My take-away, here, is that 8 years ago he could actually form a sentence.
Political Memes
Welcome to politcal memes!
These are our rules:
Be civil
Jokes are okay, but don’t intentionally harass or disturb any member of our community. Sexism, racism and bigotry are not allowed. Good faith argumentation only. No posts discouraging people to vote or shaming people for voting.
No misinformation
Don’t post any intentional misinformation. When asked by mods, provide sources for any claims you make.
Posts should be memes
Random pictures do not qualify as memes. Relevance to politics is required.
No bots, spam or self-promotion
Follow instance rules, ask for your bot to be allowed on this community.
Landscape video in a portrait video in a landscape video... I'm watching that on a portrait oriented screen. Am I the only one who finds that ridiculous?
Oh how the turn tables.
His good buddy, Viktor Orbán, said that "any prime minister, who makes the Euro go over HUF300 should resign" not only made the Euro go over 300 in the first few months, but nowadays we often hit the 400 mark, basically nullifying most of the wage increase we got, many of which was in the form of "presence bonuses", meaning you get an extra paycheck if you don't go to day offs unless the factory is shut down, and don't use any sick leaves or go to the doctor - imagine what it did during the pandemic.
Add his opinion on media monopoly to the mix back when he was in opposition, sprinkle it with some claims of dancing to the Russians' tune, and decorate it with a pinch of concerns about how a government increasing divide and tensions can only expect to be washed away by the same radicalised masses.
Suddenly the supporters become politically sensitive and open to nuances and grab every opportunity to highlight the difference in cultural and political context (of him back then and now). Bring up literally anything else and the only thing they can regurgitate is the exact words of their dumbed down propaganda.
Trump has the power of making people drop any form of morals or values, even after called out by his own words. True cult leader stuff.
There’s absolutely nothing he can say to convince MAGA fucks that he’s not leadership material.
Different question. How is it that in the USA it is legal to run for president when you are a convicted felon? I mean you obviously do not qualify for the job.
We have less qualifications to run for president than we do for working at McDonald's. Per the constitution you need to be born in the USA, be 35 by the day you are sworn in, and have lived in the USA for the last 14 years.
But as others have said, the felony thing prevents weaponizing the justice system against political opponents.
Same reason felons can vote; if being a criminal removes your ability to participate in the political process then the government suddenly has a very strong incentive to criminalize their political opponents.
Afaik the idea is that you want to avoid someone to be able to convict their opponents. So make it impossible to take them out using the legal system. Makes total sense to me.
I think the reasoning is that otherwise opponents can block political candidates by using the justice system. The opposite of what's happening now.
The founding fathers haven't theorized that this particular situation could happen.
The founding fathers haven’t theorized that this particular situation could happen.
Which you can't even blame them for, honestly. Who in the 18th century would have thought a huge chunk of the country would want a known despot?
Who in the 18th century would have thought a huge chunk of the country would want a known despot?
Well there is the French 16 th century thinker Etienne de la Boétie who wrote a discourse on voluntary servitude in which he argued that men do tend to simp for tyrants over being free a lot of the time:
The essay argues that any tyrant remains in power while his subjects grant him that, therefore delegitimizing every form of power. The original freedom of men would be indeed abandoned by society which, once corrupted by the habit, would have preferred the servitude of the courtier to the freedom of the free man, who refuses to be submissive and to obey.
Very interesting thank you!
That's silly, if you're powerful enough to do that, you can just imprison them. No one probably thought about this, that's all
It's not that silly if law enforcement officials and judges are elected, like how they are in the American system. Ideally the court/justice system is entirely loose from politics.
Also don't forget that the founding fathers did all partake in sedition, many of them not really having a clear slate whatsoever.
But yeah this particular instance hasn't crossed their minds at all.
Campaign donators need some sign that you will bend to their demands, and so having a decent felony record is a good indication that you will play ball.
I think this a good sanity check for us all to remember the kind of person Trump is and what's at stake. But we can't stop with clever gotchas, we need to defeat the fascist ideas that the MAGA movement runs on. Trump will be gone one day, but fascist movements will persist until we defeat their ideas. Fascism is a self-destructive ideology that in the long term benefits no one. Everyone needs to know that.
I don’t disagree but the perceived strong man leader is one of the most important pillars of a fascist movement, who the followers love not for his position but mainly for his cunning ability to charm them. There’s no other person but Trump in sight who would take over his place in the movements’ hearts. Only Elon Musk maybe but he can’t be president. So getting at Trump is absolutely the priority, buying us time until Joe Rogan develops political ambitions.
The problem with fashist self-destruction is that they usually take the country over and then with them on their way to destruction.
