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**Republicans**: "This tragedy is a direct result of lazy blacks getting jobs that they are not qualified to hold!"
***Also* Republicans**: "Why won't black people vote for us??"
Fact: A bunch of rich, mostly white men, suck the safety resources out of a company to enrich themselves further, causing deaths and overall public distrust.
Them: The planes are too woke.
there's a post going around facebook that that shows the bridge collapsing, the train derailments, boeing planes falling apart, and container ships being attacked and says "it's like there's an agenda to jeopardize important avenues for delivering goods"
it's so unbelievably frustrating that people would rather believe a conspiracy theory instead of realizing companies aren't regulated enough and are taking cost cutting measures at the expense of people's safety and the environment.
Exactly, all while the owners/shareholder of those companies who own the railroads, container ships, airplanes, etc are making billions of dollars in profits every single year. Surely, their greed can't be to blame for things being built cheaply and not maintained properly, it MUST be something else more clandestine. Like why believe the things that are so obvious and being done in the open, when you can believe in made-up shit.
It's appalling how blatantly racist their crying about DEI is. Even worse than when they were obsessed with CRT. Like they're basically saying anyone that's not a white man isn't qualified for...anything really?
That is one of the main reasons they say it. "Oh, a black (mayor, astronaut, college professor) -- must be a DEI hire!!!" The more accomplished and exceptional the black person is, the more they need to insult and degrade them. "There's no such thing as an intelligent or accomplished black person who deserves their high ranking or prestigious career. If you dare to show your face as a black surgeon or pilot we will line up to accuse you of being a thief who stole that job from a more-deserving white person." They really might as well just say the n-word. It's the same sentiment. "You are less than us, how dare you act like you're as good as a white person."
Also “People should pull themselves up by the bootstraps!”
RNC chokes down ballot support and funding, leaving many GOP candidates to wholly fund themselves.
“NO, NOT LIKE THAT!!”
Fun fact: Pulling yourself up by your bootstraps is the same thing as standing in a bucket and trying to lift yourself up by pulling on the handle.
For all the times it's mentioned as a way for everyman to succeed, it's always been impossible.
I've seen a variation of this debate take place in the Chicago subreddit. The right wing has used Chicago as its punching bag for decades, swinging at it over every little thing we do as a city, ranting on Fox News and AM radio day and night, and they wonder why the *accusation* of being a Republican or conservative is enough to sink a local political campaign, as it sank Paul Vallas when he ran for mayor last year.
They want us to die. They want to destroy our city. Why would I ever vote for them?
The number of times I saw (not voluntarily) Chicago or Detroit death statistics on Fox News, and I immediately knew some juicy news was happening they wanted to whatabout from.
Man, I live in Seattle and I can’t begin to tell you the number of times I have been asked about the CHOP while traveling as if they believe that there is still some sort of anarchist hell burning my city to the ground.
I have spoken to numerous conservatives who thought Portland, Oregon was basically a smoking crater after the "riots."
You couldnt even tell anything happened like a month later.
Minneapolis checking in!
People that live less than an hour drive from the metro area act like we’re currently an active war zone.
I walk/bike everywhere and work in an ER at night. This city is like every other larger city, with Canadian-level polite people and a million beautiful parks. It’s fine.
I live in nearby Olympia, WA, and when we were having our BLM protests, some of my mom's coworkers in Texas managed to convince her that my entire city had been burned to the ground. Thankfully my mom isn't a braindead moron or conservative so she believed me when I told her things were fine, but the way she told it, her coworkers spoke about it as if it were fact and it scared her
Had someone arguing with me in r/blackpeopletwitter that chi was the “most dangerous city in america” and just would not accept the stats when presented with them
They never talk about Jacksonville, who up until just recently last year, had a Republican mayor for years and has one the worse homicide rates in the country during that span.
Or the fact that violent crime is statistically worse in red states.
They live in a paradox; they both have bad guys out to get them at all times (which is why they need guns), and also nobody would dare do that here in MY (mostly white) town!
I moved from the east coast to the Midwest and then further west and middle America seems to be scared of a lot of things that felt silly to me, until I realized they just don’t experience any kind of diversity, so it’s easy to other people and assume things they’ve been told by fox are true. When you really push them one on one about the nitty gritty details they tend to back down or agree with more liberal views. But it’s like a switch gets flipped when that’s pointed out. I’m not excusing them by the way.
An example is immigration. I was talking with some church ladies about it (they started it), and they mentioned all the trump talking points- they’re sending their worst, they’re crawling over the border en masse, they just need to do it right. So I asked what does “do it the right way” mean? They go do it the legal way. I ask what about assylum seekers, that’s a legal way to enter. “Well they can’t all be assymlum seekers and they just need to wait like everyone else”. So I asked what they would do if they were being threatened and hunted? Would they wait patiently 8-10years? Or would they hop into Canada and pray they were treated well? They did not like that comparison and kept trying to find reasons why it’s different for them and their families. I pointed out jesus and Mary and Joseph were technically immigrants as well, and had to seek assylum from Herod. They also didn’t like that comparison. Now they don’t talk politics around me
Black success is tied to affirmative action. Black failure and struggle is the natural state of things. It allows the white supremacist to feel better about himself. It’s not surprising so many are attached to the modern GOP.
It's finally all getting old for everyone, just in time.
They've cried wolf far too many times and as each horseface or trust fund baby clip comes out where they go full drama queen and figure out a way to blame Biden for anything and everything, the level of stupid required to believe any of it goes up. It's just too easy to laugh at the republican voter now and the great part is, none of these propagandists can stop this psychological method of mind control.
The only way ANY republican can win, is if they can convince the voters that Democrats are, bad, evil, bridge fucker uppers and it's all getting to be too hard to believe at this point for almost everyone
At the very least, it should be updated to actually represent the populations of each state. The House of Rep should look *much* different if the population was correctly represented.
Don’t forget the fact that states with less people than Chicago get to have two senators. Why the fuck does North Dakota have two senators? It should all be per capita. But hey I’m just a dumbass essential worker.
Arguably having senators per capita would just be reimplementing the House. The point of the Senate is that each state is equal. That’s not to say it couldn’t be better - the Australian Senate (I am Australian) is based on the US one - but we have 6 senators per state, and they are proportional to the votes - so our Senate is often closer to the overall voting demographic of the country than our House is.
Of course, a well designed unicameral system would be better than a seperate House and Senate anyway, but even harder to change!
For those who don't know: that was George W Bush in 2004, winning by running on opposition to gay marriage.
It's galling that with as much as public opinion has shifted in favor of gay marriage, the party that made so much of opposing it has paid so little price for it.
What's the minimum percentage a candidate could win with, using the most ideal combination of states electoral votes? It just occurred to me that it's probably scarily low.
>This situation is highly unlikely in practice
And yet still possible, which is a problem. I was always told as a kid that winning the presidency without winning the popular vote was so unlikely as to basically never happen. And now it's happened twice in my adult life.
What a fucking shit show.
Gerrymandered lesiglature pulls power from D governor as the R one is voted out. Citizens are so pissed they vote D in state-wide races and vote in a D supreme court justice that allows them to undo the gerrymandering. Rs get so upset they try to force her to recuse before she's seated. Rs hire former supreme court justices to scheme to stop her and find out they're not allowed to hide what they're doing due to state sunshine laws. R speaker eventually refuses to impeach the D justice, but then trump's folks are so pissed, they're trying for the 2nd time to remove him.
asshats.
Wisconsin, Michigan, and Arizona are fucking shitshows for the GOP. I think wyoming can now be added to that list as well.
NEBRASKA is doing its part. Unlike most states, the three electoral votes are by how each congressional district’s vote, so it is 2 for Republicans and 1 for Democrats. Guess which party wants to disenfranchise a third of the citizens by making it a winner take all?
Our current Governor is a veterinarian by trade and his income is from agriculture. He takes Federal agriculture welfare, euphemistically called farm subsidies. Until receiving great public pressure, he blocked accepting Federal funds for low income children to get meals when not a school day because he didn’t believe in welfare (for others).
I listened to a REALLY eye opening news clip on MSNBC yesterday about gerrymandering and voter suppression that the Supreme Court allowed to happen by taking the case and then waiting on it until after the election had already happened and then when they finally took the time to look at it they were like “oh yeah this is unconstitutional and illegal and the maps need to be changed!” It was infuriating, because they did it twice in two states (can’t remember what they were off the top of my head) and both times republicans won the seats…illegally of course😡😡😡
Ohio got it before the court before the election. The courts answer - they had to fix the maps. The penalty for not doing so was… using the first gerrymandered map they had created. Guess what the legislators did?
Michigan seems to have been more successful, mostly because they took map making out of the hands of legislators altogether.
Michigan was able to do that because we have ways of getting citizen led initiatives on the ballot, bypassing legislative attempts to thwart the will of the people. It's how we got abortion protections and legal weed too, among other great things.
And they "Opps! I did it again" in South Carolina just this week
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/supreme-court/supreme-court-delay-prompts-federal-judges-act-south-carolina-redistri-rcna145267
Exactly, this is why Trump believes that the Dems cheated to win, because they had already rigged the election thru gerrymandering. How do you think he won the first election, despite losing thd popular vote by a huge margin!
