US Politics

fucker still belongs in prison tho.

Erm. You could argue, and you probably should, that they're not the stupidest memes. They're the memes that are evolving in their environment.

For example:
Biden is a paedo does not replicate in lfgss

Trump is a dick does replicate in lfgss

Always surprises me how big a part religion plays in politics over there. I guess it’s the only way to win the Midwest and maybe even the south?

But clearly self enrichment/the economy is more important than jeebus otherwise Trump would never have gotten in in the first place.

Yeah. This is tough. Lots of East Coast Catholics, Midwest Protestants and Southern Baptists and general Evangelicals.

Personally I hate it. I am a huge believer in the separation of Church / State and have always been annoyed by even the "In God We Trust" on currency.

Also spending lots of time growing up in the city with the largest Baptist population in the US, I have developed a strong loathing of the underpinning behavioural hypocrisy of "Christians." Trump is a prime example of this hypocrisy. His personal life should leave him shunned by the people who selectively quote Bible passages to justify their prejudices, but they embrace him because "Jesus Forgives." The Bible allows them to hold those contradictions in their heads.

Trump is a strange one. If you actually pay attention to him, he's a blank canvas. He has no original thoughts of his own and his own speeches are word salads that people can, and have, interpreted with their own meaning. He is a terrible communicator in that respect, he cannot articulate a clear idea so people fill in the blanks on their own. I think it is why he was able to pull together such a broad coalition of traditional Republicans, evangelicals, working class, rich, poor, nationalists and racists.

Everyone was able to project what they wanted onto his flabby orange canvas.

They all feel betrayed for different reasons, but ultimately it reflects onto them. The "stab in the back" was watched real time and the knife wielder was their own guy. Trump has only ever been about Trump - he remains the thin skinned narcissist everyone warned about in 2015. But that was not what people wanted to see. It was a mass delusion.

Hopefully the spell will remain broken, a narrowly averted serious mistake. The Republicans will throw him under the bus in the impeachment. Trump will not be able to form a political party and run again. His "Brand" will forever be tainted and his kids will run his empire into the ground as his funding sources disappear.

It is unlikely that anyone will have enough charisma to form and run a Patriot Party. Pompeo? Tumps kids? Twitter based pundits? No. The current elected nut jobs will be turfed out at the next election as no one will fund them (Cruz and Hawley are dead in the water long term). You will still end up with the odd 2A idiot in place but the NRA are in for a long and expensive fight and their influence will wane until that is over.

After watching the past 5 years from afar but through the lenses of my family back home, I am hopeful long term that things will calm down. For all of its faults, the US is still a great place, but like everywhere else, it needs a lot of work. The side show has been exhausting and a terrible distraction to the important shit that needs doing. I'm looking forward to the boring functioning of a well organised government working towards the betterment of its people.

Surely even the trumpest of Trumpers must be able to hear that Biden speaks like a president?

Given that they didn't notice that Trump was wailing like a man-baby for the last 4 years and in the 4 years before that they saw Obama as a deranged muslim communist terrorist, no, they won't.

And that's the ones who were listening, not the ones who were just waiting for the promised Qanon events to happen.

It is unlikely that anyone will have enough charisma to form and run a Patriot Party. Trumps kids?

I would put money on this.

Trump wants a dynasty. Even if Trump couldn't run for president he could focus a movement still and support one of his children to make a run for office. No doubt Trump would charge his own children for speaking at rallys, but I wouldn't say this scenario is an unlikely one.

That he experiences no shame means that he's not gone off into the night silently not to be seen again.

Hmm. Not so sure about that. Trumps desire for legacy is about himself, and no one else.

I think his kids are a dead end for a couple of reasons

1. His sons couldn't blow their noses if you converted their brains to TNT
   
2. His daughter? Not so sure. Kushner is a weasel but I can't see them assembling a group of people smart enough to make a dent. They would immediately draw all kinds of toxic hangers on and fund raising would be a real challenge.
   
