Can we simply acknowledge that nearly 50% of Americans are enthralled to Fascist, Authoritarianism?

[Yavin4]

And prefer that style of government to a democracy. Can we stop always blaming the Democratic party or "Socialism" or "Defund the Police" or "Cancel Culture"?

Trump got more votes in 2020 than he did in 2016 against the best candidate that the Democrats could nominate. Biden had much higher approval ratings than Trump and didn't have ANY of the "baggage" that Hillary had. Still, Trump did better. That should tell you something. And no, I don't think that "Defund the Police" was the reason. Trump has said and did FAR worse, but paid no political price. Anyone remember him calling our military suckers? There was more evidence of that than Biden saying, "Defund the Police".

No amount of messaging or policy is ever going to change the minds of that near 50%. It's comforting to think that if the Democrats said "X" instead of "Y", we would have done better, but that's overlooking the obvious. We have a massive cultural and political schism in this country with no easy, simple solutions. This is something that out of the control of the party.

The good news is that over 50% of this country does indeed want a democracy. Let's focus on the majority and run the country to the best of our ability.

[OAITW r.2.0]

1. Makes sense, otherwise you have to believe

Trump is pResident.

[elleng]

2. 'Simply?' No, we can't.

[blitzen]

3. Well stated--I agree. n/t

[moonscape]

4. I think it's worse than that. I think a

disturbing percentage of Americans are so ignorant they don’t know the difference and couldn’t define authoritarianism, fascism, democracy, socialism or communism if you put one of their ample guns to their head.

We have an education problem in this country.

[Funtatlaguy]

9. A purposefully dumbed down populace. Bring back Civics in schools.

[Martin Eden]

47. Ignorance vs Fascism

The ignorant are susceptible to being led or misled.

But those who actually understand and fully support rightwing authoritarianism are implacable enemies of democracy.

The ignorant can be swayed. Very few if any fascists can be persuaded to change.

[I_UndergroundPanther]

5. Republicans

Have different brains than liberals. That right there points out why the right can't handle democracy . Also alot of right-wing people have narcissism.

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/conservative-and-liberal-brains-might-have-some-real-differences/



Maybe there should be a seperation of liberals away from republicans.

[questionseverything]

6. It is actually 50 percent of those that vote

Only about half the country votes so the fascists
are about a quarter of the country

[Voltaire2]

41. 2/3 of eligible voters.

So 1/3 are outright fascists, 1/3 are anti-fascists, and 1/3 don’t care.

[Hoyt]

7. No question, we are deeply divided, with both sides believing they are right.

I don’t get how GOPers can feel that way (understanding why is easier), but they do. Somehow, this really needs to change.

[SunSeeker]

8. About 45% of Americans are stone cold racists. That's what Republicans count on. nt

[cilla4progress]

10. Great post,

I agree wholeheartedly, and you clarified some things for me!

[OAITW r.2.0]

11. No, I think 38.4% are fascist and the rest follow the really stupid.

[Eyeball_Kid]

18. I'd guess in the 30-35% range. Lots of folks just like authoritarianism

but will follow the next authority. In this case, it's Biden. He'll have the gravitas, the pomp and circumstance, the pageantry, the bully pulpit, the gaggle of press. Watch. His "approval rating" will grow, and Trump's will recede.

[OAITW r.2.0]

22. Actually, he will kick ass.

Sometimes the best warrior is the guy you don't consider.

[zaj]

12. Read Conservatives Without Conscience by John Dean

He called it in 2006 when it was the Bush administration.

[Basic LA]

28. John Dean's latest book is out.

Authoritarian Nightmare: Trump & His Followers. I'm reading it now & it's great.

[Bradshaw3]

13. Great points

I would add one more factor. It's called patriarchy and it informs a lot if not most of authoritarian mindsets. The gains made by drumpf in certain demographics that added to his numbers really opened my eyes. I was a supporter of Warren in the primary and was told by some on here that this country would not elect a woman. I disagreed but now think maybe they may be right, or at least if a Democratic woman is the nominee.

A lot of people in this country equate behavior that is nothing but toxic masculinity with being a "real man". Of course drumpf is exactly the opposite example of what being a man means. But just like pro wrestling, tens of millions believe his bullying and false bravado are real when of course he is nothing but a coward and a fraud. Wrestling may just be just entertainment. Patriarchy, however, is real and obviously is still a factor when it comes to supporting fascist autocrats.

[Thomas Hurt]

14. oh yeah

[JI7]

15. Biden got millions more votes than Trump

[Dem2]

16. He didn't actually do better!

Yeah, turnout was up - on both sides - in fact, it was up MORE among Democrats and thus why 43 of 50 states swung blue versus '16.

Also, Biden got twice the % win (4.x vs 2.1) and more than twice the vote margin (6.3 million and counting versus 2.9 million.)

Yes, it is shocking that 47% of Americans are this deranged, but indeed he lost badly even with his rabid supporters turning out in large numbers.

[Iwasthere]

17. NO! Absolutely not! I will not accept there are 50%

I JUST CANNOT. I refuse to believe that. There's not even 25%

[Skittles]

32. how do you explain how many people voted for that pathetic man-child dictator-wannabe?

???

[Drunken Irishman]

37. He didn't get nearly half of the country, though. Just 47% of those who voted.

A good 40% of this country were eligible and still didn't vote. That's on top of those who weren't eligible. So, we're talking only 22% of the US population voting for Trump.

