The Rotting of the Republican Mind

[Torie]

Yes, I know, this article exudes elitism and it indulges in academic jargon that is probably over done, but I largely agree with it, at least as it pertains to a substantial percentage of what is now the GOP base. Brooks are I are in the same relatively microscopic cohort of voters, so I admit my bias.

If discussion of this article and its premises lacks civility I will delete the thread, and consign it to the ash heap of cyberspace. The least we can do is be kind to one another here, even if what is out there beyond the village gates is often anything but these days. Thank you.

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/11/26/opinion/republican-disinformation.html?action=click&module=Opinion&pgtype=Homepage

Here are three excerpts for those blocked from reading the linked article:

In a recent Monmouth University survey, 77 percent of Trump backers said Joe Biden had won the presidential election because of fraud. Many of these same people think climate change is not real. Many of these same people believe they don’t need to listen to scientific experts on how to prevent the spread of the coronavirus.

…

While these cities have been prospering, places where fewer people have college degrees have been spiraling down: flatter incomes, decimated families, dissolved communities. In 1972, people without college degrees were nearly as happy as those with college degrees. Now those without a degree are far more unhappy about their lives.
…

The only solution is to reduce the distrust and anxiety that is the seedbed of this thinking. That can only be done first by contact, reducing the social chasm between the members of the epistemic regime and those who feel so alienated from it. And second, it can be done by policy, by making life more secure for those without a college degree.

[Amenhotep Bakari-Sellers]

The Rs are in shock therapy that they have lost power as I said many times, they beat Hillary in 2016/ not I. 2088 where she was scandaled.

Rs have lost to everyone of our all/star Prez candidates Bill Clinton, Obama and Biden and beat, barely our mediocre candidates Gore, Kerry and Hillary

The Rs are gonna have trouble winning another Prez Election with either Harris or Biden

[T'Chenka]

Mods, please ban this socialist.

[T'Chenka]

It's going to be VERY hard to rebuild trust with the Trump cult, because a large amount of them LIKE not trusting the media and aren't interested anymore in trusting a hypoethetical "honest media".

[vitoNova]

You will never be able to compromise on any issue with a base of voters who believe in conspiracy theories. Most of which are quite moronic. 

These people are most definitely not the heirs to Western civilization and its emphasis on logic and reason.

[Person Man]

You will never be able to compromise on any issue with a base of voters who believe in conspiracy theories. Most of which are quite moronic. 

These people are most definitely not the heirs to Western civilization and its emphasis on logic and reason.

It’s really interesting try to identity them, though.

[Nyvin]

Under Trump, the Republican identity is defined not by a set of policy beliefs but by a paranoid mind-set. He and his media allies simply ignore the rules of the epistemic regime and have set up a rival trolling regime. The internet is an ideal medium for untested information to get around traditional gatekeepers, but it is an accelerant of the paranoia, not its source. Distrust and precarity, caused by economic, cultural and spiritual threat, are the source.

This wasn't just under Trump though, it's been a long time in the making,  it's just that Trump is far more direct and clear with the messaging rather than using the low key dog whistle tactics of the past.

I'd even say that Trump changing Republican discourse to be more open and direct about their fears and hatred is what has allowed things like Marijuana legalization to become more socially accepted.   The dog whistles against drugs and associating them to minorities is no longer needed, they just go on TV and say that they're evil and we need to get rid of them (the minorities that is).

[Holy Unifying Centrist]

These kind of articles usually annoy me because of how snobby and elitist they are, but I actually think David Brook comes close to hitting the nail on the head here. Pretty accurate article in my opinion.

[Torie]

These kind of articles usually annoy me because of how snobby and elitist they are, but I actually think David Brook comes close to hitting the nail on the head here. Pretty accurate article in my opinion.

I love you.

[Person Man]

It’s called schizophrenia.

[TiltsAreUnderrated]

It’s called schizophrenia.

No, it's called Mazlow's hierarchy of needs. Conspiracy theories spawn from distrust of institutions and it's easy to distrust them when they're failing you.

