General Discussion
Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsWhat the fuck is wrong with this country?
We still have millions of people who support Trump and vote for right wingers.
They support the rule of law only when it suits their purposes. They have no respect for human life. They have contempt for women and minorities. They do not value science and do not listen to the truly intelligent people we have to guide us.
Is it a failing of culture? Of education? Of parenting? Of learning right from wrong? Of understanding the constitution and our form of government?
We can't blame it all on Trump and Barr. There are thousands of republican elected officials who are just as intent on destroying this country as he is. And people vote for them, over and over again. No matter how miserably Trump has failed as a president these past 4 years, no matter how much blood he has on his hands, there are still millions of people who support him.
I just don't get it. I am afraid we are well on our way to fascism.
The Velveteen Ocelot
(115,280 posts)John Ludi
(588 posts)Reached that conclusion a while back: too many "design flaws".
BlueJac
(7,838 posts)Proud liberal 80
(4,167 posts)Bottom line.
milestogo
(16,829 posts)When I grew up racism was still acceptable in many circles. Then came the civil rights movement, the women's rights movement, the gay liberation movement. These movements had a profound effect on our laws and attitudes.
These movements changed the thinking of millions of people. But for some people these movements never happened at all, or they were a mistake. Even for some young people.
When we elected a black man to be president, I thought that was a sure sign of our progress. But then we took a step backwards so far it can hardly be comprehended. And we let the Russians have a say in our government.
Its like we're swirling down into the sewer.
Proud liberal 80
(4,167 posts)After all those movements these idiots realized that they couldnt get away with hateful crap anymore and were shamed if they did so they went into hiding. Then came the rise of hate radio led by Rush Limbaugh so they found a home where their hateful beliefs were tolerated and confirmed. Then came FoxNews which really made them believe what they believed....and along with FoxNews came the Internet first with Drudge, and then Breitbart....then the explosion of social media let them meet others who thought just like them...so now all the stuff they have heard from hate radio, FoxNews, and their social media buddies for the last 30 years they arent scared to act out in their hate anymore
overleft
(353 posts)reporting. They brought us "No child left behind" that destroyed the education system and Reagan sent the air traffic controllers back to work to effectively kill the power of unions. All these things are gifts from the right wing that keep on giving. They also gave us "trickle down economics" which has been tinkling down our backs for years. (edited to add last sentence)
Solomon
(12,305 posts)We live and breathe it like fish swimming in water. I guess fish don't see the water either.
OMGWTF
(3,901 posts)The love of money is the root of all evil. These people are in a cult.
LakeArenal
(28,729 posts)jimfields33
(15,473 posts)Whatever makes people happy seems to be the way of the United States regardless of consequences. As long as I dont get sick who cares about others. As long as Ive got my house who cares about others. Ive got three months of food who cares about others. And on and on.
Blues Heron
(5,898 posts)Jarqui
(10,110 posts)We cannot underestimate that 6 entities in the 1% control 95% of the US media.
The 1% purchased the freedom of the press and warp opinions of busy people who do not have time to research the issues for themselves because they're working 2-3 jobs to get by.
Actions speak louder than words. GOP used to whine about deficits - but look at the gigantic deficit they approved as a gift to the 1%in the most recent tax break. They do not really care about guns or abortion for example. They just use those things along with racial stuff to fire up their base.
A good percentage of America never finds out because a good percentage of America is watching media that will never tell them that.
SWBTATTReg
(21,859 posts)won control of the House in 2018 and thus, put a big fat NO on republican and/or trump desires.
Proud liberal 80
(4,167 posts)We cant revert back to trying to please these people....everytime Democrats get elected instead of trying to help the people who got them elected, they try and reach out and please these right wingers who will never vote for them...after 2008 is a perfect example....we had the Presidency, the House, and damn near filibuster proof Senate but governed as if we were the minority
Gidney N Cloyd
(19,781 posts)Arthur_Frain
(1,784 posts)Given the right set of stressors and cues, your reactions to a situation can be predicted with frightening accuracy.
Right wing media from Fox News to Limbaugh to Hannity et al, have spent the last 40 years grooming these people by introducing these stressors, factual or not. Add to that a systemic assault on public education and you have stupid people being groomed by those who would be king.