[Skittles]

43. I gotta say

if you watchd what happened in the past four years and failed to vote against Trump, you're brain dead or it just doesn't bother you what is happening......ADD THOSE FOLK IN

[standingtall]

19. Should be pointed out that part of the reason Trump got more votes than he did in 2016

was because turnout was up. Some of the reasons that turnout was up was, because of mail in voting and early voting. Democrats overwhelming won mail in votes, but that doesn't mean we won all of them. Plus some States never had early voting until this election. When we consider the context. We should not think Trump got more votes than 2016 that because he found a bunch of new people to like him, but because voting was made easier more assholes that liked him to begin with decided to vote this time.

[Miguelito Loveless]

20. Well, no, because the math is wrong

74 million voted for Trump out of 330 million of the populous.

256 million did NOT vote for Trump.

[Earthshine2]

21. Authoritarian or not, a lot of them just hate liberals and Democrats.

They are brainwashed by right wing media.

I do not know the solution to this pervasive problem.

[58Sunliner]

23. 30% did not vote in this election. So your 50% is @ 33%.

[tulipsandroses]

26. I think we are missing the boat if we are thinking of this as a rural thing

I'm in FL, certainly not a rural part of FL. Its trump county. All around me the yard signs say "My bank account loves Trump"
A while back I was reading an article about a republican woman that said she was voting Biden. She talked about how isolated she was feeling after trying to convince her friends and neighbors to vote Biden. They said hell no. These were suburban folks. PTA, Church, various ladies groups. I felt bad for the lady, seems like being a nice republican lady was part of their identity. As far as the other ladies were concerned, they had drunk the cool aid republicans had sold them for years. Dems were just evil and Amoral. I don't think this woman will continue to vote for democrats. I would caution democrats not to feel giddy about any bump they got from this demographic. Some of them might have been repelled by Trump, but as soon as they can vote for a republican, they will do so to get back to their nice republican bubble.

[UTUSN]

25. One third

 

[fearnobush]

27. This - Similar percentages to 1/3 of the colonists supported rebellion while 1/3 were against it

And the other third watched.

[UTUSN]

29. Yip.

[Mopar151]

31. It's a lot more complex. There a lot of axes to grind!

AKA Wedge Issues.. Trump will willingly sell out ~92% of voters on each one. Karl Rove's perfect candidate! The thing is the 3 - 5% range of white - hot hatred zealots dedicated to their cause, X the number of overlapping causes = The deBase'd.

They are uniquely willing to ignore the worst humans on earth, as long as their cause is served.

[Thekaspervote]

33. But it isn't 50% of Americans. It's approx 30-40% of the repuke party a much smaller number

[Yavin4]

34. Or, it could be larger than 50%, right?

It's 47% of the adult voting public. We can also say that Trump wasn't Fascist enough for those that did not bother to vote.

[Drunken Irishman]

38. Could be but we cannot say. All we can say definitively is that 22% voted Trump.

22% of America that is.

So, it would be wrong to say half the country clearly supports fascist authoritarianism.

[Yavin4]

50. There's every indication that if every eligible voter voted, the end result would not be different

statistically speaking.

So, given how the election turned out, we can definitely say that nearly 47% of the American voting public voted for Fascist Authoritarianism.

Splitting hairs on the percentages hinders our ability to face the problem with the hopes of correcting it.

[Rice4VP]

35. 47% voted for the loser. Biden got 51%

[Yavin4]

36. 47% voted for an anti-democratic authoritarian.

Who is still doing everything that he can to undermine the election.

[Cicada]

39. Germans in the thirties were not different from other people

We should understand that what happened there could happen here too.

[Captain Stern]

40. I think it's way over 50%

I think there are plenty of folks that are ok with a dictatorship.....as long as the dictator is doing stuff they agree with.

[treestar]

42. The ones who don't vote are even more dangerous

They are content to let things slide. They would surely just follow the authoritarian who might gain power.

[moondust]

44. Many probably don't know

what big words like fascism, authoritarianism, socialism, and cancel culture even mean. I suspect many have been taught by the NRA and gun manufacturers (in order to sell more guns) that gubment bad! Don't trust it! Buy guns to protect yourself from the big bad gubment that wants to take your guns away! They've grown up basically learning that sedition is freedom and that's the crowd they hang with no matter what. Trump is their anti-gubment, anti-guideline, confederate strongman.

"No amount of messaging or policy is ever going to change the minds of that near 50%."

I'd be curious to know to what extent the anti-lockdown/anti-masking idiots in other countries without a 2nd Amendment are taking their cues from Trump and his 2nd Amendment seditionists.

[JI7]

45. But even without knowing the meaning they know what Trump does and says

and are ok with it. Well, not most but a large percentage.

[sinkingfeeling]

46. Yes

[malaise]

48. Here's the American problem

Most Americans willingly accept American interference in the overthrow of other people's political system. It is sold as promoting democracy but it is only about American national interests.
You can't cheer on the destruction of other people's systems, heroes, culture, etc. to steal their resources and not expect people within your own country to see how it's done. When your own media cheers on the tearing down other people's statues, you give your own people ideas.

[Yavin4]

49. That's 100% true. We use our police like we use our military abroad.

Solve problems through force when they could be solved through other means.

[malaise]

51. That is also a very important point

Across the globe there are way too many 'police states'.