Remember when Al Franken had to leave the Senate because he made a lewd joke years earlier as a comedian with another comedian? Democrats hold their people accountable for even tiny things.
Gillibrand went for him ferociously. All because a woman wanted or demanded he take a photo with her and he grabbed her fat roll and shook it. It startled her. lol. Then the photos came out where he was clowning around, which I thought were funny and not worthy of destroying his career.
MTG standing up for women may be personal for her but it's also a good political move. Stand up for women and against Trump and some people might think she'll stand up for minorities or at least not attack them (can anybody be as bad as Trump?), and white women are a large and important group to get behind you. She's not attacking minorities at the moment because she scores points standing up for women and against Trump right now. But tomorrow...
Waj says they're not stupid, they are low information voters. I don't know what to make of that kind of statement. Being a low information voter in a democracy is STUPID! You end up with presidents like Trump and George W. Bush. You get senators like (list all 53 GOP senators). You get a couple of hundred plus representatives like Marjorie Taylor Greene, James Comer, Lil Mikey Johnson, Nancy Mace, and all the other cretinous losers in the House GOP.
The evidence concerning the stupidity and ignorance of most American voters is overwhelming. Seventy-seven million Americans voted for a convicted felon who incited an insurrection, but we're supposed to think that is the result of low information? Be serious. All the information anyone needed in November 2024 to reject voting for Trump -- on the basis of an extraordinary number of obvious failings on his part that had been widely reported for years -- was readily available. Any one of them was sufficient to never vote for Trump, but no one failing or even all of them were enough to tell "low information" voters that a second Trump administration would be a disaster. Instead, those 77 million voters cast ballots to make Trump president again. But the problem is low information, not stupidity. Now, a year later we're seeing all the things that were predictable in 2024 happen right before our eyes.
Whether they are stupid or 'low information' is beside the point for the reason they voted for trump. They voted for him because he gave them permission to hate out in the open again and to let them be unapologeticly and unlawfully greedy.
They will burn it to the ground because they can't see beyond their in-the-moment selfish wants. Their kids/grands be damned. They don't think about protecting our water, soil and air because they aren't thinking beyond their own lifespan. It's selfishness in it's most extreme form.
"Whether they are stupid or 'low information' is beside the point for the reason they voted for trump."
I emphatically disagree. The single vote is the same, but the longer term implications may be very different. A low information voter can become a responsible voter by simply deciding to get more information from reliable sources. A stupid voter has no way to become smarter. People who are incapable of rational analysis and critical thinking are not got to suddenly decide to become better informed about history and economics, two critical areas of significant voter deficits. When someone is stupid, they are far more easily manipulated and are much more likely to believe conspiracy theories and lies.
Ignorance is the partner of stupidity in that stupid voters are not likely to understand, for example, the causes of inflation and who, if anyone is responsible. Voters blamed Biden, and by connection Harris, for the post-pandemic inflation. But Europe also suffered from a similar level of inflation -- a bit worse, in fact -- which makes it unlikely that Biden was actually responsible for the jump in inflation after the pandemic. If Biden wasn't responsible, then it made no sense to reject voting for Harris on the basis of "inflation blame." The other alternative was a notorious liar. An incompetent man well known for promising and never delivering. Stupid people might believe that Trump could or would change, but no one with a shred of intelligence would believe that would happen. And, of course, it hasn't. Trump, who is the personification of stupidity and ignorance, doesn't understand economics or tariffs and his pursuit of international trade vengeance because other countries have treated the US unfairly is about as stark an example of the costs of both stupidity and ignorance as is imaginable. Had he foregone tariffs and left the economy alone, there would likely have been no further inflation, and although he wasn't going to lower prices, at least they wouldn't have risen, which created the obvious gulf between his "on day one" promises and reality. It takes a significant level of both stupidity and ignorance to believe that a president was going to change the course of the economy "on day one." Now, if Biden had put reckless tariffs in place, and they had caused price increases, Trump actually could have done something "on day one" to begin to decrease prices -- end the Biden tariffs. Biden didn't impose new tariffs and that left Trump with no obvious mechanism to lower prices. Instead, he simply lied during his campaign, and even the dumbest and most ignorant voters are able to understand they are paying more at the grocery store and elsewhere.
