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Trump's a moron, but it isn't clear to me that HIS TEAM dragged their feet on anything. I'm a big fan of Bill Maher, and Dan Crenshaw's interview on the show h

by JPKab 7y ago

Trump's a moron, but it isn't clear to me that HIS TEAM dragged their feet on anything. I'm a big fan of Bill Maher, and Dan Crenshaw's interview on the show had some relevant points, including the fact that the House dragged their feet on providing funding requested by the administration. They did, and there's a record of it. I checked myself when I was watching, because I didn't believe it. They did. This is the issue: Highly intelligent people disagree on things all the time, because human cognitive capacity is so limited in it's ability to assimilate massive quantities of information. We all have filters on all the time to keep from draining our daily limit of cognitive energy, blinding us to most of reality in a way we aren't aware of. I'm a lifelong Democratic voter, but Trump, for example, has handled certain issues much better than people I voted for in the past would have. Holding China accountable, and the WHO as well, are small examples. (Being an asshole who doesn't care how you are perceived can have advantages) Bigger examples are trade policies. He basically has a classic Bernie Sanders attitude to American manufacturing (unfortunately it comes with Trump himself......). The point is that elitist thinking, that the population can't be trusted, is the hallmark of every authoritarian regime in history. It certainly is the justification. You can't have it both ways.

mindslight 7y ago
I agree there's certainly enough blame to go around for this ongoing disaster. I've personally been indifferent about Trump up until 2020 - he's responsible for feet dragging throughout February and the continued lack of national leadership. Even as a libertarian I can respect that half-competent authority would be useful if only to reassure people to keep them from attacking each other. Being anti-authoritarian, I certainly was not making my point as a justification. But our society is based heavily on authoritarian structures, and viewed objectively by its function, it has failed by electing not just a self-interested looter but rather someone who is actively self-destructive. If the political outsider had been kept out, the position would have been filled by someone who worked with the system to accomplish goals, and with a nonpartisan health crisis this would have been objectively beneficial.

by JPKab 7y ago

mindslight 7y ago

I agree there's certainly enough blame to go around for this ongoing disaster. I've personally been indifferent about Trump up until 2020 - he's responsible for feet dragging throughout February and the continued lack of national leadership. Even as a libertarian I can respect that half-competent authority would be useful if only to reassure people to keep them from attacking each other. Being anti-authoritarian, I certainly was not making my point as a justification. But our society is based heavily on authoritarian structures, and viewed objectively by its function, it has failed by electing not just a self-interested looter but rather someone who is actively self-destructive. If the political outsider had been kept out, the position would have been filled by someone who worked with the system to accomplish goals, and with a nonpartisan health crisis this would have been objectively beneficial.