> Sometimes a nation needs a “fucking nightmare” before it can fully awaken to long-simmering crises.
> The US had to come to this point. We couldn’t go on as we were, even under Democratic presidents. For 40 years, a narrow economic elite has been siphoning off ever more wealth and power.
> Over the last 40 years, starting with Ronald Reagan, the US went off the rails: deregulation, privatization, free trade, wild gambling by Wall Street, union-busting, monopolization, record levels of inequality, stagnant wages for most, staggering wealth for a few, big money taking over our politics.
> The “fucking nightmare” is not over by any stretch. It’s likely to get worse in 2026 as Trump and his sycophants, and many of America’s “leaders”, realize 2026 may be their last unrestrained year to inflict damage and siphon off the spoils.
> But the nightmare has awakened much of the US to the truth about what has happened to this country – and what we must do to get it back on the track toward social justice, democracy and widespread prosperity.
mnorthwood13 on
Ngl I appreciate hopium but all I’ve gotten since 2015 is copium
CheekyMuffinss on
Gotta say tho, ain’t just a US thing bro. The whole damn world’s getting a reality check – it’s messy, it’s raw & it’s about damn time. Changes ain’t comfy, but man, we gotta hustle past the denial & see things as they really are. Strap in, y’all, this ain’t gonna be a smooth ride.
JohnWayneSpacy on
I fear that it is too late already
Trump and his cronies have backed up trucks to the US treasury and are trying hard to clear it out
At the same time the Heritage Foundation and the ChristoFascists are actively working to dismantle democracy and install themselves as perpetual overlords of the USA
While all this is going the USA is falling deeper into dept faster than it ever has before
Sensitive-Net-7111 on
[x] for doubt
No-Engineering-629 on
Who you gonna take away power from? The president? A political party? The whole government? The media? CEOs? Corporations? Big tech? Online bots?
Mikethebest78 on
brutus thou sleepest awake and see thyself
tomplatzofments on
I assumed from the title that this means they would mass deport third worlders and restore the nation
Unusual-Plantain8104 on
I don’t know about that…
I think the persistence of conservatism is one of the most remarkable phenomenons of my lifetime, and I don’t know if even Trump is enough to shake it off… I hope Robert Reich is correct, but we’ll see…
The remarkable thing about it is conservatism fails upwards. They always manage to convince people (at least just enough of them) that their failures are not really failures. And that next time, the promised conservative utopia will result from their perfect conservative policies. They have armies of paid liars on their side, of course… that helps. But the right has simply been more succesful in telling a compelling story: You work hard You keep the fruit of your labor. That is responsibility. Those sound like solid values.
Maybe it’s because the left is too meek…. not good enough at challenging it…. are you saying poor people don’t work hard? That is ridiculous; they are generally the most hard-working people of all…. but that doesn’t tell the kind of pleasant, neatly pre-parckaged story that conservatism tells. The American dream is ultimately a dream of excess, but people are really attached to it. And fast cars and get rich schemes through crypto, might be stupid, but it gets the adrenaline pumping. The left is seen as the evil scrooge that wants to take it away from them. And it’s not just rich people… poor people will vote conservatives as long as conservatism allows them to dream those dreams…. even if they are about as realistic as the idea of teaching a pigeon chess.
Conservatism is a scam, of course. But it’s an efficiently, tirelessly marketed scam, that reaches deep into people’s sense of identity. They are simply good at creating mythology. Progressives sound meek and boring besides that. I don’t mean to sound defeatist… just looking realistically at the cultural behemoth that we’re up against.
Will one disastrous presidency really finally be enough to defeat that whole mentality? In my experience, it works short term. When they are feeling the pain, right now… but the minute it lifts off, the dreams of excess start taking over again.
ContentSherbert934 on
been reading this headline for years
CBBuddha on
I want to believe
Any-Limit-7282 on
Is “waking up” the same as “being woke”? Because if so then this is a really awkward turn of phrase.
morbidmammoth on
I feel like I’ve read this headline 20+ times the last 10 years
RCP90sKid- on
I’ll get out my old Mueller corkboard and pin this one on there. All the old accounts still going? Eric Garland? Badd Compani? Mueller She Wrote?
pd9 on
I’ve read this exact headline multiple times before
kayliz331 on
There are so many people still saying that they support Trump I’m afraid we’re beyond hope
crisisactorsguild on
I am on the streets in a red city protesting at least once a week and fucking with ICE when possible and on balance I agree with the perspective in the article. It is not always dramatic but the tide has turned. Be of good cheer and double down.
