I think this is the result of our two party system. There’s really nothing to be gained by voting for a third-party candidate, because you know they have no shot, so many people refuse to do it. You feel like you have to pick a side. In this year’s election, a huge amount of people felt that both candidates were really bad, and that the choice came down to which one is less bad for me?
I don’t think most Trump voters are racist, or filled with hate. But then again, I didn’t vote for Trump - I wrote in Nikki Haley, so maybe my mind just doesn’t really understand it.
I honestly don’t think Trump will make it through the 4 years. We’ll probably see President Vance at some point.
The divisions right now are so bad, that I don’t know if real healing is even possible. I think that in order to have that, you need to get not just swing voters, but also committed party members, to switch sides. This past election had that chance, because the original front-runners on both sides (Biden and Trump) were terrible. If the Republicans had blocked Trump and put up a moderate (like Haley), the election would have been a landslide. If the Democrats had put up a moderate, instead of someone as unlikeable as Harris, that person likely would have crushed Trump as well, and brought over a large amount of Republican voters. But both sides couldn’t move towards the middle, and now we won’t see any bridges being built.
I hope in 4 years that we see two moderates running against each other, and that the media doesn’t go all out to paint the candidates as horrible people. We need to have an election where the candidates are both viewed as good people, and either one would be a good choice. That’s how we can start to heal the country.
Then again, does it really matter? Our deficit is probably past the point of no return, so we need to start learning Chinese.
My money is on the likelihood that there will be no healing until a major crisis/disaster hits…and then only is the appropriate response is one that can’t easily be politicized.
To understand Trump’s popularity, you really just need to watch the apprentice. His popularity is mostly related to the fact that he gave opportunities to people who are usually labeled as “unqualified”. He’s doing the same thing with the nominations. Everyone is claiming that they are unqualified. This entire MAGA movement is a rebellion against the “overqualified” types with fancy degrees. The popularity of the apprentice was mostly related to the fact that ordinary people could run a “business” or marketing operation. That’s essentially a very American thing, in fact I would argue it’s at the core of the American dream. If you look at the history of the United States, it’s mostly a bunch of working class types from Europe who had street smarts and wanted to start businesses in the United States. In Europe, everything was mostly controlled by elite families. The MAGA movement is essentially a backlash against this perceived “elite” or “deep state” that is perceived to be systematically killing the ability of the working class to make it big.
I’m not buying this idea that Trump isn’t popular. I’ve never seen a man fu** up so much yet people continue to give him money and power. I simply can’t imagine how popular the guy would be if he wasn’t a complete clown.
Shows like the Sopranos really demonstrate some of the biases present in American culture. I feel like I’m in a gangster movie and the gangsters are the “good guys”.
Disagree here, I think Harris was the “generic likable D”. Not flawless, for various reasons. But about as good as anyone else. I am curious-- I really don’t know-- if Republicans truly thought she was special. Like if her winning would be worse than Biden or Obama or (various 2020 primary candidates). Would a Harris win have made their lives worse? Do they feel like Biden did something terrible to them? I guess they do.
I don’t think most Trump voters are racist, or filled with hate.
My sister said she thought they must be sexist and/or racist. Like, it was just inconceivable that anyone would choose such a turd, and a traitor, and a fraud, over a normal human being, unless you had a deeply warped view of that normal human being.
I argued that Trump has also beaten a lot of straight white men, even after he was 78 years old and a known criminal. He handedly beat DeSantis and Christie without even showing up. So it’s not just that they are triggered by Harris. They fully accepted Trump, despite the fact that he is a bad guy, who lies constantly, and commits numerous crimes, including a failed coup.
Their brains are broken in some other way beyond race/sex, in a way I don’t really understand. It comes down to wanting to defend him whenever he says or does something awful. And that urge to defend him turns into love and loyalty. He is their man because he is bad. I don’t think the urge to defend him comes from hate of minority groups. It might come from hate of Democrats though. A lot of people do hate Democrats. Also his celebrity peanut pitch blarney.
I think this is the result of our two party system.
I agree a little. The voting system we have doesn’t value compromise. That said, we have had this system for a long time now without choosing a bad guy. And, within the system, we have had every chance to reject him. Not just now, but in 2 primaries.
Ranked choice voting would allow you to vote for a third-party candidate and still have your vote count towards one of the top two candidates. As far as I can tell, there’s only one party that’s actively trying to stop that from happening.
I agree with most of your post, but I don’t think any D could have overcome the inflation obstacle unless they were a complete outsider. Too many people saw prices go up when a D was president and didn’t like that. “It’s the economy stupid” was going to prevail again regardless of the actual candidates with inflation being the key issue.
Ok, fair enough.
I think that had a D candidate distanced him/her self from Biden’s policies, instead of just running as the non-Trump, the inflation could have been overcome in just enough people’s minds to make the difference.
Anti-intellectual / anti-“elite” movements have been around, to one extent or another, since the colonial era.
They’ve been more noticeable since the late-19th century because “picking up and moving to the frontier” declined as an option for those unhappy with the status quo.
Proposed policies did not matter at all if you consider what Trump is proposing between tariffs and immigration restrictions will only make prices higher. For someone voting against Bidenflation as their number one issue, why would they ever pick any range of (D: not Biden) over (R: anyone) once policy proposals no longer matter?
I mean, a good chunk of people don’t seem to understand that China will not ultimately be paying the tariffs. Somehow I think they believe prices won’t go up, a bunch of money will pour in from China, and we’ll start manufacturing much more cheap plastic crap in the US, leading to new factory jobs paying $35/hr.
It’s not just the less educated part of the electorate. Look at how scotus or some judges or the Silicon valley types support Trump. See how the impact of the judges giving him a lot of space has lead to different outcomes for him compared to Rudy on a matter they are both indicted.
Look at Jan 6 and see the GOP side voting not to impeach him. Trump makes even people who we would consider very intelligent behave differently.
