US Politics Thread

[SebastianBlue]

Your guess is good as mine. but they both think he's some sort of rockstar politician fighting the establishment and can do no wrong. One of them is even buying MAGA merchandise.

I know several people in Manchester and one in Birmingham that are also “diehard” Trump supporters. Only one of them has ever even visited the US, much less lived here. And they all fervently backed Brexit and will still not acknowledge they were sold a false bill of goods now (and that’s despite one of their businesses being absolutely destroyed by it).

I actually understand why people in the UK care about the US election, as it will have a significant impact on the UK due to outsized influence the US has on both our economy/culture and on our biggest trading partners (that’s not even factoring in geopolitical implications). Individual livelihoods and wellbeing could be genuinely impacted depending on who is voted in to the presidency, not only in the short-term, but also in the long-term.

But I still cannot understand why any rational, ethical, and compassionate person could support Donald Trump at this point.

I mean, he is now literally parasphrasing Hitler and Stalin at his rallies and in his interviews.

 

[Mazzarelli's Swiss Cheese]

I suppose it gets to the point with some people where they become obsessive and almost radicalised in their political views by their own self affirming online activities. If you surround yourself with virtual noise that constantly confirms your views and 'others' those that don't conform then who knows how bonkers it can get......

 

[ChicagoBlue]

You guys are twisting yourself in knots over complete conjecture.

 

[grunge]

Not wanting to derail the thread but this explains a lot about how this stuff happens.

 

[SebastianBlue]

Not wanting to derail the thread but this explains a lot about how this stuff happens.

A great primer on what @threespires and I have tried to explain as to why the false “both sides” paradigm is so destructive: repeated exposure to views can be enough to establish perceived validity or merit of those views, especially if the exposure is coming via otherwise trusted sources, even if you should be able to actively discern those views to not be valid or have any merit in reality. Focusing only on “echo chamber” theory is incomplete and dangerous in of itself. When you continually platform views or assertions that objectively lack validity or merit alongside views or assertions that do objectively have validity and merit, you are slowly creating a base of respectability and potential “truth” to the views and assertions that in reality have no validity or merit.

Great channel in general, I might add.

Reminded of these (now older but still insightful) analyses of Trump from another great channel:









It is basically an indirect review of the Roy Cohn playbook.

 

[moomba]

What is the actual point of being a trump supporter in the UK (or a Harris one for that matter I suppose)?
I find myself 'siding' with Harris because I think her approach to the middle east is likely to be more temperate in terms of support for Israel than trump - therefore less likely to have a gulf oil crisis and the ensuing global economic shock. In general terms though I find the us election interesting as a spectacle but whoever wins won't make a difference to my life in the UK

I see it as bring the most significant election for America and the world in my lifetime.

 

[KS55]

What is the actual point of being a trump supporter in the UK (or a Harris one for that matter I suppose)?
I find myself 'siding' with Harris because I think her approach to the middle east is likely to be more temperate in terms of support for Israel than trump - therefore less likely to have a gulf oil crisis and the ensuing global economic shock. In general terms though I find the us election interesting as a spectacle but whoever wins won't make a difference to my life in the UK

If the leading Western democracy descends into Trumpian chaos and autocracy, your life will never be the same again. The rules based international order will disappear. I don’t fancy Putin and his successors becoming the most powerful faction in Europe.

 

[KS55]

I know several people in Manchester and one in Birmingham that are also “diehard” Trump supporters. Only one of them has ever even visited the US, much less lived here. And they all fervently backed Brexit and will still not acknowledge they were sold a false bill of goods now (and that’s despite one of their businesses being absolutely destroyed by it).

I actually understand why people in the UK care about the US election, as it will have a significant impact on the UK due to outsized influence the US has on both our economy/culture and on our biggest trading partners (that’s not even factoring in geopolitical implications). Individual livelihoods and wellbeing could be genuinely impacted depending on who is voted in to the presidency, not only in the short-term, but also in the long-term.

But I still cannot understand why any rational, ethical, and compassionate person could support Donald Trump at this point.

I mean, he is now literally parasphrasing Hitler and Stalin at his rallies and in his interviews.

The isolationist attitudes of Maga are part of the reason for Trump’s support. Many of those people simply do not support an international order or see the need for it. Maybe they don’t understand it.

 

[Mazzarelli's Swiss Cheese]

If the leading Western democracy descends into Trumpian chaos and autocracy, your life will never be the same again. The rules based international order will disappear. I don’t fancy Putin and his successors becoming the most powerful faction in Europe.

I understand your concern, but we've already lived through it once and tbh it impacted me and people I know much less than Lizz truss did in a week or two.
Barring him starting ww3 or contriving to push up the price of oil (something I do worry he will do actually) I honestly don't think little old blighty has too much to worry about. We have political clowns aplenty of our own.

 

[KS55]

I understand your concern, but we've already lived through it once and tbh it impacted me and people I know much less than Lizz truss did in a week or two.
Barring him starting ww3 or contriving to push up the price of oil (something I do worry he will do actually) I honestly don't think little old blighty has too much to worry about. We have political clowns aplenty of our own.

In the 1930s there were plenty saying the same.