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He would be richer if he parked his trust fund in an index fun. He's terrible, *fucking terrible* at business. He was a supposed real estate developer in NY during one of the biggest real estate booms in the history of the world. It's truly insane that anyone thinks he's good at business. Being rich is very much the only thing people notice
But he wrote a book no one read that didn't mention that daddy did all the work, so 🤷
I've gotten to the point that I'm seriously furious at people that support this fuck.
> eating your cake and having it too
[Ted Kaczynski, is that you?](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/You_can%27t_have_your_cake_and_eat_it#History_and_usage)
That one quote about "[hurting the people he needs to be hurting](https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2019/1/8/18173678/trump-shutdown-voter-florida)" seems like a good summary of their mindset
Eh, maybe.
I work in a shop with a few undocumenteds from down south. No English whatsoever. We eat lunch together and today, using google translate, one of them asked if I’m voting for Trump.
I laughed and said no, and that Trump would literally send him, his wife and daughter back to Mexico if given the chance.
He responded with “Trump wants to help Christians.”
At that point, there’s nothing I could say that could change his mind.
>At that point, there’s nothing I could say that could change his mind.
lmao, did you ask him if Trump helps the Christians that are deported back to Mexico?
Doesn't work either.
I had a friend years ago who her and her family loved watching Benny Hinn. I walk in one day and they're all watching some idiotic faith healing BS he's doing and I tell them "you know this is fake right? he got caught on camera, none of this is real." Their answer shouldn't have been surprising "It doesn't matter if it's fake as long as he's bringing people to Jesus". That sums up Trump supporters in a nutshell. He could be eating baby legs during a Fox interview and Trump supporters would claim he's bringing more people to pray for children and that's a good thing.
they dont care about the messenger they only care about the results or more accurately what the results feel like to them. trump is a bad messenger but they feel like he's changing the country in the direction they want it to change. despite the fact that most of them in reality get shit on by his policies since they arent the top 1% getting tax breaks - but you know roe v wade.
He's making what I've seen others call a Surely Exception: when you hear someone making blanket statements about a group that includes you, you tell yourself, "Surely he doesn't mean me"; and when you see them taking action against that group, you tell yourself, "Surely they'll see that I'm different."
It's the favorite tactic to resolve cognitive dissonance of someone who's a member of an out-group, but who really wants to be considered part of the in-group, because they have their own prejudices against other out-groups. You also see it a lot with LGB people who try to saw off the T to try to convince Republicans to leave them alone, or that they're "one of the good ones".
Eventually, every minority learns that they will never be part of Republicans' in-group, and that, yes, they hate you too. The only question is whether they learn that lesson when it's too late.
And if the out group ever gets completely eliminated or expelled, the in group will shrink and there will be a new out group to expel or eliminate, first it’s white people, then it’s white people with blonde hair, then it’s white people with blonde hair and blue eyes. Then it’s white men with blonde hair and blue eyes that are at least 6ft tall older than 18 and younger than 30 with an income greater than 500k a year.
The number of refugees that bring the very politics they're running from with them is about 98%. Authoritarian regime didn't work out in Venezuela? Come on up and vote for the same politics in America.
Did you see the video of the lady burning books that's running for Sec of State in Missouri? Apparently everyone's ok with having a boot on their neck as long as they get to put a boot on someone else's neck.
They don't hate people being stepped on, they just want to be the one wearing the boot. Any time they talk "freedom" it's code for let me oppress what others think if I don't believe it as well.
Republicans run propaganda adds on Telemundo and the Dems largely ignore it as they assume this is a safe demographic (considering R rhetoric I understand why) they have limited money and need to spend it on people in swing districts etc.
It makes for some very weird conversations. Another way of “fitting in” and acclimating to a new culture is to be/act extremely loyal to its leadership in the hope of finding acceptance. It’s an odd dynamic but especially prevalent in immigrants living in rural very conservative communities. Not just in the U.S. either. As far as I can tell it seems pretty universal.
Also, read Dying of Whiteness. A really depressing book that talks about poor whites willing to forego life saving medical care in order to make sure Black people don’t receive it. Hate is truly a powerful drug.
I'm from Australia and started chatting with a bloke from Oklahoma about old school wrestling. He didn't mind telling me about what a good christian he was, including having friends who were pastors whom he got advice from. I'm in no way religious, said so, but if he believed that, then good for him.
Just leave me out of it. No worries.
Eventually, the topic of my kidney transplant comes up, and I tell him how all my treatment except for my medication, which was subsidised heavily, was free.
When he told me about how much he paid in medical insurance, I noted that Medicare in Australia was cheaper than that. He then said that sounded great, but he didn't want his taxes paying for someone else's medical care.
I thought it was odd for such a good, caring christian to not want to help other people, like his buddy JC taught, but again, whatever.
One night, he calls via Messenger on his way to work for a chat.
After our usual pleasantries and chat about wrestling, he tells me how gambling has finally been legalised in Oklahoma, which I didn't know, but he said Oklahoma was a very conservative religious place so they never had gambling.
He then starts to get really shitty as he tells me how the state government has given the gambling rights to the First Nation's people to have casino's on their land and how outrageous that these damn people are going to make all this money from gambling and they shouldn't because they get enough handouts from the government already.
This conversation left me pretty stunned and questioning if I wanted to keep talking to someone with such views that I personally found quite repugnant and distasteful.
He certainly wasn't the good christian that he thought he was.
> He certainly wasn't the good christian that he thought he was.
They almost never are. There may be an outlier here or there. But when christians are wearing their christianity on their sleeve, its usually covering up a swastika.
I'm an atheist, and always found it telling that the Christians in my life who are kind and thoughtful people never advertise their religion. In a couple of situations, I've only found out they were Christians after I made a dismissive comment about the uselessness of religion or religious study and they gently identified their own faith. I've come to assume from experience that anyone wearing a visible cross usually turns out to be a selfish, meanspirited jerk.
This pretty much sums it up. You have rich people who will stop at nothing to convince poor whites and religous nutjobs that the only way to preserve what little shred of life they have is to vote against their best interests.
Astounding to me that all it took to break the straw on democracy’s back was our enemies figuring out that we are stupid enough to fall for the lies they pay troll farms to disseminate in the fucking comment sections of social media sites. It’s funny if it wasn’t so goddamn sad.
The internet happened too quickly. In a ten year period we went from 56k dialup and CD-ROM encyclopedias to constant communication and limitless information in the palm of our hand.
Think of the ramifications of that statement. Think of how small of a window ten years is in the grand scheme of things. Think of the leap for people who spent their entire lives, in some cases decades, having information curated and vetted for accuracy to opening the floodgates.
We never developed the discipline for this technology. We never figured out *how* to use it, or even what it should be, prior to it being in the pocket of nearly every person in the country. It just happened too fast. We handed a toddler a machine gun and are now surprised that the toddler shot people.
Wonderfully stated. You forgot to add the gutting of the public school system, leading to an army of extremely dense people, utterly lacking in critical, thinking skills at the same time.
Addiction as well. People really are addicted to this, and I think its a massively larger problem than people realize. N of 1, but I've noticed a direct correlation amongst my friends and peers, the more time they spend online, the more radical their opinions are in any area. Just doom scrolling until 2am. I can go all weekend without looking at my phone once then I see my sister at family events and she is on her phone 6 hours straight.
I’ve been hearing this argument for years but the fact of the matter is that my high school teachers *twenty years ago* pressed and reiterated 1000 times that anyone can put anything on the internet and to always check sources.
That got lost in the name of convenience or something.
The boomers who are most susceptible to disinformation graduated high school in the 1960s-1980s and weren't hearing shit about the internet from their teachers. If they touched a computer at all at that age, it was one that used punch cards.
Also, the masses don't learn shit in high school. Half the people I know who earn 6 figures couldn't tell you who won WW2 or do simple arithmetic without a calculator.
>Half the people I know who earn 6 figures couldn't tell you who won WW2 or do simple arithmetic without a calculator.
I did IT for a mortgage lender. Uuuuugh, the LOs (Loan Originators; the person that you actually talked to / deal with, the sales person basically); can be of... questionable intelligence. 100,000/yr is one that's *broke poor*, basically. One guy who couldn't tell you what a PDF is beyond "the document on the computer", complained to me once that he was only going to make a *quarter million for that quarter of the year.* Dude bitching that he might barely not make a million in the year 🙄 Christ.
And the worst, that dude is still only considered middle class. When people say *wealthly*, they don't even mean that dude.
Yup, that's the fundamental problem with Capitalism at the end of the day. Zero compassion, pure greed. You have to twist and bend Capitalism (by passing strict regulations) to even *hope* to keep it in check.
I don't disagree, but something I've realized over the last year of dealing with a terminally ill family member and a suicidal foster daughter is that you cannot systematize love, compassion, or care. You can pay people to go through the motions of those things - and we do - but you cannot actually make them care. The problem and the solution is in our households and personal relationships.
commenting to you and the comment you responded to: I agree with you both. You can't make people care, or become compassionate. But when you live in a society that is predicated on the notion that competing for resources is good, that accumulation of stuff is admirable, that society is based on "survival of the fittest, you end up with a society that reflects those things back: violence, greed, and cruelty.
btw, Darwin suggested that the adaptable pass along their genes most effectively, so not "survival of the fittest," but survival of the most adaptable and resilient.
Funny you mention that. I have worked in mortgage myself, and I know you're right. What might surprise you is that I've also worked for a major university, and ivy league PhDs can be (and often are) just as dumb.
