This quote from the NYT re: GOP voters

[edhopper]

Party leaders, for their part, have said they would eye cuts to anti-poverty programs such as food stamps.

But cuts like these would have a big potential downside for Republicans: The partisan shifts of recent years mean that Republican voters now benefit from these redistributive programs even more than Democratic voters do.

No clearer demonstration of cutting their own throats because of their anger and identity issues.

As the Boss said, it's a death trap, a suicide rap.

[Lovie777]

1. Yeah.......

but the GQP cult aren't the brightest bulb in the lot.

[mopinko]

2. why are they not known as the party that kills it's voters?

i dont get it. they’re the party pf death. at every turn.

[edhopper]

4. They will never get

that their votes caused the death of their wives and daughters when they can't get proper medical care or die from dangerous pregnancies.

[Rebl2]

12. That's what

I have been asking. GQP wants to cut food stamps, and if they get their way somehow Biden will be blamed for it.

[Abigail_Adams]

20. You would think that

it would dawn on them that they lost seats in Congress because scoffing at Covid killed so many more red state voters than blue state ones. But I doubt that MAGAs are even cognizant of that.

[OMGWTF]

22. Astrophysist Neil DeGrasse Tyson said in 2022 that could be enough to swing elections to the Dems.

[UpInArms]

27. The cult will blame Biden

because they are ignorant (which can be cured with knowledge), but stupid (which has no cure)

[betsuni]

3. Republicans never get blamed.

Democrats are blamed for having a "messaging problem" or ignoring everyone, some bullshit about being elites beholden to wealthy donors, as if Republicans pour all their money into supporting Democrats because Democrats do everything they want. Stupid, stupid, stupid.

[Wounded Bear]

5. It's pure projection, and their voters buy it every time...

[bucolic_frolic]

6. But Republican voters think the $ will go to churches and give opportunity for more cruelty

[jaxexpat]

7. As they strap their hands round Trump's engines.

It's still a better state anthem than "My Old Kentucky Home".

[Dios Mio]

9. Good one.

[aggiesal]

8. GOP voters believe that cuts to anti-poverty programs ...

only affect the right people (minorities) not the wrong people (whites).

That's why you hear statements like "That won't affect me". Then when it does they say, "It's affecting the wrong people."
Then they continue to vote against their own beliefs.

I remember when Kentucky voted out "Obamacare", a reporter asked voters if they were happy that they got rid of the popular program KyConnect, the name used for the Affordable Care Act program in Kentucky, their jaws dropped.

[BumRushDaShow]

10. "Republican voters now benefit"

There's no "now benefit". They have always "benefited".

I remember a bunch of years ago when there was one of those news magazine special reports that showcased some of these people. I.e., the ones who railed about "welfare queens" while receiving their own "welfare" checks. And when confronted by the reporter as the mailman brought what was a monthly government assistance check to the ramshackle home of one such ranter, there was a lot of hemming and hawing and blank stares.

The NYT link is here - https://www.nytimes.com/2023/03/27/briefing/gop-republican-spending-cuts.html

But Yahoo has the full thing (no sub) here - https://news.yahoo.com/republican-spending-problem-121633054.html

[bottomofthehill]

11. Sometimes, people have to touch the stove to learn

Republicans love to blame black and brown people for the cost of government. Not even close. It’s those who need someone below them, or at least ones who they feel are below them to validate their shitty existence. The myth of the Welfare Queen living in a luxury apartment driving 2 Escalades and buying lobster tails with food stamps lets them hate someone for violating the system that they avail themselves to. As if to say, “if not for those lazy welfare queens, I would not need public assistance”. It makes no sense but is often the Republican white trash way of looking at things.

[The Magistrate]

13. Thing Is, Sir, Policy Is Set, And Votes Cast, In Accord With Fantasy

In this instance, the fantasy is one that long has comforted poor whites --- that they work hard and fend for themselves, and it is black people who have to have government aid. This is supported by a further fantasy poor whites are taken with, that all the money government spends is theirs and so spending they don't like is misuse of their hard-earned money. White people whose income is SSI, who receive food stamps themselves, who just get by at poorly paid work by grace of EIC checks in the spring, still manage to maintain these convictions, these fantasies, and vote accordingly. While they're having a hard time, not a dime of their hard-earned money can go to blacks who don't deserve it.

