I tried to stay away from videos showing the more extreme examples of either side, this is just a small sample of voices. There are others out there.
This first video speaks straight to my heart. It is a grandfather’s advice for his granddaughters.
This was just a small snippet, but I think it speaks to something deeper, the depth of animosity we are seeing today. And, yet, even here there is still some connection, humor.
I wanted to look at why some people have changed their minds about the Republican Party, which these next two videos portray.
Trump supporters who might be your relatives or friends. Their concerns are genuine.
It is unfortunate that so many people do not really do their own research. It is unfortunate that people do not always understand causation of problems and what it really takes to solve them. It is unfortunate that people do not always understand how economics works. It can lead to misjudgment.
I am considering voting early, as I don’t want to miss this election.
26 comments:
I spent too long a stretch down at the Dept of Motor Vehicles getting my ID updated. (Gotta vote. I got to see a fair sample of the local menagerie that make up a solidly 'Red' Trumpkan/Republican state. (And I was truly amazed at the high percentage of teenagers who can't seem to stand in line or in front of a blue background to have their picture taken without at least one, sometimes both, of their parents filling in the available space around them. Sometimes both parents and a few extras I couldn't identify. But, I digress…)
You identified several 'unfortunate' things in row there.
I'd add one even greater misfortune to your list.
Used to be there were only three major broadcast sources (upped to four with launch of FoxNews). And then there were the newspapers and the periodicals. They all had one thing in common--they had Editors!
It costs money to run a business. Even if that business is merely a printing press. It costs money to pay the broadcasters' electric bills. There were costs involved and that meant investors, and that meant demands for accountability from those investors for how their money was spent.
Nowadays any crazie-ass fanatic can start up a youTube channel, or a vlog (basically the same thing) with no investment. And outrage sells--they'll get clicks. More outrage, more clicks. They start making money. And still no editors to enforce standards of reliability or accountability. (Or they start a website--auto programming to design such sites are cheap these days, to maybe even free.) Same thing--outrage draws clicks. More outrage, more clicks--more money. Crazy-ass fanaticism finds its own audience. And it feeds on more crazy.
And the political intelligence of the American body politic spirals downward.
And I don't have a clue for a cure.
"Your enemy is never a villain in his own eyes.
Keep that in mind…"
R.A. Heinlein ― The Notebooks of Lazarus Long
Back in 1980, forty plus years ago, Ronald Reagan ran for President and won promoting an economic theory that he'd, more or less, made up his very own self. Various others have tried to claim credit for it, but they had pieces of it. It was Reagan who put the whole tale together. He called it 'supply-side' economics. (Others called it a less lofty 'trickle-down' economic theory.)
By either name, it was a macro-economic theory dreamed up by a "B" movie actor who'd double-majored in Economics and Sociology in a small-town college and then never used either degree, moving promptly into radio broadcasting upon graduation.
Many years later, he ran for President promising that tax cuts for the rich would stimulate the economy and the benefits would 'trickle down' to the average working stiffs who keep the nation together. In fact, perhaps counter-intuitively, tax cuts for the rich would supposedly result in increased tax revenues for the government.
It took about twenty years for the last die-hard right-winger politicians to face up to that fact that it's all bullshit. The theory doesn't work. It never worked. It's never gonna work.
They've given it many and varied opportunities to work and just don't work!
However, Reagan won reëlection insisting it would work, and politicians noticed his success--he crashed the economy but got reëlected anyway. For most politicians, getting reëlected is the measure of success, not how ya did it. And so they kept the theory as part of the standard Republican platform. They knew it was bullshit--we all know that now. But they kept selling it because it kept getting them elected. It was a success in their view.
Meantime: The average Republican voter began to slowly notice that the average Republican politician was blatantly lying to him/her 'bout how that economic theory had proved out. They kept saying it would work, and it kept not working, and it's never gonna work.
That brings us to today.
The Trumpkan/Republicans have acclimated to a world where their politicians lie like dogs. But they can't accept that they are in cahoots with the villains in this story.
"Your enemy is never a villain in his own eyes.
Keep that in mind…"
So, they force themselves to believe that the Democrats are even worse. They will believe, or pretend to believe, whatever further bullshit their right-winger leaders dream up for them to hide the lies told so far, and to damn the Democrats was "worse" than they are.
And these days that includes making alliance with the American fascist movement.
typo correction
"…and to damn the Democrats as "worse" than they are."
Couldn't expect the Vikings to win forever.
The Lions are good this year. At least they got beat by a good team.
The Chiefs on the other hand are now 6 - 0. The only undefeated team in the NFL. I watched them play New Orleans a couple weeks ago. It was fun to watch a game where I wasn't invested in either team. Also, I was curious to see Travis Kelce play.
The Trumpkan/Republicans have acclimated to a world where their politicians lie like dogs. But they can't accept that they are in cahoots with the villains in this story.
And Trump is Liar in Chief. He is obsessed with Kamala Harris' McDonald's work record. He tells people she is lying about working there and makes some kind of show of going to a McDonald's and working the fryer and passing out food at the window. Walz called it right, just weird.
I ran across numerous clips of Trump supporters basically facing proof of the lies put out by Trump and Vance, yet still they support them. You are right, they just can't face reality. They are delusional at best.
Nowadays any crazie-ass fanatic can start up a youTube channel, or a vlog (basically the same thing) with no investment. And outrage sells--they'll get clicks...Crazy-ass fanaticism finds its own audience. And it feeds on more crazy.
And the political intelligence of the American body politic spirals downward.
And I don't have a clue for a cure.
