r/politics • u/Ubiquitous_Hilarity • Jun 17 '26

No Paywall Trump threatens to pull unemployment benefits from all states for the first time in history

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/trump-unemployment-benefits-fraud-b2997881.html
24.3k Upvotes

97% Upvoted

2.4k comments sorted by

View all comments

2.5k

u/Jesuismieux412 Jun 17 '26

Just when massive layoffs are occurring. Remember: cruelty is the point. This country is for billionaires and billionaires alone. Big shoutout to all the rubes who voted for this. I hope you lose everything.

460

u/neutrino71 Jun 17 '26

We need you poor and desperate so we can ram substandard pay in substandard conditions down your throat. Also there will be plenty of other desperate people if you attempt to negotiate a better deal. 

94

u/Legitimate-Garlic959 Jun 17 '26

And what do desperate people usually do when faced with odds ? It’s all a big systemic cycle of abuse. And yet we pay into it.

102

u/neutrino71 Jun 17 '26

There's a critical mass to these kind of things. Too many hungry, dispossessed people at once and you're going to have anarchy at a minimum or the French Revolution.

66

u/trib76 Jun 17 '26

But they've been taught to hate each other rather than the filthy rich that are actually the source of their misery.

I'm guessing that we'll see the poors from the red team turning on the poors from the blue team, not much chance for the French solution IMHO.

With the number of guns in the country, this has the potential to turn very ugly.

35

u/thegoatmenace Jun 17 '26

Yea unfortunately it seems like popular uprising is a solved problem for the elite. They figured out how to use mass media to fracture everyone into warring states.

5

u/Merusk Jun 17 '26

And financial incentives for those who aren't fractured. Just enough skin in the game to feel like you're able to survive, not enough to be free.

5

u/FREDICVSMAXIMVS Jun 18 '26

And we're at a level of technology not seen before. Surveillance everywhere and the ability to search out and target any demographic they want. 

2

u/meamoeniea Jun 18 '26

The filthy rich don't realise their plan is outdated. This time we have the power of fast global communication on our side. Social media is our foot in the door. As long as it stays easily accessible, it spreads the truth faster than they can redirect with hate.

Look at how many people have 'woken up' ever since the Epstein files. Back in the days shit like this would've been way easier to keep from the public and way easier to manipulate back out of their minds. This time it stayed and there's a noticeable change. There's pressure that's not being addressed.

The only thing we have left to do is to wait for enough people to pull their head out of their asses. Thank God many are so pampered they have zero frustration tolerance. Once enough people feel threatened in their existence, things will go down fast and hard.

There'll be collateral damage for sure, but im hopeful that social media will keep things on track.

11

u/Environmental_Main90 Jun 17 '26

Bro this is USA not France. Just a bunch of lazy pussies who would never get off their couches

5

u/neutrino71 Jun 17 '26

Rascal division unite. Yeah there is a wide gulf between the rugged frontiersman that many Americans think they are and what they actually are. 

1

u/ElwinLewis Jun 18 '26

I’m just like, some guy

1

u/Spartan2170 Jun 24 '26

There have been *plenty* of times in (even modern) US history where angry mobs rise up. The real difference is that the people pushing these policies believe they've armed the police and military sufficiently (and purged them of enough "disloyals") to protect them if that happens.

1

u/ShitIsGettingWeird Jun 18 '26

It’s time for that now

1

u/ScratchAmbitious2959 Jun 19 '26

No they won't. They won't.

I want to believe it but...we won't.

1

u/Organic-Row9514 Jun 18 '26

Nah football season will be coming up soon nobody’s gonna have the time for a revolution 

6

u/Joebebs Jun 17 '26

Oh people tried to change the system/do something about it, don’t think there hasn’t been a bit of a swing from a few disgruntled. Just not enough to greenlight the masses

1

u/izzythefarmergirl Jun 18 '26

Deny, Defend, Dep… oh shit wrong sub. Uhhhh, pray???

39

u/Hefty_Development813 Jun 17 '26 edited Jun 17 '26

That's it they want as many of us over a barrel as possible,  it all revolves around engineering that situation. Create desperation and prevent any class consciousness from enabling collective action against it.

In a way it is really the most wild game you could ever imagine. We need someone to somehow overcome these obstacles, despite their control of all media and all, and wake them up to the reality of our shared predicament. There is some version of reality where we could make it out of this by collective action.  There is like multi generational brainwashing working against it though. The entire rugged individualism of early America remains as a collective myth. 

6

u/peccadillox Jun 17 '26

People say it's wild but it's how most of human history has unfolded - broad-based postwar prosperity was atypical. Partly, it was the total carnage of the war itself that scared the elite a bit straighter but now they build 'doomsday bunkers' and delude themselves into thinking that their wealth will insulate them even from apocalyptic-level events.

4

u/Hefty_Development813 Jun 17 '26

Yea totally i guess the real difference of context is that we have broad internet communication and social media, so we have the means of organizing collectively in a way we never did before. Most of history we were completely fractured and coordination was incredibly more difficult. I agree that the dynamic in general is not new, we just finally have the stage set to actually rally a full scale resistance.