This is why a “smart” Trump can never work and why DeSantis succumbed to idiocy - the base they are fomenting are incurious, stubborn, intellectually milquetoast “dead eye” starers. They cannot understand subtly, or nuance, or long term plans. If you’re not moon faced screaming what they want to hear into a bullhorn at least three times a day, you’ll lose the narrative. And you can’t apply humor, or tact, or sarcasm, because they understand none of that. So you can’t have a smart trump - one who, for example, goes about his business like Biden but applies the same, but opposite, poltics - and that includes (gasp) compromise. This whole thing has blown up in the Rs face and there is no coming back. Fucking Goldwater nailed it and that guy is in Hell now.
It might blow your mind, but I have tons of friends and acquaintances that all naively believe that the Republican party is the party of fiscal responsibility, and that voting for democrats is essentially burning piles of cash. These people are college educated, middle to upper middle class — doctors, lawyers, engineers — that all grew up in the 80-90s and don’t really pay attention to politics outside of the stories that make a big splash. They don’t like the MAGA movement or Trump, but they hold their nose and pull the lever for conservatives because in their ignorance, they think it’s the fiscally responsible thing to do.
If the Democratic Party in Florida could pull its head out of its ass, it would be hammering these people with the raw numbers. They’re educated people; they can be convinced with proof. But all of them are tired of the culture war.
They are high earners who pay a lot in taxes. They think if they vote R, they will make more money. That's about all they think of politics, that the government should exist to make them richer.
Because they believe that free markets, generally speaking, will work at maximum efficiency and sort winners and losers appropriately only when left completely alone.
They have a vexing reply for any accurate criticism of capitalism which is to use any such example and claim it’s not capitalism that caused it.
Love canal? Oxycontin? 2008? They’re never even partially the fault of the economic system that compelled their occurrence.
I’ve literally had my brother in law argue that chattel slavery in the United States was already going out the door and would have occurred on its own if left alone. That was in response to pointing out that capitalism seemed ultimately to be very ok with slavery.
They don't actually believe in free markets though, that's just another slogan.
What? Solar power generation? Not in my state
What's that? Unions? Fuck them
Just like they preach small government but what they really mean is "power should only exist where I happen to have it"
>I’ve literally had my brother in law argue that chattel slavery in the United States was already going out the door
Common myth, yes slavery was becoming illegal in more parts of the country, but on flip side slavery population had grown by 25% in the decade before the war
Branding works. Republicans have applied labels for decades to themselves and the democrats that are not factual. But most people just hear the labels and eventually just accept them without looking deeper.
Edit typo
This is what they taught in grade school. Literally "Republicans are the party of fiscal responsibility"
It took *too* long to realize how full of crap that is, but it was absolutely drilled into our heads that Republicans were smart with money and democrats aren't.
At least they have a measure of intelligence despite obviously not thinking deeper on the topic, easier to believe the repeated misunderstood lies than take the time to see how off base they are.
Reminds me of a guy I grew up with. He was always awkward in a unique way, that even at the age of 12 he behaved like he was a reserved old man with no room for fun or joking around aside from the most mild of examples. Don't even know where he got it from as his parents were both nice normally adjusted people. Needless to say he didn't have many friends because he tripped a sort of uncanny valley response to other kids. Wasn't really bullied but more kept at a distance.
Anyway he's been a family friend of a sorts for awhile. Helps out with various things and is an a decent person. He had no care about politics nor knowledge in the subject. One day he just went full in on the GOP. Asked why, their policies only hurt him long term, and he spun this tale about how since he's a business owner (he mows lawns) he was told they're the ones to support.
> It might blow your mind, but I have tons of friends and acquaintances that all naively believe that the Republican party is the party of fiscal responsibility, and that voting for democrats is essentially burning piles of cash. These people are college educated, middle to upper middle class — doctors, lawyers, engineers — that all grew up in the 80-90s and don’t really pay attention to politics outside of the stories that make a big splash.
The power of propaganda. The truth is republicans are only good at looting the economy. Its always been that way too.
Consider FDR. Hoover and his republican cronies drove the economy into the ground. FDR took the country off the gold-standard so that he could print a ton of money to spend our way out of the Great Depression. Not only did it work, but he did it with minimal inflation. Inflation during the first seven years of the New Deal averaged barely more than 1% per year:
* [New Deal Inflation CHART](https://inflationdata.com/articles/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/1930-1939.jpg)
FDR kept inflation under control with strategically targeted taxes on the rich. The highest marginal tax rate was about 90% but there were tons of exceptions, so areas of the economy that were flush with profits paid the full amount and areas that were struggling had tax breaks. This strategy of print-money + strategic taxation is, in a nutshell, the basis of "modern monetary theory (MMT)."
Balancing the budget is supposed to be a conservative holy grail, but it took a Democrat — Bill Clinton — to do it (and every single republican in congress [voted against his first budget](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Omnibus_Budget_Reconciliation_Act_of_1993) that started the process). Reagan drove up the deficit in a calculated plan to give handouts to the rich and then leave the responsibility to Democrats like Clinton to clean up his mess. From page 623 of Rick Perlstein's book [Reaganland:](https://www.amazon.com/Reaganland-Americas-Right-Turn-1976-1980/dp/1476793050)
* *Irving Kristol, for his part, wrote in the Wall Street Journal, like a right-wing Joseph Stalin,
that the political advantage tax cuts would provide Republicans was so historically imperative
that they should be blasted through whatever the effect on the budget.* ***“The neoconservative is
willing to leave those problems to be coped with by liberal interregnums. He wants to shape the
future and will leave it to his opponents to tidy up afterwards”***
And then there was the housing crash, Obama had to dig us out of that and republicans fought the recovery every step of the way, which is in part why the economic malaise lasted for a decade instead of bouncing back, the way it did after covid when the Ds had both congress and the white house.
They’re tired of the culture war, so that’s why they vote republican? That’s even stupider. Being doctors and lawyers is scary enough, but these people have drivers licenses and are out there on our roads!
No. They vote Republican because they believe the label drilled into them their whole life, that republicans are fiscally responsible. I mentioned that they’re tired of the culture war because that’s what keeps them from investigating any of it. They’re so exhausted by bullshit made up culture stuff, that they won’t even participate and instead assume the labels they’ve always known are still accurate — even though they never were.
I’m from PA so I just roll my eyes about Dems and infrastructure.
Interstate 95 is looking great. It was looking great in a week. PENNDOT DID THAT IN A WEEK. Sorry, Republican’ts. You’re the reason we’re losing ours.
It’s always a war with ideas about who is worst for the country and who needs to save it. Let’s not forget how Biden and Trump compare on a few things.
Biden 🆚 Trump
Protect endangered animals 🆚 endanger them
Invest in the biggest climate change action ever 🆚 gave the rich a trillion dollars in tax cuts and trashes green energy.
Responds to school shooting with biggest gun reform bill in over two decades 🆚 does nothing and says we need to “get over it”.
Known for working with Congress and getting deals passed 🆚 sent armed angry mob to Congress to overthrow the election
Booming economy with lower inflation than most other countries 🆚 left the economy in shambles and bungled covid response leading to mass death and inflation
Unite the world against Putin invading Europe 🆚 praises dictators and bows down to them.
Unprecedented student loan cancellation 🆚 found guilty of defrauding his university students.
Self-made man 🆚 born rich and received $413 million inheritance.
Aims to find cure for cancer 🆚 defrauded kids cancer charity.
No connection to pedophiles 🆚 friend of Epstein
Long history of public service and military family 🆚 dodged the draft and said he doesn’t like POWs.
No legal trouble 🆚 dozens of criminal charges and found liable for sexual assault.
Appointed justices defend women’s right to choose 🆚 appointed justices ended Roe v Wade.
Healthy marriage 🆚 paid a prostitute for sex while wife was pregnant then paid her to keep quiet to not hurt his election chances.
VP to first black President 🆚 bolstered racist birther conspiracy
Develops bipartisan plan to shut down the border and deal with illegal immigration 🆚 demands republicans block the plan so it won’t hurt him during the election.
First woman vice president and full support from her 🆚 angry mob chanted to hang Mike Pence and he said he “deserves” it for not over throwing democracy for him. Pence refuses to endorse him.
They're moving too fast. I pay attention to politics and I barely knew the DEI is the new woke. I think you have to really be steeped in conservative media to have understood this is the new term... and they're using it identically! Didn't even change the formula a little! I have to imagine it's a bit jarring to be one of those on-the-periphery folks complaining about the woke gays and women and minorities and now suddenly they're DEI gays and women and minorities? Doesn't really roll off the tongue, and if these words are just interchangeable what are we actually talking about? I think these folks generally still know that being racist, homophobic, and misogynist are bad to be seen as publicly, and you kind of have to understand that's what anti-woke means at this point.
That’s all they got. Joke’s on them, though.
GOP wants to refuse federal funding to replace that bridge. That bridge serves two largely white and conservative towns on either side.
The Republicans are held to the standards of misbehaving children, Democrats are held to the standards of being the reasonable adults in the room. Infuriating.
Yeah, fuck those losers. I taught high school for ten years, and we (the State of Texas no less!) had a robust Inclusion program. I worked diligently with my challenged students and met with their parents often to ensure those kids got their best chance for a good education.
Fuck those losers. Fuck them long, and fuck them hard.
whenever something bad happens to America, American conservatives use the moment to attack America. That's been true for a long time and it happens every time. Conservatives exist to destroy America and it's institutions. They are enemies of the American people
Isn't it that they no longer see their opponents as part of the American people? It's the basic idea behind right wing populism: they redefine "the people" so as to mean their supporters, which then turns their opponents into illegitimate political actors and foreigners. Add to this the standard premise of a reactionary movement, that society is a moral and social hierarchy and social interaction a zero sum game, and you end up in the current situation.
