Partisan Polarization

One day everyone will wake up and realize the real divide is between the ruling class in Washington and their subjects in the 50 states.

 

Same here, tho I'm less and less inclined to just ignore political comments from others that I disagree with, much to the chagrin of my wife. It seems to me that staying silent is essentially acquiescing to their political views and increases the odds that they will again share their views in the future. Much like my reaction to inappropriate jokes.

At this point most friends and family know my position and rarely go there.

 

Those guys are just the puppets. The real rulers don’t often appear in media. They are the American Oligarchs.

 

This is true for many of them, there’s a lot of “dark money” influence the people have no idea where it is traced to. But it’s not like we don’t know who is pulling the strings at Fox News and even the “insanity cult” drivers, the likes of a Steve Bannon or Alex Jones.

I’m not sure “oligarchs” is the correct term to use here as in most cases our billionaires aren’t being doled out resources by the govt. While these people are buying influence (sometimes openly like with the Adelson’s or the Mercer’s) and that’s bad, not quite the same as the oligarchs in Russia who largely became rich directly because of their position in govt and how those national resources were doled out to former Soviet government officials. We arent talking nationalized industry here. Although we are not above the dangers of something like that happening, all it takes is a lawless President demanding loyalty and dishing out favoritism from govt coffers. Trump really just exposed how far down the rabbit hole some citizens would go.

 

Smaller gubmnt? Rule of law? R u serious? That may be what u want but MAGA is polar opposite of this.

 

Don't dismiss the influence of other foreign entities that spend hundreds of millions running FB and other social media bot farms encouraging the anger

 

I personally think this thread should be stickied. For me, the biggest threat to America isn’t the left or the right; it’s how much both are coming to hate each other.

I sense you and I are similar in this way. The finding that a majority would vote for a morally flawed person just to keep their party in power I see as the tail wagging the dog. What’s more important than being a good person?

This has become my #1 issue for voting: a good and civil candidate that refuses to inflame the fighting. This is surprisingly hard to find, but I think I at least found one in senate candidate TQ Nguyen.

“I do not see any candidate as my opponents. I believe in their good intention when they join this race. As candidates, we may have different views and at times very opposing views. But that does not mean that I have to consider them as my opponents. I just see them as other candidates, presenting different choices for the American people to choose from.”

FAQ | Tuan ''TQ'' Nguyen for Florida U.S. Senate

Seems like a snowball’s chance in hell that this guy even makes a dent, but at least I can feel I supported decency.

 

for those thinking that both sides are pushing violence, please point to any democratic leader/speaker who is threatening anybody that disagrees with death and/or prison rape. not sure how this isn't illegal. this is not both sides propagating violence, not even close. the hate spewing from MAGA would be unacceptable in normal times but we have what are otherwise good people trying to justify this type of bs. the pub party today reminds me of all the good cops that let the few bad cops get away with what they do through their silence.


Pro-Trump Rally Speaker: 'Angel of Death' Coming for Lindsey Graham, Democrats (businessinsider.com)

A speaker at a pro-Trump rally in Pennsylvania said on Friday that the "angel of death" was coming for various politicians, including Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham and high-profile Democrats.

"The angel of death is coming to visit these people. These people are going down. These people who control the world think that they are pharaohs, the present-day pharaohs. Soon you shall never see again," the speaker, who was identified as Bo Polny by HuffPost reporter Christopher Mathias on Twitter, said.

He simultaneously showed an image of high-profile politicians, judges, and journalists, including President Joe Biden, former President Bill Clinton and Hillary Clinton, Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts, and CNN journalist Brian Stelter.


or the last time the leader of the party suggested that prison rape is a good way to get people to give up their constitutional rights

Crowd Cheers and Laughs When Trump Threatens Journalists With Prison Rape (yahoo.com)

“You know in this country they leak all over the place even on the Supreme Court,” Trump said. “By the way, you have to find the leaker of the Supreme Court. You have to find the leaker. You know how you find the leaker?”

Trump then launched into his grand plan for uncovering the identity of the source who shared with Politico an initial draft opinion by Justice Samuel Alito where he argued that “Roe was egregiously wrong from the start.”

“You take the writer and/or the publisher of the paper, a certain paper that you know, and you say, ‘Who is the leaker?’ National security,” Trump said at the rally. “And they say, ‘We’re not gonna tell you.’ Then [you] say, ‘That’s OK. You’re going to jail.’ And when this person realizes that he is going to be the bride of another prisoner very shortly, he will say, ‘I’d very much like to tell you exactly who that leaker [is]. It was Bill Jones, I swear, he’s the leaker.’ And we got him. But they don’t want to do that.”

When Trump mentioned a journalist becoming “the bride of another prisoner,” the crowd broke into laughter and applause, cheering Trump’s threat of sexual violence.

 

I will agree that the O admin was the beginning of the vitroil, but the DT era took it to a whole different level.

Kill list of prominent figures vs punching DT in the nose or generic reference to kick em when they are down.

Prison rape vs get in their face.

Storming the capital to overturn an election vs peaceful protests (million man march)

Neither side is innocent, one side has ratcheted up the level of threat of violence much more than the other