factcheckmate
805794
1015
23
Check out the golden ornaments on the front of his desk. Posting just intro here, free youtube here https://youtu.be/_GXNJ3V9lzg?si=zqW6YpD9T9x4ngV7
Sep 19, 2025 12:36 PM
factcheckmate
805794
1015
23
Check out the golden ornaments on the front of his desk. Posting just intro here, free youtube here https://youtu.be/_GXNJ3V9lzg?si=zqW6YpD9T9x4ngV7
Zetor
You guys don't deserve this man... ๐
jargonmon
"What is this? Your first dictatorship?" had to be one of the best lines in that whole intro.
Puntifex
You can stop with the Soviet. This is pure homegrown US fuckery. No need to refer to other shithole nations.
yeahhedugit
You have to see the whole thing. Well one of the funniest and at the same time patriotic things I've seen in a very long time.
Arbitrarynamehere
Welcome back, Colbert Report
xmaneds
"I am being treated well and I am unharmed"
xmaneds
Jon, blink four times if you need us to send in a rescue squad
Zamm005
Part of how the US got here is the continued refusal to accept anything except the CIA propaganda about what the Soviets were all about...
Take the time today, please. Otherwise you'll believe that this is over when one capitalist is replaced by another... And it won't be
IWANTFUNNY
That whole segment was literally gold!
hfctom
That's okay, Trump's about two weeks away from learning that he can have the SEC & FTC torpedo the Skydance / Paramount merger if they don't cancel Stewart.
AWarningToOthers
I want him as our next president if we ever have another election.
Lomish
maybe... no more "entertainers" in political office.
Pokegeologist
This is some North Korea level shit.
chevymonster
https://youtu.be/_GXNJ3V9lzg
mwwoggy
The twitching really sells it....
kittykat
@OP I can't see what the golden ornaments are that you want us to check out. They just look like flourishes.
factcheckmate
Cheap plastic mold that are sold on Amazon in grey, Trump plastered them all over White House. Sprayed in gold
kittykat
Oh jeez.
taez555
I'll be honest with you, I was kinda disappointed. Rather than directly confront the issue and poke the bear, they did an entire long sarcastic bit to play it safe. The interview with Maria Ressa was excellent though.
factcheckmate
Just a start I believe
gondolph
Is his tie long enough?
eetsumkaus
man, even the fact that this caricature is happening in real life is so surreal. This is basically the prologue of an MCU movie where everybody thinks everything is fine and dandy before shit hits the fan.
DiscountMentat
At least in an MCU movie, there are heroes. No one is coming for us.
Oultnil
Yeah. Sooner than later, Trump will shut down shows for doing stuff like this as well. It's gonna stop being funny real fast, unless the USA finally takes back their country.
Probablyimaginary
This and I can't help but think if Trump saw this out of context he would have every show modeled after it. Hell even in context he would be flattered...
usingYourMomAsAHat
Haha its both hilarious and devastating at the same time. Awman USA ain't doing too good these days
AwetasticAdventures
For a lot of demographics, it never was. It's just now, the majority are treated like minorities.
TeamSpicyTacos
Haha, we are so screwed and it only gets worse
HeadJamistan
ChilupaBatman
https://media3.giphy.com/media/v1.Y2lkPWE1NzM3M2U1YTgzYXo0bnhhOTdjbGNhamhmdzBidGdmY3E2N3NnMzh0dmxheHk3bCZlcD12MV9naWZzX3NlYXJjaCZjdD1n/l4FGGafcOHmrlQxG0/200w.webp
unluckyandbored
The US is just taking the veneer off and showing the world what they've always really been like. Of course plenty of countries (mostly third-world countries) already KNEW how bad the US was. They saw it first hand when American forces and agencies deposed their leaders to install pro-American, pro-corporate puppets.
StopTheWorldIWannaGetOff
Yeah... Social engineering from foreign bots has done a real number on the US. Well more like the world come to think of it.
rshini
Sadly we cannot blame it all on foreign bots, a deep misogyny that's in this country did it.
