That’s part of the trouble, all that was going on, especially for the past 4 years, was outrage. No planning, or grass-roots organization, or cold determination to marginalize the deplorable/despicable followers of trump. No figuring out how to counter all the lies, no united front. I’ve been saying this for years now, outrage gets you exactly nothing, except maybe some fellow-feeling with the other outraged people. Which is useless.
Yes, we all saw that happening, and there was no counter-strategy. Democrats never seem to have a strategy, even when they mostly agree on the right direction to go. I always get the impression of people milling around with no clear idea of what to do next.
Like me. It is a reflection of reality. There is only so much any grass-roots movement (if we even had that) can do without effective leadership. Effective leadership we ain’t got.
edited to add: I wish to be clear that my angry tone is not at all directed towards Kolak. I quoted parts of his post because I found them the most relevant.
If done right (and on an ongoing base), this might pressure the TSLA shares downwards … and might trigger a sell-off (risk that has not been currently priced in).
Let’s face it, Tesla is highly vulnerable here - what consumer will break a picket line to shop for a 50k car?, if car-shopping is al about that special experience) … and cost him potentially billions
There’s a few things going on besides what people have already mentioned. One, he is attacking on so many fronts so fast, it is dizzying. Hard to know where to focus. Of course this was the intention.
Two, there is actually a lot going on, under the radar. I think we are all burnt out on marching for no gain. We’ve been turning out by the millions for a decade or more and it doesn’t seem to have helped anything at all. But in my area, there’s plenty of stuff happening. Churches have filed lawsuits against being invaded by ICE. They, and schools, are at the forefront of that fight. There are also plans to protect trans etc. folks; in MA there are state laws guaranteeing them rights, including medical care, so it will take some while for the bigots to gnaw their way through.
Three, a lot of trumpenmusk directives are being stalled in the courts, or almost immediately reversed (tariffs). Many of the things reported in the newspapers are just stunts, it’s hard to know which of them will prove serious threats and which will just die.
So it is confusing, like being in a hurricane, and people are not able to figure out what is important, what isn’t, and what is just flat out lying.
Americans are really stupid and don’t understand what has happened, most of them support it. Americans are also a defeated people: they toil, sit in traffic, eat to excess and die; that’s about it.
same was said about purchasing fur coats … before they got socially stigmatized.
And just like fur coats, premium (priced) cars are “social consumption”, used for signaling especially in the USofA … there are plenty of other options to spend your hard earned $$$.
IMO, It just needs fewer than 20-30 well documented instances (to make the news) like this one in Vienna - a couple of years ago, to really make a dent in Tesla sales.
So there IS a huge leverage which would allow a committed evildoer to knock off a couple of dozen billions of Elon’s fortune … not proposing, just saying …
I notice that our local fur retailer is now, for the first time in years, running ads on TV. They aren’t a bit shy about showing off mink and sable by name.
This is exactly what I was thinking. I can’t wait to tell my MAGA mother the hold on NIH funds is jeopardizing a cancer program my wife was taking part in. My MAGA sister, who had planned on applying for a remote federal job, was pretty quick to excuse Trump’s actions even though they hurt her. That’s what MAGA does. They ignore inconvenient truths even when they’re the ones getting hurt. They’ve already established things like democracy and rule of law aren’t concerns. They simply want to watch the world burn.
As noted upthread. Most of the US is experiencing less than protest friendly weather. And perhaps a lot of people think performative protests (Pussy Hat March on Washington the first time around) don’t do much.
The shock and awe tactics have worked to a certain extent. Few, if any of us, thought it would be this bad. It’s a slow moving social media age coup. And a full blown constitutional crisis, but a lot of people haven’t figured this out yet. I guess it will take a few more rounds before a judge actually holds trump and white house minions in contempt and refusal to follow the rulings, or maybe until it reaches the Supremes.
The 4th Estate is dead. There is no effective media check such as existed pre-internet/social media. Faux and Breitbart are close to 100% propaganda pieces and not “news”. Pretty much left with NY Times as the only traditional investigative news outlet, and I will concede they sure didn’t call out the pure inanity of trump, guilty of whataboutism and probably in part helped cover up Biden’s decline (and didn’t call out trumps cognitive decline at the same time). The wire services typically are straight reporting and don’t do investigative reporting.
