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Edited by Mrph1 on Nov 30th 2023 at 11:03:59 AM
Trump is risking disengaging his die hard base, and having the middle class rust belt voters go back to the Dems.
Politics is the skilled use of blunt objects.
I think they are already in the process of disengaging, or at least some of them are. His Cabinet is filled with cronies and big money, getting rid of lobbyists doesn't mean shit, and he even lied about Carrier by saying he never promised to save their jobs. I mean, people are gullible and passive but a lot of them will remember or see at least that.
And good old word of mouth:
"Don't vote Trump, dude fucked over my cousin who worked at XYZ with a rotten deal. Ruined his family and forced them out of their house of 20 years due to his pay getting gutted."
It doesn't mean anything if they don't find out due to the rightwing propaganda machine, or if they're too self-centered and Never My Fault to cop to it.
People seem more upset that Trump isn't locking Hillary up than about any of his cabinet picks.
It's been fun.
Destroyer of Worlds
These people are so clueless.
edited 10th Dec '16 4:12:36 PM by MadSkillz
"You can't change the world without getting your hands dirty."
The rightwing propaganda machine can only do so much. Yes they have a lot of power but for example on Carrier, there are videos and statements even on conservative sites about him saying the things he did and then going back on it.
Plus even if the rightwing propaganda machine tells you about how great Trump is if your economic situation is still shitty you're gonna start distrusting THAT media outlet too.
Indicentaly, Katie Couric did a big interview with Snowden recently. I've read the text but don't have time for the full 50 minute video at the moment.
“But countries don’t give up their spies. And if my recent criticism of the Russian government’s Internet policies, criticisms of their human rights record, have been so severe that even my greatest critics in the intelligence community are now saying, ‘Oh, yeah, he’s a liability, they wanna get him out of there,’ that’s a vindication.”
“Vindication of what?” Couric asked him.
“The fact that I’m independent, the fact that I have always worked on behalf of the United States, and the fact that Russia doesn’t own me,” Snowden replied. “In fact, the Russian government may see me as sort of a liability.”
There are things in there an anti-Snowden person could latch onto as well but whether or not you agree with the guy, IMO he's consistent in his positions. Kouric is not throwing softballs at him either.
"These people are so clueless. "
No. They are delulated, since as far they see it, things are good as long Trump does because he is beyond corruption, everything else are "libertard lies".
"My Name is Bolt, Bolt Crank and I dont care if you believe or not"
I don't think they really understand liberals if they're under the impression they consider all CEO's bad by default. But that just goes without saying.
So anyways, I've been reading about the 1992 election, since it was the last time the incumbent was dethroned by the challenger from the other party.
It makes me think that the state of the economy in 2020 is gonna be really important in determining whether Trump gets kicked out or not, because that seemed to be the biggest factor that lost H.W re-election (though obviously there were other factors). Many people are hoping that Trump will improve their situation and bring back jobs, but if he can't do that effectively it creates a situation where the Democrats can easily point to his lack of success in stimulating the economy and his betrayal of the working class.
Reading about it also makes me think that the Democrats are going to need a candidate that the entire party will rally around, since that was a big part of why Bill was able to win.
edited 10th Dec '16 5:20:50 PM by Draghinazzo
Asgore Adopts Noelle
Rep. Sam Johnson (R-TX) introduces legislation to massively defund Social Security and Medicare. This probably will not go through until after January 20th, but this is basically a make or break for Trump: Either he signs the bill and screws over his Voter Base, who he promised to keep SS and Medicare safe and stable, or he Veto's against it and Angers the Neocon/Libertarian Congressional Republicans, who may end up Overriding his Veto anyways.
This will be an interesting first test for Trump. Either way, he's going to fail to someone...
United Earth
When dealing with this sort of Morton's Fork, the typical advice is to talk less, smile more. But with Trump, I feel like he'll talk more, and then some more. He'll talk his way out.
Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.
In the name of the POWER, I will punish you!
This early on, his voter base is still high on their victory over the dread forces of brownness and liberals. They'd let this slide long enough for right wing media to convince them that something else was to blame for their finances imploding while claiming the markets were going up, up, up. At least long enough to let mid-terms pass. It'll take a little longer for their high to wear off and Trump to stop love-bombing them into submission. Then he'll swap to the next stage of abusive narcissistic spouse mode to keep the hardcore in line like accusing them of disloyalty. if not, then he'd look for a scapegoat to blame and oppress minorities more to keep them in line.
