If Trump wins, no one here at DU is safe

[Mr.WeRP]

Trump has threatened his own supporters in campaign emails with punishment if they don’t donate enough or fail to vote for him, saying these records are public. While your specific vote may not be, your campaign donations are and election turnout certainly is. Trump has already used the tax code to punish blue states using the cap on State and Local Tax deductions (SALT) since you can only declare up to 10k of these taxes on your federal return. And he has murdered at least one journalist.

If Trump wins, no doubt he will use the powers SCOTUS just gave him to punish those that do not approve of him. And he won’t stop with people in the lime light. He will go all the way down to every individual that doesn’t think he deserves to be king of america and find a way to punish and silence them.

We must act accordingly to this existential threat and our leaders better wake up to how real this threat is. It is very fucking real.

[brewens]

1. If they come for me, I better not see it coming. It will need to be total surprise in the middle of the night or

I will have already dealt with a couple MAGAts appropriately. I plan on taking as many with me as I can if they decide they want it that way.

[samnsara]

2. my passport is current...

[edisdead]

29. That ain't going to help.

Your passport just tells them who you are when trying to leave.

[flying_wahini]

51. Then leave early.

[edisdead]

56. Well, I ain't going anywhere.

[gab13by13]

3. Oh it will be like Russia,

Progressive sites will be purged.

Communicate with short wave radios? Cell phone communication won't be safe. Carrier pigeon?

[Mr.WeRP]

4. Agree

Trump is, after all, trying to model his oligarchy based on Putin’s instructions. The recent decision legalizing bribery is part of that establishment.

[GreatAuntK]

5. Yes I'm scared

That has crossed my mind, and I just started posting here, having not done so since the Iraq war. I've followed DU ever since, but was trying to lower my online presence. 75 years old, I live alone in South Florida (on SS), and have no one to talk to about what has transpired, at least until I see my sisters on vacation next week. I am furious, and scared.

I'm sure my Republican friends on Facebook are annoyed with my many political posts, but they don't confront me. If they haul me off for sedition, I can tell some of my MAGA family I told you so.

[Deuxcents]

11. I am in the same area and at 77, I will not go away easily.

We live in a red state with red elected leaders so I have my imagination going crazy at times but I’ll give it my best and that’s all we can do. ✊

[sop]

6. I can see Trump tasking the DOJ to go after people he believes helped "steal" the election from him in 2020,

much like the DOJ has been identifying, arresting and prosecuting 1/6 insurrectionists for the last three years. Only Trump's DOJ won't just go after the foot soldiers, they'll target the leaders of the movement: elected and appointed officials, anyone in the judiciary who ruled against him, members of the media and anyone else Trump believes persecuted him.

[MiHale]

7. Getting this far into the responses...

I’m seeing a lot of fear that tcf is going to exact revenge on his opponents and people that are critical of him.

I’ll leave this here…
Maybe, just maybe that’s why there was absolutely no pushback on trump during the debate. Mods were afraid of retaliation if he got re-elected.

[llmart]

19. He's already told us he's going to seek retribution.

He didn't even couch it in any code. And let's not forget that he's also said straight out that he will pardon all the J6ers.

It doesn't get much more explicit than that.

[llmart]

8. Heck, even DU won't be safe.

The GOP and SCOTUS will find a reason to shut down any site they don't approve of. That's what living in a dictatorship is like.

[newdayneeded]

14. I'm thinking the OP

wasn't just referring to shutting DU down. More about making every member dissappear. To be honest, this has crossed my mind alot.

[haele]

25. So, we're talking an enemies list?

I'm pretty sure conservative lurkers from radical right organizations have lists of DU'ers to target at various levels (particularly employment or petty harassment) already made up, just as they have lists of people that go to the "wrong" church, social club, or give to the "wrong" charities. Including those who work at the "wrong" jobs for their skin color, religious or cultural heritage, or gender.
That path leads to a reductive madness that basically disenfranchises and de-economizes around 98% of the country. These idiot groups are emboldened by localized examples expanded to states like Texas and Florida. The consequences of their relatively rapid takeovers have yet to be felt, but even those states are already beginning to feel the effects in that they're needing subsidies from the government (both state and local) to support basic services they blithly expect to magically come from Gawd. Trickle Down or "Charity" economics (cutting Social Services and Education, services to the working classes, the disabled, and aged) does not help business owners; it only helps Oligarchs who depend on cheap labor and a captive minimum consumer base.
The saving grace to all that is that despite their egotistical, adolescent whining about taxes and regulations, the majority of business owners and the wealthy understand (at some level) the reality of stable, neutral governance and fair, regulated "market" policies; they don't really want to play the unstable zero-sum insider game that is a Religio-Oligarch state.
Except, of course, for a handful of tech bros, hedge/venture fund and resource extraction billionaires who think their small world/plantation economics based wealth and "Gawd favored ME beliefs means they're the superhumans who are supposed to run the world in their image.
If they succeed, human civilization is pretty much hosed. There is no spaceship, sea villa, or remote island that can sustain them the generations needed to recover from their egos.