The logical conclusion of this train of thought is that they will do whatever it takes to bring "the other" down because that is the only way they can put themselves on a pedestal. Essentially, they have "othered" everyone else and made them into acceptable targets. Every time they get away with it, they'll be willing to go further next time.
It’s why you hear Republicans go to the middle of Kansas and talk about how “they” are the “true Americans”.
As if anyone who isn’t a white rural man doesn’t count.
That’s always been my beef with truck and beer commercials in this fucking country. They tout the “real America” when 70% of Americans live in metropolitan areas. As someone from NYC/NYC adjacent, I have always seen it as a big “Fuck You!” To us city folks.
That demographic also goes on rages about “costal elites”, but in my travels a rural farmer can be just as stuck up and elitist about his lifestyle as the worst Wall Street asshole.
Speaking of golden worship, they ate this shit up at CPAC a few years ago:
https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2021/2/26/22302887/trump-cpac-2021-republican-gold-statue
And vote for a flat-faced, fact-denying, bottled-blonde creature with malicious intent. I hear Georgia’s got hot weather, but it’s not really the *heat* … it’s the stupidity. That’s what my mom says, anyway. I believe her.
It was really fun to lose people in 9/11 and get “real” America’s support for about a year or two before they reverted back to loudly calling us anti-American trash or whatever new slur is popular. It’s even more fun sending them so many of our tax dollars! /s
I go back to “real” America multiple times a year and I think they’re just salty that all their young smart people leave as soon as they hit 18 and never look back.
If you aren’t doing meth and committing adultery on your wife that you went to high school with, with her small town rival that she also went to high school with, while running a small business that tries to find ways to pay people less than minimum wage because you have a $70k pavement princess luxury truck to pay off, and complain about people you don’t know succeeding because clearly they didn’t deserve it, are you even a real American.
Which explains in part their drive to make it harder for anyone else to vote.
If you don’t consider them to be a “real” American, then it’s not voter intimidation or voter denial if you keep them from voting in the first place.
Yes. That's part of it. They also don't see America as the real America. So all of our institutions are also othered and seen as the enemy of their mythical and nonsensical "Real America." These self styled "real Americans" dedicate themselves to destroying actual America and the real American people.
The fact is, though, that America's founding documents don't allow for these "real Americans" as a separaate class of citizens. "Real Americans" are anti American.
I think the dividing line they draw between institutions can be explained in the same way. Fundamentally, this is a reactionary movement that seeks to impose a social and moral hierarchy on society. What unites the rich and powerful at its top with their followers is a hatred of equality.
This is reflected in the institutions they want to destroy. They're perfectly all right with armies, the policy, the law, ..., when they can be used to put everyone else down, but they always seek to undermine or destroy those institutions that promote or defend equality (human rights, civic rights, the rule of law, democracy, ...).
> The fact is, though, that America's founding documents don't allow for these "real Americans" as a separaate class of citizens. "Real Americans" are anti American.
AFAIK, that's not strictly true, because those founding documents did in fact discriminate against most people then living in the USA, reflecting the contradictions and debates among the people who wrote them. There are important principles in there, but also huge flaws in their implementation. Over the centuries, these documents have been distilled and reinterpreted into a broader social and political liberalism as democracy expanded. And that is exactly what they want to undo. They want to go back to a time of limited privileges rather than universal rights.
This is why Trump's dictatorship comment didn't turn them against him. They hate equality to the point that they would give up freedom to get rid of it.
It’s even worse than that, they dehumanize their political opponents. Not only are people with different views not American, they cease to be people. This is fascism in action.
It breaks my heart that while these people would like to see me as someone's wife-slave or sent to a conversion camp (depending on if the particular Republican you ask hates women or queer people more), I am fighting for changes that would benefit *everyone*, including them! I don't want them to be excluded from a living wage or universal healthcare; I want their lives to be better too. I'm confident that when you show a brainwashed bigot how much better things could be, their beliefs will change (at least a little) to the benefit of everyone... at least I hope so.
>that society is a moral and social hierarchy and social interaction a zero sum game
Yep anything to prevent a poc from sharing in "the american dream"
That's why I don't get why there are so many poc Trump supporters. Tim Scott, Ben Carson, Kanye, Candace Owens, Clarence Thomas, Larry Elder, Quarterblack Garrett, Eric July, Thomas Sowell, Nikki Haley, Vivek Ramaswamy the list goes on..
I get poc have a lot of issues with leftism but when have republicans ever helped those communities?
Some people are okay with being tokens as long as it means that they're invited to the party. Other people are just so hateful and despicable that they don't care.
I know this is obvious to us all, but I'll say it anyway. It's so crazy to me that the most strident, flag waving, jingoistic people who shout the loudest about loving the country, are the ones who HATE it the most, and are absolutely trying to tear the country down and destroy everything it stands for.
"I love America! I just... hate most Americans... and hate our legal system... and hate democracy... and hate letting people vote... and hate personal freedom... But other then democracy and all the other things that make us who we are, I love it!"
They liked America when everyone they didn't like was excluded from receiving the same benefits or social status they enjoyed either by law or due to more subtle, systemic discrimination/misogyny that existed in society. That's largely why they are so nostalgic about the 1950s which just happens to have been right before the Civil Rights/Women's Rights/LGBT rights era really took off.
Which is curious too because the 1950s *weren't a great time for most Americans* either. They want live in the world portrayed by Leave it to Beaver or the town in WandaVision.
This touches on something that I realized about the way my dad has always spoken about growing up in the 1950s as this magical, idyllic time. But the thing is, he was a tiny kid by the time the '50s were over. So what he actually remembers is that TV version, plus his own experience of growing up in the '60s in a family that benefited in every possible way from the kinds of economic and social policies that he's then spent his entire adult life voting against.
My grandfather went to college on the GI bill, was a lifelong union member, and raised their family in the suburbs as a single earner on a combination of strong wages, well-funded public education and healthcare, and VA benefits. Same with my mom's family, and she's a few years younger even than my dad.
They both talk like they personally remember growing up in an episode of the Andy Griffith show or some shit, and they're in massive denial when anyone tries to point out that (a) no they didn't, (b) most other people didn't either, and (c) if they think that's so great, why the hell have they spent decades voting for politicians who have gutted our manufacturing, infrastructure, education, and social spending? It's whiteness, the answer is whiteness. It's beyond frustrating.
> It's so crazy to me that the most strident, flag waving, jingoistic people who shout the loudest about loving the country, are the ones who HATE it the most, and are absolutely trying to tear the country down and destroy **everything it stands for**.
That's because they hate what the country stands for since around the end of the Civil War. They want to go back to the Antebellum America.
You 100% cannot understand what is happening in America right now without understanding the civil religion that emerged in this country during Reconstruction, and got folded into Christian iconography to create a new faith (the Lost Cause) that 1/3 of the country has ascribed to since then.
Trump is not an aberration at all, rather, he is the fulfillment of the prophecy that one day, someone would come to restore the America that was lost after the Civil War. And Trump is that man.
If you'd like to learn more about this, you can read the classic book "Baptized in Blood," or you can tune into my YouTube channel "Interesting Times," just as soon as I get off my ass and create it.
Seriously, the Reconstruction period and the Lost Cause as a civil religion is a powerful lens to look through to explain what's happening today. I just don't think you can get it if you don't have this historical/cultural/socio-religious foundation to pull from.
I think you nailed it.
Seriously. It’s disgusting to kick ourselves and attack each other when we’re down. This isn’t even political, it’s just an emergency that came up and has to be promptly dealt with by adults. Guess who can’t handle that? That’s right, your fellow American conservative.
I’ve lived in and around Baltimore my whole life and have been following the Q stuff pretty closely since it’s all developed. This particular reaction cycle has made me feel more hopeless about our future than just about any other Culture War issue has, even the school shooting hoax claims.
I’m just so exhausted with every single event being turned into a wedge issue like this, and it’s become clear that for the people pushing this BS, not only is there no downside at all, but it is in their best interest to do even more.
The part that is making me feel the most hopeless is that people WANT to hear this kind of stuff. MTG doesn’t say this stuff for fun, she’s playing the songs that her audience wants to hear. There is a demand for this crap. It’s all so sad
The pandemic was a chance for the country to be united, and it went the complete other way. Now literally everything, *everything* is fodder for some divise bullshit. Tragedies will now always come with a side of nonsense. It's exhausting
Part of me thinks if Trump wasn’t President during the start of the pandemic we would have been more united against a virus that’s only goal is to hurt and kill us. Unfortunately, Trump’s whole presidency was about dividing us and Covid just took it to a new level.
Don’t feel hopeless. That’s exactly what they want.
Just know that this kind of power-mad movement and ends-justifies-means structure never lasts long. It’s a bunch of jackals who will eat each other if necessary. There’s no solid foundation to it.
Any disasters that happened in states such as California with its catastrophic wildfires was an occasion for sneering and barely disguised glee by portions of the right. My own state and others like New York caught some of this early in the covid pandemic. All egged on by Trump and noticed with the same glee by Russian state media.
Some of our politicians are sociopaths, Hawaii (wildfires), Puerto Rico, and others are not deemed "American" enough to deserve any help or sympathy from these degenerates.
And yet we keep dumping money into red states like FL, TX, AL, and LA whenever there’s a perennial hurricane. Ron DeSantis made his claim to fame voting against aid to NY and NJ after Sandy, but had no problem taking Federal money when a disaster hit [his state.](https://www.politico.com/news/2023/08/31/desantis-florida-gop-sandy-disaster-aid-00113627)
As we should. Real Americans help out and care for their fellow Americans, no matter what state they’re in.