StopTheWorldIWannaGetOff
Oh agreed. I think most countries have issues with historical racisms, hatreds, bigotry, etc. But I also think we were (maybe mid to late 2000s) collectively on a path of 'these things are *not good* and I/we can do better'... And then Internet social media plus these bots just stoke the fires by mirroring what these people think and feel until they feel more and more verified and encouraged enough to become more public, they band together and voila, snowball effect.
ArgentXero
I think you mean Tsarist Russian music.
Putin is trying to restore Tsarist Russia, not the Soviet Union.
factcheckmate
I was born and grew up in USSR, trust me ัะพะฒะฐัะธั I know my soviet music
ArgentXero
So was my cousin whose grandparents were sent to the gulag.
Also, I wasnt claiming it wasnt soviet-esque. The bit is obviously about current Russia, not either the Soviet Union or Tsarist Russia. That's why I said Putin wants to restore Tsarist Russia while he also recognizes the "greatest achievement" being the USSR, but says people are delusional about restoring it.
factcheckmate
Talk to your cousin more instead of just blindly believing ideology. There were upsides to structure of USSR and on paper it could be glorious but country was corrupt as hell. I have seen through and through and lived through it, you have not. Socialism can work but people like Stalin made sure that only people in charge were well off. Soviet communism died with Lenin
ArgentXero
Yes, it was corrupt because of the Russian moneyed class. I dont deny that.
As I said, the same argument can be had of "Liberal Democracy" and the current United States. It's like saying "There were upsides to Democracy and on paper it could be glorious but the country was corrupt as hell."
Your framework is biased through your negative association with it.
What I'm saying is to open your mind to honest analysis. China did, they learned from the USSR's mistakes and look at them flourish.
factcheckmate
Not sure moneyed is a word, nor familiar with that class during Stalin era
NChomsky
The Soviet dictatorship (the exact opposite of communism, btw) was a totalitarian society that put a floor under some level of human misery. The US has exceeded that by becoming even worse: ๐ ๐ฝ๐๐ฟ๐ฒ ๐ผ๐น๐ถ๐ด๐ฎ๐ฟ๐ฐ๐ต๐ ๐ผ๐ณ ๐๐ต๐ฒ ๐บ๐ฒ๐ด๐ฎ ๐ฟ๐ถ๐ฐ๐ต. While Soviet dictatorship was overt in its repression, the oligarchy we live in operates under the abject DELUSION of democracy, making it far more insidious. We're not "becoming like" the SU, we're ALREADY WORSE. ๐๐ผ๐ป๐ฐ๐ฒ๐ป๐๐ฟ๐ฎ๐๐ฒ๐ฑ ๐๐ฒ๐ฎ๐น๐๐ต ๐ฏ๐ฎ๐๐ถ๐ฐ๐ฎ๐น๐น๐ ๐ฟ๐๐ป๐ ๐๐ต๐ถ๐ ๐ฐ๐ฟ๐ถ๐บ๐ถ๐ป๐ฎ๐น ๐ฒ๐บ๐ฝ๐ถ๐ฟ๐ฒ.
apollo1983
username checks out
rbudrick
Yes, but Nacho Nero has so far only killed 1.25~ million of us, stalin alone did at least 20 mil of his own, so I guess it depends on your view of worse.
