What the tweets let Trump do was lie constantly and incite hatred and violence, which has demonstrably been far worse for democracy and which is why Twitter finally pulled the plug.
Yes, but it was a direct line to lies and misinformation.
This is true. Otherwise we would have had to take the media’s word for it that the President was a corrupt megalomaniacal lunatic.
I’m going to disagree with the majority of the board here. I think there is a considerable number who voted for Trump not because they thought White Men were being marginalized, but because they know he’s pro-business, will lower business taxes and restrictions. They either don’t think that he is racist, or have convinced themselves that his racist leanings are inconsequential. They ignore the dogwhistles, the insults, the lowering of world status, etc. because they think that the important parts of their agenda will be implemented. The next biggest segment are the single-issue voters. There’s a lot of people out there who will vote against pro-abortion candidates and for anti-abortion candidates no matter what. Yes, some of those are the “white grievance” also (especially in the pro-gun lobby), but many are not. I think the true “basket of deplorables” are a minority of the Republican party, but they are visable and vocal. And, make no mistake, Trump is not anti-abortion - he played that up just for the votes. The judges and justices he nominated were not because of socially conservative principles, it was because they were pro-business.
I do absolutely agree that a large number have been lied to by Faux News / OANN / etc. (side note - am I the only one who sees OANN and thinks of them as the Masturbation network because of “the sin of Onan”?) about the “liberal agenda” and what the effects would be. I would love for Sean Hannity to be sued for the lies he tells daily on the air. I do truly believe that people today are living in an echo chamber that increases the worst in them. I curse Rush Limbaugh and Newt Gingrich and blame them for the political mess we are in. I laughed at Joe Walsh who “ran” against Trump in the primaries this time - he had no chance, and tried to sound remorseful for helping create Trump. He’s another piece of crap who I will be happy if I never hear their name again. Unless you’re talking about the guitarist - he’s awesome.
Respectfully, that doesn’t have any connection to the real world. Trump constantly reversed himself and changed his positions. Anything he said, in Tweet or speech, was subject to being changed, sometimes literally in the same sentence.
Well, the way I see it is the entire Republican Party made a series of really stupid mistakes, because of their weak-willed mendacity and low moral character. They are…dumb.
As a result of those mistakes they got themselves into a pickle. They are currently being held hostage by megalomaniacal comic book villain, a madman, who is threatening them with an army of brainwashed zombies unless they overthrow the government and install a white Christian theocracy. This is because the most extreme members of their party helped the megalomaniacal madman into power and helped him brainwash the zombie army.
So they are scared. But they are dumb so they are not scared for the right reasons. They are scared that the Democrats will let the most extreme members of their party hold them hostage and impose socialism.
But Democrats are not going to make that mistake because they are not dumb. They are smart.
But Republicans cannot understand this because they are dumb. They have no place in polite society. They should not have access to the powerful tools we use to aggregate and disseminate information until they develop the intelligence and discernment to use them properly.
This is what Republicans are. This document was written by an official arm of the GOP, the Republican Party - not some rando conservative. This is what Republicans are and I will treat them with the amount respect that someone that writes this is concerned. If they do better, I may raise that number to 0.
Resolution to Censure Cindy Hensley McCain:
“Whereas Cindy McCain, the wife of the late Arizona US Senator John McCain, has been a troubled individual, with a past riddled with drug abuse and illegalities associated with such behavior;”
“Whereas Cindy McCain has supported leftist causes such as gay marriage, growth of the administrative state, and others that run counter to Republican values, a Republican form of government, and the US Constitution;”
“Whereas Cindy McCain has failed to support Conservative Republican candidates such as President Trump;”
Whereas Cindy McCain has supported globalist policies and candidates, including Democrats such as Joe Biden, in direct opposition to Republican values, the interests of the America people, and the Constitution of the United States;"
“Whereas Cindy McCain has condemned President Trump for his criticism of her husband and erroneously placed behaviors over actual presidential results;”
“Whereas, President Trump was truthful in his criticism of Senator McCain, who has become known for serious wrongdoing during his military service, and his service as US Senator, thereby making Cindy McCain’s condemnation of President Trump unjustified.”
“Now, therefore, be it Resolved, that the Arizona Republican Party members meeting at their January 23, 2020 Mandatory Meeting in Phoenix, Arizona, hereby object to Cindy McCain being a member of the Republican Party and officially censure her;
“Further, the Republican Party in the State of Arizona agrees to dissolve in perpetuity any connections whatsoever to Cindy McCain and any of her family members who have supported her views and actions.”
Disclaimer: I know there are people that are registered Republicans and that voted Republican that are not dumb. When I say Republican I am referring to the party organization, elected officials with an R after their name, and people that have been subsumed by the big lie.
If you are a Republican that understands that it is wrong to meet with people claiming to be representatives of a adversial foreign government to put your candidate in power, even if it turns out the people weren’t really who they said they were and nothing came of it, and you understand that the Trump campaign did this - this is not about you.
