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Genuinely worried about the US right now.
How can this be happening in America, of all places?
I know there's a huge gun culture, and I get that the police are pretty militarised so heavy handed treatment of protesters is not such a big surprise (though the degree of it has been kind of shocking) - but this?
All those people who support Trump, waving their MAGA hats and protesting their democratic freedom to not wear a mask - where the fuck are you on this?
The many times i have had arguments on here with people on the extreme end of the Republican side and been told that the US approach to gun ownership and absolute defence of the right to free expression and STATE's rights against the federal gubmint make fascism impossible in America.
So where are you now? Can you support a president who sends federal officers, in full military kit to bundle protestors into unmarked cars, without due process and against the wishes of the individual state government - just because the people they're targeting are a different political stripe?
In America?
For all I have grown in cynicism as an adult, I grew up on Superman and Rocky, in a world wholly infused with American soft power - at a deep level, I still think of America as the bastion of modern democratic values - albeit somewhat faded.
When Trump became president I was horrified and thought he would be disastrous - but I also thought the worst of his excesses would be ameliorated by the system he has to operate within. Most presidents (whatever party) are prevented from doing much in terms of radical change or action.
I was clearly very wrong.
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