I am a little bummed out over the FOMO (especially since my partner saw them in Britain last year) but I saw a total solar eclipse last year so I still have that going for me

This isn't even a self-loathing post this only happens once or twice a year and when it does it unfolds like an embarrassingly funny comedy bit

Right now, Trump is averaging at about 40%, which, while not exactly great, is still enough to have plenty of loyalists among the populace. However, with a looming recession (or even depression) and massive cuts to the little welfare we have, I doubt it's gonna stay this high for long.

I still think approval heavily matters in the context of contemporary dictatorships because you need *some* level of popular support to prop up your regime. Without that support, your country is a dry tinderbox that will be lit ablaze at the first spark of resistance

True, but when push comes to shove, will they be enough to stop a revolution or mutiny? The best case scenario for Trump using the military to stay in power is something akin to Bashar al-Assad doing the same, a civil war that devastates the country and inevitably losing said civil war.

Keep in mind Franco came to power following a civil war that completely devastated the country and was aligned with the US after WW2 due to being vehemently anti communist. Trump is near death, on the brink of an economic crisis, and doesn't even have majority approval, I doubt he'll last for long.

Oh I'm picturing someone way more left than Gavin lol, we're talking more along the lines of Mamdani

I've been saying for the past month or two that at this rate whatever admin comes next is gonna be run by a left wing version of Donald Trump, the same anger and disillusionment that allowed the populist far right to take over the GOP is gonna allow the populist left to take over the Dems