If you are a Republican that understands it is wrong to withhold foreign aid from an ally unless they help you with a political smear and understand that the President did do this- I’m not talking about you.
If you are a Republican that understands that Joe Biden won the 2020 election and it wasn’t particularly close - I’m not talking about you.
But if not, you are a menace to society, a retarded rabid hyena that has no place in polite society.
Even many of Trumpers themselves would clash if there ever were a white Christian theocracy. AIUI, many Trumpers are the 4chan/Proud Boys/Milo Yannoupoulis trollsters/Stormfronters or counter-culture types. They are hardly the kind to sit down in the pews in a church holding a Bible and listen to a sermon, and would revolt if anyone forced them to.
Even within a crowd like Trump’s there is diversity of opinion, which made many of their goals un-enactable to begin with. White Christian dominionism never stood a chance.
Yes, as the saying goes, honest sincerity is the key to success in politics. Once you can fake that you’ve got it made.
But seriously, this is the key to Trumps popularity. Trump weaponized confirmation bias. Trump was the worst liar the US has ever seen in politics, but his matched the preconceptions of his base and so were seen as more truthful than actual reality.
The other Republicans in the primary were married to the conventional notion that although they could spin the Truth or selectively twist statistics, their statements should have at least some tangential association with reality. Otherwise the facts would come out and they would look foolish. Trump rejected that notion, and avoided the consequences by pushing the narrative of fake news.
Since most people don’t see events first hand, they rely on others to tell them what is true. Trump gave them a choice, they could either have the mainstream notions of reality which was often incomparable with what people knew in their hearts to be true, or his alternative reality which matched up perfectly with their idea of how the world worked. All that was required was to add in the additional notion to this world view, namely that with the exception of Trump, their facebook friends and a few select media sources every single person in the world was part of a conspiracy to lie to them. It was an easy choice.
That is how Trump got the reputation among his base for being the only one who will really authentically tell it like it is.
Very well said.
Around here in 2016 there were many Trump supporters flying the usual Trump flags. The ones that really struck me had the blue background, red box & TRUMP, 2016, and instead of “Make America Great” they said “No More Bullshit” as the tagline.
When you think Trump is the antithesis of bullshit, rather than bullshit personified, something has gone very, very far wrong in your mind.
When I saw the first 2020 “No More Bullshit” flags I should have realized the situation had changed.
It was no longer that something has gone very, very far wrong in your mind. It was that something had gone very, very far wrong on in the nation’s collective psyche.
I think this was the primary factor going in. For various structural reasons, politics in the US is too beholden to the big donors. Politicians will claim as though they will help the little guy, but in practice do little.
In theory, the downtrodden should support progressive candidates, but the successful demonization of anything “socialist”, coupled with a culture that is frequently anti-intellectualist and hostile to the press meant that was never going to happen in red states.
And it should have been obvious why, in hindsight, an ignorant, bigoted populist could capture the support of so many Americans.
I admit though, I still don’t get how he’s managed to hold on to so much support. Even allowing for some people only getting their news from misinformation sources, you would think people would notice Trump’s failures and scandals: they’re happening in plain sight.
But it seems that among those who have ever supported Trump, not only are they extremely reluctant to ever turn away from him, but they get deeper into a bizarre reality where only Trump tells the truth and therefore everyone else must be liars. I don’t get this at all.
Very well said indeed. Mind if I borrow some of this for elsewhere?
Similarly, people think he’s not corrupt because he’s “rich.” The very first Trump supporter I ever talked to was a taxi driver in Las Vegas in 2015 or 2016. He was so excited Trump was getting into the race. Finally, he thought, a politician so rich that they wouldn’t have any need to cave to “special interests.” He would self-finance his campaign, and tell all the rich influence peddlers to go to hell. (I wonder if he later felt the same about Bloomberg, who was actually a billionaire)
Feel free.
People have a deep-seated, innate, urge and craving for validation.
For 70 million+ Americans, only one candidate in their lifetime really, really scratched that itch.
To some extent, Bernie scratched a similar itch for his followers as well. This brand of politician isn’t going to go away; it’s here to stay.
Some of Bernie’s supporters scared the hell out of me too. And Bernie railed against the media. I think you are spot-on with that observation. Not that I think Bernie could ever be as evil as Trump, but he inspired that sort of fanaticism.
Except I’ve never felt in imminent fear for my life around even the most agitated Bernie Bro.
Sure, but the point is the same - some politicians simply “click” with a certain category of voter more powerfully than any other politician could - be it white evangelicals or democratic socialists. They just tap the right internal resonance frequency. And when they do, they revv them up to rabid devotion. Trumpers and Bernie Bros alike would crawl for a mile on broken glass on their knees if it meant seeing their candidate win.
But they are vulnerable to being radicalized, with the right leader.
Has your life actually been threatened by a Trump supporter?