Matt Gaetz running the justice department. Fox hosts in charge of the Pentagon and transportation. Elon Musk as head of layoffs. And Robert F Kennedy Jr and Dr Oz overseeing the nation’s health.

Some have likened Donald Trump’s administrative picks to a clown car; others are calling our incoming leadership a kakistocracy, or “government by the worst people”, as Merriam-Webster puts it.

The word has been trending online, with a burst in search traffic in recent weeks and a new dedicated subreddit. It’s not the first time Trump has (accidentally) made the term famous; many discovered it in his first term. But the kakistocracy of 2016 looks like Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood compared with the president-elect’s new batch of sidekicks.

MBFC
Archive

    • CharlesDarwin@lemmy.world
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      5 days ago

      The sad thing - even if this were to be true, I bet nothing happens. Just look at Bush v. Gore. Even many so-called Democrats and so-called liberals pretend as if Bush won, that anyone bringing it up is just a sore loser and so on. More recently, we have the Russia and Comey thing when it comes to Hillary.

      Even if we later have the smoking gun about this, I bet we still sustain damage from donvict and his buddies in the meantime, and people still act like it’s NBD, even if true…

      • Varyk@sh.itjust.works
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        5 days ago

        I mean the voting software stolen is undeniably true, since they admitted doing it themselves and there’s evidence of Trump’s lawyers hiring people to steal the voting software.

        nothing might come of it, but I still talk about how W stole his election because his brother was the governor of florida and stopped ballot counting in that state, so if this election was stolen, we might as well have indisputable proof like we have of Florida in 2004.

      • Voroxpete@sh.itjust.works
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        5 days ago

        Start by contacting the relevant people and demanding a manual recount.

        If you can say that you actually tried, and still nothing happened, then you’re allowed to wallow in despair.

        But you don’t get to just skip straight to the despair part without the doing everything you can part. Then the only source of your despair will be you.

      • Varyk@sh.itjust.works
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        5 days ago

        very little action needs to be taken by the people in those States to convince their secretary of State to do a manual recount, or people in other states to ask their secretary of State to pressure the soss in other states to do a recount.

        legislation is often supported or not based on less than 100 people calling into their legislator’s office, so the more people calling up their secretaries of state and election officials and demanding a recount, the better.

        this is not a baseless accusation, there is hard evidence that Trump’s lawyers had voting software, and a historical and statistical and probability that The voters that literally want Trump. the election are real or actually voted.

        The likelihood is that those ballots are not there.

        with this much actual evidence, there must be a recount.

        you should demand it.

        call or email your election officials. tell me your state and I’ll tell you who to call or email.

    • Septimaeus@infosec.pub
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      4 days ago

      Spoonamore is not a security expert. He’s an attention-seeker who is known for making news with unfounded claims and little else.

      • Varyk@sh.itjust.works
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        5 days ago

        If you don’t like that guy, you you can look to all the other security experts that are calling for a manual recount.

        incidentally, spoonamore isn’t known for making that claim every election, he’s made it twice, The other time was in 2004 when ballot interference occurred.

        • Septimaeus@infosec.pub
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          4 days ago

          Look I’d be happy with a recount. I think they should recount, just to be as sure as possible. What I’m not OK with are conspiracy theories and lies.

          2004 when ballot interference occurred

          I was there in 2004. Lots of conspiracy theories were pumped on the blogs that were ultimately unfounded. If I recall, Stephen’s “expert claim” pertained to Ohio and that claim was spurious.

          https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/2004_United_States_election_voting_controversies

          The steal in Florida was real but it came in the form of a phone call, not a software exploit.

          • Varyk@sh.itjust.works
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            4 days ago

            these are the facts Jack, and facts don’t care if you don’t like them.

            also, conspiracy does not equal untrue.

            a conspiracy is a group of people planning to carry out or carrying out a scheme.

            that happens in the real world everyday.

            it’s fine if you don’t like that one guy, ignore that one guy.

            Focus on all of the other computer security experts stating that because of trumps lawyers admitting they hired a group to steal voting machine software, and their stated intention to interfere with the election, we should do a manual count to make sure that all the ballots are legitimate.

            you can ignore that one guy and listen to all the other scientists you don’t have a problem, who you claim to agree with, with who have 19 credible sources supporting the electoral obligation for a manual ballot count.

      • ValenThyme@reddthat.com
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        5 days ago

        the article links to two open letters from computer experts and the contents look pretty damning to me.

