1 minute ago, xzmattzx said:

How is that different than anyone else?  Didn't Obama say in support of Congressional candidates that the election was about him, for instance?  Will candidates piggyback onto Biden in 2022?

The point is that Trump intentionally appointed unqualified people for positions of power, because it guaranteed their loyalty.  I mean, you can disagree with the choices that Obama (or Bush or Clinton, etc.) made in regards to who they chose to work for them, but the vast majority of them were qualified.  Trump's weren't.  And that was by design.

2 minutes ago, VanHammersly said:

The point is that Trump intentionally appointed unqualified people for positions of power, because it guaranteed their loyalty.  I mean, you can disagree with the choices that Obama (or Bush or Clinton, etc.) made in regards to who they chose to work for them, but the vast majority of them were qualified.  Trump's weren't.  And that was by design.

What? Being the daughter of a con man doesn't qualify you for a West Wing job? Marrying that daughter and being a slum lord doesn't qualify you to solve every problem in the world?

Your standards are too high.

 

I like it.

30 minutes ago, xzmattzx said:

How is that different than anyone else?  Didn't Obama say in support of Congressional candidates that the election was about him, for instance?  Will candidates piggyback onto Biden in 2022?

What you say is true. Candidates down-ballot will hitch their wagon to whomever is leading the party, because the candidate gains exposure. That stuff will always happen.

That's not what I'm talking about. What I am talking about is the MyPillow CEO. The Goya product placements... The former gym owner YouTuber running for office.... These lower-tier elites (or not elite at all) who were ignored or shunned, but curry favor to Trump in order to inflate their worth.

50 minutes ago, VanHammersly said:

Explains why people like Kz are such fans.

You make fun of Kz, but I don't blame him. Nobody is speaking for the common folk in rural Middle America. They have fooled themselves into thinking Trump cares about them, even if he does absolutely nothing to help. Because at least Trump attempts to talk down to them.

 

1 minute ago, toolg said:

You make fun of Kz, but I don't blame him. Nobody is speaking for the common folk in rural Middle America. They have fooled themselves into thinking Trump cares about them, even if he does absolutely nothing to help. Because at least Trump attempts to talk down to them.

 

I disagree 100%.  Literally, every politician caters to Middle America.  Everything is geared towards never speaking ill of them, every campaign stop is a podunk fair or corndog festival, making sure they're represented in government, making sure they don't feel left out, etc.  For instance, watch politicians casually bash the coasts and the cities.  Happens literally everyday.  Now, see if you ever see a politician say something remotely negative about farmers or people living in the country.  It never, ever happens.  Not to mention, they're catered to with very accepted socialism in the form of farm subsidies (one thing that both sides are more than happy to endorse, while one side bashes socialism for people living in the cities), expansion of broadband (to places where the ROI doesn't work, so it's literally a handout from the cities to the country), upkeep of rural roads and services, and then of course all the social programs that people in rural, Middle America draw from (while simultaneously screaming about how it's socialism).  

What Trump did was speak to their fears.  And they loved it.  But guess what?  No one should be feeding the grievance machine that these people need in their feedback loop.  It's completely unhealthy, for them and for the country at large.  In much the same way that liberal politicians shouldn't be feeding the racism feedback loop, the Trump grievance machine is designed to keep these people victimized.  And it works.  They get absolutely nothing out of it except a person who whines in the way they want them to whine.  If they want actual results, they'll look at specific policies and decide what works best for them.  And if they're not going to do that and instead choose someone who preys on their most unhealthy instincts, then they'll get nothing tangible and deserve exactly what's coming to them.

Ho.... leee.... ish.... the stage at CPAC is a symbol from the notzee SS

 

The new and improved GOP

Three Percenter Truck at Capitol on Jan. 6 Belongs to Hitler-Quoting Rep’s Husband

https://www.thedailybeast.com/rep-mary-millers-husband-owns-three-percenter-militia-truck-at-capitol-riot

49 minutes ago, Smokesdawg said:

Ho.... leee.... ish.... the stage at CPAC is a symbol from the notzee SS

 

I do appreciate the fact that they're not trying to hide it as much anymore. 

1 hour ago, VanHammersly said:

I disagree 100%.  Literally, every politician caters to Middle America.  Everything is geared towards never speaking ill of them, every campaign stop is a podunk fair or corndog festival, making sure they're represented in government, making sure they don't feel left out, etc.  For instance, watch politicians casually bash the coasts and the cities.  Happens literally everyday.  Now, see if you ever see a politician say something remotely negative about farmers or people living in the country.  It never, ever happens.  Not to mention, they're catered to with very accepted socialism in the form of farm subsidies (one thing that both sides are more than happy to endorse, while one side bashes socialism for people living in the cities), expansion of broadband (to places where the ROI doesn't work, so it's literally a handout from the cities to the country), upkeep of rural roads and services, and then of course all the social programs that people in rural, Middle America draw from (while simultaneously screaming about how it's socialism).  

