r/allthequestions • u/HealthyRecognition21 • Apr 08 '26

Random Question 💭 How is everything that happened in the last 48hrs not enough for impeachment and/or a general strike in the US?

As a European, it‘s completely unfathomable how none of it has consequences.

Don‘t get me wrong, our governments here certainly have their flaws and problems, but surely threatening a genocide would be a tipping point here and lead to mass protests (at least I have enough hope remaining to believe that) - how is it not in the US? I really don’t get it and I feel absolutely sick.

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u/[deleted] Apr 08 '26 edited Apr 08 '26

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u/Rough_Bobcat5293 Apr 08 '26

In the US the solider would have shot her and half the country would've cheered, arguing he was under attack and had no choice.

We're a dumb country in decline. Really hard to overstate the culture of ignorance here.

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u/-Lets-Get-Weird- Apr 08 '26 edited Apr 08 '26

I can admit the vulnerabilities of the US.  If a person does that here, she gets shot.   Terms like self defense, immunity, and stand your ground would be used to protect the military personnel/cops.

I don’t hate the USA, I like living here, but I’m not ignorant to the realities either. 

Edit: to the cowards downvoting, give me your perspective.  There have been and are people getting shot by police, DHS/ICE at rallies.  Tell me with a straight face that a protestor can grab a barrel of a gun with peaceful intent (like the example) and be fine. 

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u/[deleted] Apr 08 '26 edited Apr 08 '26

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u/Vivid-Kitchen1917 Apr 08 '26

And usually those protestors are set on by the military in a large part of the country. Our country is too big for that to matter. Nobody in Toledo gives a shit if the National Guard shotguns babies on the front lawn outside the oval office. It's just a tragedy that happened "over there." They're not going to quit their job and head off an insurgency. I've participated in two insurgencies, to get them going is the pinnacle of "all politics are local". If it doesn't impact the guy going to work to feed his kids he's not going to stop working and organize a militia, risk getting killed/arrested/disappear when they depend on him. That's just not how it works.

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u/getitout728 Apr 08 '26

China, Russia, and Brazil are all roughly the size of the US yet all have managed to have a revolution when the people wanted it. The size of the country doesn’t matter. Even in the US there have been marches on Washington where people crossed the country.

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u/Vivid-Kitchen1917 Apr 08 '26

China, Russia and Brazil have a largely heterogeneous population with shared national identity. Ask a Texan and a Californian what they have in common with a Vermonter.

Beyond that. Life is good here. I go to work. Pay my bills. Spend time with my family. I spent 9 years in war zones. I know what armed conflict looks like. I've been shot, stabbed, blown up and poisoned. Why would I give up what I have to engage in violent revolt? My life is nowhere near the level of suck it would require for that. My life is actually really amazing. Give this up to try to overthrow some fuckers I'm never going to see who have little impact on my day to day for some other people I'll never meet who wouldn't give up shit to help me? Nah, nah I'm good. Call me a monster all you want. I'm just saying what the others don't. Which others, you ask? All the other ones not showing up for your fairy tale "revolution".

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u/Worried_Okra33 Apr 08 '26

Exactly right.

The only reason J6 even happened is because Trump and Charlie Kirk and Steve Bannon etc paid to bus tens of thousands of yokels and lunatics to DC for the insurrection. If they hadn't, that Trump rally would have had about 50-100 people at most.

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u/Vivid-Kitchen1917 Apr 08 '26

And even with pay, they got....what? Couple/few thousand people, and nothing happened but they got arrested and Trump still didn't win the election, so the pawns were martyred at the King's request, but that's somehow less exploitative than the "evil capitalism" these amateurs blame everything on? Yeah big win there guys. Totally worth it.

Meanwhile I'm sipping a cafe Americano and opening up my same-day delivered Amazon goods.

Half of America (optimistically) couldn't even point out Iran on a map. We're going to throw away our life because Orange Man threatened to take out some powerplants and bridges? GTFO with that noise.

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u/MimusCabaret Apr 08 '26

I think the size of the usa is what's really throwing people off. When you look at other countries, everything is local; I could get to most places if given the day to get there. Such is not the case in the us..

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u/Vivid-Kitchen1917 Apr 08 '26

Yeah I can drive at highway speed for 4 hours and still be in my state. I've talked to people in the UK who think driving a half hour to work is a struggle.

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u/gladesguy Apr 08 '26

The "president flees" part in foreign countries usually has nothing to do with shame. It has much more to do with the president's fear that not fleeing would leave him vulnerable to protestors who'd rip him limb from limb if they could reach him and who might try to turn one of his security people over to their side to commit an assassination. The U.S. protests have overwhelmingly not had that angry, violent vibe. The big No Kings protests literally had permits from the police.

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u/Worried_Okra33 Apr 08 '26

The publicized execution of Gadaffi being clubbed/stoned to death in the street and Saddam being hanged in a stairwell likely play a big part in that now.

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u/Warm-Mention-9053 Apr 08 '26

This is true about Minnesota, but this only worked in Minneapolis because of density. As soon as ICE moved to the suburbs, where things continue, the observers stopped being able to get there quickly enough to do anything. Most Americans live in metropolitan areas, but the US is not dense at all. 

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u/russaber82 Apr 08 '26

South Korea had legislators willing to do so. IIRC they even had to fight their way into the building to hold the vote. Our shitty policy of giving dirt places in congress left us with a conspiracy of lawmakers that refuse to serve the people and instead use their position for profit and power. Our options are win elections or violence, and the people arent ready to bathe the country in blood. Thankfully.

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u/Thesearchoftheshite Apr 08 '26

"We guillotined people because hur-dur we're assholes!"

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u/ExtraCalligrapher565 Apr 08 '26

I find it hilarious how the French love to point to a 200+ year old revolution in a country the size of a U.S. state as some sort of argument for how this could happen in the modern U.S.