No matter who wins the election in 2024 Trump has poisoned

[doc03]

the outcome for either side. If the Democrat wins the Republicans already think we had to cheat that is a given.
If the Republicans win by gerrymandering and state legislatures overturning the people's will how will Democrats ever
win again? If we can't get any voting rights passed because of the filibuster, the SCOTUS or DOJ do nothing how will
we ever have another Democrat elected president without a civil war? If there is a civil war it will be the Democrats
that are labeled as traitors not the real traitors the Republicans. If you think about it it is frightening. I will be OK I will be
76 years old then. I am thinking about the younger generations that will live in a Putin like dictatorship.

[Drunken Irishman]

1. Meh DU specifically hasn't accepted a Republican win in decades.

In the 2000s, it was all about how Bush stole both elections and the Republicans would steal it again in 2008 - then in 2012 and finally, stole it once more in 2016.

Not saying we shouldn't be vigilant and fight like hell for election integrity, but let's not pretend the left has accepted losses. They haven't. Hell, just Google Diabold and see how many were convinced elections were stolen in the past.

The well has been poisoned for years. Trump was just the first mainstream candidate to finally exploit the poisoned water - something many on the left wished Gore, Kerry and Hillary would have done. Look it up. Lots of angry people over their conceding and lack of fighting for recounts and looking into voter machine irregularities.

[Freddie]

2. 2004 was a legitimate R win

Painful as is was. Bush won the popular vote but we came very close to an EC win but for a few votes in Ohio. And yes, if we’d won that way it would have been just as wrong as 2016.

[Drunken Irishman]

5. Agreed. But still a lot of people think it was stolen.

[doc03]

3. I think it is far far worse than back in 2008 we had Gore that accepted the loss. I don't think

the election was stolen in 2016. Republicans no longer will accept defeat. If they manage to
have have state legislatures overturn the vote and election officials control who votes and who counts them
how do you win? Back when GWB was president their was speculation here on DU that he
would refuse to leave office but not on any serious main stream media. Today it is not just people on DU
talking about Republicans stealing the next election it is pretty much all the MSM except for Fox, OAN and
Newsmax. There are even some Republicans that are warning us what is to come.
I take the stuff I read on DU with a grain of salt. We had GWB on cocaine, refusing to leave office, called it the Bush crime family and so on. Now we have historians, journalists that witness authoritarian takeovers main stream journalists all warning us. I think things are far worse than a few years ago.

[Drunken Irishman]

6. I think Republicans will accept defeat.

Because for the most part, they have. Even Larry Elder, who spoke of fraud and the Democrats stealing it, eventually accepted he lost.

Trump? He won't. But the GOP also realizes how Trump may have torpedoed his chances in 2024 by his constant focus on claiming fraud. I think Trump really damaged himself.

If you're a DeSantis or someone hoping to have a political future, refusing to accept defeat could be the end of any political future.

But who knows? I am concerned about the gerrymandering and voting limitations. But I also know it remains a turnout game and Republicans convincing their supporters the Democrats are going to steal the election again could really hurt their turnout.

[ForgedCrank]

4. I look back over the last 20-something years

and the thing that stands out most to me is the rise of "shock media". The introduction of what we now refer to as social media has supercharged this phenomena.
I believe this is the driver for all of the extremism and hyperbole. What used to be news outlets took notice of Jerry Springer and his success (just one example). People seem to want outrage and conflict, and most of those old news channels have converted or morphed into what is more of a hybrid thing that looks like a combination of Howard Stern and National Enquirer.
I see the reaction from people when I read the more vile sources such as Twitter and Facebook. It's rather disappointing to see how many people have not only fallen into this trap, but go so far as to disseminate this sort of information. All these news outlets are really bound by now is saying pretty much anything they want, true or not, and sprinkling it with "anonymous sources tell us that", and "allegedly", then boom, it goes public. Most people will look at it and think, wait a second, that sounds fishy, but there are also a lot of people who will read the headline only, which is mostly full of shit, and then start blasting the message on Twitter. And if you try to point out the errors, you will get attacked relentlessly for your efforts.
Donald Trump was just the first politician to latch onto this and use it to his advantage, or at the very least, was the first to take it to this crazy level.
For some reason, there's a large segment who get pleasure from watching gladiators and train wrecks. I'm not one of them, but there sure are a lot of people who are. The big lie is just one episode of a never-ending flood of this, and it's because of the windfall of cash it brings to media companies.
Until we all start rejecting this as a nation, I don't believe things will ever return to normal levels of civility.

[Demented Avenger]

7. A dying democracy

It’s so sad to think that our democracy is coming to an end. I’m 63 and I never dreamed it would ever come to this. What happened on January 6th was just the beginning. Far right Republicans have all the excuses they need to justify violence and subversion to overturn the will of the people. A recent poll showed that about 68% of all republicans believe that Biden is an illegitimate president in an election that was stolen from them. In their minds this justifies violence. If we don’t take steps now to correct this, our democracy will cease to exist and we will live in a fascist country. Identifying and jailing dissidents (democrats) would be next. I really believe this isn’t hyperbole. It really could happen. I’ve never been more afraid for my country. I said it the night Trump was elected and I am still afraid. I live in a firm red state and I am not sure what I will do if all this comes to pass. Asylum in another country might be the only answer. I pray that I am wrong, but I believe it could happen