What Trump did was speak to their fears.  And they loved it.  But guess what?  No one should be feeding the grievance machine that these people need in their feedback loop.  It's completely unhealthy, for them and for the country at large.  In much the same way that liberal politicians shouldn't be feeding the racism feedback loop, the Trump grievance machine is designed to keep these people victimized.  And it works.  They get absolutely nothing out of it except a person who whines in the way they want them to whine.  If they want actual results, they'll look at specific policies and decide what works best for them.  And if they're not going to do that and instead choose someone who preys on their most unhealthy instincts, then they'll get nothing tangible and deserve exactly what's coming to them.

I don't disagree. Flyover America is being pandered to. But it's smoke and mirrors. It's the elites, the lobbyists and big business, who is really running America. They are winning the arguments in Washington, leaving peanuts behind for the rest of us to fight over. Maybe you don't realize how much modernization and globalization has left rural America behind? Instead of changing their ways, rural America is stuck in a rut and their leaders encourage it. The small town politicians, instead of taking any of the heat, they blame the coastal elites, the libs, immigrants, and outsiders. "They're to blame, not us." Small town America has gobbled up their lies. It doesn't matter whether a politician is D or R, they're working for the same elites. They divided the common folk equally along party lines, because if we were to unite we would crust them.

1 hour ago, Smokesdawg said:

Ho.... leee.... ish.... the stage at CPAC is a symbol from the notzee SS

 

Surprised?

That's why anybody who speaks on that stage this week is literally Fascist.

4 hours ago, we_gotta_believe said:

He laughed when I said Trump's actions leading up to Jan put those seats, and by extension, control of the Senate, in danger. He said the Senate was a lock to remain under Republican control. 

I don't recall saying that

4 hours ago, VanHammersly said:

Something, something, Warnock’s up for re-election in 2 years...

Well now that you mention it...

58 minutes ago, toolg said:

Surprised?

That's why anybody who speaks on that stage this week is literally Fascist.

Wow.

 

Just wow.

1 hour ago, toolg said:

I don't disagree. Flyover America is being pandered to. But it's smoke and mirrors. It's the elites, the lobbyists and big business, who is really running America. They are winning the arguments in Washington, leaving peanuts behind for the rest of us to fight over. Maybe you don't realize how much modernization and globalization has left rural America behind? Instead of changing their ways, rural America is stuck in a rut and their leaders encourage it. The small town politicians, instead of taking any of the heat, they blame the coastal elites, the libs, immigrants, and outsiders. "They're to blame, not us." Small town America has gobbled up their lies. It doesn't matter whether a politician is D or R, they're working for the same elites. They divided the common folk equally along party lines, because if we were to unite we would crust them.

They are pandered to and lied to. The truth is - the manufacturing jobs aren’t coming back, family farms can’t compete and they can’t live like daddy and granddaddy did. But they don’t want to hear the truth, and politicians won’t get elected by being honest. So we have to accept this insane reality where it is my fault that the family farm can’t compete with multi-national corporations, and manufacturing jobs go to cheaper locations. 
 

Get a bunch of ignorant fools and watch dishonest politicians lie to them. 

I thought this had to be a joke.

It isn't.

10 hours ago, Smokesdawg said:

These heretics have never read the Bible. 

Their theme song

 

3 hours ago, VanHammersly said:

I disagree 100%.  Literally, every politician caters to Middle America.  Everything is geared towards never speaking ill of them, every campaign stop is a podunk fair or corndog festival, making sure they're represented in government, making sure they don't feel left out, etc.  For instance, watch politicians casually bash the coasts and the cities.  Happens literally everyday.  Now, see if you ever see a politician say something remotely negative about farmers or people living in the country.  It never, ever happens.  Not to mention, they're catered to with very accepted socialism in the form of farm subsidies (one thing that both sides are more than happy to endorse, while one side bashes socialism for people living in the cities), expansion of broadband (to places where the ROI doesn't work, so it's literally a handout from the cities to the country), upkeep of rural roads and services, and then of course all the social programs that people in rural, Middle America draw from (while simultaneously screaming about how it's socialism).  