Shermann
(7,358 posts)I realized the other day that this might be a thing.
So we know all too well about the Single Issue Voters. Republicans seem to have a lock on these people, and I won't list what the Single Issue issues are. You know what they are.
But many conservatives I've talked to appear to be Zero Issue Voters. They don't appear to be well-versed on any political issues. Instead, they voted for Trump because he seems like a decent guy. OR...they voted for Trump because they didn't really like Hillary as a person.
And that is about all there is to it with them. Off to the voting booth.
Freddie
(9,232 posts)Funny Im not hearing a whole lot from the pro-lifers now that they advocate people dying to save the economy.
milestogo
(16,829 posts)You can't be pro-life and not care about the gun violence problem which takes so many lives in this country.
You can't be pro-life and not care if the elderly and minorities are being savaged by coronavirus.
Proud liberal 80
(4,167 posts)And they really dont give a damn about abortion....its just an issue for them to make them seem righteous and make them feel better about themselves....and them trying to mask their real hateful agenda
FakeNoose
(32,356 posts)The GOP has been pretending to care about Roe v. Wade for the last 40+ years, only in order to get the "religious right" with their rabid voting block. That includes certain groups of Catholics, most evangelicals, and other religious single-issue voters. Another single-issue voting block is the 2nd Amendment crazies - the GOP loves them. Of course we all know that the American white-privilege racists also have a permanent home in the GOP as well.
These people are all being used by the Republican Party, because the GOP doesn't truly care about their moral issues or their political agendas. All the GOP wants is their votes, and it will tell any necessary lies to get them.
Even so, these single-issue voters aren't enough to win a national election against a UNITED Democratic Party candidate. We Dems have a lot of shit we need to get together, but it's clear that we CAN WIN this election in November. We have to win in November, this one is for the whole enchilada!
Skidmore
(37,364 posts)to believe that they can be filthy rich someday. A nation of excesses, our export.
WyattKansas
(1,648 posts)That only their wealth matters and to race to the bottom, regardless of the rest of Americans and the United States of America. The only exception is going to war and blowing others up in the name of the United States of America.
I once mentioned to a government attorney during Dubya that I thought we reached the tipping point for fascism, but he thought that went too far. I wonder what he thinks now. This is the result of the last 40 years and the Republican Party is going for the kill now to remake America in their image... They are too stupid to understand that they are only turning the country into a Third World country and they will screw themselves too.
BootinUp
(46,928 posts)There is very little thought about the common good these days.
SMC22307
(8,088 posts)and Dems assuming that people are reasonable and will do the right thing.
sop
(9,946 posts)These people are no longer motivated to vote for the usual political perks to improve their own lives, things like better wages, education and healthcare. Seemingly, their only desire is to hurt the "other." And the GOP is only too happy to pander to this mob to win elections.
Wellstone ruled
(34,661 posts)a mirror copy of the folks who supported George Wallace back in the day.
redstatebluegirl
(12,264 posts)These people are barely educated, have you heard them on TV when they are interviewed? They can't put a coherent sentence together!
smirkymonkey
(63,221 posts)A complete lack of critical thinking. They are sheep.
Bernardo de La Paz
(48,789 posts)For example, they have no clue that rights are to protect you from people who don't like you. They think rights mean they have all the rights and other people have none.
And being "born again" does not mean you get twice as many rights as anyone else.
Dyedinthewoolliberal
(15,485 posts)20 plus years of Fox News and all the affiliated radio stations (for 30+ yrs) pumping that message into people willing to listen. Here in the Seattle area there are at least 4 radio stations that are 24/7 with the Limbaugh/Hannity et al programming. This is bound to have an effect on the listeners who consume it regularly... ...
DFW
(54,055 posts)If otherwise half-way educated, rational people allow their brains to be washed into thinking--no, make that KNOWING-- that there are enemies lurking behind every rock, armed to the teeth with caches of weapons and threatening ideologies, they will turn to those promising to defend them from those threats. It doesn't matter how fictitious those threats are. It's like voting for Republicans because they promise to protect you from a Martian invasion. So what if there is no evidence of any such threat? Can you furnish any proof that there ISN'T any such threat? No? Then you need to vote Republican! It worked for Senator Joe McCarthy in the 1950s, and no, at long last, he STILL had no decency.