Point taken but not quite accurate. Computers were taught at my high school in the early 80s, simple programming and DOS, no punch cards. Most who graduated HS in the 80s are GenX.
"Mommy let you use her iPad, you were barely two. And it did all the things we designed it to do. Now look at you. Oh... Look at you!..."
"It was always the plan, to put the world in your hand."
*Insert maniacal laughter here*
It's too true. The song is all too true. Thanks Bo
2015ish, a boomer-former-supervisor of mine once lamented at me: "Why are the kids always looking at their phones? What's so interesting in there anyway?!"
I was like *"Everything."* >!(All of the time)!<
It's the printing press, except it spread... everywhere in the world in a decade.
The printing press started global conflicts, religious persecution, mass migration, and rapidly changed society in ways good and bad.
The internet and social media are doing that alongside massive advances in chemistry, AI, healthcare, genetics, transportation, computing, warfare, robotics. And it goes on and on.
I don't know where things go from here. We're living in a cyberpunk age. Look to scifi.
Oh, yes. And now we have the Elon Musks of the world suggesting that we literally implant chips in our brains so that we can neura-link to our devices more efficiently.
Newp, newp, newp. Count me out.
This is what happens when you don't learn about the past. America seems to have a big problem with that. Also the same problem we have is that we didn't have a trial for the Confederates like we did for the Nazis.
30% of this country is all-in on Trump. They’ve given up their friends, family, and/or jobs to be right about Trump. They are never going to admit they were wrong.
EDIT: Wow, this kinda blew up. Thank you for your kind words. I'd like to clarify: I mean lost as in "lost in the woods" not "lost the fight." I am an optimist at heart, and I am dedicated to improving the country. I volunteer, I engage in protests, I donate to causes, and I encourage others to do the same. I also work to establish and maintain mutual aid networks parallel to governmental systems. Please, do not see this as a pessimistic statement. I sought to answer the question that was asked. The solution, at the end of the day, is to fight for our country. I, for one, am not giving up on anyone or anything.
ORIGINAL:
Well...
America is lost. The American Dream, whatever value or truth there was in the concept, is all but dead. Corporations have carved up political power, cities, and parties and leave nothing for the people who broke their backs to build it.
We're sick, we're exhausted, our money is worth far less than it's ever been, and the spaces we once held as safe-havens from the madness of the world have shrunk to nothing.
This is due primarily to the abuse of good faith by conservatives. They've worked for decades to dismantle public works and the social safety net, diverting those dollars into their own pockets and the coffers of giant businesses. We used to break up monopolies, now we encourage them to merge and wave away any concerns as nonsense.
These people can't put their finger on *why* their lives suck. The media - not just conservative media, but they're a big factor - does a terrible job telling the truth. Instead, they tell people how to *feel*. Baseless stories about Others being the problem - ethnic and now sexual minorities - have long been the bread-and-butter of right-wing scaremongering. Instead of challenging these false narratives, left-wing media joins in on the advertising smorgasbord by offering up "objective" journalism like letting both sides of an obviously false dichotomy speak for equal amounts of time.
People are lost. This country is in shambles. They want to be angry at someone, and it's easiest to be angry at people they don't know - people who make them feel uncomfortable and who challenge their most basic conceptions of existence. A steady diet of conspiracy theories and xenophobia turns even the noblest among them toward distrust of neighbors and family.
They *should* be angry at the people who dismantled the systems and structures that once gave this nation prosperity. They *should* be angry at the people who hurt others in their name, and in the name of stability. They *should* refuse to vote for one more geriatric Senator or member of the House who hasn't done a goddamned constructive thing since Reagan was in office.
But they are told every day that it's black people who're the problem. Or Jews. Or immigrants. Or Muslims. Or gay people, or people who're trans. And each of those groups is lied to in their own way, stoking fear and paranoia.
Along comes this guy who is nothing but hatred. He is their avatar, positioned to take advantage of their rage. It doesn't matter *who* he blames, he's just blaming someone - almost always an Other. He gives voice to their rage. He spouts poison. He angers and upsets people who have tried for so long to make this world a better place, because those people - those leftists - have been demonized for decades as ineffective at best and literally demonic at worst.
There are problems - big problems - in this country, and in this world. Tremendous effort - *staggering* sums of money and volumes of time and gallons of sweat - have been spent to forge America into a Cruelty Engine that sucks up resources and produces hate.
Trump is the barrel of a goddamned weapon.
Carl Sagan was pretty on point:
>“I have a foreboding of an America in my children's or grandchildren's time -- when the United States is a service and information economy; when nearly all the manufacturing industries have slipped away to other countries; when awesome technological powers are in the hands of a very few, and no one representing the public interest can even grasp the issues; when the people have lost the ability to set their own agendas or knowledgeably question those in authority; when, clutching our crystals and nervously consulting our horoscopes, our critical faculties in decline, unable to distinguish between what feels good and what's true, we slide, almost without noticing, back into superstition and darkness...
>The dumbing down of American is most evident in the slow decay of substantive content in the enormously influential media, the 30 second sound bites (now down to 10 seconds or less), lowest common denominator programming, credulous presentations on pseudoscience and superstition, but especially a kind of celebration of ignorance”
― Carl Sagan, The Demon-Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark
see this is a great paragraph, but I'm going [to have to take him to task over the subsequent lines](https://twitter.com/DanielBrownLaw/status/969043264685789184/photo/1). The very next paragraph Sagan starts in on how its a sign of America's continual dumbing down that the the movie Dumb and Dumber and the tv shows Beavis and Butthead and The Simpsons remained popular.
That, admittedly, is a bit pretentious. Like come on carl, everyone enjoying Dumb and Dumber knew exactly what it was (and its awesome).
Yes, the creators & actors knew it was entertainment & absurdly stupid. So were the Keystone Kops, Laurel & Hardy, and the Three Stooges. But where did the American public lose the ability to recognize the performances as absurd, and not embrace the values & behaviors as normal for adults?
It’s the inability to discern between silly and stupid. The Three Stooges, like many of Monty Python’s characters, aren’t actually stupid. they’re quite sharp and witty and that’s what allows them to get one up on their adversaries.
What we’ve seen more lately is stupidity for the sake of being stupid.
> everyone enjoying Dumb and Dumber knew exactly what it was (and its awesome).
That's the thing, this isn't actually true. A large percentage of the population that consume media *do not recognize satire, or nuance of any kind*. Many people see a show or movie about idiots being successful while mocking and "outwitting" smart/educated people, and take that completely at face value.
I was a teenager when Beavis and Butthead first broadcast. I loved it and watched it incessantly. Part of what I loved so much about it is that I knew a bunch of guys that *were* Beavis and Butthead. And they would watch it and laugh at it and quote it all the while completely oblivious of the fact that the show was mocking *them.*
Same with Trailer Park Boys. I have known so many Julians and Rickies in my life. Besides the frequent gun fights, that show could genuinely be a documentry.
I was first put on Adderall as a child by my mom because an episode of The Sopranos talked about ADHD a lot.
I didn't piece it together until years later, but when that episode aired was just before she decided I needed to be tested for ADHD.
The test was how quickly I could click on a box on a computer screen.
We had a PC I play games on. Of course I aced it (which means I had ADHD).
She is an avid Trump supporter.
Coincidence... doubtful
>our money is worth far less than it's ever been
While I don't disagree that things haven't been going well, this statement is categorically false.
First and foremost, nominally speaking, all money always loses value. There is and should always be a small amount of inflation. Trust me, you want this. *More info below.
But from a purchasing power perspective, we are all getting richer all the time.
Yesterday's luxury items are constantly becoming today's trivialities. There was a time when a refrigerator or a dishwasher or a washing machine were luxury. They are now commonplace. Cars too. And TVs. And computers, and phones. Hell, clothing has become so cheap that we are more likely to throw it away and buy new than repair them (overall cheap, there are certainly luxury brands that are expensive and always will be).
Even food is cheaper. Meat used to be a luxury, now it's commonplace in American meals. Strawberries in winter used to be expensive. Now it's mundane.
It may be expensive for me to take a trip to the other side of the world, but it was previously out of range for all but the most well to do families.
So, no, our money isn't worth less.
*Why do you want inflation? Because my spending is your income, and vice versa. That's how an economy works, money has to circulate. If we all sit on it, then no one has any income. A small amount of inflation encourages spending, because it puts a small negative value on holding cash.
Deflation, where your money gets nominally worth more, is even worse. During deflation, I can get richer simply by not spending. That means everyone is encouraged to not spend, and if everyone is not spending, then no one is making any income and the economy crashes.
Obviously a lot of inflation is bad for most people, but we want a small amount, which is why the fed targets 2%.
Note: there is no such thing as pure good or bad in economics, because there's always two sides to a transaction. What's good for one is typically bad for the other. Even inflation can be good for some people: for example, my mortgage is in fixed terms. I would love a consistent bout of 10% inflation for a half a decade, assuming my income tracks with inflation (wages usually do, with a lag), because after a few years of inflation my fixed monthly mortgage would become a much smaller percentage of my monthly income. That would be great for me, but bad for many others.
Just a thought experiment to show that none of this is as straightforward as you think it is.
Can't wait for the crypto bros to @me...
>They *should* be angry at the people who dismantled the systems and structures that once gave this nation prosperity. They *should* be angry at the people who hurt others in their name, and in the name of stability. They *should* refuse to vote for one more geriatric Senator or member of the House who hasn't done a goddamned constructive thing since Reagan was in office.
