allisthewave-hugo-web/content/posts/2024-11-19-leopard-meet-face/index.md

title	date	draft	tags	description
Leopard Meet Face	2024-11-19	true	economics life lifestyles justice equity freedom politics oppression resilience jesus mature-content-warning	I never thought leopards would eat MY face! sobs woman who voted for the Leopards Eating People's Faces Party.

Elections Have Consequences

Image by xiSerge from Pixabay

CONTENT WARNING: There's plenty of raw emotions and language some might find objectionable. If you cannot handle that, read no more

Hang in there with this message, I have a hopeful message here and I think it's well grounded in reality. Until we get there it's about to get brutal. For everyone. I never asked for this, but you did. Have fun getting what you wanted.

{{< figure src="/images/never-asked-for-this.jpg" title="I never asked for this" alt="I never asked for this" width="250" >}}

Let's start with a brief recap of what's happened and what will happen: Trump won the US election. He will be President on January 20th 2025. While we cannot predict exactly what he will do as president we can look to his campaign promises and last term as president as a prediction of what we might see, combined with some conditional changes in American Democracy, the electorate, and the man himself.

Policy Promises from Trump

1. Eliminate legal abortions and reproductive care
2. Repeal the Affordable Care Act
3. The Dollar will lose it's power and the USA will no longer be trusted in global politics
4. Dismantle the so called "Deep State" of career civil servants in Government
5. Dismantle the Department of Education
6. Dissolve Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security
7. A 10% to 60% tariff on all imported goods
8. A woefully inept and actively hurtful Department of Health and Human Services (will need to many disease outbreaks, and general poisoning of you)
9. Massive deportations of people that are deemed by the administration as illegal immigrants (your current personhood or citizenship status will likely not matter at all in this determination)
10. Tax cuts for only the super rich where they will be outright stealing from taxpayers' tax dollars and perhaps literally stealing from you as well
11. The news media will go from bad to worse and will likely be mostly dis and mis-information

Downstream effects of many of the above will include

1. Estimated 10%-50% price increases in all goods and services you buy including gas and groceries
2. Mass layoffs of government employees
3. Mass layoffs in companies
4. Massive shortages in workers for all jobs especially manual labor
5. Families being torn apart, people dying of preventable and treatable diseases
6. People getting more chronic and life threatening illnesses
7. More foreign wars we already couldn't afford

Surely They Won't Eat MY Face!?!

{{< figure src="/images/myface.png" title="I never thought Leopards would eat MY face" alt="I never thought Leopards would eat MY face" >}}

This meme refers to a sentiment that parodies people who regret voting for cruel and unjust politicians or policies, as in the case of Trump's first term in America or Brexit in the UK.

Fuck Around; Find Out

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Many MAGA people are freaking out right now because they are already seeing the social blowback of their rash decisions. Latino men that voted for the president-elect didn't realize that Trump said he would deport lots of illegal immigrants. And mark my words when I say it won't just be Latinos who are here illegally. Have you met a discerning bigot? Yeah me neither. They don't care, if you're brown, you're gone. You're VA benefits are about to go away. Prices on everything are about to go up. And sane, liberal, progressive or just normal humans that don't support Fascism aren't here for it. When the face eating Leopards come we're going to be too busy protecting ours and our own.

Paraphrased from a man in the video: "Liberals are only intolerant of one thing: Mind your own business and don't force your lifestyles and opinions to be the law for everyone. Or liberals are only intolerant of intolerant people."

Partners are intentionally cheating, divorcing, and even swearing off unrepentant MAGA people. The Korean trend of 4B is coming to the US in a big way. 4B is a cutlural politcal movement that comes from 4 verbs that in Korean begin with B but stand for: No dating, No Sex, No Pregnancy, and No Marriage. So men if you're looking to find women on dating apps or in person that were already difficult for the same reasons, then get ready for a lot of lonely nights with pornhub as your only partner. At least until that gets banned. I think what the kids are saying now is "Go fuck yourself."

So the rest of the country and world that aren't part of the MAGA cult are cutting out people that are not because who they voted for, but because they voted for that person because they are already toxic.

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It's too late to change your vote now. You might have voter's remorse and now you get to live your truth with the consequences of the shitty people you elected.