The Federal workforce that’s starting to suffer these Broligarch style lay-offs have no experience with lay-offs. It’s easy to justify to yourself why your job matters, no way you could get laid off, etc. Get laid off a couple times in the private sector and you lose that “confidence.” Most federal workers haven’t faced that, and thus don’t realize they are on the firing lines. And those 200k that took the resign buy-out, have a non-zero chance that the Musk IOU is worthless, congress won’t fund it, and trump will steal it if they do.
Prolly the rank and file maga are going to have to feel the “unintended consequences” of trump and musk. Already family farmers appear to be f**ked as the “spending free on hold” isn’t really on hold, and their contracts become worthless.
The masses have to experience leopards eating my face (instead of just the woke enemies of the State) before meaningful civil resistance.
I tend to be quite dubious about “marches.” Sure, the million man march was significant, but what did all those pussy hat wearers accomplish?
Others upthread have expressed my thoughts well. The attacks seem so many and so diverse - yet, as of yet, pretty “nebulous.” Other than the govt/govt-related folk who have lost their jobs/funding, the vast majority of folks’ day-to-day lives are unaffected - other than rising food costs.
Moreover - the attacks have been very rapid. And the result of years of preparation It is hard for any organized response to be equally rapid. As it is, folk/institutions have responded w/in American parameters - through the courts and appealing to their representatives. The courts take time - and who knows how they will rule and if the admin will defer. With the controlling 1/2 of elected officials kissing Trump’s ass, it seems of limited utility to appeal to a D rep. I suspect they are working quite hard, and KNOW their constituents’ views. And I do not know what effect appealing to R officials will accomplish.
Many of the folk most directly affected so far are the most vulnerable, who might fear public action/statements. Or relatively well off folk - say doctors/researchers losing funding. Many of them are wondering how to protect what they still have from future cuts/attacks. I’m not sure these folk are the likeliest population of prospective protesters.
Speaking for myself, one of the most frustrating aspects of this is how helpless I feel. Tell me what I can do, and what that might accomplish? Give $ to someone? That sure worked well WRT Harris! At the same time, I’m trying to avoid having angst over this completely take over my life/mind. As ugly as Trump’s admin is, dwelling on it seems likely to detract from the “good” that I can direct towards those I love.
I imagine some concerted efforts will become more evident when specific groups become more directly affected. I could imagine some efforts being directed towards Musk’s businesses as suggested above. But what is the encompassing, cohesive “message” to be protested? Ought we protest DEI? USAid? Expensive eggs? Because attacks have been launched on so many fronts, it is difficult for opposition to coalesce.
Because Americans go from zero (seemingly quiet) to bat$#it crazy (shooting things up) in a period of time that is both long and short.
Long = the quiet, slow simmer.
Short = very, very ugly.
Not yet, but soon.
Also, although there is a history of civil protest movements in the US, there is not a habit of generalized civil resistance. It has always been driven by a particular segment’s struggle over their particular issue at a particular point in history (youth at risk of draft in Vietnam; Black claims of civil rights in the face of Jim Crow; mine/auto workers; etc). The notion of the whole nation rising is not normative and the few times that has been claimed to have happened it has included a huge helping of propaganda-driven myth (Revolution, Civil War, WW2). There has never been, AFAIK, a true “general strike” in the USA. So an outside viewer is never going to see that sort of civil resistance.
I guess I could put this here. It’s the first I’ve heard of it. Buy nothing on this one particular day, especially from these particular companies? Well, I do that most days anyhow.
Yeah. One of my kids circulated that. He has been so upset that I guess I’m happy he found something - however meagre - to direct his attention to. Struck me as pretty maningless, tho, if everyone just does their shopping the day before/after. My wife’s immediate response, “That is my usual grocery shopping day.”
I’d think more meaningful would be efforts directed at Tesla. Or maybe the social media billionaires’ products. Would there be a way for folk to “disrupt” those platforms - either through specific use or non-use? (I’m such a light user of social media - beyond the Dope - that I don’t know what could be done. I also tend to suspect many folk are happy to do things - so long as they don’t REALLY inconvenience themselves…)
I’m a regular viewer of MSNBC, and if there were any anti-Trump street demonstrations going on, they’d be all over it, running it on a 24 hour loop. Needless to say, I haven’t seen anything like that.
Boycotting on a single day is not the least bit effective. Just like those calls to boycott buying gasoline on a certain day, supposedly to punish the oil companies. People will just buy the next day. The only boycotts that have ever been effective are sustained, and long lasting.
