Millions want the Nazi-loving prick back in the White House. WTF happened to America?

[Cyrano]

He's been reading Nazi shit off his teleprompter for months now. We know he doesn't have a clue what Hitler said. -- He doesn't read, or grasp anything aside from his own self-importance. -- Those who use him for their own benefit wrote this crap for him, straight out of "Mein Kampf."

But TFG, and those who want access to the power he can bring them, have discovered that countless Americans are either ignorant of, or totally desire, a country, and perhaps a world, run by a current day Orange Fuhrer.

I have no idea what happened to this country. America was never perfect. Hatred of Black people, Jews, LGBTQs, non-white "Christians," and all "Others" has long existed here and still does. But there was a level of American tolerance held by many, and, until Trump came along, seemed to be improving.

To me, it's inexplicable that millions of Americans are now embracing a neo-Nazi ex-president, and want him back.

Maybe I've outlived the world I once lived in. I've seen that ignorance, and the beliefs of many have somehow, and for some reason, embraced hatred, cruelty, and perhaps even genocide. I don't get it. Can anyone tell me what I've missed and what I'm not seeing?

[Autumn]

1. The media. nt

[LisaM]

7. I think that has a lot to do with it.

I had CNN on earlier and the lead story was Trump and the next story was also going to be Trump. It's too much. I can't stand it. They have always given him too much airtime, starting in 2015.

This guy loses an election by 7 million votes and he still won't go away and the media won't quit following him around.

[Autumn]

27. The media has everything to do with it. The normalize him, they cover for him, they

don't report negative things on him and they push the narrative that he is the frontrunner.

[Rebl2]

11. Exactly !

[rainy]

32. Exactly what I was going to say!!!

[WhiskeyGrinder]

2. This country is built on white supremacy and until it's dismantled, we'll continue to struggle, no matter how much

more "tolerant" it becomes.

[reymega life]

3. no this nation was built on escaping religious persecution from the Church of England and the KING

[misanthrope]

5. For some members of the Massachusetts colony, that was true

Last edited Sat Dec 23, 2023, 12:13 AM - Edit history (1)

But not even all the passengers on the Mayflower were part of the same church. And those religious refugees who settled Plymouth shouldn't be considered "let and let live" types either. They had their own religiously affiliated state in mind.

Plus, the pilgrims who landed in 1620 were preceded by Virginia settlers who came for purely capitalistic reasons. They sought fortune and a way to recreate England's landed gentry system on this side of the Atlantic.

Others came here because they were rough and rascally types who stayed on the wrong side of the criminal justice system in the Old World. Others wanted to recreate the West Indies plantation society that rested on a brutal foundation of slavery.

[reymega life]

8. the church had all the indigenous people killed btw

[turbinetree]

34. They were all about corporations and a compact....it was called the Mayflower Compact....

it had with them about 70 investors here is a good read in my opinion......

We the Corporations
How America Businesses won Civil Rights
By Adam Winkler

[marmar]

44. Molded by slavery and white supremacy.

[reymega life]

45. hey I love my nation this nation is where I live in glad my family came here from the russian empire last century

[Scrivener7]

54. No it wasn't. It was built to enable a group that was

persecuted in England turn around and persecute everyone else who came to the colonies. It was also built to make a profit.

That "religious freedom" schtick is nonsense.

[reymega life]

57. ask that to my mom's friends who are quakers whose ancestors fled England to come have a better life

also why do people want to come to america? exactly?

[ExWhoDoesntCare]

66. Go ask a black person

If anyone gave a flying toss about their religion in bringing them over here.

Go ask Ashkenazi Jews if anyone even wanted people of their religion here--and yet they came, knowing their religion was anathema to the majority of people living here.

Nobody was waiting with open arms for East Asians or their religion when they migrated here from China and Japan. Same goes for the many Middle Eastern migrants. Think they expect a warm welcome for Muslims here?

Effectively zero of the people coming here from south of the border come here over religion.

And yet they came, for reasons that had nothing to do with their pet theistic impulses (or lack thereof).

The vast majority of people who have ever come to America have done so because they have the chance for economic and political opportunities they wouldn't have in their previous country. Very few have come because they wanted to practice a particular theism.

Welcome to reality.

[Scrivener7]

71. For many years, non-Puritans were forbidden to enter the early colonies. The Puritan hatred seemed, for some

reason, to be strongest for the Quakers. Quakers were routinely branded, beaten, whipped, by colonial official rules before they were banished from the Puritan settlements. A few were executed.

Google "Boston martyrs."

Your mom's friends, apparently, are not well versed in Quaker history.

[TSExile]

4. SMH.

As much as I love and miss them, I am glad my grandparents aren't here to see this. All four were part of the Greatest Generation. My paternal grandfather fought in WWII. My maternal grandmother was an immigrant (from Austria-Hungary, but later became a naturalized American citizen). They would all be horrified and heartbroken.

