It sadly took the needless COVID deaths of tens of thousands of Americans to defeat Trump...

[Silent3]

...in the 2020 election.

While Trump lost by many millions of votes, the insanity of Electoral College system means that defeat of Trump hinged on far fewer votes. Without anger over the mishandling COVID, I'm fairly certain that all of the other reasons to despise Trump probably would not have been enough to supply the needed margin of victory for Biden.

I wonder now if another sad irony has begun.

Might it be the needless deaths of thousands of innocent Ukrainians that breaks the stranglehold of Trumpism over the Republican party? Or if that stranglehold is not released, will this tragedy finally reveal Republican ties to Putin to still-blinded Americans, so they finally see the authoritarian threat of Trump and the Republicans for what it is?

[musclecar6]

1. All

That Orange jackass had to do was to come out strongly for wearing masks and doing all the sane health procedures for everybody to comply with and him wearing a mask and be a leader and he would’ve gotten re-elected without any problem. Fortunately for us, he went in the complete opposite direction saying it was all a hoax yada yada and as a result he lost. Otherwise we would have a modern day Hitler wreaking havoc on us and it would be so bad it’s hard to imagine.

I think it’s highly likely somebody in the administration with a brain must’ve told him that the right way to go was by embracing all the fauci recommended steps. Good thing the scheming conniver didn’t listen and fucked himself. It seems like the only thing that saved us is his limitless stupidity

[Silent3]

3. Unfortunately all that death bought us only a reprieve from Trump and Trumpism

The Republican authoritarian power grab was only wounded and temporarily thwarted, not defeated.

Many Americans are yielding to the memory-hole effect, treating the Republican party as a perfectly reasonable electoral alternative if gas prices are too high and they're stupid enough to think Republicans can fix that. Many are more concerned about "woke culture" and other phony issues like CRT than voting rights and the future of democracy in America.

With our own sell-outs like Manchin and Sinema, we haven't been able to help fight voter suppression as hard as we need to, and haven't been able to enact programs that would help win the favor of voters who think no further than their own immediate short-term financial benefit.

So if find myself wondering yet again if winning against Republicans will come only with a huge price paid in blood, this time in the form of needless death in Ukraine.

[Claustrum]

2. I still think Trump could (could not will) win if he runs in 2024.

It still saddens me that Trump isn't getting the blowback that he should for saying and doing the stupid things he did. If it were 10 or 20 years ago, praising and siding with Putin would have been a death nail to anyone with any political ambition. Not only is close to no one in the republican side calling him out on his BS. They are in on it. I keep wishing the cooler heads in the US will see through Trump but I am still waiting. Maybe this might be it but I am not seeing it yet.

[Silent3]

4. I agree Trump could win in 2024

Trump can be greatly reviled and still win because all that has to happen is for people to hate Biden more than Trump, or blame, as they often do, the current President for whatever makes them unhappy in their lives without any really intelligent thought beyond "let's try something different" when it comes to the alternative they pick.