Current Affairs The 2020 United States Presidential Election
- Thread starter riddick
- Start date
- Status
Whoever planted those trees needs sacking. One of them is well out of sync.
Hadn’t even noticed tbh, some lighting does look orange in photos.
But given the article was about molotov cocktails found on the way to multiple pipe bombs perhaps the choice was deliberate.
I'll be honest. I had to do a double take with the crest on the shield...
Those people believe what they're told. They're easily led. They're given a scapegoat for anything wrong in their lives and told the other side will make their lives worse by 'leaders' who are power hungry or grifting for money.
In short, Trumps' base are largely uneducated.
America Is Divided by Education
The gulf between the party identification of white voters with college degrees and those without is growing rapidly. Trump is widening it.
If you just dismiss these people as idiots, they'll continue to be idiots and the problem never goes away, and they'll continue to find figureheads to reach out to for a voice. To use your "flat earther" analogy, what good has yelling at them that they're stupid ever done except increase their numbers? Or anti-vaxxers - actually dangerous - the more you dismiss them instead of reasoning with them, the more their numbers grow.
You fix that by giving wannabe dictators like Trump no ammo to fire. You improve their lives, reach out, reconcile.
Your ire shouldn't be directed at the everyday Republican voter - it should be at the people who exploit them. There's a huge difference between those two things. The vast majority of an electorate aren't the ones invading the Capitol; they're moderate who lean one way or another based on their personal circumstances.
It's not about being "gentle"; it's about being smart.
tsubaki
Player Valuation: £90m
I'll be honest. I had to do a double take with the crest on the shield...
I like to think the photographer captured the exact moment he saw the 6MWE and Camp Auschwitz clothing.
And, not for nothing, but like @Pittsburgh Footy kind of intimated, I'll give a rundown of how politics used to be vs now:
Dems: we want a tax relief bill for the middle class because trickle down economics isn't helping anyone
Republicans: but we'll have a big shortage in our taxes, how will we pay for it?
vs now
Dems: we want Medicare for all because health insurance is absolutely killing our entire country
Reps: KRAKEN, ELECTION STOLEN, BENGHAZI
There have been 400 pieces of legislation passed by the House that have simply been ignored by Mitch McConnell. These people have no interest in actually helping anyone. Mitch McConnell filibustered his own bill then, when he overrode Obama's veto of it, said "Obama didn't explain the ramifications of this" when it literally opened the US to lawsuits for attacks on foreign soil.
There is a massive and fundamental disconnect between reality and whatever world a lot of people on the right live in.
Dems: we want a tax relief bill for the middle class because trickle down economics isn't helping anyone
Republicans: but we'll have a big shortage in our taxes, how will we pay for it?
vs now
Dems: we want Medicare for all because health insurance is absolutely killing our entire country
Reps: KRAKEN, ELECTION STOLEN, BENGHAZI
There have been 400 pieces of legislation passed by the House that have simply been ignored by Mitch McConnell. These people have no interest in actually helping anyone. Mitch McConnell filibustered his own bill then, when he overrode Obama's veto of it, said "Obama didn't explain the ramifications of this" when it literally opened the US to lawsuits for attacks on foreign soil.
There is a massive and fundamental disconnect between reality and whatever world a lot of people on the right live in.
Blues Harp
Player Valuation: £60m
Like your idealism, but its been the same since this planet has existed.
An asteroid would probably be the only solution
Namaste
So what's the answer to that? Just call them "crazy", "insane", completely dismiss them?
I get the appeal, I really do. Hence:
... I have those moments.
But, when you actually think about it, what does dismissing his voters like that actually achieve? That's all I'd ask people to think deeply about - think about the current situation, and think about what your solution would actually turn out achieving.
Because, for me, if we just keep doing the same thing over and over again, Trump 2.0 is here in a few years and this time it might actually be a competent dictator.
