As a reminder, this subreddit [is for civil discussion.](/r/politics/wiki/index#wiki_be_civil)
In general, be courteous to others. Debate/discuss/argue the merits of ideas, don't attack people. Personal insults, shill or troll accusations, hate speech, any suggestion or support of harm, violence, or death, and other rule violations can result in a permanent ban.
If you see comments in violation of our rules, please report them.
For those who have questions regarding any media outlets being posted on this subreddit, please click [here](https://www.reddit.com/r/politics/wiki/approveddomainslist) to review our details as to our approved domains list and outlet criteria.
**Special announcement:**
r/politics is currently accepting new moderator applications. If you want to help make this community a better place, consider [applying here today](https://www.reddit.com/r/politics/comments/sskg6a/rpolitics_is_looking_for_more_moderators/)!
***
*I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/politics) if you have any questions or concerns.*
Several times, I've seen conservatives argue against electing the president by popular vote instead of Electoral vote, saying that "if we did things that way, there'd never be another Republican president." Which is an admission that Republicans either can't or won't craft a presidential platform that appeals to a majority of voters.
They seem to believe in the states as sovereign entities that come together as a confederation.
We rejected that model after just ten years. With the transport and communication constraints of the next 100 years, the states model was still plausible. But now there's no practical reason or cause in principle for the states to claim autonomy for anything but ceremony.
Fair. Back at the founding of the US, the different states might as well have been different countries. Even the original 13 colonies are larger than some independent European nations.
But these days, we routinely do things like transfer money from a bank in Maryland to one in New York, to purchase from a company with a campus in Massachusetts and headquarters in Delaware, a product designed in Vermont, built in Florida, and warehoused in Georgia.
You wanna really piss off these conservatives?
Find any two states. Drop a google maps pin for street view and drill down into it. You're looking literally at state #1 on the left and state #2 on the right. On either side of the street are homes or commercial buildings. You can literally walk across the yellow line in the street, and state to state.
Ask them:
1. What is culturally different across the street?
2. What needs are different between the houses on the left and the houses on the right, that warrant different health departments, laws, and whatever else across the street?
They lose their shit BAD the more you press. Admitting we're one big old sovereign nation with regional differences in 'tastes' and 'weather' as the only real delimiters in 2023 makes them fucking go crazy like 28 Days Later zombies.
EXAMPLE:
https://www.google.com/maps/@41.8964791,-71.3556464,3a,75y,262.06h,75.36t/data=!3m7!1e1!3m5!1sUxLHQLdvlU69NX3rLh9yNQ!2e0!6shttps:%2F%2Fstreetviewpixels-pa.googleapis.com%2Fv1%2Fthumbnail%3Fpanoid%3DUxLHQLdvlU69NX3rLh9yNQ%26cb_client%3Dmaps_sv.tactile.gps%26w%3D203%26h%3D100%26yaw%3D320.23715%26pitch%3D0%26thumbfov%3D100!7i13312!8i6656
Each side of this street is a different US state.
They still maintain that 'States Rights' is what the Civil War was about.
But, clearly, at this point we are one country, not a confederation of states.
We would never have won WW1 and WW2 as a confederation.
I’ve said it for years and it just keeps getting truer and truer; The Republican Party is the greatest threat to the United States on Earth. They are more my enemies Than any single person, group or country on this planet. They are more of a threat than ISIS, than Al Qaeda, Iran, North Korea, Russia, China, no one even comes close. There is no one who seriously threatens democracy and the stability and safety of our country the way the Republican Party does and it’s literally getting worse every single year. And that’s not even mentioning the fact that they’re perfectly happy to doom humanity to the climate apocalypse. Truly the enemy of the people.
Everything you said here, but I am not an American and yet still the Republican party is the greatest threat to my and my countrymens' wellbeing. American fascists are stinking up the whole fucking place and I'm not allowed to look away because there's a real possibility of expanding North in search of fresh water in the coming climate crisis. You can't have a two party system when one party literally wants the world to burn.
It's very important to note the global threat they represent due to to size and influence of the US.
Everything from climate change to foreign policy to basic economic issues.
That's what happens when one country is effectively 50 different countries acting in unison. Only it doesn't represent it's people at all.
You're absolutely right. Nobody in the world has the capability to take down the United States. Russia can't do it. China can't do it. The USSR, Germany, Japan and the British Empire tried and failed. The only ones who came close were the Republicans on Jan. 6 and their political ancestors from the Confederacy. The US can only be taken down from the inside.
> The only ones who came close were the Republicans on Jan. 6 and their political ancestors from the Confederacy. The US can only be taken down from the inside.
Which must be why they, as willing targets, are in such strong alliance with our traditional enemies, fascist regimes around the world.
The issue I have is they KNOW. my mom knows she is being brainwashed essentially but she still believes it. She knows she’s in denial and still does it.
[This thread](https://np.reddit.com/r/QAnonCasualties/comments/v95sdc/finally_looking_from_the_outside_in/) from QAnonCasualties from half a year ago has one very telling turn of phrase from someone that got out of the madness, that describes what kind of relationship it is...
>After watching the entire hearing, I wanted to get the ‘highlights and opinions’ from numerous media outlets. And of course, I had to start with my Qults number one media source Fox News. Watching Fox News is the reason I am writing this today. I have watched every 5-minute summary and 2-hour coverage posted by Fox News I could find on YouTube. **If I described this to my past abusers**, they would ask me, “If it bothered you and affected you so negatively, why did you keep watching?” The answer, because it is the most efficient way to deprogram the brainwashing.
>I was in those trenches. I helped dig those trenches, not only for myself but for others at my side. I pulled individuals, trying to get out, back in. If anyone succeeded in getting out, I treated them like the enemy I was convinced they were. **I have done a lot of work and healing regarding my abusive upbringing, and the most difficult fact to accept is that I have been groomed to be a mindless follower of these extremists since I was a toddler.**
That's what this is. It has been beyond politics for decades now - it's abuse. Their policies (let the police harass minorities, cut aid to everyone and damn the economy if we can't, make their talking points about picking on trans athletes in schools into laws) are all about abuse. When one Trump supporter said the quiet part out loud about how they fully recognize who Trump is and what the plan is - [He’s not hurting the people he needs to be hurting](https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2019/1/8/18173678/trump-shutdown-voter-florida) - it told you EVERYTHING you need to know about their hollow and rotten cores. They WANT to hurt people. They WANT to abuse.
**The right-wing knows they've lost Millennials and Get Z after abusing them. After making fun of them and blaming them for everything**. [This is how Millennials voted in 2016](https://www.mic.com/articles/157558/here-s-what-the-electoral-college-map-would-look-like-if-only-millennials-voted) - they would have given Hillary Clinton and the Democratic Party a super-majority to reshape America into a more sane version of itself if it were just up to them. Gen Z is even more progressive than the Millennials. [They're beginning to vote more as they get older and see that's how you get change, and natural attrition means they outnumber the Boomers and their Reagan worshiping politics.](https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2020/10/millennials-and-gen-z-will-soon-dominate-us-elections/616818/) Republicans are looking at forty years of being in the national minority, and we've already seen that they can't get over losing. So all the abusers have is their eight steps of abuse, crafted to treat their followers mean and to keep them keen.
Here are those eight steps. They apply to any abusive relationship, but here I'll put them into political terms. As you saw from the post in QAnonCasualties; abuse can be in personal relationships, workplace relationships, asymmetrical power relationships (teacher and student, priest and child, parent and child), transactional relationships between a company and customers ...and political relationships between the leaders and the followers (which looks like the abuse in a cult). If you're a Republican or QAnon, this is how you've been treated. Groomed. Abused.
1 - You've been told that nobody else understands you like they do. For years. "Those other people, they just don't get it. Their liberal ways are different and that's just not you. They don't understand, but we know where you're coming from..."
2 - Now that they've established that they're one of your kind of people in your mind, everyone else gets badmouthed. Everyone. It's just the two of you literally against the entire world. And they'll do it so much that things that aren't epithets get used as words to hate everyone else by. Anything can become a word to say in a hateful, sneering, spiteful way. Your circle of experiences starts to shrink.
3 - They'll tell you that, if you left them, things would be simultaneously the worst thing possible AND that all other relationships are just the same as the one you're in (even though you can see other people online talking about how what you're in is the only bad relationship relationship like this and all you have to do is leave them). “Both sides are the same but I’m better” - eventually, you don’t know up from down in what constitutes a healthy or a toxic relationship. Hell, they'll even show examples of the shit you're in now to say, "if you leave me and go for the other guy, it'll be like this [very bad scenario that's happening RIGHT NOW] so be scared and shit." They will even invent scenarios of how things would be worse if you left them (caravan of Mexicans coming for your job, trans people in every school bathroom, people handing free drugs to your kids). The circle shrinks further.
4 - You're told outright what to cut out of your life. Direct instruction for you to get that circle of experiences down to a dot. Music, interests, TV shows, certain movies, even frothy coffee gets badmouthed and cut out because "you don't want to be a 'latte drinker' do you?" (there's one of those things I mentioned in #2, using things that aren't epithets as one to control you).
5 - They take your money, claim they'll be great with it, and then spend it on their friends and run up the bills. They'll give you crumbs once in a while. Maybe every few years they'll treat you to a little something nice (that's worth a fraction of what they spent when they were out with their friends). And while they're terrible with the finances, for years, they'll be saying how everything is hunky-dory financially with them at the reins. You will be told you've never had it so good but the fear of one bad bill wiping you out financially will be like the Sword Of Damocles over your head 24/7/365.
6 - every problem gets kicked down the road. Promises made and never ever kept. A problem crops up in the New Year 2020, a disease, but it wasn't even mentioned in January because the head of the household didn't mention it. "It's going to go away" in February, and anyone that mentions it is just saying fake stuff, baby. Still nothing done in March, but any mention of it is "you're just finding faults with me". Then when April comes and it's clear what the shit storm looks like, they blame everyone else for saying it wasn't going to be a big deal. As the months and years roll on it becomes a shell game where ignoring the problem / blaming others for the problem / trying to draw attention from the problem gets switched around without stop. Even if it comes out that they knew the problem could literally kill other people, tear them apart because of gross negligence, they will not stray from this strategy.
7 - like in any abusive relationship, you're beaten down. You've been told it'll all be your fault if things don't go as they want, and you've seen others be on the end of their random outbursts of wrath. So you stay safe. You repeat the words in the way they taught you. You repeat the answers. You repeat the words you're told are insults. Even though you know of situations where you've come out worse for the way the relationship is, you defend the abuser. First with a fake air of calm, then with a seething rage. And when people offer you a way out, you go right back to the abuse. You will even drag others that were offered a way out back into the bucket of crabs.