cinciNattyLight on
2026 is gonna be a fucking nightmare.
easutherland on
Check out Russell Kirk (no relation to Charlie), who wrote “The Conservative Mind” back in the 50s. The greedy rich think they are special; and if the middle class is over 51% of the population, they are in danger of losing their specialness per Kirk. With Christian Nationalists and back as far as William F Buckley, this dictatorial takeover has been in the works. This is the true deep state. Chris Armitage is a beacon of hope for me. Check out his Substack and “Soft Secession.” States have more autonomy than I realized. The catch will be if the military follows the law or the chain of command (POTUS being the HMFIC). Historically it doesnt look good (think Kent State, 4 dead in Ohio; Mei Lai massacre; Venezuelan fishermen being bombed)
Solid_Listen_8056 on
Do 40% of Americans even know how to spell “waking up”?
CMG30 on
Disagree. America is NOT waking up. The same people who were against Trump and actually see the danger are just doing all they can do.
Desertnurse760 on
I have a subscription to [Newsmax.com](http://Newsmax.com) so you don’t have to. I mainly have it to keep tabs on MAGA land. They are doubling down hard over there. When they start saying the quiet parts out loud the moderators step in and silence them. So, Newsmax knows exactly what they are doing, but they are also trying to keep a leash on the monster they are, in part, responsible for creating. Go look at the front page and what they try to push as “news”. It doesn’t resemble reality in any way, shape, or form, and the people reading it are never going to admit they were conned.
Pristine-Degree-2254 on
I’ll believe it when there’s a new governmental structure in this country.
Until then, no. Americans haven’t woken up to shit. They will eventually, cause Bread and Circuses ain’t run out yet, but when they do…
Well, *then* they’ll wake up. But I doubt it will get to that point. I’m in the same boat.
I say this knowing I won’t start the revolution. I won’t be the big name remembered as the man who saved America. No shit. I’m just comfortable enough to not starve.
If that goes away for myself and many others? That will change.
chastavez on
We’re ready for FDR policies again
everything_is_bad on
It’s comical he starts with the civil rights movement while not understanding that it is still racism that is behind what is happening right now.
MemeStarNation on
This would make a lot of sense. Most major change (for better and for worse) happens after catastrophe- FDR got his New Deal due to the Depression, and Bush got his military security state after 9/11.
In other words, we’ve got a once in a generation chance to actually systemically change things here. Let’s not waste it on just rebuilding what we had before. Keep that in mind when you cast your vote in the 2028 primaries.
26 Comments
> Sometimes a nation needs a “fucking nightmare” before it can fully awaken to long-simmering crises.
> The US had to come to this point. We couldn’t go on as we were, even under Democratic presidents. For 40 years, a narrow economic elite has been siphoning off ever more wealth and power.
> Over the last 40 years, starting with Ronald Reagan, the US went off the rails: deregulation, privatization, free trade, wild gambling by Wall Street, union-busting, monopolization, record levels of inequality, stagnant wages for most, staggering wealth for a few, big money taking over our politics.
> The “fucking nightmare” is not over by any stretch. It’s likely to get worse in 2026 as Trump and his sycophants, and many of America’s “leaders”, realize 2026 may be their last unrestrained year to inflict damage and siphon off the spoils.
> But the nightmare has awakened much of the US to the truth about what has happened to this country – and what we must do to get it back on the track toward social justice, democracy and widespread prosperity.
Ngl I appreciate hopium but all I’ve gotten since 2015 is copium
Gotta say tho, ain’t just a US thing bro. The whole damn world’s getting a reality check – it’s messy, it’s raw & it’s about damn time. Changes ain’t comfy, but man, we gotta hustle past the denial & see things as they really are. Strap in, y’all, this ain’t gonna be a smooth ride.
I fear that it is too late already
Trump and his cronies have backed up trucks to the US treasury and are trying hard to clear it out
At the same time the Heritage Foundation and the ChristoFascists are actively working to dismantle democracy and install themselves as perpetual overlords of the USA
While all this is going the USA is falling deeper into dept faster than it ever has before
[x] for doubt
Who you gonna take away power from? The president? A political party? The whole government? The media? CEOs? Corporations? Big tech? Online bots?
brutus thou sleepest awake and see thyself
I assumed from the title that this means they would mass deport third worlders and restore the nation
I don’t know about that…
I think the persistence of conservatism is one of the most remarkable phenomenons of my lifetime, and I don’t know if even Trump is enough to shake it off… I hope Robert Reich is correct, but we’ll see…
The remarkable thing about it is conservatism fails upwards. They always manage to convince people (at least just enough of them) that their failures are not really failures. And that next time, the promised conservative utopia will result from their perfect conservative policies. They have armies of paid liars on their side, of course… that helps. But the right has simply been more succesful in telling a compelling story: You work hard You keep the fruit of your labor. That is responsibility. Those sound like solid values.