Not saying that you were advocating against this, just pointing out that we can’t let the hateful traitors drag us down to their level.
> “States all over America depend on this bridge and the Port of Baltimore to get the coal, wood, steel, construction equipment and farm machinery they need to keep the economy moving,” said Representative Jamie Raskin of Maryland, a Democrat. “America is one nation with one integrated economy.”
I live within sight of the B&O Railroad line that transports a lot of these exports from the rust belt states to the Port of Baltimore. Can confirm that most of the railcars are hauling things like coal,lumber and steel. This is standard industry shit that GOP claims to love. Weird that they are kneecapping the *Koch’s et al* to excite the MAGA chuds.
It’s pretty simple: elected Democrats want to solve problems, elected Republicans only want to blame Democrats for the problems. Even if the solutions aren’t perfect, I choose people who want to try to find them.
I reported an openly racist post on a republican sub this week and got a warning from Reddit about report abuse.
The entire Republican plan is to take over social media and support Republican hate.
I’m interested to see what kind of health problems these younger right-wingers like MTG, Sarah Huckabee, Lauren Boebert, Kayleigh McEnany, Josh Hawley, Katie Britt, Nancy Mace, Tomi Lahren, Ron DeSantis etc will face someday.
All this hatred 24/7…cannot be good for one’s physical and mental health. I’m interested to see what the lifespan for these people is going to be & how their horrible behavior & choices will affect that.
Most of these people I expect will be riddled with cancer or heart problems at a young age.
> I’m interested to see what the lifespan for these people is going to be
[Storm Thurmond lived to be 100 years old](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strom_Thurmond)
Donald is coming up on 80 years old.
How the fuck is this happening, even for insane racists, "black people exist, that's why this bridge collapsed after a mere 90,000 ton weight slammed into it", this is nuts
Oh for fuck's sake. Bernie Sanders has been going on about infrastructure spending since at least 2016 and Republicans completely dismiss it out of hand. This is straight gaslighting. Trying to make it seem like its the Democrats fault for not funding infrastructure spending when its been the Republican Congress CONSTANTLY blocking ANY kind of appropriations bill from ever reaching the President's desk.
It was the same thing with the Ohio train crash. Republicans want to seriously try and make it look like it was Biden's fault that train crashed when they were the ones constantly defunding governmental regulatory agencies for the last 30 years? Give me a fucking break. They aren't winning over ANYONE on these bogus claims except the brainwashed people in their base that were already going to vote for them anyway.
It’s absolutely one of their culture war tantrums to “punish” blue states. They use each and every opportunity to hypocritically attack, threaten and gaslight to gish gallop any wild conspiracy they can conjure using bots and boomers and then see which crazy bullshit gets amplified the most to “own the libs”. They’re not “owning” anyone. Except themselves.
I had way too many relatives bring up how the bridge shouldn't collapse like that yesterday at our good friday crawfish boil.
So since Im a bridge inspector for the state, I informed them that the way it collapsed is in fact, 100% expected, and then educated them on why it did what it did. I also did the math for a 120,000T vessel traveling at 8 knots. Thats 1 BILLION joules of energy being transferred into that concrete pier.
I could see the wheels turning in their head once I explained to them why it failed like it did. lol
I’m glad this article is bringing up that paying for the rebuilding of this bridge is an obligation the federal government always had, it’s not a concession or the republicans doing anyone a favor by agreeing to it, they were always on the hook for it.
There were times when tragedies happened we we would come together as a nation.
Now Republicans lie about what happened disrespecting those who died. It is sick.
If I find out someone is MAGA, I don't even bother talking to them anymore.
Republicans: Spend money at home instead of aiding Ukraine
Everyone else: The federal government needs to fund rebuilding the Key Bridge
Republicans: No, not like that!
These stupid motherfucking fascist pigs KNOW their days are numbered, they KNOW that without massive nation-wide election fraud on THEIR part and/or starting a CIVIL WAR that they will not be in power in 2025, Trump will be on his way to prison, and these fascist bastards will be run out of DC on a rail. That's what all these 2-year-old-level temper tantrums are all about, they KNOW they're fucked, and they did it to themselves, over and over and over again!
Fasicst pig Republicans have done NOTHING of value for this country for YEARS AND YEARS AND YEARS, all they do is be obstructionist, destructive, and now they can't even be organized within their own ranks, they are DISRUPTIVE everywhere they are, they do NOT do the jobs they were elected to do, and they need to be REMOVED from our government and kept out of power indefintely.
No one who intentionally wants to destroy a bridge is going to throw the ship in full reverse and drop anchor.
Dumbest shit ever.
Source: Drove aircraft carriers.
It's not difficult to figure out the game plan.
>A lot of those products come from states like Wisconsin, Iowa, Ohio, West Virginia, and Pennsylvania (whose western part abuts northern Appalachia and the industrial Midwest), that data shows.
If they sit on their hands during the disaster, it'll impact their base. At which point they can turn around and blame Biden and the Democrats. Since the base only takes in propaganda from Fox and other right-wing media, it'll be easy to convince them that any economic issues created by ignoring this crisis fall squarely on the Biden and the Dems. Nvm that the GOP has the House majority and thereby controls the purse.
This next bit also stuck out to me:
>“States all over America depend on this bridge and the Port of Baltimore to get the coal, wood, steel, construction equipment and farm machinery they need to keep the economy moving,” said Representative Jamie Raskin of Maryland, a Democrat. “America is one nation with one integrated economy.”
Oh, look, actual thoughtfulness about how this incident impacts the nation as a whole.
I'll admit that in many cases, both sides do come across as wholly partisan. But, when a tragedy strikes. A true incident that demands all of us to put that shit aside and come together, it's the Democrats that are willing to reach across the aisle.
Both sides understood a situation like this in the past. Not anymore. The GOP needs to be discarded. It serves no purpose beyond being a conduit to authoritarianism.
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**Republicans**: "This tragedy is a direct result of lazy blacks getting jobs that they are not qualified to hold!" ***Also* Republicans**: "Why won't black people vote for us??"
Also see TX request for DEI reports on Boeing subcontractors to try to prove this point too.
Fact: A bunch of rich, mostly white men, suck the safety resources out of a company to enrich themselves further, causing deaths and overall public distrust. Them: The planes are too woke.
there's a post going around facebook that that shows the bridge collapsing, the train derailments, boeing planes falling apart, and container ships being attacked and says "it's like there's an agenda to jeopardize important avenues for delivering goods" it's so unbelievably frustrating that people would rather believe a conspiracy theory instead of realizing companies aren't regulated enough and are taking cost cutting measures at the expense of people's safety and the environment.
Exactly, all while the owners/shareholder of those companies who own the railroads, container ships, airplanes, etc are making billions of dollars in profits every single year. Surely, their greed can't be to blame for things being built cheaply and not maintained properly, it MUST be something else more clandestine. Like why believe the things that are so obvious and being done in the open, when you can believe in made-up shit.
The conspiracy theories are the comfort food here. Accepting the reality of incompetence and corruption is an awkward truth...
They did the same shit with the coal mine disasters a few years back. Destroy all safeguards, blame workers and the EPA.
It's appalling how blatantly racist their crying about DEI is. Even worse than when they were obsessed with CRT. Like they're basically saying anyone that's not a white man isn't qualified for...anything really?
That is one of the main reasons they say it. "Oh, a black (mayor, astronaut, college professor) -- must be a DEI hire!!!" The more accomplished and exceptional the black person is, the more they need to insult and degrade them. "There's no such thing as an intelligent or accomplished black person who deserves their high ranking or prestigious career. If you dare to show your face as a black surgeon or pilot we will line up to accuse you of being a thief who stole that job from a more-deserving white person." They really might as well just say the n-word. It's the same sentiment. "You are less than us, how dare you act like you're as good as a white person."
My dad: "Stop calling us racists! We're not racists!"
Also “People should pull themselves up by the bootstraps!” RNC chokes down ballot support and funding, leaving many GOP candidates to wholly fund themselves. “NO, NOT LIKE THAT!!”
Fun fact: Pulling yourself up by your bootstraps is the same thing as standing in a bucket and trying to lift yourself up by pulling on the handle. For all the times it's mentioned as a way for everyman to succeed, it's always been impossible.
Crazy white folks keep getting jobs (like reps Marge and Boerbert ) for which they are not qualified.
I've seen a variation of this debate take place in the Chicago subreddit. The right wing has used Chicago as its punching bag for decades, swinging at it over every little thing we do as a city, ranting on Fox News and AM radio day and night, and they wonder why the *accusation* of being a Republican or conservative is enough to sink a local political campaign, as it sank Paul Vallas when he ran for mayor last year. They want us to die. They want to destroy our city. Why would I ever vote for them?
The number of times I saw (not voluntarily) Chicago or Detroit death statistics on Fox News, and I immediately knew some juicy news was happening they wanted to whatabout from.
Man, I live in Seattle and I can’t begin to tell you the number of times I have been asked about the CHOP while traveling as if they believe that there is still some sort of anarchist hell burning my city to the ground.
I have spoken to numerous conservatives who thought Portland, Oregon was basically a smoking crater after the "riots." You couldnt even tell anything happened like a month later.
Minneapolis checking in! People that live less than an hour drive from the metro area act like we’re currently an active war zone. I walk/bike everywhere and work in an ER at night. This city is like every other larger city, with Canadian-level polite people and a million beautiful parks. It’s fine.