Haele

[Dan]

35. As someone said

When seeking retribution/revenge against someone, dig two graves.

[-misanthroptimist]

9. Yes, take care of yourselves

I'm older and have lived a life that is, frankly, unbelievable. For me, what happens happens. I'm not worried in the slightest. If I go out opposing tyranny in my own country, that will just be the pinnacle of my existence on this rock. And no matter what happens to me...I won. I'll go out with my integrity in tact and the knowledge that they stand for nothing -and deep down they know it. So they lose the moment they persecute or prosecute me or anyone like me. They are conceding fear and weakness.

PS - That doesn't mean I won't put up a fight, possibly a very good one.

[Norbert]

10. I'm thinking about burying a gun.

Anyone who knows me would think this as totally out of character for me.

[spooky3]

27. Ditto nt

[edisdead]

32. yep.

[global1]

33. Burying Or Buying?.......

How soon will the Dictator begin to confiscate the guns?

He can't chance the fact that they can be turned against him.

I always said - if anyone is going to confiscate guns here in the country - it will be the Repugs.

Maybe - burying the gun is the way to go - so they can't find it to confiscate it!!!

[dobleremolque]

40. Of course it'll be the Republicans who confiscate guns ....

"All tyrannies rule through fraud and force, but once the fraud is exposed, they must rely exclusively on force."
George Orwell

You can't have a bunch of people who own their guns to defend against imagined tyranny, once they realize they've been duped and are subjugated by the real thing.

[Kaleva]

58. What good will that do you?

I don't picture you as someone who is willing to put in the hours and hours of practice and training in order to become reasonably proficient in the use of a gun for self defense. And the practice never ends.

There's also the need to develop your situational skills.

I have a revolver and CPL. But since I'm not doing the training, the revolver is locked in a gun safe in the master bedroom and the ammo is locked in a metal ammo box down in the basement. It'll stay that way until the time I resume the training.

I had fallen down a flight of stairs and had my left shoulder replaced so I couldn't spend the hours on training every week. Even after I had recovered the use of my arm, I just didn't have the desire to resume the training.

[Blue Full Moon]

12. 2016 Hack

I suspect that will happen again. First to stop as a great site for discussion of liberal and progressive ideas. Second was to get all of our info not necessarily financial. I do think that they target democrats with high credit rates, deny promotions, thousand paper cuts, because if they hurt us financially then we won't be able to donate as much and weakening us as a whole. The job I used to have is an example they would not move any democrats into supervision or management and would say things democrats can't be in charge they can't manage. By the way this is a government contractor. To have the job you have to have a security clearance. They can make you lose your job by pulling security clearances over financial. I have seen people who have done way less than tfg before he became president, done this way. Had the person over security tell me that giving a security clearance to a democrat was dangerous because not a true American.

[bluestarone]

13. IF it comes to THAT, just remember

Each of us should take two of them with us

[TheRealNorth]

50. Churchill had some ideas....

When it came to resistance if the Nazi's had been able to carry off a successful invasion of England.

[Marcus IM]

15. The only thing we have to fear is fear itself.

Take it to heart.

Think of all the brave souls who stood up against fascism and won.

I come from such a place where rw death squads ruled brutally.

Then, some young well educated and fearless liberals started an uprising leading to a revolution that kicked the bastards out.

That was 1/2 generation before me.

I respect my elders who did that.

Viva Cuba hasta la eternidad!

[dwayneb]

16. Turned out as I always thought it would

I saw where this was going 50 years ago. Fascism and authoritarianism has always been waiting in the wings to take down our democracy, we simply didn't build enough safeguards into our Constitution.

