Trump somehow mastered this. Listen to his speeches. Word salad. Borderline incomprehensible.
But I’ve spoken to MAGA who think he is a genius.
Boggles the mind unless you think the person just overlays whatever they wanted to hear over what Trump said (which is largely nonsense).
So, what you’re saying is that Trump won’t be reelected in 2028?
Stranger
I’m saying that in 2026 eggs aren’t going to be 99 cents a dozen again, and Republican voters will stay home and let Democrats win a Congressional majority.
Like they did in 2018 after Trump didn’t build WALL and get rid of all the Mexicans.
I’m still waiting for the “Trump’s downfall” plot turn here. The anticipation is killing me!
Stranger
It could mean a blue wave in 2026.
But as I’ve said a lot lately I’m not predicting anything anymore.
I really am angry about the Trump voters but I find it very hard to wish them ill. Yes, the hardcore MAGA-loving, vile insulting group I cannot bear, but they are a minority of those who voted for Trump. I’m talking about the run of the mill voters, who are not white suprematists, who want less government regulation and who still feel Trump is going to drain the swamp. I don’t want their children to be poisoned by their air and water when Trump rolls back regulations or end up with dentures in their 40s as so many did before fluorinated water. I don’t want them to have to learn the hard way about what the lack of childhood vaccination can mean. Meanwhile, there are still a lot of Democrats even in the reddest of states and I don’t want them punished.
You sure about that?
One party is palling around with billionaires, the other is in the pocket of Wallstreet, one is working his ass of to deregulate everything the other was “bailing out” the banks (canceling the last true regulation - don’t go bankrupt).
I personally think Trump and MAGA is a clear and present danger. But I can see how someone can be “meh” about the difference in real policies. Trump appointed judges that nixed Roe, Democrats never made a real law. Potato, potato.
I wish them ill; against all good sense and historical warnings with clear parallels to fascism, they voted a failed real estate developer and multiply bankrupt waterfront casino owner whose only real success was being a reality t.v. host, and whose campaign pledges are mostly how he’ll fight inflation by doing the very things guaranteed to make it worse and also persecute his political enemies and anyone else who mocks him. They’re
short-sighted morons who failed to do the bare minimum in an election by voting for the candidate who has vowed to end American democracy, deciding that the best choice was to elect a self-identified demagogue who plans to dismantle public education, imperil womens’ bodily self-autonomy and reproductive health, and facilitate the transition to a totalitarian theocracy, and even if he fails to accomplish these things (likely) it will fundamentally alter the landscape of democracy in the United States, and perhaps end the country, too, as a formerly prosperous and unified—if in some ways deeply flawed—nation.
Fuck them. Fuck them hard. Let’s stop behaving like the proverbial battered spouse, apologizing for upsetting them and taking culpability for the black eye they gave us with full knowledge and direct example of Trump’s character and intentions.
Stranger
The only prediction left for this cycle is that if the House goes majority red, the Senate will eliminate the filibuster, claiming they won with a mandate to enact their agenda.
I read an interesting take 2 months ago or so:
. . Many plan to vote for Trump because
. . . . . . . “A Trump Presidency would be fun. More entertaining than a Netflix political thriller and with no pay-to-view.”
No, I’m not being sarcastic. This was the actual conclusion (though in my own words) reached by some reputable research team. If needed I’ll track down the YouTube or whatever it was.
But as a determinist I excuse the Trump voters. The stupidities they evince are just in their nature, albeit a poorly nurtured nature.
The problem is that we are all screwed. The white heterosexual male will be a bit better off. But will certainly feel the effects of every stupid idea Trump has.
Tariffs? Deport hard working people? Lower taxes on the uber rich? Yeah, that isn’t gonna work.
It will make racists and bigots happy. For a while.
As a determinist, do you have a choice?
It is a literal reality t.v. show except one with real world consequences beyond whether Julie steals Dianna’s husband The Real Housewives of Des Moines.
If we’re going to devolve all behavior to strict determinism then we can’t hold anybody accountable for anything. Donald couldn’t help calling up the Georgia Secretary of State and telling him to find votes because he was compelled by his nature, and he can’t help but “grab [women] by the pussy” because they made him do it by being too attractive for his libido to deny.
Which is the absolutely dumbest and most pointless of all possible philosophies, accepted only in dorm room bullshit sessions and by YouTube amateur philosophers masquerading as behavioral scientists.
Stranger
From 2015:
Earlier this evening, my 91-year-old mother said, “Turn off MSNBC and watch the REAL news, on Fox.”
Are you kidding?!?!?
And Kim Jong Whatever.
I don’t invoke “determinism” to justify an individual’s behavior. But when millions have the same failing, we should look for systemic flaws rather than just saying “Unfortunately millions of citizens of ____ were stupid or evil or whatever.”
So what are the systemic flaws that led to people supporting Trump? That’s where focus should be.
Millions of Americans being “stupid or evil” is a systematic flaw. It’s not like the awfulness of Trump or the Republicans is anything new. It took stupidity, willful ignorance or genuinely supporting their evil for somebody to vote for the Trump and company after everything they’ve done and said; not a mere mistake.
The systemic flaw is the insanely toxic right wing media that pervades the airwaves. I have no idea how one counters that.
Maybe: too much focus on STEM education (science and math), and enough on history, geography, the arts, and what it means to be a decent human being who cares about someone other them themselves – who has empathy and curiosity (two sides of the same coin).
I know STEM should also foster critical thinking skills – interpreting data and evaluating sources, etc. – but mostly it just prepares youth to enter the workforce without questioning who is winning big-time and they know it (Elon Musk); who is winning pretty nicely, though they complain they aren’t (white American men); who is losing, but not too badly (many other Americans); and who is losing badly (many people in the rest of the world – who are PEOPLE TOO, dammit.)