Now That Trump's President... (not any more!)

everything just keeps getting worse and worse, I bet donald's going to win a second term too, nothing goes right

Edited October 7, 2018 by Zeffolia

Fuck Kavanaugh's wife too, why would she marry someone like him. she's not innocent in this

I think she was wondering the same thing during his statement, judging by her expression.

Sorry guys, I'm gonna go back a few pages to where it seemed like Trump would get arrested instead of this forever growing ball of shit. See you there.

 

#floltus

Only The Borg can save us. #Assimilate

the fuck is she wearing

The ark of the covenant about to open and melt her face off

  On 10/7/2018 at 5:20 AM, Goiter Sanchez said:

Only The Borg can save us. #Assimilate

I wouldn't mind getting assimilated by Seven of Nine.

 

Or Four of Seven. Or Six of Eight. Shit. I think Ae are on to something...

 

lol it's Belloq...

https://old.reddit.com/r/politics/comments/9m779u/why_im_leaving_the_republican_party/e7ck5jz/

 

It's easier to digest the Trump enabling conservative mindset when you consider why it is they are so susceptible to the principles of authoritarianism. Why is adherence to the king important to them? Why do they relish in the behavior of petulance and infantilism? Why all the rabble-rousing? Why do conservatives find these toxic virtues appealing? Why are they insecure and emotionally volatile? Why are they intellectually dishonest and why do they engage a topic in bad faith? What are they so afraid of?

Aside from the very obvious observable reputation and behavior of a lifelong scumbag and pathological liar in Donald Trump, allow me to do my best explaining what conservative authoritarianism looks like in the head-space of conservative America. I personally feel that Trumpism has transcended whatever is left of conservatism into something far more dangerous and radical, but for now we will refer to them as conservatives, even though fiscal conservatives or what's left of them voted for Hillary. Regardless, these right-wing concepts and feelings transcend democratic partisanship given the principles of authoritarianism as they relate to what is true and when truth is diametrically opposed to one's beliefs.

As it can be understood, the foundation of social and cultural 'fear' is rooted in hate and modern conservatives typically take a 'Good versus Evil' approach towards that which runs counter to their identity. They often express their beliefs and values exclusively in absolutes and superlatives for this reason, not unlike the linguistic congruence of Trump himself, who literally cannot speak at length about a complex subject and navigate the discourse successfully enough to promote his beliefs and express his points, making him unqualified to comment on matters social, cultural, economic, and political.

A symptom of this 'fear' is a susceptibility to disinformation and propaganda, in which conservatives will immediately come to defense of money-grubbing, fear-mongering oligarchs from the GOP, the right-wing media, and their corporate 'investors', who have worked in tandem to systematically undermine the overall well-being of humanity for personal profit. As we have seen time and time again, trickle-down is still widely accepted despite evidence to the contrary. The GOP is essentially a conduit for fostering a...political ‘Stockholm Syndrome’. These are the same morally bankrupt vulgarians that brought us anti-intellectualism as a virtue and radical identitarianism (see Richard Spencer and Fox News) and are currently moving us towards an ‘illiberal democracy’ akin to the economic and social corruption of Putin’s Russia.

The studies listed below help illustrate the manner in which the brain is susceptible to demagoguery and the principles of authoritarianism. As demonstrated, conservative youths develop more grey matter ('shorter' or preferred neural pathways/behaviors) around their amygdalas (fear processing center of the brain), whereas liberal youths develop more grey matter around the Anterior cingulate cortex (the reasoning center of the brain ). Accordingly, the ACC includes: the anterior region, which is involved in executive function, the dorsal region, which is involved in cognitive processes, and the ventral region, which is involved in emotional regulation. Fear in this capacity is often void of nuanced restraint and clarity and is the manner in which conservatives feel discomfort and insecurity in dissonance arousing situations. They're in a way, wired to be 'snowflakes', in that fear and discomfort around a subject act as a defense mechanism that overrides objective truth in order to feel safe about one's reputation, beliefs, and values. This while hiding behind the veil of politics to feel justified in their hatred of social and economic change through the bias of their community, the GOP itself, and conservative propaganda in the media. You routinely see this effect in religious groups and the like. Simply put, they’re fear-driven beings with symptoms of low social mobility (cultural capital).