The US can learn from German history or find out themselves how a Nazi government turns out.
When I see comments talking about how pointless it is to continue pointing out his hypocritical actions I immediately write that person off as a bot.
If you're struggling to figure out why it's important to show this to his stupid constituents then I don't understand why you're even commenting. Sit back and let the people interested in effecting change spread this information and shut the fuck up.
If you’re struggling to figure out why it’s important to show this to his stupid constituents then I don’t understand why you’re even commenting. Sit back and let the people interested in effecting change spread this information and shut the fuck up.
What I'm struggling with is to find evidence from past events which would lead you to believe his voters are going to be changed by showing them any of this. You've got the folks who do not care because they are Trump cultists, then you have the folks who would vote for Satan himself if he had R next to his name.
Everyone else is already not going to vote for him.
So what change do we think showing this to his supporters is going to effect?
I think it should definitely be pointed out, constantly, how much of a hypocrite and liar Trump is, just to get it (and keep it) on the record. Ignoring it would only normalize it more. And maybe some fence sitters didn't know about it and now they do. Which is a good thing.
At the same time, however, I also believe it's absolutely pointless, if your goal is to convince any of his followers. They already know all of this and they don't care. They don't love him despite the lies and hypocrisy. They love him because of it. And even if they don't like it per se, they still won't turn against him, because they're accepting way worse and nothing has been a deal breaker so far.
Edit: I have often wondered what Trump would have to do for his followers to abandon him. Is there anything they wouldn't accept?
The mental exercise is... what would Biden have to do to get you to vote for the Republican Party? Or even to get you to just not vote at all? I know it's a false equivalency, but it gives you some sense of the lines we all draw in the sand, and the "activation energy" that it takes to change our minds.
He could be as overtly criminal as Donald, taking money from Russia and the Saudis in exchange for top secret documents and lists of CIA agents, and I'd still be voting as long as he doesn't also do an insurrection. FPTP and having all Repubs back a criminal as their preferred leader has really backed me into a corner.
IDK that the mental exercise is helpful in 2024. If the point is to say that they feel the same about Biden, that's because they have been brainwashed by far-right propaganda. The activation energy it takes to sway them is cult deprogramming.
Actively supporting a genocide with billions of USD in goods seems like a great reason to not vote for Biden anymore
okay, that's the first half... so since you're going to not vote because of gaza, it stands to reason that it's possible that someone would choose not to vote for Trump if he said he wasn't going to let Israel ethnically-cleanse gaza. It's all about putting yourself in someone else's shoes. Thanks for participating!
Is there anything they wouldn’t accept
Find them and ask them.
Discussing on forums like these is all find and good, but in the end it's lots of Preaching To The Choir. What people need to do is find a Red Hatter and ask them what it would take to choose their country over their party.
Outreach will win the day.
Well, I get what you're saying, but I'm European and while there are plenty of right-wingers here, I haven't met any actual obvious Trumpers so far, though I'm sure plenty of them do like Trump.
Was just kinda wondering 'out loud' if there is an actual line somewhere and what it would be. It seems to me it's much easier for democrats to turn against their politicians than it is for republicans.
Find them and ask them.
You have apparently had much more productive conversations with trumpers than I ever have.
ask them what it would take to choose their country over their party.
And, it's not hard to predict their answers.
- Treat trans people like monsters and pedophiles, and legislate as such.
- Knock gays back to the 80s or earlier via legislation
- The rest of the queer community needs to STFU and pretend they don't exist.
- Cancel all DEI programs and make them illegal
- Immigration? No thank you!
- Make Pride month celebrations illegal at all businesses or public areas
- Follow the DeSantis model of history teaching, by trying to claim slavery was a benefit to slaves, or that Rosa Parks was just having a bad day and sat at the wrong end of the bus, etc
- Support police without question - as long as it's the blacks, gays, antifa, and left-leaning protesters they are beating up on
- Eliminate birth control and abortions nationally
- Put back all those civil war memorials because muh heritage
- Restrict college and high school curricula to Republican-approved materials on a national level
- Cease all climate-change measures or spending
- Acknowledge there is no solution to gun violence that involves restricting the activities of gun owners.
That's pretty close to the list for anyone who is flying a Trump flag. And if it's not on their list, it's still not a dealkiller.
Outreach will win the day.
You'd need to put me in kevlar and pay me a lot to go knocking on maga doors all day.
Edit: (I promise I know who Rosa Parks and Harriet Tubman were, I just flipped the name by accident in my haste!) https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/rosa-parks-race-removed-florida-textbook/
I love "Harriet Tubman on a bus," that's exactly what they would teach in a DeSantized history class.