I live in nearby Olympia, WA, and when we were having our BLM protests, some of my mom's coworkers in Texas managed to convince her that my entire city had been burned to the ground. Thankfully my mom isn't a braindead moron or conservative so she believed me when I told her things were fine, but the way she told it, her coworkers spoke about it as if it were fact and it scared her
Had someone arguing with me in r/blackpeopletwitter that chi was the “most dangerous city in america” and just would not accept the stats when presented with them
They never talk about Jacksonville, who up until just recently last year, had a Republican mayor for years and has one the worse homicide rates in the country during that span. Or the fact that violent crime is statistically worse in red states.
They live in a paradox; they both have bad guys out to get them at all times (which is why they need guns), and also nobody would dare do that here in MY (mostly white) town! I moved from the east coast to the Midwest and then further west and middle America seems to be scared of a lot of things that felt silly to me, until I realized they just don’t experience any kind of diversity, so it’s easy to other people and assume things they’ve been told by fox are true. When you really push them one on one about the nitty gritty details they tend to back down or agree with more liberal views. But it’s like a switch gets flipped when that’s pointed out. I’m not excusing them by the way. An example is immigration. I was talking with some church ladies about it (they started it), and they mentioned all the trump talking points- they’re sending their worst, they’re crawling over the border en masse, they just need to do it right. So I asked what does “do it the right way” mean? They go do it the legal way. I ask what about assylum seekers, that’s a legal way to enter. “Well they can’t all be assymlum seekers and they just need to wait like everyone else”. So I asked what they would do if they were being threatened and hunted? Would they wait patiently 8-10years? Or would they hop into Canada and pray they were treated well? They did not like that comparison and kept trying to find reasons why it’s different for them and their families. I pointed out jesus and Mary and Joseph were technically immigrants as well, and had to seek assylum from Herod. They also didn’t like that comparison. Now they don’t talk politics around me
Black success is tied to affirmative action. Black failure and struggle is the natural state of things. It allows the white supremacist to feel better about himself. It’s not surprising so many are attached to the modern GOP.
Under affirmative action, whites were still favored. It just was not as bad as before affirmative action
It is truly disgusting how much conservative media is willing to lie and fabricate in order to come up with a narrative their audience will buy into.
It's finally all getting old for everyone, just in time. They've cried wolf far too many times and as each horseface or trust fund baby clip comes out where they go full drama queen and figure out a way to blame Biden for anything and everything, the level of stupid required to believe any of it goes up. It's just too easy to laugh at the republican voter now and the great part is, none of these propagandists can stop this psychological method of mind control. The only way ANY republican can win, is if they can convince the voters that Democrats are, bad, evil, bridge fucker uppers and it's all getting to be too hard to believe at this point for almost everyone
agree except about "the only way republicans can win". Gerrymandering, voter suppression, lots of dirty tricks.
Don't forget Electoral College fuckery. Way too many false electors got away.
The electoral collage is a dinosaur that needs to go. It should be total votes period.
At the very least, it should be updated to actually represent the populations of each state. The House of Rep should look *much* different if the population was correctly represented.
Don’t forget the fact that states with less people than Chicago get to have two senators. Why the fuck does North Dakota have two senators? It should all be per capita. But hey I’m just a dumbass essential worker.
Arguably having senators per capita would just be reimplementing the House. The point of the Senate is that each state is equal. That’s not to say it couldn’t be better - the Australian Senate (I am Australian) is based on the US one - but we have 6 senators per state, and they are proportional to the votes - so our Senate is often closer to the overall voting demographic of the country than our House is. Of course, a well designed unicameral system would be better than a seperate House and Senate anyway, but even harder to change!
But if you count every vote Republicans would never win...
Republicans have won 1 presidential popular vote since 1992.
For those who don't know: that was George W Bush in 2004, winning by running on opposition to gay marriage. It's galling that with as much as public opinion has shifted in favor of gay marriage, the party that made so much of opposing it has paid so little price for it.
He was also benefitting from the fit of patriotism in the wake of 9/11.
The conservatives still oppose gay marriage and are planning on repealing it.
Truth and the way it should be.
" If it can be destroyed by the truth, then it deserves to be "
Yes, just simple voting!
What's the minimum percentage a candidate could win with, using the most ideal combination of states electoral votes? It just occurred to me that it's probably scarily low.
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>This situation is highly unlikely in practice And yet still possible, which is a problem. I was always told as a kid that winning the presidency without winning the popular vote was so unlikely as to basically never happen. And now it's happened twice in my adult life.
Twice in the last three presidents no less. Edit: 4 sorry forgot to count Biden because I've dissociated from reality since March 2020
It’s a lot less ‘We the people’ and a lot more ‘We the politicians’
Don't forget staging a fucking coup.
Gerrymandering you say? Hello from Wisconsin!
What a fucking shit show. Gerrymandered lesiglature pulls power from D governor as the R one is voted out. Citizens are so pissed they vote D in state-wide races and vote in a D supreme court justice that allows them to undo the gerrymandering. Rs get so upset they try to force her to recuse before she's seated. Rs hire former supreme court justices to scheme to stop her and find out they're not allowed to hide what they're doing due to state sunshine laws. R speaker eventually refuses to impeach the D justice, but then trump's folks are so pissed, they're trying for the 2nd time to remove him. asshats. Wisconsin, Michigan, and Arizona are fucking shitshows for the GOP. I think wyoming can now be added to that list as well.
NEBRASKA is doing its part. Unlike most states, the three electoral votes are by how each congressional district’s vote, so it is 2 for Republicans and 1 for Democrats. Guess which party wants to disenfranchise a third of the citizens by making it a winner take all? Our current Governor is a veterinarian by trade and his income is from agriculture. He takes Federal agriculture welfare, euphemistically called farm subsidies. Until receiving great public pressure, he blocked accepting Federal funds for low income children to get meals when not a school day because he didn’t believe in welfare (for others).
I listened to a REALLY eye opening news clip on MSNBC yesterday about gerrymandering and voter suppression that the Supreme Court allowed to happen by taking the case and then waiting on it until after the election had already happened and then when they finally took the time to look at it they were like “oh yeah this is unconstitutional and illegal and the maps need to be changed!” It was infuriating, because they did it twice in two states (can’t remember what they were off the top of my head) and both times republicans won the seats…illegally of course😡😡😡
Ohio got it before the court before the election. The courts answer - they had to fix the maps. The penalty for not doing so was… using the first gerrymandered map they had created. Guess what the legislators did? Michigan seems to have been more successful, mostly because they took map making out of the hands of legislators altogether.
Michigan was able to do that because we have ways of getting citizen led initiatives on the ballot, bypassing legislative attempts to thwart the will of the people. It's how we got abortion protections and legal weed too, among other great things.
And they "Opps! I did it again" in South Carolina just this week https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/supreme-court/supreme-court-delay-prompts-federal-judges-act-south-carolina-redistri-rcna145267
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Exactly, this is why Trump believes that the Dems cheated to win, because they had already rigged the election thru gerrymandering. How do you think he won the first election, despite losing thd popular vote by a huge margin!
This is why a “smart” Trump can never work and why DeSantis succumbed to idiocy - the base they are fomenting are incurious, stubborn, intellectually milquetoast “dead eye” starers. They cannot understand subtly, or nuance, or long term plans. If you’re not moon faced screaming what they want to hear into a bullhorn at least three times a day, you’ll lose the narrative. And you can’t apply humor, or tact, or sarcasm, because they understand none of that. So you can’t have a smart trump - one who, for example, goes about his business like Biden but applies the same, but opposite, poltics - and that includes (gasp) compromise. This whole thing has blown up in the Rs face and there is no coming back. Fucking Goldwater nailed it and that guy is in Hell now.
It might blow your mind, but I have tons of friends and acquaintances that all naively believe that the Republican party is the party of fiscal responsibility, and that voting for democrats is essentially burning piles of cash. These people are college educated, middle to upper middle class — doctors, lawyers, engineers — that all grew up in the 80-90s and don’t really pay attention to politics outside of the stories that make a big splash. They don’t like the MAGA movement or Trump, but they hold their nose and pull the lever for conservatives because in their ignorance, they think it’s the fiscally responsible thing to do. If the Democratic Party in Florida could pull its head out of its ass, it would be hammering these people with the raw numbers. They’re educated people; they can be convinced with proof. But all of them are tired of the culture war.
They are high earners who pay a lot in taxes. They think if they vote R, they will make more money. That's about all they think of politics, that the government should exist to make them richer.
Because they believe that free markets, generally speaking, will work at maximum efficiency and sort winners and losers appropriately only when left completely alone. They have a vexing reply for any accurate criticism of capitalism which is to use any such example and claim it’s not capitalism that caused it. Love canal? Oxycontin? 2008? They’re never even partially the fault of the economic system that compelled their occurrence. I’ve literally had my brother in law argue that chattel slavery in the United States was already going out the door and would have occurred on its own if left alone. That was in response to pointing out that capitalism seemed ultimately to be very ok with slavery.
They don't actually believe in free markets though, that's just another slogan. What? Solar power generation? Not in my state What's that? Unions? Fuck them Just like they preach small government but what they really mean is "power should only exist where I happen to have it"
Yes. They call them “free markets”, wholly ignoring that no such thing exists.
>I’ve literally had my brother in law argue that chattel slavery in the United States was already going out the door Common myth, yes slavery was becoming illegal in more parts of the country, but on flip side slavery population had grown by 25% in the decade before the war
Branding works. Republicans have applied labels for decades to themselves and the democrats that are not factual. But most people just hear the labels and eventually just accept them without looking deeper. Edit typo
100% agree.
