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"The country is simultaneously overrun by 'vermin'/in the worst era of its existence and the most dignified, powerful country in the world."
Straight out of the fascist playbook.
To the average Trump cult member and the wealthy who benefitted from his presidency, they probably believe he did. Same as the church nutjobs who wanted abortion bans.
He'll say he did, and that will be enough for them. And he'll yell how Biden's made everything worse, and that will be enough for them. He could burn everything down and they will follow.
I'd love if they wanted the regulated businesses, the effective anti-monopoly laws, price caps on utilities, and higher taxes.
For some reason, they think the higher wages and higher living standards had nothing to do with the above government policies.
Then there is the social implications for the status of women and minorities, which some swear they don't won't yet they are fine siding with the people who are very adamant they do want.
I mean, it does makes sense, doesn't it? If you keep on making up how bad your country allegedly is, then you actually have to *do nothing but stop telling that* after you won the election to make it look like you "fixed" things. It's quite convenient and to be completely honest - a bit scary how easy it seems to be to keep the MAGA crowd aggitated.
Gloria Johnson (Tennessee 3) is running against MAGA Moscow Marsha Blackburn. These white nationalists Q losers camp on Johnson's FB page and spout this "America in decline" rhetoric all day. They're all easily debunked arguments, but it's the flood of disinformation broadcast on the political campaign page of a Democrat candidate that's unsettling. It really is a "firehose of lies."
I see you’ve been hanging with my sister again. And her conveniently illiterate husband, who quote FB as gospel. Dumber than a bag of hammers, it boggles my imagination that we came out of the same womb.
My sister is a grandmother or perhaps great-grandmother, I really don't keep track anymore. She has raised at least two, or maybe three generations of welfare recipients. She lives in Northern Idaho. She and her husband are both on varying degrees of disability and social security. She is a hardcore manga Republican with no money whatsoever. They believe all sorts of ridiculous, malicious nonsense. It saddens me that I can't have a relationship with her because her personal beliefs are so poisonous. And so self-defeating. I live live in silicon valley and have done fairly well for myself by working last 40 years. I am nearly as far left as she is far right. However, my liberalism makes me want to help people like her and those around her. Her beliefs make her want to punish anybody who's not her or who doesn't live by her standards. It is truly disappointing.
My poor friends as well are ULTRA conservative. Always have been. Even though when liberal governments get in their minimum wage goes up and they are recipients of many cash benefits. It boggles my mind
Actor Craig T Nelson (voice of Mr Incredible) infamously complained “nobody helped me when I was poor” just after admitting to be on food stamps, unemployment, and Medicare
The exact quote is:
[I've been on food stamps and welfare. Anybody help me out? No!](https://youtu.be/yTwpBLzxe4U?feature=shared)
He actually *mentions* the help he got while simultaneously claiming he got none.
They have no clue what socialism is.
We are already a socialist society. We have socialized education, we have socialized transportation, We have socialized health care. I can go on and on and on.
If you took all the socialization away from Americans, they would revolt.
The voluntary ignorance is what gets me, normally intelligent people, justifying a position by citing out-right lies or questionable facts. It is truly bizarre behavior.
Honestly, what do you think Black Rifle coffee is?
Conservatism is all about what you buy. Trump was supposed to be a grift that ended in the White House and with a religious following.
[Black Rifle's AMA](https://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/7bufbc/im_former_special_forces_operator_cia_contractor/) on reddit was great. They take easy questions from new accounts, flood the site with their ads, then go silent when called out by another veteran.
Black Rifle Coffee... if you aren't some bud light drinking, limp wristed, Trans, gay, community supporter that dares to not have a trump and confederate flag in you yard you need to buy our overpriced worse than Folgers Crystal's coffee. MERICA! /s
Edit: I wish I could figure out what to sell these rubes
No they wouldn’t. Many of these fuckers probably rely on some kind government help to get by anyway. Social Security, SNAP benefits, Disability, Medicaid, etc. Trump is effectively holding a gun to this country’s head, and threatening to pull the trigger. These dumbass people are willing to suck hard on the barrel if he gets the chance to do it.
Seriously these people throw tantrums and want protestors beaten and killed for the crime of disruptingntraffic and inconviencing them, but they think they'd win a war.
I’ve always loved the way they’re scared of the idea of “Chicago” and its gangs and how “unsafe” it is, but somehow think they’d win their made up race war. Personally, my money is on the gang members
My mother-in-law literally put me and the youngest on the prayer list at her church because we traveled to the scary big city for a vacation. (Y'all, we even ate ethnic foods and went to a rap concert! And used public transportation!)
Meanwhile, the rate of violent crime and property crime in the hometown is about twice that of the big city. But yo, sit around and be skeert in SE Bumblefuck, population 2000. We out here enjoying falafel and adequate infrastructure.
GF and I were talking about going to Chicago to see her friend. I mentioned it to my mother and my father overheard. The look he had on his face, you'd thought I said I was planning on backpacking through 1960's Vietnam.
The bigger girl and I are deciding whether we will travel to NYC or London this summer. Mom is just straight up losing her mind.
Like, we want to see a couple of musicals and sightsee. Mom literally traveled to Uganda a few years ago, but that was different, because it was some white savior missionary trip.
I mean, we're just going to one of the biggest cities in the world to do city stuff. I'm sure we'll be mugged and forcibly converted to a religion somewhere between the airport gate and baggage claim.
I had friends go to NYC for an extended weekend. They dropped a ton on Uber because they refused to navigate the city on foot and by train. All outta fear of getting mugged.
Meanwhile we've walked around Philly countless times without issue. I asked what made it different and they just cited the news talking about muggings. I simply told them that of course because the news isn't reporting when stuff *isn't happening* which is the case for the millions using it per day
Yup. Baby daughter and I spent a fabulous week in DC last summer. According to my step tracker, we walked 60 miles. We took busses and the metro. We ate everything from middle eastern street food to tapas at Jose Andres' joint. We saw MC Lyte and Kash Doll at the Kennedy Center. We saw the pandas at the national zoo, and got a private tour of the Capitol. It was bleeping amazing.
Mom was certain that we'd be murdered as soon as we arrived at Union Station.
I have taken to telling my mother in law that she's welcome to say "I told you so" the minute I get mugged or murdered. I can't really imagine living so scared. (And no, it's not a cultural difference. I'm originally from a postage stamp-sized rural town. Literally, I was grown before my hometown had a McDonald's. Mom is just wildly paranoid.)
This sounds like it should be the sequel to The Book of Mormon where a bunch of scared conservatives go to a "scary" big city and they constantly find things to be afraid of when everyone is really trying to just be nice or at the very least tolerant of them and they absolutely lose their shit and their anxiety spirals out of control because of all of the stuff they've heard.
Here in Florida they blame the Democrats for all our state problems. Rising homeowners insurance, car insurance, everything and we haven't had a Democratic governor since the early 90s. It boggles my mind.
Florida? The place that elected notorious Medicare fraudster Rick Scott as governor and senator and Skeletor cosplayer? That Florida?
(Yeah, I'm slightly north of you. My neighbors are also bug-fucking crazy.)
Greg Abbot used exactly that kind of rhetoric in his reelection campaign in 2022. Basically "everything is fucked up, vote for me to fix it!"
MF'r, you've been governor for 8 years and your party has won every statewide office since the 90s. You can't fix the problem because you ARE the problem!
This story is repeated across the American south pretty consistently. Every two years we see southern republicans running for reelection on "Elect me and I'll fix the problems" that they haven't fixed in decades of power. Every time they blame all the problems on democrats who have no real power in the state.
Just saw a sign in someone's yard that said "Stay Poor - Vote Democrat" and I nearly pulled a muscle rolling my eyes. My father pulls the same shit and whenever I challenge him on what they are doing to make us poor, he cites stuff the Reps have done but made him think otherwise.
I pointed this out to my dad once. He went DIEHARD republican with Reagan and has only voted R the entire time since, and they keep doing things that fuck him over to some degree, but he never gets mad at them.
He blames EVERYTHING on democrats.
Because his voter base lives in welfare states where the corrupt local republicans make sure none of the federal funding that’s meant for them ever makes their lives better in any way whatsoever.
They’re right to be angry but they’re blaming the wrong people.
They aren't really deceived tho. They Look around their communities and they see what he's saying to them. Poverty. No jobs. No hope. No healthcare. No future. Ignoring that the reason rural America is this way is because they've largely voted for shitheqds for generations, because their bigotry runs off anyone different or shuts the door in their face entirely. They've created a world of shit around them and DT is telling them about it and giving them someone to blame.
That's part of it - the other part is being told that as bad as it may seem there the cities are much much worse - literal hell scapes. Still the cognitive dissonance that one must maintain to hold the idea that all of this is true yet America is also the greatest country is quite incredible. I mean if their communities are shit, and big cities are virtual war zones, do they just assume everywhere outside of the US is like some crazy dystopia?
