You should talk about what dictatorships do to an economy. It (the economy) is usually the chief concern of most American voters, and the media has accepted this absurd framing that Trump is better for the economy when the opposite is true of history when it comes to dictatorships.
I’m so prone to a Teutonic strain of fatalism that I often mistrust my own feelings. It’s good to read a well-argued analysis that clears some of the fog of my own doomerism.
The NYT's opinion page has been so frustrating for so long, that it's really nice to have a thoughtful, educated voice there (backed up by facts!), instead of just so many old, white male vibes channeled into rants.
Issue is that "trump has a majority" is often shorthand for "Trump has a majority in states where his voters wield disproportionate power due to the political geography of the United States". The whole last bit just hangs out unsaid far too often.
I suppose there is the nuance of how do you quantify 'authenticity', but I know some groups of US citizens have zero calls for their deportation, and some groups have more than that. (Example: Nikki Haley on Raphael Warnock)
Blue states have jobs, which may be amenable to remote work, and cultural amenities such as "theater," "working public schools," "not being loathed by your neighbors," and "populations of shared interest"
I don't think deliberate recolonization of red states is gonna work out on any kind of scale
You’d think the GOP would be doing the same math. At least if the goal is winning, not fundraising. Are eyeball dollars driving almost everybody (media incl.) involved? What kind of cynicism are we dealing with? Probably, as with Trump supporters, a whole glorious spectrum?
I imagine the math is "we have a fair chance at winning with Trump, even if we'd have a better chance with someone else - because anybody else will also be fighting Trump, who half our base loves."
I can see why they tear apart the school system, they don't want numerate people who know that their SIlent Majority is nowhere near silent and nowhere near a majority.
In 2016, you could say he didn't under-perform relative to the fundamentals forecasts. Ever since then, he's been a drag on the GOP, just not as much of a drag as I would like.
I want to be with you on this, but 74 million people in this country voted for Trump in 2020, when no real question remained about what kind of a person he is. Tens of millions - maybe even more than in 2020 - still support him today. This is a fundamentally sick polity.
Less than a majority of our fellow citizens supporting open fascism and white nationalism is, for sure, better than greater than a majority doing so. But when somewhere in the mid-to-high forties as a percent of the electorate do, that is still a huge problem.
Especially because people who think that way are not the kind of people who simply accept defeat in a democracy and go home to try the next time. The White Claw Putsch was a dress rehearsal - next time will be more organized, more violent, and more ruthless.
We know about the assholes already, it would be nice for a change to hear something about the non-assholes. On the other hand, it does seem unlikely, on the macro level
I certainly understand that impulse, but the other part of me thinks, when someone is setting the house on fire, how helpful is it to praise all the non-arsonists?
Good question. To the aim of preventing people from normalizing this moment and accepting that this is just how things are? Or maybe this is just about me and it's being angry that keeps me going. Or maybe none of this helps anyone. I don't know.
The numbers racked up by all the candidates were a drop in the bucket, and it's hard to say if it's because only the few rabid cult members showed up and the rest just aren't that into him, or because of the weather.
Hey @nytimes.com - you should pay attention to this
"There has been an endless parade of analysis of the Trump or MAGA voter. Perhaps it’s time to focus on the views of this actual silent majority, whose members don’t attend rallies or make a show of their political commitments."
I deeply appreciate the clinical nature of this. Tonight was ANOTHER loss to Republicans in Congress. MAGA may have bullied in the least popular (and fraught) jurists and a completely inept congress, but they seem softer than ever on every front in impending elections. Trump is a loser.
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Going!
https://bsky.app/profile/jeof.bsky.social/post/3kj4e3jdblr2n
I don't think deliberate recolonization of red states is gonna work out on any kind of scale
THEY
ASS
The numbers racked up by all the candidates were a drop in the bucket, and it's hard to say if it's because only the few rabid cult members showed up and the rest just aren't that into him, or because of the weather.
"There has been an endless parade of analysis of the Trump or MAGA voter. Perhaps it’s time to focus on the views of this actual silent majority, whose members don’t attend rallies or make a show of their political commitments."