I keep banging on this and I keep getting no response. How do you fix an issue of an uneducated populace when the people in charge of these states make sure it stays uneducated? It's circular reasoing here. "make them smarter" "they don't want to be smarter and the state doesn't want them to be" "so make them smarter"Those people believe what they're told. They're easily led. They're given a scapegoat for anything wrong in their lives and told the other side will make their lives worse by 'leaders' who are power hungry or grifting for money.
In short, Trumps' base are largely uneducated.
America Is Divided by Education
The gulf between the party identification of white voters with college degrees and those without is growing rapidly. Trump is widening it.www.theatlantic.com
If you just dismiss these people as idiots, they'll continue to be idiots and the problem never goes away, and they'll continue to find figureheads to reach out to for a voice. To use your "flat earther" analogy, what good has yelling at them that they're stupid ever done except increase their numbers? Or anti-vaxxers - actually dangerous - the more you dismiss them instead of reasoning with them, the more their numbers grow.
You fix that by giving wannabe dictators like Trump no ammo to fire. You improve their lives, reach out, reconcile.
Your ire shouldn't be directed at the everyday Republican voter - it should be at the people who exploit them. There's a huge difference between those two things. The vast majority of an electorate aren't the ones invading the Capitol; they're moderate who lean one way or another based on their personal circumstances.
It's not about being "gentle"; it's about being smart.
How do you fix the issue of an uneducated populace when they are PROUD to be uneducated?
How fo you fix the issue of an uneducated populace that votes against making their lives better when they routinely vote against their own interests?
Honestly, I know a lot of these people and they aren't stupid. They are just completely blind to anyone elses point of view.
The best idea I have is to just let them whine and complain and just make their lives better without listening to them. They don't like nationalized health care? Don't care, it still helps them. They don't like expanding benefits for them when they lose their jobs? Don't care, it still helps them.
You really just don't seem to get the US in 2021: They don't care what you do, they're going to hate it regardless.
Melba Toast
Player Valuation: £750k
Was that the cop That said “you can do disagree but you have to respect it.” ??
I'm not after a magic switch that fixes the US in 2021.
I'm after a solution that fixes the US by 2036. And even then not totally into some sort of utopia.
I'd just ask what you think what you're calling for would result in? Say Biden went full on left wing, a Bernie Sanders wet dream if you will, and did everything that "needed" doing in the next 12 months. What would that mean long term for the US?
For me, I think that unintentionally forments a possible civil war in a few years, because of how the political landscape is.
EDIT:
Just to add.
They're good things; just do them over the space of a decade. Obamacare was a flagship policy, a half measure towards future gains in the same sector. Take the inch now, take the mile later.
So Biden should just ditch his promises to his 81 million voters in the hopes he doesn’t antagonize the 74 the coted for Trump?
A lot of them are fairly moderate but his plan for climate for instance is pretty left wing.
No, he should pick and choose his battles.
Obamacare is the perfect example of what I mean.
When introduced, it wasn't full on NHS, because that would have been intolerable at the time. But it was enough to cause, er... a bit of rage to say the least. Obama sunk quite a lot of political capital into it.
Over time, repeals failed, by the time Trump got in office Obamacare was ingrained enough to be indispensible. The roots had taken hold.
Now, in 2021, people have used it, saw the benefits, and it's not even an electoral issue. It's actually increasingly popular. Biden can now expand on it.
Poll: Obamacare More Popular Than Ever
The Affordable Care Act wins 55% support among the public - its “highest rating” since becoming law nearly a decade ago, according to the latest Kaiser Family Foundation tracking poll.
www.forbes.com
It took a decade, but it's lasting, pretty much irreversible positive change. That's what I mean by incremental gains. Obama didn't go for the home run; he stopped at third base and waited for someone else to convert the big score later.
With climate change, it's honestly not the hot button topic you'd think it'd be in terms of controversy. There'd be some backlash sure, but it's an ever decreasing minority who deny it needs addressing and the actual impact of it won't be felt on daily lives in a visceral way. There's so many other issues right now that Biden rejoining the Paris Accords on Day 1 won't result in many eyelids batted IMO, bar from the usual airwaves shock jocks pronouncing American immediate doom etc. but that'd happen if Biden does anything.
- Status