NChomsky
That 20m includes some improper overlap from WWII. Counting the actual figures from repression only, we get a more accurate estimate of 9-12 million (let's just assume the higher figure of 12 million). But here's the key takeaway: ๐ง๐ต๐ฎ๐ ๐ญ๐ฎ๐บ ๐ผ๐ฐ๐ฐ๐๐ฟ๐ฟ๐ฒ๐ฑ ๐ผ๐๐ฒ๐ฟ ๐ฎ ๐๐ฝ๐ฎ๐ป ๐ผ๐ณ ๐ฎ๐ฑ ๐๐ฒ๐ฎ๐ฟ๐. ๐๐ต๐ฒ๐ฒ๐๐ผ ๐๐ฒ๐ป๐ถ๐๐ผ'๐ ๐ณ๐ผ๐๐น ๐ผ๐ฟ๐ฎ๐ป๐ด๐ฒ ๐ต๐ฒ๐ฎ๐ฑ ๐ต๐ฎ๐๐ป'๐ ๐ฒ๐๐ฒ๐ป ๐ฏ๐ฒ๐ฒ๐ป ๐ถ๐ป ๐ผ๐ณ๐ณ๐ถ๐ฐ๐ฒ ๐ณ๐ผ๐ฟ ๐ด ๐๐ฒ๐ฎ๐ฟ๐ and we've already got 17 million Murkans getting thrown off healthcare, which will surely result in countless deaths, we just can't calculate the number.
Rosfmmmhzdrozzley
Woah, how did you edit your font all cool like that?
draconicus
https://lingojam.com/BoldText
CommanderWes
Couldnt agree more. Soviet Russia was 1984, we are living in the Brave New World scientific dictatorship as described by Aldous Huxley. Two classes, ultra rich and drones, drones kept obedient with drugs (soma), flooded with information so we cant tell the truth and reduced to passivity because of it.
Zamm005
This is why you're fucked... The only ideas of foreign nations that Americans allow themselves to even hear, let alone think about, are the ideas that come from the same CIA that is fucking them right now.
Dowbvote me today if you must, but please, take the time to lean WHY the US was so terrified of the people in the US learning about the USSR... If you knew it meant quality of life improving, youd be more willing to listen (and that's the end for capitalism and those 2 rich dudes!)
NChomsky
Of course the CIA is the most prolific arm of the US criminal empire, ๐ฒ๐๐๐ฒ๐ป๐๐ถ๐ฎ๐น๐น๐ ๐ฎ๐ป ๐ถ๐ป๐ณ๐ถ๐ป๐ถ๐๐ฒ๐น๐ ๐๐ฒ๐น๐น-๐ณ๐๐ป๐ฑ๐ฒ๐ฑ ๐ฒ๐น๐ถ๐๐ฒ ๐ถ๐ป๐๐ฒ๐ฟ๐ป๐ฎ๐๐ถ๐ผ๐ป๐ฎ๐น ๐๐ฒ๐ฟ๐ฟ๐ผ๐ฟ๐ถ๐๐ ๐ผ๐ฝ๐ฒ๐ฟ๐ฎ๐๐ถ๐ผ๐ป. Now, I've spoken clearly and truthfully about the horrors that happened in Soviet society. But it's time to exercise even more intellectual honesty by letting people know about the side that ๐ฐ๐ฟ๐ถ๐บ๐ถ๐ป๐ฎ๐น ๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฝ๐ถ๐๐ฎ๐น๐ถ๐๐๐ have been suppressing for decades:
ThisNameUnavailable
The Soviet Union was a communist country.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Economy_of_the_Soviet_Union
Communism is an economic system, not a governmental one. You can have communist democracies and communist authoritarian regimes.
I don't understand why progressives eskew the truth on this.
ICantThinkOfAU
People must stop saying โweโve never tried communism!โ We have. It always ends the same way, it doesnโt matter that โitโs never been put into full practice!โ The attempts have always given the same result. Communism is bad, it doesnโt work on a human level, itโs so much worse than whatโs happening in the United States today, and to say otherwise discredits those who fought against It. What DOES work is social healthcare and credit for those that are less well off, and that isnโt communism
bekkayya
"communism keeps getting starved out, raided, and their elections overturned by capitalists. It cant possibly work!" i can think of a few ways to fix that equation. or by all means keep ignoring history
VictusVonGuyver
To be fair, conservatives and fascists get it wrong moreso.
bekkayya
"that state was a stateless moneyless society!!!!!!" ok ill just leave you to simmer in that contradiction
ArgentXero
Yep, you can have have a Communist Authoritarian Democracy.
