The Rotting of the Republican Mind

[All Along The Watchtower]

"You are out of touch with reality because you've gotten sucked in by right-wing #FakeNews."

"No, that's not true, check out these articles from The Federalist and Newsbusters."

You're denying the fact that the MSM simply failed to investigate and report legitimate stories such as Hunter Biden's story.  You're OK with the story being censored on SOCIAL media.

The task of the left is to stifle discussion of how Biden was elected.  Creating a completely pro-Biden activist MSM was part of that strategy.  To say otherwise is gaslighting.

lol the left doesn’t even like Biden

[T'Chenka]

You're denying the fact that the MSM simply failed to investigate and report legitimate stories such as Hunter Biden's story.  You're OK with the story being censored on SOCIAL media.

The task of the left is to stifle discussion of how Biden was elected.  Creating a completely pro-Biden activist MSM was part of that strategy.  To say otherwise is gaslighting.

lol the left doesn’t even like Biden

This.

I laugh my butt of at Republican propaganda calling Biden a radical leftist. WE WISH HE WAS, but he isn't even close.

[ProudModerate2]

https://twitter.com/AndrewFeinberg/status/1338680328395907077?ref_src=twsrc%5Etf...

LOL.
This just blows my mind. I'm lost for words.
Good God.

[7,052,770]

LOL, social media companies are the direct reason why conservatives have lost all touch with reality. The idea that they're some kind of enemy of Republicans rather than their lifeline is absurd.

[Absentee Voting Ghost of Ruin]

https://mobile.twitter.com/didic/status/1339192756489629700

[RINO Tom]

It's really interesting to me how much more elitist and self-important Internet Democrats™ are than the actual Democrats I know and interact with in real life ... ya know, people who see the party as a vehicle to help those most in need, not a status symbol to elevate one's worth through association alone.

None of this is to defend anything about the GOP, so save your whataboutism.

[7,052,770]

It's really interesting to me how much more elitist and self-important Internet Democrats™ are than the actual Democrats I know and interact with in real life ... ya know, people who see the party as a vehicle to help those most in need, not a status symbol to elevate one's worth through association alone.

None of this is to defend anything about the GOP, so save your whataboutism.

The overwhelming majority of Republicans support overturning the election and installing Trump as president. Yes, I look down on that, as does anyone else who believes in the foundational American principles, undoubtedly including your real life friends.

That doesn't mean that being a Democrat automatically makes someone good or superior, many Democrats are awful too, but nothing as widespread as what we've seen from Republicans over the last few weeks.

[RINO Tom]

It's really interesting to me how much more elitist and self-important Internet Democrats™ are than the actual Democrats I know and interact with in real life ... ya know, people who see the party as a vehicle to help those most in need, not a status symbol to elevate one's worth through association alone.

None of this is to defend anything about the GOP, so save your whataboutism.

The overwhelming majority of Republicans support overturning the election and installing Trump as president. Yes, I look down on that, as does anyone else who believes in the foundational American principles, undoubtedly including your real life friends.

That doesn't mean that being a Democrat automatically makes someone good or superior, many Democrats are awful too, but nothing as widespread as what we've seen from Republicans over the last few weeks.

Like I said, I didn't defend ANYTHING about the GOP or even ordinary Republican voters.  However, Democrats could condemn Republicans' actions of the past few weeks unequivocally by alleging that Republicans are power-hungry and ruthless, only looking out for the financial and societal status their voters already enjoy and heartlessly hoping to leave Americans who are in need in the dust - Americans that a President Joe Biden would help.  Instead, the narrative is almost ALWAYS how dumb and uneducated these Republicans are, painting them practically as an underclass of undesirables.  I find that pretty telling, hence my original comment.  Meanwhile, actual Democrats I know who are just as upset about Trump's and the GOP's recent antics very much prioritize the former narrative when articulating why the current situation bothers them so much.

[Benjamin Frank]

It's really interesting to me how much more elitist and self-important Internet Democrats™ are than the actual Democrats I know and interact with in real life ... ya know, people who see the party as a vehicle to help those most in need, not a status symbol to elevate one's worth through association alone.

None of this is to defend anything about the GOP, so save your whataboutism.