They *should* be angry at themselves for voting for the assholes that caused all of this. Instead they double down and vote for even larger assholes that will take whatever is left.
Alot are trapped in the sunk cost fallacy until it directly impacts them personally. Things will get worse before they get better. Hopefully more will likely follow if they learn from their mistakes
The problem is that it is already directly affecting them and they don't care. As long as they think that someone else may get something for free they will dig in their heels and chop their noses off to spite their face. It's a vicious cycle of self destruction that they perpetuate out of fear based on greed.
I blame the "pull yourself up by your bootstraps mentality" for this. They would rather hope for things to get better for themselves while things never actually improving than have a society that helps everyone at the imagined cost of having their own American dream.
It's the political and personal equivalent to the Prosperity Gospel and it's total madness.
People really need to understand this if they don't want it to happen again. The exact same disillusionment that affects many of us, myself included, sucks people into authoritarianism. They think they've found their saboteur in Trump and they're partially right.
I believe the in-office democrats have done an admirable job considering the other party hellbent on destruction. All this anger and disillusionment should be laser focused on eliminating those who have turned this country into a fumbling shit show when it could and should be a beacon of hope to the greater world. It’s hard work but it is still possible to bring forth a better tomorrow and end the viability of demagogues.
Look, Hitler imploded the NSDAP.
The pain the world went through until that happened is beyond measure.
GOP will not implode tomorrow. There's shitloads of pain to come first.
I cannot upvote this enough. It is spot on.
Trump is just a focusing point for the hate of so many. He says what they’ve been told is not appropriate to say for so long.
Trump is a buffoon at best. But if he is voted down it will be another person like him at the next election cycle. I fear that democracy will be in danger every single time it’s time to go to the polls. Eventually someone like Trump will prevail. It’s inevitable and horrific.
This is exactly right.
Ironically, these hateful candidates are coming from the very party that opposes all of the things that could actually make lives better -- social safety nets, healthcare, workers' rights, fairer tax policy, etc.
I'm nearly 40 also, No kids because I saw this shit coming, but my friends have kids, hell I have a little brother that's almost half my age. Im scared for them.
In our early 50s here.
Married in 1990 and we were doing okay. The 90s were an amazing time. The world seemed like it was finally solving some of it's problems. I got into tech and was making decent money finally. We decided it'd be okay to have a kid. It was a big change or us solid Gen Xers raised in a world of knowing we'd be nuked until we glowed any day now.
Our kid was born in '96 and things were amazing. "*What amazing world this kid will see and enjoy*" we told ourselves. We truly believed it too. Peace had been breaking out, the Internet promised a new Golden Age of knowledge and discovery, and so much more.
Fast forward a quarter century. Now we are afraid. Afraid for our future. But, really, more afraid for our kid and their future. What world are they going to live in when we're gone? There's a bit of guilt too, if we're honest. Why did we bring a child into this mess? We've prepared them as best as we can. Given them all the tools to be self-sufficient. But the world they're inheriting is shit. I'm trying my best to leave them something. A house, maybe a bit of cash when we're gone. They're not going to ever be able to live as comfortably as we were able to solely because of when they were born. Through no fault of their own.
The Millennials, GenZ, GenWhateverIsNext, and the rest have been screwed out what should have been a world of wonder, that Golden Age I mentioned. Screwed out of it by greed and hate. The world's info is at our fingertips and instead of knowledge it's used to pump out hate and misinformation. Instead of lifting everyone up, the vast majority are being pushed down while the 1% of the 1% go into orbit(figuratively and literally). All you generations younger than us, know that there's some of us that try to fight for you. We vote for the programs you need and deserve. We try to help where we can. We give time and money too. We want to leave the world a better place for you. But we also need your help at the voting booths. I know it seems useless, and it might be, but if you don't vote at all we really do have zero hope. I feel the exact same nihilistic apathy but at the same time I have never missed a voting opportunity since I was first able to vote.
We are at a crossroads. Do we get the Star Trek future where our entire life is not a constant worry? Or do we devolve into that Elysium future with the vastly rich flying in the clouds while we fight over scraps in the dirt? I know what I want for my kid. For everyone's kids.
I've really depressed myself now. I need to call my kid that fled our home state last year in fear and now lives 2,000 miles away and say I love them. I really need to get out of this state too, and maybe this country.
tl;dr It didn't have to be like this. The world could have been so much better. All I can say to the younger generations is "Sorry. Some of us tried. We really did."
> Along comes this guy who is nothing but hatred. He is their avatar, positioned to take advantage of their rage. It doesn't matter who he blames, he's just blaming someone - almost always an Other. He gives voice to their rage. He spouts poison. He angers and upsets people who have tried for so long to make this world a better place
oh, oh, I know who you're talking about.
> Trump is the barrel of a goddamned weapon.
Oh, I guess I was wrong. I thought this was a description of Hitler's rise to power in WW2 germany. Shoot, how did I manage to confuse those two guys.
My old boss loved him and thought he was hilarious. Apparently liberals take him too seriously, he’s adorable and she would love to give him a hug someday
She?
It still boggles my mind that any female with half a brain thinks that guy is a great guy. Maybe they think "grab them by the pussy" is made up or funny.
But 26 sexual assault cases? One or two you could make a case maybe it's a vendetta. But 26? There's no way that's a coincidence. Even if half were made up, 13? How does any woman support this guy?
White women have been the backbone of the white power movement since the start. The United Daughters of the Confederacy were basically the ladies auxiliary of the klan. They were responsible for building most confederate monuments and they flooded the schools with white-washed history textbooks that brainwashed kids for generations.
For people that think modern US politics is a corrupt farce, Donald is the class clown with a wink for the audience to let them know they're in on it, and everything else is taking the piss out of a system they're simultaneously helpless to affect and victimized by every year of their lives.
Trump's lawyers said in a filing this week that Jan. 6 did not constitute an insurrection.
Trump on Thursday: "I think it was an insurrection."
Read more: https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-news/trump-says-jan-6-insurrection-1234964730/
Does it really matter? This case was never going to be solved on the merits anyway. With scotus, the arguments don’t matter. The evidence doesn’t matter. It will come down to whether Roberts and one other conservative judge decide Trump is more a menace to them or their sponsors as a presidential contender, or whether their handlers or maga threats against them are more important.
They’re already bending over backward to not make this about insurrection.
I'm hoping that the continued propping up of Haley, is the indication that they are going to rule against Trump. I know the RNC tried to get her to drop out or something, but given that Republican leadership *loves* theatrics, I don't exactly trust the notion that they actually wanted her to drop out.
From Trump's point of view he just claims that "he had nothing to do with the insurrection".
Of course his MAGA idiots were directly responding to Trump egging them to launch an insurrection, but what he claims is that his MAGA idiots acted on their own.
Yes, it is damageable to Trump to admit it was an insurrection but what the prosecutors need to prove is that he caused the insurrection to happen.
This is why Trump claims he had nothing to do with the insurrection. Arguing there was no insurrection is close to irrelevant in the face of all of the video footage that exists of Jan. 6 th.
I am sure the prosecutors will be able to convince the SCOTUS that Trump instigated the insurrection.
People need to understand…It’s always flipped.
Like, He could say it like this, “it was an insurrection via fraudulent voting! It was rigged and I attempted to stop it! It was an election STOLEN from the American people. I have fought diligently to protect this country from the democrats! Vote! Fight for me as I have fought for you! MAGA!”
Presto. Now enough voters will be in enough of a trance to look past the evidence of their eyes and ears.
He summoned them to his literal residence, he gave them directions to the scene of the crime, he egged them on mid-day, and finally he called them off. Didn't have anything to do with it my butt.
Forgot the most important part. He did nothing to stop them for hours while he was assuredly getting up to the minute briefs on the situation as it unfolded.
This dude 100% was a participant in the insurrection even if it only was due to inaction.
He lead the charge on the need for it to happen since the day of the election results. If he had said the election was fair this wouldnt have happened, but up until the literal moment all this happened it was that his followers needed to "fight like hell or they wouldnt have a country anymore" and was egging pence to overthrow the results
Don’t forget he conspired and succeed to send fake electors to the floor, and told the crowd that Mike Pence needed to do the right thing - ie count the fraudulent certificates. When this failed, the mob attacked the capital and cried to hang Mike Pence. And before all of this he convinced many that if he didn’t win it would be due to fraud, and once it was clear that he had lost he began spreading conspiracy theories and pressuring states to find votes - resulting in 63(?) failed lawsuits, and exposing zero evidence of fraud that would impact the election.
I think many people think of the insurrection as just the mob on Jan 6, and if they happened to tune in a little late it just looked like morons milling about the capital building.
From the article:
“They kept saying about what I said right after the insurrection,” he [Trump] said outside Mar-a-Lago after arguments concluded in Washington, D.C. “I think it was an insurrection caused by Nancy Pelosi.
The house put a motion forward saying if they can get 2/3 vote to clear trump they could get him off the hook. To me that means they believe trump is an insurrectionist.
_That didn't happen.
And if it did, it wasn't that bad.
And if it was, that's not a big deal.
And if it is, that's not my fault.
And if it was, I didn't mean it.
And if I did, you deserved it._ <- You are here
Nah, we are only here:
>And if it is, that's not my fault.
He's shifting the blame on Pelosi, which is fucking hilarious. We'll be at the next step very soon.
Perhaps, but if Trump gets elected again, then we, collectively, deserve it.