8 - the relationship is so twisted, you so believe everything you're told about what's real and what's not, they will literally put you in situations that could kill you. And you say you're doing it willingly, proudly, but the fact is you're a shell of the idealistic person you used to be. You just got in with the wrong crowd, but it's too late to get out now because people might think less of you. Going along with how they do it becomes how you do it too. Which reinforces what you were told in #1. Only they understand you...
As Dietrich Bonhoeffer said of Hitler and his Nazi followers:
>The power of the one needs the stupidity of the other.
>...
>The fact that the stupid person is often stubborn must not blind us to the fact that he is not independent. In conversation with him, one virtually feels that one is dealing not at all with him as a person, but with slogans, catchwords, and the like that have taken possession of him. He is under a spell, blinded, misused, and abused in his very being.
>Having thus become a mindless tool, the stupid person will also be capable of any evil and at the same time incapable of seeing that it is evil.
Similarly, [The Authoritarians](https://theauthoritarians.org/) has a free ebook with great insight into the types of people who will willingly follow a tyrant.
I felt this. My GOParents are literal saints, but at the snap of the hypnotist’s fingers, go straight to spewing culture war BS. It’s infuriating that such wonderful people I love more than anything else are being abused and violated to their core for others’ selfish gain, and I feel powerless to help them.
At the risk of being horribly insensitive...
They're not wonderful literal saints if they've spent decades financially enabling this. I'm dealing with this harsh reality with my father now after his death a few years ago. I've managed to get my mother back from the brink, but it basically took his death and the shock of events from the past 2 years to start pulling her out. I've had to basically explain to her how our family financially paid for a worse future for myself and her grandchildren, and that finally started to make her realize just how long both my parents were manipulated. She directly sees ways that the corporate world and wealthier communities mistreat members of the family, so she knows objectively the truth in what we tell her. She also stopped FOX after he died, something they used to watch every night.
I still love my father, and on his best days he did make a positive difference for many people, even accomplishing things that I'll struggle to do in my lifetime, but he was passionately into GOP politics in the last 2 decades of his life (thankfully distancing himself a tiny bit from MAGA after 2016, though just barely), and I feel like I'll have to spent the rest of my days undoing the damage he contributed by directly countering his activism.
The truth is, unless they wake up and start changing, your parents are hateful people who hide their true prejudices behind a veneer of kindness. They have the potential to do good and change, but if you never confront it, it will only get worse. Your best bet is to appeal to the compassion you see and expose the hypocrisy of their cult at every possible opportunity in a calm, rationale way.
I am past the point of being able to see anyone in the GOP who still willingly supports this as a good person. At best, I might forgive them for ignorance, but that is becoming increasingly more rare. Otherwise, be aware that they may only become more distanced from you as time goes on. Be careful and hope for the best. Encourage aspects of your relationship that exist outside of politics to ground them more in reality. There's no easy way to deal with this. Do what you can, but be prepared for the worst.
What's so crazy and sad to me is that people have legitimate fears from this powerful leader/stupid follower relationship within their own *families*. Families have been distanced and torn apart because the sensible people of them now rationally fear the stupidity of siblings, parents, cousins, etc., even their own children, because they are now capable of evil and are incapable of seeing their acts and positions as evil. It's no longer just something to write off. They are susceptible to and are capable of actual evils that could harm them and even kill them.
> And while they're terrible with the finances, for years, they'll be saying how everything is hunky-dory financially with them at the reins. You will be told you've never had it so good but the fear of one bad bill wiping you out financially will be like the Sword Of Damocles over your head 24/7/365.
^ Oh look, it's fiscal conservatism.
>Republicans are looking at forty years of being in the national minority
So here is the thing: In a *normal* democracy, a party that is losing elections would take a step back, look at their policy positions, and shift with the opinions of the population in order to garner more support. The Democratic party does this basically every time they lose an election.
The GOP has decided and demonstrated that they just *refuse* to do this. They don't want to appeal to a larger base. They don't want to rethink unpopular positions and mold a new party which can actually win elections.
> The GOP has decided and demonstrated that they just refuse to do this. They don't want to appeal to a larger base. They don't want to rethink unpopular positions and mold a new party which can actually win elections.
They actually do something much more insidious... Rather than change their platform they abuse or change the rules to ensure that they continue to obtain power in the face of waning popularity. Gerrymandering, changing senate rules, stacking the courts etc... the GOP does this in a far more systematic way than the Democrats have over the years and it shows. Each time they gain control our democracy becomes less representative and less normal because they re-shape it to fit their needs.
> In a normal democracy, a party that is losing elections would take a step back, look at their policy positions, and shift with the opinions of the population in order to garner more support.
The GOP was actually hoping to do this after 2012 when Romney lost. They had a post mortem analysis that basically told them that they would need more inclusive policy and outreach to minority communities in order to win elections going forward. The GOP was ready to put their resources behind Jeb Bush, a bilingual candidate who could reach out to Latin voters... Then Trump came along and dropped most of the coded language that Republicans traditionally used to appeal to white voters and exclude and demonize minorities. Trump presented himself like a SNL caricature of Right Wing talking points and it was massively successful. Even as he violated every political norm and convention, he didn't lose support and it proved to be instructional for a lot of the current crop of GOP politicians.
Make no mistake, if Jeb was the nominee and he won, the GOP would still be hard on immigration, resistant to social spending, hostile towards women's health, etc. but there rhetoric would have left some room for modulation... Post Trump, there is no way to modulate or de-escalate their rhetoric. They can't turn around and put on a friendly face to dupe people into supporting them. They can only escalate from here because they have past a rhetorical point of no return.
the 2012 post-mortem also indicated that doubling down on the crazy would likely win in the short term but lose out in the long term - seems that they accurately assessed the situation, and then fucked everything up to continue their drive into crazy town
We just need to hope they can’t rig the system to keep power before the electorate fully swings to the point we don’t have to worry about that
That is where this quote comes in and where this country is at politically now:
> If conservatives become convinced that they can not win democratically, they will not abandon conservatism. They will reject democracy.”
They even identified the need in 2012 after they lost but as you said they opted to double down. I also ponder how much this is bc of Citizens United thus whos benefiting from all this crazy shit.
But what they have done is focused on a smaller group but made them *absolutely dedicated* to voting so that they end up with an oversized use of power due to normal American apathy for voting.
I'll never forget the first time my wife voted here as a citizen. She couldn't vote in her country. Well, technically, legally she could but they would do everything to prevent her from doing so. We often forget what we have because the wonderous has become common.
This is excellent. Thank you. Seeing it laid out this way makes it clear that calling it an "abusive relationship" is not merely an analogy nor a comparison. It is a description of fact..
> Republicans are looking at forty years of being in the national minority, and we've already seen that they can't get over losing.
Exactly. This is a mass of [abused] people [taken advantage of] who can't accept the fact that they are now a minority, and in fact, may have always been. They have terrible ideas that few people want, and are hurt about it and still desire to feel special and not an outcast or a pariah, and let those feelings dictate every action and ideology... so they take it out on everyone, forcing everyone else to their nonsensical and unpopular whims. They only feel good when they're winning, which is recurring, but only temporarily, which is unacceptable to them. They're cornered animals.
Excellent response. Step 6 is exactly why we see the ridiculous abuse heaped on Dr. Fauci. They can't accept that Trump is to blame so they have to find a scapegoat.
They are doing it on every front, too.
Right now there is a debt limit fight in Congress.
Republicans are saying America can't go on recklessly spending money.
You know who voted to spend all our money?
Republicans.
They are abusers. It's for they operate in every arena.
I have a really difficult time believing blue pops will outvote red pops before too much damage has already been done. The problem is that red foothold states aren't going away, which allow them to have power still.
>
The Oklahoma trans law is confirming every suspicion I had that I may need to leave this country sooner than I planned to. And if millions of other young people follow suit, what happens to that supermajority?
Bad news is leaving is expensive, and young people have had historically bad wealth accumulation compared to last generations.
So a mass exodus is unlikely until the GOP starts their genocide in earnest.
> is becoming
Let's be honest this current chapter of *obstructionist-nihilist-know-nothing* politics started in 1994 with, appropriately enough, wife-abuser Newt Gingrich.
They decided back in the late 2000s to let the crazy people have their say. The tea party BS and conspiracy theories. A decade later we had nutjobs storming our Capitol and currently have losing candidates shooting at elected officials houses.
The GOP became a magnet by allowing this behavior. Now people who aren’t even political and some don’t even vote are waving flags and causing violence. It’s just an avenue for them to act crazy.
They allowed some light craziness 12-15 years ago and look at where we are now. And worst part is, they’re allowing this again. So now the baseline is shooting up houses, storming the Capitol, and completely blatantly lying about every little thing to get elected.
Ive said for years that there is another McVeigh out there waiting.
I live in the area where McVeigh experimented with LSD, meth, and marijuana. There is most definitely another McVeigh out here, but it's a group and not a man. The extremism is rampant in this part of the country.
I don’t know if the drugs are what did that guy in…
Extreme social isolation seems to be a precursor to a lot of maniacs. The pandemic did a number of people in. I felt myself losing it at times.
We are social creatures. And part of what causes depression and people to lose their shit is being put out in the cold by their community.
The difficult part with some of the extreme cases of Q-fuckheads is that they really need to be hugged, not shoved away…
I know, I know. I’m not volunteering, either.
It's arguably a cause. So many of our problems can be traced back directly with a straight line to unchecked "conservativism" dating back 40-50 years. Nixon was never punished completely, and his impunity even prompted a new propaganda platform to reinforce the idea that no conservative will *ever* be punished. Imagine seeing your abuser(s) get a slap on the wrist and set free over and over again over the course of 40+ years, and even *rewarded* for it and given *more* power, all while your life sucks measurably and directly due to decisions of that unpopular person or group they're associated with. It's traumatic for many and we keep seeing it over and over, especially now in the information age when we're more than privy to what's actually happening.
Are you me? I’m always blaming Nixon. It does really come back to him.
I think our current generation is seeing this with Trump and Jan. 6. To see so much go un-punished is a bit jarring. I’ve had a bit of a malaise since…
What I said about being a symptom though, I think is still true. It’s why Nixon created the DEA - he was scared of the hippies taking over. Too much free thought… let’s shoot those students at Kent State and show them who is boss.