Maybe it’s because the left is too meek…. not good enough at challenging it…. are you saying poor people don’t work hard? That is ridiculous; they are generally the most hard-working people of all…. but that doesn’t tell the kind of pleasant, neatly pre-parckaged story that conservatism tells. The American dream is ultimately a dream of excess, but people are really attached to it. And fast cars and get rich schemes through crypto, might be stupid, but it gets the adrenaline pumping. The left is seen as the evil scrooge that wants to take it away from them. And it’s not just rich people… poor people will vote conservatives as long as conservatism allows them to dream those dreams…. even if they are about as realistic as the idea of teaching a pigeon chess.
Conservatism is a scam, of course. But it’s an efficiently, tirelessly marketed scam, that reaches deep into people’s sense of identity. They are simply good at creating mythology. Progressives sound meek and boring besides that. I don’t mean to sound defeatist… just looking realistically at the cultural behemoth that we’re up against.
Will one disastrous presidency really finally be enough to defeat that whole mentality? In my experience, it works short term. When they are feeling the pain, right now… but the minute it lifts off, the dreams of excess start taking over again.
been reading this headline for years
I want to believe
Is “waking up” the same as “being woke”? Because if so then this is a really awkward turn of phrase.
I feel like I’ve read this headline 20+ times the last 10 years
I’ll get out my old Mueller corkboard and pin this one on there. All the old accounts still going? Eric Garland? Badd Compani? Mueller She Wrote?
I’ve read this exact headline multiple times before
There are so many people still saying that they support Trump I’m afraid we’re beyond hope
I am on the streets in a red city protesting at least once a week and fucking with ICE when possible and on balance I agree with the perspective in the article. It is not always dramatic but the tide has turned. Be of good cheer and double down.
2026 is gonna be a fucking nightmare.
Check out Russell Kirk (no relation to Charlie), who wrote “The Conservative Mind” back in the 50s. The greedy rich think they are special; and if the middle class is over 51% of the population, they are in danger of losing their specialness per Kirk. With Christian Nationalists and back as far as William F Buckley, this dictatorial takeover has been in the works. This is the true deep state. Chris Armitage is a beacon of hope for me. Check out his Substack and “Soft Secession.” States have more autonomy than I realized. The catch will be if the military follows the law or the chain of command (POTUS being the HMFIC). Historically it doesnt look good (think Kent State, 4 dead in Ohio; Mei Lai massacre; Venezuelan fishermen being bombed)
Do 40% of Americans even know how to spell “waking up”?
Disagree. America is NOT waking up. The same people who were against Trump and actually see the danger are just doing all they can do.
I have a subscription to [Newsmax.com](http://Newsmax.com) so you don’t have to. I mainly have it to keep tabs on MAGA land. They are doubling down hard over there. When they start saying the quiet parts out loud the moderators step in and silence them. So, Newsmax knows exactly what they are doing, but they are also trying to keep a leash on the monster they are, in part, responsible for creating. Go look at the front page and what they try to push as “news”. It doesn’t resemble reality in any way, shape, or form, and the people reading it are never going to admit they were conned.
I’ll believe it when there’s a new governmental structure in this country.
Until then, no. Americans haven’t woken up to shit. They will eventually, cause Bread and Circuses ain’t run out yet, but when they do…
Well, *then* they’ll wake up. But I doubt it will get to that point. I’m in the same boat.
I say this knowing I won’t start the revolution. I won’t be the big name remembered as the man who saved America. No shit. I’m just comfortable enough to not starve.
If that goes away for myself and many others? That will change.
We’re ready for FDR policies again
It’s comical he starts with the civil rights movement while not understanding that it is still racism that is behind what is happening right now.
This would make a lot of sense. Most major change (for better and for worse) happens after catastrophe- FDR got his New Deal due to the Depression, and Bush got his military security state after 9/11.
In other words, we’ve got a once in a generation chance to actually systemically change things here. Let’s not waste it on just rebuilding what we had before. Keep that in mind when you cast your vote in the 2028 primaries.