The overwhelming majority of Republicans support overturning the election and installing Trump as president. Yes, I look down on that, as does anyone else who believes in the foundational American principles, undoubtedly including your real life friends.

That doesn't mean that being a Democrat automatically makes someone good or superior, many Democrats are awful too, but nothing as widespread as what we've seen from Republicans over the last few weeks.

Like I said, I didn't defend ANYTHING about the GOP or even ordinary Republican voters.  However, Democrats could condemn Republicans' actions of the past few weeks unequivocally by alleging that Republicans are power-hungry and ruthless, only looking out for the financial and societal status their voters already enjoy and heartlessly hoping to leave Americans who are in need in the dust - Americans that a President Joe Biden would help.  Instead, the narrative is almost ALWAYS how dumb and uneducated these Republicans are, painting them practically as an underclass of undesirables.  I find that pretty telling, hence my original comment.  Meanwhile, actual Democrats I know who are just as upset about Trump's and the GOP's recent antics very much prioritize the former narrative when articulating why the current situation bothers them so much.

The 98% of undesirable Republicans make the rest look bad.

[Tollen]

It's really interesting to me how much more elitist and self-important Internet Democrats™ are than the actual Democrats I know and interact with in real life ... ya know, people who see the party as a vehicle to help those most in need, not a status symbol to elevate one's worth through association alone.

None of this is to defend anything about the GOP, so save your whataboutism.

The overwhelming majority of Republicans support overturning the election and installing Trump as president. Yes, I look down on that, as does anyone else who believes in the foundational American principles, undoubtedly including your real life friends.

That doesn't mean that being a Democrat automatically makes someone good or superior, many Democrats are awful too, but nothing as widespread as what we've seen from Republicans over the last few weeks.

Like I said, I didn't defend ANYTHING about the GOP or even ordinary Republican voters.  However, Democrats could condemn Republicans' actions of the past few weeks unequivocally by alleging that Republicans are power-hungry and ruthless, only looking out for the financial and societal status their voters already enjoy and heartlessly hoping to leave Americans who are in need in the dust - Americans that a President Joe Biden would help.  Instead, the narrative is almost ALWAYS how dumb and uneducated these Republicans are, painting them practically as an underclass of undesirables.  I find that pretty telling, hence my original comment.  Meanwhile, actual Democrats I know who are just as upset about Trump's and the GOP's recent antics very much prioritize the former narrative when articulating why the current situation bothers them so much.

The Republican base is redistributionist now, possibly moreso than the Democratic base. It's simply not purely monetarily redistributionist - it would prefer to redistribute wealth in the form of power and knowledge to rural areas.

[RINO Tom]

It's really interesting to me how much more elitist and self-important Internet Democrats™ are than the actual Democrats I know and interact with in real life ... ya know, people who see the party as a vehicle to help those most in need, not a status symbol to elevate one's worth through association alone.

None of this is to defend anything about the GOP, so save your whataboutism.

The overwhelming majority of Republicans support overturning the election and installing Trump as president. Yes, I look down on that, as does anyone else who believes in the foundational American principles, undoubtedly including your real life friends.

That doesn't mean that being a Democrat automatically makes someone good or superior, many Democrats are awful too, but nothing as widespread as what we've seen from Republicans over the last few weeks.

Like I said, I didn't defend ANYTHING about the GOP or even ordinary Republican voters.  However, Democrats could condemn Republicans' actions of the past few weeks unequivocally by alleging that Republicans are power-hungry and ruthless, only looking out for the financial and societal status their voters already enjoy and heartlessly hoping to leave Americans who are in need in the dust - Americans that a President Joe Biden would help.  Instead, the narrative is almost ALWAYS how dumb and uneducated these Republicans are, painting them practically as an underclass of undesirables.  I find that pretty telling, hence my original comment.  Meanwhile, actual Democrats I know who are just as upset about Trump's and the GOP's recent antics very much prioritize the former narrative when articulating why the current situation bothers them so much.

The Republican base is redistributionist now, possibly moreso than the Democratic base. It's simply not purely monetarily redistributionist - it would prefer to redistribute wealth in the form of power and knowledge to rural areas.