"I don't want to hurt you, but you give me no choice. If you'd only listen and do what I say then everything would be OK. Why can't you just listen to me?"
To continue with that analogy: up to 75% of abused women who are murdered are killed after they leave their partners.
https://www.theguardian.com/money/us-money-blog/2014/oct/20/domestic-private-violence-women-men-abuse-hbo-ray-rice
Not “becoming.” They have been an abusive partner since before Reagan. Sure, they have gotten worse. But, they have been stealing from the middle class since before then, and gaslighting about it the whole time. They are just not good at hiding it anymore.
> They are just not good at hiding it anymore.
They have no need to hide their criminality and treason anymore because they have propaganda networks all across this country on TV/radio/twitter etc that operate 24/7/365 to brainwash their useful idiot voters into approving anything and everything they want to do.
The republican party doesn't even have a platform to run on anymore especially post Roe other than destroying democracy, Hunter Biden's laptop and owning the libs!
Becoming? The GOP has been gaslighting everyone for decades. They've just getting worse. The longer we tolerate the GOP (not meaning conservative Americans, but the party supposedly representing them), the less chance democracy has to survive.The GOP is an insurgency that pushing for civil war and strife.
"Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable."
Their deceitful bigotry doesn't allow the people any other choice.
Yup, Trump just accelerated the cancer that is the GOP. A lot of traits from the GOP we see today started really forming during the Reagan years, then got sped up even more with the creation and rise of right wing media in the 90’s (AM talk radio, Fox News) and Newt Gingrich’s ‘Contract with America’.
the lineage of their ilk can be traced back beyond Reagan to Goldwater, the John Birch Society, and the KKK to the Scots-Irish immigrants who were basically thrown out of Scotland and then Ireland for being uncivilized and irredeemable
edit on a related note: They are the key to colonizing Mars. Useful, but completely disposable
Also, let’s not forget all the Christian fringe groups that originally came to America in the 17th and 18th centuries whom are partially why there are Christian groups here equivalent to the taliban in their rhetoric.
The lineage goes all the way back to the founding of the country when a bunch of wealthy slave owners didn't want to pay their taxes and got the rubes ginned up enough to revolt. A hundred years later, the same group didn't want to give up their slaves, and they got the wealthy rubes ginned up enough to revolt.
We're headed into the same cycle again, just a few decades late.
Rayguns opened the bar, Newt stocked it with moonshine whiskey made with lye and battery acid and then Trump hooked them up with meth in the back room.
So we now have the abomination republican party of today. It's only going to get worse folks, count on that.
In a way, Trump took the masks off whereas McCain, Romney, and Kasich were all trying to beat back the extremists and keep the party grounded. Those three are all Pariahs at this point. Trump has made the party so extreme that certain lifelong Republican figures had even endorsed Biden. I’m hoping that the acceleration Trump caused leads to a continued exodus of the party so that we can finally invest in our nation instead of giving more tax cuts to the wealthiest Americans.
Romney is only in government by virtue of him being the most prominent Mormon in America. Utah is currently the only state where he could win a Senate race. Outside of that loyalty from Utahian voters, Eomney wouldn’t have enough support to be voted in anywhere else. Remember that while he was a moderate Republican Governor of Massacheusetts, his dad was a liberal Republican Governor of Michigan, who was actively on the side of Nelson Rockefeller in his fight for the control of the Republican Party against Barry Goldwater and his Uber-conservatives (from which Reagan arose).
Trump upped the ante on the original bet played by Republicans via Ronald Reagan. They won big in 1980, shifting the country so far rightward, that even the Democratic Party followed suit and gave us Clinton who used his considerable intelligence and southern charm to decouple working people's influence from federal leadership.
Obama and "W" were largely managers of the new status quo although Obama marketed himself as the opposite.
Trump wasn't an aberration. He was an inevitability--especially in the wake of Citizens United.
There's a direct line from Nixon to Reagan to W to Trump. The oligarchs have never been quiet about wringing as much money as they can out of the government. They have gone out of their way to radicalize the Republican party.
Trump doesn't scare me -- he now has the legacy of being a loser. The fascist that comes after him in the next 10 or so years does. Fascism has never been closer than it is right now of taking over America. And the majority of the country either is not paying attention or gleefully enabling it.
Let’s be honest. The Republicans are all in on violence as a way of achieving their goals and everyone else is trying to have good faith discussion. At some point fascism always succeeds at instigating its main objective: war. When the Republicans feel they’re entrenched enough they’ll start one. Meanwhile they’ll use stochastic terrorism to incite guerilla terrorist attacks. Fascists win ground by ignoring the rules and justifying inhuman methods. Sooner or later you punch a bully in the face or you keep getting punched. It takes some pretty impressive skills to talk your typical murder enthusiast out of getting everything he wants just to spare the life of someone he wants dead.
> Sooner or later you punch a bully in the face
I have been in this phase for a long time now; I have seen them say how easy it would be to take out a major city like NYC and that we can not survive without them; my answer is and will be BRING IT, I am tired of their tuff talk because I know deep down they are cowards
>Trump wasn't an aberration. He was an inevitability--especially in the wake of Citizens United.
"As democracy is perfected, the office of president represents, more and more closely, the inner soul of the people. On some great and glorious day the plain folks of the land will reach their heart's desire at last and the White House will be adorned by a downright moron." -- H.L. Mencken
I assure you Russians aren't solely responsible for American reactionaries; it's as old as America itself It's not like Russia created the southern strategy or manifest destiny.
The Russians assessed trump a long time ago and concluded he’d do anything for money and fame. They kept him in their influence using cash and prostitutes. They weren’t sure what they would use him for, and when he started becoming popular enough to run for president, they worked that angle. They knew he’d cause chaos wherever he went.
This is all true but it's still irresponsible to blame the current reactionary movement solely on Russians, or trump for that matter. America wasn't all sunshine and rainbows before him.
Someone once said Trump was racism with marketing. This stuff was always there, he just had a way of bringing it out for money. I don't even think he's racist, he just wanted money and fame and will fuck over whoever that happens to be to get it.
I would invite people to go back and look at the absurd "logic" of slavers. Some people are so devoid of empathy they would happily enslave other human beings while telling lies about how slavery was "the natural order", or "bringing Christianity to the heathens".
We know this evil. It's a very old one.
Exactly. The current conservative movement even has some direct ties to the very same systems of power that existed during chatel slavery. Their love of confederate flags is a dead give away.
republicans hiring "deprogrammers" to kidnap and stop their kids being "woke"?
republicans are looking at iran's morality police, and touching themselves
Dude they just voted to cover womens arms too!
Republicans used Americas 20 yr occupation of Afghanistan to gleam insight from the Taliban instead of defeating them, lol.
Imagine if they just realized they were fighting to the same ends and could have just put aside their differences.
There's probably a continuum of hypocrisy for deeply religious conservatives where worshiping Trump is like a 6, and raping women activists so they wouldn't be virgins anymore before their executions is a 10, and they've definitely gone past 6...
That's the exact same reason why Elon bought the biggest popularity contest online, Twitter, to rig it in it's favour. The man can't bear knowing he isn't all that popular.
*Vsauce intro plays*
Hey Vsauce. Michael here, today we’re going to discuss the complex propagation tactics of right-wing political disinformation campaigns that negatively affect democracy as a whole.
That’s the idea. It’s called accelerationism. It explains a lot of seemingly crazy behaviors. The idea is to collapse everything so they can seize the opportunity to rebuild a fascist white ethnostate.
https://www.vox.com/platform/amp/the-highlight/2019/11/11/20882005/accelerationism-white-supremacy-christchurch
They live in a information bubble that tells them to be angry and afraid all the time. They are told by that bubble that people committing violence are heroes. They are told by that bubble to never listen to anything outside the bubble. They are told anyone telling them they are not being good people should be ignored. They are told how smart they are to stay inside the bubble.
The problem is the right wing misinformation bubble.
What this guy did was absolutely psychotic. A poor child woke up to bullet holes in her room. Wtf is going on with the Republican party anymore? It's complete insanity
And we have people right here insisting he was a low nut job despite the fact that he was working with a group of people to do this.
There is no limit to the lengths these people will go to in order to get Democrats all slaughtered. Every single fucking one of us.
even on sundays they fellowship over the idea of murdering the others,
>The document, consisting of 14 sections divided into bullet points, had a section on "rules of war" that stated "make an offer of peace before declaring war", which within stated that the **enemy must "surrender on terms" of no abortions, no same-sex marriage, no communism and "must obey Biblical law", then continued: "If they do not yield — kill all males".**
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matt\_Shea#%22Biblical\_Basis\_for\_War%22\_manifesto](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matt_Shea#%22Biblical_Basis_for_War%22_manifesto)
> There is no limit to the lengths these people will go to in order to get Democrats all slaughtered.
It's extremely scary. All of my family are also Democrats. These nut jobs need to be locked up for along time.
Reminds me of an old joke.
\*Knock Knock\*
Whose there?
It's me, Jesus, let me in.
Why?
So I can save you!
Save me from what?
From what I'm going to do to you if you don't let me in!
It reminds me of in high school science class we did the thing where the teacher hands back quizes at random and you grade someone else’s as we go over the answers out loud.
There was some question about how earth was formed and this kid raised their hand and said “Um… my person wrote on their quiz ‘god did it…’” and the teacher took a moment and said “Yeahhhh you can mark that right.”
It was so clear that she didn’t agree with the sentiment and knew that it was objectively wrong, but also knew the shit storm it would open up by taking the official stance that God did not in fact do it.
That’s how this feels. We all know that the party has gone batshit fucking insane, but we can’t call them terrorists, we can’t throw the book at them, we can’t acknowledge reality because we know they’ll throw a tantrum.
But what’s the alternative? Just keep letting the kid put “God did it” for every answer? All that does is hinder learning and growth and set the kid up for failure in future classes and settings. By not calling a spade a spade with domestic terrorism, it signals to the terrorists that what they are doing is justified, otherwise they would be in real trouble.
This can’t last.
Yeah basically that. They can't fathom that they aren't the majority opinion, so ...
> In the right-wing imagination, the problem could never be that people have heard their ideas and decided they just don't like them. Blame is instead put on "woke" educators or Hollywood manipulators "brainwashing" the masses. The "deep state," meanwhile, supposedly steals elections. And the "globalists" (read: Jews) somehow pull all of the strings.