[Benjamin Frank]

I'm sick of hearing about the Republican base and I totally disagree with any effort to help them.  It's up to them to take responsibility for their rotted minds.

The paternalistic treatment of the idiots who comprise the Republican base needs to stop.

[John Dule]

It's just an inferiority complex. They feel small and stupid and weak, and they don't like that. I empathize with this feeling, but the outlet they have chosen for their frustration is so destructive that it negates any sympathy I might've felt for them.

[Former President tack50]

Honestly stuff like this just makes me wish the internet never existed. No internet = No disinformation (or at least way less)

[Santander]

Honestly stuff like this just makes me wish the internet never existed. No internet = No disinformation (or at least way less)

Uh, no.

[Fuzzy Bear]

It's going to be VERY hard to rebuild trust with the Trump cult, because a large amount of them LIKE not trusting the media and aren't interested anymore in trusting a hypoethetical "honest media".

They SHOULDN'T trust the media.  The media misrepresents THEM as well as Trump.

We have people on this forum who assert that anyone who merely voted for Trump is a horrible person by definition.  They get this from media accounts, multiple sources, over and over.  Trump is NEVER right (according to the mass media) and their Worldview is presented, putting forth the urgency of not only ridding ourselves of Trump, but of his supporters as well.

I would very much like an "honest media".  An "honest media" would have already required Joe Biden to clarify his statements that he knew nothing of his son Hunter's business dealings in Ukraine when there is clear evidence that he did.  A routine inconsistency; why won't mainstream reporters bring clarification?  (Biden hasn't denied it yet, he just blasts the reporters as "smearing" him.)  That's a small bit of honesty, but we don't even get that.  An "honest media" would certainly confront Trump, and Trump has certainly done things that merit confrontation, but so had Obama.  The title of Bernard Goldberg's book, A Slobbering Love Affair, was an accurate description of the media's treatment of Obama.  If Goldberg wrote a book about the media's treatment of Trump, it would be The Granddaddy Of All Beatdowns. 

[Hindsight was 2020]

It's going to be VERY hard to rebuild trust with the Trump cult, because a large amount of them LIKE not trusting the media and aren't interested anymore in trusting a hypoethetical "honest media".

They SHOULDN'T trust the media.  The media misrepresents THEM as well as Trump.

We have people on this forum who assert that anyone who merely voted for Trump is a horrible person by definition.  They get this from media accounts, multiple sources, over and over.  Trump is NEVER right (according to the mass media) and their Worldview is presented, putting forth the urgency of not only ridding ourselves of Trump, but of his supporters as well.

I would very much like an "honest media".  An "honest media" would have already required Joe Biden to clarify his statements that he knew nothing of his son Hunter's business dealings in Ukraine when there is clear evidence that he did.  A routine inconsistency; why won't mainstream reporters bring clarification?  (Biden hasn't denied it yet, he just blasts the reporters as "smearing" him.)  That's a small bit of honesty, but we don't even get that.  An "honest media" would certainly confront Trump, and Trump has certainly done things that merit confrontation, but so had Obama.  The title of Bernard Goldberg's book, A Slobbering Love Affair, was an accurate description of the media's treatment of Obama.  If Goldberg wrote a book about the media's treatment of Trump, it would be The Granddaddy Of All Beatdowns.  

Actually Fuzzy the reason we think Trumpers are bad people is not because of “the media” but because of the rest of your post. You’ve been defending Trump’s corruption for 4 years now jumping through hoop after hoop to defend him and then without any shame have gone on and on about how Hunter Biden’s Ukraine business is the most corrupt thing ever shows how much of a bad faith hypocrite you are. Which you aren’t alone with it’s been 4 years of constant trolling and bad faith arguments in defense of a moral repugnant man who launched an all out assault on our democratic norms from Trumpers that definitely lead one to the conclusion you’re not good good people. CNN or MSNBC didn’t lead to this conclusion. You all did that to yourselves.

