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[Iduno]

I imagine there's a great deal of pride involved as well. "I can do this, I don't need help, and I certainly don't need handouts", so they try to embody that self-image by voicing their support for programs and ideals that... Are by no means helping them. Doesn't help that they've been lied to about it, and are still being lied to about it, and now they're so deep in it that turning the other way is not only terrifying; it's humiliating.

You reminded me of a quote from this article: "Seemingly every third person in the place is sucking oxygen from a tank or propping their giant atrophied glutes on motorized wheelchair-scooters. As Palin launches into her Ronald Reagan impression — “Government’s not the solution! Government’s the problem!” — the person sitting next to me leans over and explains.

“The scooters are because of Medicare,” he whispers helpfully. “They have these commercials down here: ‘You won’t even have to pay for your scooter! Medicare will pay!’ Practically everyone in Kentucky has one.”"

They want handouts, they just don't want anyone else to have one.

[SalmonGod]

They want handouts, they just don't want anyone else to have one.

A lot of this.  But also combined with a lot of they don't actually know anything they're talking about and just swallow the most shallow propaganda whole.  So, as famously demonstrated by the many people fooled by the wordplay between Obamacare and ACA (one example below), they may not even realize when they're benefitting from the very same programs they oppose in order to lash out at lazy freeloading welfare queens dragging down society that don't exist, but believe they do because they're told to.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

[hector13]

That cuts off the end before the person realizes they’re railing against something good for them.

[Bumber]

I want to make a windmill pirate/global warming joke but I'm afraid it will be taken seriously

Terrible Jokes thread.

[MetalSlimeHunt]

Let's not be reductionist about the Prosperity Gospel. It's bad, but it's not the only bad gospel politics. The social gospel of the Republican Party is just as evil, and much more popular. Not to mention the politics of Jesus the Crusader, King of God Bless America and the F-16 program.

[nenjin]

Yeah I mean, if you wanna go back further we can go back to Manifest Destiny if you want. The idea that God has America's back in all things and at all times. "A New City On The Hill" and all that shit.

[MetalSlimeHunt]

Don't forget slavery, endorsed by Christ himself!

[Max™]

A terrible burden, bore by proud... er, dudes, who lost the battle to preserve their noble cause of helping the negro improve their lot in life and some day rise up to become equals... but maybe without an actual uprising... and perhaps being equal in their own, distinct areas which they are now free to enjoy by way of the sacrifices many brave soldiers on both sides made.

[sluissa]

As opposed to a primary in which voters cast ballots in the same way they would for a general election, Iowa's caucuses are social affairs; caucusgoers gather in person and pledge their support for a candidate by physically "standing in their corner" in designated parts of a room.

I reiterate, what the shit?

Go listen to 538's "Primary Project" series. It's only 3 episodes and it's good info. I haven't listened to the last one, so I'm not sure what conclusions they'll draw. (Supposedly they ask if there's a better system we could use.) But the first especially is a good history lesson on why we have the systems we have today and how, even flawed, it's still better than the system we had before.

[Bumber]

But when I watch his rallies, I am just stumped. How he made people chant about jailing and expelling his political rivals. How he calls the free press the "enemy of the people". How he loves to bully a protester out of his rally, is that a standard part of every speech he makes nowadays? How he "jokes" about become president for life, and installs his family in high positions.

That's where I am left speechless. How is it possible to like this guy and support him? Do you have to be blinded by anger? I honestly don't understand and it scares me.

I'll give my impression, since my mother constantly watches Fox News.

The jailing of political rivals:
This comes from believing they've committed actual crimes. Hannity of Fox News talks repeatedly about how Hillary kept confidential emails on a private server (after having previously given a cyber security conference to not do that) and wiped the servers after they got hacked and the FBI started looking into it, therefore obstructing justice. This is referred to as "Her emails". Hannity asserts the FBI treated her with kid gloves because they expected her to win the election and they'd have to answer to her. There is a longstanding distrust of Hillary Clinton among Republicans (see: Whitewater).

There are assertions (by Fox contributor John Solomon) that Biden used his Vice President position to enrich his family, such as getting his son Hunter on the board of Burisma (a Ukrainian natural gas company) while advocating that the Ukrainian government invest in natural gas. There was a Ukrainian prosecutor investigating corruption in Burisma, and there's footage of Joe Biden saying he told Ukraine to fire the prosecutor or they wouldn't get $1 billion in loan guarantees. Solomon asserts this was because the prosecutor was about to look into Hunter. Trump supporters are doubly upset that Trump is being impeached for asking Ukraine to look into this.