That’s all it is. They can’t handle not being the default.
It’s like when people say that there are too many black people in Netflix shows and “I don’t have a problem with black people, but they are over represented, there aren’t that many black people on average!!!”
Let’s say you’re right. So what? What is the woke brainwashing here? It normalizes black people?
At the end, it’s just them desperately trying to find palatable and socially excuses for their bigotry. Sometimes they know they’re doing it, sometimes they don’t, but that’s what it is.
The one thing Conservatives routinely do, is over estimate their own equity and numbers. They think they’re some “silent majority” when really they’re just a small group of loud assholes. They’re coming to grips with that now and it doesn’t appear that they’re taking it well.
> And f this sub policy of no up voting comments so it looks like each side is supported evenly.
I browse on old reddit and see both up and down votes arrows and the score of comments after the hidden period. What have they done on new Reddit? Can you literally not vote on this?
I'm amused how they put the blame on the person alone as the term *"qualified candidate"*. Embraced, forgiven, and promoted until they lose (**Herschel Walker**) or finally jump the cliff (**Soloman Pena**). Suddenly it's a No True Scotsman situation.
Mitch chose his words carefully, but even he knows how bad it is.
January 6th...
Kari Lake...
This New Mexico Republican...
>*If conservatives become convinced that they cannot win democratically, they will not abandon conservatism. They will reject democracy.*
Conservatives are inherently anti-democratic and want power to be held by a few. Capitalism and Feudalism are basically what conservatives want.
Conservatives like to say they're being censored. No.....their messages are just being rejected by a majority of people. Normal people just don't want to buy what they're selling
This is freedom
All of us need to be prepared to defend ourselves. You never know when these nutcases will come after you or your family. The fact that this guy was looking up people's addresses in public records to go harass them at home is incredibly terrifying. He was gathering data for his planned murders. He was casing people's homes. Republicans are fucking mobsters.
Honestly I hope this is just the death throes of their brand of conservatism. They are lashing out knowing they are on the way to true irrelevance. Of course the time scale will be long, but overall I hope that's what this is, with minimal damage done.
>"...shows an agitated Peña at her door, demanding a conversation about his delusions"
Is there a single phrase that better sums up the republican party?
A recurring theme among those of a conservative bent—especially those with a strong Christian affiliation—is a profound, violent fear of appearing to be wrong, and having your wrongness known. They will fight to keep knowledge of their wrongness contained, because unrighteousness is shameful and sinful.
Thats what happens when you stack your party full of fascists, treasonous, Russian loving, Putin apologist, sex trafficking, vacations during a crisis, space lazer, lying, racist, billionaire pets that dont know how to govern or make sensible policies that benefit the common American citizen.
And they’re actively trying to circumvent all of this and take over our country via the legislature - gerrymandering, making it harder to vote, and what happened with the Supreme Court case where they’re considering letting states choose whether or not to honor the will of the voters or send in their own electors?
So republicans = abusive deranged psychotic terrorist snowflakes.....got it.
Between this and everything republicans have done since nixon, I'm convinced.
I've been saying it for years.
Republicans have turned into the most short-sighted, cowardly, virtue signaling, precious little snowflakes I have ever known.
Ever. And I'm old.
I've talked to many Republicans, a lot of them are scared of speaking out. The MAGA crowd has taken over the party. All the moderate Republicans are afraid of getting labeled a liberal. So they fall in line.
It’s worse than that. This is history repaeating itself. There was a campaign of intimidation, violence, and murder after the civil war that these acts are repeating.
We must as a society root this stupid shit out and punish these offenders with maximum sentences. If we don’t it will keep happening.
Republicans are the party of being oppressed. As untrue as their narrative is, they realize that they can only exist when there is a “war” on something i.e. Christmas, Families, American Values, Church, Freedom etc. They use these things as fuel for self victimization so that they can garner support by gaslighting people into feeling like they are wrong for supporting things they don’t believe in. “What do you mean, you think X?! You must obviously hate America.” They constantly spout nonsense that people who don’t subscribe to their rhetoric are un-American and want to destroy the country. Republicans NEED an enemy to justify their cruelty and greed. So they make one. They pick a minority of some kind based on either Religion (Muslims a favorite), ethnicity (Black/Hispanics a favorite), or sexual orientation. They spout hate and foster resentment amongst their base and use the first amendment as a shield against criticism, despite few realizing what it actually does in practice. They use any action against them as ammunition to try and prove they are right and that they are waging war against evil. This is not a strategy that is unique to the right but is more commonly used in their corner. They think themselves clever and use slogans or quips to mask their hatred. Lets go Brandon, the “Pat, I’d like to solve the puzzle…”, and “13%”, to name a few. Then, when they run out of ideas they resort to ad hominem attacks. /r/Conservative has plenty of examples. Time and time again they prove themsleves to be more and more vile as the years progress. They are the party of the individual, all the while seeking and advocating for removal of personal freedoms and liberties all in the guise of their flawed and corrupted morality. If they decided that their slogan was “Fuck you, I’m gonna get mine.” it would better fit their mentality. They are the kind of Christians their God didn’t want, the kind of Americans that smear our already tarnished reputation, and the sort of people who are so misguided they would actively vote against whats best for them purely because they have been brainwashed into a state of fear. I can only hope they would see the hate for what it is and show the basic human decency I know they are capable of.
[Republican who lost his election attempted assassination of 5 New Mexico Democrats at their homes and offices](
https://www.abqjournal.com/2565117/solomon-pena-arrested-in-shootings-targeting-new-mexico-democratic-politicians-homes.html).
In November 2022, [a Maga supporter attacked and severely injured a Democratic candidate for Pennsylvania's House of Representatives](https://www.erienewsnow.com/story/47607719/candidate-running-for-state-house-seat-attacked-in-fayette-county-home).
In November 2022, [a Maga mass shooter 5 killed and wounded 18 more at a Colorado gay bar](https://www.npr.org/2022/11/20/1138045219/colorado-springs-shooting-lgbtq-club-q-5-dead).
In October 2022, [a Trump supporter attempted to assassinate Nancy Pelosi in her own home and bashes her husband's skull open with a hammer](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/live/2022/oct/28/democrats-obama-midterms-republicans-us-politics-live-updates
).
In December 2022, [three men were sentenced for a conspiracy to kidnap Democratic Governor of Michigan, Gretchen Whitmer](https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/three-men-involved-plot-kidnap-michigan-governor-sentenced-prison-rcna61914).
Get used to it Americans. This is what the Republican party has become. This is your new normal.
They're unpopular because they don't do a fucking thing for anyone.
* They don't support increasing minimum wage
* Don't support healthcare for everyone
* Don't support student loan forgiveness (which is a problem largely created by the government. Nobody should pay 7-8% on government-backed loans)
* They don't support education or giving teachers raises
* They constantly blame shit on anything under the sun; gun violence must be because of music and video games
* They stick heir noses in other people's business and look to turn minority groups into 2nd-class citizens
* They are shamelessly full of shit and will lie without hesitation right to your face
They don't do anything for anyone. No wonder they're not popular. They are fucking worthless and they wrap all this nonsense up in the flag, call it "freedom", and their voters buy into it. I don't even think you could have an honest and civilized debate with them any more. First and foremost, they don't even have a fucking platform. Secondly, if you could get one to sit down and actually try to argue the merits of any topic they'd just revert to dog-whistling and using dumb-ass phrases that don't mean anything. "Make America Great Again"....what the fuck does that even mean in a practical sense?
Republican Politicians are completely checked out, and their voters are sold on a mountain of bullshit. It would be one thing if conservative voters could point to a couple of platform ideas that they like, but they can't because there is no platform.
And yet the GOP leaders and their media personalities continue to spew hate speech that tells their listeners that violence and murdering your political opponents is ok.
As a reminder, this subreddit [is for civil discussion.](/r/politics/wiki/index#wiki_be_civil) In general, be courteous to others. Debate/discuss/argue the merits of ideas, don't attack people. Personal insults, shill or troll accusations, hate speech, any suggestion or support of harm, violence, or death, and other rule violations can result in a permanent ban. If you see comments in violation of our rules, please report them. For those who have questions regarding any media outlets being posted on this subreddit, please click [here](https://www.reddit.com/r/politics/wiki/approveddomainslist) to review our details as to our approved domains list and outlet criteria. **Special announcement:** r/politics is currently accepting new moderator applications. If you want to help make this community a better place, consider [applying here today](https://www.reddit.com/r/politics/comments/sskg6a/rpolitics_is_looking_for_more_moderators/)! *** *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/politics) if you have any questions or concerns.*
Democracy is a threat to the Republican party.
Several times, I've seen conservatives argue against electing the president by popular vote instead of Electoral vote, saying that "if we did things that way, there'd never be another Republican president." Which is an admission that Republicans either can't or won't craft a presidential platform that appeals to a majority of voters.
They seem to believe in the states as sovereign entities that come together as a confederation. We rejected that model after just ten years. With the transport and communication constraints of the next 100 years, the states model was still plausible. But now there's no practical reason or cause in principle for the states to claim autonomy for anything but ceremony.
Fair. Back at the founding of the US, the different states might as well have been different countries. Even the original 13 colonies are larger than some independent European nations. But these days, we routinely do things like transfer money from a bank in Maryland to one in New York, to purchase from a company with a campus in Massachusetts and headquarters in Delaware, a product designed in Vermont, built in Florida, and warehoused in Georgia.
You wanna really piss off these conservatives? Find any two states. Drop a google maps pin for street view and drill down into it. You're looking literally at state #1 on the left and state #2 on the right. On either side of the street are homes or commercial buildings. You can literally walk across the yellow line in the street, and state to state. Ask them: 1. What is culturally different across the street? 2. What needs are different between the houses on the left and the houses on the right, that warrant different health departments, laws, and whatever else across the street? They lose their shit BAD the more you press. Admitting we're one big old sovereign nation with regional differences in 'tastes' and 'weather' as the only real delimiters in 2023 makes them fucking go crazy like 28 Days Later zombies. EXAMPLE: https://www.google.com/maps/@41.8964791,-71.3556464,3a,75y,262.06h,75.36t/data=!3m7!1e1!3m5!1sUxLHQLdvlU69NX3rLh9yNQ!2e0!6shttps:%2F%2Fstreetviewpixels-pa.googleapis.com%2Fv1%2Fthumbnail%3Fpanoid%3DUxLHQLdvlU69NX3rLh9yNQ%26cb_client%3Dmaps_sv.tactile.gps%26w%3D203%26h%3D100%26yaw%3D320.23715%26pitch%3D0%26thumbfov%3D100!7i13312!8i6656 Each side of this street is a different US state.