What HAPPENED along the way that this monster, this bully, this unintelligent creep could be the "leader of the free world"? He can rape, assault and slander women with impunity, he can epically mismanage a pandemic that resulted in how many preventable deaths, sic violent protesters after cops and get some of those cops killed (and also sic cops on non-violent protesters), steal classified documents and GET AWAY WITH IT ALL!!! He is a rapist, murderer, thief and so much more. 🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬

[birdographer]

39. My father would be apoplectic

He would not have made it to 2016 no matter how healthy he was, but holy cow if he were around for this he would be on a constant rant about trump! As a child of the 50's, I was lucky enough to have the majority of my life pass without any trump. I'm sorry that this is the America I will be leaving when I shed this mortal coil. On the other hand, the thought of being alive when he dies, to have days where there IS NO TRUMP IN THE WORLD, are highly motivating to stick around. The mind boggles to imagine if he keeled over tomorrow. It would all be over. Sure, some chaos with his cult members, problems with the Lindseys and Matts and the rest of them, but the head of the snake would be cut off and the body would die. I live for that day. And America would have a chance for a reboot.

[ExWhoDoesntCare]

67. Is he getting away with it all?

He served only one term because tens of millions of Americans hated him even more in 2020 than they did in 2016. Hated him so much they told him to bugger off from DC.

Last I saw, he was on the peg for 91 criminal charges on four indictments.

He recently lost a civil case that pretty much painted him as a rapist.

His business is about to be crushed to bits in New York. At this point, it's only a matter of how much the judgment will ratchet down the spanner on his nether bits.

If that's 'getting away with it all,' I'd hate to see what you call holding someone accountable.

[TSExile]

69. Well...

He's still walking around free, isn't he? He's not in jail. He hasn't paid up in the civil cases and probably never will. He's still the leading R nominee.

I am tired of hearing that "no one is above the law". Clearly, he is. He is coddled, entitled and protected in a way we peons would never be. Maybe he will be held to account one day, but I am not holding my breath.

[Septua]

6. The Trump-embracing-Americans were always there...

..and fall under a broad interpretation of White Nationalism, mixed with overly conservative political ideology. They have been waiting decades for a Trump type to come along and crusade for them.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_nationalism

White nationalism is a type of racial nationalism or pan-nationalism which espouses the belief that white people are a race[1] and seeks to develop and maintain a white racial and national identity.[2][3][4] Many of its proponents identify with the concept of a white ethnostate.

[Celerity]

9. +1000

[SYFROYH]

53. agreed. They used to think they had to hide it to win elections...

...no they know going nearly full-Zazi (short of swastikas) is the way to rally RWNJ support.

[rubbersole]

60. Soaked and stoked by Limbaugh et al...

Divide and conquer. It's working perfectly.

[Irish_Dem]

10. More people seemed to take their civic duty seriously.

Even those without a high school education, read the newspaper and watched the news.
Discussed the issues and voted. A politician exhibiting bad behavior was disqualified in the court
of public opinion. There seemed to be a sense of right and wrong. A moral compass.

[Boomerproud]

13. All in the past it seems.

Nobody better wish me Happy New Year on Jan. 1st.

[Irish_Dem]

18. I am going to wish you a Happy New Year right now.

I am as cynical as anyone I know.

And I still retain some hope that people will learn something from all of this.

Yes it is the most serious crisis since WWII, but we won that against all odds.

If we give up and end up in despair, then our enemies have won.
That is what they want.

So have a good year next year. And fight the good fight, that is what matters.

[Cyrano]

16. You're right, Irish Dem. But America's moral compass seems to have lost its way.

Republicans have always been against anything that helped the middle class and the poor. Trump kicked Republican doctrine into overdrive.

Nonetheless, I lack any concept regarding how so many millions can be so mean spirited.

[Irish_Dem]

17. The GOP taps into the dark underbelly of human nature, expands and makes it visible.

The GOP does it with the help of Putin, who is an expert in evil in all its forms.

To be human is to witness the iconic fight between good and evil.
It is the human condition and it seems to ebb and flow from era to era.

The thing that is important is to fight the good fight.
And not go to the dark side.

Each generation has a moral test to pass, and at least we can pass it hopefully.

[bdamomma]

20. Irish_Dem

I hope we can pass it too.

[Irish_Dem]

26. That is the thing that matters.

We cannot control the world, all we can control is ourselves.
Did we do the right thing?

We are all human so we make a lot of mistakes.

But at the end of the day, did we just take up space, make the world worse,
or are we going to leave the planet a little bit better off?

[bdamomma]

38. Yeah

A lot of mistakes, but don't they say we should learn from our mistakes. This is our moment to write the wrong. Only love can conquer hate.