        • Septimaeus@infosec.pub
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          5 days ago

          I don’t know the other names. Just Spoonamore, who is known only for his fake credentials and for crying wolf.

          If I’m reading correctly, the evidence is primarily that “the numbers” look too high to Spoonamore. I’m not sure where he gets the “35 billion to 1 probability” from, because he doesn’t show his work anywhere.

          Most of these states already hand count samples to verify the machine counts, so it’s weird he says a hand count is needed but hasn’t addressed what supposedly went wrong with the original hand count.

          I voted Harris-Walz and have no doubt trump would cheat if he could, but I don’t trust this publication, the author, or the “expert” being interviewed, and the writing style smells like sensationalist drivel cooked up to drive engagement.

          • ValenThyme@reddthat.com
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            5 days ago

            i read the open letters linked to in the article which had the info you’re asking about if you’re actually interested in it.

            • Septimaeus@infosec.pub
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              5 days ago

              The second letter is just advising re: the leaked software and suggesting an expanded hand count. It doesn’t offer any “damning” evidence. It doesn’t even claim election interference. And the spoonamore letter is more of the same BS from his interviews and doesn’t answer my questions at all. What am I supposed to see?

          • korazail@lemmy.myserv.one
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            4 days ago

            Here’s my complaint about this. Had trump lost the election, he would be demanding recounts in every possible place as well as launching lawsuits to delay and distract. We KNOW this, since he did it in 2020.

            How unreasonable is it, then, that with all the questions raised by both his statements in public (such as “we’ll have it fixed so good you won’t have to vote” regarding 2028) and the statistical anomalies we can’t call for a recount in places where things seem amiss? If nothing is found, great, we elect a fascist; but if there was an attack/hack/fraud, then we find it and expose it. We have nothing to lose (we’re saving money over a trump loss and recounts everywhere) and Democracy to win.

            I’m in a swing state and I definitely checked after the election to see that my ballot was counted. However, I can’t see the details as a private citizen, so I can’t verify it was tabulated correctly. I’m in NC, where the republican governor candidate was truly repugnant, but trump won by 3.39 points and Josh Stein won by over 14! In fact, more people voted for Stein than Trump. Maybe we could get Mark Robinson to request a recount…

            • Septimaeus@infosec.pub
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              4 days ago

              I’m with you, and I don’t see any problem with demanding a recount.

              I just don’t like the idea of doing or saying anything simply because the other side would or did. And conspiracy theories tend to spread rapidly online among those who have the incentive to believe, devolving into unidimensional “for us or against us“ advocacy wars.

              It’s sort of like being at a counter-protest and trying to stop someone on your side from assaulting someone on the other side. They look at you in disbelief “whose side are you on anyway?” And the only thing you know is that this isn’t how you want to win.

  • Etterra@lemmy.world
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    5 days ago

    He’s left behind even the pretense of having people who know things in office. Now it’s just bootlickers who have been on TV, and the occasional particularly toadycore politician.

    • EatATaco@lemm.ee
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      4 days ago

      Yup. He knows how to sell shit to gullible rubes. He’s a dumb fuck otherwise, but the man has an uncanny genius when it comes to self promotion.

  • Bluefalcon@discuss.tchncs.de
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    5 days ago

    Trump should google Caesar. I don’t mean the normal “How far Lil Caesar from Trump?” or “Trump own Ceasar Hotel?” or “Why smart man say me eat no Caesar?”

    Surrounding yourself around the corrupt lead to dangrous games. Caesar found to late.

    • rockSlayer@lemmy.world
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      He was definitely a corrupt war criminal, like any president, but Caesar was murdered because of his radical approach to helping the populare at the detriment of the oligarchy. I don’t think Trump has that to worry about

      • Bluefalcon@discuss.tchncs.de
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        No, but heavy is the head. He will try to break his leash and the people around will look for more power. “For the love of money is the root of all evil.”

  • EvacuateSoul@lemmy.world
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    “1880 was also a general election year in the UK, another country known for its contributions to the English language.”

    Hilarious

  • corsicanguppy@lemmy.ca
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    5 days ago

    He had to pick these guys. He tried to put the others in jail or in the ground, so they don’t want to play with him. He’s assembled the best team he has available to him, and I’m just curious who is really making the selections here. I’d lay even money it’s the friendovich but we’ll never know.

    But trust him: he could not do any better than these guys.