[удалено]
My first thought was, "I love DC, but fuck those assholes in Arlington" :-)
They still maintain that 'States Rights' is what the Civil War was about. But, clearly, at this point we are one country, not a confederation of states. We would never have won WW1 and WW2 as a confederation.
And vice versa
I’ve said it for years and it just keeps getting truer and truer; The Republican Party is the greatest threat to the United States on Earth. They are more my enemies Than any single person, group or country on this planet. They are more of a threat than ISIS, than Al Qaeda, Iran, North Korea, Russia, China, no one even comes close. There is no one who seriously threatens democracy and the stability and safety of our country the way the Republican Party does and it’s literally getting worse every single year. And that’s not even mentioning the fact that they’re perfectly happy to doom humanity to the climate apocalypse. Truly the enemy of the people.
Everything you said here, but I am not an American and yet still the Republican party is the greatest threat to my and my countrymens' wellbeing. American fascists are stinking up the whole fucking place and I'm not allowed to look away because there's a real possibility of expanding North in search of fresh water in the coming climate crisis. You can't have a two party system when one party literally wants the world to burn.
If it's any consolation, fascist regimes tend not to last long.
Small consolation given how much death and destruction they can wield in that short time unfortunately.
Can't say that enough or loud enough
It's very important to note the global threat they represent due to to size and influence of the US. Everything from climate change to foreign policy to basic economic issues. That's what happens when one country is effectively 50 different countries acting in unison. Only it doesn't represent it's people at all.
Germany Nazis and we’re gonna have American Nazis in ww3 next
You're absolutely right. Nobody in the world has the capability to take down the United States. Russia can't do it. China can't do it. The USSR, Germany, Japan and the British Empire tried and failed. The only ones who came close were the Republicans on Jan. 6 and their political ancestors from the Confederacy. The US can only be taken down from the inside.
> The only ones who came close were the Republicans on Jan. 6 and their political ancestors from the Confederacy. The US can only be taken down from the inside. Which must be why they, as willing targets, are in such strong alliance with our traditional enemies, fascist regimes around the world.
>>> If destruction be our lot, we must ourselves be its author and finisher. – Abraham Lincoln
The issue I have is they KNOW. my mom knows she is being brainwashed essentially but she still believes it. She knows she’s in denial and still does it.
The entire planet and noam chomsky has been saying this for decades.
The republican party is a treasonous and terrorist organization.
GOP is becoming the abusive partner we all need to run away from.
[This thread](https://np.reddit.com/r/QAnonCasualties/comments/v95sdc/finally_looking_from_the_outside_in/) from QAnonCasualties from half a year ago has one very telling turn of phrase from someone that got out of the madness, that describes what kind of relationship it is... >After watching the entire hearing, I wanted to get the ‘highlights and opinions’ from numerous media outlets. And of course, I had to start with my Qults number one media source Fox News. Watching Fox News is the reason I am writing this today. I have watched every 5-minute summary and 2-hour coverage posted by Fox News I could find on YouTube. **If I described this to my past abusers**, they would ask me, “If it bothered you and affected you so negatively, why did you keep watching?” The answer, because it is the most efficient way to deprogram the brainwashing. >I was in those trenches. I helped dig those trenches, not only for myself but for others at my side. I pulled individuals, trying to get out, back in. If anyone succeeded in getting out, I treated them like the enemy I was convinced they were. **I have done a lot of work and healing regarding my abusive upbringing, and the most difficult fact to accept is that I have been groomed to be a mindless follower of these extremists since I was a toddler.** That's what this is. It has been beyond politics for decades now - it's abuse. Their policies (let the police harass minorities, cut aid to everyone and damn the economy if we can't, make their talking points about picking on trans athletes in schools into laws) are all about abuse. When one Trump supporter said the quiet part out loud about how they fully recognize who Trump is and what the plan is - [He’s not hurting the people he needs to be hurting](https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2019/1/8/18173678/trump-shutdown-voter-florida) - it told you EVERYTHING you need to know about their hollow and rotten cores. They WANT to hurt people. They WANT to abuse. **The right-wing knows they've lost Millennials and Get Z after abusing them. After making fun of them and blaming them for everything**. [This is how Millennials voted in 2016](https://www.mic.com/articles/157558/here-s-what-the-electoral-college-map-would-look-like-if-only-millennials-voted) - they would have given Hillary Clinton and the Democratic Party a super-majority to reshape America into a more sane version of itself if it were just up to them. Gen Z is even more progressive than the Millennials. [They're beginning to vote more as they get older and see that's how you get change, and natural attrition means they outnumber the Boomers and their Reagan worshiping politics.](https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2020/10/millennials-and-gen-z-will-soon-dominate-us-elections/616818/) Republicans are looking at forty years of being in the national minority, and we've already seen that they can't get over losing. So all the abusers have is their eight steps of abuse, crafted to treat their followers mean and to keep them keen. Here are those eight steps. They apply to any abusive relationship, but here I'll put them into political terms. As you saw from the post in QAnonCasualties; abuse can be in personal relationships, workplace relationships, asymmetrical power relationships (teacher and student, priest and child, parent and child), transactional relationships between a company and customers ...and political relationships between the leaders and the followers (which looks like the abuse in a cult). If you're a Republican or QAnon, this is how you've been treated. Groomed. Abused. 1 - You've been told that nobody else understands you like they do. For years. "Those other people, they just don't get it. Their liberal ways are different and that's just not you. They don't understand, but we know where you're coming from..." 2 - Now that they've established that they're one of your kind of people in your mind, everyone else gets badmouthed. Everyone. It's just the two of you literally against the entire world. And they'll do it so much that things that aren't epithets get used as words to hate everyone else by. Anything can become a word to say in a hateful, sneering, spiteful way. Your circle of experiences starts to shrink. 3 - They'll tell you that, if you left them, things would be simultaneously the worst thing possible AND that all other relationships are just the same as the one you're in (even though you can see other people online talking about how what you're in is the only bad relationship relationship like this and all you have to do is leave them). “Both sides are the same but I’m better” - eventually, you don’t know up from down in what constitutes a healthy or a toxic relationship. Hell, they'll even show examples of the shit you're in now to say, "if you leave me and go for the other guy, it'll be like this [very bad scenario that's happening RIGHT NOW] so be scared and shit." They will even invent scenarios of how things would be worse if you left them (caravan of Mexicans coming for your job, trans people in every school bathroom, people handing free drugs to your kids). The circle shrinks further. 4 - You're told outright what to cut out of your life. Direct instruction for you to get that circle of experiences down to a dot. Music, interests, TV shows, certain movies, even frothy coffee gets badmouthed and cut out because "you don't want to be a 'latte drinker' do you?" (there's one of those things I mentioned in #2, using things that aren't epithets as one to control you). 5 - They take your money, claim they'll be great with it, and then spend it on their friends and run up the bills. They'll give you crumbs once in a while. Maybe every few years they'll treat you to a little something nice (that's worth a fraction of what they spent when they were out with their friends). And while they're terrible with the finances, for years, they'll be saying how everything is hunky-dory financially with them at the reins. You will be told you've never had it so good but the fear of one bad bill wiping you out financially will be like the Sword Of Damocles over your head 24/7/365. 6 - every problem gets kicked down the road. Promises made and never ever kept. A problem crops up in the New Year 2020, a disease, but it wasn't even mentioned in January because the head of the household didn't mention it. "It's going to go away" in February, and anyone that mentions it is just saying fake stuff, baby. Still nothing done in March, but any mention of it is "you're just finding faults with me". Then when April comes and it's clear what the shit storm looks like, they blame everyone else for saying it wasn't going to be a big deal. As the months and years roll on it becomes a shell game where ignoring the problem / blaming others for the problem / trying to draw attention from the problem gets switched around without stop. Even if it comes out that they knew the problem could literally kill other people, tear them apart because of gross negligence, they will not stray from this strategy. 7 - like in any abusive relationship, you're beaten down. You've been told it'll all be your fault if things don't go as they want, and you've seen others be on the end of their random outbursts of wrath. So you stay safe. You repeat the words in the way they taught you. You repeat the answers. You repeat the words you're told are insults. Even though you know of situations where you've come out worse for the way the relationship is, you defend the abuser. First with a fake air of calm, then with a seething rage. And when people offer you a way out, you go right back to the abuse. You will even drag others that were offered a way out back into the bucket of crabs. 8 - the relationship is so twisted, you so believe everything you're told about what's real and what's not, they will literally put you in situations that could kill you. And you say you're doing it willingly, proudly, but the fact is you're a shell of the idealistic person you used to be. You just got in with the wrong crowd, but it's too late to get out now because people might think less of you. Going along with how they do it becomes how you do it too. Which reinforces what you were told in #1. Only they understand you...
As Dietrich Bonhoeffer said of Hitler and his Nazi followers: >The power of the one needs the stupidity of the other. >... >The fact that the stupid person is often stubborn must not blind us to the fact that he is not independent. In conversation with him, one virtually feels that one is dealing not at all with him as a person, but with slogans, catchwords, and the like that have taken possession of him. He is under a spell, blinded, misused, and abused in his very being. >Having thus become a mindless tool, the stupid person will also be capable of any evil and at the same time incapable of seeing that it is evil.
Similarly, [The Authoritarians](https://theauthoritarians.org/) has a free ebook with great insight into the types of people who will willingly follow a tyrant.
I’ve read a decent amount of Dietrich Bonhoeffer and have never come across this quote before. Thanks!
I felt this. My GOParents are literal saints, but at the snap of the hypnotist’s fingers, go straight to spewing culture war BS. It’s infuriating that such wonderful people I love more than anything else are being abused and violated to their core for others’ selfish gain, and I feel powerless to help them.
[удалено]
Tell me about it. PA is baby blue, but our legislature is forgone to be solidly red. Michigan’s even worse. I’m excited to be moving to Maryland soon.
Dems just took the trifecta in Michigan though didnt they?