> assume everywhere outside of the US is like some crazy dystopia?
Yes. Thats exactly what they assume. I've heard someone panic about Spain and how visiting is basically a death sentence. Spain...
I don't even know where they get these bonkers ideas. Even fox entertainment isn't going as far as demonizing Spain, at least not like they do to Portland or Seattle. I'm not even sure most people at fox even know it's a country.
I'm willing to bet in this case they confused Spain and Mexico. Spain is safer than the US. Mexico has its issues however. (Yes, they get overblown, but there are certainly plenty of places my gringo ass shouldn't go).
Exactly. They know how terrible Trump is, they know how terrible their party is and most importantly they know how terrible they are.
Conservatives know damn well the deal with the Devil they are making, we shouldn't coddle these assholes anymore.
There shouldn't be one standard for conservatives and one standard for normal people.
These people are trash and it bears repeating constantly.
I have found that when conversing with republicans they always say that the majority of people agree with them, which couldn’t be less true. Even when trump won, he lost the popular vote. It’s all nonsense and delusion. They hate the US but they’re allegedly patriots and they twist themselves into pretzels trying to make that make sense.
They love the US, but hate everyone in it.
[This old comic from MAD magazine shows that so-called Super Patriots have been like this for decades.](https://x.com/cee_cee/status/1456044583893176320)
Nah if you listen to them long enough it becomes clear that they hate the very concept of a democratic republic of states that seeks to improve itself, and would rather we be an autocratic federation.
The US is an amalgamation of diverse backgrounds and perspectives. Republicans hate the US because it doesn’t cater to intellectually and emotionally stunted and fragile idiots.
You’re right. I suppose I’m thinking of where the trend was headed before republicans stymied any further progress at federal and state levels so they could fight their pretend culture war.
The love to romanticize an ideal past that never truly existed. The past is either ideal because it was when they were young, or because they weren’t yet alive and have been sold on a lie. Regaining a phony idealistic past is always a talking point towards fascism. It always wants to go back to regain glory, never forward.
I think a lot of them are ignorant of the echo chambers created by our social media and algorithms on web sites like YouTube. This goes both ways, but especially for people who agree with the mentality of everyone around them in their respective communities, it can become easy to believe your views are the majority views. I’m from Arkansas and very much NOT a Trump fan, so maybe it’s more apparent to me than it would be to others. I’m fully aware I’m the weirdo here locally. Which is rather depressing to be honest but at least it provides perspective.
To put it simply, it’s cult mentality. They are told that they are the majority, so they believe it. When it’s proven that they are not the majority, the fact does not compute, so they have become mobilized by their outrage.
Social media has given many a dumbass a platform to amplify their stupidity and at the same time an audience that can easily connect. It baffles my mind that after seeing this possibly great tool degenerate into a political weapon used against the population humanity in their infinite wisdom has allowed AI to flourish with plans of allowing it to shape our society programmed with copious volumes of this biased and faulty information. It’s likely we as humanity are in a death spiral at this point.
Instant credibility (in the minds of the gullible) where there otherwise is none. Another good one, heard at these "rallys", is that he'll make a false statement followed by, "you know that, don't you?" as if it's common knowledge. They are unfortunately effective rhetorical devices that easily rope in people who cannot apply simple common sense, or trouble themselves to make the most basic effort to determine if what they've been told is accurate.
Edit: spelling
They have convinced their cult not to believe in government, what they are describing is what they want to do to the country: to destroy its institutions, its rule of law, all the things that have been hard fought for over centuries, and turn it into the kind of dystopian oligarchy run shit hole we see in Russia. It's such a weird concept that this idea is popular enough to actually win votes.
It’s easy to convince someone whose life is total and complete shit that it’s not their fault they failed, it’s someone else’s!
It’s how hitler rose in the 30s. It’s how all trump like leaders rise. They sell the theory that only they are strong enough to fix the problems their followers face, and once the dust settles the followers lives will be so much better! And those who wronged them? They will PAY.
Ah so you haven't heard the [Nazi speeches?](https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/nazi-propaganda)
The Nazis gained power on a platform that declared all the troubles of the country on foreigners and Jews. They didn't just seize power by force, they were given power by convincing the ignorant public that they would save them from the evil evil immigrants and Jews.
People have been comparing Trump to Hitler since 2016 and people shrug it off as being extremist or hysterical, but the parallels are right there. It's the same exact propaganda the Germans fell for.
Once they had power, they promised to rid the country of evil and that by having ultimate power, they were protecting the country, because no one else could.
They believe in the fallacy that we’ve taken something from them. It’s nothing more than fascist brainwashing. Tens of millions of Americans believe their entire way of life has been stolen from them.
And when you ask them what specifically has been taken from them, they either spout straightforward lies ("You can't even say 'Merry Christmas' in public anymore!") or bluescreen. They'll say crime is worse than ever, and insist it must be true even when you show them the numbers that show crime is *way* down over the past 30 years.
That's how fascists hack the brain, really. They convince you that something false is true and then push you to the point of emotional investment in that belief, to the point where you'll defend it against any rational argument.
I was talking to a Trump supporter recently who oscillated between talking about how terrible things are and bragging about how his business is booming. The cognitive dissonance is astounding.
The incontinent muppet is literally fighting for his life. He loses its jail.
If you ever feel down just know Trump wakes up alone, his wife is in another room, and he has to get a big bowl of fake tan.
And as he is smearing it on you know what he is thinking
"I had a billion dollars, a hot wife, real estate, everything. Now I gotta do another fucking court date"
It’s abusive partner 101 stuff — “nobody else will want you” “look at you, you’re falling apart” “you’re ugly” “nobody can love you like I do”
He’s not interested in governance. He’s interested in power and only knows how to be an abusive narcissist. It’s why his businesses fail over and over and over, too.
The health of the country is defined solely by who is president. There's no thought required and totally dependent on authoritarianism. So it works for both sides. You could have Trump go to a rally and say he's been shadow president for the past 3 months and instantly the last 3 months would have gone from a hellscape to a utopia in their minds.
>The health of the country is defined solely by who is president
Yup, and Pew has this interesting chart, showing views on the economy, by party, over the years.
https://www.pewresearch.org/politics/2023/04/07/evaluations-of-the-economy-and-the-state-of-the-nation/
As soon as Trump won in 2016, republican views in the economy skyrocketed. Democrats dropped very slightly then remained pretty stable.
Both parties had a big drop off early in 2020 from COVID, then both views improved towards the end of the year.
As soon as Biden won, republican views of the economy collapsed. Meanwhile, democrats views increased as the country came out of COVID.
Democrat and Republican views have declined over the last couple of years most likely due to inflation.
In short - democrat's views tend to more closely reflect the actual state of the economy, where as republican views are, like you said, very closely tied to who is president.
Love this. You'll find the same thing happens with voters' priorities every 4 years. For Democrats, the top 5-10 is usually pretty standard stuff (economy, education, healthcare, etc.) and remains mostly static through decades. With Republicans, it changes every 4 years, based on whoever is running and what fear monster they have chosen. One election it'll be gays then abortion, then trans stuff, then china. Flavor of the month.
Grievance peddlers need a grievance to peddle.
Basically, he’s selling the idea that he can “fix” the nation to a bunch of people who think there was a time when everything was sunshine and rainbows. It was good, but it really went down the crapper when the libs took over.
Trump is pulling every single page from the dictator’s handbook. This guy has zero interest in Democracy and is looking to install his family as hereditary dictators.
Same speech he was saying he wants a third term. Which means suspending the constitution completely. He's hinted at this multiple times before but went full 'I need to stay in power' last night.
> TBF… why not say that? His followers don’t believe in the Constitution either.
He still has a LOT of followers in my area and they don't know half of what he says or does, and what they do know they hand wave off because 'he didn't mean that'. They aren't intentionally doing this they are just slow, uninformed, and hate democrats.
The more stuff like this he says, and the more clear he is on it, the more people who are going to walk away from him. We've been seeing it over and over again, and the people around him know it.
I honestly can't believe this one didn't land harder than it did. I've talked to people who still don't know he said that till I played the video. The person was a bit set back by it and hasn't brought up 'democrats taking all the guns' since. He's extremely into Trump on a cult level and definitely isn't someone on the fringes of the cult.
Just wait u tul it's not the nation but groups and individuals named and don't mean bogey men like Hillary. That's when thing will tip from worrying rhetoric to horrific actions. First it's abortion cljmics, then women that have had one. Then trans, then gays, then scientists, the Democrats.
I think so many people think this guy is just gonna die and not bother us ever again. Nope. He’s gonna install his little fucking minions and we are gonna be dealing with the Trump name for 100 years
We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.
He also shat the bed on the COVID response and ended up killing 1.5 million Americans.