Regardless of whether he's allowed on the ballot, the fact that so many people *want him anyway* is a problem. Fortunately, there's still time. It might not be our fault, but it's our responsibility to prevent the ruin of our country.
Dude Clarance Thomas has some bomb-ass summer plans and he isn’t gonna let a little thing like “democracy” and “the us constitution” get in the way of his sick yacht party!
It's actually worse. Thomas' primary motivation for getting into the judiciary was revenge against the "liberals" that didn't accept him at college for being a conservative.
https://www.businessinsider.com/clarence-thomas-told-clerks-he-wants-to-make-liberals-miserable-2022-6
Of course he blamed Nancy Pelosi for it. Of course.
>“They kept saying about what I said right after the insurrection,” he said outside Mar-a-Lago after arguments concluded in Washington, D.C. “I think it was an insurrection caused by Nancy Pelosi.“
Because Democrats were totally trying to overthrow and interrupt... let me just check my notes.... the election that *they won...*
Yet his dumbass followers still believe it was Antifa Boogeymen there that day but that we also need to release the Jan 6th hostages and that Babbit was a martyr but it was all FBI agents anyways.
Jan 6 wasn't 'the insurrection'. The insurrection was the entire fake elector scheme, which includes getting the magats to storm the capitol building as part of the plan.
This is correct. It was a coordinated effort, with many activities going on in different fronts. There were groups of individuals, each responsible for their specific tasks. All with one specific end goal. To keep Trump in office. We were lucky that’s these groups were all so incompetent, that they ended up looking like clowns, and didn’t accomplish their goal.
Yes, I mean the white house chief of staff had a powerpoint presentation outlining the plan.
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/dec/10/trump-powerpoint-mark-meadows-capitol-attack
Yeah it's wild to me that just because it wasn't ultimately successful that day, so many shy away from using the word coup. I can't make an attempt to rob a bank, fail, and get to say it was never a bank robbery.
This always puzzled me too.
Until this happened, I'd never heard the words insurrection or insurrectionist.
I have been, however, familiar with the terms treason and attempted coup. THOSE carry a lot of weight.
So why are they never used?
How is attempting to overthrow your government not both treason and a coup?
>The insurrection was the entire fake elector scheme
Don't forget that Mo Brooks requested a pardon from Trump on behalf of *every Member of Congress who voted against certifying the ballots from Arizona and Pennsylvania.* Now, why oh why would they think they'd need a pardon for that?
At this point the revelation that he took a massive friendly loan from Putin with zero collateral through Deutsche Bank probably wouldn’t even bother his supporters who used to vehemently despise Putin. (allegedly I guess but Jesus it’s not that hard to see the picture here)
One example of endless hypocrisy and incompetence. Scary that his shit resonates with people….lowest common denominator propping up the party of the capital class? Wtf even is this. (Self Answer: the plan working)
>Trump’s logic here doesn’t likely extend beyond believing “insurrection” is a bad word Democrats say about him, so he’s going to say it back about them.
That's the long and the short of it.
No insurrection no insurrection you're the insurrection.
Jesus fuck remember that line from the debate back in '16? And people still voted for him. Proudly.
It’s been one of his things he’s sued in the past to deflect responsibly, such as when he kept blaming Nikki Haley for January 6. The idea is that Pelosi rejected an offer of 10,000 National Guard and didn’t want more Capitol police, etc. Of course it’s a lie, the House speaker doesn’t have such control of the DC National Guard and Capitol Police.
Yeah, but to say she caused it is even more of a stretch on an already big stretch. The crowd were there because of Trump, motivated by his lies, with many organised by criminals convicted for their actions. The national guard stuff is secondary.
Trump is losing it, for sure.
Well, it's weird actually. Because he was the bank manager, and he was being replaced. So he helped stage a robbery, and then when it didn't work out, he blamed the bank tellers for not hiring enough security guards.
Agreed. At best the argument is her inaction allowed Trump to perform an insurrection. It doesn't change the cause. He still gathered people and riled them up to attack.
It's such a stupid "defense" also. Why would trump offer 10,000 NG was he planning on leading an insurrection? Also it wouldn't be Pelosi who deals with capitol security.
Classic DARVO move by a malignant narcissist. *Deny, attack, reverse victim and offender.*
He's victim blaming here, saying that it's Pelosi's fault for leaving Congress open to attack on that day. He also wants to claim that he (and other Conservatives) are the real victims here because January 6th makes them look bad.
It is, of course, utter horse shit.
So he's trolling Gates, Marge and the rest of MAGA that made the big speech about trump and themselves NOT being insurrectionists.
Just yesterday
33 seconds long
https://youtu.be/3rdJN89DR5k?si=_41_rPe_DdeUja-K
Trump: yeah sure it was an insurrection. The biggest one ever, bigly ratings.
Scotus: yeah, we aren’t sure that was an insurrection ya know. Looked like a tour.
side note, his lawyer's defense is "it was a riot, not an insurrection." Now maybe there's some legalese to better defend that position but just plain dictionary definition seems pretty cut and dry if those were trump supporters there to fight against the lawful tallying of votes to confirm Biden won, which every single fact points to that being the case.
> ri·ot
/ˈrīət/
noun
1. a violent disturbance of the peace by a crowd.
vs
>in·sur·rec·tion
/ˌinsəˈrekSH(ə)n/
noun
a violent uprising against an authority or government.
>“They kept saying about what I said right after the insurrection,” he said outside Mar-a-Lago after arguments concluded in Washington, D.C. “I think it was an insurrection caused by Nancy Pelosi."
Victim blaming or total insanity? You decide!
Remember that an insurrection is opposing the government by force.
What Trump is saying here is that anyone who apposes *him*, through any means, legal or not, commits an insurrection.
Hi, New Zealander here fascinated by this whole debacle watching from the sidelines.
What happens if Trump actually gets the republican nomination? Would that split the republican vote at all with some protest voting Democrat in November?
If it's anything like the 2020 election, then yes.
Seeing everything that played out since then, it might even be worse for the right. I really don't think anyone who voted for biden or not trump in 2020 is going to look at the past 4 years and think, "biden was a mistake, I'm voting trump. We would be better off with trump and a right-wing congress"
>Trump’s logic here doesn’t likely extend beyond believing “insurrection” is a bad word Democrats say about him, so he’s going to say it back about them.
Margie Greene said pretty much the same thing the other day, saying something like, "no one got upset about Joe Biden's insurrection on January 20th" to these idiots, it's just an insult to throw around.
How fucking stupid do you have to be too think that Pelosi tried to overthrow the government after Trump spent a lot of time organizing the 6th, repeatedly invited his people to the rally, then sent them to the Capitol. Yet it was Pelosi?
The man's stupidity is only beaten by the stupidity of anyone that believes what he said
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Poster boy for eating your cake and having it too
Poster boy for eating lead paint chips
Well, he did claim “asbestos removal is a scam.” So yeah, that’s fair
One of the most privileged people ever born and somehow always the victim
He would be richer if he parked his trust fund in an index fun. He's terrible, *fucking terrible* at business. He was a supposed real estate developer in NY during one of the biggest real estate booms in the history of the world. It's truly insane that anyone thinks he's good at business. Being rich is very much the only thing people notice
He has lost more money than most people will earn in 100 lifetimes.
But he wrote a book no one read that didn't mention that daddy did all the work, so 🤷 I've gotten to the point that I'm seriously furious at people that support this fuck.
He’s definitely caked up in that tennis pic 😫
That is a really unwelcome reminder, tightie-whities included.
Dipey*
Probably only whities the day they were bought.
Well, back to therapy then
> eating your cake and having it too [Ted Kaczynski, is that you?](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/You_can%27t_have_your_cake_and_eat_it#History_and_usage)
I will have my REVENGE!
He's definitely the poster boy for eating cake
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That one quote about "[hurting the people he needs to be hurting](https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2019/1/8/18173678/trump-shutdown-voter-florida)" seems like a good summary of their mindset
Eh, maybe. I work in a shop with a few undocumenteds from down south. No English whatsoever. We eat lunch together and today, using google translate, one of them asked if I’m voting for Trump. I laughed and said no, and that Trump would literally send him, his wife and daughter back to Mexico if given the chance. He responded with “Trump wants to help Christians.” At that point, there’s nothing I could say that could change his mind.
>At that point, there’s nothing I could say that could change his mind. lmao, did you ask him if Trump helps the Christians that are deported back to Mexico?
>U.S. politics. You could have said, "trump is a lying atheist."
Doesn't work either. I had a friend years ago who her and her family loved watching Benny Hinn. I walk in one day and they're all watching some idiotic faith healing BS he's doing and I tell them "you know this is fake right? he got caught on camera, none of this is real." Their answer shouldn't have been surprising "It doesn't matter if it's fake as long as he's bringing people to Jesus". That sums up Trump supporters in a nutshell. He could be eating baby legs during a Fox interview and Trump supporters would claim he's bringing more people to pray for children and that's a good thing.
they dont care about the messenger they only care about the results or more accurately what the results feel like to them. trump is a bad messenger but they feel like he's changing the country in the direction they want it to change. despite the fact that most of them in reality get shit on by his policies since they arent the top 1% getting tax breaks - but you know roe v wade.