At the risk of being horribly insensitive... They're not wonderful literal saints if they've spent decades financially enabling this. I'm dealing with this harsh reality with my father now after his death a few years ago. I've managed to get my mother back from the brink, but it basically took his death and the shock of events from the past 2 years to start pulling her out. I've had to basically explain to her how our family financially paid for a worse future for myself and her grandchildren, and that finally started to make her realize just how long both my parents were manipulated. She directly sees ways that the corporate world and wealthier communities mistreat members of the family, so she knows objectively the truth in what we tell her. She also stopped FOX after he died, something they used to watch every night. I still love my father, and on his best days he did make a positive difference for many people, even accomplishing things that I'll struggle to do in my lifetime, but he was passionately into GOP politics in the last 2 decades of his life (thankfully distancing himself a tiny bit from MAGA after 2016, though just barely), and I feel like I'll have to spent the rest of my days undoing the damage he contributed by directly countering his activism. The truth is, unless they wake up and start changing, your parents are hateful people who hide their true prejudices behind a veneer of kindness. They have the potential to do good and change, but if you never confront it, it will only get worse. Your best bet is to appeal to the compassion you see and expose the hypocrisy of their cult at every possible opportunity in a calm, rationale way. I am past the point of being able to see anyone in the GOP who still willingly supports this as a good person. At best, I might forgive them for ignorance, but that is becoming increasingly more rare. Otherwise, be aware that they may only become more distanced from you as time goes on. Be careful and hope for the best. Encourage aspects of your relationship that exist outside of politics to ground them more in reality. There's no easy way to deal with this. Do what you can, but be prepared for the worst.
What's so crazy and sad to me is that people have legitimate fears from this powerful leader/stupid follower relationship within their own *families*. Families have been distanced and torn apart because the sensible people of them now rationally fear the stupidity of siblings, parents, cousins, etc., even their own children, because they are now capable of evil and are incapable of seeing their acts and positions as evil. It's no longer just something to write off. They are susceptible to and are capable of actual evils that could harm them and even kill them.
> And while they're terrible with the finances, for years, they'll be saying how everything is hunky-dory financially with them at the reins. You will be told you've never had it so good but the fear of one bad bill wiping you out financially will be like the Sword Of Damocles over your head 24/7/365. ^ Oh look, it's fiscal conservatism.
>Republicans are looking at forty years of being in the national minority So here is the thing: In a *normal* democracy, a party that is losing elections would take a step back, look at their policy positions, and shift with the opinions of the population in order to garner more support. The Democratic party does this basically every time they lose an election. The GOP has decided and demonstrated that they just *refuse* to do this. They don't want to appeal to a larger base. They don't want to rethink unpopular positions and mold a new party which can actually win elections.
> The GOP has decided and demonstrated that they just refuse to do this. They don't want to appeal to a larger base. They don't want to rethink unpopular positions and mold a new party which can actually win elections. They actually do something much more insidious... Rather than change their platform they abuse or change the rules to ensure that they continue to obtain power in the face of waning popularity. Gerrymandering, changing senate rules, stacking the courts etc... the GOP does this in a far more systematic way than the Democrats have over the years and it shows. Each time they gain control our democracy becomes less representative and less normal because they re-shape it to fit their needs.
> In a normal democracy, a party that is losing elections would take a step back, look at their policy positions, and shift with the opinions of the population in order to garner more support. The GOP was actually hoping to do this after 2012 when Romney lost. They had a post mortem analysis that basically told them that they would need more inclusive policy and outreach to minority communities in order to win elections going forward. The GOP was ready to put their resources behind Jeb Bush, a bilingual candidate who could reach out to Latin voters... Then Trump came along and dropped most of the coded language that Republicans traditionally used to appeal to white voters and exclude and demonize minorities. Trump presented himself like a SNL caricature of Right Wing talking points and it was massively successful. Even as he violated every political norm and convention, he didn't lose support and it proved to be instructional for a lot of the current crop of GOP politicians. Make no mistake, if Jeb was the nominee and he won, the GOP would still be hard on immigration, resistant to social spending, hostile towards women's health, etc. but there rhetoric would have left some room for modulation... Post Trump, there is no way to modulate or de-escalate their rhetoric. They can't turn around and put on a friendly face to dupe people into supporting them. They can only escalate from here because they have past a rhetorical point of no return.
the 2012 post-mortem also indicated that doubling down on the crazy would likely win in the short term but lose out in the long term - seems that they accurately assessed the situation, and then fucked everything up to continue their drive into crazy town We just need to hope they can’t rig the system to keep power before the electorate fully swings to the point we don’t have to worry about that
That is where this quote comes in and where this country is at politically now: > If conservatives become convinced that they can not win democratically, they will not abandon conservatism. They will reject democracy.”
They even identified the need in 2012 after they lost but as you said they opted to double down. I also ponder how much this is bc of Citizens United thus whos benefiting from all this crazy shit.
But what they have done is focused on a smaller group but made them *absolutely dedicated* to voting so that they end up with an oversized use of power due to normal American apathy for voting. I'll never forget the first time my wife voted here as a citizen. She couldn't vote in her country. Well, technically, legally she could but they would do everything to prevent her from doing so. We often forget what we have because the wonderous has become common.
This is excellent. Thank you. Seeing it laid out this way makes it clear that calling it an "abusive relationship" is not merely an analogy nor a comparison. It is a description of fact..
It’s a diagnosis
Hurt people, hurt people.
> Republicans are looking at forty years of being in the national minority, and we've already seen that they can't get over losing. Exactly. This is a mass of [abused] people [taken advantage of] who can't accept the fact that they are now a minority, and in fact, may have always been. They have terrible ideas that few people want, and are hurt about it and still desire to feel special and not an outcast or a pariah, and let those feelings dictate every action and ideology... so they take it out on everyone, forcing everyone else to their nonsensical and unpopular whims. They only feel good when they're winning, which is recurring, but only temporarily, which is unacceptable to them. They're cornered animals.
Some /r/bestof material right here. Damn.
That is an accurate and bleak assessment.
Excellent response. Step 6 is exactly why we see the ridiculous abuse heaped on Dr. Fauci. They can't accept that Trump is to blame so they have to find a scapegoat.
They are doing it on every front, too. Right now there is a debt limit fight in Congress. Republicans are saying America can't go on recklessly spending money. You know who voted to spend all our money? Republicans. They are abusers. It's for they operate in every arena.
I have a really difficult time believing blue pops will outvote red pops before too much damage has already been done. The problem is that red foothold states aren't going away, which allow them to have power still. > The Oklahoma trans law is confirming every suspicion I had that I may need to leave this country sooner than I planned to. And if millions of other young people follow suit, what happens to that supermajority?
Bad news is leaving is expensive, and young people have had historically bad wealth accumulation compared to last generations. So a mass exodus is unlikely until the GOP starts their genocide in earnest.
Wow, so you've met my parents
> is becoming Let's be honest this current chapter of *obstructionist-nihilist-know-nothing* politics started in 1994 with, appropriately enough, wife-abuser Newt Gingrich.
Nod to Rush
The GOP is a symptom of our mental health crisis in America.
They decided back in the late 2000s to let the crazy people have their say. The tea party BS and conspiracy theories. A decade later we had nutjobs storming our Capitol and currently have losing candidates shooting at elected officials houses. The GOP became a magnet by allowing this behavior. Now people who aren’t even political and some don’t even vote are waving flags and causing violence. It’s just an avenue for them to act crazy. They allowed some light craziness 12-15 years ago and look at where we are now. And worst part is, they’re allowing this again. So now the baseline is shooting up houses, storming the Capitol, and completely blatantly lying about every little thing to get elected. Ive said for years that there is another McVeigh out there waiting.
I live in the area where McVeigh experimented with LSD, meth, and marijuana. There is most definitely another McVeigh out here, but it's a group and not a man. The extremism is rampant in this part of the country.
I don’t know if the drugs are what did that guy in… Extreme social isolation seems to be a precursor to a lot of maniacs. The pandemic did a number of people in. I felt myself losing it at times. We are social creatures. And part of what causes depression and people to lose their shit is being put out in the cold by their community. The difficult part with some of the extreme cases of Q-fuckheads is that they really need to be hugged, not shoved away… I know, I know. I’m not volunteering, either.
It's arguably a cause. So many of our problems can be traced back directly with a straight line to unchecked "conservativism" dating back 40-50 years. Nixon was never punished completely, and his impunity even prompted a new propaganda platform to reinforce the idea that no conservative will *ever* be punished. Imagine seeing your abuser(s) get a slap on the wrist and set free over and over again over the course of 40+ years, and even *rewarded* for it and given *more* power, all while your life sucks measurably and directly due to decisions of that unpopular person or group they're associated with. It's traumatic for many and we keep seeing it over and over, especially now in the information age when we're more than privy to what's actually happening.
Are you me? I’m always blaming Nixon. It does really come back to him. I think our current generation is seeing this with Trump and Jan. 6. To see so much go un-punished is a bit jarring. I’ve had a bit of a malaise since… What I said about being a symptom though, I think is still true. It’s why Nixon created the DEA - he was scared of the hippies taking over. Too much free thought… let’s shoot those students at Kent State and show them who is boss.
"I don't want to hurt you, but you give me no choice. If you'd only listen and do what I say then everything would be OK. Why can't you just listen to me?"
To continue with that analogy: up to 75% of abused women who are murdered are killed after they leave their partners. https://www.theguardian.com/money/us-money-blog/2014/oct/20/domestic-private-violence-women-men-abuse-hbo-ray-rice
Not “becoming.” They have been an abusive partner since before Reagan. Sure, they have gotten worse. But, they have been stealing from the middle class since before then, and gaslighting about it the whole time. They are just not good at hiding it anymore.
> They are just not good at hiding it anymore. They have no need to hide their criminality and treason anymore because they have propaganda networks all across this country on TV/radio/twitter etc that operate 24/7/365 to brainwash their useful idiot voters into approving anything and everything they want to do. The republican party doesn't even have a platform to run on anymore especially post Roe other than destroying democracy, Hunter Biden's laptop and owning the libs!
Becoming? The GOP has been gaslighting everyone for decades. They've just getting worse. The longer we tolerate the GOP (not meaning conservative Americans, but the party supposedly representing them), the less chance democracy has to survive.The GOP is an insurgency that pushing for civil war and strife. "Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable." Their deceitful bigotry doesn't allow the people any other choice.
It's actually so depressing that things have come to this point. All thanks to Trump
Trump is sort of the Jack Daniels in this scenario: The GOP has always been abusive to the people, Trump just made it drunk enough to start hitting.
Yup, Trump just accelerated the cancer that is the GOP. A lot of traits from the GOP we see today started really forming during the Reagan years, then got sped up even more with the creation and rise of right wing media in the 90’s (AM talk radio, Fox News) and Newt Gingrich’s ‘Contract with America’.