Martians, Kommanists, Taliban, Libbruls, Towel-heads, what's the difference? They're out there, and they're coming to GET YOU!
If the PERCEPTION is vivid enough, they will vote as if there were an armed Taliban unit hiding in each of their bathrooms, and as if the only way to get them out of there is to vote Republican and pray to Jesus. Fox and National Hate Radio convince them of exactly that, and if they hear no argument to the contrary except from you and me, then we're wrong, and they're right.
dlk
(11,438 posts)Buckeye_Democrat
(14,847 posts)Many of them go to work and get regularly bullied by their totalitarian bosses; OR, theyre the bullying bosses themselves.
They struggle to blame the system because theyre so often told that theyre living in the most free country on Earth, and that their tyrannical experiences under capitalism is a key part of it.
So that leaves them with resentment toward other targets, such as the free loaders that theyre told are making it harder on them.
With that established in their minds, it was just a matter of time for the scapegoats to get blamed for pretty much anything that makes them upset.
totodeinhere
(13,037 posts)Then Trump came along and he is the worst of them all. We made progress under Clinton and Obama but much of their good work has been undone by Trump.
Botany
(70,291 posts)... "being stupid."
rwsanders
(2,585 posts)Not to offend anyone here, if you enjoy sports as a diversion that is fine, but the element of tribalism is there in the mascots, the trash talk, the silly rivalries.
Somewhere I saw an article on the same thing. Football is part of what gave us Trump.
Not directly, but again, many of our species haven't progressed beyond clan or tribal behavior no matter how they dress, act, or how much technology they have mastered.
Buckeye_Democrat
(14,847 posts)And Ill add that competition is more valued than cooperation in our culture.
I knew this country was fucked once the Coronavirus got here, realizing that wed never see everybody wearing masks like several Asian countries.
rwsanders
(2,585 posts)Hasn't sunk in yet, but they know it.
And the right-wingers are the ones who want to go back to the 50's. Back then the things they hate were just called "manners".
Baked Potato
(7,733 posts)History and culture has nurtured them in a comfortable cocoon in which they dont want to leave. From cradle to grave, its Santa Claus and angels singing. Thats a hard habit to kick.
roamer65
(36,739 posts)They will secede before it gets to outright fascism.
Voltaire2
(12,626 posts)Yavin4
(35,357 posts)These angry, ignorant, and poor White people cling to the belief that their race entitles them to lord over anyone who is not White.
world wide wally
(21,719 posts)all the hate and stupidity.
SleeplessinSoCal
(8,998 posts)Some attack the union. Some attack liberal ideals. Some the arts. But together the result has been mistrust of valid and factual information.
I also think the "machismo" image that some prize above all is poisonous. The "2nd amendment" people fall for it. Having to create a Sandy Hook conspiracy is proof. Teachers and young children gunned down. No collective civilized response, only denial of reality.
We got way off the path. I only hope the interruption of the way we functioned will tip the balance back towards sanity and away from our march to oblivion.
Skittles
(152,965 posts)it is sad to realize just how many Americans have zero clue what America is supposed to stand for
niyad
(112,435 posts)Just a little quibble. Ole donie bodybags has not been in office for four years, not even 3 1/2.
1.199 long, horrific days.
It only seems like four centuries.
MyNameGoesHere
(7,638 posts)The all hallowed myth that the flounderers had the best interest of individuals in mind?
Jamastiene
(38,187 posts)blames Democrats for what Republicans do and gives credit to Republicans for what Democrats do. They are very willfully ignorant. Some really are very low IQ too.
I'm from Trump country. One thing that keeps standing out in my mind is that they are proud of who can read the least.
I have heard conversations very similar to this so many times that if I had a nickel for every time, I could be rich by now:
Republican #1: "I haven't read a book since high school."
Republican #2: "I haven't read a book since 8th grade."
Republican #3: "I never learned to read."
Republican #3 becomes the "winner" and the leader of that little group of idiots. Republican #3 tells them Democrats caused all their problems and Republicans did all of the good they see in their lives. Their preachers tell them what the Bible says and they never read it. They refuse to listen to anything a woman says. They hate minorities of all kinds. Anyone not bigoted and white and male enough for them is pure garbage to them.