Ignorance is largely voluntary, but stupidity is not. Even those of average intelligence can escape ignorance. Stupid people can't. They lack the ability to learn more and are stuck. When I said that being a low information voter was STUPID, that refers to a choice, not an inescapable personal condition. In a democracy, being a responsible voter is a choice and being a low information voter is a poor choice. It is not that most voters don't have the time to be better informed, it is that other things are often more important to them than taking the necessary steps to know and understand more so that one's votes are more likely to result in better choices.
"They voted for him because he gave them permission to hate out in the open again and to let them be unapologeticly and unlawfully greedy."
That is not the explanation for seventy-seven million voters. It works for MAGA cultists, but the Hispanics and young men who chose to vote for Trump, but many of whom switched back in 2024, in Virginia and New Jersey reveal a level of dumbness that is troubling in the long run. They didn't become better informed, they simply responded to prices that don't require either intelligence or being well informed to perceive. They go to the store and things cost more. Their paychecks don't go as far and they come up short or at least shorter each month.
Hate and bigotry have a role in the election of Trump and if we had lower levels of that on the right, Trump would not have won in 2024. However, the differences between 2016, 2020, and 2024 were not solely hate, as you state. Undoubtedly, hate and bigotry help Trump, but those three elections reveal quite different inputs and outcomes. In 2016, anyone who knew Trump's history, his bigotry and bankruptcies, were unlikely to vote for him unless they were low information voters (for whatever reason) or were strongly attracted to his racism and misogyny). Stupid people thought he was a good businessman because he had starred on a reality TV program and if they were also low information voters they didn't know much, if anything, factual about his history. He lost the popular vote, but benefited from the racist Electoral College and won the election.
In 2020, voters could see the four years of his administration and unless a voter was attracted to Trump's racism and misogyny there was not "good" reason to re-elect him. However, many stupid and ignorant voters still voted for him and he received a lot of votes, just not enough to beat Biden.
Four years later, we have the post-pandemic inflation, but we had also had Trump's insurrection and attempts to overturn an election. Stupid and very ignorant voters may have believed the election was stolen, but that was an extreme position. However, Trump's first objectively horrible first term was now a distant memory and very stupid and ignorant voters decided to believe his absurd campaign lies and this time he won not only the Electoral College, but the popular vote, as well. Of course, hate and bigotry were behind millions of votes, but not nearly enough to have him beat Harris, who, if you remember, did not lose by much. The difference, again, is stupid and ignorant voters who in what has to be considered the most irresponsible vote in US history, chose to ignore all the compelling reasons why Trump should never be president, and, instead, sashayed down fantasy lane in choosing him over Harris.
Hate and bigotry are not yet enough to deliver the presidency to the hateful and bigoted. The winning margin is provided by stupid, poorly informed voters who don't thing voting is important enough for them to seek out and rely on reputable, reliable sources of information. There are more good sources of information now than ever before, but the local sources have largely dried up and the traditional sources -- TV, cable news, and newspapers are often doing a poor job and must be used carefully. Substacks are now one way for people to get reliable information, but which Substack has the most subscribers? Bari Weiss's "Free Press," a hotbed of anti-woke nonsense. And whom did CBS just choose as the head of CBS News? Bari Weiss, who has no experience that would qualify her for such a position.
The real long term threat to democracy -- apart from the SCOTUS, which is doing its best to trash democracy and empower a dictator -- is the stupid and ignorant voter. We have to find a way to reach the ignorant and somehow get them to understand that they have a responsibility as citizens and they are failing badly in that responsibility.
I'll end this ridiculously long reply with a quote from Thomas Jefferson:
"If a nation expects to be ignorant and free, in a state of civilization, it expects what never was and never will be."
Remember when Al Franken had to leave the Senate because he made a lewd joke years earlier as a comedian with another comedian? Democrats hold their people accountable for even tiny things.
Cat, actually he didn't have to leave. He took the high road and did it on his own so he wouldn't damage the party.
He paid the price of the guilt the party held for not making Bill Clinton pay any price.
Gillibrand went for him ferociously. All because a woman wanted or demanded he take a photo with her and he grabbed her fat roll and shook it. It startled her. lol. Then the photos came out where he was clowning around, which I thought were funny and not worthy of destroying his career.