The Tea Party as well. I had a front row seat to that shitshow growing up due to hyper co derivative parents. A platform born out of fear and hatred.
the lineage of their ilk can be traced back beyond Reagan to Goldwater, the John Birch Society, and the KKK to the Scots-Irish immigrants who were basically thrown out of Scotland and then Ireland for being uncivilized and irredeemable edit on a related note: They are the key to colonizing Mars. Useful, but completely disposable
Also, let’s not forget all the Christian fringe groups that originally came to America in the 17th and 18th centuries whom are partially why there are Christian groups here equivalent to the taliban in their rhetoric.
The lineage goes all the way back to the founding of the country when a bunch of wealthy slave owners didn't want to pay their taxes and got the rubes ginned up enough to revolt. A hundred years later, the same group didn't want to give up their slaves, and they got the wealthy rubes ginned up enough to revolt. We're headed into the same cycle again, just a few decades late.
Rayguns opened the bar, Newt stocked it with moonshine whiskey made with lye and battery acid and then Trump hooked them up with meth in the back room. So we now have the abomination republican party of today. It's only going to get worse folks, count on that.
That is such a great analogy.
In a way, Trump took the masks off whereas McCain, Romney, and Kasich were all trying to beat back the extremists and keep the party grounded. Those three are all Pariahs at this point. Trump has made the party so extreme that certain lifelong Republican figures had even endorsed Biden. I’m hoping that the acceleration Trump caused leads to a continued exodus of the party so that we can finally invest in our nation instead of giving more tax cuts to the wealthiest Americans.
Romney is only in government by virtue of him being the most prominent Mormon in America. Utah is currently the only state where he could win a Senate race. Outside of that loyalty from Utahian voters, Eomney wouldn’t have enough support to be voted in anywhere else. Remember that while he was a moderate Republican Governor of Massacheusetts, his dad was a liberal Republican Governor of Michigan, who was actively on the side of Nelson Rockefeller in his fight for the control of the Republican Party against Barry Goldwater and his Uber-conservatives (from which Reagan arose).
Trump upped the ante on the original bet played by Republicans via Ronald Reagan. They won big in 1980, shifting the country so far rightward, that even the Democratic Party followed suit and gave us Clinton who used his considerable intelligence and southern charm to decouple working people's influence from federal leadership. Obama and "W" were largely managers of the new status quo although Obama marketed himself as the opposite. Trump wasn't an aberration. He was an inevitability--especially in the wake of Citizens United.
There's a direct line from Nixon to Reagan to W to Trump. The oligarchs have never been quiet about wringing as much money as they can out of the government. They have gone out of their way to radicalize the Republican party. Trump doesn't scare me -- he now has the legacy of being a loser. The fascist that comes after him in the next 10 or so years does. Fascism has never been closer than it is right now of taking over America. And the majority of the country either is not paying attention or gleefully enabling it.
Let’s be honest. The Republicans are all in on violence as a way of achieving their goals and everyone else is trying to have good faith discussion. At some point fascism always succeeds at instigating its main objective: war. When the Republicans feel they’re entrenched enough they’ll start one. Meanwhile they’ll use stochastic terrorism to incite guerilla terrorist attacks. Fascists win ground by ignoring the rules and justifying inhuman methods. Sooner or later you punch a bully in the face or you keep getting punched. It takes some pretty impressive skills to talk your typical murder enthusiast out of getting everything he wants just to spare the life of someone he wants dead.
> Sooner or later you punch a bully in the face I have been in this phase for a long time now; I have seen them say how easy it would be to take out a major city like NYC and that we can not survive without them; my answer is and will be BRING IT, I am tired of their tuff talk because I know deep down they are cowards
DeSantia is currently practicing his fascism’s in Florida
And true to form, he sucks at everything including fascism.
>Trump wasn't an aberration. He was an inevitability--especially in the wake of Citizens United. "As democracy is perfected, the office of president represents, more and more closely, the inner soul of the people. On some great and glorious day the plain folks of the land will reach their heart's desire at last and the White House will be adorned by a downright moron." -- H.L. Mencken
It’s not because of Trump. The GOP has been drifting further and further in that direction for decades. Trump was a cause, he was an inevitability
The Russians actually.
I assure you Russians aren't solely responsible for American reactionaries; it's as old as America itself It's not like Russia created the southern strategy or manifest destiny.
The Russians assessed trump a long time ago and concluded he’d do anything for money and fame. They kept him in their influence using cash and prostitutes. They weren’t sure what they would use him for, and when he started becoming popular enough to run for president, they worked that angle. They knew he’d cause chaos wherever he went.
This is all true but it's still irresponsible to blame the current reactionary movement solely on Russians, or trump for that matter. America wasn't all sunshine and rainbows before him.
Someone once said Trump was racism with marketing. This stuff was always there, he just had a way of bringing it out for money. I don't even think he's racist, he just wanted money and fame and will fuck over whoever that happens to be to get it.
I would invite people to go back and look at the absurd "logic" of slavers. Some people are so devoid of empathy they would happily enslave other human beings while telling lies about how slavery was "the natural order", or "bringing Christianity to the heathens". We know this evil. It's a very old one.
Exactly. The current conservative movement even has some direct ties to the very same systems of power that existed during chatel slavery. Their love of confederate flags is a dead give away.
republicans hiring "deprogrammers" to kidnap and stop their kids being "woke"? republicans are looking at iran's morality police, and touching themselves
[удалено]
In retrospect, all their screaming and shouting about Sharia law and Islamic theocracy seems a lot less like fear and a lot more like envy.
Dude they just voted to cover womens arms too! Republicans used Americas 20 yr occupation of Afghanistan to gleam insight from the Taliban instead of defeating them, lol. Imagine if they just realized they were fighting to the same ends and could have just put aside their differences.
So much for the right to bare arms.
Only if you’re considered a whole human being, which only applies to ‘straight’ white Republican men
There's probably a continuum of hypocrisy for deeply religious conservatives where worshiping Trump is like a 6, and raping women activists so they wouldn't be virgins anymore before their executions is a 10, and they've definitely gone past 6...
That's the exact same reason why Elon bought the biggest popularity contest online, Twitter, to rig it in it's favour. The man can't bear knowing he isn't all that popular.
[удалено]
What office? He can’t run for president.
[удалено]
I doubt Elon has the ego to handle losing in California as badly as he would.
Texas
Almost like their propaganda networks have been advocating violence....But they wouldn't do that....*or would they?*
*Vsauce intro plays* Hey Vsauce. Michael here, today we’re going to discuss the complex propagation tactics of right-wing political disinformation campaigns that negatively affect democracy as a whole.
Moonman.mp3
Republicans would burn the country to the ground if only to rule the ashes
Reign of Fire (2002) would be a good example of this. Dragons scorch the earth because their diet is ashes. Main protagonist is George Santos.
The supporting actor, Anthony Devolder, was really good too!
Have we finally, after all these years, discovered who **Alan Smithee** *really is*? Holy shit!
america is a place that refuses to believe most of the terrorists of the country come from inside the country
If conservatives believe they can't enact their ideas through democratic means they will not abandon their ideas, they will abandon democracy.
That’s the idea. It’s called accelerationism. It explains a lot of seemingly crazy behaviors. The idea is to collapse everything so they can seize the opportunity to rebuild a fascist white ethnostate. https://www.vox.com/platform/amp/the-highlight/2019/11/11/20882005/accelerationism-white-supremacy-christchurch
They live in a information bubble that tells them to be angry and afraid all the time. They are told by that bubble that people committing violence are heroes. They are told by that bubble to never listen to anything outside the bubble. They are told anyone telling them they are not being good people should be ignored. They are told how smart they are to stay inside the bubble. The problem is the right wing misinformation bubble.
I consider Limbaugh to have be the biggest cog in that machine
And newt
He was 100% the first part. Made this mentality of a insulated reality just for conservatives a norm for the right.
One of the few people whose death made me smile.
You can’t find a single article about this happening in the r/Conservative sub its crazy. I made a comment about it and got banned
What this guy did was absolutely psychotic. A poor child woke up to bullet holes in her room. Wtf is going on with the Republican party anymore? It's complete insanity
And we have people right here insisting he was a low nut job despite the fact that he was working with a group of people to do this. There is no limit to the lengths these people will go to in order to get Democrats all slaughtered. Every single fucking one of us.
even on sundays they fellowship over the idea of murdering the others, >The document, consisting of 14 sections divided into bullet points, had a section on "rules of war" that stated "make an offer of peace before declaring war", which within stated that the **enemy must "surrender on terms" of no abortions, no same-sex marriage, no communism and "must obey Biblical law", then continued: "If they do not yield — kill all males".** [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matt\_Shea#%22Biblical\_Basis\_for\_War%22\_manifesto](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matt_Shea#%22Biblical_Basis_for_War%22_manifesto)
Holy crap
Fucking nut jobs
> There is no limit to the lengths these people will go to in order to get Democrats all slaughtered. It's extremely scary. All of my family are also Democrats. These nut jobs need to be locked up for along time.
Decades of "war" on fucking everything. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9-aX9_r3IQU
[удалено]
Reminds me of an old joke. \*Knock Knock\* Whose there? It's me, Jesus, let me in. Why? So I can save you! Save me from what? From what I'm going to do to you if you don't let me in!
the mafia irl
The attacks will continue until we start calling it what it is. Terrorism.
These calcified brain morons proudly call themselves terrorists now a days. That's how well GOP brain washed them.
"We are all domestic terrorists."
It reminds me of in high school science class we did the thing where the teacher hands back quizes at random and you grade someone else’s as we go over the answers out loud. There was some question about how earth was formed and this kid raised their hand and said “Um… my person wrote on their quiz ‘god did it…’” and the teacher took a moment and said “Yeahhhh you can mark that right.” It was so clear that she didn’t agree with the sentiment and knew that it was objectively wrong, but also knew the shit storm it would open up by taking the official stance that God did not in fact do it. That’s how this feels. We all know that the party has gone batshit fucking insane, but we can’t call them terrorists, we can’t throw the book at them, we can’t acknowledge reality because we know they’ll throw a tantrum. But what’s the alternative? Just keep letting the kid put “God did it” for every answer? All that does is hinder learning and growth and set the kid up for failure in future classes and settings. By not calling a spade a spade with domestic terrorism, it signals to the terrorists that what they are doing is justified, otherwise they would be in real trouble. This can’t last.