They openly hate women and pride themselves on never listening to "the old lady" (whether they are talking about their mothers, their sisters or their wives, because yes, the women in Trump country are a BIG part of the problem no one ever addresses either). They hate women and only love their other male buddies and only care what their other male buddies think, while they rail against how horrible they think gay men are.
Other than knowing how proud they are of being so stubbornly stupid and understanding that they just hate anyone who isn't white and male and bigoted like them and/or they hate anyone who doesn't bow down to anyone who is white a male and bigoted, like them trying to understand them further is an exercise in futility.
It will just give you a headache.
There is no reasoning with them because they are so proud of how they refuse to think. They think they are "rebels." In reality, they march in lockstep with their fellow right wingers and do what they are told by the Republican Party, all the while hating Democrats, women, gay people, any nonwhites around, and everyone else they have been told to hate all their lives.
Trying to understand them will please them too much. They want you wasting your time thinking about them while they run roughshod over everyone around and get their way. It is about them pitching temper tantrums and getting their way, in the end. Whatever helps them do that, they will gladly take it.
The only thing that will defeat them is to not let them get inside your head and make sure to show their actions for what they really are. They pitch temper tantrums like whiny babies and always have to have their way. Point that out routinely and it will throw them off their guard. They cannot stand that. What we need to do is throw them off their guard and show them what they really act like, by pointing out what kind of immature little temper tantrum pitching brats with blankies (their guns) they really are. Call THEM the snowflakes. Point out Trump is the biggest snowflake of them all for demanding fealty before he will provide PPE to states with Democratic leaders who don't kiss his ass just right We need to get under their skin instead of letting them get under our skin. Don't try to understand them. There is NO understanding them. Defeating them should be the goal now.
Leave trying to understand them to psychologists, IF psychologists ever notice how messed up in the head they really are. Some of their obsessiveness with guns and hating gays and hating women should have long since been classified as some kind of personality disorder or mental illness. Instead, those of us who have to live near them have to go to psychologists to get medicine to cope with having to live around that kind of backasswards stupidity.
I don't know what it will ever take for the world of psychology to stop numbing and zombifying the rest of us who are having problems coping with so many right wing obsessive Republican assholes being in charge in our areas of the country and start treating them for making life a living Hell for the rest of us. The rest of us could be happy if they weren't always bullying everyone around them.
They have it backwards, but getting them to understand that or do anything about that is like trying to push a mountain over with our heads.
I mean. Think about it. The rest of us are medicated up to our eyeballs because we are having problems accepting what is "normal" in America. Mass shooters killing kids in school is something we Americans are supposed to just accept now. Living on pins and needles every April 19th (and 20th, because they like that date too) is "normal" for the rest of us now. Whatever extremist right wingers do on those dates is never called terrorism, even thought it is. It took a Herculean effort to get any gay rights. Women STILL don't have equal rights all these years later. We are supposed to just accept unarmed black kids being gunned down by cops. We are just supposed to accept unarmed black adults getting routinely gunned down by cops too. Meanwhile, white right wingers armed to the nines threatening ambulances, medical personnel, even sitting LAWMAKERS AND GOVERNORS in our country don't phase those same cops. Look at the calm on those cops' faces. Look at the lack of post 9/11 military grade riot gear when the white right wing ARMED protesters yell in cops' faces. Trump. I don't even need to type that laundry list of problems out. I can just say Trump and you know what I mean.
We can call it fascism now. I'm calling it. It's fascism now. Psychologists aren't pointing out how backassward American culture really is at this point. Everything is upside down and backwards here. Something is very wrong here.
Don't give yourself a headache. Call it what it is. It's fascism now. Be glad you are not susceptible to just going along with it. Be glad you are having trouble with it. Be glad you don't understand it. It's like looking into the abyss. Be glad you are not drawn to it and do not understand it. The more of us who do not accept all of that crap as normal and do not understand what is wrong with them, the better. It's the only way we can fight fascism, by not accepting it as any kind of normal, no matter how many elements of our own government try to normalize it.
Hotler
(11,353 posts)It's not about what is best for themselves or this country. It's about getting a win over the democrats at all cost.