Heard from Aaron Parnas. the USA has been downgraded 'Civilly'.
We have to fix the Supreme Court
Like snakes shedding their skin, Waj. You're right. Rework the message and proceed. DON'T TRUST ANY OF THEM.
A snake only sheds its skin to become a bigger snake.
I can’t trust it.
Her hooliganism during the State of the Union Address defines her.
She looked like a howler monkey. Just, no.
We still have 36% idiots. OMG
MTG standing up for women may be personal for her but it's also a good political move. Stand up for women and against Trump and some people might think she'll stand up for minorities or at least not attack them (can anybody be as bad as Trump?), and white women are a large and important group to get behind you. She's not attacking minorities at the moment because she scores points standing up for women and against Trump right now. But tomorrow...
Does "standing up for women" score any points with the more than 60% of white women who voted for Trump three times?
Yes, don’t trust any maga
Tax the billionaires
MAGA men feel threatened by women's empowerment.
Waj says they're not stupid, they are low information voters. I don't know what to make of that kind of statement. Being a low information voter in a democracy is STUPID! You end up with presidents like Trump and George W. Bush. You get senators like (list all 53 GOP senators). You get a couple of hundred plus representatives like Marjorie Taylor Greene, James Comer, Lil Mikey Johnson, Nancy Mace, and all the other cretinous losers in the House GOP.
The evidence concerning the stupidity and ignorance of most American voters is overwhelming. Seventy-seven million Americans voted for a convicted felon who incited an insurrection, but we're supposed to think that is the result of low information? Be serious. All the information anyone needed in November 2024 to reject voting for Trump -- on the basis of an extraordinary number of obvious failings on his part that had been widely reported for years -- was readily available. Any one of them was sufficient to never vote for Trump, but no one failing or even all of them were enough to tell "low information" voters that a second Trump administration would be a disaster. Instead, those 77 million voters cast ballots to make Trump president again. But the problem is low information, not stupidity. Now, a year later we're seeing all the things that were predictable in 2024 happen right before our eyes.
Whether they are stupid or 'low information' is beside the point for the reason they voted for trump. They voted for him because he gave them permission to hate out in the open again and to let them be unapologeticly and unlawfully greedy.
They will burn it to the ground because they can't see beyond their in-the-moment selfish wants. Their kids/grands be damned. They don't think about protecting our water, soil and air because they aren't thinking beyond their own lifespan. It's selfishness in it's most extreme form.
"Whether they are stupid or 'low information' is beside the point for the reason they voted for trump."
I emphatically disagree. The single vote is the same, but the longer term implications may be very different. A low information voter can become a responsible voter by simply deciding to get more information from reliable sources. A stupid voter has no way to become smarter. People who are incapable of rational analysis and critical thinking are not got to suddenly decide to become better informed about history and economics, two critical areas of significant voter deficits. When someone is stupid, they are far more easily manipulated and are much more likely to believe conspiracy theories and lies.
Ignorance is the partner of stupidity in that stupid voters are not likely to understand, for example, the causes of inflation and who, if anyone is responsible. Voters blamed Biden, and by connection Harris, for the post-pandemic inflation. But Europe also suffered from a similar level of inflation -- a bit worse, in fact -- which makes it unlikely that Biden was actually responsible for the jump in inflation after the pandemic. If Biden wasn't responsible, then it made no sense to reject voting for Harris on the basis of "inflation blame." The other alternative was a notorious liar. An incompetent man well known for promising and never delivering. Stupid people might believe that Trump could or would change, but no one with a shred of intelligence would believe that would happen. And, of course, it hasn't. Trump, who is the personification of stupidity and ignorance, doesn't understand economics or tariffs and his pursuit of international trade vengeance because other countries have treated the US unfairly is about as stark an example of the costs of both stupidity and ignorance as is imaginable. Had he foregone tariffs and left the economy alone, there would likely have been no further inflation, and although he wasn't going to lower prices, at least they wouldn't have risen, which created the obvious gulf between his "on day one" promises and reality. It takes a significant level of both stupidity and ignorance to believe that a president was going to change the course of the economy "on day one." Now, if Biden had put reckless tariffs in place, and they had caused price increases, Trump actually could have done something "on day one" to begin to decrease prices -- end the Biden tariffs. Biden didn't impose new tariffs and that left Trump with no obvious mechanism to lower prices. Instead, he simply lied during his campaign, and even the dumbest and most ignorant voters are able to understand they are paying more at the grocery store and elsewhere.