A pure opinion of yours, but thanks for sharing.  Here is an opinion of mine: Anyone who acts like the GOP base is fundamentally different or comprises a significantly different cohort than in 2012 is ridiculously wrong.

[Tollen]

It's really interesting to me how much more elitist and self-important Internet Democrats™ are than the actual Democrats I know and interact with in real life ... ya know, people who see the party as a vehicle to help those most in need, not a status symbol to elevate one's worth through association alone.

None of this is to defend anything about the GOP, so save your whataboutism.

The overwhelming majority of Republicans support overturning the election and installing Trump as president. Yes, I look down on that, as does anyone else who believes in the foundational American principles, undoubtedly including your real life friends.

That doesn't mean that being a Democrat automatically makes someone good or superior, many Democrats are awful too, but nothing as widespread as what we've seen from Republicans over the last few weeks.

Like I said, I didn't defend ANYTHING about the GOP or even ordinary Republican voters.  However, Democrats could condemn Republicans' actions of the past few weeks unequivocally by alleging that Republicans are power-hungry and ruthless, only looking out for the financial and societal status their voters already enjoy and heartlessly hoping to leave Americans who are in need in the dust - Americans that a President Joe Biden would help.  Instead, the narrative is almost ALWAYS how dumb and uneducated these Republicans are, painting them practically as an underclass of undesirables.  I find that pretty telling, hence my original comment.  Meanwhile, actual Democrats I know who are just as upset about Trump's and the GOP's recent antics very much prioritize the former narrative when articulating why the current situation bothers them so much.

The Republican base is redistributionist now, possibly moreso than the Democratic base. It's simply not purely monetarily redistributionist - it would prefer to redistribute wealth in the form of power and knowledge to rural areas.

A pure opinion of yours, but thanks for sharing.  Here is an opinion of mine: Anyone who acts like the GOP base is fundamentally different or comprises a significantly different cohort than in 2012 is ridiculously wrong.

The Tea Party base of 2012 - the voters, not the money- was also pretty wildly redistributionist on the same general terms.

Wealth in capitalism is not mere money, and  the desire to redistribute wealth is not identical to the desire to create new social programs.

[Benjamin Frank]

It's really interesting to me how much more elitist and self-important Internet Democrats™ are than the actual Democrats I know and interact with in real life ... ya know, people who see the party as a vehicle to help those most in need, not a status symbol to elevate one's worth through association alone.

None of this is to defend anything about the GOP, so save your whataboutism.

The overwhelming majority of Republicans support overturning the election and installing Trump as president. Yes, I look down on that, as does anyone else who believes in the foundational American principles, undoubtedly including your real life friends.

That doesn't mean that being a Democrat automatically makes someone good or superior, many Democrats are awful too, but nothing as widespread as what we've seen from Republicans over the last few weeks.

Like I said, I didn't defend ANYTHING about the GOP or even ordinary Republican voters.  However, Democrats could condemn Republicans' actions of the past few weeks unequivocally by alleging that Republicans are power-hungry and ruthless, only looking out for the financial and societal status their voters already enjoy and heartlessly hoping to leave Americans who are in need in the dust - Americans that a President Joe Biden would help.  Instead, the narrative is almost ALWAYS how dumb and uneducated these Republicans are, painting them practically as an underclass of undesirables.  I find that pretty telling, hence my original comment.  Meanwhile, actual Democrats I know who are just as upset about Trump's and the GOP's recent antics very much prioritize the former narrative when articulating why the current situation bothers them so much.

The Republican base is redistributionist now, possibly moreso than the Democratic base. It's simply not purely monetarily redistributionist - it would prefer to redistribute wealth in the form of power and knowledge to rural areas.

A pure opinion of yours, but thanks for sharing.  Here is an opinion of mine: Anyone who acts like the GOP base is fundamentally different or comprises a significantly different cohort than in 2012 is ridiculously wrong.

Sure, it's been a base of increasingly undesirable people since 1980.

[RINO Tom]

^ 1980 some magical year?  You seriously think the Republicans of 1979 were a markedly different group?  What about the crew that enabled Reagan's challenge in 1976?  The folks who nominated Goldwater?  The ones who enabled McCarthy?

