I'd be more depressed if Trump had won in 2020 with Reagan's 1984 landslide.
― the talented mr pimply (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Friday, 24 May 2024 16:32 (five months ago) link
sure, Trump's continued popularity is very much down to a huge amount of Americans having shitty views about everything, I think that's always been the case
― Muad'Doob (Moodles), Friday, 24 May 2024 16:34 (five months ago) link
xp
I haven't changed my mind. I continue to believe that Trump will lose, and lose badly, in November. I think a lot of pundits view him as invincible because he won in 2016, and because God hasn't struck him down with a lightning bolt. But this writer's larger point — that a lot of Americans are real pieces of shit — is a fair one.
― Instead of create and send out, it pull back and consume (unperson), Friday, 24 May 2024 16:37 (five months ago) link
if he wins, then my assumption is that more people than not want what he's selling, and that this is no longer a place for me
― Muad'Doob (Moodles), Friday, 24 May 2024 16:38 (five months ago) link
this is his base
https://www.nbclosangeles.com/news/national-international/ufc-fighter-says-hell-home-school-son-so-he-doesnt-end-up-turning-gay/3420021/
― omar little, Friday, 24 May 2024 16:47 (five months ago) link
Trump understood that American politics had transformed into an attention economy.
Seems more accurate to say Trump thrives in an attention economy and the Internet turned American into one
― the absence of bikes (f. hazel), Friday, 24 May 2024 16:48 (five months ago) link
turned America
― the absence of bikes (f. hazel), Friday, 24 May 2024 16:49 (five months ago) link
― omar little, Friday, May 24, 2024 12:47 PM
who's gonna save that kid from his dad?
― the talented mr pimply (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Friday, 24 May 2024 16:50 (five months ago) link
the bulwark.. we’re posting actual republican bullshit here now… ok!!
― brimstead, Friday, 24 May 2024 16:54 (five months ago) link
idk Alfred but that guy is both creepily off-putting and gives me hope that i could also pursue a UFC career.
― omar little, Friday, 24 May 2024 17:09 (five months ago) link
It amazes me that today when people complain about what went wrong during COVID, they talk about business closures, travel restrictions, remote schooling, and sometimes having to wear masks in public parks. They never talk about the 1 million Americans who died from COVID during the pandemic.
More than one million.
Gee, has the author of that piece talked to the many millions of Americans who lost family members and close friends to covid? Or to the immuno-compromised? Or to health care workers? Seems unlikely. Maybe the author hangs out with the wrong affinity group (hint: MAGA Republicans).
― more difficult than I look (Aimless), Friday, 24 May 2024 17:20 (five months ago) link
that article is kinda backwards to me. for one I think Mitch McConnell was the one who truly understood what Republican voters were like when he transformed the GOP into a party that didn't care at all about legislation and instead expended all their energy into obstructing literally everything Obama tried to do. that laid the groundwork for pretty much all of Trump's shit. for two I think it's not so much that Trump "gets" America (if he did he wouldn't have lost the popular vote twice nor would he be the only president in history to never log a net positive approval rating) but I do think he gets the media, and he's really good at drawing attention to himself. for three the idea that "he was right about the politics of COVID" assumes this was some sort of conscious decision on his part, as though he's ever cared one bit about what happens to people other than him. it's not like he was even all that vocal about "reopening the economy" the way a lot of his party was, dude never had a clue what to do which was totally self-inflicted given that he disassembled the pandemic response team out of spite.
this feels like the sort of fantasy people like the Dilbert guy would indulge in, this idea that Trump's putting on a calculated act, when there's really nothing to suggest that's actually the case, and in fact there have been dozens of books written about how Trump is very much as dumb as he appears on TV
― frogbs, Friday, 24 May 2024 17:24 (five months ago) link
it gives Trump far too much credit, might be more correct to say he stumbled his way into revealing many awful beliefs held by millions of people
― Muad'Doob (Moodles), Friday, 24 May 2024 17:26 (five months ago) link
I mean I get that it's fair to talk about the deleterious effects of isolation for a year or more, effects on financial wellbeing, and on children growing up in a time where they can't really live their lives, but like if you asked me knowing what I know now would I do it all again, not only would I say yes, but I'd also say in the US that states "re-opened" much too soon, and that the half-measures that were put in place should have been put in place earlier.