What Trump did was speak to their fears.  And they loved it.  But guess what?  No one should be feeding the grievance machine that these people need in their feedback loop.  It's completely unhealthy, for them and for the country at large.  In much the same way that liberal politicians shouldn't be feeding the racism feedback loop, the Trump grievance machine is designed to keep these people victimized.  And it works.  They get absolutely nothing out of it except a person who whines in the way they want them to whine.  If they want actual results, they'll look at specific policies and decide what works best for them.  And if they're not going to do that and instead choose someone who preys on their most unhealthy instincts, then they'll get nothing tangible and deserve exactly what's coming to them.

LOL.

Oh wait, you're serious?

Just quickly off the top of my head.  Obama said people in rural areas cling to their guns and religion.  Said manufacturing workers can just learn to code, those jobs aren't coming back.  Said it was a problem that people in rural areas only watch Fox News (didn't say the same for those that only watch MSNBC).

Many people in rural areas also see the liberal agenda (right or wrong, it's their perception) as focused on woke things like politicians declaring their pronouns, hyping trans issues (trans people are such a small percentage of people).  People in cities talking about climate change and taking care of the environment to people in rural areas is a joke not going to be taken seriously by them.  Things like banning plastic straws become a meme because it's silly.  There are homeless people in SF pooping on the streets, but thankfully straws are banned. 

Then you have the first stimulus:  workers who can't work from home on a laptop and have to be there were laid off, business shut down and struggling.  And what did Democrats try to argue to get into the stimulus bill?  A woke PC agenda to make sure there is a quota of diverse executives.   Actions speak louder than words, or photo ops at the county fair when it's campaign season.

It's a general perception about the "coastal elites."  Many Democrats in politics and media have talked and written about this issue, that they need to get back to really speaking to the middle class.  

Yes you're right, literally every politician makes statements with general cliches about working families and creating jobs and they do their obligatory campaign stops in rural areas.  They get their photo ops.  Everyone knows those things are meaningless and empty.  People see through the BS and they know if they are really cared about or not. Hillary famously didn't even bother campaigning in many of these areas and lost them.

Even just calling them the "flyover states."  Imagine being constantly told you don't matter.  And like it or not, the media plays a big part.  The right and left wing media both feed their viewers propaganda and negative stereotypes and fear mongering.  The left wing media has on so many occasions insulted and mocked and even laughed at people in rural areas.  

Many Democrats have acknowledged that their bread and butter for decades was the working class and they started to focus on the coastal elites and woke PC agendas instead of what wins elections.  The woke people are going to vote Democrat anyway.  Chris Matthews and Bill Maher have said this a lot, for a couple examples.

8 minutes ago, NOTW said:

LOL.

Oh wait, you're serious?

Just quickly off the top of my head.  Obama said people in rural areas cling to their guns and religion.  Said manufacturing workers can just learn to code, those jobs aren't coming back.  Said it was a problem that people in rural areas only watch Fox News (didn't say the same for those that only watch MSNBC).

Many people in rural areas also see the liberal agenda (right or wrong, it's their perception) as focused on woke things like politicians declaring their pronouns, hyping trans issues (trans people are such a small percentage of people).  People in cities talking about climate change and taking care of the environment to people in rural areas is a joke not going to be taken seriously by them.  Things like banning plastic straws become a meme because it's silly.  There are homeless people in SF pooping on the streets, but thankfully straws are banned. 

Then you have the first stimulus:  workers who can't work from home on a laptop and have to be there were laid off, business shut down and struggling.  And what did Democrats try to argue to get into the stimulus bill?  A woke PC agenda to make sure there is a quota of diverse executives.   Actions speak louder than words, or photo ops at the county fair when it's campaign season.

It's a general perception about the "coastal elites."  Many Democrats in politics and media have talked and written about this issue, that they need to get back to really speaking to the middle class.  

Yes you're right, literally every politician makes statements with general cliches about working families and creating jobs and they do their obligatory campaign stops in rural areas.  They get their photo ops.  Everyone knows those things are meaningless and empty.  People see through the BS and they know if they are really cared about or not. Hillary famously didn't even bother campaigning in many of these areas and lost them.

Even just calling them the "flyover states."  Imagine being constantly told you don't matter.  And like it or not, the media plays a big part.  The right and left wing media both feed their viewers propaganda and negative stereotypes and fear mongering.  The left wing media has on so many occasions insulted and mocked and even laughed at people in rural areas.  

Many Democrats have acknowledged that their bread and butter for decades was the working class and they started to focus on the coastal elites and woke PC agendas instead of what wins elections.  The woke people are going to vote Democrat anyway.  Chris Matthews and Bill Maher have said this a lot, for a couple examples.

They matter way more than they should. 