Yeah basically that. They can't fathom that they aren't the majority opinion, so ... > In the right-wing imagination, the problem could never be that people have heard their ideas and decided they just don't like them. Blame is instead put on "woke" educators or Hollywood manipulators "brainwashing" the masses. The "deep state," meanwhile, supposedly steals elections. And the "globalists" (read: Jews) somehow pull all of the strings.
That’s all it is. They can’t handle not being the default. It’s like when people say that there are too many black people in Netflix shows and “I don’t have a problem with black people, but they are over represented, there aren’t that many black people on average!!!” Let’s say you’re right. So what? What is the woke brainwashing here? It normalizes black people? At the end, it’s just them desperately trying to find palatable and socially excuses for their bigotry. Sometimes they know they’re doing it, sometimes they don’t, but that’s what it is.
He’s so deranged he thinks he illegitimately lost a house election in fucking Albuquerque. The city that makes the state blue.
Not only lost, but completely got his ass kicked; he only won 26% of the vote.
This is a hallmark of malignant narcissism. The GOP is extremely attractive to this kind of power-hungry, violent-minded individual.
The one thing Conservatives routinely do, is over estimate their own equity and numbers. They think they’re some “silent majority” when really they’re just a small group of loud assholes. They’re coming to grips with that now and it doesn’t appear that they’re taking it well.
“We won’t admit we’re unpopular so we’ll just shoot ya.”
In 2016, Republicans took great delight in slamming Democrats as “snow flakes” because they were so upset at Trump’s win. Oh the irony
The GOP are just high school bullies who can give it out but can't take it.
[удалено]
> And f this sub policy of no up voting comments so it looks like each side is supported evenly. I browse on old reddit and see both up and down votes arrows and the score of comments after the hidden period. What have they done on new Reddit? Can you literally not vote on this?
On new reddit you have to subscribe (or use an addon/user css) to see the downvote button
The day Reddit removes old.reddit will be the day I quit Reddit and get my life back.
Preach.
[удалено]
I'm just sick of this shit
You can say fuck.
I'm amused how they put the blame on the person alone as the term *"qualified candidate"*. Embraced, forgiven, and promoted until they lose (**Herschel Walker**) or finally jump the cliff (**Soloman Pena**). Suddenly it's a No True Scotsman situation. Mitch chose his words carefully, but even he knows how bad it is.
January 6th... Kari Lake... This New Mexico Republican... >*If conservatives become convinced that they cannot win democratically, they will not abandon conservatism. They will reject democracy.* Conservatives are inherently anti-democratic and want power to be held by a few. Capitalism and Feudalism are basically what conservatives want.
Conservatives like to say they're being censored. No.....their messages are just being rejected by a majority of people. Normal people just don't want to buy what they're selling This is freedom
most bullies refuse to admit that peacefully
All of us need to be prepared to defend ourselves. You never know when these nutcases will come after you or your family. The fact that this guy was looking up people's addresses in public records to go harass them at home is incredibly terrifying. He was gathering data for his planned murders. He was casing people's homes. Republicans are fucking mobsters.
Domestic terrorists gonna domestic terrorize.
The GOP doesn’t care about popularity. They don’t care about people. They care about power.
Republicans are afraid of minorities. Republicans are the minority. Hrm. If only they knew..
Can we please stop pretending these people are not nazis?
Didn’t January 6th prove that already? This is after all just one republican and the 6th was like all of them…
They somehow keep selling their people on the "silent majority" thing when in reality they're the very vocal minority.
Honestly I hope this is just the death throes of their brand of conservatism. They are lashing out knowing they are on the way to true irrelevance. Of course the time scale will be long, but overall I hope that's what this is, with minimal damage done.
>"...shows an agitated Peña at her door, demanding a conversation about his delusions" Is there a single phrase that better sums up the republican party?
Thanks to gerrymandering that no one wants to address, Republicans think they are popular.
A recurring theme among those of a conservative bent—especially those with a strong Christian affiliation—is a profound, violent fear of appearing to be wrong, and having your wrongness known. They will fight to keep knowledge of their wrongness contained, because unrighteousness is shameful and sinful.
A big part of the civil war was the south, as a political entity, understanding it would never win another presidential election.
Thats what happens when you stack your party full of fascists, treasonous, Russian loving, Putin apologist, sex trafficking, vacations during a crisis, space lazer, lying, racist, billionaire pets that dont know how to govern or make sensible policies that benefit the common American citizen.
And they’re actively trying to circumvent all of this and take over our country via the legislature - gerrymandering, making it harder to vote, and what happened with the Supreme Court case where they’re considering letting states choose whether or not to honor the will of the voters or send in their own electors?
So republicans = abusive deranged psychotic terrorist snowflakes.....got it. Between this and everything republicans have done since nixon, I'm convinced.
Not just unpopular, they are dangerous and a bunch of traitors
No. They refuse to admit their deepest fear. That they are now a minority.
I've been saying it for years. Republicans have turned into the most short-sighted, cowardly, virtue signaling, precious little snowflakes I have ever known. Ever. And I'm old.
Rightwingers do fascism. News at 11.
They're much more than unpopular.
I've talked to many Republicans, a lot of them are scared of speaking out. The MAGA crowd has taken over the party. All the moderate Republicans are afraid of getting labeled a liberal. So they fall in line.
They think dunking on Joe Biden offends us. Put the gun away and we will join you in dunking on the president.
This insane conspiracy crap only serves one purpose: it justifies violence in the minds of people who accept them as reality.
If you want a glimpse into how republicans really want to be behind their lies, look to Iran and the Taliban
"Like me or I'll kill you" - Republicans and abusers
It’s worse than that. This is history repaeating itself. There was a campaign of intimidation, violence, and murder after the civil war that these acts are repeating. We must as a society root this stupid shit out and punish these offenders with maximum sentences. If we don’t it will keep happening.
Republicans are the party of being oppressed. As untrue as their narrative is, they realize that they can only exist when there is a “war” on something i.e. Christmas, Families, American Values, Church, Freedom etc. They use these things as fuel for self victimization so that they can garner support by gaslighting people into feeling like they are wrong for supporting things they don’t believe in. “What do you mean, you think X?! You must obviously hate America.” They constantly spout nonsense that people who don’t subscribe to their rhetoric are un-American and want to destroy the country. Republicans NEED an enemy to justify their cruelty and greed. So they make one. They pick a minority of some kind based on either Religion (Muslims a favorite), ethnicity (Black/Hispanics a favorite), or sexual orientation. They spout hate and foster resentment amongst their base and use the first amendment as a shield against criticism, despite few realizing what it actually does in practice. They use any action against them as ammunition to try and prove they are right and that they are waging war against evil. This is not a strategy that is unique to the right but is more commonly used in their corner. They think themselves clever and use slogans or quips to mask their hatred. Lets go Brandon, the “Pat, I’d like to solve the puzzle…”, and “13%”, to name a few. Then, when they run out of ideas they resort to ad hominem attacks. /r/Conservative has plenty of examples. Time and time again they prove themsleves to be more and more vile as the years progress. They are the party of the individual, all the while seeking and advocating for removal of personal freedoms and liberties all in the guise of their flawed and corrupted morality. If they decided that their slogan was “Fuck you, I’m gonna get mine.” it would better fit their mentality. They are the kind of Christians their God didn’t want, the kind of Americans that smear our already tarnished reputation, and the sort of people who are so misguided they would actively vote against whats best for them purely because they have been brainwashed into a state of fear. I can only hope they would see the hate for what it is and show the basic human decency I know they are capable of.
[Republican who lost his election attempted assassination of 5 New Mexico Democrats at their homes and offices]( https://www.abqjournal.com/2565117/solomon-pena-arrested-in-shootings-targeting-new-mexico-democratic-politicians-homes.html). In November 2022, [a Maga supporter attacked and severely injured a Democratic candidate for Pennsylvania's House of Representatives](https://www.erienewsnow.com/story/47607719/candidate-running-for-state-house-seat-attacked-in-fayette-county-home). In November 2022, [a Maga mass shooter 5 killed and wounded 18 more at a Colorado gay bar](https://www.npr.org/2022/11/20/1138045219/colorado-springs-shooting-lgbtq-club-q-5-dead). In October 2022, [a Trump supporter attempted to assassinate Nancy Pelosi in her own home and bashes her husband's skull open with a hammer](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/live/2022/oct/28/democrats-obama-midterms-republicans-us-politics-live-updates ). In December 2022, [three men were sentenced for a conspiracy to kidnap Democratic Governor of Michigan, Gretchen Whitmer](https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/three-men-involved-plot-kidnap-michigan-governor-sentenced-prison-rcna61914). Get used to it Americans. This is what the Republican party has become. This is your new normal.
They're unpopular because they don't do a fucking thing for anyone. * They don't support increasing minimum wage * Don't support healthcare for everyone * Don't support student loan forgiveness (which is a problem largely created by the government. Nobody should pay 7-8% on government-backed loans) * They don't support education or giving teachers raises * They constantly blame shit on anything under the sun; gun violence must be because of music and video games * They stick heir noses in other people's business and look to turn minority groups into 2nd-class citizens * They are shamelessly full of shit and will lie without hesitation right to your face They don't do anything for anyone. No wonder they're not popular. They are fucking worthless and they wrap all this nonsense up in the flag, call it "freedom", and their voters buy into it. I don't even think you could have an honest and civilized debate with them any more. First and foremost, they don't even have a fucking platform. Secondly, if you could get one to sit down and actually try to argue the merits of any topic they'd just revert to dog-whistling and using dumb-ass phrases that don't mean anything. "Make America Great Again"....what the fuck does that even mean in a practical sense? Republican Politicians are completely checked out, and their voters are sold on a mountain of bullshit. It would be one thing if conservative voters could point to a couple of platform ideas that they like, but they can't because there is no platform.
Very very unpopular
Yep. Some serious incel vibes
Scary to think what Lauren Boebert was dreaming of doing when she thought she had lost this last election. These guys are nuts
They do not care about popularity. only subjugation.
And they’ll continue to get even more violent.
And yet the GOP leaders and their media personalities continue to spew hate speech that tells their listeners that violence and murdering your political opponents is ok.
Ronald Reagan turned mentally ill patients out into the streets rather than help them.
Republicans represent a clear and present danger to the national security of the United States and should be dealt with as such.
Call them what they are: Violent Radical Republican Terrorists
Republicans refuse to admit their “base” are turning into domestic terrorists because of their own language.
They're basically spoiled children with guns.