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493

New Trump poll proves Obama and Clinton were right: The GOP base are deplorable, bitter clingers (www.salon.com)

submitted 10 months ago by BagOfHammers to c/politics

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[–] Zombiepirate 144 points 10 months ago (4 children)

She put my recent thoughts into words: they simply can NOT admit that they were wrong about Trump, especially since they've curated their new identity around him.

After all, many sacrificed their family life on the altar of Trump. If you make a stand for bigotry that's so rancid it drives your kids to sever contact, you have to believe it's in service of something higher or else come to grips with your own moral failings. I know which one I believe is more likely.

It's the rotten core of the anti-intellectual ideology that the right has been pushing for decades.

[–] [email protected] 39 points 10 months ago (2 children)

This. I can't solve this, and neither can any other individual person.

It will take a wide spread implosion, but they've got a resilient ecosystem that will just switch messianic figures out once Trump is no longer able to hold public sway.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 10 months ago

And if they don't switch, it may straight-up become religious

[–] CADmonkey 28 points 10 months ago

Sunk Cost Fallacy for president

[–] DarthBueller 10 points 10 months ago

Anti-intellectual theology as well. "God and Country" evangelical churches from the smallest to the largest find it absolutely crucial to brainwash their congregations against higher ed and critical thinking.

[+] [email protected] 5 points 10 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago) (3 children)

[deleted]

[–] Lemminary 13 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago)

Anti-intellectualism is an American trait

But tbf, it's not uniquely American *rubs temples while staring at own country*

[–] Cryophilia 5 points 10 months ago (1 children)

True. I think we're fortunate in that anti intellectualism (and just plain old stupidity) is less common on the left, and tends to be more harmless when it is there.

[–] DarthBueller 7 points 10 months ago

I'm left but the tankies are idiots and their ideology requires sticking your fingers in your ears and pretending history didn't happen. Though lemmy is the first time I encountered large numbers of such folk.

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[–] Spacebar 71 points 10 months ago (5 children)

"...the first rule of MAGA is to never, ever, under any circumstances, admit that liberals might be right about something."

People in cults stay in them for the same reasons. So many times, they were told they were wrong, that they couldn't take the embarrassment of making such a mistake.

Maybe MAGA people need to be coddled a bit. Tell them that Trump changed towards the end. They were right, but he betrayed them in the end. Something else should be tried. Many of these people are dangerous in the mental state their in.

[–] [email protected] 34 points 10 months ago (2 children)

Maybe. But this just kicks the can down the road. They'll do the same shit with a new messiah figure as soon as they find one that can string two words together and make them feel like they're virtuous for their hatred.

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[+] [email protected] 25 points 10 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago) (2 children)

[removed by mod]

[–] Cryophilia 13 points 10 months ago (1 children)

They need to be forced to accept responsibility

I won't hold my breath.

The only solution is the California model: vote them into powerlessness. They'll never change. Just leave them to their impotent rage while the rest of us move on.

[–] DarthBueller 7 points 10 months ago (4 children)

You forget that California actually allows for a fair amount of direct democracy - the South will cling to Republican government and will fight any movement toward direct democracy and ballot initiatives because every effort to appeal to their base would be defeated.

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[–] Cabrio 4 points 10 months ago

Exactly, some people deserve to get exactly what they want, fuck em.

[–] Astroturfed 11 points 10 months ago (1 children)

He pretended to want to help them during his campaign. They fell for it and just ignored all facts and evidence since. Doubt they're going to see the light.

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[–] DoctorTYVM 48 points 10 months ago (4 children)

Clinton was right about everything. In 20 years its going to be really hard to explain why she wasn't the obvious choice who should have won by a landslide

[–] krashmo 38 points 10 months ago (4 children)

No it isn't. She wasn't relatable or likeable at all. People wanted an outsider and HRC is about as much of an insider as you could be.

[–] [email protected] 34 points 10 months ago (3 children)

Where are the Bernie bros that dude would have won.