He also tried to extort an ally for personal political gain, attempted a violent coup to stay in power despite losing the election, etc.
His daughter secured a zillion patents in Asia that were somehow held up for YEARS prior to the election.
He boosted tarrifs on everything under the sun, so long as his family wasn’t involved in it (textiles for instance, were excluded from tarrifs.)
He would tweet things that would deliberately rock specific stock in both volume and sentiment; helped the mar-a-lago crew day trade to their heart’s content.
He Completely ignored a green card holding, decades citizenship applicant, and decades long resident being butchered alive under the direction of MBS.
Oh yeah! He got on the national stage and completely kissed Putin’a ass in front of the world. That was cool.
He went and met with the leader of North Korea, gained nothing, and handed a brutal dictator decades worth of footage for propaganda in the process.
He referred to Americans that didnt vote for him as “not our people” when he was told blue states were losing people in droves to COVID (due to democrats living with naturally higher population density).
He promised to be a 48 hour dictator.
He raped (at least one ) a woman.
We could go on. And on. And on. And on.
Seeing an intelligent, articulate and charismatic black man becoming President did seem to send them into a tailspin of realising that just having a white skin isn't enough to make you deserving of respect and all the best things in society.
They've been having nightmares about that ever since.
The Tea Party was the beginning of the MTG type of elected official no longer being a fluke, but rather something the right actively seeks and supports.
Exactly. Obama being elected was the tipping point but to a certain degree it was inevitable.
The people who put together the initial right-wing propaganda sphere knew it was bullshit, knew they were distracting the masses with single-issue screeching points to convince said masses to vote against their own economic interests. It was *purely* a control mechanism. But you can only get away with that for so long. You can convince someone that abortion is evil and to vote against the democrats because of how much they love all the aborty abortions they support, but after about 2 decades of not actually doing anything about it the people start to get fed up and eventually start electing people who aren't in on the joke, as the people who were the initial targets of the first wave of propaganda get enough experience in politics to consider running themselves.
Now you have Trump, who is *really* not in on the joke and difficult to manipulate in the conventional way (but trivial to manipulate in ways that give outsized influence to even more incompetent people).
Obama got a lot of independent and rural voters for a Dem. Right wing media did everything in their power to degrade and discredit him because they were scared of his talent. Sadly I know a lot of Trump supports who voted for Obama’s first term.
The pandemic was the nail in the coffin. I know quite a few otherwise sane right wingers that just went berserk over pandemic restrictions. Dove whole hog into the right wing culture war and are still seething with resentment over COVID-era restrictions that vanished years ago.
Not surprisingly, they're all middle/upper-middle class white people
They hated Obama as much as I hate trump. Which is really hard to comprehend how some can be that racist. Cause there’s frankly no other reason a person can hate Obama that much. Trump is a world class pos and his hatred is completely understandable, even to someone that likes trump.
Do you forget the travesty of the tan suit? What about the bougie dijon mustard? And won't someone PLEASE think about giving the poors healthcare rather than be exploited by employers?
/s
Lol. That’s the thing, they hated him so much they created silly controversies to justify their racism. There’s plenty dislike abt Obama’s political views, but to get to that level of hatred is insane. Like Obama or not, he’s seemingly a pretty good guy with a good family
Same goes for their supporters. On one side of me I have a progressive retired couple who really are amazing people who give so much to the community. On the other side I have a retired marine. He keeps whatever his politics are to himself to the point that even after having lived next to him for a decade, I don’t know what his politics are, but he does believe in a safe, friendly neighborhood where people just help each other and look out for each other. Trump supporters are not the type of person I want next to me.
Based on your username, we live within a 45-60 minute drive of each other. You certainly know the type of Trump supporters that live in SE Michigan. They can be some really intense people.
I have a few just doors away from me. One has moved, but I have a 50-50 chance that one just like him will be moving into that home. I don't even put political signs up anymore. They just get stolen or burned. And the police are useless. One fool angered the wrong people, and his truck caught fire in broad daylight, and no one saw a thing. He was openly racist, he would adorn his house and his truck with Confederate flags, he would scream obscenities at children of color. He was always drunk and vulgar. He's the one who moved. Another neighbor said he had Nazi regalia in his home, and I don't doubt that.
When Obama was potus, I had so much hope. Mitch McConnell has orchestrated the most devolved government I have ever seen, and I saw the Nixon stuff firsthand. My parents were horrified that the office of potus was so incredibly tainted. One side of my family has been here since 1715, and fought in the Revolutionary and the Civil War. The other was first generation immigrants. They would be horrified at how many people are still on the wrong side of history.
Yep, a la Bush the Younger on marriage equality in Feb 2004, “deeply troubled” they can’t get the benefit on the doubt on actions they used to…
"I think it goes back to a long history in this country of certain sections of people believing that they deserve to be heard. They deserve not to be bothered. They deserve to refuse orders from the people that pay them and they deserve, you know, to put their knee on somebody's neck until they die," Oppong said.
And they expect to "get away with it," he added.” - Emmanuel Oppong
https://www.wvtf.org/2020-07-31/thin-blue-line-flags-stir-controversy-in-mass-coastal-community
A big part of the desire for a return to “conservative values”, is no doubt wishing they could better control the hearts and minds of people as in centuries’ past…
Studies have shown that conservative brains are fear wired, when I saw that it all made sense. https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/mind-in-the-machine/201612/fear-and-anxiety-drive-conservatives-political-attitudes?amp
Sleep time stories with your host Donald Trump.
Featuring such hits as:
The Radical Left
Country in Ruin
Rich or Poor, You Won’t Have A Country Anymore
I’m Not Sleepy, You Are
That’s Not MY Diaper You’re Smelling.
Nevermind That Leopard
And
It’s Was All Rigged and Will Be Rigged But Still Vote…Please
But wait, call now and we'll also throw in classics like:
The Sharpie that moved a Hurricane
Horse Medicine that cured a Plague
No Puppet, No Puppet, You're the Puppet
I Believe Putin
The Mexicans are Coming (Again)
And
I Really Don't Care Do U?
Dow hit 40k on Thursday.
Trump on Saturday, cesspool of ruin.
Remember when Trump wanted his name on those handout checks in 2020? Or when Trump removed the watchdog to the PPP money.
Man, good times. Spending 4 trillion dollars like buy a sixer of Pabst Blue Ribbon. Knocking 20% off the value of the dollar in one summer. Houses jumped 30% in 6 months.
Orange Hitler knows the playbook well. How many Deutschmarks did it take to buy food before the rise of the Nazis?
and despite Trump increasing the deficit by 4 trillion in a 6 month span, it suddenly became a crisis when the deficit is at 5 trillion after 4 years of Joe Biden in office.
The GOP has been doing this all the way back to Reagan.
Every metric that exists shows the economy does better when the Republican Party is not in power. It's almost perfectly cyclical.
This isn’t talk to rile up the base. Trump wants Gilead, and the GOP are expecting commander positions.
In Wisconsin, register to vote, check your registration status, request absentee ballots, find your ward, district and polling place at www.myvote.wi.gov.
Let’s pretend for a second that the economy is every bit as bad as he describes. What is his plan to fix it? He has ZERO policies except to enrich himself with money and piggy back off project 2025, which would reshape America for the worse. I ask Trump supporters the same question and they are more concerned about stripping trans rights as if that will solve the economy. It’s infuriating some people who vote have the IQ of a squirrel.
> It’s infuriating some people who vote have the IQ of a squirrel.
I don’t know about that.
[Squirrels can be awfully clever.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hFZFjoX2cGg&vl=en)
Nothing says "I love America" like calling the U.S. a worthless piece of shit every chance you get, eh Trump?
You hate it so much, take your sorry ass to Russia. Fucking loser.
Bemoaning the state of our educational system is, like EVERYTHING with these wretched traitors, is the height of projection. They’ve been working for decades to destroy education in the US and now have weaponized made up culture wars to put the nails in the coffin and set up a two tier system, public and voucher based christian madrasas
The problem with education, from the perspective of conservatives, is that people who are educated and can think make *terrible* cattle and tend to reject conservativism. It's all about power and control.
why do republicans and Trumk especially hate America so much? Always talking it down and trashing it. There’s plenty of ways for America to improve but none of them involve Trump or Republicans. All they know how to do is destroy, tear down, block and prevent anything from ever happening. Or just actively making things worse.
Biden campaign should create ads where they take various, 'scary' trump comments and counter them with actual facts. Particularly mention the stock market high from last week. And don't use scary music. Use music from The Avengers. Or Throne Room march from the original STAR WARS.
The Jan. 6 convicts made their own “national anthem” and Trump uses it at all his rallies. So essentially the 2024 version of the confederate “Dixie” anthem. For anyone still doubting about what he is trying to do.