Season's Greetings and Happy New Year to you and your family.

[Irish_Dem]

41. Thank you. Bdamomma.

All we can do is try.

Happy Holidays to you and yours!

[Cyrano]

23. You're right. But seeing millions of Americans on the side of "evil," is dishearening.

Those who would destroy human freedoms never go away.

And somehow, someway, we must reach deep and be relentless in defeating them.

[Skittles]

47. and they do it while calling themselves CHRISTIAN

[betsuni]

50. Disappearance of local news. "Americans were learning less about people in their local

communities and more about the distant figures, abstract disputes, and entertaining memes of national politics. Daniel J. Hopkins, a political scientist at the University of Pennsylvania, found that the share of Americans who could name their governor declined sharply between 1949 and 2007, even as the share of who could name the Vice President remained unchanged. By 2012, Americans were directing far less of their donations to politicians in their own states than they had a generation earlier, and when asked to name the politician they hated most, only 15 percent of respondents named someone in their own state; most of their politician attention was directed far away.

"The 'nationalization' of politics and public life was even changing how they described themselves. ... Earlier Americans had focused on their state identity ... . Television, and eventually social media, allowed people to dissociate from their physical communities. They were powerful tools of self-segregation.

"Research by PEN America ... found that as local journalism declines, 'government officials conduct themselves with less integrity, efficiency, and effectiveness, and corporate malfeasance goes unchecked. With the loss of local news, citizens are less likely to vote, less politically informed, and less likely to run for office.' A study published by the Journal of Financial Economics found that in the three years after the local paper shut down, local taxes rose by an average of $85 per citizen, and payroll costs climbed by 1.3 percent beyond the usual pace. In other words, when local papers closed, government became less efficient and more generous to themselves."

Evan Osnos, "Wildland, the Making of America's Fury"

[Irish_Dem]

68. People in a democracy must be educated and informed.

Print and TV media on the local level were wiped out as you point out.
National media taken over by billionaires with agendas.
Propaganda spews out 24/7.

They print and publish material that makes them money, the public good is not one of their goals.

[Emile]

12. Right wing propaganda and the magic R.

[Mz Pip]

14. His supporters fall into 2 groups IMHO

Those who don’t believe he’ll really do the things he says.

And those who are perfectly fine with what he’s telling them.

Impossible to reason with either group.

[SWBTATTReg]

15. And millions more DON'T want him. Millions more. We kept him out of office before and will do it again and again and

again, as long as it takes.

[bdamomma]

19. Misinformation and disinformation

and a steady dose of dumbing down of the citizenry and propaganda.

[SocialDemocrat61]

21. Decades of right wing radio

and FAUX News. As well as mainstream media bending over backwards to not appear being liberal.

[kairos12]

22. Every society requires a bit of social shaming to keep the yahoos in line.

Chump removed any sense of shame, and let slip the dregs of society.

[JHB]

24. First of all, we've ALWAYS had a layer of these types

The Know-Nothings, the Klan, all sorts of antisemitic, anti-foreigner, "anticommunist" (with "communist" meaning "whatever they don't like" ), etc. And they HATE having to live under the rocks.

Second, their ranks have been boosted by decades of deliberate propagandizing by the right. This includes pressuring the mainstream media to softball the right while hitting Democrats hard to prove they don't have "liberal bias", and pretty much blackballing anyone who counters the lazy "both sides" narrative.

[a kennedy]

25. Ok, it's Friday and I have had a few cocktails.......so when I say if that orange piece of shit

would win the Presidency again………do not be alarmed if I say I WILL KILL MYSELF!!!!! Ok, ok, I’ll move to Mexico or someplace, Canada, I SWEAR TO GAWD.

[bullimiami]

28. People don't change much. Trump turned the spotlight on something really ugly that we didn't want to look at.

[Skittles]

29. those same people trust politicians more than doctors and scientists

it's fucking insane

[BannonsLiver]

30. Societal rot and American grievance culture.

[FalloutShelter]

31. We all have battered wife syndrome.

The MSM spins up up every day with the endless drumbeat of what will we do with this POS? Here is what we do. We do our job and get rid of him. Vote in unimaginably big numbers and run him out on a rail.

Kick him to the fucking curb with extreme malice.

That is the ONLY answer. The courts will not save us. Only we can save us.

[bdamomma]

43. Yes,

Only we can save ourselves.

[FalloutShelter]

48. 👍🏻

Yes.

[catbyte]

33. Decades of RW AM radio & rise of the Christofascists set the stage and the election of Barack Obama

sent them over the edge. The US is currently a white-majority nation, but won't be in about 20 years. Obama's election brought that reality home and scared the bejeezus out of them because they saw their privilege -- or perceived privilege in many cases -- slipping away and Benedict Donald dialed the hate up to 10 so here we are.