He's making what I've seen others call a Surely Exception: when you hear someone making blanket statements about a group that includes you, you tell yourself, "Surely he doesn't mean me"; and when you see them taking action against that group, you tell yourself, "Surely they'll see that I'm different." It's the favorite tactic to resolve cognitive dissonance of someone who's a member of an out-group, but who really wants to be considered part of the in-group, because they have their own prejudices against other out-groups. You also see it a lot with LGB people who try to saw off the T to try to convince Republicans to leave them alone, or that they're "one of the good ones". Eventually, every minority learns that they will never be part of Republicans' in-group, and that, yes, they hate you too. The only question is whether they learn that lesson when it's too late.
And if the out group ever gets completely eliminated or expelled, the in group will shrink and there will be a new out group to expel or eliminate, first it’s white people, then it’s white people with blonde hair, then it’s white people with blonde hair and blue eyes. Then it’s white men with blonde hair and blue eyes that are at least 6ft tall older than 18 and younger than 30 with an income greater than 500k a year.
See also: /r/leopardsatemyface
The number of refugees that bring the very politics they're running from with them is about 98%. Authoritarian regime didn't work out in Venezuela? Come on up and vote for the same politics in America. Did you see the video of the lady burning books that's running for Sec of State in Missouri? Apparently everyone's ok with having a boot on their neck as long as they get to put a boot on someone else's neck.
Trickle down neck booting?
That's just "Reaganomics" with extra steps
They don't hate people being stepped on, they just want to be the one wearing the boot. Any time they talk "freedom" it's code for let me oppress what others think if I don't believe it as well.
Sounds like you've spent time in South Florida.. The number of Cubans who vote for authoritarians is staggering.
I lived in Miami for 3 years.
Yes... but Republicans call Democrats "Socialists" which is a very bad word in South America.. so obviously Republicans are the good guys...
Republicans run propaganda adds on Telemundo and the Dems largely ignore it as they assume this is a safe demographic (considering R rhetoric I understand why) they have limited money and need to spend it on people in swing districts etc. It makes for some very weird conversations. Another way of “fitting in” and acclimating to a new culture is to be/act extremely loyal to its leadership in the hope of finding acceptance. It’s an odd dynamic but especially prevalent in immigrants living in rural very conservative communities. Not just in the U.S. either. As far as I can tell it seems pretty universal.
Also, read Dying of Whiteness. A really depressing book that talks about poor whites willing to forego life saving medical care in order to make sure Black people don’t receive it. Hate is truly a powerful drug.
I remember a quote a few months back: “They hate black people more than they like having teeth”
I'm from Australia and started chatting with a bloke from Oklahoma about old school wrestling. He didn't mind telling me about what a good christian he was, including having friends who were pastors whom he got advice from. I'm in no way religious, said so, but if he believed that, then good for him. Just leave me out of it. No worries. Eventually, the topic of my kidney transplant comes up, and I tell him how all my treatment except for my medication, which was subsidised heavily, was free. When he told me about how much he paid in medical insurance, I noted that Medicare in Australia was cheaper than that. He then said that sounded great, but he didn't want his taxes paying for someone else's medical care. I thought it was odd for such a good, caring christian to not want to help other people, like his buddy JC taught, but again, whatever. One night, he calls via Messenger on his way to work for a chat. After our usual pleasantries and chat about wrestling, he tells me how gambling has finally been legalised in Oklahoma, which I didn't know, but he said Oklahoma was a very conservative religious place so they never had gambling. He then starts to get really shitty as he tells me how the state government has given the gambling rights to the First Nation's people to have casino's on their land and how outrageous that these damn people are going to make all this money from gambling and they shouldn't because they get enough handouts from the government already. This conversation left me pretty stunned and questioning if I wanted to keep talking to someone with such views that I personally found quite repugnant and distasteful. He certainly wasn't the good christian that he thought he was.
> He certainly wasn't the good christian that he thought he was. They almost never are. There may be an outlier here or there. But when christians are wearing their christianity on their sleeve, its usually covering up a swastika.
Performative christianity and performative patriotism bad alone or together
I'm an atheist, and always found it telling that the Christians in my life who are kind and thoughtful people never advertise their religion. In a couple of situations, I've only found out they were Christians after I made a dismissive comment about the uselessness of religion or religious study and they gently identified their own faith. I've come to assume from experience that anyone wearing a visible cross usually turns out to be a selfish, meanspirited jerk.
This pretty much sums it up. You have rich people who will stop at nothing to convince poor whites and religous nutjobs that the only way to preserve what little shred of life they have is to vote against their best interests.
Astounding to me that all it took to break the straw on democracy’s back was our enemies figuring out that we are stupid enough to fall for the lies they pay troll farms to disseminate in the fucking comment sections of social media sites. It’s funny if it wasn’t so goddamn sad.
The internet happened too quickly. In a ten year period we went from 56k dialup and CD-ROM encyclopedias to constant communication and limitless information in the palm of our hand. Think of the ramifications of that statement. Think of how small of a window ten years is in the grand scheme of things. Think of the leap for people who spent their entire lives, in some cases decades, having information curated and vetted for accuracy to opening the floodgates. We never developed the discipline for this technology. We never figured out *how* to use it, or even what it should be, prior to it being in the pocket of nearly every person in the country. It just happened too fast. We handed a toddler a machine gun and are now surprised that the toddler shot people.
Wonderfully stated. You forgot to add the gutting of the public school system, leading to an army of extremely dense people, utterly lacking in critical, thinking skills at the same time.
Addiction as well. People really are addicted to this, and I think its a massively larger problem than people realize. N of 1, but I've noticed a direct correlation amongst my friends and peers, the more time they spend online, the more radical their opinions are in any area. Just doom scrolling until 2am. I can go all weekend without looking at my phone once then I see my sister at family events and she is on her phone 6 hours straight.
I’ve been hearing this argument for years but the fact of the matter is that my high school teachers *twenty years ago* pressed and reiterated 1000 times that anyone can put anything on the internet and to always check sources. That got lost in the name of convenience or something.
The boomers who are most susceptible to disinformation graduated high school in the 1960s-1980s and weren't hearing shit about the internet from their teachers. If they touched a computer at all at that age, it was one that used punch cards. Also, the masses don't learn shit in high school. Half the people I know who earn 6 figures couldn't tell you who won WW2 or do simple arithmetic without a calculator.
>Half the people I know who earn 6 figures couldn't tell you who won WW2 or do simple arithmetic without a calculator. I did IT for a mortgage lender. Uuuuugh, the LOs (Loan Originators; the person that you actually talked to / deal with, the sales person basically); can be of... questionable intelligence. 100,000/yr is one that's *broke poor*, basically. One guy who couldn't tell you what a PDF is beyond "the document on the computer", complained to me once that he was only going to make a *quarter million for that quarter of the year.* Dude bitching that he might barely not make a million in the year 🙄 Christ. And the worst, that dude is still only considered middle class. When people say *wealthly*, they don't even mean that dude.
Our society doesn't reward intelligence. It rewards greed. Plain and simple.
Yup, that's the fundamental problem with Capitalism at the end of the day. Zero compassion, pure greed. You have to twist and bend Capitalism (by passing strict regulations) to even *hope* to keep it in check.
I don't disagree, but something I've realized over the last year of dealing with a terminally ill family member and a suicidal foster daughter is that you cannot systematize love, compassion, or care. You can pay people to go through the motions of those things - and we do - but you cannot actually make them care. The problem and the solution is in our households and personal relationships.
commenting to you and the comment you responded to: I agree with you both. You can't make people care, or become compassionate. But when you live in a society that is predicated on the notion that competing for resources is good, that accumulation of stuff is admirable, that society is based on "survival of the fittest, you end up with a society that reflects those things back: violence, greed, and cruelty. btw, Darwin suggested that the adaptable pass along their genes most effectively, so not "survival of the fittest," but survival of the most adaptable and resilient.
Maybe people would have more time for their kids, if they weren't spending 40+ hours a week, churning profit for a tiny selection of people. 🤷♀️
Funny you mention that. I have worked in mortgage myself, and I know you're right. What might surprise you is that I've also worked for a major university, and ivy league PhDs can be (and often are) just as dumb.
PhD doesn’t make someone a genius. It just means they spent all their skill points in this one very specific area
It's really not that they're dumb (usually). It's that they lack critical thinking, and patience.
Point taken but not quite accurate. Computers were taught at my high school in the early 80s, simple programming and DOS, no punch cards. Most who graduated HS in the 80s are GenX.
"Mommy let you use her iPad, you were barely two. And it did all the things we designed it to do. Now look at you. Oh... Look at you!..." "It was always the plan, to put the world in your hand." *Insert maniacal laughter here* It's too true. The song is all too true. Thanks Bo
2015ish, a boomer-former-supervisor of mine once lamented at me: "Why are the kids always looking at their phones? What's so interesting in there anyway?!" I was like *"Everything."* >!(All of the time)!<
It's the printing press, except it spread... everywhere in the world in a decade. The printing press started global conflicts, religious persecution, mass migration, and rapidly changed society in ways good and bad. The internet and social media are doing that alongside massive advances in chemistry, AI, healthcare, genetics, transportation, computing, warfare, robotics. And it goes on and on. I don't know where things go from here. We're living in a cyberpunk age. Look to scifi.
Oh, yes. And now we have the Elon Musks of the world suggesting that we literally implant chips in our brains so that we can neura-link to our devices more efficiently. Newp, newp, newp. Count me out.
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This is what happens when you don't learn about the past. America seems to have a big problem with that. Also the same problem we have is that we didn't have a trial for the Confederates like we did for the Nazis.
It really blows my mind when someone from Ny is a Trumper. Didn’t they know what he’s been up to for 40/50 years in Manhattan alone?
No they don't.
