Trump..... (The Sophistry Thread)

The weird thing is the strongest economy in the world was seen by a majority of its people as terrible and the the Dems were to blame. The reality that trickle down economics doesn't work hasn't dawned on them, nor that Trumps plans will make it worse for everyone except the wealthy.
Yep, the Biden Administration delivered an economic rebound from the pandemic that was the envy of the world, huge job growth, crazy stock market etc. yet was bulldozed because most Americans who voted just seem to be flat-lined by inflation (and given the country hasn't experienced notable inflation for about 40 years that's kinda not surprising).

What's the reckoning going to be when Trump simultaneously fails to "make stuff cheaper" and crashes the economy though?
 
I have without shame stolen the following from elsewhere because I think this is a brilliant summary of the current state of play in the U.S of A.

Many Americans don't care what Trump's foreign policy is like. Why would you? You're the most successful country in the world, from an early age the flag - the ultimate expression of your country's sovereignty and power - is sanctified and its importance drummed into you. You are a nation of dreamers - the American Dream is a concept enshrined in culture and central to the future and prospects of any American. After all, the most successful country in the world didn't get there by passively remaining on the sidelines, in the equivalent of a sensible, comfortable, mediocre job. It rose to the top with a little luck and some sharp elbows. People like Trump seem like the embodiment of that American Dream because they are there, at the top, with the power, with the money. It's his name on the tower. It's his name that has that universal recognition. It doesn't matter that thousands upon thousands of broken hopes and shattered aims prove that the American Dream is nothing more than a streetcar named desire. Those thousands upon thousands of broken hopes and shattered aims prove that those thousands upon thousands of broken dreamers simply didn't have sharp elbows, acumen, nous.

You have no taxation without representation. You, yourself, are taxed. Therefore, you, yourself, are represented. How do you best represent yourself? By voting for the person who will give you, yourself, a better quality of life. Lower petrol prices. Lower food prices. Lower taxes. You, yourself, are pretty comfortably-off, mind. But why should that matter? It's about the ability to get a quality of life that is better still. You're American. You share in that collective dream, that you have been taught to dream every night since you were a child. How can you best realise that dream? By having room enough to use those sharp elbows of yours. Success follows an exponential curve, in your experience anyway. And immigrants? It's the American Dream. That should be pointed enough for you. And, after all, they seem to be pretty horrible - the Stanley Kowalskis of this generation.

There is a left wing that opposes you. A left wing that is your only realistic choice, except Trump. The politics of envy writ large, as you see it. Over-taxing, under-representing. How can you be properly represented by a government that loathes you? And they support abortion too, well, that does it. You have Christian principles - more than that, you believe every word of the Bible - and this goes so deeply against it. Your principles inform your vote, after all. If any would not work, neither should he eat - that's 2 Thessalonians 3:9-11, and Moses and Paul are quite against a lot of this liberal agenda. And that's not forgetting the fact that all these important preachers whose words you hang upon are endorsing the Republicans as well.



Not a million miles away, although it could just as well be, the dreams of others - parents and children - are silent amidst the clamour. An immigrant parent, juggling awful jobs in terrible conditions for paltry pay to put food on the table. A young, black child, still facing adversity and hardship simply for the colour of their skin as opposed to the content of their character, despite the dream of a man over 60 years ago.

They, too, are America. But they are not the America that the American in the first half of this post sees, thinks of, dreams of. The United States, the American dream - surely they are universal experiences, just as they honour the same flag, sing the same patriotic songs, have the same President as the Americans a million miles away?

The fatal flaw in the first American's logic, of course, is that their ancestors were likely to have been towards the bottom of the ladder once. That they know: it has been drummed into them as proof of the American Dream. But what were they then? A recent immigrant, travelling to a new world in search of a better life. I know I've already thrown in a couple of references, but, looking at A Streetcar Named Desire, Stanley Kowalski is undoubtedly brutal. Either the inevitable result of nasty foreigners coming into the country or just one gone rogue, depending on your point of view.

Dig deeper, however, and his physical brutality is a metaphor for that American Dream. Sharp elbows, no compromises, all the advantages you can get. It is a very powerful critique, but it needs digging out. It needs the reader to consciously get a spade, and start digging.

