I agree with your entire post...except this line. Trump is the Tom Brady of political division. The GOAT. But Tom Brady didnt invent football. Trump is just capitalizing on what was already happening. Its sad, but this is the result of We the People, not caring about Thee The People like we used too.
It's sad. We needed someone like Trump (disruptor), but someone better than Trump. Hindsight is such a bitch, because I look at someone like Mitt Romney and I think he'd be a great POTUS. But the things that make him great - Sane, Intelligent, Dedication to Service - are what kill him (and Haley, etc.) in the eyes of MAGA Morons. So, we get the choice between unhinged/stupid vs. milquetoast instead. Yea.
You're not a fan but you lean on defending somewhat the Dems. MAGA is a result of neglect. There will be more groups pop up on both sides if the parties fail to fix hard problems. Im not a fan of attacking average citizens when the parties and mega $ donors are feeding the flames to garner power.
I would generally agree, but MAGA is a special kind of stupid that also likes to play fast and loose with our foreign policy for no other reason than to create wedge issues for domestic elections. They're also just incredibly stupid and have the worst ideas ever. Like, even where I generally agree, their application is so confoundingly stupid as to make it worse than the alternative.
This is very true on all accounts, although I find myself “defending somewhat the Dems” far more now that I did pre-2018-ish, when I really started to dislike Trump. And the culture wars of the likes of DeSantis really distanced me from that line of thinking. But, I agree, your post was spot on.
Yeah, but there's a level of willful stupidity in MAGA that is just beyond acceptable for me. When you honestly believe in your heart that Nicky Haley = Hillary Clinton, you should have your voting rights stripped for life. JMHO. A person that stupid can only be a thorn in the side of democracy and basic governance.
I'm right there with you. I mean, what can you really say about D's that we don't already know. Feckless? Milquetoast? When you have to please a constituency that ranges from Blue-haired, Trans-Rights activists to the CEO of Blackrock, your going to be a jack of all trades, master of none. Which is exactly what the D's are. But they're not reckless, stupid and dangerous. . . So, here we are.
I find my “safe place” in being a Proud Independent —fully capable, able, and willing to criticize both parties. But MAGA does almost nothing good and consumes so much of my criticizing energy through sheer, mind boggling douchebaggery.
Wait, what? Republican voters were "neglected" to a significantly greater degree than Democrat voters? In what way? Respectfully, that's hard for me to believe. IMO it's more like; who chose to let whatever grievances they/we (naturally) all have be irrationally amplified by a con man, with accompanying sources of fake news. Is it not hard to argue that one major political constituency is no more "neglected" than another? Is it not a better argument that different constituencies reacted differently, for whatever reasons?
Excellent post. It explains why people for whom the GOP does little supports that party, and Trump. It’s age-old: the uneducated and/or disadvantaged are attracted to a dictator-type who promises them he’s their solution.
The question is what has changed. Has the fundamental nature of people changed that much? I tend to doubt that. I think it is largely the availability of various media sources to appeal to whatever perceived grievance people have, real or imagined. In the past media was filtered, via newspapers and three network for the most part. The fact set was generally the same among most the same expect among he fringes. Now fringe views are mainstream. It is like changing the buffet from meat potatoes and vegetables and adding cake, cookies, pies, etc. Most people will feed their instant desires to their long term detriment.
I don't really like that these posts are presented as an "own" of sorts. Our entire lifestyle as Americans is subsidized by the US government, whether it be in the form of ACA subsidies or the DoD/State Department and the military budget/US foreign policy.
He isn't wrong in that - generally - both parties neglected the voters for the purposes of serving doners and that this gave the opening to Trump (and Sanders). It's after that when things go off the rails. Again, this penchant for willful ignorance is what gets me the most. Any debate point that has even an ounce of nuance is immediately disregarded as "liberal". This is the definition of stupidity and we see it every day with the usual suspects on this board (people who, outside of Bill, are NEVER on the football board FWIW).
Conservatives say they don’t trust the media and thoroughly in its thrall. See: 2020 Conservatives rail against government and clamor for more of it. See: 2020
What killed small rural business is simple. Dividends. Make it cheaper with cheaper labor and send shareholders a check.