It's what China is aka Capitalist nation with Chinese characteristics. Although, they define it as Socalist w/ Communism idealogical end goal. It has local democratic elections which goes up to the Party and the Party gets final say, similar to the US congress but more representative of the population
and Regime = government. People need to understand that "regime" is just a scary alternative word meant to trigger a negative response.
NinjablazerZero
Brother if the elections are neither free and fair, that is not a democracy, that is a facade. Authoritarianism and democracy are inherently antothetical to each other and cannot coexist.
Either they have a real working democracy, or they are a n authoritarian state hiding behind a false democracy. There is no Authoritarian democracy.
ArgentXero
Elections are fair & free in Liberal Democracies? Where both candidates are pre-approved and right wing? Where the people do not have a say in the core policy of the US, only for domestic & cultural issues. China has a far greater environment of good faith debate. China doesn't have to worry about politics because their country isnt in crisis.
Every nation is inherently Authoritarian. All laws created and enforced are Authoritarian. "Democracy" by itself only gives the illusion of choice.
NChomsky
The SU was a totalitarian "state capitalist" system, NOT a communist one. COM is an economic system that ๐ป๐ฒ๐ฐ๐ฒ๐๐๐ถ๐๐ฎ๐๐ฒ๐ ๐ฑ๐ฒ๐บ๐ผ๐ฐ๐ฟ๐ฎ๐๐ถ๐ฐ ๐ฐ๐ผ๐ป๐๐ฟ๐ผ๐น ๐ผ๐ณ ๐ฝ๐ฟ๐ผ๐ฑ๐๐ฐ๐๐ถ๐ผ๐ป & ๐ฟ๐ฒ๐๐ผ๐๐ฟ๐ฐ๐ฒ๐ ๐ฏ๐ ๐๐ผ๐ฟ๐ธ๐ฒ๐ฟ๐. ๐๐๐๐ต๐ผ๐ฟ๐ถ๐๐ฎ๐ฟ๐ถ๐ฎ๐ป ๐ฟ๐ฒ๐ด๐ถ๐บ๐ฒ๐ ๐ฐ๐ผ๐ป๐๐ฟ๐ฎ๐ฑ๐ถ๐ฐ๐ ๐๐ต๐ถ๐ ๐ฐ๐ผ๐ฟ๐ฒ ๐ฝ๐ฟ๐ถ๐ป๐ฐ๐ถ๐ฝ๐น๐ฒ. So the concept of "COM authoritarian regimes" is simply intellectual dogshit, pardon the expression. COM is fundamentally democratic & libertarian. Progressives reject the SU model because it was ๐ฎ๐ป๐๐ถ๐๐ต๐ฒ๐๐ถ๐ฐ๐ฎ๐น ๐๐ผ ๐ฎ๐๐๐ต๐ฒ๐ป๐๐ถ๐ฐ ๐๐ผ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ฎ๐น๐ถ๐๐ ๐ถ๐ฑ๐ฒ๐ฎ๐น๐. https://youtu.be/j9Z05xyGB0c
ThisNameUnavailable
Question: do you believe that when people say "communism" in 2025, it necessarily means the exact same thing as what was envisioned by Karl Marx and Lenin when created?
NChomsky
My entire life experience with the vast majority of people who use the word "communism" has been that they have absolutely no idea (fully clueless) as to its definition. Perhaps 9 out of 10 Americans can't describe in any detail what communism is supposed to be. In this country, we've been effectively trained to associate communism with "state control of everything", human misery & death. Which of course is completely unsurprising, given the twisted criminal nature of the empire we live in.
ThisNameUnavailable
Okay so you agree colloquial usage is not the same as the technical usage.
Let me give you a counterexample that you might disagree with. I work in AI. According to the technical, actual definition of Ai, all machine learning models, neural networks, and LLMs are true artificial intelligence.
However, thats not how most people understand it, is it? Most imgurians would say chatgpt is not "real AI".