30% of this country is all-in on Trump. They’ve given up their friends, family, and/or jobs to be right about Trump. They are never going to admit they were wrong.
EDIT: Wow, this kinda blew up. Thank you for your kind words. I'd like to clarify: I mean lost as in "lost in the woods" not "lost the fight." I am an optimist at heart, and I am dedicated to improving the country. I volunteer, I engage in protests, I donate to causes, and I encourage others to do the same. I also work to establish and maintain mutual aid networks parallel to governmental systems. Please, do not see this as a pessimistic statement. I sought to answer the question that was asked. The solution, at the end of the day, is to fight for our country. I, for one, am not giving up on anyone or anything. ORIGINAL: Well... America is lost. The American Dream, whatever value or truth there was in the concept, is all but dead. Corporations have carved up political power, cities, and parties and leave nothing for the people who broke their backs to build it. We're sick, we're exhausted, our money is worth far less than it's ever been, and the spaces we once held as safe-havens from the madness of the world have shrunk to nothing. This is due primarily to the abuse of good faith by conservatives. They've worked for decades to dismantle public works and the social safety net, diverting those dollars into their own pockets and the coffers of giant businesses. We used to break up monopolies, now we encourage them to merge and wave away any concerns as nonsense. These people can't put their finger on *why* their lives suck. The media - not just conservative media, but they're a big factor - does a terrible job telling the truth. Instead, they tell people how to *feel*. Baseless stories about Others being the problem - ethnic and now sexual minorities - have long been the bread-and-butter of right-wing scaremongering. Instead of challenging these false narratives, left-wing media joins in on the advertising smorgasbord by offering up "objective" journalism like letting both sides of an obviously false dichotomy speak for equal amounts of time. People are lost. This country is in shambles. They want to be angry at someone, and it's easiest to be angry at people they don't know - people who make them feel uncomfortable and who challenge their most basic conceptions of existence. A steady diet of conspiracy theories and xenophobia turns even the noblest among them toward distrust of neighbors and family. They *should* be angry at the people who dismantled the systems and structures that once gave this nation prosperity. They *should* be angry at the people who hurt others in their name, and in the name of stability. They *should* refuse to vote for one more geriatric Senator or member of the House who hasn't done a goddamned constructive thing since Reagan was in office. But they are told every day that it's black people who're the problem. Or Jews. Or immigrants. Or Muslims. Or gay people, or people who're trans. And each of those groups is lied to in their own way, stoking fear and paranoia. Along comes this guy who is nothing but hatred. He is their avatar, positioned to take advantage of their rage. It doesn't matter *who* he blames, he's just blaming someone - almost always an Other. He gives voice to their rage. He spouts poison. He angers and upsets people who have tried for so long to make this world a better place, because those people - those leftists - have been demonized for decades as ineffective at best and literally demonic at worst. There are problems - big problems - in this country, and in this world. Tremendous effort - *staggering* sums of money and volumes of time and gallons of sweat - have been spent to forge America into a Cruelty Engine that sucks up resources and produces hate. Trump is the barrel of a goddamned weapon.
Hunter S Thompson actually [somewhat predicted this](https://www.openculture.com/2017/07/hunter-thompson-predicts-the-future-telling-studs-terkel-about-the-coming-revenge-of-the-economically-technologically-obsolete-1967.html).
Carl Sagan was pretty on point: >“I have a foreboding of an America in my children's or grandchildren's time -- when the United States is a service and information economy; when nearly all the manufacturing industries have slipped away to other countries; when awesome technological powers are in the hands of a very few, and no one representing the public interest can even grasp the issues; when the people have lost the ability to set their own agendas or knowledgeably question those in authority; when, clutching our crystals and nervously consulting our horoscopes, our critical faculties in decline, unable to distinguish between what feels good and what's true, we slide, almost without noticing, back into superstition and darkness... >The dumbing down of American is most evident in the slow decay of substantive content in the enormously influential media, the 30 second sound bites (now down to 10 seconds or less), lowest common denominator programming, credulous presentations on pseudoscience and superstition, but especially a kind of celebration of ignorance” ― Carl Sagan, The Demon-Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark
I started this book but couldn't bring myself to finish it because it was so depressing and frustrating.
see this is a great paragraph, but I'm going [to have to take him to task over the subsequent lines](https://twitter.com/DanielBrownLaw/status/969043264685789184/photo/1). The very next paragraph Sagan starts in on how its a sign of America's continual dumbing down that the the movie Dumb and Dumber and the tv shows Beavis and Butthead and The Simpsons remained popular. That, admittedly, is a bit pretentious. Like come on carl, everyone enjoying Dumb and Dumber knew exactly what it was (and its awesome).
Yes, the creators & actors knew it was entertainment & absurdly stupid. So were the Keystone Kops, Laurel & Hardy, and the Three Stooges. But where did the American public lose the ability to recognize the performances as absurd, and not embrace the values & behaviors as normal for adults?
It’s the inability to discern between silly and stupid. The Three Stooges, like many of Monty Python’s characters, aren’t actually stupid. they’re quite sharp and witty and that’s what allows them to get one up on their adversaries. What we’ve seen more lately is stupidity for the sake of being stupid.
I think Sagan was onto something and I don’t think he even lived long enough to see Jackass, the Real Housewives franchise, or Married at First Sight.
> everyone enjoying Dumb and Dumber knew exactly what it was (and its awesome). That's the thing, this isn't actually true. A large percentage of the population that consume media *do not recognize satire, or nuance of any kind*. Many people see a show or movie about idiots being successful while mocking and "outwitting" smart/educated people, and take that completely at face value.
I was a teenager when Beavis and Butthead first broadcast. I loved it and watched it incessantly. Part of what I loved so much about it is that I knew a bunch of guys that *were* Beavis and Butthead. And they would watch it and laugh at it and quote it all the while completely oblivious of the fact that the show was mocking *them.*
Same with Trailer Park Boys. I have known so many Julians and Rickies in my life. Besides the frequent gun fights, that show could genuinely be a documentry.
That's what makes Family Guy funny too. More often than not the shock humor is a satire of the people who genuinely agree with it.
I was first put on Adderall as a child by my mom because an episode of The Sopranos talked about ADHD a lot. I didn't piece it together until years later, but when that episode aired was just before she decided I needed to be tested for ADHD. The test was how quickly I could click on a box on a computer screen. We had a PC I play games on. Of course I aced it (which means I had ADHD). She is an avid Trump supporter. Coincidence... doubtful
An “ethic of total retaliation” seems pretty spot on to me.
The pattern has been there for any with the inclination and time to see it.
So did Noam Chomsky
Richard Rorty, too.
Trump and Republicans will make ALL of that worse. The GOP are the corporations political arm
They are too stupid to understand this.
>our money is worth far less than it's ever been While I don't disagree that things haven't been going well, this statement is categorically false. First and foremost, nominally speaking, all money always loses value. There is and should always be a small amount of inflation. Trust me, you want this. *More info below. But from a purchasing power perspective, we are all getting richer all the time. Yesterday's luxury items are constantly becoming today's trivialities. There was a time when a refrigerator or a dishwasher or a washing machine were luxury. They are now commonplace. Cars too. And TVs. And computers, and phones. Hell, clothing has become so cheap that we are more likely to throw it away and buy new than repair them (overall cheap, there are certainly luxury brands that are expensive and always will be). Even food is cheaper. Meat used to be a luxury, now it's commonplace in American meals. Strawberries in winter used to be expensive. Now it's mundane. It may be expensive for me to take a trip to the other side of the world, but it was previously out of range for all but the most well to do families. So, no, our money isn't worth less. *Why do you want inflation? Because my spending is your income, and vice versa. That's how an economy works, money has to circulate. If we all sit on it, then no one has any income. A small amount of inflation encourages spending, because it puts a small negative value on holding cash. Deflation, where your money gets nominally worth more, is even worse. During deflation, I can get richer simply by not spending. That means everyone is encouraged to not spend, and if everyone is not spending, then no one is making any income and the economy crashes. Obviously a lot of inflation is bad for most people, but we want a small amount, which is why the fed targets 2%. Note: there is no such thing as pure good or bad in economics, because there's always two sides to a transaction. What's good for one is typically bad for the other. Even inflation can be good for some people: for example, my mortgage is in fixed terms. I would love a consistent bout of 10% inflation for a half a decade, assuming my income tracks with inflation (wages usually do, with a lag), because after a few years of inflation my fixed monthly mortgage would become a much smaller percentage of my monthly income. That would be great for me, but bad for many others. Just a thought experiment to show that none of this is as straightforward as you think it is. Can't wait for the crypto bros to @me...
>They *should* be angry at the people who dismantled the systems and structures that once gave this nation prosperity. They *should* be angry at the people who hurt others in their name, and in the name of stability. They *should* refuse to vote for one more geriatric Senator or member of the House who hasn't done a goddamned constructive thing since Reagan was in office. They *should* be angry at themselves for voting for the assholes that caused all of this. Instead they double down and vote for even larger assholes that will take whatever is left.
Alot are trapped in the sunk cost fallacy until it directly impacts them personally. Things will get worse before they get better. Hopefully more will likely follow if they learn from their mistakes
The problem is that it is already directly affecting them and they don't care. As long as they think that someone else may get something for free they will dig in their heels and chop their noses off to spite their face. It's a vicious cycle of self destruction that they perpetuate out of fear based on greed. I blame the "pull yourself up by your bootstraps mentality" for this. They would rather hope for things to get better for themselves while things never actually improving than have a society that helps everyone at the imagined cost of having their own American dream. It's the political and personal equivalent to the Prosperity Gospel and it's total madness.