[Fuzzy Bear]

It's going to be VERY hard to rebuild trust with the Trump cult, because a large amount of them LIKE not trusting the media and aren't interested anymore in trusting a hypoethetical "honest media".

They SHOULDN'T trust the media.  The media misrepresents THEM as well as Trump.

We have people on this forum who assert that anyone who merely voted for Trump is a horrible person by definition.  They get this from media accounts, multiple sources, over and over.  Trump is NEVER right (according to the mass media) and their Worldview is presented, putting forth the urgency of not only ridding ourselves of Trump, but of his supporters as well.

I would very much like an "honest media".  An "honest media" would have already required Joe Biden to clarify his statements that he knew nothing of his son Hunter's business dealings in Ukraine when there is clear evidence that he did.  A routine inconsistency; why won't mainstream reporters bring clarification?  (Biden hasn't denied it yet, he just blasts the reporters as "smearing" him.)  That's a small bit of honesty, but we don't even get that.  An "honest media" would certainly confront Trump, and Trump has certainly done things that merit confrontation, but so had Obama.  The title of Bernard Goldberg's book, A Slobbering Love Affair, was an accurate description of the media's treatment of Obama.  If Goldberg wrote a book about the media's treatment of Trump, it would be The Granddaddy Of All Beatdowns. 

Actually Fuzzy the reason we think Trumpers are bad people is not because of “the media” but because of the rest of your post. You’ve been defending Trump’s corruption for 4 years now jumping through hoop after hoop to defend him and then without any shame have gone on and on about how Hunter Biden’s Ukraine business is the most corrupt thing ever shows how much of a bad faith hypocrite you are which CNN or MSNBC didn’t do. You did that to yourself

My response to the media is to ask why the media can't and won't ask questions about an issue that is influence peddling on its face (at best)?

Biden isn't just some hack; he was running for President, he claims to be the President-Elect, and Vegas betting odds suggest that's the case.  Why would the media not ask this question (and others, to be sure) BEFORE America voted?

To say there wasn't a gross disparity between the way the media treated Trump and the way they treated Biden is beyond ridiculous.

[John Dule]

It's going to be VERY hard to rebuild trust with the Trump cult, because a large amount of them LIKE not trusting the media and aren't interested anymore in trusting a hypoethetical "honest media".

They SHOULDN'T trust the media.  The media misrepresents THEM as well as Trump.

We have people on this forum who assert that anyone who merely voted for Trump is a horrible person by definition.  They get this from media accounts, multiple sources, over and over. 

Can't speak for anyone else, but I don't read or watch any political commentary. I reached this conclusion on my own from simply observing the things Trump has done and said.

[Horus]

It's going to be VERY hard to rebuild trust with the Trump cult, because a large amount of them LIKE not trusting the media and aren't interested anymore in trusting a hypoethetical "honest media".

They SHOULDN'T trust the media.  The media misrepresents THEM as well as Trump.

We have people on this forum who assert that anyone who merely voted for Trump is a horrible person by definition.  They get this from media accounts, multiple sources, over and over.  Trump is NEVER right (according to the mass media) and their Worldview is presented, putting forth the urgency of not only ridding ourselves of Trump, but of his supporters as well.

I would very much like an "honest media".  An "honest media" would have already required Joe Biden to clarify his statements that he knew nothing of his son Hunter's business dealings in Ukraine when there is clear evidence that he did.  A routine inconsistency; why won't mainstream reporters bring clarification?  (Biden hasn't denied it yet, he just blasts the reporters as "smearing" him.)  That's a small bit of honesty, but we don't even get that.  An "honest media" would certainly confront Trump, and Trump has certainly done things that merit confrontation, but so had Obama.  The title of Bernard Goldberg's book, A Slobbering Love Affair, was an accurate description of the media's treatment of Obama.  If Goldberg wrote a book about the media's treatment of Trump, it would be The Granddaddy Of All Beatdowns.  

