Trump

[Phoebe]

[Bonefish]

Because the Republicans(alongside centrist moderate Democrats) have spent the last... 40 years lying to the American people. Wages have stagnated, while production has gone up, capturing the capital in the top-end. The Lower-middle class blue-collar families have had less to spend, while all costs have gone up, and the whole time we were told it was the Unions, or the Welfare, or the Mexicans. After 40 years of lies, the belief that our problems stem from these things have become entrenched, and we now are demanding action. And the leadership who lied to us? Well, some of them now believe their own lies, and others just want to get re-elected.

"I'm stocking shirts at the walmart store
just like the ones we made before
'cept these say they're made in singapore
should I hate a man for the shade of his skin
the shape of his eyes, or the shape I'm in?
Should I hate him for having my job today
no, i hate the men who sent the jobs away

I can see'em all now, all lily white and squeekly clean
they've never known want they'll never know need
their shit don't stink and their kids won't bleed
their kids won't bleed in the damn dirty war
I guess we can't make it here anymore"

[Stan]

[Phoebe]

Nobody on the right is going to respond to any form of moral shaming, so I think Bonefish's approach is the only viable one: they have to identify a common enemy that is recognizable as even more responsible for screwing them over than immigrants, black people, or whoever they think is warring on Christmas (Starbucks, I guess). Presumably this is why the Venn diagram of Trump and Sanders supporters overlaps, because some group of people gets that they're being screwed over and are powerless to fix it, and they're wanting someone to go in and raise hell and protect their interests for a change. I think the white supremacy has widespread appeal whether people want to admit it or not, so... there you are. There's also a reason Sanders had trouble appealing to black voters, that goes along with keeping him a more palatable figure for white Trump voters.

Right now the enemy is libTards. What if the enemy was not the immigrants, but the people who employ the immigrants, and the companies that get millions in tax dollars for incentives to build plants that employ 50 American workers at $18/hour?

On the other hand, I no longer give a shit because I honestly think elections can be won with a laserlike focus on getting other voters to vote, and to hell with these people whose sole focus is to ruin and destroy and tear down everything good we have built here.

[Bonefish]

Most definitely. The Tea Party definitely drove me away from the Republican party. They campaigned on a psuedo-libertarian platform, as well as a jobs creation platform. Then when they got in power, they started going for abortion. WHAT THE FUCK GUYS?! "The government that governs best is that which govern's least"? Except, I guess, for womens rights and pot smokers. Then it's best to have the Gubmint in your business?!

[Phoebe]

At this point I would love it if we could get two major political parties to agree that basic factual information is useful and real. I talk to a lot of Republicans who honestly take more pleasure in feeling like they gave the finger to liberals than in feeling like they are telling the truth about things or responding to reality. If pissing off libruls means I have to lie knowingly, so be it! The prevailing philosophy among otherwise extremely intelligent, highly functioning people. For the life of me I do not get it.

[akiva]

[Bonefish]

It boggles my mind, honestly. And I'm a pretty conservative guy in a lot of ways.

[Zen]

[mimekiller]

Yo how goes the russia investigation, people being lead away in handcuffs yet or is it still the fevered dreams of some of the top fiction writers in the USa lmao

[poorpete]

Where's that chart I had? Here's my best try at an update:

What wasn't 100% sure earlier this year that's 100% sure now: Russia seriously influenced our election in order to help Trump. That's amazing.

Also truth: Trump's business tried to make contact with the Kremlin, and Kremlin allies successfully made contact with Trump's political team.

Still questions: were more contacts made, was intelligence shared, we're deals made, was money passed, and... did Trump know.

There are also aside issues over the obstruction and firing of Comey, Trump writing a false statement for his son, and Manafort and Flynn being compromised by foreign governments, and wherever Kushners business deals lead.

[mimekiller]

your chart sounds cool! We got a regular Tom Clancy over here!

[poorpete]

[mimekiller]

"and no clear-cut evidence of digital sabotage has emerged, much less a Russian role in it. " shrug

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/09/01/us/p ... ml?mcubz=0

[Kyle]

Don't engage, poorpete. Don't feed the troll.

[mimekiller]

[Mike]

[Phoebe]

Yes, the important thing here is that the Liberals are stupid hypocrites. No matter what evils we have to embrace as true or acceptable to make that happen it's okay, as long as the Liberals are stupid hypocrites.

[Kyle]

Okay, I warned you. You are now knowingly feeding the troll. But as trolls go, his ADD kicks in and he loses interest quickly. So there's that.

[Phoebe]

But I like this guy, he's amusing! Plus he's been through some s*** with his divorce that left him angry. He's the angry voter we keep hearing about.