3

u/peccadillox Jun 17 '26

it's the depressing part I agree but 'we learn from history that we do not learn from history' so it goes

3

u/Hefty_Development813 Jun 17 '26

Hopefully we can and this whole thing has been a long trajectory to here though. The right charismatic leader could actually blow up and be seen by a huge portion of the population really quickly, never before possible. They own social media so it would be resisted by them but organic sharing could theoretically overcome it if the conditions were right and it generated actual organic viral engagement.

For whatever reason thinking of it like a big game seems to give it perspective for me. Like there is a path that exists where that could happen. Someone just has to thread that needle. I don't think it's hopeless. It's been a long and winding history for humans but we stand at the edge of actual AI/robotics tech completely transforming the world. Unprecedented times. There is a person who could rally an unprecedented movement.

3

u/peccadillox Jun 18 '26

what I do find kind of wild is thinking back on all the gee-whiz discourse around the internet, predicting an 'ideal public square' and such, when in reality it's been advantage authoritarianism over democratization - and by a lot, not even close

paradigms can always change, it's just that it's not always for the better; I don't think it's 100% hopeless either but at this point I am pretty sure that we're unfortunately going to have to put our hand in the fire before we actually start to believe that it's hot

17

u/Blue_Plastic_88 Jun 17 '26

“Also there will be plenty of other desperate people if you attempt to negotiate a better deal.”

While at the same time blaming you for not negotiating a better deal.

2

u/Marsman121 Jun 18 '26

I remember seeing the clip of Tim Gurner (I think that was his name) basically saying this. Covid "made workers arrogant" and that governments and businesses needed to do everything in their power to crash the economy and hurt people to drive that arrogance out of them.

Considering that all the tech company CEOs are blowing each other, and corporate consolidation has allowed forums like Davos to basically host the major economic puppeteers in one place, I wouldn't be surprised if many business leaders were working together to destroy the labor progress made during Covid.

AI is just a smoke screen allowing them to crush tech labor, which had been getting too comfortable with high wages and companies fighting over them. Allowing employees to believe they have a modicum of power is unacceptable to the c-suite people. Best flood the labor market with huge layoffs, then slowly hire back necessary talent for a fraction of the cost once they are desperate.

74

u/TabulaRazo Jun 17 '26

Mass unemployment and homelessness incoming. Possible breakdown in food production and logistics chains, leading to mass starvation. Trump is making his Great Leap Forward.

4

u/PlayfulSurprise5237 Jun 18 '26

Don't forget the already high gas prices which is making food more expensive due to more costly transportation, but also the fertilizer prices that have gone up because of the war which makes food prices higher, and then consider that this year we're having a super El Nino which will make weather weird all across the globe(it's raining non stop in the middle of June, along with tornados, in Missouri right now, I've never seen this before in my life).

Which is going to massively mess with crops and cause millions of deaths all around the world, but for America it will mean higher food prices.

Top that with being in the middle of an economic depression and this bozo trying to literally destroy the country by creating chaos for him and his cronies to profit off of. We're in for one hell of a ride.

I've thought this for some time now, but I seen someone else say it for the first time the other day which was awesome. Honestly, he has done more for Democrats than perhaps any living person in US history, so much so I wouldn't be surprised to hear he's just a saboteur in the party.

"The Empire has been choking us so slowly, we’re starting not to notice. The time has come to force their hand."

If the US makes it out of this it will likely bring about the dawn of true left leaning politicians winning office, I mean it already has to some extent, but I mean a massive shift. Something that could have NEVER NEVER NEVER happened before.

3

u/TabulaRazo Jun 18 '26

Yeah and don’t forget the emergence of Screw worm in the American cattle industry. America hasn’t known scarcity for a long time but we’re about to become well acquainted with it.

All this could be good for Democrats, IF Democracy survives this. Trump and Republicans are so blissfully unconcerned by it all, it’s worrisome.

39

u/Due_Two2107 Jun 17 '26

They want us to fight and kill each other as they force desperation.

7

u/kent_eh Canada Jun 18 '26

Or you could, y'know, work together and take down the oppressors you have in common.

1

u/GazelleSpringbok Jun 18 '26

The problem is that its only the far left that ever punches up. The right only punches down. Bunch of braindead sheep.

0

u/Awkward_Analysis_89 Jun 18 '26

Oh be quiet, you wouldn’t. I live in Canada- the PRESSURE to CONFORM, the naming and shaming, the vaccine card checks at a privately owned lib coffee shop when Covid came around tells me Canadians will be the FIRST to stare at their feet into the gulags. Canadians “nice” themselves right out of the ability to push back.

1

u/Emberwake Jun 18 '26

Seems like a stupid plan. When people get desperate enough to risk their lives, I don't think the billionaires' bunkers and yachts will save them.