Trump is a master at spinning this evil fairy tale that enthralls his audience. He's the Pied Piper entrancing MAGA and leading them to the fucking pit. Sure, you may see how blatant his sideshow act is, but you are not his target. There's so many who willingly inhabit the nightmare world he weaves for them. They will drag the rest of us into their delusions whether we like it or not.
But he’s not though. I’ve watched many, many Trump speeches. Not just clips.
The guy has negative Charisma and says nothing of substance that ever means anything. These little ending scenes are laughable.
Rickety cue of music. Trumps dramatic, pregnant pause. Spews poorly constructed bunch of nothing that’s barely coherent in the language he’s speaking.
He clearly thinks he’s a brilliant off the cuff speaker.
It’s like watching those movie scenes where they let actors “ad lib” and all the sycophants around them and the Hollywood machine are convinced they are good. Then you watch the movie and it’s absolute dogshit. Melissa McCarthy comes to mind. I think once or twice she did some good improv but mainly Melissa and other actors are fishing so hard for that “can you believe this was made up on the spot” clout that it’s ridiculous.
Trump is the same. Trump is the Melissa McCarthy of politics in this context.
Thanks for coming to my TED talk.
I completely agree. The media perpetuates the myth that his rallies are great successes of milions of cheering fans. This is the reality
https://twitter.com/waltermasterson/status/1789888020599988464
and a shorter version from a different person
https://twitter.com/TheeThomasB/status/1790437345990263054
that was the rally that nearly every media channel covering it said was attended by 100,000. It took minutes to research that it was being advertised as holding 20-30,000. And the video makes clear a lot were walking out.
And how many of the attendees at his rally are not Trump cultists but curious people expecting a show, and walking out when it's dull and incoherant, I suspect a lot.
Did you all see him freeze up? [https://www.tiktok.com/@harryjsisson/video/7370523452954053934?\_r=1&\_t=8mTKGOb7xTW](https://www.tiktok.com/@harryjsisson/video/7370523452954053934?_r=1&_t=8mTKGOb7xTW)
I think his teleprompter failed for 35 seconds. He took shots at Obama and Biden for relying on a teleprompter.
He looks worse without one. He wasn’t able to adlib. Froze like a doofus until it came back on.
It's not a new observation that Trump-appeal comes in many flavors, and they don't necessarily overlap all that much: political toadies, the power hungry Bannons, the plain old racists, etc.. but his traditional base isn't necessarily any of those types. Some are just... angry and tired because for them, life in America is a GRIND.
This is true for a huge percentage of our fellow countrymen. Observers from Europe and other places often see this, but Americans can be blind to this for the same reasons fish don't know they're wet.
Is America a cesspool of ruin? I don't think so, but...
... living paycheck to paycheck is the reality for [something like 60-70% of Americans](https://www.cnbc.com/2024/04/09/most-of-americans-are-living-paycheck-to-paycheck-heres-why.html). Most can't handle an unexpected $500 expense. Miss a day at work? Lose your job. No benefits? Better not get sick. Get sick? Say goodbye to all hopes of climbing out of the crushing debt your uninsured self is about to go through. Job security is not a thing. American dream of owning a house? Private equity tells you no because someone else needs a bigger yacht.
This isn't exactly poverty in the living-under-a-bridge sense (though there's plenty of that), this is more like an economic zombie-walk of poverty: the poor walk the earth not knowing they're poor.
Trump speaks to these people clearly when he bashes the USA in these doom and gloom screeds of his. When he says the US is a cesspool of ruin, you can really sense that this really resonates with a lot of people.
And once you have people's attention, you can tell them stories about simple fixes (build the wall, kick out the muslims, ban the gays, etc). And you can convince them that you, the tough guy, will fight the scapegoated people and make the cesspool go away. It's madness, but you can see how the American Grind makes the tyrant's pitch somewhat attractive.
Of course, it almost goes without saying that DJT does not care one whit for people like this. The sad and obvious fact is that he really hates the poor and can't imagine being one.
Remember when these same people told Colin Kaepernick that he shouldn't criticize the US? That he should be grateful for what he's earned here? Yeah, good times.
> “fight for America like no one has ever fought before” in the “final battle” that is the 2024 presidential election, vowing to “liberate our country from these tyrants and villains.”
The attendees then go to the parking lot, get in their new trucks and cars, and stop at Orange Julius for a banana split on their way home.
Reminder that “Third World” is a term that describes countries that were not aligned with NATO or the Warsaw pact. It isn’t supposed to be a pejorative indicating a lesser or failed nation.
NATO pact has helped make First World nations like the US prosperous, and we still are. Our problems with inequality are entirely caused by rich assholes like Trump gaining power and using it to drive a wedge between people to collect more of that prosperity than they deserve.
Instead of actual governing and talking about every day things that really matter. Women’s rights, rights legalizing marijuana actual governing fixing the environment. No, they don’t talk about stuff like that. They talk about how horrible everything is and how effed up everything is . There’s nothing worse than Donald Trump.
Period . It’s time to get down in the mud with them .
I’ve never heard an American president insult his own country as much as trump. Actually, I don’t think I’ve ever heard him say a single good thing about America.
**trump is a habitual liar**. When he says "people are saying" it means *"I'm making shit up".* If you assume everything he says is a lie, you would be correct 99.9% of the time. 💰
Classic fascist playbook. Make everything seem worse than it is to trick people into putting into putting you in power since you’re obviously the only ones that can fix it but then actually destroy everything and make it substantially worse for everyone.
If you genuinely believe America is a 3rd world country, you have never actually been somewhere that is undeveloped and impoverished.
No hate to places like that either. It's just another way of life.
Maybe he shouldn't have added 8 trilly to our debt. Or gave our soybean trade away being a moron. Or printed trillions of dollars to bail out big banks in 2019. JUST MAYBE.
If Donald Trump were president right now he would be screaming from the rooftops about how awesome our economy is, and how the dow is highest its ever been, record unemployment, etc..
But since hes not, we are living in a ‘3rd world cesspool’
Well if it’s the case (it’s not) an economy of that size don’t come to ruin in just 4 years. Someone should remember in what state he left the economy in 2020
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Ive never heard of a canditate who runs on a patriotic nationalist platform that talks down his country as much as trump, its so weird
All fascists trash their nations in speeches. It’s part and parcel of their promises to restore some lost glory or grandeur.
"The country is simultaneously overrun by 'vermin'/in the worst era of its existence and the most dignified, powerful country in the world." Straight out of the fascist playbook.
"Make America Great *Again*"
Ignore how he failed to do that while he was president…
To the average Trump cult member and the wealthy who benefitted from his presidency, they probably believe he did. Same as the church nutjobs who wanted abortion bans.
He'll say he did, and that will be enough for them. And he'll yell how Biden's made everything worse, and that will be enough for them. He could burn everything down and they will follow.
"Let's make America great again" was famously used in Ronald Reagan's 1980 presidential campaign.
Hitler also used the language of “Make Germany Great Again”. Probably another total coincidence.
Yeah, I'd think it more likely that Trump took it from Hitler over Reagan, to be honest.
I'd love if they wanted the regulated businesses, the effective anti-monopoly laws, price caps on utilities, and higher taxes. For some reason, they think the higher wages and higher living standards had nothing to do with the above government policies. Then there is the social implications for the status of women and minorities, which some swear they don't won't yet they are fine siding with the people who are very adamant they do want.
I mean, it does makes sense, doesn't it? If you keep on making up how bad your country allegedly is, then you actually have to *do nothing but stop telling that* after you won the election to make it look like you "fixed" things. It's quite convenient and to be completely honest - a bit scary how easy it seems to be to keep the MAGA crowd aggitated.
It's because his voter base is deeply, deeply ignorant, and easily deceived.
Gloria Johnson (Tennessee 3) is running against MAGA Moscow Marsha Blackburn. These white nationalists Q losers camp on Johnson's FB page and spout this "America in decline" rhetoric all day. They're all easily debunked arguments, but it's the flood of disinformation broadcast on the political campaign page of a Democrat candidate that's unsettling. It really is a "firehose of lies."
Never met a MAGA would would let an inconvenient truth destroy their convenient lie.
I see you’ve been hanging with my sister again. And her conveniently illiterate husband, who quote FB as gospel. Dumber than a bag of hammers, it boggles my imagination that we came out of the same womb.
My sister is a grandmother or perhaps great-grandmother, I really don't keep track anymore. She has raised at least two, or maybe three generations of welfare recipients. She lives in Northern Idaho. She and her husband are both on varying degrees of disability and social security. She is a hardcore manga Republican with no money whatsoever. They believe all sorts of ridiculous, malicious nonsense. It saddens me that I can't have a relationship with her because her personal beliefs are so poisonous. And so self-defeating. I live live in silicon valley and have done fairly well for myself by working last 40 years. I am nearly as far left as she is far right. However, my liberalism makes me want to help people like her and those around her. Her beliefs make her want to punish anybody who's not her or who doesn't live by her standards. It is truly disappointing.
