Politics 2023

[Trenacker]

Factors that contribute to the Republican Wall of Disinterest/Outrage™:

• Most Republicans are not watching or otherwise receiving news that communicates the foibles, misdeeds, lies, nonsense, or malfeasance of Donald J. [Sleezebag]. They are literally not aware that a serious problem exists. [Sleezebag] is simply "a little vulgar" or "a little too combative."
• Republicans are being drowned in a sea of stories, many false or overwrought, of Democratic Party wrongdoing and cover-up that leads them to immediately discount the circumstances surrounding any Republican wrongdoing.
• Many [Sleezebag] voters don't actually believe government can solve their problems. All they want from [Sleezebag] is the emotional validation of somebody who is wealthy, popular, and powerful telling them that they are good people just as they are.
• Republican politicians are terrified of being primaried. That means joblessness and irrelevance. They are addicted to the attention they receive and the influence they wield. Supporting Donald [Sleezebag] is merely the cost of doing business. Quietly, many are doubtless praying that the court system will somehow end [Sleezebag]'s unrivaled dominion over the airwaves.
• With each passing day, [Sleezebag] supporters have ever greater incentives to double down on their commitment. The alternative is being forced to admit that they made serious errors of political judgement for years on end. They'd become the villain of our national story.
• [Sleezebag] infuriates people in a way nothing else has in more than a decade. The media made him, and they continue to feed that beast because, love him or hate him, everybody clicks when Donald [Sleezebag] is the subject. You simply can't look away from (another) good train wreck. That enormous unearned media helps voters to regard him as a figure of enduring relevance in our national politics.
• Other Republican candidates have bent the knee. There is nothing more odious to Americans, and especially to the kinds of people predisposed to see strength in Donald [Sleezebag]'s shtick, than somebody who defers. By trying to draft in [Sleezebag]'s wake and tiptoe around his liabilities, [Sleezebag]'s competitors are actually damaging their credibility with the voter base they are trying to woo.

[Geo]

Imagine the Sleezebag (yes, I'm circumventing the censor list here, BUncle ) winning the presidential election after all, but being convicted by (a) State Court. So while he would rotsit in prison, I assume it would be very important who the Sleezebag's Running Mate would be? I am assuming there's no way he would be pardonned from sitting out a sentence in say Georgia, not even for so-called National Security matters, during a hypothetical second presidential term?

[Unorthodox]

Factors that contribute to the Republican Wall of Disinterest/Outrage™:

• Most Republicans are not watching or otherwise receiving news that communicates the foibles, misdeeds, lies, nonsense, or malfeasance of Donald J. [Sleezebag]. They are literally not aware that a serious problem exists. [Sleezebag] is simply "a little vulgar" or "a little too combative."
• Republicans are being drowned in a sea of stories, many false or overwrought, of Democratic Party wrongdoing and cover-up that leads them to immediately discount the circumstances surrounding any Republican wrongdoing.
• Many [Sleezebag] voters don't actually believe government can solve their problems. All they want from [Sleezebag] is the emotional validation of somebody who is wealthy, popular, and powerful telling them that they are good people just as they are.
• Republican politicians are terrified of being primaried. That means joblessness and irrelevance. They are addicted to the attention they receive and the influence they wield. Supporting Donald [Sleezebag] is merely the cost of doing business. Quietly, many are doubtless praying that the court system will somehow end [Sleezebag]'s unrivaled dominion over the airwaves.
• With each passing day, [Sleezebag] supporters have ever greater incentives to double down on their commitment. The alternative is being forced to admit that they made serious errors of political judgement for years on end. They'd become the villain of our national story.
• [Sleezebag] infuriates people in a way nothing else has in more than a decade. The media made him, and they continue to feed that beast because, love him or hate him, everybody clicks when Donald [Sleezebag] is the subject. You simply can't look away from (another) good train wreck. That enormous unearned media helps voters to regard him as a figure of enduring relevance in our national politics.
• Other Republican candidates have bent the knee. There is nothing more odious to Americans, and especially to the kinds of people predisposed to see strength in Donald [Sleezebag]'s shtick, than somebody who defers. By trying to draft in [Sleezebag]'s wake and tiptoe around his liabilities, [Sleezebag]'s competitors are actually damaging their credibility with the voter base they are trying to woo.

The original campaign concept of DRAIN THE SWAMP is actually super strong, and a compelling narrative.  I legitimately don't blame too many that were swept up with the thought that they FINALLY had an outsider that was going to give them career politicians a what-for. 

It's the fact that what actually happened was an erasure and reversion of many of the rules that were attempting to weaken THE SWAMP and he ended up strengthening THE SWAMP while being able to trick his base into shifting everything onto the 'woke' concepts that is weird to me.  I legitimately don't know if all these people were closeted bigot/racist/homophobes to begin with finally freed to voice this without fear or if they are becoming bigot/racist/homophobes as that narrative has gained traction.  To where they actually think he WAS draining the swamp...just the definition of the swamp was successfully shifted. 

[Trenacker]

A lot of these people are LARPers. The swamp-fighting is entertainment. What’s the word? Kayfabe? There’s no coherent narrative around it.

I don’t give credit for those who confused [Sleezebag] with an “outsider.” If a politician is defined as somebody who lies, cheats, and manipulates to sustain their own influence and access, [Sleezebag] was already that. He actually had established political views and had previously run for office as a Reform Party candidate, never mind his role as a professional celebrity.

I do think that a certain segment of Generation X is deeply resentful about the difficulty they have navigating modern social situations and gravitates to [Sleezebag] because he tells them they are actually the good guys. It continues a trend of abominable selfishness in the American body politic. No mask. It’s annoying. No exposure to uncomfortable ideas. It’s annoying. No taxes. No civic contribution. It’s exhausting. No civility. It’s boring.

[Buster's Uncle]

This is all just the Reagan Revolution playing out...

[Buster's Uncle]

...And the Sunk Cost Fallacy in action...

...And I'm not 100% sure he isn't the Antichrist...

[Geo]

What's biting you now?
Besides Mitchell's recent freeze I haven't read anything peculiar about Uncle Sam's politics?

[Buster's Uncle]

Oh, maybe because I was at the dentist Tuesday, and the waiting room TV is always on a certain fascist propaganda channel...

-As a matter of fact, they were on about Biden being too old and unfit -which is not actually untrue, mind you- and on the lines of liars seeing lies everywhere, that's no coincidence with Mitch's problems.


I really just had the thought I posted, and this thread rewards an occasional bump.

[Geo]

Oh, maybe because I was at the dentist Tuesday, and the waiting room TV is always on a certain fascist propaganda channel...

Well, if its the same channel I saw running on the TV in your living room... 
(not while you were there though)

[Buster's Uncle]

There's nazis in the family, but none of them were here while you were...

[Geo]

There's a Fox in the house...

[Buster's Uncle]

I love my family - but I hate nazis...

[Trenacker]

[Sleezebag] supporters--even the ones who don't really care for his politics or his style at this point--have sacrificed too much for him. Like a long, toxic relationship. The price of saving yourself is first admitting you stayed too long... which means letting your friends and family know they were right all along.

I am convinced that Fox News is the single most dangerous entity on the planet at this point. The shameless redirect has made it impossible to govern this nation well.

[Buster's Uncle]

Well, Fox has as bad a Sunk Cost problem as anyone.

[Geo]

I am convinced that Fox News is the single most dangerous entity on the planet at this point. The shameless redirect has made it impossible to govern this nation well.

Ahem...