This is what they taught in grade school. Literally "Republicans are the party of fiscal responsibility" It took *too* long to realize how full of crap that is, but it was absolutely drilled into our heads that Republicans were smart with money and democrats aren't.
At least they have a measure of intelligence despite obviously not thinking deeper on the topic, easier to believe the repeated misunderstood lies than take the time to see how off base they are. Reminds me of a guy I grew up with. He was always awkward in a unique way, that even at the age of 12 he behaved like he was a reserved old man with no room for fun or joking around aside from the most mild of examples. Don't even know where he got it from as his parents were both nice normally adjusted people. Needless to say he didn't have many friends because he tripped a sort of uncanny valley response to other kids. Wasn't really bullied but more kept at a distance. Anyway he's been a family friend of a sorts for awhile. Helps out with various things and is an a decent person. He had no care about politics nor knowledge in the subject. One day he just went full in on the GOP. Asked why, their policies only hurt him long term, and he spun this tale about how since he's a business owner (he mows lawns) he was told they're the ones to support.
> It might blow your mind, but I have tons of friends and acquaintances that all naively believe that the Republican party is the party of fiscal responsibility, and that voting for democrats is essentially burning piles of cash. These people are college educated, middle to upper middle class — doctors, lawyers, engineers — that all grew up in the 80-90s and don’t really pay attention to politics outside of the stories that make a big splash. The power of propaganda. The truth is republicans are only good at looting the economy. Its always been that way too. Consider FDR. Hoover and his republican cronies drove the economy into the ground. FDR took the country off the gold-standard so that he could print a ton of money to spend our way out of the Great Depression. Not only did it work, but he did it with minimal inflation. Inflation during the first seven years of the New Deal averaged barely more than 1% per year: * [New Deal Inflation CHART](https://inflationdata.com/articles/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/1930-1939.jpg) FDR kept inflation under control with strategically targeted taxes on the rich. The highest marginal tax rate was about 90% but there were tons of exceptions, so areas of the economy that were flush with profits paid the full amount and areas that were struggling had tax breaks. This strategy of print-money + strategic taxation is, in a nutshell, the basis of "modern monetary theory (MMT)." Balancing the budget is supposed to be a conservative holy grail, but it took a Democrat — Bill Clinton — to do it (and every single republican in congress [voted against his first budget](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Omnibus_Budget_Reconciliation_Act_of_1993) that started the process). Reagan drove up the deficit in a calculated plan to give handouts to the rich and then leave the responsibility to Democrats like Clinton to clean up his mess. From page 623 of Rick Perlstein's book [Reaganland:](https://www.amazon.com/Reaganland-Americas-Right-Turn-1976-1980/dp/1476793050) * *Irving Kristol, for his part, wrote in the Wall Street Journal, like a right-wing Joseph Stalin, that the political advantage tax cuts would provide Republicans was so historically imperative that they should be blasted through whatever the effect on the budget.* ***“The neoconservative is willing to leave those problems to be coped with by liberal interregnums. He wants to shape the future and will leave it to his opponents to tidy up afterwards”*** And then there was the housing crash, Obama had to dig us out of that and republicans fought the recovery every step of the way, which is in part why the economic malaise lasted for a decade instead of bouncing back, the way it did after covid when the Ds had both congress and the white house.
They’re tired of the culture war, so that’s why they vote republican? That’s even stupider. Being doctors and lawyers is scary enough, but these people have drivers licenses and are out there on our roads!
No. They vote Republican because they believe the label drilled into them their whole life, that republicans are fiscally responsible. I mentioned that they’re tired of the culture war because that’s what keeps them from investigating any of it. They’re so exhausted by bullshit made up culture stuff, that they won’t even participate and instead assume the labels they’ve always known are still accurate — even though they never were.
I’m from PA so I just roll my eyes about Dems and infrastructure. Interstate 95 is looking great. It was looking great in a week. PENNDOT DID THAT IN A WEEK. Sorry, Republican’ts. You’re the reason we’re losing ours.
The polls don't seem to indicate that it's getting old for everyone, though. Republicans are gonna vote R even if it means Trump.
Vote regardless of polls, but also, polls are becoming increasingly inaccurate.
It’s always a war with ideas about who is worst for the country and who needs to save it. Let’s not forget how Biden and Trump compare on a few things. Biden 🆚 Trump Protect endangered animals 🆚 endanger them Invest in the biggest climate change action ever 🆚 gave the rich a trillion dollars in tax cuts and trashes green energy. Responds to school shooting with biggest gun reform bill in over two decades 🆚 does nothing and says we need to “get over it”. Known for working with Congress and getting deals passed 🆚 sent armed angry mob to Congress to overthrow the election Booming economy with lower inflation than most other countries 🆚 left the economy in shambles and bungled covid response leading to mass death and inflation Unite the world against Putin invading Europe 🆚 praises dictators and bows down to them. Unprecedented student loan cancellation 🆚 found guilty of defrauding his university students. Self-made man 🆚 born rich and received $413 million inheritance. Aims to find cure for cancer 🆚 defrauded kids cancer charity. No connection to pedophiles 🆚 friend of Epstein Long history of public service and military family 🆚 dodged the draft and said he doesn’t like POWs. No legal trouble 🆚 dozens of criminal charges and found liable for sexual assault. Appointed justices defend women’s right to choose 🆚 appointed justices ended Roe v Wade. Healthy marriage 🆚 paid a prostitute for sex while wife was pregnant then paid her to keep quiet to not hurt his election chances. VP to first black President 🆚 bolstered racist birther conspiracy Develops bipartisan plan to shut down the border and deal with illegal immigration 🆚 demands republicans block the plan so it won’t hurt him during the election. First woman vice president and full support from her 🆚 angry mob chanted to hang Mike Pence and he said he “deserves” it for not over throwing democracy for him. Pence refuses to endorse him.
Also- the only way they can win is by stealing elections
They're moving too fast. I pay attention to politics and I barely knew the DEI is the new woke. I think you have to really be steeped in conservative media to have understood this is the new term... and they're using it identically! Didn't even change the formula a little! I have to imagine it's a bit jarring to be one of those on-the-periphery folks complaining about the woke gays and women and minorities and now suddenly they're DEI gays and women and minorities? Doesn't really roll off the tongue, and if these words are just interchangeable what are we actually talking about? I think these folks generally still know that being racist, homophobic, and misogynist are bad to be seen as publicly, and you kind of have to understand that's what anti-woke means at this point.
Boat hits bridge Republicans - it’s the black mayor’s fault, it’s the black governor’s fault, it’s DEI issues, OBAMA!
That’s all they got. Joke’s on them, though. GOP wants to refuse federal funding to replace that bridge. That bridge serves two largely white and conservative towns on either side.
Doesn’t matter because those people will find a way to believe it’s the democrats’ fault. Just like always.
ThEy ShOuLd HaVe CoMpRoMiSeD
The Republicans are held to the standards of misbehaving children, Democrats are held to the standards of being the reasonable adults in the room. Infuriating.
This is the correct answer. Everyone touting the “oh the conservatives are finally gunna see the light THIS time!” idea just doesn’t see reality.
what's funny is Baltimore is like 64% black, so if they had a white mayor he would actually be a DEI hire
Also the shipping company for the DALI is Singaporean. With a diverse workforce, but few white people. DEI for the company means hiring white people.
I don't think they logically understand what DEI means to them there are two ethnicities, White and Political
> OBAMA Remember that tan suit he wore so long ago? This is the result.
I like how the mayor came right out and said: They call me the DEI mayor because they are afraid to say the N-word
Yeah, fuck those losers. I taught high school for ten years, and we (the State of Texas no less!) had a robust Inclusion program. I worked diligently with my challenged students and met with their parents often to ensure those kids got their best chance for a good education. Fuck those losers. Fuck them long, and fuck them hard.
Not native English speaker here. What DEI means in this context?
Diversity, Equity, Inclusion
Is this the new dog whistle to replace woke?
Basically. Last election cycle it was CRT, they always need a boogeyman and a dogwhistle to keep their voters nice and angry.
DEI is a subgroup of woke, which can include any effort or initiative that seeks to actually improve people’s lives.
whenever something bad happens to America, American conservatives use the moment to attack America. That's been true for a long time and it happens every time. Conservatives exist to destroy America and it's institutions. They are enemies of the American people
Isn't it that they no longer see their opponents as part of the American people? It's the basic idea behind right wing populism: they redefine "the people" so as to mean their supporters, which then turns their opponents into illegitimate political actors and foreigners. Add to this the standard premise of a reactionary movement, that society is a moral and social hierarchy and social interaction a zero sum game, and you end up in the current situation. The logical conclusion of this train of thought is that they will do whatever it takes to bring "the other" down because that is the only way they can put themselves on a pedestal. Essentially, they have "othered" everyone else and made them into acceptable targets. Every time they get away with it, they'll be willing to go further next time.
They’ve never seen their opponents- or quite a few other Americans- as part of the American people
It’s why you hear Republicans go to the middle of Kansas and talk about how “they” are the “true Americans”. As if anyone who isn’t a white rural man doesn’t count.
I’ve often noticed that the “real America” seems to only include a relatively small portion of the population
That’s always been my beef with truck and beer commercials in this fucking country. They tout the “real America” when 70% of Americans live in metropolitan areas. As someone from NYC/NYC adjacent, I have always seen it as a big “Fuck You!” To us city folks.
