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With all due respect, I did not vote for the president but now find myself more aligned with the Republicans than any 2020 Democrat. Its a smear that they are a

With all due respect, I did not vote for the president but now find myself more aligned with the Republicans than any 2020 Democrat. Its a smear that they are anti-Diversity. A lot of the young men I know feel disenfranchised in a system that does not value them even though they are not in any positions of power. All are sympathetic to historical injustices and see the President doing things like First Step Act and Opportunity Zones as legislation that disproportionately benefits minority groups, but does not detract from other groups. I think he's brash and unpolite, but a lot of people I know see this as fighting back against an onslaught that is one-sided and doesn't get called out.

metalliqaz 7y ago
If you think that the way the president primarily is affecting minority groups is via First Step Act and Opportunity Zones, then you are either confused or willfully ignorant. His "me first" M.O. is based on stoking racial grievances and animosity in his base. His actual economic policies align exactly with the "swamp": funnel money to the wealthy. It sounds to me, frankly, that you are simply seeing what you want to see.
- cwperkins 7y ago
  I'd love to engage in any debate because ultimately I think that having diverse viewpoints ultimately leads to the most ideal solution. And not just Diversity of background, but diversity of bias is also important. I think the single most important thing being accomplished at the moment is the rebuilding of the middle class through bringing manufacturing back. It hasn't happened on a large scale yet, but I'm optimistic that the next year will see a big uptick. Building the middle class will be the best way to close the racial wealth gap. I also live in an urban area in a gentrifying neighborhood and it looks like some millenials are opting to settle. I think this is great for integration as well as minorities moving to the suburbs. I also saw research recently that has shown that gentrification has led to incomes in the area increasing at rates that beat the national average which is also promising. EDIT: Why was this comment downvoted without a reply? I want to spark a discussion.
  - metalliqaz 7y ago
    > bringing manufacturing back heh.
save_ferris 7y ago
> Its a smear that they are anti-diversity. No it's not. Many prominent figures in the GOP have courted openly racist views over the years. Some highlights: Rep Steve King, who has a very long history of espousing racist views, openly questioned why "White Nationalism" is now an offensive term.[0] Do you believe that the concept of white nationalism or any of its ancillary movements to be offensive? Deceased GOP strategist Tom Hofeller was an architect behind current efforts to gerrymander voting districts throughout the US, and his daughter handed over a hard drive containing documents he wrote that described in detail efforts to take voting strength away from voters of color by implementing a citizenship question on the 2020 census. How can the desire to take voting power away from non-whites be construed as anything other than racist? The GOP is clearly threatened by the minority vote and have taken dramatic steps behind the scenes to remove them from the voting population[1]. > A lot of the young men I know feel disenfranchised in a system that does not value them even though they are not in any positions of power. And how exactly does the GOP plan to deal with this? Bernie's Green New Deal guarantees thousands of jobs because the progressive movement sees stagnation among the youth. The GOP just cuts taxes and claims everyone wins when that's far from the reality. 0: https://www.nytimes.com/2019/01/15/us/politics/steve-king-offensive-quotes.html https://www.nytimes.com/2019/01/15/us/politics/steve-king-of... 1: https://www.nytimes.com/2019/06/06/us/north-carolina-gerrymander-republican.html https://www.nytimes.com/2019/06/06/us/north-carolina-gerryma...
- malvosenior 7y ago
  There's plenty of racism to go around in all major political parties. "Super-predators" anyone? > efforts to take voting strength away from voters of color by implementing a citizenship question on the 2020 census. It seems totally rational and fair that people be asked about their citizenship on a census.
  - save_ferris 7y ago
    > There's plenty of racism to go around in all major political parties. "Super-predators" anyone? That was 30 years ago, and the history of that phrase was used against Hillary to great effect in 2016. What a fallacious claim to equate a statement made 30 years ago to multiple, repeated instances of racism on the right. Nobody on the left is defending the use of that term today. > It seems totally rational and fair that people be asked about their citizenship on a census. There's a very strong legal argument that the explicit goals for adding the citizenship question makes it unconstitutional. Hofeller wrote in confidential memos that his daughter released stating that the explicit goal of adding the question was to scare members of the Latino community into not answering the question, given the current administration's crackdown on immigration. This directly contradicts the mandate laid out in the Constitution which clearly states that the Census is to be filled out by everyone living in the US, not just citizens. By designing a question to explicitly suppress participation in certain communities, the motives to which were leaked by Hofeller's daughter, the administration could in no way argue that it had a legitimate legislative reason to add the question to the census, which is exactly why they stopped pursuing it.
mrkstu 7y ago
The problem is that the President cultivates groups that are nativist. Any good that some of his policies may do will not earn him any credibility if he wipes it away by minimizing the problematic nature of those that seek to use his voice as an amplification for their narratives. Unfortunately Trump seem incapable of cutting loose anyone who is willing to praise him unrestrainedly. So he ends up endorsing groups directly or indirectly over Twitter via re-tweet that are toxic or praising Putin/Kim Jong Un since they restrict their criticism to the USA as a country rather than him personally. I'm a lifelong Republican, but voted 3rd party last election and set to again, despite agreeing with many actual policy positions this admin takes. I (and many others) can't be party to his antics as they will smear the whole conservative world view for a generation with the slime of his self-interest.
- redblacktree 7y ago
  > voted 3rd party So you're planning to have no effect on the outcome of the election?
  - mrkstu 7y ago
    I'm having the effect of not proactively promoting policies/behaviors that don't represent my PoV. Why reward behavior that I find reprehensible? Also, if we keep allowing that false dichotomy to dictate our votes we will be eternally trapped in 2-party hell. There is a possible outcome where other parties become viable, but first we must kill with fire the idea that we must always vote in a binary fashion.