But what I didn't anticipate was the emergence of information technology and "AI". With these weapons a fascist leader can indeed have total control over our populace.

If trump is elected, it won't happen immediately. There is no doubt that MAGA will do everything in their power to ensure that our free and fair election system is corrupted, and once that is accomplished they will move to shutting down any anti-Fascist free speech wherever and whenever it occurs.

[dobleremolque]

43. It might happen faster than we can imagine.....

"'Coordination' occurred with astonishing speed, even in sectors of life not directly targeted by specific laws, as Germans willingly placed themselves under the sway of Nazi rule, a phenomenon that became known as Selbtsgleichschaltung, or 'self-coordination.' Change came to Germany so quickly and across such a wide front that German citizens who left the country for business or travel returned to find everything around them altered, as if they were characters in a horror movie who come back to find that people who once were their friends, clients, patients, and customers have become different in ways hard to discern."

Erick Larsen, In the Garden of Beasts.

[Kaleva]

57. Somebody already has a record of what you posted

And once something is on the internet, it's there forever.

If you were worried about this, you should have stopped posting long ago.

[Blue Full Moon]

20. From team Biden

🚨 Breaking News from Team-Biden Harris 🚨

The Supreme Court just granted Donald Trump unprecedented immunity from prosecution.

Simply put, if Trump wins again, he has the green light to carry out his plans of revenge and retribution.

Look, we hate to put this thought through your head, but this is not hyperbole.

[shrike3]

21. There are 326 million people in this country.

They would definitely go after the high profile people first. That's a given. But killing people because they post on DU? That's a stretch.

[róisín_dubh]

22. I don't think they meant specifically because of posts on DU

But, think about Latin America from the 1950s through the 1990s. Who were the people who were purged? Leftists, teachers, doctors, aid workers, activists, union leaders. The helpers. People like the very folks who post here. SO while the act of posting here might not draw attention, the lives DUers lead will
For a beautifully horrifying idea, watch Nostalgia for the Light. It's grim but beautiful. And it paints a very devastating picture of what could await; and if TSF is elected, we could only hope to end up like Chile and not Guatemala...

[sop]

23. 'What the Far Right Fascination With Pinochet's Death Squads Should Tell Us'

"When Trumpists use images of the 'Hoppean Snake,' offering 'free helicopter rides,' they’re advocating a program of extermination."

"AMONG THE PANOPLY of bizarre memes that far-right extremists flash at Trump rallies and share obsessively online, one of the more disturbing for its frightening historical reference is that of the 'Hoppean Snake.' The image typically consists of a coiled serpent sporting the officer’s cap of notorious Chilean Gen. Augusto Pinochet. In the background fly childlike depictions of helicopters from which stick figures are jettisoned to their death, crying 'Aaaahhh' in a barely legible scrawl. In one of its many variants, the snake-as-Pinochet proclaims with a sardonic smirk, 'I’m evil for throwing people out of helicopters? False. Commies aren’t people.' It’s unclear why Pinochet is depicted as a snake, though it may be inspired by the recalcitrant snake on the Gadsden flag that warns 'Don’t Tread on Me.'"

https://theintercept.com/2021/02/04/pinochet-far-right-hoppean-snake/

[shrike3]

30. I get that. But they'll go after the high profile people first.

It will impact the lives of the types people you mentioned first. After that, they'll make decisions as to who are the most dangerous and go from there.

[róisín_dubh]

46. Well fortunately I don't...

Have to sit around to find out. I don’t live in the US anymore.
I have written expert testimony use by immigration lawyers to help Mexicans and Central Americans to get asylum in the US. My testimony has been used by hundreds of lawyers in immigration courts throughout the country. I can’t imagine Trump or his goons would find me very useful.
In Guatemala, they didn’t really go after high profile people first. They just obliterated villages of peasants and picked teachers, doctors and lawyers off the streets every day. And the rest of the country simply looked the other way

[shrike3]

48. I tend to take Trump and company at their word.

They always tell us what they're going to do. They're going after Trump's enemies, and millions of migrants they've vowed to deport beginning day one. That'll take a while.

[Ishoutandscream2]

24. I agree

If they do start going after the “little people”, it will probably take a while at least. There are many more important people and organizations to take care of first.

[shrike3]

31. Yes, that's how I see it. They'll want the big fish first. It would take a while to get to the little people.

[Dan]

38. If we, the people, allow someone like Trump

To go after our political leaders (D or R) and we do nothing except being glad that it is not us, then we have already lost.

