debunking the Uyghur genocide myth a few years ago.

I agree. When the Russian intervention began and Western media did a huge crackdown on the truth, the only people I saw allowed to tell the Russian side on mainstream were MAGA crackpots who looked crazy doing it. Can’t say there’s no censorship, because the narrative is allowed on mainstream media, but presented from the side progressives hate and distrust the most. It’s an insidious kind of manipulation.

I had forgotten about that.

I’ve been noticing the articles are saying he was a chaotic mess, a hindrance to the war in Ukraine, and acted like he was the personal representative of all American volunteers there. Not sure if any of that is true or if they’re just trying to distance themselves from him, but I could see it being true.

Doesn’t change the fact he’s a pro-Ukrainian who tried to assassinate Trump, and failed miserably. Kind of makes me wonder if the first assassin was also pro-Ukraine.

What’s funny is that I remember the original conspiracy they’re referring to. It was told to me as a funny story, about how a doctor found the best way to convince anti-vaxxers to get vaccinated was by telling an even more ridiculous conspiracy theory.

And then this dipshit immediately admits they’d believe the conspiracy theory, then proceeds to edit it with a dozen other conspiracy theories to justify sinophobia. The lack of self-awareness is astounding.

I was wondering when they’d try bringing the Uyghur thing back to the foreground. With the ongoing Palestinian genocide, I wasn’t sure if they were trying to avoid it so Americans don’t oppose Israel more, or if they were eventually going to bring it out to try and project onto China - again. Seems they might be trying the latter.

Omg, that analogy is perfect. I think I’ll start using it.

It’s not about what power the president has. The president exists for manufactured consent. If Biden gets in and commits genocide and fails to do anything progressive, it’s proof “socialism” can’t work, that we consented to genocide, and that democracy works because he didn’t overstep his authority. But if Trump gets in and ignores his opponents, does whatever he wants, etc., then we consented to that and are fine with the erosion of democracy if it means more fascism.

It’s a farce, and personally I think we’re being guided towards a fully fascist transition in the figure of Trump. Not because he, as a person, is anything. He’s a moron. But because he’s the kind of bigot chud that half the country idolizes, and through them the illusion of democracy can be shed and capitalists can take full power. After all, if more than half the voters support a fascist takeover, then isn’t that more or less how our failed model of democracy works?

It’s been wild to me how Ukrainian military and government officials have just blatantly said the quiet part out loud, then tried to pretend they never did when it turned out the majority of people didn’t like it. This, and the fact they were pumping out psychotic lies as fast as newspapers could print them (which were all exposed as lies within a week)… I’m just surprised anybody gives them legitimacy or benefit of the doubt anymore.

Perfect example: remember when soldiers were boasting about putting lard on bullets to kill Chechnyans because they were Muslim? And they had to be told by Western supporters that statements like that would hurt their image? Baffling how anyone could think that state is even halfway decent under its current regime.

I doubt I’d count for refugee status, but I’ve always had a soft spot for Russia (shocking, I know). Maybe I’ll finally try and learn the language again.

Exactly. They’ve been screeching about this decades before Trump, insisting the US is some Christian fascist paradise being besieged by an international cabal of communists. Every Trumpite politician I see yammers on about “the left” in every negative thing that happens. Trump didn’t need to get shot at for them to start marching with torches at Charlottesville, or to start attacking city infrastructure to target minorities, or to push state governments and courts to adopt more and more aggressive reactionary legislation. Yes, this will be their rallying cry, their “proof”, but with how much pressure reactionaries have been putting on citizens, it was only a matter of time until someone pushed back and gave them the excuse they wanted.

Not disagreeing with you, but they would eventually turn to violence inevitably. Either through “legal” means as reactionaries restructure the government under Trump and his supporters, or through continued terrorism in areas or periods where he isn’t in power. It doesn’t matter if he’d gotten assassinated or if there had never been an attempt. His fanatics are convinced they’re in a holy war, and they look for any shared of evidence - real or imagined - to support that bias.

I’d wager you’re more annoyed at the hypocrisy of liberals wanting Trump dead than them simply wanting him dead, because I can guarantee his fash followers are going to do violence and terror regardless of any attempt, its success, or its failure.

Makes sense.

Unfortunately, I just heard the word going around that someone in the crowd died, so it does definitely appear at the very least real shots were going into the crowd. None of that has been verified, as far as I can tell, but I’m sure we’ll get all the details by tomorrow if not in the next few hours. It’s not looking good either way, sadly. You’re right that the right wing is going to use this for all the mileage it’ll get, stunt or not.

My only counter is that Trump and his supporters already believe Biden and Dems are in a cabal with communists. If it was some anarchist, he’d still blame Biden as equally; if it were a Dem, he’d blame communists as equally. To Trump and his cronies, it’s all the same. No matter who wins, or who fired those shots, they’ll squeeze harder on us.

I ain’t busting out the tinfoil hat just yet, because it’s entirely possible with all the fearmongering of making Trump the antithesis of freedom, that some unwell person might think they’re saving the world by attacking him, but so much of it feels… off. I can’t help but be suspicious. That said, I’ll withhold any final conclusions until experts can investigate and weigh in.

I’d also add that his followers absolutely would not stop following him if it turned out he lied here. He could spit in their faces and they would applaud. He has nothing to lose from doing a stunt like this, in fact they might find it endearing.