Actually Fuzzy the reason we think Trumpers are bad people is not because of “the media” but because of the rest of your post. You’ve been defending Trump’s corruption for 4 years now jumping through hoop after hoop to defend him and then without any shame have gone on and on about how Hunter Biden’s Ukraine business is the most corrupt thing ever shows how much of a bad faith hypocrite you are which CNN or MSNBC didn’t do. You did that to yourself

My response to the media is to ask why the media can't and won't ask questions about an issue that is influence peddling on its face (at best)?

Biden isn't just some hack; he was running for President, he claims to be the President-Elect, and Vegas betting odds suggest that's the case.  Why would the media not ask this question (and others, to be sure) BEFORE America voted?

To say there wasn't a gross disparity between the way the media treated Trump and the way they treated Biden is beyond ridiculous.

He's not claiming to be the president-elect, he is the president-elect.

Deal with it.

[Fuzzy Bear]

It's going to be VERY hard to rebuild trust with the Trump cult, because a large amount of them LIKE not trusting the media and aren't interested anymore in trusting a hypoethetical "honest media".

They SHOULDN'T trust the media.  The media misrepresents THEM as well as Trump.

We have people on this forum who assert that anyone who merely voted for Trump is a horrible person by definition.  They get this from media accounts, multiple sources, over and over.  Trump is NEVER right (according to the mass media) and their Worldview is presented, putting forth the urgency of not only ridding ourselves of Trump, but of his supporters as well.

I would very much like an "honest media".  An "honest media" would have already required Joe Biden to clarify his statements that he knew nothing of his son Hunter's business dealings in Ukraine when there is clear evidence that he did.  A routine inconsistency; why won't mainstream reporters bring clarification?  (Biden hasn't denied it yet, he just blasts the reporters as "smearing" him.)  That's a small bit of honesty, but we don't even get that.  An "honest media" would certainly confront Trump, and Trump has certainly done things that merit confrontation, but so had Obama.  The title of Bernard Goldberg's book, A Slobbering Love Affair, was an accurate description of the media's treatment of Obama.  If Goldberg wrote a book about the media's treatment of Trump, it would be The Granddaddy Of All Beatdowns.  

Actually Fuzzy the reason we think Trumpers are bad people is not because of “the media” but because of the rest of your post. You’ve been defending Trump’s corruption for 4 years now jumping through hoop after hoop to defend him and then without any shame have gone on and on about how Hunter Biden’s Ukraine business is the most corrupt thing ever shows how much of a bad faith hypocrite you are which CNN or MSNBC didn’t do. You did that to yourself

My response to the media is to ask why the media can't and won't ask questions about an issue that is influence peddling on its face (at best)?

Biden isn't just some hack; he was running for President, he claims to be the President-Elect, and Vegas betting odds suggest that's the case.  Why would the media not ask this question (and others, to be sure) BEFORE America voted?

To say there wasn't a gross disparity between the way the media treated Trump and the way they treated Biden is beyond ridiculous.

He's not claiming to be the president-elect, he is the president-elect.

Deal with it.

He's not the President-Elect until the Electoral College meets and elects him. 

The "Office of the President-Elect" is something Biden made up.  It looks real official but it's not.

[Joe Republic]

The "Office of the President-Elect" is something Biden made up.  It looks real official but it's not.

First seen on November 9th 2016

[Buffalo Mayor Young Kim]

The "Office of the President-Elect" is something Biden made up.  It looks real official but it's not.

First seen on November 9th 2016

Accusation, confession, etc.

[Fuzzy Bear]

The "Office of the President-Elect" is something Biden made up.  It looks real official but it's not.

First seen on November 9th 2016

Was that the day you united behind the President-Elect, wished him well for the sake of the Country, and withheld judgement for the time being?

No? 

Didn't think so.

[7,052,770]

He's not the President-Elect until the Electoral College meets and elects him. 

The "Office of the President-Elect" is something Biden made up.  It looks real official but it's not.

Stop believing this garbage you read on Facebook or wherever. Every president has been referred to as "President-Elect," including Trump as soon as all the states were called.