As a classic of American literature, I'm sure that a fair amount of the American population will be, to some degree, familiar with it. But how many of them will go out of the way to deliberately dig up that fundamental pillar of the cultural dream they were taught as children and have carried with them all their life?

That's why (in my opinion, at least) Trump is so appealing, and why Harris's techniques and language didn't work. It was always going to win over the people who simply thought Biden was too old, but I don't think it would have substantially won over the people who were voting for Trump as the "least worst". I may just be talking nonsense - but that's my interpretation!
 
Pretty much sums America up.....
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I was thinking more along the lines of this
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There were apparently other things being voted on at state level, there was a proposal to do preferential voting, it was voted down. I'd wager compulsory voting has even less chance of getting support.

The weird thing is the strongest economy in the world was seen by a majority of its people as terrible and the the Dems were to blame. The reality that trickle down economics doesn't work hasn't dawned on them, nor that Trumps plans will make it worse for everyone except the wealthy.
Of course in 4 years the poor will be poorer, and the rich are even richer. The tariffs drive the cost of living even higher. The dems will be blamed for everything.
 
That last line isn't accurate though. If it was true he wouldn't have won.

It was the economy - Trump improved everywhere, in all states (except for Utah, weirdly), across all genders, all religions and all races. That's not a white supremacist thing, that's an inflation thing. Almost 50% of exit polling was people complaining they were less well off than they were four years ago, and 75% saying that inflation had caused them "either moderate or severe financial hardship" (a sentiment I'd near guarantee would be echoed here).

Incumbent Governments of the last few years have been getting voted out due to spiraling inflation, so in hindsight the result isn't surprising. I just firmly believed that more Americans realised the threat Trump posed over the impact to their wallets, but sadly not.
 
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And now we hang on while Dutton embraces the culture war on "wokeness" and stokes the fires if resentment and fomo by telling us we are drowning because of inflation. Have to buy a Raptor instead of a F-150, woe is you.
 
And now we hang on while Dutton embraces the culture war on "wokeness" and stokes the fires if resentment and fomo by telling us we are drowning because of inflation. Have to buy a Raptor instead of a F-150, woe is you.
Yes. Its going to get really bad here. You think the nastiness and misinformation around the indigenous thing was bad, we've not seen anything yet.
 
That last line isn't accurate though. If it was true he wouldn't have won.

It was the economy - Trump improved everywhere, in all states (except for Utah, weirdly), across all genders, all religions and all races. That's not a white supremacist thing, that's an inflation thing. Almost 50% of exit polling was people complaining they were less well off than they were four years ago, and 75% saying that inflation had caused them "either moderate or severe financial hardship" (a sentiment I'd near guarantee would be echoed here).

Incumbent Governments of the last few years have been getting voted out due to spiraling inflation, so in hindsight the result isn't surprising. I just firmly believed that more Americans realised the threat Trump posed over the impact to their wallets, but sadly not.
If only that was true. I think the economy was just an excuse for them to embrace the Trump ideals. He simply reflects their attitudes to life, and the economy was just the fig leaf for why they really voted.

Biden made it better overall, but those at the bottom were still genuinely hurting. That wasnt Biden's fault and Trump will make it worse, but thats irrelevant because their guy won and the owned the libs. Lets not over complicate things.
 

Sorry but just because they voted blue doesn't make them not part of the red in this case. All they had to do was choose what they all asked for which was someone like Biden, the whitest man on planet earth, yet younger. That's it. If the whitest women on earth (Hillary) cant win then what hope does a black female lawyer have. It's not like the country underwent a complete change over 8 years.
 
Sorry but just because they voted blue doesn't make them not part of the red in this case. All they had to do was choose what they all asked for which was someone like Biden, the whitest man on planet earth, yet younger. That's it. If the whitest women on earth (Hillary) cant win then what hope does a black female lawyer have. It's not like the country underwent a complete change over 8 years.
When the candidates are shit, it's not about voting for who you want. It's about voting against who you definately don't want. Those who are uneducated, disadvantaged, and believed all the lies are going to suffer big time.
 
When the candidates are shit, it's not about voting for who you want. It's about voting against who you definately don't want. Those who are uneducated, disadvantaged, and believed all the lies are going to suffer big time.

Regardless of the candidates a lot of those blue areas are only just blue. Even the solid democrat areas there are a lot of them that over 40% voted red.

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