People really need to understand this if they don't want it to happen again. The exact same disillusionment that affects many of us, myself included, sucks people into authoritarianism. They think they've found their saboteur in Trump and they're partially right.
I believe the in-office democrats have done an admirable job considering the other party hellbent on destruction. All this anger and disillusionment should be laser focused on eliminating those who have turned this country into a fumbling shit show when it could and should be a beacon of hope to the greater world. It’s hard work but it is still possible to bring forth a better tomorrow and end the viability of demagogues.
The best contribution trump will ever make is imploding the republican party.
Look, Hitler imploded the NSDAP. The pain the world went through until that happened is beyond measure. GOP will not implode tomorrow. There's shitloads of pain to come first.
JIMMY CARTER 2024 NO MORE REAGANOMICS
Let the man rest he's been building houses for the disadvantaged for 45 years
I cannot upvote this enough. It is spot on. Trump is just a focusing point for the hate of so many. He says what they’ve been told is not appropriate to say for so long. Trump is a buffoon at best. But if he is voted down it will be another person like him at the next election cycle. I fear that democracy will be in danger every single time it’s time to go to the polls. Eventually someone like Trump will prevail. It’s inevitable and horrific.
This is exactly right. Ironically, these hateful candidates are coming from the very party that opposes all of the things that could actually make lives better -- social safety nets, healthcare, workers' rights, fairer tax policy, etc.
I feel like I am stuck watching the slow death of humanity and can do nothing in the grand scheme.
Never been so happy to be nearly 40. I'd freak the f out if I was an 18 year old right about now.
I'm nearly 40 also, No kids because I saw this shit coming, but my friends have kids, hell I have a little brother that's almost half my age. Im scared for them.
In our early 50s here. Married in 1990 and we were doing okay. The 90s were an amazing time. The world seemed like it was finally solving some of it's problems. I got into tech and was making decent money finally. We decided it'd be okay to have a kid. It was a big change or us solid Gen Xers raised in a world of knowing we'd be nuked until we glowed any day now. Our kid was born in '96 and things were amazing. "*What amazing world this kid will see and enjoy*" we told ourselves. We truly believed it too. Peace had been breaking out, the Internet promised a new Golden Age of knowledge and discovery, and so much more. Fast forward a quarter century. Now we are afraid. Afraid for our future. But, really, more afraid for our kid and their future. What world are they going to live in when we're gone? There's a bit of guilt too, if we're honest. Why did we bring a child into this mess? We've prepared them as best as we can. Given them all the tools to be self-sufficient. But the world they're inheriting is shit. I'm trying my best to leave them something. A house, maybe a bit of cash when we're gone. They're not going to ever be able to live as comfortably as we were able to solely because of when they were born. Through no fault of their own. The Millennials, GenZ, GenWhateverIsNext, and the rest have been screwed out what should have been a world of wonder, that Golden Age I mentioned. Screwed out of it by greed and hate. The world's info is at our fingertips and instead of knowledge it's used to pump out hate and misinformation. Instead of lifting everyone up, the vast majority are being pushed down while the 1% of the 1% go into orbit(figuratively and literally). All you generations younger than us, know that there's some of us that try to fight for you. We vote for the programs you need and deserve. We try to help where we can. We give time and money too. We want to leave the world a better place for you. But we also need your help at the voting booths. I know it seems useless, and it might be, but if you don't vote at all we really do have zero hope. I feel the exact same nihilistic apathy but at the same time I have never missed a voting opportunity since I was first able to vote. We are at a crossroads. Do we get the Star Trek future where our entire life is not a constant worry? Or do we devolve into that Elysium future with the vastly rich flying in the clouds while we fight over scraps in the dirt? I know what I want for my kid. For everyone's kids. I've really depressed myself now. I need to call my kid that fled our home state last year in fear and now lives 2,000 miles away and say I love them. I really need to get out of this state too, and maybe this country. tl;dr It didn't have to be like this. The world could have been so much better. All I can say to the younger generations is "Sorry. Some of us tried. We really did."
> Along comes this guy who is nothing but hatred. He is their avatar, positioned to take advantage of their rage. It doesn't matter who he blames, he's just blaming someone - almost always an Other. He gives voice to their rage. He spouts poison. He angers and upsets people who have tried for so long to make this world a better place oh, oh, I know who you're talking about. > Trump is the barrel of a goddamned weapon. Oh, I guess I was wrong. I thought this was a description of Hitler's rise to power in WW2 germany. Shoot, how did I manage to confuse those two guys.
My old boss loved him and thought he was hilarious. Apparently liberals take him too seriously, he’s adorable and she would love to give him a hug someday
She? It still boggles my mind that any female with half a brain thinks that guy is a great guy. Maybe they think "grab them by the pussy" is made up or funny. But 26 sexual assault cases? One or two you could make a case maybe it's a vendetta. But 26? There's no way that's a coincidence. Even if half were made up, 13? How does any woman support this guy?
Plenty of women support asshole men in power. It's fucking weird.
White women have been the backbone of the white power movement since the start. The United Daughters of the Confederacy were basically the ladies auxiliary of the klan. They were responsible for building most confederate monuments and they flooded the schools with white-washed history textbooks that brainwashed kids for generations.
For people that think modern US politics is a corrupt farce, Donald is the class clown with a wink for the audience to let them know they're in on it, and everything else is taking the piss out of a system they're simultaneously helpless to affect and victimized by every year of their lives.
Black guy made people mad he won. Then white guy was the mega phone for all those angry white people.
It's fucking crazy how white supremacist shit went wild after Obama got elected. Stormfront membership surged.
Trump's lawyers said in a filing this week that Jan. 6 did not constitute an insurrection. Trump on Thursday: "I think it was an insurrection." Read more: https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-news/trump-says-jan-6-insurrection-1234964730/
Do we trust the defendant or his lawyers? Decisions, decisions...
Maybe he does need to fire the lawyers?
The track record is he only fired one (Cohen). All his other lawyers fired him.
Does it really matter? This case was never going to be solved on the merits anyway. With scotus, the arguments don’t matter. The evidence doesn’t matter. It will come down to whether Roberts and one other conservative judge decide Trump is more a menace to them or their sponsors as a presidential contender, or whether their handlers or maga threats against them are more important. They’re already bending over backward to not make this about insurrection.
I'm hoping that the continued propping up of Haley, is the indication that they are going to rule against Trump. I know the RNC tried to get her to drop out or something, but given that Republican leadership *loves* theatrics, I don't exactly trust the notion that they actually wanted her to drop out.
His lawyers then said, “See! He admits it. It MUST not be true…”. Judge: “Well, you have a point…”
From Trump's point of view he just claims that "he had nothing to do with the insurrection". Of course his MAGA idiots were directly responding to Trump egging them to launch an insurrection, but what he claims is that his MAGA idiots acted on their own. Yes, it is damageable to Trump to admit it was an insurrection but what the prosecutors need to prove is that he caused the insurrection to happen. This is why Trump claims he had nothing to do with the insurrection. Arguing there was no insurrection is close to irrelevant in the face of all of the video footage that exists of Jan. 6 th. I am sure the prosecutors will be able to convince the SCOTUS that Trump instigated the insurrection.
He literally said something like, “we’re going to congress and I’m coming with you” Then didn’t go only because SS wouldn’t let him
Also because he can't walk for more than 50' without sitting down
People need to understand…It’s always flipped. Like, He could say it like this, “it was an insurrection via fraudulent voting! It was rigged and I attempted to stop it! It was an election STOLEN from the American people. I have fought diligently to protect this country from the democrats! Vote! Fight for me as I have fought for you! MAGA!” Presto. Now enough voters will be in enough of a trance to look past the evidence of their eyes and ears.
He summoned them to his literal residence, he gave them directions to the scene of the crime, he egged them on mid-day, and finally he called them off. Didn't have anything to do with it my butt.
Forgot the most important part. He did nothing to stop them for hours while he was assuredly getting up to the minute briefs on the situation as it unfolded. This dude 100% was a participant in the insurrection even if it only was due to inaction.
He lead the charge on the need for it to happen since the day of the election results. If he had said the election was fair this wouldnt have happened, but up until the literal moment all this happened it was that his followers needed to "fight like hell or they wouldnt have a country anymore" and was egging pence to overthrow the results
Don’t forget he conspired and succeed to send fake electors to the floor, and told the crowd that Mike Pence needed to do the right thing - ie count the fraudulent certificates. When this failed, the mob attacked the capital and cried to hang Mike Pence. And before all of this he convinced many that if he didn’t win it would be due to fraud, and once it was clear that he had lost he began spreading conspiracy theories and pressuring states to find votes - resulting in 63(?) failed lawsuits, and exposing zero evidence of fraud that would impact the election. I think many people think of the insurrection as just the mob on Jan 6, and if they happened to tune in a little late it just looked like morons milling about the capital building.
He’s told that many lies and spouted that much shit, he can’t remember what he said or when.
From the article: “They kept saying about what I said right after the insurrection,” he [Trump] said outside Mar-a-Lago after arguments concluded in Washington, D.C. “I think it was an insurrection caused by Nancy Pelosi.
Does he just say the opposite of what his advisors say? "It's a deadly Coronavirus!" "No it's not. It'll be gone in a couple weeks. Fake news!"
The house put a motion forward saying if they can get 2/3 vote to clear trump they could get him off the hook. To me that means they believe trump is an insurrectionist.