[Tollen]

^ 1980 some magical year?  You seriously think the Republicans of 1979 were a markedly different group?  What about the crew that enabled Reagan's challenge in 1976?  The folks who nominated Goldwater?  The ones who enabled McCarthy?

Many of them seeped in a kind of class war rhetoric against the Eastern Establishment, the bankers, etc.

[Benjamin Frank]

^ 1980 some magical year?  You seriously think the Republicans of 1979 were a markedly different group?  What about the crew that enabled Reagan's challenge in 1976?  The folks who nominated Goldwater?  The ones who enabled McCarthy?

Yes, because 1980 was the year that a group of undesirables - the Evangelicals - were told to vote on the basis of their 'religious' beliefs.

There were many undesirable Republicans before this, but that was when they arguably became the majority.

[7,052,770]

It's really interesting to me how much more elitist and self-important Internet Democrats™ are than the actual Democrats I know and interact with in real life ... ya know, people who see the party as a vehicle to help those most in need, not a status symbol to elevate one's worth through association alone.

None of this is to defend anything about the GOP, so save your whataboutism.

The overwhelming majority of Republicans support overturning the election and installing Trump as president. Yes, I look down on that, as does anyone else who believes in the foundational American principles, undoubtedly including your real life friends.

That doesn't mean that being a Democrat automatically makes someone good or superior, many Democrats are awful too, but nothing as widespread as what we've seen from Republicans over the last few weeks.

Like I said, I didn't defend ANYTHING about the GOP or even ordinary Republican voters.  However, Democrats could condemn Republicans' actions of the past few weeks unequivocally by alleging that Republicans are power-hungry and ruthless, only looking out for the financial and societal status their voters already enjoy and heartlessly hoping to leave Americans who are in need in the dust - Americans that a President Joe Biden would help.  Instead, the narrative is almost ALWAYS how dumb and uneducated these Republicans are, painting them practically as an underclass of undesirables.  I find that pretty telling, hence my original comment.  Meanwhile, actual Democrats I know who are just as upset about Trump's and the GOP's recent antics very much prioritize the former narrative when articulating why the current situation bothers them so much.

I guess it just depends on whether you think Republicans support the coup because they've honestly been swindled into thinking Trump actually won, or if they know he really didn't but want to hold onto power anyway.

The politicians who support the coup are all in that second bucket, at least at the federal level, but its unclear how the 80% of Republican voters break down among those two groups. You seem to think they're mostly in the second group too, and that implying that they're in the first is out of bounds.

It probably is unfair to try to argue both as a double put-down (as I and others have done to some degree). Supporters of the Trump coup would have to go into just 1 of those buckets, either inexcusably gullible and poorly informed, or sinister and unAmerican, but not both.

[Benjamin Frank]

It's really interesting to me how much more elitist and self-important Internet Democrats™ are than the actual Democrats I know and interact with in real life ... ya know, people who see the party as a vehicle to help those most in need, not a status symbol to elevate one's worth through association alone.

None of this is to defend anything about the GOP, so save your whataboutism.

The overwhelming majority of Republicans support overturning the election and installing Trump as president. Yes, I look down on that, as does anyone else who believes in the foundational American principles, undoubtedly including your real life friends.

That doesn't mean that being a Democrat automatically makes someone good or superior, many Democrats are awful too, but nothing as widespread as what we've seen from Republicans over the last few weeks.

Like I said, I didn't defend ANYTHING about the GOP or even ordinary Republican voters.  However, Democrats could condemn Republicans' actions of the past few weeks unequivocally by alleging that Republicans are power-hungry and ruthless, only looking out for the financial and societal status their voters already enjoy and heartlessly hoping to leave Americans who are in need in the dust - Americans that a President Joe Biden would help.  Instead, the narrative is almost ALWAYS how dumb and uneducated these Republicans are, painting them practically as an underclass of undesirables.  I find that pretty telling, hence my original comment.  Meanwhile, actual Democrats I know who are just as upset about Trump's and the GOP's recent antics very much prioritize the former narrative when articulating why the current situation bothers them so much.