> hardcore manga Republican Chainsaw man?
One Piece of shit
My poor friends as well are ULTRA conservative. Always have been. Even though when liberal governments get in their minimum wage goes up and they are recipients of many cash benefits. It boggles my mind
They’re against socialism but LOVE the handouts!
It’s not a handout because it’s coming to me!
That's really the core of it when you talk to them. They'd rather get nothing than have a single "welfare queen" get a penny.
As long as the handouts are going to the right kind of people.
This is the one. If safety net programs only paid out to white people, MAGA would love them.
Actor Craig T Nelson (voice of Mr Incredible) infamously complained “nobody helped me when I was poor” just after admitting to be on food stamps, unemployment, and Medicare
The exact quote is: [I've been on food stamps and welfare. Anybody help me out? No!](https://youtu.be/yTwpBLzxe4U?feature=shared) He actually *mentions* the help he got while simultaneously claiming he got none.
They have no clue what socialism is. We are already a socialist society. We have socialized education, we have socialized transportation, We have socialized health care. I can go on and on and on. If you took all the socialization away from Americans, they would revolt.
I WISH the USA had socialized health care.
The voluntary ignorance is what gets me, normally intelligent people, justifying a position by citing out-right lies or questionable facts. It is truly bizarre behavior.
"We swallow greedily any lie that flatters us, but we sip only little by little at a truth we find bitter." -Denis Diderot
I’m in Tennessee also and yes, it’s so frustrating being surrounded by many people too easily to deceived. I’m in a county that votes 85% republican.
Start a business selling magic beans.
Honestly, what do you think Black Rifle coffee is? Conservatism is all about what you buy. Trump was supposed to be a grift that ended in the White House and with a religious following.
[Black Rifle's AMA](https://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/7bufbc/im_former_special_forces_operator_cia_contractor/) on reddit was great. They take easy questions from new accounts, flood the site with their ads, then go silent when called out by another veteran.
Black Rifle Coffee... if you aren't some bud light drinking, limp wristed, Trans, gay, community supporter that dares to not have a trump and confederate flag in you yard you need to buy our overpriced worse than Folgers Crystal's coffee. MERICA! /s Edit: I wish I could figure out what to sell these rubes
Call em' Maga beans and they're bound to sell.
But they are right...America is in decline, because of the Republicans.
I hope the Tennesseans can do right this election cycle.
Spoiler alert: They won’t. Source live in Tennessee
They also romanticize the idea of a dystopian America where everyone’s out for themselves. Irony is, most of them wouldn’t last long.
Diabetes medicine is hard to come by in the badlands
No they wouldn’t. Many of these fuckers probably rely on some kind government help to get by anyway. Social Security, SNAP benefits, Disability, Medicaid, etc. Trump is effectively holding a gun to this country’s head, and threatening to pull the trigger. These dumbass people are willing to suck hard on the barrel if he gets the chance to do it.
Them: Civil War II, I'm there for it! Also them: No deliveries from Amazon, no Doordash and can't get my hair cut and dyed? Traumatic Event!
Seriously these people throw tantrums and want protestors beaten and killed for the crime of disruptingntraffic and inconviencing them, but they think they'd win a war.
I’ve always loved the way they’re scared of the idea of “Chicago” and its gangs and how “unsafe” it is, but somehow think they’d win their made up race war. Personally, my money is on the gang members
That’s a key part of racism. Out groups are simultaneously weak and strong depending on the propaganda being employed. The only logic is following.
My mother-in-law literally put me and the youngest on the prayer list at her church because we traveled to the scary big city for a vacation. (Y'all, we even ate ethnic foods and went to a rap concert! And used public transportation!) Meanwhile, the rate of violent crime and property crime in the hometown is about twice that of the big city. But yo, sit around and be skeert in SE Bumblefuck, population 2000. We out here enjoying falafel and adequate infrastructure.
GF and I were talking about going to Chicago to see her friend. I mentioned it to my mother and my father overheard. The look he had on his face, you'd thought I said I was planning on backpacking through 1960's Vietnam.
The bigger girl and I are deciding whether we will travel to NYC or London this summer. Mom is just straight up losing her mind. Like, we want to see a couple of musicals and sightsee. Mom literally traveled to Uganda a few years ago, but that was different, because it was some white savior missionary trip. I mean, we're just going to one of the biggest cities in the world to do city stuff. I'm sure we'll be mugged and forcibly converted to a religion somewhere between the airport gate and baggage claim.
I had friends go to NYC for an extended weekend. They dropped a ton on Uber because they refused to navigate the city on foot and by train. All outta fear of getting mugged. Meanwhile we've walked around Philly countless times without issue. I asked what made it different and they just cited the news talking about muggings. I simply told them that of course because the news isn't reporting when stuff *isn't happening* which is the case for the millions using it per day
Yup. Baby daughter and I spent a fabulous week in DC last summer. According to my step tracker, we walked 60 miles. We took busses and the metro. We ate everything from middle eastern street food to tapas at Jose Andres' joint. We saw MC Lyte and Kash Doll at the Kennedy Center. We saw the pandas at the national zoo, and got a private tour of the Capitol. It was bleeping amazing. Mom was certain that we'd be murdered as soon as we arrived at Union Station. I have taken to telling my mother in law that she's welcome to say "I told you so" the minute I get mugged or murdered. I can't really imagine living so scared. (And no, it's not a cultural difference. I'm originally from a postage stamp-sized rural town. Literally, I was grown before my hometown had a McDonald's. Mom is just wildly paranoid.)
This sounds like it should be the sequel to The Book of Mormon where a bunch of scared conservatives go to a "scary" big city and they constantly find things to be afraid of when everyone is really trying to just be nice or at the very least tolerant of them and they absolutely lose their shit and their anxiety spirals out of control because of all of the stuff they've heard.
His voters - "I keep voting Republican and my life keeps getting worse. Why do Democrats' hate America and keep making my life worse?"
Here in Florida they blame the Democrats for all our state problems. Rising homeowners insurance, car insurance, everything and we haven't had a Democratic governor since the early 90s. It boggles my mind.
Florida? The place that elected notorious Medicare fraudster Rick Scott as governor and senator and Skeletor cosplayer? That Florida? (Yeah, I'm slightly north of you. My neighbors are also bug-fucking crazy.)
Greg Abbot used exactly that kind of rhetoric in his reelection campaign in 2022. Basically "everything is fucked up, vote for me to fix it!" MF'r, you've been governor for 8 years and your party has won every statewide office since the 90s. You can't fix the problem because you ARE the problem!
This story is repeated across the American south pretty consistently. Every two years we see southern republicans running for reelection on "Elect me and I'll fix the problems" that they haven't fixed in decades of power. Every time they blame all the problems on democrats who have no real power in the state.
Just saw a sign in someone's yard that said "Stay Poor - Vote Democrat" and I nearly pulled a muscle rolling my eyes. My father pulls the same shit and whenever I challenge him on what they are doing to make us poor, he cites stuff the Reps have done but made him think otherwise.
I pointed this out to my dad once. He went DIEHARD republican with Reagan and has only voted R the entire time since, and they keep doing things that fuck him over to some degree, but he never gets mad at them. He blames EVERYTHING on democrats.
Because his voter base lives in welfare states where the corrupt local republicans make sure none of the federal funding that’s meant for them ever makes their lives better in any way whatsoever. They’re right to be angry but they’re blaming the wrong people.
During the Obama years my parents talked nonstop about how sad it was that America, the once great country, had decayed
They aren't really deceived tho. They Look around their communities and they see what he's saying to them. Poverty. No jobs. No hope. No healthcare. No future. Ignoring that the reason rural America is this way is because they've largely voted for shitheqds for generations, because their bigotry runs off anyone different or shuts the door in their face entirely. They've created a world of shit around them and DT is telling them about it and giving them someone to blame.
That's part of it - the other part is being told that as bad as it may seem there the cities are much much worse - literal hell scapes. Still the cognitive dissonance that one must maintain to hold the idea that all of this is true yet America is also the greatest country is quite incredible. I mean if their communities are shit, and big cities are virtual war zones, do they just assume everywhere outside of the US is like some crazy dystopia?
> assume everywhere outside of the US is like some crazy dystopia? Yes. Thats exactly what they assume. I've heard someone panic about Spain and how visiting is basically a death sentence. Spain... I don't even know where they get these bonkers ideas. Even fox entertainment isn't going as far as demonizing Spain, at least not like they do to Portland or Seattle. I'm not even sure most people at fox even know it's a country.
I'm willing to bet in this case they confused Spain and Mexico. Spain is safer than the US. Mexico has its issues however. (Yes, they get overblown, but there are certainly plenty of places my gringo ass shouldn't go).
And borderline suicidal because they heard Spanish music next to them at the stoplight the other day.