Study A --- Brain scan

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3092984/

http://imgur.com/a/j97Rr

Study B

http://faculty.virginia.edu/haidtlab/jost.glaser.political-conservatism-as-motivated-social-cog.pdf

Study C

http://www.danielmtfessler.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/Fessler-et-al-in-press-Political-Orientation-Credulity.pdf

Study D

http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0059837

Study E

http://yoelinbar.net/papers/disgust_conservatism.pdf

There is fact, and there is cognitive dissonance. the latter of which is an emotional landscape where truth is relative and lowbrow conspiracy theory runs rampant. Gaslighting and projection are a staple here and falsehoods feel vindicating when they run counter to perceived liberal agendas or entities, which allows lies to perpetuate and grow. Not out of policy, but out of malice. A place of self-aggrandization where conservative constituents reside and by which the GOP has them hook, line, and sinker. As has been routinely observed, a frightening number of these people will not hesitate to vote for a bona fide dictator, a literal Nazi, child predator, or rapist. One needn't look hard to see that these people ravenously support a quality of man they'd never, everallow to be left alone with their wives or children. It is as if the content of one's character doesn't matter anymore as long as Republicans are 'winning.' Winning feels good, so winning is the moral high ground. A place where the reputation of a man's character is worthless and self-reflection is impossible. Authoritarianism is very much alive in modern America and there is no shortage of narcissistic supply.

Furthermore, they all went out and voted for a malcontent snake-oil salesman who lives in a golden tower with his name written on it in caps lock. An abusive, spray-tanned, affluent egomaniac in a baggy suit with no redeeming qualities as a man, husband, father, and leader. The kind of adult you can't bring around because you're too ashamed and too worried about his behavior. Donald J. Trump is a person so fraught with hypocrisy and scandal that reasonable people are questioning whether he has a histrionic personality disorder or degenerative brain disease without a hint of hyperbole.

We now have a literal President who refuses to read long-form text and hasn’t finished a novel in five decades. A man so untethered from reality that he feels he has earned his right to be a criminal and that fondling women is genuinely appropriate. Not only will he do the crime, but he will brag about it publicly while simultaneously denying it and then turn around and gaslight whoever points out the behavior. Regardless of what you believe, or whether you think a narcissist can do good through bad in a vacuum, this is what conservative authoritarianism looks like and how it functions in the collective psyches of conservative America. Anybody who supports Donald Trump at this juncture is a certifiable dumbass or worse, a nihilistic troll. Conservativism has almost fully transitioned unto unbridled authoritarianism, and that's not hyperbole. Things have gotten so bad that hyperbole is dead.

^ The more we make sense of this the scarier the reality becomes. Even very local propositions are tainted: a prop for the City of Austin to run an outside audit has been linked to a Koch brothers effort to target cities from enacting local ordinances.

 

I'm voting straight ticket Dem. I don't know what else to do in my little sphere of influence. Thankfully most friends, coworkers, and some of my family are on the same page. There are a few apathetic/ignorant to it all. But those committed to the GOP are lost causes. In many cases it sucks because I grew up with these people: I love, respect, and relate to them in every other regard. So I hold my tongue and tune out their lame yet shameless trolling or else they will completely shut me out. They are like trying to reason with toddlers, an impossible feat, and even then they worse. Toddlers without a sense of empathy, curiosity, or wonder. The louder they are the more it reflects their own faults, failings, and insecurities. That's what is so dead on about the above post and all linked to it.

 

 

 

Sent from my SM-G920V using Tapatalk

I don't really know if there actually are more of us against Trump than those completely loyal to him now. Seems like it's split evenly in half. Either way, never in my life have I seen this degree of political polarization.

I know what it's like having people close to you whom you've known pretty much your whole life to now be on the opposite side. Guess this is a time when everybody's showing their true colors.

Edited October 8, 2018 by ambermonk

  On 10/8/2018 at 7:58 AM, ambermonk said:

I don't really know if there actually are more of us against Trump than those completely loyal to him now. Seems like it's split evenly in half. Either way, never in my life have I seen this degree of political polarization.

 

I know what it's like having people close to you whom you've known pretty much your whole life to now be on the opposite side. Guess this is a time when everybody's showing their true colors.

 

My "optimistic" side sees this as being the potential grace arising from harm here - i.e., the Trump presidency is so polarizing that it's forcing people who would normally have their opinions veiled by a cloak of seeming civility cast that off. It's not pleasant, or the way I'd like things to go down - but this country certainly has severely broken systems, and sometimes things have to break down completely to be built back up. 

 

Either way, in the moment, it makes me very sad. Wish people (myself included) could take a step back and focus more on how we're all alike, rather than trying to force one ideology down someone else's throat. 

  On 10/8/2018 at 5:31 PM, T3551ER said:

 Either way, in the moment, it makes me very sad. Wish people (myself included) could take a step back and focus more on how we're all alike, rather than trying to force one ideology down someone else's throat.

