"Their own greed has led them into a trap." Yes, that makes sense.
Over decades, the GOP manufactured a massive propaganda machine to convince the public their policies were in the public's interest. They became masters of big ideas and potent imagery. They left the Democrats in the dust, with their dusty intellectual arguments and emotio…
"Their own greed has led them into a trap." Yes, that makes sense.
Over decades, the GOP manufactured a massive propaganda machine to convince the public their policies were in the public's interest. They became masters of big ideas and potent imagery. They left the Democrats in the dust, with their dusty intellectual arguments and emotionally limp centrist talking points.
This machine grew and grew. Telling the Big Lie became an addiction, perhaps. Where the longer you were living in it, the more you believed it yourself. As the Orange King came to power, it still seemed to be working — show fealty, whip up righteous anger in yourself and others, and you get more. And in Term 1 it probably did work for them. Why not go for a Term 2? It might be more EXTREME! — but that could be good. It sounds good, it feels good — a little aggressiveness can't hurt.
But what happens now? Are they just too invested? There has to be a degree of this for the voters and the business community — loss aversion makes it hard to let go once you've already bought in. But almost nobody knew what they were buying. And you're right: the force at the center is incoherent and absurd, incapable of thinking past the next day or wave of ego gratification. And he seems to have that effect on the people around him.
Let's see what happens next. Liberation Day is coming!
I think about this a lot. There’s a lot of “they knew what they were voting for!” comments out there, and I disagree w/ that pretty strongly. My pops is a Republican voter, and had no fucking clue any of this was gonna be the result, and I’d hesitate to call him “low info”. He reads the WSJ, chats politics w/ his fellow country club repubs, etc.
"Their own greed has led them into a trap." Yes, that makes sense.
Over decades, the GOP manufactured a massive propaganda machine to convince the public their policies were in the public's interest. They became masters of big ideas and potent imagery. They left the Democrats in the dust, with their dusty intellectual arguments and emotionally limp centrist talking points.
This machine grew and grew. Telling the Big Lie became an addiction, perhaps. Where the longer you were living in it, the more you believed it yourself. As the Orange King came to power, it still seemed to be working — show fealty, whip up righteous anger in yourself and others, and you get more. And in Term 1 it probably did work for them. Why not go for a Term 2? It might be more EXTREME! — but that could be good. It sounds good, it feels good — a little aggressiveness can't hurt.
But what happens now? Are they just too invested? There has to be a degree of this for the voters and the business community — loss aversion makes it hard to let go once you've already bought in. But almost nobody knew what they were buying. And you're right: the force at the center is incoherent and absurd, incapable of thinking past the next day or wave of ego gratification. And he seems to have that effect on the people around him.
Let's see what happens next. Liberation Day is coming!
> “But almost nobody knew what they were buying.”
I think about this a lot. There’s a lot of “they knew what they were voting for!” comments out there, and I disagree w/ that pretty strongly. My pops is a Republican voter, and had no fucking clue any of this was gonna be the result, and I’d hesitate to call him “low info”. He reads the WSJ, chats politics w/ his fellow country club repubs, etc.