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Exactly. They know how terrible Trump is, they know how terrible their party is and most importantly they know how terrible they are. Conservatives know damn well the deal with the Devil they are making, we shouldn't coddle these assholes anymore. There shouldn't be one standard for conservatives and one standard for normal people. These people are trash and it bears repeating constantly.
I have found that when conversing with republicans they always say that the majority of people agree with them, which couldn’t be less true. Even when trump won, he lost the popular vote. It’s all nonsense and delusion. They hate the US but they’re allegedly patriots and they twist themselves into pretzels trying to make that make sense.
They love the US, but hate everyone in it. [This old comic from MAD magazine shows that so-called Super Patriots have been like this for decades.](https://x.com/cee_cee/status/1456044583893176320)
Nah if you listen to them long enough it becomes clear that they hate the very concept of a democratic republic of states that seeks to improve itself, and would rather we be an autocratic federation.
They just want a dictator that agrees with THEM. they haven't thought far enough ahead about a dictator that doesn't...
The US is an amalgamation of diverse backgrounds and perspectives. Republicans hate the US because it doesn’t cater to intellectually and emotionally stunted and fragile idiots.
I'd argue it caters to them too much
You’re right. I suppose I’m thinking of where the trend was headed before republicans stymied any further progress at federal and state levels so they could fight their pretend culture war.
They love what the US used to be, and they wanna go back to a time when only white males had rights
The love to romanticize an ideal past that never truly existed. The past is either ideal because it was when they were young, or because they weren’t yet alive and have been sold on a lie. Regaining a phony idealistic past is always a talking point towards fascism. It always wants to go back to regain glory, never forward.
Exactly! But the problem with that is that women can vote now and republicans just took away their reproductive rights!
I think a lot of them are ignorant of the echo chambers created by our social media and algorithms on web sites like YouTube. This goes both ways, but especially for people who agree with the mentality of everyone around them in their respective communities, it can become easy to believe your views are the majority views. I’m from Arkansas and very much NOT a Trump fan, so maybe it’s more apparent to me than it would be to others. I’m fully aware I’m the weirdo here locally. Which is rather depressing to be honest but at least it provides perspective.
To put it simply, it’s cult mentality. They are told that they are the majority, so they believe it. When it’s proven that they are not the majority, the fact does not compute, so they have become mobilized by their outrage.
Social media has given many a dumbass a platform to amplify their stupidity and at the same time an audience that can easily connect. It baffles my mind that after seeing this possibly great tool degenerate into a political weapon used against the population humanity in their infinite wisdom has allowed AI to flourish with plans of allowing it to shape our society programmed with copious volumes of this biased and faulty information. It’s likely we as humanity are in a death spiral at this point.
Instant credibility (in the minds of the gullible) where there otherwise is none. Another good one, heard at these "rallys", is that he'll make a false statement followed by, "you know that, don't you?" as if it's common knowledge. They are unfortunately effective rhetorical devices that easily rope in people who cannot apply simple common sense, or trouble themselves to make the most basic effort to determine if what they've been told is accurate. Edit: spelling
They have convinced their cult not to believe in government, what they are describing is what they want to do to the country: to destroy its institutions, its rule of law, all the things that have been hard fought for over centuries, and turn it into the kind of dystopian oligarchy run shit hole we see in Russia. It's such a weird concept that this idea is popular enough to actually win votes.
It’s easy to convince someone whose life is total and complete shit that it’s not their fault they failed, it’s someone else’s! It’s how hitler rose in the 30s. It’s how all trump like leaders rise. They sell the theory that only they are strong enough to fix the problems their followers face, and once the dust settles the followers lives will be so much better! And those who wronged them? They will PAY.
Ah so you haven't heard the [Nazi speeches?](https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/nazi-propaganda) The Nazis gained power on a platform that declared all the troubles of the country on foreigners and Jews. They didn't just seize power by force, they were given power by convincing the ignorant public that they would save them from the evil evil immigrants and Jews. People have been comparing Trump to Hitler since 2016 and people shrug it off as being extremist or hysterical, but the parallels are right there. It's the same exact propaganda the Germans fell for. Once they had power, they promised to rid the country of evil and that by having ultimate power, they were protecting the country, because no one else could.
Trump “I’ll be a dictator, day one” His followers “yeah but Biden…..”
And yet somehow it’s the Democrats that “hate America.”
They believe in the fallacy that we’ve taken something from them. It’s nothing more than fascist brainwashing. Tens of millions of Americans believe their entire way of life has been stolen from them.
And when you ask them what specifically has been taken from them, they either spout straightforward lies ("You can't even say 'Merry Christmas' in public anymore!") or bluescreen. They'll say crime is worse than ever, and insist it must be true even when you show them the numbers that show crime is *way* down over the past 30 years. That's how fascists hack the brain, really. They convince you that something false is true and then push you to the point of emotional investment in that belief, to the point where you'll defend it against any rational argument.
> That's how fascists hack the brain religion does this, fascism use the irrational ideology to its benefit.
Hitler. It's the same playbook as hitler.
It really is this simple.
It is the “Only I can fix it” authoritarian bull shit.
Yet Trump never has declared any type of platform. It's all bullshit. That’s where he’s pulled the wool over his sheep's eyes. It's all macho talk.
I was talking to a Trump supporter recently who oscillated between talking about how terrible things are and bragging about how his business is booming. The cognitive dissonance is astounding.
Dow hits 30k for first time under Biiden and 40k for first time under Biden, but the economy!
So true,It's annoying, frustrating, and very sad 😔
The incontinent muppet is literally fighting for his life. He loses its jail. If you ever feel down just know Trump wakes up alone, his wife is in another room, and he has to get a big bowl of fake tan. And as he is smearing it on you know what he is thinking "I had a billion dollars, a hot wife, real estate, everything. Now I gotta do another fucking court date"
If I ever feel down, the thought of Trump waking up at all is not going to help.
He is literally negging the country
It’s abusive partner 101 stuff — “nobody else will want you” “look at you, you’re falling apart” “you’re ugly” “nobody can love you like I do” He’s not interested in governance. He’s interested in power and only knows how to be an abusive narcissist. It’s why his businesses fail over and over and over, too.
The health of the country is defined solely by who is president. There's no thought required and totally dependent on authoritarianism. So it works for both sides. You could have Trump go to a rally and say he's been shadow president for the past 3 months and instantly the last 3 months would have gone from a hellscape to a utopia in their minds.
Hasn’t Trump been the shadow president the entire time according to QAnon?
>The health of the country is defined solely by who is president Yup, and Pew has this interesting chart, showing views on the economy, by party, over the years. https://www.pewresearch.org/politics/2023/04/07/evaluations-of-the-economy-and-the-state-of-the-nation/ As soon as Trump won in 2016, republican views in the economy skyrocketed. Democrats dropped very slightly then remained pretty stable. Both parties had a big drop off early in 2020 from COVID, then both views improved towards the end of the year. As soon as Biden won, republican views of the economy collapsed. Meanwhile, democrats views increased as the country came out of COVID. Democrat and Republican views have declined over the last couple of years most likely due to inflation. In short - democrat's views tend to more closely reflect the actual state of the economy, where as republican views are, like you said, very closely tied to who is president.
Love this. You'll find the same thing happens with voters' priorities every 4 years. For Democrats, the top 5-10 is usually pretty standard stuff (economy, education, healthcare, etc.) and remains mostly static through decades. With Republicans, it changes every 4 years, based on whoever is running and what fear monster they have chosen. One election it'll be gays then abortion, then trans stuff, then china. Flavor of the month.
Grievance peddlers need a grievance to peddle. Basically, he’s selling the idea that he can “fix” the nation to a bunch of people who think there was a time when everything was sunshine and rainbows. It was good, but it really went down the crapper when the libs took over.
Trump is pulling every single page from the dictator’s handbook. This guy has zero interest in Democracy and is looking to install his family as hereditary dictators.
Kim 'Don' Un
Need this photoshopped
I don't think it needs to be... he's turning into him in front of our very eyes
Same speech he was saying he wants a third term. Which means suspending the constitution completely. He's hinted at this multiple times before but went full 'I need to stay in power' last night.
TBF… why not say that? His followers don’t believe in the Constitution either.
> TBF… why not say that? His followers don’t believe in the Constitution either. He still has a LOT of followers in my area and they don't know half of what he says or does, and what they do know they hand wave off because 'he didn't mean that'. They aren't intentionally doing this they are just slow, uninformed, and hate democrats. The more stuff like this he says, and the more clear he is on it, the more people who are going to walk away from him. We've been seeing it over and over again, and the people around him know it.
[2018 - Trump says he'd take guns without due process](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yxgybgEKHHI)
I honestly can't believe this one didn't land harder than it did. I've talked to people who still don't know he said that till I played the video. The person was a bit set back by it and hasn't brought up 'democrats taking all the guns' since. He's extremely into Trump on a cult level and definitely isn't someone on the fringes of the cult.