   

Also I don't think that amplification of false narratives will be as unchecked as it has been. Social media will be much more cautious and traditional media outlets will be far more aggressive in countering spokespeople. The fact that Parler is now hosted on Russian systems makes it fair game now for the CIA / NSA so that will be interesting to watch.

Again, I think the Trump brand is now ruined. Trump and Trumpism will become bywords for incompetent, nationalist politics.

I hope you are wrong and I am right.

I hope I am wrong too.

But Trump's hope for individual wealth, a pardon for himself, and various other things... would all improve if he could create a family dynasty and re-cast himself as the patriarch and source of power and wealth for it.

Of course I think that's deranged. But that's also why I think it's possible.

After watching the past 5 years from afar but through the lenses of my family back home, I am hopeful long term that things will calm down.

If Mitch McConnell spends the next 4 years acting like he did for the previous 8, there won't be much space for calming down.

After watching the past 5 years from afar but through the lenses of my family back home, I am hopeful long term that things will calm down.

There’s two types of power-seekers, in my experience. Those who will look at Qanon followers and think “OMG, these people need to be helped and this can never happen again”, and those who will think “This is a fantastic opportunity. How can I get these sheeple to do my bidding against their own interests?”.

It won’t be a good, boring government until the first ones overcome the second ones.

Patriot Party in 2020s

...Feels very 1920s in Europe...

Disillusioned , disenfranchised working class, hero worshipping their leader. Willing to go to all lengths for him. Rallies. Racism. Hatred.

His sons couldn't blow their noses

Probably cause they cant feel them.

Interesting about the pardon. He has the chance to do so for both himself and his family but was advised against it due to being on legally shaky ground. As much as he loves to play fast and loose with the law and lawsuits, I am surprised that he took that advice. But that might strengthen your argument about the dynasty.

https://edition.cnn.com/2021/01/19/politics/trump-self-pardon-warning/index.html

.

Mitch ain't in charge of the Senate anymore.

His sons couldn't blow their noses if you converted their brains to TNT

My daughters love this. New (virtual) playground insult incoming.

Interesting about the pardon.

Apprently he could have done it in private, and whip it out further down the line when he needs it. Not sure how reliable the source, but it seems like something Trump would try.

Trump supporters are not white, disenfranchised working class. They are white supremacist middle class.

disenfranchised working class

i suspect most of his support stems from the US equivalent of the comfortably middle class whites who are motivated by an aversion to having their privilege denuded.

Aren't working class people more likely to be from an immigrant communities?

/edit - yeah andy's comment above.

Trump supporters are not white, disenfranchised working class. They are white supremacist middle class.

I'm not sure that's the whole picture. Which way do you think that the white disenfranchised working class vote went?

Maybe no longer technically US politics but anyway - the Scottish Green party are pushing for an Unexplained Wealth Order to look into Trump's Scottish gowf course acquisitions, not sure if they're just trolling but hey...

https://www.scotsman.com/news/politics/first-minister-urged-use-legal-powers-investigate-finances-behind-donald-trumps-toxic-brand-3106876?fbclid=IwAR0S451AAz_fqKBUaWCV9mHvq2vb9_eL4Iv-y6DEq1dPoSKRGyNWoxTinCA

Ivanka could be the first female president. She could take all his supporters and brush off everything he did wrong to gain some of his detractors.

trump and all his lizard brood are done. even the proud boys are turning their nose up at him.

ted cruz is the next fucker / threat that needs to be taken down, along with the rest of the traitorous GOP

That doesn't matter so much if he can keep the GOP senators filibustering and completely avoiding any bipartisan activity.

I'm not sure that's the whole picture. Which way do you think that the white disenfranchised working class vote went?

Supposedly only 30% of trump supporters earn under the median wage in the US.

the "fuck your feelings" crowd is taking this well.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YaZz6yOH9Yc