The current situation we find ourselves in makes me think of this quote more than ever:
Democracy is the theory that the common people know what they want, and deserve to get it good and hard.
H.L. Mencken
this post was submitted on 12 Feb 2025
403 points (97.2% liked)
Leopards Ate My Face
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The copium here is epic.
American conservatives are so fucking dumb. I hope they get everything they voted for, fuck them.
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The assumption that everyone else in the country is just him, an able bodied person of working age is telling of how much thought this person put into their vote.
Also the assumption that they will be able to get another job of equal pay even with keeping up his skills. That is a big and stupid gamble.
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"long term gains can be protected". Since the new era of executive orders, how will this ever be the case? We'll just lurch from one side to the other after the next administration comes in and reverses everything that the previous did with new EO's.
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Well, look - my softie bleeding heart librul values make me absolutely hate it when economic uncertainty leads to people losing their homes and their livelihoods. But this is the government that we, the people voted for. And if the government that we, the people voted for is creating economic uncertainty that is causing people to lose their homes and their livelihoods, then my bleeding librul heart bleeds for the people who are displaced. But I am also well versed in irony, and brother, this is an irony smorgasbord.
If you're one of the people who voted for the guy who's creating the economic uncertainty that's currently fucking your shit up... brother, I'm not sure what I can do for you.
Resistance is always the last option. The best option, and the first you should turn to, is voting in a way that is consistent with your values and your economic priorities. If you voted for this, and you're upset at what your voting got you... I'm not sure that you're going to like what I've got to tell you.
This reminds me of a poll around the time of the Brexit vote. They polled Tory voters (I think) with various Brexit scenarios, eg would you still support Brexit if it made your life worse, made your grandkids' lives worse, etc etc. They all came out for majority would still support it... With one exception. They wouldn't support it if it meant Jeremy Corbyn (leftist leader of the opposition at the time, although he was also a brexiteer) becoming prime minister.
I wish I could find that poll. If only so I can check I'm remembering it correctly.
The depths of conservative delusion truly knows no bounds.
”I was full aware the leopards would eat my face. I’m in great pain right now, but I believe it’s for the best ”
The leopards are eating everyone's faces, including mine. While this is usually deadly to others, I'll be fine. I'm willing to take the gamble for everyone as a whole that if enough of their faces are eaten, things will be better long-term. The whiners need to grow a spine and let the leopards eat because the payoff will be worth it.
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They will happily eat shit as long as you get to smell it. Bunch of absolute morons...
Oh yes, Daddy Trump, do me harder!
Look at that superb example of mental gymnastics
I'm actually impressed by some of the critical thinking going on! Some are saying this would cause more US based steel manufacturing while others point out nobody is setting up a company when even Trump himself can't commit to keeping the tarrifs in place for 4 years. However, nobody is discussing why there needs to be more US based steel production.
What is bad about importing steel? An American factory producing steel and an American factory producing cars from imported steel are both American factories. Why is it so important for the US to produce all of their steel domestically?
I think they're focused on when you import more than you export, that's a net loss, or a trade deficit.
One way to view it is that you are propping up someone else's economy, or you are funneling your money outside.
So I think nationalistic morons just hate that at face value without any critical thinking.
In some formulas this is included in GDP, and growing up in rural America, I always heard whining about how America needed to stay on top and not be beaten by China or whoever else, and a lot of that rhetoric sometimes simply stems from made up crap like who has the bigger number, such as GDP. I can tell you how often I've heard idiotic ideas like how some other country like China will just invade and take us over if we aren't #1 in everything. Like being #2 or 3 somehow means death.
I usually waste my time trying to point out the sun now sets on the British flag every damn day, and yet they still have their country and they still live pretty decent lives. The British didn't just disappear once their empire was basically over.
Conservatism and nationalism is toxic.
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Didn't Dump himself say that it's a negotiating tactic?
He seemed happy to extract low value concessions from Canada and Mexico. Could be he wants an early win, could be he's misleading attention, could be he's appeasing some donors, and could be a fishing expedition to see what concessions he can get from the allies.
Any extraction will enrich himself and cronies, as well as please the autocrats he's serving and/or courting.
Vertically integrated economy.
If your economy has companies performing all steps in the supply chain for making a complex commodity, like cars, you get to extract profit at each step rather than just the last step.
The USA's economy and geography is large enough to have an almost entirely self sufficient economy.
This mostly makes sense if you have need for it, costs and quality won't better automatically. And if demand remains low, there's little incentive to.
Long term the point is usually to lessen dependency on others, for example to enact war, but Dump isn't really dependable for anything long term.
Except in the case where performing a manufacturing step is too expensive to do domestically because of labor costs. Almost all complex products for sale in america (and the West in general tbh) are only possible at these prices because someone is getting exploited in southeast asia.
Well I'll say two things, first the old /r/conservative would never have allowed this open of a discussion. I don't know if these stayed up long but I remember people even going very slightly against the Fox narrative being banned.
Also this guy, completely and utterly misguided though I believe he is, at least has the courage of his convictions. He's willing to make a sacrifice for what he thinks is good for the country. I very much doubt he's right but still, that's more than most people can say.
Smells strongly of retrofitted justification BS to me.
May also just be a troll tactic. Sowing retrofitted justification with ai. The first comment is bait.
I honestly cant tell anymore. Dead internet theory moving fast on that site.
Yeah. The dude that came up with the term cognitive dissonance described this process in his book When Prophesy Fails. Basically when you are in a cult and your doomsday ends up being a normal day you have a freak out of cognitive dissonance. This isn’t great because people don’t like having their strongly held beliefs shown to be invalid. So they must come up with a post hoc rationalization as to why their doomsday didn’t come true and why they are still right.
Yep, betting long term future on Trump is at very best laughable.
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My absolute favorite conservative moment is when they get struggle sessioned because they finally know what they're talking about about, and it goes against the MAGA narrative.