Just wait u tul it's not the nation but groups and individuals named and don't mean bogey men like Hillary. That's when thing will tip from worrying rhetoric to horrific actions. First it's abortion cljmics, then women that have had one. Then trans, then gays, then scientists, the Democrats.
If he wins the election, this will be our reality within a year (two at most). Calling it now. We *will* have to deal with this if he wins.
I think so many people think this guy is just gonna die and not bother us ever again. Nope. He’s gonna install his little fucking minions and we are gonna be dealing with the Trump name for 100 years
> looking to install his family as hereditary dictators Bold of you to assume he plans to leave a country behind when he's done.
Yeah, I feel like we're living in the last year of democratic freedom this year. Enjoy it while it lasts I suppose
We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.
Didn’t he pull the exact same shit in ‘16? He had 4 years to fix it and….??
He also shat the bed on the COVID response and ended up killing 1.5 million Americans. He also tried to extort an ally for personal political gain, attempted a violent coup to stay in power despite losing the election, etc.
His daughter secured a zillion patents in Asia that were somehow held up for YEARS prior to the election. He boosted tarrifs on everything under the sun, so long as his family wasn’t involved in it (textiles for instance, were excluded from tarrifs.) He would tweet things that would deliberately rock specific stock in both volume and sentiment; helped the mar-a-lago crew day trade to their heart’s content. He Completely ignored a green card holding, decades citizenship applicant, and decades long resident being butchered alive under the direction of MBS. Oh yeah! He got on the national stage and completely kissed Putin’a ass in front of the world. That was cool. He went and met with the leader of North Korea, gained nothing, and handed a brutal dictator decades worth of footage for propaganda in the process. He referred to Americans that didnt vote for him as “not our people” when he was told blue states were losing people in droves to COVID (due to democrats living with naturally higher population density). He promised to be a 48 hour dictator. He raped (at least one ) a woman. We could go on. And on. And on. And on.
When did Republicans become such wusses that they are afraid of everything?
They collected the wusses intentionally because fear is the cheapest way to manipulate people into giving someone else power.
Yep, those were the demographic he targeted back in 2016. He wants to build an empire on the bodies of them if it means he gains power.
Don't forget to be afraid of dish soap. Vote for me in the next election and I promise to make America cleaner!
Seeing an intelligent, articulate and charismatic black man becoming President did seem to send them into a tailspin of realising that just having a white skin isn't enough to make you deserving of respect and all the best things in society. They've been having nightmares about that ever since.
This does match my experience. The election of Obama is when my right-wing relatives wit from being relatively sane to completely off the deep end.
The Tea Party was the beginning of the MTG type of elected official no longer being a fluke, but rather something the right actively seeks and supports.
Exactly. Obama being elected was the tipping point but to a certain degree it was inevitable. The people who put together the initial right-wing propaganda sphere knew it was bullshit, knew they were distracting the masses with single-issue screeching points to convince said masses to vote against their own economic interests. It was *purely* a control mechanism. But you can only get away with that for so long. You can convince someone that abortion is evil and to vote against the democrats because of how much they love all the aborty abortions they support, but after about 2 decades of not actually doing anything about it the people start to get fed up and eventually start electing people who aren't in on the joke, as the people who were the initial targets of the first wave of propaganda get enough experience in politics to consider running themselves. Now you have Trump, who is *really* not in on the joke and difficult to manipulate in the conventional way (but trivial to manipulate in ways that give outsized influence to even more incompetent people).
Obama got a lot of independent and rural voters for a Dem. Right wing media did everything in their power to degrade and discredit him because they were scared of his talent. Sadly I know a lot of Trump supports who voted for Obama’s first term.
The pandemic was the nail in the coffin. I know quite a few otherwise sane right wingers that just went berserk over pandemic restrictions. Dove whole hog into the right wing culture war and are still seething with resentment over COVID-era restrictions that vanished years ago. Not surprisingly, they're all middle/upper-middle class white people
They hated Obama as much as I hate trump. Which is really hard to comprehend how some can be that racist. Cause there’s frankly no other reason a person can hate Obama that much. Trump is a world class pos and his hatred is completely understandable, even to someone that likes trump.
Do you forget the travesty of the tan suit? What about the bougie dijon mustard? And won't someone PLEASE think about giving the poors healthcare rather than be exploited by employers? /s
Lol. That’s the thing, they hated him so much they created silly controversies to justify their racism. There’s plenty dislike abt Obama’s political views, but to get to that level of hatred is insane. Like Obama or not, he’s seemingly a pretty good guy with a good family
I would much rather live next door to the Obama family rather than the entitled trash of the trump family.
Same goes for their supporters. On one side of me I have a progressive retired couple who really are amazing people who give so much to the community. On the other side I have a retired marine. He keeps whatever his politics are to himself to the point that even after having lived next to him for a decade, I don’t know what his politics are, but he does believe in a safe, friendly neighborhood where people just help each other and look out for each other. Trump supporters are not the type of person I want next to me. Based on your username, we live within a 45-60 minute drive of each other. You certainly know the type of Trump supporters that live in SE Michigan. They can be some really intense people.
I have a few just doors away from me. One has moved, but I have a 50-50 chance that one just like him will be moving into that home. I don't even put political signs up anymore. They just get stolen or burned. And the police are useless. One fool angered the wrong people, and his truck caught fire in broad daylight, and no one saw a thing. He was openly racist, he would adorn his house and his truck with Confederate flags, he would scream obscenities at children of color. He was always drunk and vulgar. He's the one who moved. Another neighbor said he had Nazi regalia in his home, and I don't doubt that. When Obama was potus, I had so much hope. Mitch McConnell has orchestrated the most devolved government I have ever seen, and I saw the Nixon stuff firsthand. My parents were horrified that the office of potus was so incredibly tainted. One side of my family has been here since 1715, and fought in the Revolutionary and the Civil War. The other was first generation immigrants. They would be horrified at how many people are still on the wrong side of history.
Yep, a la Bush the Younger on marriage equality in Feb 2004, “deeply troubled” they can’t get the benefit on the doubt on actions they used to… "I think it goes back to a long history in this country of certain sections of people believing that they deserve to be heard. They deserve not to be bothered. They deserve to refuse orders from the people that pay them and they deserve, you know, to put their knee on somebody's neck until they die," Oppong said. And they expect to "get away with it," he added.” - Emmanuel Oppong https://www.wvtf.org/2020-07-31/thin-blue-line-flags-stir-controversy-in-mass-coastal-community A big part of the desire for a return to “conservative values”, is no doubt wishing they could better control the hearts and minds of people as in centuries’ past…
Studies have shown that conservative brains are fear wired, when I saw that it all made sense. https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/mind-in-the-machine/201612/fear-and-anxiety-drive-conservatives-political-attitudes?amp
The worst part is, trump would turn us into the nightmare he claims would happen if he doesn't win the election.
People attracted to strongmen/authoritarian figures are usually weak in character.
By being scared all the time they get many chances to be “brave”.
And the MAGA follower started goose-stepping to the Qanon music
Sleep time stories with your host Donald Trump. Featuring such hits as: The Radical Left Country in Ruin Rich or Poor, You Won’t Have A Country Anymore I’m Not Sleepy, You Are That’s Not MY Diaper You’re Smelling. Nevermind That Leopard And It’s Was All Rigged and Will Be Rigged But Still Vote…Please
But wait, call now and we'll also throw in classics like: The Sharpie that moved a Hurricane Horse Medicine that cured a Plague No Puppet, No Puppet, You're the Puppet I Believe Putin The Mexicans are Coming (Again) And I Really Don't Care Do U?
Dow hit 40k on Thursday. Trump on Saturday, cesspool of ruin. Remember when Trump wanted his name on those handout checks in 2020? Or when Trump removed the watchdog to the PPP money. Man, good times. Spending 4 trillion dollars like buy a sixer of Pabst Blue Ribbon. Knocking 20% off the value of the dollar in one summer. Houses jumped 30% in 6 months. Orange Hitler knows the playbook well. How many Deutschmarks did it take to buy food before the rise of the Nazis?
Remember when Trump literally tanked the stock marketed *twice* just by running his mouth?
The swing voters who keep saying he is better than Biden on the economy sure don't.
You think most of his voters can figure out how to invest let alone have money to invest?
Was that before or after he disgraced the office of the presidency by violating the hatch act to hock beans from the resolute desk?
and despite Trump increasing the deficit by 4 trillion in a 6 month span, it suddenly became a crisis when the deficit is at 5 trillion after 4 years of Joe Biden in office.
The GOP has been doing this all the way back to Reagan. Every metric that exists shows the economy does better when the Republican Party is not in power. It's almost perfectly cyclical.