So, given you are arguing for the academic definition of communism, is ChatGPT AI?
193X
Yeah, as long as you have Lenin/Stalin and their unelected cronies and a while oligarch class living it up in palaces off the labour of the working class, it's not Marxist communism.
If we're just going to believe the labels that dictators use, then North Korea is a shining beacon of modern democracy. After all, it's the "Democratic People's Republic".
accountttt
Because youre taking one definition of communism that supports your view while ignoring the other, more commonly referred to versions.
accountttt
NChomsky
And none of those match as well as "totalitarian state capitalism" when mapped on to how the Soviet Union operated in practice. So shouldn't we be calling it WHAT IT ACTUALLY WAS, rather than what the Soviets or Americans called it? North Korea calls itself a "Democratic Republic". Does anyone actually believe that or refer to it as that? No, we call it a dictatorship. Point is the SUs actual operation diverged profoundly from CORE communist principles, EVEN in the Marxist/Leninist variants.
accountttt
Tell me youve never studied communism without telling me youve never studied communism
ThisNameUnavailable
No. The most commonly referred to understanding of communism is what Soviet Union was: a centrally planned, state controlled economy.
You are correct there are other definitions, such as pure Leninist Marxism, of which the Soviet Union was not. But you understand Karl Marx and Lenin don't get to decide the meaning of the word "communism" in 2025 right? Nor do you.
Under the colloquial and common understanding of the word communism, the Soviet Union was communist.
factcheckmate
Replace oligarchs with party administrators of various levels in various districts. I was born and grew up in USSR, those always got priority for cars, apartments and medical care. No rationing โtalonsโ for them either, prime cut everything without being in line. It was delusion of communism for commoners
deadmanreaper13
Honest question, has there ever been an actual communist society? Cause whenever people talk about the 'evils' of communism, they always point to places like the USSR or Cuba where its obvious that all the 'problems' of communism are being caused by the the corrupt dictatorship that's in power.
ArgentXero
Every communist/socialist project has been a victim of sabotage by world capitalist forces.
Cuba is suffering due to US sanctions. The USSR fell from a combination of paranoia because the incitement of civil war and revocation of civil rights for security whose unconscious bias defaulted to Tsarist Russian social conditioning.
DPRK is an example, not a great one, of a successful project. Literally being created out of dust & becoming a sovereign nation w/ slow but real upwards social mobility.
illegalacorn
Upward mobility in the DPRK????
??? The inherited monarchical autocracy that allows ten haircuts per gender?
ArgentXero
Yep. They literally started out from nothing. Being bombed into dust by the US, the resulting devastating famine, and brutal sanctions by the US.
Its a miracle that anybody still exists, and what they've built by themselves is quite impressive.
Im not saying its great, it's basically China back in it's 60s. But there has to be some kind of upward social mobility in the DPRK or this country, without much Consumerism distractions, would collapse.
Also, haircuts? How do you choose your haircut?
factcheckmate
There were communist movements in Europe and South America. A lot of times, squashed by western capitalist powers. Franco supported by Nazis won the war against communists in Spain for example and ruled till 1975
NChomsky
The very essence of communism was so bone-chilling to the parasitic class of capitalists, that they had no problem spending countless billions driving communist ideas of egalitarianism & community, mutual aid, sharing, etc. right OUT of people's heads. That was in addition to both directly murdering communists & supporting other gruesome regimes that murdered communists. The result was the mind-warped & politically lobotomized society we live in today.. A real life episode of Black Mirror.
gesel
As a model it relies on a benign dictatorship of the proletariat. Marx was an optimist.
The model cannot work: nobody gives to their full ability without incentive; nobody accepts anyone else's need could be greater than theirs.
ArgentXero
You were born during it's time in crisis. That's like being born and growing up in America today and saying everything you said, painting the entire American history as a Totalitarian Dictatorship and Oligarchy for the wealthy.
