Isn’t Trump just a symptom? What scares the shit out of me, isn’t Trump. It’s that Americans voted for him once, and a repeat of that shit show is somehow again a possibility. Even 5% thinking that could be a good idea, would be cause for concern. 10% is “what the actual fuck America…”.
Remove Trump from the picture, and the issue is still there. The people who would vote for him, and the machinery in place that can convince them of it.
Imagine someone as vile as Trump, but not dumb as a sponge…
A lot of people are really quite stupid. On top of that, they’re in social groups (ie: tribes) that have shitty values.
Long term investing in education would help. So would things like removing lead from the environment, and fixing healthcare and labor laws so people aren’t so stressed all the time trying to survive.
Something like half of US adults can’t read at a 6th grade level (Snopes says this is basically true but there are complexities https://www.snopes.com/news/2022/08/02/us-literacy-rate/ )
I really just think it’s trump. he has zero shame or self inflection, or respect for himself, so he doesn’t care. he just lies and lies and feeds people bullshit. didn’t do anything, but told people what they wanted to hear, that news was fake, trust him not your eyes, and anyone not white is a problem. it was all the fuel idiots needed to “team up” and wear diapers. their boring lives now had a purpose and a team lol.
not that someone else won’t try, but they played all their cards, I think it’s going to calm down after this. they’ll still bitch and moan about a black female president, but fuck em, we did what we needed to and it’s time to let a woman, especially a black woman, mindfuck them for 4 years.
He’s not just a symptom. If he was, they’d have someone else running they can better control. If we passed laws that news agencies are required to be truthful and neutral, we wouldn’t be in this mess. With the red states undermining education and fox “news” stirring up hatred, fear, and lies, you get a cult/base that won’t listen to reality or facts. When they’re presented with irrefutable evidence that contradicts what they’ve been told, they put their fingers in their ears and start yelling shit like "but her emails!!!, well Obama did (insert some random bullshit lie), Clinton did (another bullshit lie), or "what about Hunter’s laptop huh???.
They don’t care, they can’t comprehend what’s really happening and it’s mind blowing. I work with a guy that I asked why he’s voting for Mr Orange and he brings up points that he says the republicans are doing when in fact it’s the democrats doing that, the repbulikkklowns are voting against it. I point that out to him and he tells me I’m full of shit. I tell him do a quick web search, and he comes back with fake news and walks away. It’s scary and sad.
You’re kinda arguing my point tho, so maybe I didn’t communicate it very well.
If a character such as Trump gaining power can be considered a symptom, then the conditions that allow it is the disease. I.e. the points you make, with news networks not beholden to facts, lack of education and critical thought.
All of this is what I would argue is the underlying cause and conditions that are fertile grounds for populists. Also, just a little reminder that Hitler first succeeded on his second attempt at becoming a dictator. And unlike in the US, he was imprisoned for the first attempt.
