I think it's the nature of fascist politics that they seem easy to manipulate, eager to strike deals and not that savvy at negotiating them - but that's because they can and will break any deal at any time without hesitation, unbound by any sense of diplomacy or mutual obligation.

But kicking him out of office requires political will, and an opposition that refuses to treat him as legitimate. That means not funding his govt and approving his appointees, and it means not having polite meetings and photo ops with him either.

Trump is *lying,* dude. He's acting. It's his whole deal.

I mean, I don't particularly think I'm looking down on anybody. But hey, I appreciate the polite responses, let's both log off now for our emotional well-being ^.^

I appreciate the respect and intentions... I'd also say, with respect, it's not meaningless. At least, the meeting itself isn't. I think it's pretty reasonable to be upset that Zohran would do this, after all we've been going through.

Amen to that!

That's a fair point. The person I'm actually upset with is Zohran, who I've put a lot of hope in, and it's easy to displace that onto the people celebrating what a brave and clever job he did, when I think we should be pushing him to be better. It just hurts to see him smiling next to that monster.

Don't you think there's some truth though to the idea that posting can get in the way of it happening? If we can't hold to the idea that it's bad to go shake hands with the fascist dictator, how are we ever going to get there?

Oh please. You don't know anything about me. I just don't have blind faith in politicians when I've watched them fail us so many times, and I want Zohran to be better than that, and I thought this meeting was stupid.

I would at least like people to understand that it is genuinely nauseating to see this murderer fawn over the man we've put so much hope in. I don't think it's unreasonable to feel that that's upsetting and depressing rather than fun or funny, you know?

As one of those people, I hope you're right. It's just that we've seen a lot of memes and had a lot of fun with this silly old man who's also a genocidal murderer, and here in IL we spent the last months in terror while our governor did nothing. I'll admit I should just put bluesky away for now lol

You can say the same for Senate Democrats funding the govt. You can say the same for Whitmer. "We have to keep Trump happy" was basically Cuomo's campaign slogan. I live in IL and I've seen what our oh-so-brave governor did when they came here - jack shit. We need leaders who stand up for us!!

Does he? And was it? We've seen so many governors and mayors go there and play along to keep the funds flowing to their state or city, and it's part of what's gotten us here. None of us are safe until Trump is defeated permanently, and I don't think shaking hands with the man is the way to do that.

I would've respected Mamdani's decision more if he'd refused the meeting, I'll say that much at least.