505
submitted 8 months ago by silence7@slrpnk.net to c/politics@lemmy.world

Yet such fantasies are now the common currency of politics on the American right. Remember the days when pundits solemnly declared that Trumpism was caused by economic anxiety? Well, despite a booming economy, there’s still plenty of justified anxiety out there, reflecting many people’s real struggles: America is still a nation riddled with inequality, insecurity and injustice. But the anxiety driving MAGA isn’t driven by reality. It is, instead, driven by dystopian visions unrelated to real experience.

That is, at this point, Republican political strategy depends largely on frightening voters who are personally doing relatively well not just according to official statistics but also by their own accounts, by telling them that terrible things are happening to other people.

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[-] K1nsey6@lemmy.world 8 points 8 months ago

I had to stop reading at "despite a booming economy." It may be booming for Paul Krugman and the wealthy, but for the rest of us it sucks. No amount of gaslighting will convince the 750k unhoused, the 65% living paycheck to paycheck, the 50% of renters that cant afford rent (soon to possibly be homeless,) the skyrocketing auto repos and credit card usage for necessities that the economy is doing well.

He may as well include BlueMAGA in that statement of 'based on fear,' thats how the DNC holds onto power, by selling fear. Fear of what that other guy might do, while we do the same thing.

[-] Varyk@sh.itjust.works 16 points 8 months ago

The Democrats are not bluemaga, they operate and reason out policies completely differently, and don't pretend that you not reading makes you an authority on the matter.

[-] K1nsey6@lemmy.world 1 points 8 months ago

Many Dems are very much BlieMAGA, Some are a blueANON combo.

[-] Varyk@sh.itjust.works 3 points 8 months ago

Please provide evidence, especially relative to the number of maga and the real world consequences of maga that have occurred?

It sure wasn't Blue maga, a made up group, that violently stormed the capital trying to overturn an election, or blue maga, a made-up group, that mailed forged election certificates to the national archives and the vice president.

[-] K1nsey6@lemmy.world 1 points 8 months ago

It's no one's job to prove to you that you belong to a cult.

[-] Varyk@sh.itjust.works 3 points 8 months ago

Did someone tell you it was?

Or are you just frustrated by your inability to answer questions that refute your absurd accusations?

[-] OpenStars@startrek.website 8 points 8 months ago

I cannot in good conscience upvote the OP, bc of exactly that sentence. However, their (NYT) gaslighting I think is of a different kind. For one, there are THREE entities involved here - which they hoped you would not notice: there are MAGA Republicans, there are the Dems, and then there are the billionaires who control both regardless of who wins (guess who owns the NYT btw:-P). The billionaire class would like it very much - please!? - if you would pretend that they did not exist, and were not the cause of there being no money available for common folks to eat/breathe/everything else, as they send rockets into space, self-admittedly bc they have literally no idea how to spend all that amount of money...

But as for BlueMAGA, there I disagree with you, bc the two sides are nowhere close to being equal. You might have no idea how close this country came to an actual coup - and I don't even mean merely January 6. The Republicans winning is worth being afraid of, and I mean literal and actual fear not figuratively by any means. As in by-by democracy as Trump declares himself dictator for life, and then we have a literal civil war over it. It's no joking matter, in that direction. While if Democrats win, school shootings won't diminish in any way, so... also not great, but again nowhere close to being equal.

[-] K1nsey6@lemmy.world 1 points 8 months ago

The BlueMAGA cult is as deranged in their loyalty to anything with a D in their name as a mainstream MAGA.

Nearly 100% of the stuff claims he will do cant happen. If the President had that type of unilateral power to change stuff without Congress why hasnt Biden exercised it? He couldn't even repeal the ACA with a Republican Congress.

There was no coup or coup attempt, there was a bunch of hillbillies that stormed the Capital building. And the same gaslighting media like the NYT, among others, see dollar signs from liberals and call it coup. In the end we will see the entire Jan 6 dog and pony show was just a distraction to keep the rabid dogs at attention and barking.