Ignorance is largely voluntary, but stupidity is not. Even those of average intelligence can escape ignorance. Stupid people can't. They lack the ability to learn more and are stuck. When I said that being a low information voter was STUPID, that refers to a choice, not an inescapable personal condition. In a democracy, being a responsible voter is a choice and being a low information voter is a poor choice. It is not that most voters don't have the time to be better informed, it is that other things are often more important to them than taking the necessary steps to know and understand more so that one's votes are more likely to result in better choices.
"They voted for him because he gave them permission to hate out in the open again and to let them be unapologeticly and unlawfully greedy."
That is not the explanation for seventy-seven million voters. It works for MAGA cultists, but the Hispanics and young men who chose to vote for Trump, but many of whom switched back in 2024, in Virginia and New Jersey reveal a level of dumbness that is troubling in the long run. They didn't become better informed, they simply responded to prices that don't require either intelligence or being well informed to perceive. They go to the store and things cost more. Their paychecks don't go as far and they come up short or at least shorter each month.
Hate and bigotry have a role in the election of Trump and if we had lower levels of that on the right, Trump would not have won in 2024. However, the differences between 2016, 2020, and 2024 were not solely hate, as you state. Undoubtedly, hate and bigotry help Trump, but those three elections reveal quite different inputs and outcomes. In 2016, anyone who knew Trump's history, his bigotry and bankruptcies, were unlikely to vote for him unless they were low information voters (for whatever reason) or were strongly attracted to his racism and misogyny). Stupid people thought he was a good businessman because he had starred on a reality TV program and if they were also low information voters they didn't know much, if anything, factual about his history. He lost the popular vote, but benefited from the racist Electoral College and won the election.
In 2020, voters could see the four years of his administration and unless a voter was attracted to Trump's racism and misogyny there was not "good" reason to re-elect him. However, many stupid and ignorant voters still voted for him and he received a lot of votes, just not enough to beat Biden.
Four years later, we have the post-pandemic inflation, but we had also had Trump's insurrection and attempts to overturn an election. Stupid and very ignorant voters may have believed the election was stolen, but that was an extreme position. However, Trump's first objectively horrible first term was now a distant memory and very stupid and ignorant voters decided to believe his absurd campaign lies and this time he won not only the Electoral College, but the popular vote, as well. Of course, hate and bigotry were behind millions of votes, but not nearly enough to have him beat Harris, who, if you remember, did not lose by much. The difference, again, is stupid and ignorant voters who in what has to be considered the most irresponsible vote in US history, chose to ignore all the compelling reasons why Trump should never be president, and, instead, sashayed down fantasy lane in choosing him over Harris.
Hate and bigotry are not yet enough to deliver the presidency to the hateful and bigoted. The winning margin is provided by stupid, poorly informed voters who don't thing voting is important enough for them to seek out and rely on reputable, reliable sources of information. There are more good sources of information now than ever before, but the local sources have largely dried up and the traditional sources -- TV, cable news, and newspapers are often doing a poor job and must be used carefully. Substacks are now one way for people to get reliable information, but which Substack has the most subscribers? Bari Weiss's "Free Press," a hotbed of anti-woke nonsense. And whom did CBS just choose as the head of CBS News? Bari Weiss, who has no experience that would qualify her for such a position.
The real long term threat to democracy -- apart from the SCOTUS, which is doing its best to trash democracy and empower a dictator -- is the stupid and ignorant voter. We have to find a way to reach the ignorant and somehow get them to understand that they have a responsibility as citizens and they are failing badly in that responsibility.
I'll end this ridiculously long reply with a quote from Thomas Jefferson:
"If a nation expects to be ignorant and free, in a state of civilization, it expects what never was and never will be."
SCOTUS is changing our Constitution with all the far right (Heritage Foundation) plan.
it is and we need to be on alert
This regime is all about cruelty. They hate themselves and are afraid of the 'other'.
Look at Trump illegal claiming the homestead taxes
When maga out expanded the Supreme Court
Racist gerrymandering Texas that is already gerrymandered