What does a TRUMP presidency look like?

[Tamas]

One problem I have with that interpretation, is doesn't it assume that the message the Democrats are giving (or that people are receiving) is about helping the more downtrodden?

Because I'm not sure that's the case - and my argument (in the Quo Vadis thread) is that is part of the problem for the Democrats. That feels to me like we are reading the Democrats as we would like them to be - or as ourselves - rather than what they actually are (and that may be tied to why they currently have the lowest approval rating in polling history - which isn't very long on that question of party approval ratings).

Edit: Also I think there's a lot in American politics on both sides that are basically post-60s, age of therapy, new age-y stuff. And on that emotional level, which I think matters, imagine how that argument feels. It is, I think, quite invalidating and inhibiting.

Just listen to the damn song

[viper37]

"One party lies to me and then betrays me, and the other just despises me and believes I'm not worthy of what little I have."
I think the "disadvantaged" aspect is a big part of this.  Some people are labeled "disadvantaged" or "marginalized" and thus are worthy of sympathy, and others are not and worthy of only scorn.  While those people may actually be disadvantaged but they are not disadvantaged in the correct sense.  They have the wrong identity.

So, the first party is clearly the Republican Party.

The other party is the Dems.  How do they despise you? How do they think you're not worthy of what you little you have?

Obama tried to give your something approaching universal healthcare.  The white middle class rebelled against the idea and pushed his party out of Congress.  He signed trade agreements with Pacific nations and Europe to isolate China and provide relief for American workers.  They hated it so much that they voted for Trump who tariffed all American allies and reduced international commerce so they lost their good jobs and their protection.  The poorest people like you began losing their medicaid and medicare protection.  

Then Biden came along.   He made sure students wouldn't go bankrupt from their students loans.  He made sure sick people wouldn't lose their homes from their medical debts.  He signed agreements to bring back high paying engineering and manufacturing jobs to the US.  And you consider this despising you and taking what little you possess.

So you have people who hated this so much that they voted for a guy who promised to gut their medical health plan.  And put them out of work, without health insurance.  And then wage an economic war on all their allies so they would lose their private unionized manufacturing jobs, with the only thing left to them to work in a fast food chain.

And you're still not happy that you got everything that was promised by the GOP?  And the Dems didn't give you enough despite not having a majority in Congress and not having the USCC on their side?

Should they have arrested all Republican Supreme Court judges for you to be satisfied with the party?  Deported Republican Senators to Gitmo bay?  Built an Alligator Alcatraz for Republican supporters?

[Razgovory]

"One party is against everything I want, but the other party wants me to not be an asshole to other people and provide better opportunities for disadvantaged folks. Guess my hands are tied!" - "Centrist" Republican voters, probably.

"One party lies to me and then betrays me, and the other just despises me and believes I'm not worthy of what little I have."
I think the "disadvantaged" aspect is a big part of this.  Some people are labeled "disadvantaged" or "marginalized" and thus are worthy of sympathy, and others are not and worthy of only scorn.  While those people may actually be disadvantaged but they are not disadvantaged in the correct sense.  They have the wrong identity.

And who are these disadvantaged but not disadvantaged people?
Is this that old "What about working class white people!!! You only care for minorities!!!" schtick?
As you do realise being working class, being on a low income, having low education, etc.... are typically factors that count someone as disadvantaged....

Ah, the white working class has privilege, what they have is unearned.

[Valmy]

Ah, the white working class has privilege, what they have is unearned.

No, that is not how that works. Just because I have gone through life with the privilege of not being blind doesn't mean what I have in "unearned" whatever the fuck that means.

American culture is so obsessed with idiotic and arbitrary notions of who deserves shit. Like there is some kind of standard of deserving or earning that can be applied. What a stupid concept.

[Sophie Scholl]

You cannot see attachments on this board.

[Syt]

There's something to it, I think, about Republicans being the party who makes their voters feel good about themselves, even if they end up objectively worse off.

[Razgovory]

You cannot see attachments on this board.

I see them post this one alot.

[crazy canuck]

There's something to it, I think, about Republicans being the party who makes their voters feel good about themselves, even if they end up objectively worse off.

Yeah, that is how it works.  Convince people like Raz that they have been pushed to vote for fascists and all is good.

[The Minsky Moment]

So, their own law prohibiting the activity also defines said prohibition as being in contravention of the state and US constitutions? 

The lawsuit to overturn it literally writes itself... 

You mean like the executive order renouncing the 14th amendment citizenship close.  DOA once it reaches the Supreme Court, right?

Right?
 

[Valmy]

I see them post this one alot.

Well see this is why I rarely discuss things with the general public. If the simple concept of "it is better to not be black in this country" gets interpreted as some kind of personal attack on some poor struggling white person that makes everything a mine field. It is really really personal for that person. They don't want to hear that black people have it tough, because they are white and they have it tough. Which is the whole problem. It stops becoming a rational statement about society's problems backed by data or whatever and becomes a personal thing. I can have all the data in the world and personal experiences of tons of black people in the US to back me up, but it doesn't really matter.

That is also why a lot of online leftists can be...touchy. Like for some, trans rights are not some debate on theoretical principles they are very personal. And people tend to be belligerent when it is personal. That is a problem, but what do we do about that? It would be much better if everybody could be cool and rational all the time, or fuck even some of the time, but that is just not who humans are. Just the nature of social media makes it hard to have some kind of disciplined strategy for everybody to adhere to. There is also no application or vetting process for who gets to be a leftist online.

When the actual elected politicians of the left say things in a way that triggers that kind of reaction then that is different because those people are vetted. That is different, of course. But I don't think that is who this cartoon is addressing.

[Jacob]

We can win on issues, but the Democratic brand is toxic.

The question I have is to what degree the Democratic brand is toxic because of any real substance, and to what degree the Democratic brand is toxic because of a sustained, thorough, and supremely successful propaganda effort to make it so by its political opponents.

[Josquius]

That's one of the annoying things.

A left winger or a chan nut posing as a left winger says something dumb and offensive online... Omfg the intolerant tolerant left is so bad I've got to side with the fascists.

Meanwhile people on the right say horrible things regularly? Not just randomers but their actual leaders?
This is fine.

[Razgovory]

That's one of the annoying things.

A left winger or a chan nut posing as a left winger says something dumb and offensive online... Omfg the intolerant tolerant left is so bad I've got to side with the fascists.

Meanwhile people on the right say horrible things regularly? Not just randomers but their actual leaders?
This is fine.

I think we have a term for this  "Whataboutism".

[Zoupa]

Whataboutism only works if you compare apples to apples. There's no one on the left making absolutely batshit insane, racist, lying statements like the republicans in power.

Please provide me with similar examples from Dem leadership like "the Haitians are eating the dogs and the cats".

[Razgovory]

"Well I tell you what, if you have a problem figuring out whether you're for me or Trump, then you ain't black."  - Joe Biden.

That is pretty racist.  Someone's race isn't dependent on who they vote for.