9 hours ago, vikas83 said:

They are pandered to and lied to. The truth is - the manufacturing jobs aren’t coming back, family farms can’t compete and they can’t live like daddy and granddaddy did. But they don’t want to hear the truth, and politicians won’t get elected by being honest. So we have to accept this insane reality where it is my fault that the family farm can’t compete with multi-national corporations, and manufacturing jobs go to cheaper locations. 
 

Get a bunch of ignorant fools and watch dishonest politicians lie to them. 

Trump blames immigrants and foreign nations. The left flank blames you Vikas and wants to take your wealth and hand it to people whose skin color passes the "dark enough” test. 

House Republicans Slated For CPAC Blame Absence From Congress On ‘Public Health Emergency’

https://www.forbes.com/sites/andrewsolender/2021/02/26/house-republicans-slated-for-cpac-blame-absence-from-congress-on-public-health-emergency/?sh=6f21882b1578

 

So what's next for the GOP is more of the same; lies and wing nuttery.

The funny thing about Obama's guns and religion comment is, in context, how damn accurate it was:

 

But the truth is that, it's our challenge to get people to be persuaded that we can make progress when there's no evidence of that in their daily lives. You go into some of these small towns in Pennsylvania, and like a lot of small towns in the Midwest, the jobs have been gone now for 25 years and nothing's replaced them. And they fell through the Clinton administration, and the Bush administration, and each successive administration has said that somehow these communities are gonna regenerate and they have not. So it's not surprising then that they get bitter, they cling to guns or religion or antipathy to people who aren't like them or anti-immigrant sentiment or anti-trade sentiment as a way to explain their frustrations.

-Obama 2007

 

Telling it like it is back 14 years ago.

3 hours ago, JohnSnowsHair said:

The funny thing about Obama's guns and religion comment is, in context, how damn accurate it was:

 

But the truth is that, it's our challenge to get people to be persuaded that we can make progress when there's no evidence of that in their daily lives. You go into some of these small towns in Pennsylvania, and like a lot of small towns in the Midwest, the jobs have been gone now for 25 years and nothing's replaced them. And they fell through the Clinton administration, and the Bush administration, and each successive administration has said that somehow these communities are gonna regenerate and they have not. So it's not surprising then that they get bitter, they cling to guns or religion or antipathy to people who aren't like them or anti-immigrant sentiment or anti-trade sentiment as a way to explain their frustrations.

-Obama 2007

 

Telling it like it is back 14 years ago.

Now then add on the last 14 years since 2007 where they've also been told they are the root of all evil and that they are inherently racist due to their pale skin and that they should just shut their Fing privileged mouths up.  That's a nice little combo.

 

 

edit: The above post is a sloppy post lacking nuance and deserves to get whacked for the lack of narrowing clarity.  I did not make it clear that I meant the "left fringe" here and not the Democratic Party.  I should also have explained that I was reflecting the information poor whitey (and especially poor rural righty) has been fed this view time and time again from the right media.

Republicans sued over proxy voting in the pandemic. Now they're using it to speak at CPAC.

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2021/02/27/republicans-opposed-proxy-voting-covid-pandemic-using-it-cpac/6840284002/

Because a pandemic is no excuse. .. except for CPAC, then the pandemic is a great excuse.

41 minutes ago, DrPhilly said:

Now then add on the last 14 years since 2007 where they've also been told they are the root of all evil and that they are inherently racist due to their pale skin and that they should just shut their Fing privileged mouths up.  That's a nice little combo.

That's some nice victim complex projection going on.

Who TF is calling them the "root of all evil"? When crazy right wingers call everyone to the left of Hitler a commie I don't go off thinking the entirety of the right is condemning the left. Why do the "woke left" radicals supposedly represent the entirety of thinking for these supposed victims?

51 minutes ago, JohnSnowsHair said:

That's some nice victim complex projection going on.

Who TF is calling them the "root of all evil"? When crazy right wingers call everyone to the left of Hitler a commie I don't go off thinking the entirety of the right is condemning the left. Why do the "woke left" radicals supposedly represent the entirety of thinking for these supposed victims?

The woke left fringe.  They've framed the discussion in that manner.  Not the entire Democrat Party by any stretch BUT of course the media picks up the fringe.  Works like that in both directions I'm afraid.  The more radical ideas get the publicity.

Where in my post did I say the woke left radicals represent the entirety of thinking for anything?  The left fringe sets the narrative and the right wing media embellished it an ran with it.  My post was sloppy no doubt.  I've added a clarifying edit note.

 

btw - What do you mean by "projection"?  I don't feel at all targeted if you think I'm projecting my own feelings.  If that's what you mean then you'd be wrong.