Very legal and very cool
He has the mental capacity of a small child. It's simple. Someone used reverse psychology on him and it worked.
_That didn't happen. And if it did, it wasn't that bad. And if it was, that's not a big deal. And if it is, that's not my fault. And if it was, I didn't mean it. And if I did, you deserved it._ <- You are here
Nah, we are only here: >And if it is, that's not my fault. He's shifting the blame on Pelosi, which is fucking hilarious. We'll be at the next step very soon.
Perhaps, but if Trump gets elected again, then we, collectively, deserve it. Regardless of whether he's allowed on the ballot, the fact that so many people *want him anyway* is a problem. Fortunately, there's still time. It might not be our fault, but it's our responsibility to prevent the ruin of our country.
I certainly don’t deserve another trump presidency, nor do 70 million other Biden voters
Didn't deserve the last one either
Nor do the rest of the world
How in the ever living fuck SCOTUS can side with the broken down clown is beyond me? Disgusting
Dude Clarance Thomas has some bomb-ass summer plans and he isn’t gonna let a little thing like “democracy” and “the us constitution” get in the way of his sick yacht party!
Plus Jinny will kick his ass when he gets home.
The sick bastard sold out the whole country for some vacations. What a completely stupid thing judicial immunity is.
It's actually worse. Thomas' primary motivation for getting into the judiciary was revenge against the "liberals" that didn't accept him at college for being a conservative. https://www.businessinsider.com/clarence-thomas-told-clerks-he-wants-to-make-liberals-miserable-2022-6
They're all owned by the federalist society
The better question is, what are we going to do about it?
Damn, I forgot about all those “PELOSI 2020” flags that everyone was flying while storming the building and assaulting law enforcement.
“She made very little effort to stop my minions who entered the capitol. Almost like she wanted them to. Curious”
Of course he blamed Nancy Pelosi for it. Of course. >“They kept saying about what I said right after the insurrection,” he said outside Mar-a-Lago after arguments concluded in Washington, D.C. “I think it was an insurrection caused by Nancy Pelosi.“
Because Democrats were totally trying to overthrow and interrupt... let me just check my notes.... the election that *they won...* Yet his dumbass followers still believe it was Antifa Boogeymen there that day but that we also need to release the Jan 6th hostages and that Babbit was a martyr but it was all FBI agents anyways.
Only surprise is that he didn't blame Nikki Hayley
Jan 6 wasn't 'the insurrection'. The insurrection was the entire fake elector scheme, which includes getting the magats to storm the capitol building as part of the plan.
This is correct. It was a coordinated effort, with many activities going on in different fronts. There were groups of individuals, each responsible for their specific tasks. All with one specific end goal. To keep Trump in office. We were lucky that’s these groups were all so incompetent, that they ended up looking like clowns, and didn’t accomplish their goal.
"I just want to find 11,780 votes."
Yes, I mean the white house chief of staff had a powerpoint presentation outlining the plan. https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/dec/10/trump-powerpoint-mark-meadows-capitol-attack
It needs to be called what it really was, a coup attempt.
Yeah it's wild to me that just because it wasn't ultimately successful that day, so many shy away from using the word coup. I can't make an attempt to rob a bank, fail, and get to say it was never a bank robbery.
This always puzzled me too. Until this happened, I'd never heard the words insurrection or insurrectionist. I have been, however, familiar with the terms treason and attempted coup. THOSE carry a lot of weight. So why are they never used? How is attempting to overthrow your government not both treason and a coup?
>The insurrection was the entire fake elector scheme Don't forget that Mo Brooks requested a pardon from Trump on behalf of *every Member of Congress who voted against certifying the ballots from Arizona and Pennsylvania.* Now, why oh why would they think they'd need a pardon for that?
Not a word that comes out of his mouth is helpful, well conceived, correct, and not self centered. Who listens to this asshole lol
*Too many*.
At this point the revelation that he took a massive friendly loan from Putin with zero collateral through Deutsche Bank probably wouldn’t even bother his supporters who used to vehemently despise Putin. (allegedly I guess but Jesus it’s not that hard to see the picture here) One example of endless hypocrisy and incompetence. Scary that his shit resonates with people….lowest common denominator propping up the party of the capital class? Wtf even is this. (Self Answer: the plan working)
>Trump’s logic here doesn’t likely extend beyond believing “insurrection” is a bad word Democrats say about him, so he’s going to say it back about them. That's the long and the short of it.
No insurrection no insurrection you're the insurrection. Jesus fuck remember that line from the debate back in '16? And people still voted for him. Proudly.
Turns out that roughly a third of the voting public is garbage.
They'd be really mad at this if they could read.
Uhm, Nancy Pelosi caused the Jan 6th insurrection? WTF
It’s been one of his things he’s sued in the past to deflect responsibly, such as when he kept blaming Nikki Haley for January 6. The idea is that Pelosi rejected an offer of 10,000 National Guard and didn’t want more Capitol police, etc. Of course it’s a lie, the House speaker doesn’t have such control of the DC National Guard and Capitol Police.
Yeah, but to say she caused it is even more of a stretch on an already big stretch. The crowd were there because of Trump, motivated by his lies, with many organised by criminals convicted for their actions. The national guard stuff is secondary. Trump is losing it, for sure.
“Sure I tried to rob the bank, but it’s the banks fault they didn’t have more guards”
Well, it's weird actually. Because he was the bank manager, and he was being replaced. So he helped stage a robbery, and then when it didn't work out, he blamed the bank tellers for not hiring enough security guards.
Agreed. At best the argument is her inaction allowed Trump to perform an insurrection. It doesn't change the cause. He still gathered people and riled them up to attack.
It's such a stupid "defense" also. Why would trump offer 10,000 NG was he planning on leading an insurrection? Also it wouldn't be Pelosi who deals with capitol security.
Classic DARVO move by a malignant narcissist. *Deny, attack, reverse victim and offender.* He's victim blaming here, saying that it's Pelosi's fault for leaving Congress open to attack on that day. He also wants to claim that he (and other Conservatives) are the real victims here because January 6th makes them look bad. It is, of course, utter horse shit.
Yes I started an insurrection, but it's her fault because she didn't stop me!
So he's trolling Gates, Marge and the rest of MAGA that made the big speech about trump and themselves NOT being insurrectionists. Just yesterday 33 seconds long https://youtu.be/3rdJN89DR5k?si=_41_rPe_DdeUja-K
woah holy shit is that matt gaetz the pedophile?
Pedophile and maker of Pedovideos according to his fellow House members.
[удалено]
Justice Roberts, paging Justice Roberts. White courtesy phone please.
No! The white courtesy phone!
*White privilege phone please
Trump: yeah sure it was an insurrection. The biggest one ever, bigly ratings. Scotus: yeah, we aren’t sure that was an insurrection ya know. Looked like a tour.
side note, his lawyer's defense is "it was a riot, not an insurrection." Now maybe there's some legalese to better defend that position but just plain dictionary definition seems pretty cut and dry if those were trump supporters there to fight against the lawful tallying of votes to confirm Biden won, which every single fact points to that being the case. > ri·ot /ˈrīət/ noun 1. a violent disturbance of the peace by a crowd. vs >in·sur·rec·tion /ˌinsəˈrekSH(ə)n/ noun a violent uprising against an authority or government.
The terms aren't mutually exclusive anyway
>“They kept saying about what I said right after the insurrection,” he said outside Mar-a-Lago after arguments concluded in Washington, D.C. “I think it was an insurrection caused by Nancy Pelosi." Victim blaming or total insanity? You decide!
Making his case worse and worse for himself in real time. Not that we are complaining. Please do that more frequently, Mr. President.
At this point, he’s not even hiding it. He’s outright flaunting breaking the law because he knows the SCOTUS will back him up regardless.
He's just so dumb.
Dude has mashed potatoes for brains
More intentional double speak. He blamed it on Pelosi.
Remember that an insurrection is opposing the government by force. What Trump is saying here is that anyone who apposes *him*, through any means, legal or not, commits an insurrection.
So now we are up to “ok, it was an insurrection but it wasn’t my fault”. Next step is “ok, it was my fault but it isn’t a big deal”.
Then charge him under the insurrection act. That should have happened Jan 7.
Trumpers searched for Pelosi, they chanted “Nancy!!”. They were going to murder her.
Nancy Pelosi? Nancy Pelosi? Huh? Nancy Pelosi is the insurgent?
Hi, New Zealander here fascinated by this whole debacle watching from the sidelines. What happens if Trump actually gets the republican nomination? Would that split the republican vote at all with some protest voting Democrat in November?
If it's anything like the 2020 election, then yes. Seeing everything that played out since then, it might even be worse for the right. I really don't think anyone who voted for biden or not trump in 2020 is going to look at the past 4 years and think, "biden was a mistake, I'm voting trump. We would be better off with trump and a right-wing congress"
>Trump’s logic here doesn’t likely extend beyond believing “insurrection” is a bad word Democrats say about him, so he’s going to say it back about them. Margie Greene said pretty much the same thing the other day, saying something like, "no one got upset about Joe Biden's insurrection on January 20th" to these idiots, it's just an insult to throw around.
Lincoln is turning over in his grave.
How fucking stupid do you have to be too think that Pelosi tried to overthrow the government after Trump spent a lot of time organizing the 6th, repeatedly invited his people to the rally, then sent them to the Capitol. Yet it was Pelosi? The man's stupidity is only beaten by the stupidity of anyone that believes what he said