metalliqaz 7y ago

If you think that the way the president primarily is affecting minority groups is via First Step Act and Opportunity Zones, then you are either confused or willfully ignorant. His "me first" M.O. is based on stoking racial grievances and animosity in his base. His actual economic policies align exactly with the "swamp": funnel money to the wealthy. It sounds to me, frankly, that you are simply seeing what you want to see.

cwperkins 7y ago
I'd love to engage in any debate because ultimately I think that having diverse viewpoints ultimately leads to the most ideal solution. And not just Diversity of background, but diversity of bias is also important. I think the single most important thing being accomplished at the moment is the rebuilding of the middle class through bringing manufacturing back. It hasn't happened on a large scale yet, but I'm optimistic that the next year will see a big uptick. Building the middle class will be the best way to close the racial wealth gap. I also live in an urban area in a gentrifying neighborhood and it looks like some millenials are opting to settle. I think this is great for integration as well as minorities moving to the suburbs. I also saw research recently that has shown that gentrification has led to incomes in the area increasing at rates that beat the national average which is also promising. EDIT: Why was this comment downvoted without a reply? I want to spark a discussion.
- metalliqaz 7y ago
  > bringing manufacturing back heh.

save_ferris 7y ago

> Its a smear that they are anti-diversity. No it's not. Many prominent figures in the GOP have courted openly racist views over the years. Some highlights: Rep Steve King, who has a very long history of espousing racist views, openly questioned why "White Nationalism" is now an offensive term.[0] Do you believe that the concept of white nationalism or any of its ancillary movements to be offensive? Deceased GOP strategist Tom Hofeller was an architect behind current efforts to gerrymander voting districts throughout the US, and his daughter handed over a hard drive containing documents he wrote that described in detail efforts to take voting strength away from voters of color by implementing a citizenship question on the 2020 census. How can the desire to take voting power away from non-whites be construed as anything other than racist? The GOP is clearly threatened by the minority vote and have taken dramatic steps behind the scenes to remove them from the voting population[1]. > A lot of the young men I know feel disenfranchised in a system that does not value them even though they are not in any positions of power. And how exactly does the GOP plan to deal with this? Bernie's Green New Deal guarantees thousands of jobs because the progressive movement sees stagnation among the youth. The GOP just cuts taxes and claims everyone wins when that's far from the reality. 0: https://www.nytimes.com/2019/01/15/us/politics/steve-king-offensive-quotes.html https://www.nytimes.com/2019/01/15/us/politics/steve-king-of... 1: https://www.nytimes.com/2019/06/06/us/north-carolina-gerrymander-republican.html https://www.nytimes.com/2019/06/06/us/north-carolina-gerryma...

malvosenior 7y ago
There's plenty of racism to go around in all major political parties. "Super-predators" anyone? > efforts to take voting strength away from voters of color by implementing a citizenship question on the 2020 census. It seems totally rational and fair that people be asked about their citizenship on a census.
- save_ferris 7y ago
  > There's plenty of racism to go around in all major political parties. "Super-predators" anyone? That was 30 years ago, and the history of that phrase was used against Hillary to great effect in 2016. What a fallacious claim to equate a statement made 30 years ago to multiple, repeated instances of racism on the right. Nobody on the left is defending the use of that term today. > It seems totally rational and fair that people be asked about their citizenship on a census. There's a very strong legal argument that the explicit goals for adding the citizenship question makes it unconstitutional. Hofeller wrote in confidential memos that his daughter released stating that the explicit goal of adding the question was to scare members of the Latino community into not answering the question, given the current administration's crackdown on immigration. This directly contradicts the mandate laid out in the Constitution which clearly states that the Census is to be filled out by everyone living in the US, not just citizens. By designing a question to explicitly suppress participation in certain communities, the motives to which were leaked by Hofeller's daughter, the administration could in no way argue that it had a legitimate legislative reason to add the question to the census, which is exactly why they stopped pursuing it.

mrkstu 7y ago

The problem is that the President cultivates groups that are nativist. Any good that some of his policies may do will not earn him any credibility if he wipes it away by minimizing the problematic nature of those that seek to use his voice as an amplification for their narratives. Unfortunately Trump seem incapable of cutting loose anyone who is willing to praise him unrestrainedly. So he ends up endorsing groups directly or indirectly over Twitter via re-tweet that are toxic or praising Putin/Kim Jong Un since they restrict their criticism to the USA as a country rather than him personally. I'm a lifelong Republican, but voted 3rd party last election and set to again, despite agreeing with many actual policy positions this admin takes. I (and many others) can't be party to his antics as they will smear the whole conservative world view for a generation with the slime of his self-interest.

redblacktree 7y ago
> voted 3rd party So you're planning to have no effect on the outcome of the election?
- mrkstu 7y ago
  I'm having the effect of not proactively promoting policies/behaviors that don't represent my PoV. Why reward behavior that I find reprehensible? Also, if we keep allowing that false dichotomy to dictate our votes we will be eternally trapped in 2-party hell. There is a possible outcome where other parties become viable, but first we must kill with fire the idea that we must always vote in a binary fashion.