That the consequences will be harder lives for themselves will only reinforce their devotion to the fantasy. Politicians who feed it to them need not fear the worm turning. The worse they make it for those who vote them into office, the firmer their support at the polls will be. It does not matter whether the politicians running on the fantasy are in its thrall themselves or simply employing it for personal gain. True believers will tend to win out over pretenders among the faithful, certainly. A man who is both a believer and in it for grasping all can clutch will be hard to beat for leader in such people's eyes.

[edhopper]

14. I agree with what you said

except for the last bit. Because surely Trump is the biggest pretender of all time, and they worship him.

[The Magistrate]

18. He Believes Himself, Sir

There's nothing he says isn't standard far-right idiocy in its pre-Reagan forms. He's convinced of the same things his followers are, has been for decades. And he is in it for the grift....

[CaptainTruth]

21. Very true, sir.

[albacore]

15. Here's their problem....

[Kablooie]

16. You'd think so but...

Republican voters don’t vote on issues that benefit themselves.
They vote for issues that they are told will upset Democrats.
That is a higher priority than self preservation.

[maxrandb]

17. They actually believe that these cuts will only impact minorities

After all, they have earned their "gubmint' aid.

Besides, if it wasn't for "gubmint" giving aid to the "Welfare Cadillac" folks, Retrumplican voters would be millionaires.

[gratuitous]

24. They also believe that the benefits they receive aren't really benefits

I forget who it was a couple of weeks ago, but some conservative loon was crowing about her self-made status. Why, anyone could do it! She had been on food stamps and welfare, but nobody helped her become the rugged, successful individual she is today. Reminded me of Craig T. Nelson's boast about how when he was struggling as an actor, living on food stamps, that nobody helped him out, and he'd become a success all on his own.

Because, see, when conservatives get SNAP benefits or rent assistance, that's just what's supposed to happen. Other people (if you know who I mean, and you probably do) are the ones sucking up benefits they shouldn't be getting.

[maxrandb]

25. Like Ben Carson, who grew up in subsidized housing

but complains that all it did was hold him back.

Surely he would have made it into med school if he grew up in a homeless encampment instead.

Same with folks educated by Public Schools that say Public Schools suck. I guess the only "good" public schools are the ones they attended.

Remember when they went after president Obama for "you didn't build that"?

The bankers will get government "aid" to make sure they stay at 3RD Base, but will brag they hit a tripple.

It's the "Fuck you, I got mine" Retrumplican way.

[markodochartaigh]

19. An educated electorate is a cornerstone

of a well-functioning democracy. Republican voters are being mal-educated to believe that Democratic spending is bankrupting the US. So when social programs are slashed the Republicans will tell their voters that the Democratic spending is what forced the cuts. And their voters, and many of the non-voting third, will believe the Republican lies that have spread like cancer in the US zeitgeist.

[Hortensis]

23. MANY studies have shown that most people vote principles OVER self interest.

ESPECIALLY CONSERVATIVE PEOPLE. Poor white conservatives have always benefitted the most because they're the largest impoverished group. (In the past, far more conservatives still called themselves Democrats while voting against Democratic liberals and Yankees.)

THIS IS BIG TO UNDERSTANDING WHAT'S GOING ON WITH THEM:

Conservatives tend to believe social programs can be helpful but know that they encourage bad behaviors and if overdone are harmful to beneficiaries and lead to the decline of society. It's fundamental to conservative personality.

These crazy days the right has been encouraged to believe the negatives have already lead to the decline of society and that good effects are overwhelmed by bad. Used to be, a lot of conservatives routinely approved more limited versions of programs liberals wanted; many called themselves progressive conservatives. They were friends with liberal Democrats even though thinking we were weak on good sense and moral intelligence -- but not too awful.

Those who imagine large numbers these days are now primarily motivated by fear and hostility toward Democrats and liberalism are a lot more correct. That's huge.

BUT underlying that, conservatives still believe as they always did -- that government social programs are often harmful and immoral in effect. Whatever we think of what they've become these days, many who need help have been voting their principles and suffering without help all their lives. We've known a good number since moving to rural Georgia.

[LiberalFighter]

26. Republican voters have benefited far more than Democratic voters for many years.

[Maraya1969]

28. These Republican voters need to know and understand this.

How many times have we seen people voting against their best interest. It is the right wing propaganda that motivates them. We need our truth to be out there as much as they are propaganda.