[viva la]

35. What is horrific is well, all of it, but something that strikes me is that these speeches I think are written by....

Stephen Miller, whose family came here fleeing the Nazis. His own uncle has written editorials pointing out that if Stephen Miller's immigrant-hate plans were in effect in the 1930s, he wouldn't have been born even.

To see a descendant of survivors and refugees turn so hateful...
Well, lest we forget, Trump is himself the son and grandson of immigrants, and the husband of 2 immigrant, and 4 of his five children, by his own words, are "poison".

But consistency, like truth and compassion, are alien to Trump and Trumpers.

[dalton99a]

36. Rupert Murdoch.

[ColinC]

37. I think millions more don't

[soldierant]

40. I doubt you are missing anything now.

But what you missed was all the Fascists who were in the United States before and during WWII. Including people in Congress I had not been born - maybe you hadn't either - but only after the war was over and the pictures of the concentration camps came out did Americans really believe how bad the Fascists were. And despite the best efforts of people who know better, much of that has been forgotten.

If you listen to Rachel Maddow's "Ultra"* you will begin to get an idea how much America today is like America in the 1930s. And you may deduce, as I have, that there always have been, and always will be, Nazis at heart and potential Nazis among us Some of it no doubt is education - both educating in the home growing up, as well as education in the schools, and add to that education from the media (which we did have but Reagan destroyed.) But not all. Some people are just born hateful - or maybe fearful, the kind of fear that leads to hate. To turn them around requires something like a "Road to Damascus" experience. And those are scarce as hen's teeth.

Bottom lne: there will always be Nazis.

* https://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-presents-ultra

[Aussie105]

42. A lot of simple folk

think that a powerful (fascist) leader will make their lives better because he is 'fighting for them'.

Their current lives are in the shitter because Joe isn't a powerful leader.

It is that simple.

And no, you can't discuss it with them. Stupid is obstinate.

[Initech]

46. Fox News and AM talk radio.

Fox News is like the source of most of our current problems, and Trump is a useful idiot to the Murdoch cult.

[Takket]

49. ignorance and apathy

if people actually had any idea how bad his second term would be, and how not-awful Biden has actually been, drumpf would lose in a landslide.

but people don't know

and rethugs have created such a climate of absolute hatred of ANY politician, nobody bothers to find out.

[Lithos]

51. The decline in critical thinking skills

Too many reasons why - but the TL;DR is Media has been incentivized to promote stickiness which is driven more by emotional reaction than logical reaction. if you want, start at the rise in advertising which turned communication into a tool for manipulating minds to specific calls to action

See: Edward Bernays - a Jew who Goebbels admired.

https://theconversation.com/the-manipulation-of-the-american-mind-edward-bernays-and-the-birth-of-public-relations-44393

[RockRaven]

52. A black man was elected POTUS, and tens of millions of assholes who

have always insisted to themselves and others that they are not racist lost their fucking minds because in reality they cannot handle a very public but non-entertainer black person being more powerful or privileged than themselves.

And billionaires spotted an opportunity to poke at and tweak the phenomenon to increase their own wealth and influence.

And things snowballed from there.

[moondust]

55. How many of those millions

have parents or grandparents who risked their lives fighting Nazis?

[LastDemocratInSC]

59. That's the question that I often think about.

And, I know that among those millions are plenty of MAGA boomers who fought in Vietnam. Did they take their "I do solemnly swear" oaths during basic training with their fingers crossed or did they decide to just forget those oaths in recent times?

[dclarston13]

56. If I have an audience of millions and project crazy theories

I can bet 1-2% of the rubes will believe the crazy shit. 1% of a million is 10,000, of those another 1000 spread the message. This is how it works.

[LonePirate]

61. Here's the reason: A large number of Americans hate their fellow Americans more than they love America

[W_HAMILTON]

62. This our nation's collective brain on rightwing propaganda for a few decades.

[DemocraticPatriot]

63. Too many stupid fucks who 'flunked history',

or never had to take much history, due to far-right emphasis on
"reading, righting, and arithmatic"
(with emphasis on "RIGHTING&quot ....


Witnessing what is happening with the political opinions in this country now,
is the only thing that makes me thankful for my age.....

When the worst comes to the worst, I suppose that I will already be in a box.....

[betsuni]

64. Just saw David Brooks blame the educated meritocracy for radicalized populism.

Evidently working/middle class people (like Jimmy Carter, Bill and Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama and Joe Biden) who went to college are the cause of all evils because "elites." Brooks isn't the only one blaming Democrats of course with the "elites" "coastal elites" nonsense.

[ExWhoDoesntCare]

65. It's the same country it's always been.

You're just now waking up to the dark side that's always been there.

[Polybius]

70. Immigration

It's what brought in other right-wing governments in Europe lately, and will continue to do so unless there's a change.