I also don't know how someone who isn't a complete idiot COVID denialist can look at the US and worldwide death tolls, see where it places amongst historical epidemics (and that the ones before it in the list almost all predate modern medicine/vaccines), and say "god we just overreacted to this thing"
― Iacocca Cola (Neanderthal), Friday, 24 May 2024 17:26 (five months ago) link
Yeah, the subject-verb combination "Trump understood" is implausible. The guy lives for the applause.
― the talented mr pimply (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Friday, 24 May 2024 17:27 (five months ago) link
the view that experiencing minor inconveniences spurred by a global pandemic is far worse than the possibility of dying a painful and lonely death does indeed seem crazy, but I don't think it is very far fetched to think many people believe exactly this
― Muad'Doob (Moodles), Friday, 24 May 2024 17:35 (five months ago) link
"the politics of COVID" were 100%, indisputably invented by Republicans, and the media and other social media dimwits helped cement it into place. Trump and his inner circle knew it was a big deal from the beginning, it was leaked countless times that Republicans conceded in private a different message than the one they gave to the public and they spun it as Democratic overreaction before most of us leftists had even come to grips with what COVID was.
I had friends getting harassed on FB by conservative friends talking about the overreaction the liberal media was causing and how more people died of the flu....before a single person had even died from COVID in the US. Like they already had these fully-formed talking points spouted at them by right-leaning politicians. denying they'd take a vaccine that didn't even exist.
quite a brilliant trolljob that all of the action taken in 2020 to combat COVID-19 was done with bi-partisan support or in many cases done outright by conservative politicians and yet became entrenched in public consciousness as some 'liberal' thing. nevermind the fact that prior to the pandemic, the majority of people I knew that were anti-vax weren't Republicans, but weirdo leftists who had brainworms or Libertarians who don't believe in the concept of 'common good', and nevermind of course that the people who acted most histrionically during the Ebola outbreak in the US were conservatives (of course they would be, the outbreak originated in AFrica, and the President at the time was a Black Democrat, two racisms for the price of one).
this should ahve been obvious to everyone and yet all the middle of the road people in America bought it hook line and sinker as well - "you gotta admit the death toll is inflated", meanwhile these same people couldn't explain why the death toll in the US jumped 500,000+ people to over 3 million people dying in 2020, a figure that hadn't ever been reached previously.
― Iacocca Cola (Neanderthal), Friday, 24 May 2024 17:42 (five months ago) link
people protested measures during the Spanish Flu of 1918 too, sure, and it is true that many epidemiologists like Caitlyn Rivers have gone on record as saying lockdowns aren't really a typical part of the pandemic/epidemic playbook (while acknowledging that it was necessary this time around due to the unique nature of this outbreak), but I feel like decades ago a lot more people woulda just played ball.
diseases that were mostly eradicated resurfacing came from relatively recent growing distrust of vaccination in a post-Wakefield world, i get the impression more of the general public just got them without protest back before social media and the information age distorting everything.
― Iacocca Cola (Neanderthal), Friday, 24 May 2024 17:45 (five months ago) link
America was just uniquely ill-equipped to deal with a pandemic, not just because of Trump having no plan but because we're so conspiracy brained and distrustful of anyone smarter than us and Covid data was so all over the place that you could believe anything you wanted. for some it was just like the flu, for some it was basically nothing. some people seemed to spread it to everyone they came across and others didn't seem to be contagious at all. medical advice was all over the place, one week it was "masks won't help" and the next it was "you should wear them everywhere". actual reporting on the numbers was generally accurate but they did make some highly publicized mistakes. nobody really understood the concept of "exponential growth". it was easy to point to mitigation efforts and say "see, they don't work" when the reality is if only half the country takes it seriously it's not much different than if no one did.