The first day that they go after our political leaders is the first day that we should consider actions to defend democracy.

We must then have our French Revolution - and as a people, chop off the heads of those that would make us live in fear;

There is a document called the Constitution should we should just forget the words, the meaning and the intent? Yes, I do believe that there will be toadies that will do a Dictator desires, but I do believe that there are more of us that will not. Lots will die.

[shrike3]

39. They'll have a lot of people to go after first. Prominent people.

Most of us are not as important as we think we are. Am I optimistic for the Republic at this point? No. But I think it's dismantling will take time because there are a lot of priorities before us.

[Dan]

41. The point I was trying to make

And apparently failed - is, we are all in this together. There is no one more important nor less important. If they come for any they will come for all, we stand together.

[shrike3]

45. Ah. I misunderstood what you said. Definitely. We are all in this together.

We might be all that we have.

[ecstatic]

61. The problem is there would be half of us shouting from the rooftops

And the other half insisting that it's just a coincidence.

They might space things out in a way that makes it harder to track.

The way I see it, if one outspoken, high profile person dies, we should be on high alert. If a second one dies, that's it. It's happening. Take action.

[ecstatic]

59. They'd go after high profile people first, but

eventually, sites like DU would be banned. And anyone attempting to create or support a site like DU would be killed or jailed.

[shrike3]

60. This is a realistic prediction.

Definitely, DU and other sites would be shutdown.

[Emile]

26. If that's the case we need to get out the vote!

[Deep State Witch]

28. Exactly This

I've been saying this all along. I know that our admins will not comply with subpoenas for our identities. But, the government doesn't need admin cooperation. If the FBI wants our identities, they have ways of getting them.

[MineralMan]

34. Yeah, no.

I often get good ideas and advice here on DU - usually from long-time DUers I have learned to respect.

I'm not sure why I should listen to you. Frankly, I'm pretty sure that DU members won't be targeted by the Trump administration. Why would anyone bother, really?

[bdamomma]

36. I agree

he is out for Blood, he's a fucking SNAKE. And DU will be no more. This is our country not his.

[Hekate]

37. They'll have to bring Agent Mike out of retirement to monitor a new team of watchers...

We thought someone might be watching us during the BushCheney admin, so we called him Agent Mike.

As in Hi, Agent Mike! Hope all’s well at your end.

[Kaleva]

42. What is your plan?

If Trump wins?

I imagine it's well advanced and ready to implement the moment Trump is declared the winner. Assuming he does win

[LetMyPeopleVote]

44. I fear that you are correct

[musicblind]

47. I understand where you're coming from but

I'm more worried about high profile politicians and celebrities. I hope Democratic politicians have a "break glass in case of emergency" deal with the Canadian embassy.

I never thought there would be a time in my life where there was a non-zero chance of an American politician having to live in exile.

[honest.abe]

49. If Trump wins its going to be a US style version of Russia.

Any dissent will be squashed. Elections will be a sham. Rivals will be jailed.

[DBoon]

52. in 1950, J Edgar Hoover wanted mass incarceration of 10,000 people

Fortunately Harry Truman refused:

A newly declassified document shows that J. Edgar Hoover, the longtime director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, had a plan to suspend habeas corpus and imprison some 12,000 Americans he suspected of disloyalty.

Hoover sent his plan to the White House on July 7, 1950, 12 days after the Korean War began. It envisioned putting suspect Americans in military prisons.

Hoover wanted President Harry S. Truman to proclaim the mass arrests necessary to “protect the country against treason, espionage and sabotage.” The F.B.I would “apprehend all individuals potentially dangerous” to national security, Hoover’s proposal said. The arrests would be carried out under “a master warrant attached to a list of names” provided by the bureau.

The names were part of an index that Hoover had been compiling for years. “The index now contains approximately twelve thousand individuals, of which approximately ninety-seven per cent are citizens of the United States,” he wrote.

https://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/23/washington/23habeas.html

This has been tried before and was only stopped by the integrity of a Democratic president.

[Hotler]

54. Come get me mother fucker. And bring six friends with you.

Arm yourselves my friends. Even if you don't like firearms get one and stash it away. Our resistance movement may need all the guns we can get come a take over. If they take power gun sale will stop.

[jalan48]

62. Yes, and at that point we will truely become an "underground" site.