It's the devil's way now There is no way out You can scream and you can shout It is too late now Because

You have not been Paying attention Paying attention Paying attention

2 + 2 = 5 by Radiohead

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Damned if You Do; Damned if You Don't

I've often given Trump credit for being the perfect politician for this era because he literally promises anything and everything to everyone (equally sarcastically and earnestly as it's fully both). He's probably also dumb enough (or full of himself) to fully believe himself when he says it. So he's not lying to you. Or at least not in his own mind.

But when presented with realities, facts, evidence, most of these claims crumble as dust in the wind.

Part of my theory here, which is advised by many other political thinkers out there, is that Trump will either do one of two things with each of his policies and promises: fail to accomplish them, or accomplish them and enrage most Americans by doing them.

This time around he has surrounded himself with loyalists. A posse of yes men. They will all be 100% loyal, but they won't necessarily be competent. Nor is the man himself. He has seriously floated ideas that are as dumb as Mike Meyer's Dr. Evil character and had the same level of ability to achieve them.

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God money's not looking for the cure God money's not concerned about the sick among the pure God money, let's go dancing on the backs of the bruised God money's not one to choose

No, you can't take it, no you can't take it No, you can't take that away from me No, you can't take it, no you can't take it No, you can't take that away from me

Head like a hole, black as your soul I'd rather die than give you control Head like a hole, black as your soul I'd rather die than give you control

Bow down before the one you serve You're going to get what you deserve Bow down before the one you serve You're going to get what you deserve

Head like a Hole by Nine Inch Nails

Damned if You Don't

This section is less about what Trump will actually do because precisely the point is to think about what happens if he doesn't fulfill his promises or achieve his stated or implicit goals. So we'll focus more on why he's unable to accomplish those goals and what the implications are.

If there's something Trump's good at is marketing to people and conning them. If there's any virtue to him it's that he is comically inept. Things like trying to nuclear bomb a hurricane, putting shark with lasers on their head and alligators in a moat at the Southern border of the US. He's not nearly the brightest bulb in the Christmas tree.

Then there's his advisors: people like RFK Jr. who literally had a brain worm but actually has dumb and hurtful ideas like taking flouride out of tap water which has been proven to just give people teeth cavities. Or Matt Gaetz who stands credibly accused as a child sex trafficker is supposed to be the head of the Dept. of Justice? And then to make government more efficient he's appointing Vivek Ramaswamy and Elon Musk! Two more comical baffoons who's bravado and wealth inheritances along with one being the literal beneficiary of Apartheid exploitation are the only things that made them wealthy.

Okay so what happens if this nincompoop gang fails to accomplish any goals because they are too inept?

Backlash from their voters! Remember "Build the Wall" and "Make Mexico pay for it"? Yeah promises made, promises promptly ignored.

It's possible that happens this time, but it's also possible it doesn't. Because not only is Trump surrounded by "Yes men" he's got a Supreme Court, and both houses of Congress on his side.

Damned if you Do

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They lie when they say we matter Lies are a whole new chapter Smile when you reach your master Lookin' in the eye of the rapture They lie when they say we matter Some'd rather believe in a liar Pride in the hearts of believers While the city ignites on fire While your life hangs in the balance The innocent caught in the violence Silence everybody that ain't like us Devising words to divide us Fear in the heart of the millions One percent with their billions Savage politicians got the whole world ripe for the pickin'

All hail to the chief Who came in the name of a thief To cease peace (He be comin' around that mountain!)

Hail to the Chief by Prophets of Rage

Here's the real panoply of chaos. Let's say that Trump and his cabinet of chaos are actually successful at getting their way on issues. What's next?

What Comes Next?

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[King George] They say The price of my war's not a price that they're willing to pay Insane You cheat with the French, now I'm fighting with France and with Spain I'm so blue I thought that we'd made an arrangement When you went away You were mine to subdue Well, even despite our estrangement, I've got A small query for you:

What comes next? You've been freed Do you know how hard it is to lead?

You're on your own Awesome. Wow Do you have a clue what happens now?

Oceans rise Empires fall It's much harder when it's all your call

All alone, across the sea When your people say they hate you Don't come crawling back to me

You're on your own...

What Comes Next? by Lin-Manuel Miranda from Hamilton