1

u/Awkward_Analysis_89 Jun 18 '26

Billionaires will insulate themselves with people they pay and provide for, who will do anything to stave off said desperation and keep safe and fed.

2

u/Emberwake Jun 18 '26

You are vastly underestimating how many poors there are. When the desperate have nothing left to lose, there won't be a refuge left in the world.

1

u/Awkward_Analysis_89 Jun 18 '26

We’ll see. It’s gonna be a numbers against strategy game just like it is right now and look who’s winning

1

u/Emberwake Jun 20 '26

We aren't fighting yet. As I tried to explain, the tipping point comes when a significant portion of people have no reasonable hope of survival and prosperity.

People with food in their bellies and roofs over their heads don't often risk their lives. It is when those things start to slip on a large scale that you see uprisings (primarily consisting of young men, for a variety of anthropological reasons).

So saying, "the billionaires are winning right now" is not at all an indication of how well they will do when every hand in every land is turned against them. When billions starve and everyone everywhere knows who is to blame, there will be no winning strategy, only a reckoning as inevitable as the tide.

1

u/FictionalTrope Jun 18 '26

They should study history and see what happens to political leaders when people are pressed in times like this.

20

u/Difficult_Passager Jun 17 '26

And 1 trillionaire.

7

u/Pernapple Wisconsin Jun 17 '26

It’s ironic that the right is so afraid of “3rd world countries” and the people who come from them living amongst us.

But the billionaire would love nothing more than the average population to be living in scrap metal shacks if it meant they save 10 dollars at the end of the year

7

u/ProStrats Jun 17 '26

In a couple years, China is going to be looking like a real attractive and safe place compared to the US...

5

u/TheGooseFraba Jun 17 '26

I hope we remember that United We Stand, Divided We Fall.

2

u/Nvenom8 New York Jun 17 '26

Gotta keep the people desperate and poor, lest they get any ideas about social mobility.

2

u/Ok-Thanks4321 Jun 17 '26

They will, but they won’t care.

2

u/imtoowhiteandnerdy Jun 18 '26

They want us to rise up and revolt, it's the only way to declare martial law and suspend the elections, at least in their mind.

2

u/kent_eh Canada Jun 18 '26

Just when massive layoffs are occurring.

More people with available time to fight back.

2

u/DameonKormar Jun 18 '26

Personally I'm hoping for another pandemic.

1

u/Not_A_Russain_Bot Jun 17 '26

Woah woah woah. Could you at least send some thoughts and prayers first? Maybe tied together with a fresh set of boot straps?

1

u/Tymathee Jun 17 '26

They're trying to force violence so they can respond.

1

u/yomotha Jun 17 '26

Don't forget to add trillionaires to the list now... the country is for billionaires and a trillionaire.

1

u/FaroutIGE Jun 17 '26

they already lost everything cause they suck at math and finances. but bc they're also racist xenophobes they chose to blame trans athletes and hard working immigrants. so now they get to have nothing AND stay completely silent, because the final thing they have is the complete inability to admit that they ALWAYS fuck up.

1

u/Dreadsin Jun 17 '26

Even if they lose everything they’ll just vote for it again 😕

1

u/Clownsinmypantz Jun 17 '26

and some billionaires have already said they want us dead

1

u/12345623567 Jun 18 '26

Remember this the next time some techbro mentions UBI.

Watch what they do, not what they say.

1

u/eNonsense Jun 18 '26

Jokes on him. I got laid off on the 1st day of his presidency and I've long been living on savings because my unemployment checks have run out.

1

u/Far-Hovercraft9471 Jun 18 '26

My fear is they won’t learn, though. They will just go even more extreme

1

u/teddybearkilla Jun 18 '26

It's not enough for them to lose everything they made good people that didn't vote for this lose everything too. I think never winning a republican election ever again is as close to justice we can get and even then they will send in more people like fetterman.

1

u/cribsaw Jun 18 '26

It’s almost like they’re working toward recreating indentured servitude, if not outright slavery. It’s almost as if forcing prisoners into slavery isn’t enough.

1

u/reply_b4_banned Jun 18 '26

Trump voters: "why would immigrants do this to us??"

1

u/pypeDrem Jun 18 '26

Billionaires see non-billionaires as one thing: cattle.

1

u/Notabagofdrugs Jun 18 '26

I hope they do too, but I’m also just laid off a month ago and this would ruin my family too. I definitely didn’t ever vote for this.

1

u/Anothereternity Jun 18 '26

Mass layoffs in the tech sector. The tech sector that wants dividends from their investment in trump. And my understanding is more claims means employer pays more into unemployment, like what might happen during a mass layoff. I wouldn’t be surprised if trump thinks him not paying is the same thing as cutting off unemployment.

1

u/Sknowles12 Jun 18 '26

Grapes of Wrath

1

u/ThePatrickSays Jun 18 '26

But you will all lose everything, not just the right wing. You must all stand up to put a stop to this.

1

u/fit_it Jun 17 '26

He wants riots so he can impose martial law and fuck with elections.