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How a man this crass managed to be President twice, I'll never know. What a fucking disgrace...
Because a plurality of Americans are equally crass, ignorant, selfish, and evil.
There are a metric f*** ton of people in the United States who just want to use the n-word.
He was elected for being who he is, not despite.
We've heard this line before but if you actually read exit polls you get a simultaneously smarter and more depressing view of politics in this country.
Trump was really good at appealing directly to the nation's strongest political capital force, which is the segment of our population who are armed, scared, dumber than toenails, insanely patriotic and can be made to vote for anything without hesitation or research. These are the kinds of forces that have built and destroyed nations over and over, of COURSE the entire establishment Republican and Democrat parties are going to salivate at the idea of one man able to hold so much power and do everything to keep him in the news cycle.
As for voters, most Americans aren't on Lemmy or Reddit or listening to political podcasts. They're listening to music and distraction and anything to get through their mind-numbing days and insecurity about the future. They get 30 minutes of political memes and clips of Joe Rogan on facebook once a week. They had no idea what they were doing at the voting booths, they said as much. The most common responses paint the clear picture that people didn't remember anything from his first term or were also checked out, and everyone was pissed at the price of groceries and Biden was the president so they drew that association between cost of eggs and Biden's face, and Harris seemed like more of Biden. These aren't even unique patterns in politics, there are names for them.
Trump, despite being dour and nasty and never smiled or laughed, that makes him seem more human than the alternatives who make it onto the national stage. He might not be honest, but he's genuine, and that difference is what made a lot of hopeless, uninformed Americans literally shrug and say "lets see what happens."
The horror-movie punchline here is that it will happen again. And again. And again.
I have lived a half century watching these cycles. We've been here before.
That's not patriotism. They're nationalists. That they don't know the difference makes it even worse.
Edit: here's some more info: https://www.britannica.com/topic/Nationalism-vs-Patriotism-Whats-the-Difference
The line is very blurry, but in this context I'm talking about how they're used, they can be used to back any idea if they think it's good for the country and "patriotic." Although all that said, giving up the flag really burned the left and sacrificed a lot of power. Nationalism is a political tool and has been used as a tool for a long time.
My comment is entirely addressing political capital and how power is used to get outcomes.
If you refer to what they understand, you can't use any word. If they don't like something, it's socialism. If they hate it, it's communism. It's woke, it's liberal, it's whatever the hell word they can remember from being indoctrinated You can't lower yourself to their level and still be understandable by normal human beings.
Patriotism is nationalism.
Did you check? Because it isn't.
With respect, but I really don't think we've been HERE before. New laws will be needed, if we survive this.
The social emotional sphere is always different, the stakes are always different, but the level of disconnect, the sheer obliviousness of the American voter and the consequences that come after. That's not new at all. We've had some bad shit go down in this country in the past because of failures of both government and voting populations. That part isn't new at all, and in fact the more I learn about history even before the shit I've witnessed, the more I'm convinced that the USA is far from being dismantled.
It will happen eventually, but even with the worst outcomes from all of this, the system will be maintained because too many people are tied to the predictable comfort of the whole thing, as absurd as it sounds, as uncomfortable as you are, MOST people like it this way and have no concept of it possibly being better and you can't get them to want change.
That force is going to be so solid for so long, that it would take a massive disaster to change course as rapidly as people on both sides seem to think is imminent.
Hes the perfect representation of the american spirit
Voter fraud. Social media mass manipulation. Scapegoating.
Old tricks but still work.
Fox has people brainwashed.
Because he's peak american.you may not like it, but he's the embodiment of what the world thinks when they hear america.
I'm old enough to remember the America of best education, top science and engineering in the world. The America that proudly went to the Moon. The America that developed the Internet on public money.
I guess I can feel the contrast with the idiocracy of today a bit more keenly than younger folks who have never known anything else.
I am honestly sad that I never got to experience that America. My perspective of being a mid 20s American is that of a longing for the America that was all the things you listed. Not a kleptocratic oligarchy held up by social media misinformation and straight idiocy. Ever since the mid 70s: following all the debt caused by the Vietnam War, the disastrous consequences of Reaganomics, and deregulation of finance; income inequality has gotten to a point of insanity.
I'm so sorry. But it was like that. Sure it had its many, many flaws. But it was a place where studying hard, making it to and through college and being educated were valued more highly than being a vocal cretin, where science was respected, craziness was fringe, religion was retreating, working hard gave you a real - albeit small - chance at striking it rich, and where you could expect your children to be better off than you if you did everything right.
All that is gone. I really feel sorry for you and those of your generation who never got to experience the "good" America - at least good if you were white...
I am just jealous of how many older folks got their college education for free or just hundreds of dollars 50+ years ago…
Yes, we gen-Xers got a lot of things for cheap or free, and we had a lot more opportunities for sure - and our boomer parents even more so - because we rode the tail end of the post-WW2 economic boom.
I totally get the jealousy. What I don't get is the hate: I can't count the number of young people who actually hate me because I happen to have had it better than them. Sorry... It's not like I planned it or anything, and I didn't set out to ruin anybody's life after me neither.
I'll have you know tuition was about $1500 to $1800 per year when I was university. I maxed out my loans and I had to pay $105/month for 10 years to pay back that $10k.ny interest rate was something like 9%.
Which I always assumed was a hyperbolic stereotype based on things like the “Florida man” phenomenon.
Turns out it is a reality based description.
Because American voters are stupid. And don't care enough about their own country. But mostly stupid.
And because they cheated and were allowed to get away with it
Yes, because a few people are paid off, and the balance of the people are too stupid.
Democracy is when you have two options, a wrong candidate and a right candidate. And the elections process simply an IQ test
It's the way Americans are bred. Bovine docility to their masters, is in their genes.
Republicans got desperate. They also only vote R.
He represents half the country.
Congress is full of these fuckers. I don't see why the presidency is special
Remember that they were all elected - congresscritters and POTUS alike. That should tell you something about the quality of the electorate.
Coke or Pepsi. Choose your plutocrat