[–] lolrightythen 64 points 10 months ago

We're depressed. Leave us out of this

[–] UristMcHolland 19 points 10 months ago (2 children)

I will never forgive the DNC

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[–] PRUSSIA_x86 10 points 10 months ago

[–] AbidanYre 28 points 10 months ago (5 children)

She wasn't relatable or likeable at all

Neither is Trump. Hillary was obviously the better choice.

[–] [email protected] 30 points 10 months ago (12 children)

Hillary was obviously the better choice given the 2, but DNC shafted Bernie on record, which caused a lot of people to go 3rd party, against both RNC and DNC.

[–] [email protected] 12 points 10 months ago (1 children)

Debbie Wasserman Schultz

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[–] [email protected] 11 points 10 months ago (1 children)

Trump was relatable and likable to his supporters. Clinton couldn't say the same except for a small number of them. It's become tradition in the Democratic Party to hold your nose when you vote for president.

As an example of her lack of relatability and likeability, here she is chilling in Cedar Rapids and telling kids to Pokemon Go to the polls.

[–] AbidanYre 10 points 10 months ago (2 children)

As an example of Trump's relatability, here's where he lives

[–] krische 7 points 10 months ago

But that is relatable to his supporters, he's living their dreams. If they were rich, they'd want you have sex with porn stars and live in a gold penthouse.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 10 months ago

Considering his supporters think they're all temporarily embarrassed millionaires, that is relatable to them.

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[–] [email protected] 22 points 10 months ago (1 children)

Trump is about as likeable as a rabid dingo. Clinton was better in absolutely every way to people with two neurons to rub together.

[–] krashmo 6 points 10 months ago (1 children)

It doesn't take much to be better than Trump. Still, Clinton campaigned as if winning was a foregone conclusion and then she found out that it wasn't.

[–] DarthBueller 7 points 10 months ago (2 children)

Some of us remember the 90's, and the ubiquitous bumper stickers implying that while Bill was President, Hillary was in charge. Playing on sexist tropes, calling her a bitch of the canine variety, "I didn't vote for Hillary," "She's not my president," etc.. Hillary was well hated before she ever ran for President.

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[–] SCB 5 points 10 months ago

People who want outsiders are, it turns out, dumb and wrong

[–] [email protected] 32 points 10 months ago (1 children)

It's actually an easy explanation.

People were more concerned with a Democrat being likeable, after decades of character assassination, while they didn't care that the republican was a criminal, and also foreign interference and an FBI that was paralyzed by biased agents and management fear of appearing biased, actual outcomes be damned.

It was a perfect storm of regressive misinformation and every individual with the ability to stop the train wreck trying to cover their own asses and pass the buck instead.

[–] kameecoding 11 points 10 months ago (1 children)

wasn't this also the election that was heavily influenced by Cambridge Analytica? while Facebook being the biggest social media site in thebworld/us?

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[–] [email protected] 21 points 10 months ago (1 children)

She didn’t even campaign in Michigan thinking it was a sure thing. She ran a terrible campaign.

[–] DoctorTYVM 15 points 10 months ago

I'm sure that will be something people in 20years understand. She didn't campaign well enough so we elected a narcissistic sociopath who bragged about grabbing women by the genitals and then fucked our country into fascism.

But her emails...

[–] Astroturfed 18 points 10 months ago (2 children)

Everything is a bit of a stretch. She was certainly wrong about how she ran her campaign. Poisoning the well in the primary worked out so fucking well for her. It was her turn, she earned it. No reason to convince the voters to show up by campaigning, or creating a platform people were excited about. Just say how bad Bernie is, then how bad trump is a few times and hide.

[–] SCB 10 points 10 months ago (4 children)

"Poisoning the well" aka "winning by 3 million votes"

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[–] [email protected] 6 points 10 months ago (3 children)

Yeah, the DNC clearing the field for her looks really bad in hindsight. A lot would be different if Biden had run in 2016 when the whole Bidenbro phenomenon was really popular.