This is one sample visit to the conservative subreddit. It's an appalling example of the impact of disinformation. When you need to be reminded of who the enemy is and what they think, visit here. You will see that there is no gratitude or mutual respect, and there never was. There was never any concept of mutual benefit. And now, with Trump leading the cult, there truly is no depth to which they won't go, and no decisions from Trump that won't be retroactively justified.
These people are dangerous, and they don't give a shit about any alliances, friendship or partnership. And they control the levers of power.
Edit to add a screenshot. Not sure how to add more, but it doesn't get any better as you go deeper. What's clear is that this relationship is over, and we need to move on.
The problem is that we no longer agree on what reality is with Trump sycophants. For them lies are truth, night is day, less then 1% of fentanyl is a national emergency, etc even when presented with facts and objectivity. It’s legit terrifying and I don’t know how to fix it. I don’t know how our politicans are able to deal with people they can’t share reality with. Canada’s going to bear the brunt of US delusion and unreality.
I found this video interesting, about Bonhoeffer's theory of stupidity and how it relates to Arendt's investigation into what made Nazis do what they did. In brief, he characterises stupidity as not just ignorance, but ignorance that resists and is opposed to learning, and he said this stupidity could be a more damaging force than evil.
https://youtu.be/53ZaXpIn2fg
“The ideal subject of totalitarian rule is not the convinced Nazi or the convinced Communist, but people for whom the distinction between fact and fiction (i.e., the reality of experience) and the distinction between true and false (i.e., the standards of thought) no longer exist.” Hannah Arendt.
You are right: They are no longer a part of our reality.
They exist in a twilight zone of their own making; able to be convinced, either by their paternalists or their own community, of any lie.
The rational were pushed out or scapegoated over time until only madness remained—as it does now.
The only good thing about cults of personality is that they tend to collapse when the personality does. One of the bad things is that they tend to take everyone with them on their way to collapse.