but it killed so many people, and what's worse they seemed to die such horrible deaths, slowly choking to death all by themselves, the degree which we've just moved past that is really something
― frogbs, Friday, 24 May 2024 17:46 (five months ago) link
and yeah Neanderthal is right back in late 2019 it seemed to be all Republicans freaking out about this, as soon as it became apparent that they'd have to actually do something they all flipped into "fuck you I won't do what you tell me". I mean the idea that Trump "understood" the politics of Covid is just absurd, from day one every single thing he said was centered around the same thing everything is for him, "how is this gonna make Trump look", even at one point saying we should just let an infected cruise ship stay at sea because he didn't want the USA's numbers to go up
― frogbs, Friday, 24 May 2024 17:53 (five months ago) link
The trauma of the 2020-2021 period remains so intense that once in a day in a public space (like now, where I type this post) I realize I'm not masked and panic for half a second.
― the talented mr pimply (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Friday, 24 May 2024 17:54 (five months ago) link
also this idea that Trump being a convicted felon will help him among black voters is just absurdly offensive, it's worth noting that his prominent black supporters are all total lunatics and grifters and his campaign always makes it a point to bring the two black guys that come to his rallies up to the front in view of the cameras. they've been busted multiple times for sharing images of black people supporting Trump which were in fact generated by AI
― frogbs, Friday, 24 May 2024 17:57 (five months ago) link
Republicans ["the American people"] are Libertarians who don't believe in the concept of 'common good'
xpost
― reggie (qualmsley), Friday, 24 May 2024 18:18 (five months ago) link
Republicans and Libertarians have pretty fundamental disagreements on many things though. lots of Libertarians and REpublicans would spar over marijuana legalization for example, though the divide is probably not as pronounced as it was a decade ago.
I guess it's down to motivation. Libertarians say "states rights" and mean "states rights" because they live in a delusional state of existence where they think states will uniformly work to protect their constituents' rights without the Federal government to force them to do it.
Republicans say "states rights" as a dog whistle for "we want this shit outright banned because we're racist and homophobic and misogynist and we're also too cowardly to outright speak out against this thing"
― Iacocca Cola (Neanderthal), Friday, 24 May 2024 18:22 (five months ago) link
(5) COVID. You really aren’t going to like this, but Trump was right about the politics of COVID. At the end of the day, people cared more about the economy than the deaths.It amazes me that today when people complain about what went wrong during COVID, they talk about business closures, travel restrictions, remote schooling, and sometimes having to wear masks in public parks.They never talk about the 1 million Americans who died from COVID during the pandemic.Trump understood that the living do not care about the dead.²
It amazes me that today when people complain about what went wrong during COVID, they talk about business closures, travel restrictions, remote schooling, and sometimes having to wear masks in public parks.
They never talk about the 1 million Americans who died from COVID during the pandemic.
Trump understood that the living do not care about the dead.²
― Rich E. (Eric H.), Friday, 24 May 2024 18:23 (five months ago) link
FTR, Trump's Bronx rally appears to have drawn fewer than 1000 people.
https://images.newrepublic.com/646d79ab3d00ab240c4fa8fdef850a8af9855f50.png
― Instead of create and send out, it pull back and consume (unperson), Friday, 24 May 2024 18:56 (five months ago) link
...but all of them started a Kid Rock tribute band.
― an icon of a worried-looking, long-haired, bespectacled man (C. Grisso/McCain), Friday, 24 May 2024 19:19 (five months ago) link
We all know he's not going to flip NY state.
― more difficult than I look (Aimless), Friday, 24 May 2024 19:53 (five months ago) link
they all carpooled from NJ
― Andy the Grasshopper, Friday, 24 May 2024 20:07 (five months ago) link
Ginni Thomas chartered a bus or three
― I painted my teeth (sleeve), Friday, 24 May 2024 20:08 (five months ago) link
oh why couldn't there be an armed psycho hiding in one of those trees?