They say knowledge is power. Maybe the only way to fight is to push back with truth. The truth being that most of those blogs are, as you say, only out there to make money. There are also those, perhaps more dangerous ones, which are out there to push an agenda. One that may not be in the best interests of the United States.
Found this and quite a few like it from other states in another comments section:
My ultra-conservative rural neighborhood in the prior Bobert district has only one Trump flag flying this year for many miles in any direction, as compared to 4 years ago when there were hundreds. Hmmmmmm.... Ranchers and farmers are finally figuring it out: Don't vote against your own self interest!!
I wonder, could the polls be wrong? Is there hope that this election is not as close as they seem to think?
I have been observing the political signs in my town too. There are no national signs, but I do notice the one sign that has the most yard space belongs to a Democrat. So, is it possible that those people will vote all Blue too?
"I wonder, could the polls be wrong?"
Polling is expensive, and the traditional mainstream media has taken a break these last several days from expending money on polling. That leaves the 'aggregators' (Nate Silver, FiveThirtyEight, RealClearPolitics, etc.) relying on more clearly partisan polling. And even those sources have been cutting back on polls this last week.
I'd say the "polls" are stale. They're giving us the direction of the race a week/ten days ago.
I expect there'll be rush of new polls come out closer to November 5th--probably start hitting the headlines in about a week. We'll know more then.
Recent condemnations by John Kelly, General Milley, and others in Trump's first administration for his bent towards fascism and his admiration of Adolph Hitler haven't seemed to have any effect on the dedicated Trumpkins.
Not surprised. This is how dictatorships form. By support from the population.
I voted.
I found one! A Harris/Walz sign and it's on my block.
Huh! Some Republican claimed that a religious community was unoccupied and someone voted using that address and committed voter fraud. Really riled up the nuns who actually do live there and are registered voters.
Catholic nuns were (are) probably voting for Trump.
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Just lately come to light that both Trump and Elon Musk, Trump's anticipated head of the yet-to-be-created "government efficiency bureau", have been keeping up routine and surreptitious contacts with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
"Enemy within" indeed.
And there's no sense of surprise or outrage--just more of what is Trump and what is calmly accepted by the Trumpkan/Republican party.
Changing directions…
Israel has finally mounted their retaliatory strike against Iran, retaliation for the Iranian attack on Israel early this month. People been dreading it for almost a month now. And it was surprisingly low-key.
The Israeli even waited until U.S. Sec. of State, Antony Blinken, had left Israel (recent visit). Then they hit almost exclusively military targets in Iran, notably avoiding both oil facilities and nuclear sites.
Biden's long (and fairly below-the-radar) push against Israeli escalation of the conflict seems to have borne fruit here. Even the Iranians are talking hysterically just yet.
The Iranians are saying the strikes caused limited damage, so maybe there is hope that this will fade away a bit. If so, that would be a win for Biden diplomacy. Not that the American people will notice. Sad to say. They are too focused on loud mouths like Trump to take notice of sublety.
I once said that I had neither the time nor the inclination to feel sorry for Joe Biden. Beating Trump back was all I was interested in, and Biden's fate was not a relevant consideration.
But, I was wrong. I do feel bad for him.
But he brought it on himself. Not the infirmities of age―that was built into him at birth. (He tended to his physical well being better than most men.) Rather, Biden gave Trump an opening for his come-back by not taking the mess at the border more seriously. Without that I don't think Trump would have been able to win back the Republican 'base' and the nomination.
Still, history may be kinder to Biden than PeteS has been. (That may yet depend on whether Harris can pull off a win in November--turning back Trump is still the primary goal.)
I've noticed a lot of concern in Europe and the Far East over North Korea's deployment of troops to eastern Russia, near'bouts the war zone with Ukraine.
I must admit I don't get the semi-apocalyptic tone with which they address this escalation.
Yeah, Russia is flagrantly violating the United Nations' various resolutions and sanctions providing for the isolation/quarantine of North Korea. So what? They've been violating those resolutions and sanctions at will for a long time. Just weren't so flagrant about it as now.
What real difference does it make that they've finally ceased to deny their actions and are now acting openly?
There also seems to be some irritation among Russian troops about the deployment of North Korean soldiers to Ukraine. This may not work out quite as Putin was hoping. I know it won't work out well for the North Korean cannon...er...soldiers.
Trump took time to deny that he was a Nazi at his rally in Atlanta Georgia.
Said it right out. "I an not a Nazi."
May be harbinger of late season trouble for Trump. (I'm recalling the 2010 campaign of Christine O'Donnell in which she was obliged to deny same. Doesn't look good for the politician to have to be denying such things.) We can always hope.
Bad editing there ↑↑ O'Donnell was denying be a witch.
He may say he isn't a Nazi, but his and his supporters behavior say something else.
Madison Square Garden looked and sounded like something out of 1930's Germany.
I don't know who set fire to those ballot boxes out west, but that looks like something out of 1930's Germany as well.
Locally the population seems somewhat schizophrenic about early voting. A heavily Trumpkan/Republican area, we're not real committed to off-day voting, whether absentee or just early. There are, to my knowledge, only two early voting locations in the entire county. They have not previously seen much use.
As I was in the neighborhood of one of them I decided to drop by and vote early. There was a line out the door, and around the building, and down the sidewalk.
I decided to vote later, maybe on election day.
I have heard that Republicans have had second thoughts on not voting early. Or those are closet Harris voters. We could only hope,
There was an actual case of someone voting for a dead person here in Minnesota. It happened in northern Minnesota. A woman voted mail in ballots for both herself and her mother, who had died in August. This was in my paper today, so I presume it to be true. At this time both ballots have been invalidated, but it is likely she will be able to recast her own vote, as long as she is eligible.
The person they voted for? Trump.
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