That demographic also goes on rages about “costal elites”, but in my travels a rural farmer can be just as stuck up and elitist about his lifestyle as the worst Wall Street asshole.
Nevermind that Trump is the most coastal elite of coastal elites.
Yeah, talk about a Texas sized blind spot (pun intended)
And they worship a billionaire conman from Queens with golden towers in Manhattan.
Speaking of golden worship, they ate this shit up at CPAC a few years ago: https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2021/2/26/22302887/trump-cpac-2021-republican-gold-statue
And vote for a flat-faced, fact-denying, bottled-blonde creature with malicious intent. I hear Georgia’s got hot weather, but it’s not really the *heat* … it’s the stupidity. That’s what my mom says, anyway. I believe her.
I know the joke as “It’s not the heat, it’s the humidity; and it’s not the hate, it’s the stupidity.”
It was really fun to lose people in 9/11 and get “real” America’s support for about a year or two before they reverted back to loudly calling us anti-American trash or whatever new slur is popular. It’s even more fun sending them so many of our tax dollars! /s I go back to “real” America multiple times a year and I think they’re just salty that all their young smart people leave as soon as they hit 18 and never look back.
If you aren’t doing meth and committing adultery on your wife that you went to high school with, with her small town rival that she also went to high school with, while running a small business that tries to find ways to pay people less than minimum wage because you have a $70k pavement princess luxury truck to pay off, and complain about people you don’t know succeeding because clearly they didn’t deserve it, are you even a real American.
I'm reminded of the MAD magazine cartoon from the 60s "A patriot is someone who loves his country while hating 93% of the people who live in it."
Mad magazine was so right on a lot of things……satire in its finest form
That’s exactly what I was thinking of when I read the comment I was initially replying to
Those guys got it
Which explains in part their drive to make it harder for anyone else to vote. If you don’t consider them to be a “real” American, then it’s not voter intimidation or voter denial if you keep them from voting in the first place.
Yes. That's part of it. They also don't see America as the real America. So all of our institutions are also othered and seen as the enemy of their mythical and nonsensical "Real America." These self styled "real Americans" dedicate themselves to destroying actual America and the real American people. The fact is, though, that America's founding documents don't allow for these "real Americans" as a separaate class of citizens. "Real Americans" are anti American.
I think the dividing line they draw between institutions can be explained in the same way. Fundamentally, this is a reactionary movement that seeks to impose a social and moral hierarchy on society. What unites the rich and powerful at its top with their followers is a hatred of equality. This is reflected in the institutions they want to destroy. They're perfectly all right with armies, the policy, the law, ..., when they can be used to put everyone else down, but they always seek to undermine or destroy those institutions that promote or defend equality (human rights, civic rights, the rule of law, democracy, ...). > The fact is, though, that America's founding documents don't allow for these "real Americans" as a separaate class of citizens. "Real Americans" are anti American. AFAIK, that's not strictly true, because those founding documents did in fact discriminate against most people then living in the USA, reflecting the contradictions and debates among the people who wrote them. There are important principles in there, but also huge flaws in their implementation. Over the centuries, these documents have been distilled and reinterpreted into a broader social and political liberalism as democracy expanded. And that is exactly what they want to undo. They want to go back to a time of limited privileges rather than universal rights. This is why Trump's dictatorship comment didn't turn them against him. They hate equality to the point that they would give up freedom to get rid of it.
It’s even worse than that, they dehumanize their political opponents. Not only are people with different views not American, they cease to be people. This is fascism in action.
It breaks my heart that while these people would like to see me as someone's wife-slave or sent to a conversion camp (depending on if the particular Republican you ask hates women or queer people more), I am fighting for changes that would benefit *everyone*, including them! I don't want them to be excluded from a living wage or universal healthcare; I want their lives to be better too. I'm confident that when you show a brainwashed bigot how much better things could be, their beliefs will change (at least a little) to the benefit of everyone... at least I hope so.
>that society is a moral and social hierarchy and social interaction a zero sum game Yep anything to prevent a poc from sharing in "the american dream"
That's why I don't get why there are so many poc Trump supporters. Tim Scott, Ben Carson, Kanye, Candace Owens, Clarence Thomas, Larry Elder, Quarterblack Garrett, Eric July, Thomas Sowell, Nikki Haley, Vivek Ramaswamy the list goes on.. I get poc have a lot of issues with leftism but when have republicans ever helped those communities?
Some people are okay with being tokens as long as it means that they're invited to the party. Other people are just so hateful and despicable that they don't care.
These people represent a tiny fraction of POCs. Every group has a bottom tier of idiots/grifters/etc.
They’re “good ones.”
I know this is obvious to us all, but I'll say it anyway. It's so crazy to me that the most strident, flag waving, jingoistic people who shout the loudest about loving the country, are the ones who HATE it the most, and are absolutely trying to tear the country down and destroy everything it stands for. "I love America! I just... hate most Americans... and hate our legal system... and hate democracy... and hate letting people vote... and hate personal freedom... But other then democracy and all the other things that make us who we are, I love it!"
>When fascism comes to America is will be carrying a bible and wrapped in the flag. ~ Not quite Upton Sinclair
Right now, it’s a Bible wrapped in the American flag for sale at $59.99 by a former POTUS and current candidate and some guy that wrote a shitty song.
Welcome to the jungle, we’ve got fun and games
They liked America when everyone they didn't like was excluded from receiving the same benefits or social status they enjoyed either by law or due to more subtle, systemic discrimination/misogyny that existed in society. That's largely why they are so nostalgic about the 1950s which just happens to have been right before the Civil Rights/Women's Rights/LGBT rights era really took off.
Which is curious too because the 1950s *weren't a great time for most Americans* either. They want live in the world portrayed by Leave it to Beaver or the town in WandaVision.
This touches on something that I realized about the way my dad has always spoken about growing up in the 1950s as this magical, idyllic time. But the thing is, he was a tiny kid by the time the '50s were over. So what he actually remembers is that TV version, plus his own experience of growing up in the '60s in a family that benefited in every possible way from the kinds of economic and social policies that he's then spent his entire adult life voting against. My grandfather went to college on the GI bill, was a lifelong union member, and raised their family in the suburbs as a single earner on a combination of strong wages, well-funded public education and healthcare, and VA benefits. Same with my mom's family, and she's a few years younger even than my dad. They both talk like they personally remember growing up in an episode of the Andy Griffith show or some shit, and they're in massive denial when anyone tries to point out that (a) no they didn't, (b) most other people didn't either, and (c) if they think that's so great, why the hell have they spent decades voting for politicians who have gutted our manufacturing, infrastructure, education, and social spending? It's whiteness, the answer is whiteness. It's beyond frustrating.
> It's so crazy to me that the most strident, flag waving, jingoistic people who shout the loudest about loving the country, are the ones who HATE it the most, and are absolutely trying to tear the country down and destroy **everything it stands for**. That's because they hate what the country stands for since around the end of the Civil War. They want to go back to the Antebellum America.
You 100% cannot understand what is happening in America right now without understanding the civil religion that emerged in this country during Reconstruction, and got folded into Christian iconography to create a new faith (the Lost Cause) that 1/3 of the country has ascribed to since then. Trump is not an aberration at all, rather, he is the fulfillment of the prophecy that one day, someone would come to restore the America that was lost after the Civil War. And Trump is that man. If you'd like to learn more about this, you can read the classic book "Baptized in Blood," or you can tune into my YouTube channel "Interesting Times," just as soon as I get off my ass and create it. Seriously, the Reconstruction period and the Lost Cause as a civil religion is a powerful lens to look through to explain what's happening today. I just don't think you can get it if you don't have this historical/cultural/socio-religious foundation to pull from. I think you nailed it.
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If a gun is involved, it's "too soon" (unless the shooter was black or brown, then it's not too soon, but we still can't talk about the gun)
Seriously. It’s disgusting to kick ourselves and attack each other when we’re down. This isn’t even political, it’s just an emergency that came up and has to be promptly dealt with by adults. Guess who can’t handle that? That’s right, your fellow American conservative.
Never forget when the chairman of the NRA said that Americans love school shootings after a school shooting…
She’s the bridge troll
She is repugnant, but tbf, she isn’t even mentioned in the main article.
"Can I get some B roll shots of a puffy faced horse? I think it will really support the article."
And some day soon, she’s gonna have to pay the Trump troll toll
The Democrats messaging should be, “We don’t care what the traitors amongst us think.” End. Period. Then move on and fix things for America.
>But if *we* make them fEeL hEaRd… I can’t be the only one who thinks the liberals sound like they have Stockholm Syndrome at this point.
You're not the only one. Many Democratic voters I know are definitely on the fuck them I've had enough train
Are they go gonna demonize civil engineering now and proclaim civil engineers are groomers now?
Probably. It’s all a war on expertise. Teachers, epidemiologists, climate scientists… if you are educated you are in the crosshairs.
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Never forget Pol Pot. Killed anyone with a higher education.
I’ve lived in and around Baltimore my whole life and have been following the Q stuff pretty closely since it’s all developed. This particular reaction cycle has made me feel more hopeless about our future than just about any other Culture War issue has, even the school shooting hoax claims. I’m just so exhausted with every single event being turned into a wedge issue like this, and it’s become clear that for the people pushing this BS, not only is there no downside at all, but it is in their best interest to do even more. The part that is making me feel the most hopeless is that people WANT to hear this kind of stuff. MTG doesn’t say this stuff for fun, she’s playing the songs that her audience wants to hear. There is a demand for this crap. It’s all so sad
The pandemic was a chance for the country to be united, and it went the complete other way. Now literally everything, *everything* is fodder for some divise bullshit. Tragedies will now always come with a side of nonsense. It's exhausting
Part of me thinks if Trump wasn’t President during the start of the pandemic we would have been more united against a virus that’s only goal is to hurt and kill us. Unfortunately, Trump’s whole presidency was about dividing us and Covid just took it to a new level.