By your logic, Liberal Democracy is a far worse failure than "communism" is.
factcheckmate
Its โcrisisโ began with Stalin, so really fkn early.
ArgentXero
I don't deny that.
Every communist/socialist project has been a victim of sabotage by world capitalist forces.
The USSR fell from a combination of paranoia because the incitement of civil war + WW2 losses, Cold War and revocation of civil rights for security whose unconscious bias defaulted to Tsarist Russian social conditioning.
In 1991, 75% of soviets voted to not dismantle the workers state, but Russian moneyed interests trampled over that democratic possess and dismantled it anyway.
ArgentXero
Stripping historical reality in these steps backwards does historic injustice to the tens of millions of workers and peasants of many nationalities, sexes, genders, and sexualities who built the revolution with their own sweat and defended it against the onslaught of world imperialism in their blood. And it merely fans the flames of anti-communism, serving to derail the forward motion of the planet's working class and oppressed peoples towards genuine liberation.
ArgentXero
Any study of how and why important political rights that had been won for same-sex love and women were reversed in the Soviet Union in the 1930's has to take into the consideration the effects that encirclement, economic embargo and isolation, sabotage, civil war, and other weapons of unrelenting attack by world capitalism had on this vast but economically underdeveloped country.
factcheckmate
We are becoming like Russia today. Probably Putins blueprint directly
NChomsky
โ Consistent bipartisan approval of $3.8B in military aid to Israel. โ 72 Senators & 398 Representatives supported the Israel Anti-Boycott Act (88% of congress). โ 412 representatives support key pro-Israel legislation (95% of the House). โ 90 Senate votes affirming Jerusalem as Israel's capital in 2017. โ Trump smuggling Netanyahu's nuts in his cheeks supporting the genocide of the Palestinians. We know who our political scum serve, and It AIN'T Putin. We've been Israel's "blueprint" for decades.
factcheckmate
They serve both currently, Zelinsky was literally ambushed in White House meeting. One of Trumpโs impeachments was about Ukraine quid pro quoโs deal
NChomsky
An individual presidential scandal & impeachment concerning aid to Ukraine doesn't compare to systemic, bipartisan consensus across US government serving Israeli interests. Over 90% congressional votes on Israel aren't mirrored for Russia. Trump's despicable abuses are his own, while Israel's influence is ๐ผ๐ฝ๐ฒ๐ป๐น๐ & ๐ฐ๐ผ๐ป๐๐ถ๐๐๐ฒ๐ป๐๐น๐ ๐ฒ๐บ๐ฏ๐ฒ๐ฑ๐ฑ๐ฒ๐ฑ ๐ถ๐ป๐๐ผ ๐๐บ๐ฒ๐ฟ๐ถ๐ฐ๐ฎ'๐ ๐ป๐ฎ๐๐ถ๐ผ๐ป๐ฎ๐น ๐ฝ๐ผ๐น๐ถ๐ฐ๐. There's no parity here. Putin/Russians are at the back of the bus while Israelis are driving the thing via remote control.
Zamm005
Russia became like the US*. Yes. Capitalism won (for now at least)
If you wanna learn about this subject,look at the changes in life expectancy, home ownership, and literacy rates...
Also, look at surveys of people who were alive before the USSR and during... And compare that to the surveys that were shown so regularly of people who never knew what came before.
Ofc it wasn't perfect for anyone thinking that that's a rebuttal to what I've said๐
factcheckmate
I lived in USSR, is that a good rebuttal? You obviously read a book
Zamm005
No not at all lol, I literally preempted that type of rebuttal if you read again haha.
Compare your opinion as someone who never experienced life before it, with the opinions of those in your generation. Try to explain why those who saw the benefits arrive in their livetomes have a different opinion to those like you born with those benefits and told stories about how thet arrived... I'll wait
factcheckmate
Read about all the Stalin committed is that far enough into USSR history? Kholodomor in Ukraine, pact with Nazi Germany, those should be known enough for you. There are more examples specific to a republic where I grew up. You are ignorant and smug