While I agree that Reddit is awash in (multiple) state propaganda, and that posting violent rhetoric, or even sympathy for it, there is likely to put you on a list (or multiple), I don’t think Reddit users really trust it’s that safe. In the last year and a half, since Luigi, there has been huge amounts of bitterness over the censorship of content and strict banning policies. People have discussed, and followed through on, leaving in droves. Huge amounts of old content are no longer available because people scrubbed their post history on the way out.

If the current discourse doesn’t reflect that, I would suffer it’s because :

1. the real people still there remain to discuss uncontroversial niche topics
2. political discussion there is largely driven by bots and paid actors now

ICE has no jurisdiction over American citizens. All they can do is detain/arrest someone obstructing their legal role: detaining and deporting immigrants. Further, all law enforcement, federal and local are trained NOT to handle that situation with a civilian by shooting them in the face while they are behind the wheel of a moving vehicle. He acted stupidly and illegally, which one suspects he knew since he fled the scene.

Additionally, federal officials are constitutionally prohibited from forcing their way into your residence without a warrant signed by a judge.

So while ICE has a narrow legal mandate, they have far outstripped those bounds.

While I agree that nothing will change if we just languish in defeatism, look at the list!

https://www.senate.gov/senators/Class_II.htm

I can really only imagine about 4 of those being competitive. Most of those states are deep red, and Republicans aren’t known for stepping out of line to make a moral stand.

The midterms can’t fix this. The most the midterms can do is deliver a majority in the House. We can’t roll back anything and we can’t hold anyone accountable with just the House. You can block legislation, but Trump has basically gone around Congress anyway so that he doesn’t have to compromise with non-MAGA Republicans.

Even IF the election is fair (big IF, if you ask me), it still is basically useless. 2024 was the end of a functional federal government.