 

<3

there might be more people against Trump/GOP, but they've rigged the election system to their advantage so they'll have a grasp on power for the forseeable future. For change to occur, the non-GOP parties need to start winning back local houses of representatives and so on. Enact laws that will make it harder to gerrymander and disenfranchise voters.

  On 10/8/2018 at 6:08 PM, azatoth said:

there might be more people against Trump/GOP, but they've rigged the election system to their advantage so they'll have a grasp on power for the forseeable future. For change to occur, the non-GOP parties need to start winning back local houses of representatives and so on. Enact laws that will make it harder to gerrymander and disenfranchise voters.

 

 

  On 10/8/2018 at 7:58 AM, ambermonk said:

I don't really know if there actually are more of us against Trump than those completely loyal to him now. Seems like it's split evenly in half. Either way, never in my life have I seen this degree of political polarization.

 

I know what it's like having people close to you whom you've known pretty much your whole life to now be on the opposite side. Guess this is a time when everybody's showing their true colors.

 

These are both true.

 

There are more anti-Trumpers than Trump supporters. The problem is that includes those apathetic, ignorant, and "out of the loop" in terms of gauging firm political beliefs. I think those who regretted voting from Trump checked out awhile ago. The base is firm now. Getting the non-GOP majority to be as firm is a lot harder.

 

Two points about 2016: not only was is down to a very small portion of people in the rust belt via Electoral college and swing district dynamics, but many of those who decided it for Trump either voted for Obama or never voter at all previously. Likewise those who came out to vote for Obama in record numbers in 2008 didn't return in 2012 or 2016. There's a good chance Bernie would of swung the vote the other way because they voted against HRC more than they voted for Trump. Trump was either a "fuck it" vote for independents or a "fuck you vote" by bitter GOPers. Those rust belt middle america voters in key areas were really more of the former. Those who normally don't vote among the fringe far-right were the latter.

 

The GOP knows this, they exploit it tremendously. Their absurdly vague and deceitful rhetoric works because it preys on those who are both the most ignorant and more desperate for drastic change in their working-class slumps. It's also why they split up urban voting district blocks into rural districts where their platform is more appealing. The irony is the essentially stole the moderate Dem rhetoric of populism, stripped it of merit and nuance, weaponized it with more nationalist and bigoted tones, and now sell it hard to perpetuate the "us versus elitists" mentality. 

Edited October 8, 2018 by joshuatx

So I started reading Fahrenheit 451 having never gotten around to it as a teenager or college student, and I feel like one of those clinging onto find meaning and truth to no avail in real life but more as a private act of rebellion. I can't even fathom being an academic or intellectual under a full-fledged regime as people are and have been elsewhere. 

 

I think I might just bow out altogether, this thread included. The futility of it all. Desire to move offline into the middle of nowhere is high. 

 

Jair Bolsonaro is shaping up to be the Trump of Brazil. I guess dictatorships are the latest fashion trend.

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-45780176

 

  On 10/8/2018 at 9:02 PM, ambermonk said:

Jair Bolsonaro is shaping up to be the Trump of Brazil. I guess dictatorships are the latest fashion trend.

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-45780176

 

Yeah, Colombias new president is another right-wing nut.. but is kinda expected with the immense flood of people coming from Venezuela... it's all really fucking sad, puts problems here in Europe into perspective rlly

 

edit: I shouldnt draw the dictatorship parallel tho it's all incredibly complicated

Edited October 8, 2018 by MIXL2

My attitude is: all you can do is vote.

 

I think there were a lot of people who voted for Trump in 2016 that wouldn’t now. They thought he’d be reined in by congress(LOL). Many of those people would vote for some other conservative candidate instead. Which is why I’m hoping this whole thing blows back on the GOP without mercy. They’re financially linked to the whole foreign influence campaign.

  On 10/8/2018 at 9:02 PM, ambermonk said:

Jair Bolsonaro is shaping up to be the Trump of Brazil. I guess dictatorships are the latest fashion trend.

 

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-45780176

 

 

He'll sell the rainforests to the highest bidder then we are all fucked. It's been fun guys.

  On 10/9/2018 at 12:16 AM, tec said:

 

  On 10/8/2018 at 9:02 PM, ambermonk said:

Jair Bolsonaro is shaping up to be the Trump of Brazil. I guess dictatorships are the latest fashion trend.

 

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-45780176

 

He'll sell the rainforests to the highest bidder then we are all fucked. It's been fun guys.

 

 

 

sweet!  humans can be wiped off the planet sooner! and we'll have plenty of palm oil for everyone as we die.