― Andy the Grasshopper, Friday, 24 May 2024 20:12 (five months ago) link
https://x.com/DougJBalloon/status/1793767714823270479
― the talented mr pimply (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Friday, 24 May 2024 20:24 (five months ago) link
bitter, sad LOLs
― I painted my teeth (sleeve), Friday, 24 May 2024 20:24 (five months ago) link
they all carpooled from NJ Staten Island
― Instead of create and send out, it pull back and consume (unperson), Friday, 24 May 2024 20:25 (five months ago) link
The last time a Republican president won in the Bronx was Calvin Coolidge in 1924. Trump lost to Joe Biden here in 2020 by a thumping 84% to 16%.
You, sir, are no Calvin Coolidge
― Andy the Grasshopper, Friday, 24 May 2024 20:30 (five months ago) link
One of the ways in 2016 that Trump expanded his potential voters / Steve Bannon signalled "there is an actual agenda here" was picking Mike Pence as a more "normal" vice president. Now that he tried to get Pence hung, is there anyone non-crazy that would take the job?
― Andrew Farrell, Saturday, 25 May 2024 09:56 (five months ago) link
I think there’s a line out the door, for real. Someone like nikki Haley obviously would do absolutely anything for it. Tim Scott, rubio…I don’t know, there are lots of examples. Nearly the entire gop rolled over for trump. A handful left the party; everyone else says stop the steal with a vacant thought police demeanor. They are ready to serve, sir
― z_tbd, Saturday, 25 May 2024 13:29 (five months ago) link
Basically any Republican who wants to run for President in 2028 would take the job
― A So-Called Pulitzer price winner (President Keyes), Saturday, 25 May 2024 13:34 (five months ago) link
https://i.imgur.com/Rx7kBq0.png
― z_tbd, Saturday, 25 May 2024 14:21 (five months ago) link
Don’t be fooled by the stonks that he got
― Marten Broadcloak, mild-mannered GOP congressman (Raymond Cummings), Saturday, 25 May 2024 15:13 (five months ago) link
i think he really is worried about RFK lmao
https://i.imgur.com/nF3ue9J.png
― frogbs, Saturday, 25 May 2024 20:04 (five months ago) link
Going to announce that he had TWO brain worms.
― papal hotwife (milo z), Saturday, 25 May 2024 20:07 (five months ago) link
The best worms, people are saying
― Millennium Falco (Ye Mad Puffin), Saturday, 25 May 2024 20:48 (five months ago) link
“Oh I love the worms… have you seen the Dune? That’s the kind of worms we will have. Big beautiful worms…only the best.”
― The Artist formerly known as Earlnash, Saturday, 25 May 2024 21:39 (five months ago) link
https://www.politico.com/news/2024/05/28/democrats-freakout-over-biden-00160047
― A So-Called Pulitzer price winner (President Keyes), Tuesday, 28 May 2024 15:42 (five months ago) link
the twist ending is that biden will win even with the electoral system but the electoral system will collapse, and maga scotus will confirm potus scrotus.
― well below the otm mendoza line (Hunt3r), Tuesday, 28 May 2024 15:50 (five months ago) link
Politico isn't happy unless someone is freaking out over whatever is happening in politics. It's their bread and butter.
― more difficult than I look (Aimless), Tuesday, 28 May 2024 17:10 (five months ago) link
the word "genocide" does not appear in anyones freakout calculus in the piece.
― bae (sic), Tuesday, 28 May 2024 17:12 (five months ago) link
Sad lol, I just assumed it would be but I'm not sure why I assumed that.
― Great-Tasting Burger Perceptions (Old Lunch), Tuesday, 28 May 2024 18:07 (five months ago) link
Feel like this thread is not doing a very good job of containing “Trump is gonna win.”
― a man often referred to in the news media as the Duke of Saxony (tipsy mothra), Tuesday, 28 May 2024 18:38 (five months ago) link