I would slightly disagree.
Deep down Republican politicians know how to do things, when they set their mind to it. They just either choose not to (Libertarians) or do so in furtherance of evil (Bible Thumpers and Corporate Rent Boys). They can run a functioning government, if that government happens to be an oligarchy. Democracy, not so much anymore.
So many people on the left miss this that itās not even funny anymore. There is a certain very specific condescending strain of leftist rhetoric that belies a certain ignorance among a set of core Dem. voters about how a lot of this country lives. People who think having a non-television accent signifies ignorance. My boss is a Trump supporter, Nice guy. Heās working a job he hates, suffering from a heart condition that should have lead to his retirement, and his military pension after a significant length of service is pitiful because he went from NCO to CO and was injured in his first year as a CO, meaning his benefits were as if he had only served for one year rather than the career-length he did serve. All he wants to do is retire to Florida with his family but he canāt. Like it or not, Obama did nothing to help him with any of that. Not because Obama was some amazingly incompetent president, but because no one does anything for the working class He sees no reason to expect Hillary to be any different, and frankly I have a hard time believing she will do anything based on her record. A lot of progressive Leftist rhetoric is about helping the poor, women, and minorities. I support these positions and the programs that will help people at a disadvantage, but it too often comes at the price of alienating working class people who are increasingly finding it hard to squeak by. Obamacare didnāt really help a lot of working class people, and Iām okay with the fact that it didnāt, but then I have a hard time pretending there was a prominent Obama program that did.
For the record, my boss? In a race between Trump and Bernie, he might vote Bernie. In a race between Hillary and Trump? Definitely Trump.
Itās unfortunate that Trump is running a campaign that pairs economic populism with racism. I would be happy to see the working class who want a fairer deal split from the neoliberals and Bible thumpers. I just want the race bigots to stay with the class and religion bigots.
I think about people who believe humans are divided into races the way I think about people who believe in God. Or fairies.
I choose to respect their right to have an ignorant opinion while thinking about how you canāt fix stupid.
I couldāve gone all day without seeing that.
Yep.
This is a pretty schizoid thread, split between āthey donāt understand who their real enemy isā and āfuck flyover country, who needs itā. Your post is on target.
Bigotry is the most effective way to get the poor to vote against their economic interests. Racism is one of the most pervasive forms of bigotry in the US. Of course he would go there.
Finding scapegoats for economic woes is far easier than finding solutions or going after the rich and powerful.
Wow! Gonna be quoting this all week.
Obviously racism has a lot of history to it, but it just takes so little to get people to divide themselves into in and out groups. I donāt think it would work for a national-level demagogue, but people get into actual physical fights because they like different sports teams. Iām pretty sure you could get a large group of people to become competitive between one another and cooperative amongst one another by just handing out two colors of T-shirts.
Racismās history is not soo long. Only pretty recently has anyone come up with this particularly idiotic fucking racist theory of the world.
Before thenā¦ I think the general idea was folks aquired characteristics simply from the climate and regions in which one was born.
But they didnāt have the scientific evidence to produce something as amazing asā¦
Which I think was all a smokescreen so this asshat could say the Franks were better than the Gauls or something SUPER RELEVANT and totally interesting. So worth all the shit thatās come up later.
We gotā¦ What was it? Mongoloidā¦ Uh. Aryans which always confused me because thatās way close to Indiaā¦ Uh. What else? I think Hispanic people are a new raceā¦ Lemme see. Made up of negroes and aryans and Indiansā¦ The other Indians. No. The other Indians. The ones from South America that someone didnāt mostly wipe out and move to the middle of nowhere and try to NEVER MENTION AGAIN! They got āmarriedā (raped) a bunch and thenā¦ Through the magic of racism became Mexicans.
No. Not the Mexican Mexicans. The Mexicans we say when we mean brown people born south of the border of the United States. What border? Uh. The one past the last civil war and then way past when California became part of the United States.
Geez. Seriously I canāt keep up.
That is weird, because I didnāt really say anything so different.
I guess Iād noticed where Wanderfound and Humbabella pointed out that the real problem with comparing Obama to Hitler wasnāt invoking the latterās name, but that it involved a reality-defying equating of medical care and concentration camps. And their link to where Godwin himself said that Hitler comparisons make sense if they make sense. And so figured that, in a case where everyone already keeps alluding to Hitler, at least the audience here might not be so inflexible on Godwinās law as to allow a mention of his name where it actually did seem like a pertinent example.
My mistake, I suppose. Iāll bring it up again if Mexicans and Muslims start literally being loaded onto trains, and see if at least then we havenāt gotten a little more indulgent in noticing what thatās like. In the mean time this singular point in history can remain without cautions for us.
Interesting ā there are lots of posts about not excusing the harm Trumpās support is liable to cause, but I canāt see a single post that even an uncharitable reading would place in the latter category. Are you just assuming that anyone who doesnāt like what is happening there doesnāt care about the people, or am I missing some?
Itās true racism doesnāt go so far back in itself, but ideas like this managed to fill similar roles to racism. Enough people from Greece looked down on the Africans who grew up with cultures were enervated by heat, and thatās for the ones who werenāt already disdainful of other Greeks from the next town over.
Iām pretty sure those also fit Humbabellaās point if sports teams would too. Which reminds me a lot of the Blues versus Greens, although Iām not sure if it quite fits the example of a demagogue using them, since they obviously became more than that and the famous example is an emperor foundering on them.
Maybe the takeaway from the Blues vs Greens isā¦ It doesnāt take much to convince half of people to try and kill the other half.
Prozac in the water supply? Maybe thatās a good thingā¦
O.o
Itās fear-anger-hate-dark side, BTW
Remind where the āexhaustiveā¦surveyā part is in Frankās article? He pulled lines from speeches and got quotes from supporters. He pulled those lines and included those quotes that happen to support his narrative. But they certainly donāt represent all the lines or all the supporters, and I donāt see anywhere in this piece that Frank attempted to tabulate or catalog how much any one of these given concerns compares to any others. Thatās the sort of thing youād expect in even a casual āsurvey,ā much less an āexhaustiveā one.
Still dangerous (think deadly police overreaction), but not quite as bad as the polar opposite
Back in the pile!
So heās the distended asshole of middle America?
I believe you are absolutely correct. Trump is no more, and certainly no less, the buffoon he was in his previous failed announcements and attempts for the presidency. The difference this time is just how disgusted the Republican base is with the partyās establishment. He calls them out, and is being rewarded for it. His personal credibility doesnāt matter one iota. Heās exposing over an over what liars the regulars are.
I think the Democrats havenāt faced this moment yet, but theyāre due too. Probably 2020.
1968 was when the Dems exploded.