[-] OpenStars@startrek.website 1 points 8 months ago

Ignoring the likelihood that you are trolling me at this point, and responding solely to the issues at hand:

  • you are entitled to your opinion, but so too can people down-vote and block you; but why not choose to educate yourself on these matters before speaking, rather than make others do that work for you? Seriously, you will find that others listen to what you say much more readily when you are very careful to ensure that they match only existing facts. Ignorance is no excuse, outside of the kiddie playground areas. Then again, I misspelled "by-by" (should have been "bye-bye"), so like, nobody's perfect or at least *I* am not:-P, though still there's something to this so I hope you will think about it.

  • some of his supporters are that way yes - but the only time stereotypically identifying the most extreme behavior out of an entire population and trying to pass it off as the "norm" works is in... well, politics. WE should hold ourselves to a higher standard than THEM though, no?

  • ofc he can't do half the stuff he promises - but neither can Trump, who is even older and even more rambling-er-est, and in a contest of lying wins hands-down. Ofc I can call Biden a poopie-head McButtFace (anytime I want! especially in my own head! you can't stop me, muwhahaha!:-P) but... why lower the discourse to that level? They both have their issues... though nowhere near equally. And some of those issues they have in common with one another, as with most politicians before and surely most after them as well.

  • I specifically said that I was not talking about January 6. I'll leave this to you to research - you shouldn't trust me anyway, so best to find out for yourself:-).

Oh well, my conscience is clear - I tried to help. Make of all this what you will ofc.

this post was submitted on 31 Jan 2024
505 points (100.0% liked)

politics

19047 readers
4139 users here now

Welcome to the discussion of US Politics!

Rules:

  1. Post only links to articles, Title must fairly describe link contents. If your title differs from the site’s, it should only be to add context or be more descriptive. Do not post entire articles in the body or in the comments.

Links must be to the original source, not an aggregator like Google Amp, MSN, or Yahoo.

Example:

  1. Articles must be relevant to politics. Links must be to quality and original content. Articles should be worth reading. Clickbait, stub articles, and rehosted or stolen content are not allowed. Check your source for Reliability and Bias here.
  2. Be civil, No violations of TOS. It’s OK to say the subject of an article is behaving like a (pejorative, pejorative). It’s NOT OK to say another USER is (pejorative). Strong language is fine, just not directed at other members. Engage in good-faith and with respect! This includes accusing another user of being a bot or paid actor. Trolling is uncivil and is grounds for removal and/or a community ban.
  3. No memes, trolling, or low-effort comments. Reposts, misinformation, off-topic, trolling, or offensive.
  4. Vote based on comment quality, not agreement. This community aims to foster discussion; please reward people for putting effort into articulating their viewpoint, even if you disagree with it.
  5. No hate speech, slurs, celebrating death, advocating violence, or abusive language. This will result in a ban. Usernames containing racist, or inappropriate slurs will be banned without warning

We ask that the users report any comment or post that violate the rules, to use critical thinking when reading, posting or commenting. Users that post off-topic spam, advocate violence, have multiple comments or posts removed, weaponize reports or violate the code of conduct will be banned.

All posts and comments will be reviewed on a case-by-case basis. This means that some content that violates the rules may be allowed, while other content that does not violate the rules may be removed. The moderators retain the right to remove any content and ban users.

That's all the rules!

Civic Links

Register To Vote

Citizenship Resource Center

Congressional Awards Program

Federal Government Agencies

Library of Congress Legislative Resources

The White House

U.S. House of Representatives

U.S. Senate

Partnered Communities:

News

World News

Business News

Political Discussion

Ask Politics

Military News

Global Politics

Moderate Politics

Progressive Politics

UK Politics

Canadian Politics

Australian Politics

New Zealand Politics

founded 1 year ago
MODERATORS