I guess it just depends on whether you think Republicans support the coup because they've honestly been swindled into thinking Trump actually won, or if they know he really didn't but want to hold onto power anyway.

The politicians who support the coup are all in that second bucket, at least at the federal level, but its unclear how the 80% of Republican voters break down among those two groups. You seem to think they're mostly in the second group too, and that implying that they're in the first is out of bounds.

It probably is unfair to try to argue both as a double put-down (as I and others have done to some degree). Supporters of the Trump coup would have to go into just 1 of those buckets, either inexcusably gullible and poorly informed, or sinister and unAmerican, but not both.

Which one was Jar Jar Binks?  At some point, does it really matter?

[RINO Tom]

^ It matters because someone who claims to champion "liberal" causes but is at the same time a classist is an objectively hypocritical and terrible person.

[Tollen]

^ It matters because someone who claims to champion "liberal" causes but is at the same time a classist is an objectively hypocritical and terrible person.

Keynes on Marxism:

How can I accept the Communist doctrine, which sets up as its bible, above and beyond criticism, an obsolete textbook which I know not only to be scientifically erroneous but without interest or application to the modern world? How can I adopt a creed which, preferring the mud to the fish, exalts the boorish proletariat above the bourgeoisie and the intelligentsia, who with all their faults, are the quality of life and surely carry the seeds of all human achievement? Even if we need a religion, how can we find it in the turbid rubbish of the red bookshop? It is hard for an educated, decent, intelligent son of Western Europe to find his ideals here, unless he has first suffered some strange and horrid process of conversion which has changed all his values.

Classism - the preservation of class society - is intrinsic to the Western left-liberal and social democratic projects.

[Benjamin Frank]

^ It matters because someone who claims to champion "liberal" causes but is at the same time a classist is an objectively hypocritical and terrible person.

What class are you referring to?

[RINO Tom]

^ It matters because someone who claims to champion "liberal" causes but is at the same time a classist is an objectively hypocritical and terrible person.

Keynes on Marxism:

How can I accept the Communist doctrine, which sets up as its bible, above and beyond criticism, an obsolete textbook which I know not only to be scientifically erroneous but without interest or application to the modern world? How can I adopt a creed which, preferring the mud to the fish, exalts the boorish proletariat above the bourgeoisie and the intelligentsia, who with all their faults, are the quality of life and surely carry the seeds of all human achievement? Even if we need a religion, how can we find it in the turbid rubbish of the red bookshop? It is hard for an educated, decent, intelligent son of Western Europe to find his ideals here, unless he has first suffered some strange and horrid process of conversion which has changed all his values.

Classism - the preservation of class society - is intrinsic to the Western left-liberal and social democratic projects.

Only mainstream political thought is relevant here, and Marxism is considered so fringe as to not be taken seriously in American society.  This line of thinking is the same that labels every Founding Father as not being a conservative because they all fought against monarchy.  Political ideologies must be judged within the context of their countries, and American liberalism is defined - even by Joe Biden and Kamala Harris in 2020 - as being a vehicle fundamentally concerned with the bettering of the marginalized and making American society more egalitarian.

[Tollen]

The point wasn't about Marxism, but about the implicit attitude of John Maynard Keynes towards the proletariat: they are the "mud", boorish, not the "quality of life".

American liberalism is defined - even by Joe Biden and Kamala Harris in 2020 - as being a vehicle fundamentally concerned with the bettering of the marginalized and making American society more egalitarian.

It might be defined that way, but in practice it is the vehicle for "brainwork" industries. Most applications of Foucauldian biopower are worked through first by liberalism before they are incorporated into the wider American capitalist project.

[Hindsight was 2020]

With all due respect RINO Tom but your argument of “yes the American right has gone off the deep end and rejected democracy but democrats being too sassy about this downfall of one half of the countries political spectrum is just as equally a problem” seems a little bit flawed no?

[Santander]

It's really interesting to me how much more elitist and self-important Internet Democrats™ are than the actual Democrats I know and interact with in real life ... ya know, people who see the party as a vehicle to help those most in need, not a status symbol to elevate one's worth through association alone.

None of this is to defend anything about the GOP, so save your whataboutism.

Only the rich can afford to be socialists.