Meanwhile, Putin will use every opportunity to gain more power and the swamp monsters will shred as much of the country as possible. That's assuming that some of them don't decided to get greedy enough take a stab at full dictatorship.
edited 10th Dec '16 5:44:33 PM by Geostomp
"When you do things right, people won't be sure you've done anything at all" Futurama, Godfellas
United Earth
Watching this whole process the US is going through feels a little bit like watching the Plutonian slowly lose his mind.
The slight temptation to laugh at the overbearing, arrogant giant slowly tripping over himself is counter-balanced by the sheer existential terror of where they might fall and what they'll bring down with them.
Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.
Cape Malleum Majorem
Lemme tell you a little story...
I'm a volunteer at our local tourist railroad. They sent me out to pick up some coal to feed the potbellied stove in the ticket office. To paint you a picture, I'm forty-something, bearded, and have a beer belly. In the holiday spirit, I was also wearing a red shirt, green jacket, and a Santa cap.
As I was loading the bags of coal onto a shopping cart, somebody asked me, "Hey Santa, why are you buying so much coal?"
Jokingly, I replied, "There's been an awful lot of naughty people this year."
They said, "Oh, all those naughty Democrats, huh?"
...
I didn't say anything...
...
Words fail me...
...
I just can't...
...
What the motherfucking HELL is the matter with these people?????
edited 10th Dec '16 6:07:34 PM by pwiegle
This Space Intentionally Left Blank.
Blowout soon fellow Stalker
Honestly it's just straight up indoctrination and doublethink.
Oh really when?
That's what happens when you have a propaganda machine inspiring people to hate their political opponents just because. It barely seems to be rational or policy-based anymore.
In the name of the POWER, I will punish you!
Right wing propaganda has created an alternate reality where anything someone Republican does, up to and including treason, is good while Democrats are all evil. More than that, Trump has given so many people implicit approval to indulge in their worst impulses and celebrate ignorance/bigotry. They gleefully latch onto his con because of this more than anything else. More than anything, they treat politics as a sports team where loyalty to the name means more than anything so whatever "their" team attacks, they will follow mindlessly, even cutting their own benefits or blaming any fact that they decide to politicize.
There's a good reason "post-truth" became the word of the year. Alongside fascism.
edited 10th Dec '16 6:10:16 PM by Geostomp
"When you do things right, people won't be sure you've done anything at all" Futurama, Godfellas
Destroyer of Worlds
The hostility between Democrats and Republicans has been polarized to the point where people of different parties don't really consider the other person as a human.
Unlike with racism, it's more socially acceptable to ridicule and harass someone because of their party associations. And sometimes people use political affiliations to harass minorities.
"You can't change the world without getting your hands dirty."
Destroyer of Worlds
I'm willing to bet that a decent chunk of these people don't even know what their party for besides muh guns, muh patriotism and muh pro-life.
"You can't change the world without getting your hands dirty."
In the name of the POWER, I will punish you!
All of that is by design. Conservative ideas don't work at all in the real world, so they require a base to be as willfully ignorant as possible so they can keep on lying to them for power. If the people knew anything or had critical thinking skills, then the Republicans would lose their power and, more importantly, money. It's why they resort to encouraging as much destructive tribalism as possible.
![[up]](https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/smiles/arrow_up.png "[up]"){kind=icon}
Yup. He's the embodiment of all that is wrong with American culture, but his base so desperately wants to be what they think he is. He is their id unleashed and nobody is willing or able to stop him.
edited 10th Dec '16 6:14:44 PM by Geostomp
"When you do things right, people won't be sure you've done anything at all" Futurama, Godfellas
Cape Malleum Majorem
Or if you wanted to go for the immediate catharsis, you could have just started pelting them with coal.
"We'll take the next chance, and the next, until we win, or the chances are spent."
At this point, I think there's a decent chance that the primarily anti-establishment section of Trump's voterbase will become angry and disillusioned and not show up for 2020, especially if these things keep coming. Some of them are pretty pissed already, it seems.
Not sure about the rest of his voterbase, except for the alt-right which only care about white supremacy.