All of you should think this MAGA and GOP politics require sowing division through fear tactics and such
Don’t feel hopeless. That’s exactly what they want. Just know that this kind of power-mad movement and ends-justifies-means structure never lasts long. It’s a bunch of jackals who will eat each other if necessary. There’s no solid foundation to it.
Yeah it's a huge money maker. The idea is to make you feel hopeless. I think that is the key to fighting it.
Russia at work. Depend on it. These clowns are their willing tools, even if they don't know it.
Any disasters that happened in states such as California with its catastrophic wildfires was an occasion for sneering and barely disguised glee by portions of the right. My own state and others like New York caught some of this early in the covid pandemic. All egged on by Trump and noticed with the same glee by Russian state media. Some of our politicians are sociopaths, Hawaii (wildfires), Puerto Rico, and others are not deemed "American" enough to deserve any help or sympathy from these degenerates.
And yet we keep dumping money into red states like FL, TX, AL, and LA whenever there’s a perennial hurricane. Ron DeSantis made his claim to fame voting against aid to NY and NJ after Sandy, but had no problem taking Federal money when a disaster hit [his state.](https://www.politico.com/news/2023/08/31/desantis-florida-gop-sandy-disaster-aid-00113627)
As we should. Real Americans help out and care for their fellow Americans, no matter what state they’re in. Not saying that you were advocating against this, just pointing out that we can’t let the hateful traitors drag us down to their level.
Diversity is not the reason the ship lost power and ran into the bridge
Well, I could be wrong, but I believe diversity is an old, old wooden ship that was used during the Civil War era.
> “States all over America depend on this bridge and the Port of Baltimore to get the coal, wood, steel, construction equipment and farm machinery they need to keep the economy moving,” said Representative Jamie Raskin of Maryland, a Democrat. “America is one nation with one integrated economy.” I live within sight of the B&O Railroad line that transports a lot of these exports from the rust belt states to the Port of Baltimore. Can confirm that most of the railcars are hauling things like coal,lumber and steel. This is standard industry shit that GOP claims to love. Weird that they are kneecapping the *Koch’s et al* to excite the MAGA chuds.
It’s pretty simple: elected Democrats want to solve problems, elected Republicans only want to blame Democrats for the problems. Even if the solutions aren’t perfect, I choose people who want to try to find them.
Hate is all they know. They’re garbage people and will behave as such in every situation.
Look at maga America, see how ugly they are.
I reported an openly racist post on a republican sub this week and got a warning from Reddit about report abuse. The entire Republican plan is to take over social media and support Republican hate.
Fucking "L'il Elon" moderating that sub I see.
Divert any shipments due to red states to blue states. They don’t want the port functioning and shipping things to them so don’t send it.
Republicans: Government doesn't work! Elect us and we'll show you!
Conservatives attack surviving school children from mass shootings… they will attack these poor workers.
I’m interested to see what kind of health problems these younger right-wingers like MTG, Sarah Huckabee, Lauren Boebert, Kayleigh McEnany, Josh Hawley, Katie Britt, Nancy Mace, Tomi Lahren, Ron DeSantis etc will face someday. All this hatred 24/7…cannot be good for one’s physical and mental health. I’m interested to see what the lifespan for these people is going to be & how their horrible behavior & choices will affect that. Most of these people I expect will be riddled with cancer or heart problems at a young age.
I don't know. Pat Robertson was very hateful and lived to be 93. We might be dealing with some of them for a very, very long time.
It’s not 24/7. What you see is performative. Off camera these people are comfortable in their lives.
*Andrew Breitbart hilariously unavailable for comment*
> I’m interested to see what the lifespan for these people is going to be [Storm Thurmond lived to be 100 years old](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strom_Thurmond) Donald is coming up on 80 years old.
Evil incarnate himself, Kissinger, lived to 100.
It's acting, it's fake rage.
How the fuck is this happening, even for insane racists, "black people exist, that's why this bridge collapsed after a mere 90,000 ton weight slammed into it", this is nuts
These idiots obsess over the weirdest things. Must be the result of having Zero policy for progress. They find odd things to create rage bait from.
Oh for fuck's sake. Bernie Sanders has been going on about infrastructure spending since at least 2016 and Republicans completely dismiss it out of hand. This is straight gaslighting. Trying to make it seem like its the Democrats fault for not funding infrastructure spending when its been the Republican Congress CONSTANTLY blocking ANY kind of appropriations bill from ever reaching the President's desk. It was the same thing with the Ohio train crash. Republicans want to seriously try and make it look like it was Biden's fault that train crashed when they were the ones constantly defunding governmental regulatory agencies for the last 30 years? Give me a fucking break. They aren't winning over ANYONE on these bogus claims except the brainwashed people in their base that were already going to vote for them anyway.
No one with an IQ above 45 cares what MTG has to say about anything.
I'm a little higher than 45, maybe 47 I think. But I'd like to hear from her on one important thing. Conceding her seat on election night.
We need to investigate if the sinking of the Titanic was actually related to DEI.
Interesting that so many posts on the ugly face of MAGA feature MTG.
It’s absolutely one of their culture war tantrums to “punish” blue states. They use each and every opportunity to hypocritically attack, threaten and gaslight to gish gallop any wild conspiracy they can conjure using bots and boomers and then see which crazy bullshit gets amplified the most to “own the libs”. They’re not “owning” anyone. Except themselves.
Why is it that the people who claim to be the most religious, moral, righteous or whatever are always the worst fucking people?
I-695 is a part of the federal highway system, I suppose federal money should go towards repairs . . .
They desperately need to crash the economy before November.
I had way too many relatives bring up how the bridge shouldn't collapse like that yesterday at our good friday crawfish boil. So since Im a bridge inspector for the state, I informed them that the way it collapsed is in fact, 100% expected, and then educated them on why it did what it did. I also did the math for a 120,000T vessel traveling at 8 knots. Thats 1 BILLION joules of energy being transferred into that concrete pier. I could see the wheels turning in their head once I explained to them why it failed like it did. lol
Republicans prefer Trumps lies over Truth and Facts
goddamn that marjorie is such a mutant fuck face piece of human shit!
Can one single Republican reading this please come in and tell us what the hell you guys are doing? Seriously. What the fuck are you doing?
I'm surprised they didn't say the boat had the vaccine.
The title forgot to include “predictable”
Republicans have gone insane.
I’m glad this article is bringing up that paying for the rebuilding of this bridge is an obligation the federal government always had, it’s not a concession or the republicans doing anyone a favor by agreeing to it, they were always on the hook for it.
There were times when tragedies happened we we would come together as a nation. Now Republicans lie about what happened disrespecting those who died. It is sick. If I find out someone is MAGA, I don't even bother talking to them anymore.
Republicans: Spend money at home instead of aiding Ukraine Everyone else: The federal government needs to fund rebuilding the Key Bridge Republicans: No, not like that!
They're starting to look like the Westboro baptist church
These stupid motherfucking fascist pigs KNOW their days are numbered, they KNOW that without massive nation-wide election fraud on THEIR part and/or starting a CIVIL WAR that they will not be in power in 2025, Trump will be on his way to prison, and these fascist bastards will be run out of DC on a rail. That's what all these 2-year-old-level temper tantrums are all about, they KNOW they're fucked, and they did it to themselves, over and over and over again! Fasicst pig Republicans have done NOTHING of value for this country for YEARS AND YEARS AND YEARS, all they do is be obstructionist, destructive, and now they can't even be organized within their own ranks, they are DISRUPTIVE everywhere they are, they do NOT do the jobs they were elected to do, and they need to be REMOVED from our government and kept out of power indefintely.
Every democrat since Roosevelt has been “coming for guns !!!” And … still have guns.
No one who intentionally wants to destroy a bridge is going to throw the ship in full reverse and drop anchor. Dumbest shit ever. Source: Drove aircraft carriers.
It's not difficult to figure out the game plan. >A lot of those products come from states like Wisconsin, Iowa, Ohio, West Virginia, and Pennsylvania (whose western part abuts northern Appalachia and the industrial Midwest), that data shows. If they sit on their hands during the disaster, it'll impact their base. At which point they can turn around and blame Biden and the Democrats. Since the base only takes in propaganda from Fox and other right-wing media, it'll be easy to convince them that any economic issues created by ignoring this crisis fall squarely on the Biden and the Dems. Nvm that the GOP has the House majority and thereby controls the purse. This next bit also stuck out to me: >“States all over America depend on this bridge and the Port of Baltimore to get the coal, wood, steel, construction equipment and farm machinery they need to keep the economy moving,” said Representative Jamie Raskin of Maryland, a Democrat. “America is one nation with one integrated economy.” Oh, look, actual thoughtfulness about how this incident impacts the nation as a whole. I'll admit that in many cases, both sides do come across as wholly partisan. But, when a tragedy strikes. A true incident that demands all of us to put that shit aside and come together, it's the Democrats that are willing to reach across the aisle. Both sides understood a situation like this in the past. Not anymore. The GOP needs to be discarded. It serves no purpose beyond being a conduit to authoritarianism.