The press is the "enemy of the people":
Trump asserts that the liberal mainstream media (MSM) has been treating him unfairly ever since he started running for President. They mocked him when he joined the race. CNN leaked debate questions to Hillary. All the polls had Trump losing to Hillary. They accused him of being a Russian agent for years. They said there was no FISA abuse. That his campaign hadn't been surveilled. They spin everything Trump as negative, and everything Democrat as positive. To a Trump supporter, the MSM is a liberal propaganda machine. Hannity asserts that the "free" press is dead, and that the MSM's "journalists" are spouting their opinions as fact. (Hannity openly describes himself as an opinion host, by contrast.) A Trump supporter is predisposed to believe Trump and Fox News over anything the rest of the media claims. "Anthropogenic climate change? That's a hoax concocted by the Left so they can kill fossil fuel jobs and force more people to rely on the Government, give the Government more power, and institute a Socialist economy!" (As we all know, Socialism has never worked and results in an oppressive totalitarian regime.)

President for life:
The MSM claimed Trump might refuse to leave the Oval Office if impeached. IIRC, there was also a typo in some article about having to suffer 8 more years of Trump. Trump rolled with it and began joking about it. A meme was had over a Time magazine cover. Trump continues to joke about it because the Left got "Triggered" over it, and it should surprise nobody that Trump likes to troll his opponents.

Installs his family in high positions:
Not entirely sure of the defense for this one. Found this article via Google, which claims past Presidents have done it and it's not illegal.

So, to conclude:
Maybe anger has a part in it, but a significant factor is a belief that over 90% of the media is lying to the public and has them brainwashed, while only pro-Trump media are willing to offer unbiased coverage of the President. They believe the MSM are the ones blinded by their hatred of Trump.

The end result is two parallel universes. One where the Democrats are impeaching a pathological liar and the Republicans are engaging in a cover up in a bid to hold on to their waning power. The other where Trump is fighting against the corrupt establishment and the Democrats have been smearing and sabotaging the President from the beginning so they can give citizenship to illegal immigrants and use their votes to secure corrupt power for the rest of history. Which universe you experience is based on your political leaning and the media you watch.

(Did I seriously waste 3 hours writing this? Damn.)

[PTTG??]

Gotta love how "Biden put his son into the Ukranian Oil Company leadership and that's worse that anything Trump's ever done" is just sitting there right next to "It's ok for Trump to put his family in high positions they aren't qualified for in the US government."

[MetalSlimeHunt]

But you see, the divine blood of the Trump line is uniquely suited to the task of rulership

[Teneb]

As opposed to a primary in which voters cast ballots in the same way they would for a general election, Iowa's caucuses are social affairs; caucusgoers gather in person and pledge their support for a candidate by physically "standing in their corner" in designated parts of a room.

I reiterate, what the shit?

Go listen to 538's "Primary Project" series. It's only 3 episodes and it's good info. I haven't listened to the last one, so I'm not sure what conclusions they'll draw. (Supposedly they ask if there's a better system we could use.) But the first especially is a good history lesson on why we have the systems we have today and how, even flawed, it's still better than the system we had before.

sluissa, just because our current system is less shit than previous ones (and that is somewhat debatable), it doesn't mean that it is not shit that we should leave behind.

Propaganda does work, so please be aware of it.

(Did I seriously waste 3 hours writing this? Damn.)

I stopped the video I was watching to read this, so don't consider it a waste.

[Max™]

But you see, the divine blood of the Trump line is uniquely suited to the task of rulership

Ivanka once wrote a self-help book where within the first page or so she states that "nothing in life or business is handed to you" except she notes "of course many things were handed to me" but she earned her position in her father's companies and whatnot rather than by "birthright or foregone conclusion" apparently.

She then explains how having things handed to her is actually a handicap because it makes people underestimate her except when they overestimate her by assuming she's knowledgeable about business and real estate because her dad is.

This was written over a decade ago now, but it might help explain why the doofus tried to interject in a discussion between actual world leaders and high level officials: sometimes even she overestimates herself.

[JoshuaFH]

For the most part, I think pretty much all of Trump's voter base actually has a pretty good standard of living, it doesn't make sense for them to be hateful without real suffering in their lives.

You gotta remember, Trump's voter base:

-Thinks God wants them to be rich.

Fuck the Prosperity Gospel. I swear half of our ills come directly from it.

Wasn't the point of Christianity (and... uh... all religions...) that your fortunes and pains in the mortal life are irrelevant, acting only as preparation for the afterlife? And how the wealthy can't get into heaven any more than a camel can fit through the eye of a needle and all that?

*never actually read the Bible, so who knows maybe Jesus actually sang "For the Love of Money" and the O'Jays were just doing their own cover of that*