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Former president implores Christian supports to vote ‘just this time’, then says he’s not Christian
LOL
I swore that's what I heard but just ignored it as his fumble speak.
I thought I was going crazy since I clearly heard "I'm not Christian" but other articles were quoting it as "I'm a Christian".
To me him saying "not" makes more sense than "a" when you look at his expression and head movement when saying it. But to be perfectly fair I don't think there is a way to tell for sure.
Wow how much more explicit do Americans need it before seeing him for what he is?
That's not the problem. He could choke on a hamberder tonight. And that would not stop any of this. He is a narcissist and a truly horrible person. An actual monster. A monster yes. But a monster that can only do this sort of thing because of the people who gleefully enable him, and put these horrific ideas in his head in the first place. This isn't a trump problem this is a conservative / Republican problem.
Or in other words, trump is the symptom not the disease. The disease is the mass embrace of superstition, demagoguery, ruthlessness, xenophobia, racism, conspiracy, and the rejection of integrity, education, science, democracy, fairness, equality, and beneficial policy.
Why you might ask?
You can (roughly) classify conservatives as reactive people, and progressives as proactive people. Reactive people are influenced by and act on lower brain stimulus. Over millions of years humans have evolved to elevate and look to a powerful ruthless clan leader in times of trouble. This worked well for millennia as the powerful chief could rally the tribe to circle the tents and drive away the threat. Today, people that we call conservative are a demographic that naturally respond to perceived threats in that reptilian way: find a ruthless leader.
So what are the these threats?
Climate change, greedflation, disease, dwindling resources, rogue comets, you name it. Many ‘threats’ are simply perceived: immigrants, lgbtq, libraries, college professors, brown people.
How do we treat the disease?
Vote: bring in leaders that care about and implement policies that elevate the middle and lower classes. Conservatism is neutralized by comfort and optimism in the middle and lower class. This will not be easy: the corporatocracy leverages the conservative rube masses to keep the Big Fleece afloat, and the corporatists and 1% have bought power to influence policy. So VOTE.
And also, even though it’s tiring, take time to gently refute the bullshit your conservative family and friends spout. When your stupid uncle professes love for trump, ask why, ask for details of policy. Respond calmly with facts about the economy under our current leadership. Ask what “woke” means. When asked to explain the logic behind their regurgitated positions, conservatives usually lock up and are lost for words. Sometimes they get angry. But once in a while they see the light.
Good stuff. There needs to be a cheat sheet, constantly updated, to reference though, afa trying to engage in convos with conservatives. Their purported facts and whataboutism is strong. Took much for my admittedly limited intellect, anyway. I would need a website that collates responses to the myriad bad faith and deluded talk points
Absolutely. The Absurd reality, is that Trump is honestly a blank canvas. He could have been a fantastic Progressive for president as well if only those were the sort of people he was surrounded with. Not a good person mind you. Just not abjectly horrible. When it comes down to it he just wants to be loved. But he goes about it in the worst possible ways. I still have no sympathy for him. But it is the truth.
just not abjectly horrible
uhmmmm without even delving into his politics, he's literally a pedophile & rapist. That's in the "abjectly horrible" category for me. May be easy to forget all the awful things he's done because they are so numerous.
Anyway I otherwise agree
Fair enough. I definitely could have made the point better. But yeah ultimately he's just a wannabe. Sucking up to anyone and anyone with money and power. And saying whatever he thinks people want to hear.
Also he doesn’t want to be loved. He wants to be feared. It’s why he likes North Korea so much.
Is it? I mean it's not north Korea he's always obsessing over. It wasn't north Korea that wrote him the "beautiful letter ". Trump spent decades sucking up to wealthy new York families. Not because they were feared. But because they belonged to a group that represented wealth and power that he wanted to be associated with. But never could being a nouveau riche loser.
He also spent a decade or two hanging off the Clinton's asses. It's never been about fear. It's always been about outdoing his father. Breaking in to circles old man trump never could. And earning the adulation and love his family never gave. It's why he never stopped holding rallies. Not because the people there feared him. But because they worshiped and loved him. Even if they're largely penniless ignorant rural rubes. They open their wallets eagerly still.
This (plus a myriad of other reasons is why I held back a vote for Hillary. They both seemed like horrible people, but at least we had a CHANCE that Trump would give the right wing of the Republicans the middle finger. He was poised to become the most popular president ever. Piss off both “extreme” wings and he could have laughed his way to the bank as a true middle of the road guy. I’m now firmly in the “blue no matter who” camp.
Trump told you exactly who he was, though. He bullied and bullied and people cheered for it. He constantly proved he was racist and xenophobic and stoked fear through lies like a fascist. I mean remember "Grab her by the pussy"? He was publicly and proudly vile.
Hillary had some dud memes and a ridiculously trumped up email scandal. I'm not saying she's a saint, cuz she ain't, but it was pretty clear who the "better" person was and is.
He would have never done that. His whole life he'd spent sucking up to the wealthy and powerful. In the face of constant rejection. He despises his fans. But they give him the power and importance he never deserved. He will say or do anything to keep their approval. So while he might technically give the Party heads the finger. He was never going to Veer in a better direction. But always in the direction of the monster of those Party heads had made. We've known who Donald Trump is since the 90s or earlier. There was no question as to what he was going to do or how he would be.
And also, even though it’s tiring, take time to gently refute the bullshit your conservative family and friends spout. When your stupid uncle professes love for trump, ask why, ask for details of policy.
This is really important, but it's often fruitless. My aunt claims to have "hated Obama for eight long years!" When you ask why, what particular policies were so onerous, the immediate response is "WE'RE NOT RACIST!!1!" Like, ok..? Who brought race into this..? If you manage to wade through all the vitriol, you'll eventually hear "he took my health insurance and gave it away!" So, it actually boils down to not losing anything, but other undesirables getting access to the services that they enjoyed for years. That's their motivation to vote Trump, to keep people with more melanin in their place. Fuck my fellow Americans, i gots mine, basically.
I think a lot of it is the cult of personality, that is trump. But you are correct, your right wing is sliding events further right.
I'm pretty confident that if he did choke on a hamburger tonight, the infighting to fill the power vacuum would tear the party apart, at least for this election.
A lot of Americans don't even have good hindsight lol
This article was amended on 27 July 2024. A part of Trump’s speech that was unintelligible were deleted.
I'm surprised that would leave anything left to talk about.
I'm guessing he thinks some of his supporters are so dumb they can't understand they are going to get the fascism they crave unless it's explicit.
On top of all the other levels of idiocy with this he's going for the approach that when he dies there will be a power vacuum which will cause so much in fighting that whatever system he'd leave woudl fall apart in a generation or two.
IF YOU'RE GOING TO VOTE FOR A DICTATOR VOTE FOR ONE WHO WILL PUT THE EFFORT IN FOR GOD'S SAKE.
Well, he's put a Trump as the head of the RNC. I think he wants another Trump to take over, but I also think he's too stupid and lazy to actually make that work. The people using him would rather leave a path to power for themselves, so it's not going to happen. It's all a cluster fuck and no one is going to like the results if he wins.
Trump says what we already knew*
Glad to see at least some media in Europe highlighting this.