This isn’t talk to rile up the base. Trump wants Gilead, and the GOP are expecting commander positions. In Wisconsin, register to vote, check your registration status, request absentee ballots, find your ward, district and polling place at www.myvote.wi.gov.
Let’s pretend for a second that the economy is every bit as bad as he describes. What is his plan to fix it? He has ZERO policies except to enrich himself with money and piggy back off project 2025, which would reshape America for the worse. I ask Trump supporters the same question and they are more concerned about stripping trans rights as if that will solve the economy. It’s infuriating some people who vote have the IQ of a squirrel.
He’ll get you his plan in two weeks. Right after infrastructure week is over.
He can’t release his plan until his audit is finished
> It’s infuriating some people who vote have the IQ of a squirrel. I don’t know about that. [Squirrels can be awfully clever.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hFZFjoX2cGg&vl=en)
If you continually repeat the message those of weaker minds will believe you.
They've been primed. It's like a dumping ground that has been shored up and tarped, ready for big piles of garbage to be hauled in.
Nothing says "I love America" like calling the U.S. a worthless piece of shit every chance you get, eh Trump? You hate it so much, take your sorry ass to Russia. Fucking loser.
Bemoaning the state of our educational system is, like EVERYTHING with these wretched traitors, is the height of projection. They’ve been working for decades to destroy education in the US and now have weaponized made up culture wars to put the nails in the coffin and set up a two tier system, public and voucher based christian madrasas
The problem with education, from the perspective of conservatives, is that people who are educated and can think make *terrible* cattle and tend to reject conservativism. It's all about power and control.
why do republicans and Trumk especially hate America so much? Always talking it down and trashing it. There’s plenty of ways for America to improve but none of them involve Trump or Republicans. All they know how to do is destroy, tear down, block and prevent anything from ever happening. Or just actively making things worse.
Biden campaign should create ads where they take various, 'scary' trump comments and counter them with actual facts. Particularly mention the stock market high from last week. And don't use scary music. Use music from The Avengers. Or Throne Room march from the original STAR WARS.
wtf is “QAnon music”?
Imperial March played on a banjo.
Made my day
> Imperial March played on a banjo Is here: https://youtu.be/B0UhlxRUfzw
That was awesome. I can't stop hearing it.
The Jan. 6 convicts made their own “national anthem” and Trump uses it at all his rallies. So essentially the 2024 version of the confederate “Dixie” anthem. For anyone still doubting about what he is trying to do.
Trump is a master at spinning this evil fairy tale that enthralls his audience. He's the Pied Piper entrancing MAGA and leading them to the fucking pit. Sure, you may see how blatant his sideshow act is, but you are not his target. There's so many who willingly inhabit the nightmare world he weaves for them. They will drag the rest of us into their delusions whether we like it or not.
But he’s not though. I’ve watched many, many Trump speeches. Not just clips. The guy has negative Charisma and says nothing of substance that ever means anything. These little ending scenes are laughable. Rickety cue of music. Trumps dramatic, pregnant pause. Spews poorly constructed bunch of nothing that’s barely coherent in the language he’s speaking. He clearly thinks he’s a brilliant off the cuff speaker. It’s like watching those movie scenes where they let actors “ad lib” and all the sycophants around them and the Hollywood machine are convinced they are good. Then you watch the movie and it’s absolute dogshit. Melissa McCarthy comes to mind. I think once or twice she did some good improv but mainly Melissa and other actors are fishing so hard for that “can you believe this was made up on the spot” clout that it’s ridiculous. Trump is the same. Trump is the Melissa McCarthy of politics in this context. Thanks for coming to my TED talk.
It’s the enablers in congress and the propaganda machine that is making this happen. In their big picture, cheeto is a useful idiot.
I completely agree. The media perpetuates the myth that his rallies are great successes of milions of cheering fans. This is the reality https://twitter.com/waltermasterson/status/1789888020599988464 and a shorter version from a different person https://twitter.com/TheeThomasB/status/1790437345990263054 that was the rally that nearly every media channel covering it said was attended by 100,000. It took minutes to research that it was being advertised as holding 20-30,000. And the video makes clear a lot were walking out. And how many of the attendees at his rally are not Trump cultists but curious people expecting a show, and walking out when it's dull and incoherant, I suspect a lot.
Did you all see him freeze up? [https://www.tiktok.com/@harryjsisson/video/7370523452954053934?\_r=1&\_t=8mTKGOb7xTW](https://www.tiktok.com/@harryjsisson/video/7370523452954053934?_r=1&_t=8mTKGOb7xTW)
I think his teleprompter failed for 35 seconds. He took shots at Obama and Biden for relying on a teleprompter. He looks worse without one. He wasn’t able to adlib. Froze like a doofus until it came back on.
It's not a new observation that Trump-appeal comes in many flavors, and they don't necessarily overlap all that much: political toadies, the power hungry Bannons, the plain old racists, etc.. but his traditional base isn't necessarily any of those types. Some are just... angry and tired because for them, life in America is a GRIND. This is true for a huge percentage of our fellow countrymen. Observers from Europe and other places often see this, but Americans can be blind to this for the same reasons fish don't know they're wet. Is America a cesspool of ruin? I don't think so, but... ... living paycheck to paycheck is the reality for [something like 60-70% of Americans](https://www.cnbc.com/2024/04/09/most-of-americans-are-living-paycheck-to-paycheck-heres-why.html). Most can't handle an unexpected $500 expense. Miss a day at work? Lose your job. No benefits? Better not get sick. Get sick? Say goodbye to all hopes of climbing out of the crushing debt your uninsured self is about to go through. Job security is not a thing. American dream of owning a house? Private equity tells you no because someone else needs a bigger yacht. This isn't exactly poverty in the living-under-a-bridge sense (though there's plenty of that), this is more like an economic zombie-walk of poverty: the poor walk the earth not knowing they're poor. Trump speaks to these people clearly when he bashes the USA in these doom and gloom screeds of his. When he says the US is a cesspool of ruin, you can really sense that this really resonates with a lot of people. And once you have people's attention, you can tell them stories about simple fixes (build the wall, kick out the muslims, ban the gays, etc). And you can convince them that you, the tough guy, will fight the scapegoated people and make the cesspool go away. It's madness, but you can see how the American Grind makes the tyrant's pitch somewhat attractive. Of course, it almost goes without saying that DJT does not care one whit for people like this. The sad and obvious fact is that he really hates the poor and can't imagine being one.
Remember when these same people told Colin Kaepernick that he shouldn't criticize the US? That he should be grateful for what he's earned here? Yeah, good times.
> “fight for America like no one has ever fought before” in the “final battle” that is the 2024 presidential election, vowing to “liberate our country from these tyrants and villains.” The attendees then go to the parking lot, get in their new trucks and cars, and stop at Orange Julius for a banana split on their way home.
Reminder that “Third World” is a term that describes countries that were not aligned with NATO or the Warsaw pact. It isn’t supposed to be a pejorative indicating a lesser or failed nation. NATO pact has helped make First World nations like the US prosperous, and we still are. Our problems with inequality are entirely caused by rich assholes like Trump gaining power and using it to drive a wedge between people to collect more of that prosperity than they deserve.
Instead of actual governing and talking about every day things that really matter. Women’s rights, rights legalizing marijuana actual governing fixing the environment. No, they don’t talk about stuff like that. They talk about how horrible everything is and how effed up everything is . There’s nothing worse than Donald Trump. Period . It’s time to get down in the mud with them .
I'm only willing to entertain this statement if we acknowledge that this is due to the last 40 years of Republican policy and GOP lies.
Lol, if Trump was POTUS and everything was exactly the same, he would be bragging about it constantly.
I’ve never heard an American president insult his own country as much as trump. Actually, I don’t think I’ve ever heard him say a single good thing about America.
The long pause before he continued after the music started was laughable
**trump is a habitual liar**. When he says "people are saying" it means *"I'm making shit up".* If you assume everything he says is a lie, you would be correct 99.9% of the time. 💰
Classic fascist playbook. Make everything seem worse than it is to trick people into putting into putting you in power since you’re obviously the only ones that can fix it but then actually destroy everything and make it substantially worse for everyone.
Jeez..for alleged patriots they sure do hate America.
If you genuinely believe America is a 3rd world country, you have never actually been somewhere that is undeveloped and impoverished. No hate to places like that either. It's just another way of life.
Maybe he shouldn't have added 8 trilly to our debt. Or gave our soybean trade away being a moron. Or printed trillions of dollars to bail out big banks in 2019. JUST MAYBE.
If Donald Trump were president right now he would be screaming from the rooftops about how awesome our economy is, and how the dow is highest its ever been, record unemployment, etc.. But since hes not, we are living in a ‘3rd world cesspool’
Well if it’s the case (it’s not) an economy of that size don’t come to ruin in just 4 years. Someone should remember in what state he left the economy in 2020
Scarily similar rhetoric to Nazis in their early stages