We don’t learn. Trump is a lolcow. He generates outrage over absurdity to gain media leverage. This recent media cycle is not an accident and I am disappointed that we didn’t learn our lesson the first decade of this.
this post was submitted on 08 Jan 2025
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I think we did learn our lesson though. All of those things not being talked about in headlines (concentration camps, education defunding, etc) are what the majority of American voters want. Its not that Americans don't know President Musk (and vice president trump) are putting those forward, its that they agree with those horrible positions.
I think it's a bit more complicated than that. Take for example the fact that Trump made large gains among both Jews and Muslims in 2024. My explanation is that the war made both groups feel like Biden wasn't biased towards their side enough, so they went to Trump.
People don't vote for positions, they vote for emotions. If they're angry, they vote to show their anger. And how does one show anger? By doing something irrational, like if you're angry and you punch a wall, only hurting yourself. The American people were angry, and they expressed their anger with the voting equivalent of punching a wall and hurting themselves - voting Trump.
precise analysis, ty!
I get what you’re saying so no hate but…
Except, no. In most cases Americans don’t know. See: every single post in c/leopardsatemyface. Americans near universally prefer policies further to the left than the candidates they elect. Example.
The entire Republican platform is based on lying and then distracting voters.
The majority of voters don’t want detention camps or harrasment of trans children. The majority of voters wanted Trump.
It’s totally fair that you didn’t know this, but I hope it can be vindicating now that you do. The gap between public preferences and actual political outcomes is massive, and is kept that way precisely by the strategic ambiguity, distraction, and misinformation that I made this post to illustrate. Does this perspective make sense?
And we spent 8 years trying to educate people. Anyone at this point who is pro trump literally cannot be convinced to vote for their own self interests until they are harmed.
Not just "until they are harmed" but "until they are directly harmed." I'm convinced at this point that unless Trump himself personally comes to their homes and executes them, they'd blame prices, immigration, illness, etc. on something else.
i think you’re on the right track but all these descriptions are a bit oversimplified
they are a tiny minority, but the case of Dearborn-Palestinian families shows how someone who is being directly harmed can even be encouraged to vote against their self interest. as someone else said in this post, Americans are voting for emotion, not candidates or even policies really.
Every election cycle there are a non zero number of voters who switch from red to blue so your assertion is false. But if you want to be doomerist and accelerationist and boring “literally cannot be reached” I can’t stop you
...and trump and the GOP deliver detention camps and harrasement of trans children in the past and will again in the future.
trump's first administration had children separated from their parents at border crossings. Desantis of the GOP signed state legislation banning gender affirming care for children before the election. Dewine of the GOP has now signed state legislation banning bathrooms to trans children in public schools.
So unpopular, they voted in the guy that says he was going to do deport people.
So unpopular they voted in the party that does it.
They may grumble about the methods, but at the end of the day, this is what the majority of American voters are. They've announced in a loud voice that they are racist, bigoted, sexist, and anti-trans. A majority of American voters want the guy and the party that is pro-camps and anti-trans.
In your OP you said that you're disappointed that "we didn't learn our lesson". Why is it that you are still denying this is who American voters are today?
Precisely. These policies are so unpopular that Republicans know that to communicate or even allow discussion of them in the media is dangerous. So they force the narrative to be about something else. Erasing that destruction and violence for the sake of clicks and engagement.
I am not. You are correct, this is who American voters are today. I am pointing out that the current media cycle is part of a system that ensures they stay that way.
What is erased? This was known long before this recent election. This is who trump was in his first term. We saw it. It wasn't a secret. It was in the headlines then and in the last two elections too.
You're laying this at the feet of the media. Its not. Its American voters either advocating for it or apathetic to it.
Didn’t say that, no. I am laying this at the feet of Republicans.
It’s pretty simple. Americans aren’t crazy smart. They forget things almost immediately. The media serves to remind dumb, overworked Americans of what happened, and so it has some sway among voters. I’m not saying it’s 100% or even more than half, but some. And Republicans are using that power.
If you can’t admit that, you’re just silly, and if you can then we agree. 👍
You're being too charitable. All that doesn't excuse the fact that half of Americans willingly embrace hateful policies in the first place. The logistics of implementation are not all that relevant if you hear something like "we will deport one million immigrants" and think yeah, that sounds great to me.
Not half:
Total US population who voted for tangerine: Around 22%, or 1 in 4
US population who could vote and did vote for tangerine: 31%, or 1 in 3
Did not say excuse. Explain does not mean excuse. Explain means to shine a light upon what happened and perhaps inform what can be done about it, and no more than that.
No, people didn't vote for policy here. They voted for a person
I mean Project 2025 only had a 4% approval (and a 57% disapproval rating) but obviously that wasn't reflected in how people voted
People really did believe his lies that he wouldn't do that kind of stuff
The lies weren't new either. If it was ignorance, it was willful ignorance on the part of a majority of American voters, but I don't give them that much credit. This is who we are apparently.
That's why they voted for him. That was all known before the election.
What we didn't know before the election was that it was the majority of American voters. We've learned our lesson now.
I don't think voters even care about these things. But they do care about their jobs - and they're pissed off about losing jobs due to Diversity/Equity/Inclusion hires
Exactly. Trump’s 2025 campaign succeeded by focusing on real economic struggles, but his solutions were based on falsehoods. Deporting migrants won’t improve most Americans’ lives, there are only a few transgender women in school sports, and DEI isn’t causing job losses. But with distraction and misinformation, these claims gained traction.
Focusing on irrelevant issues like Greenland or Canada only fuels the pro-Trump narrative without addressing the real problems about to befall the country.
No the amount of jobs stays the same, but it replaces merit based hiring, with sex or race based hiring. And that isn't good
The fact that you seriously believe that DEI is a circumvention to merit-based hiring is a clear indication that you have no idea what you’re talking about.
oh you’re just anti-woke, apologies for engaging
If my opinion is wrong, then tell me how. Otherwise my opinion will stay as is.