4 ms·
There's also a "grey" subgroup in the red tribe. For instance, a lot of Trump supporters will privately admit that he's a bad guy and an ineffective leader, but
by tharne 6y ago
There's also a "grey" subgroup in the red tribe. For instance, a lot of Trump supporters will privately admit that he's a bad guy and an ineffective leader, but preferable to a liberal president.
The problem is that the more extreme factions in both tribes wield the power and tend to punish what they see as heresy within their own camps before going after the other tribe. Most groups treat apostates worse than those who never believed in the first place.
- watwut 6y agoI find it hard to square Biden and Trump as supposedly same level of extreme. Or Clinton and Trump. They just are not the same level of extreme. Quite the opposite, the democratic party is significantly more choosing toward center figures. It also tend to choose less extreme tactics to get their way - there was no democratic goverment shutdown etc.
- antepodius 6y agoYes. One tribe is a cornered, bleeding, broken animal, one isn't.
- watwut 6y agoNeither is bleeding broken nor animal. That is nonsense. The cornered tribe would not be among two most powerful parties. Having president, majority of supreme court, senate or house suggests you are not cornered. And both parties are represented in those.
- antepodius 6y ago'The right' holds this temporary power. But the arc of the last half-century remains unchanged: the platform of the democrats today will be the platform of GOP in 50 years. The right lost the universities and the culture long ago.
- dpoochieni 6y agoCentrists such as Bernie, AOC, et al?
- watwut 6y agoThey are waaay less extreme then Trump. Neither of them is president, not even nominated and neither managed to control the party. Neither sets agenda in any way.
- dpoochieni 6y agoHaha damned Poe's law. Btw Biden just announced a joint plan with Bernie
- tharne 6y agoMy point was not to draw a moral equivalence between two tribes, but rather point out that neither is a monolith, and both are currently controlled by their more extreme elements.
- watwut 6y agoAnd my point is, one of those parties is not controlled by more extreme elements. One is controlled by more towards the center elements. The other voted the more extreme element for president.
- tharne 6y agoThe Democratic party is being driven by those on the left flank of the party. Yes, the moderates are nominally in charge, but only so long as they drive the agenda of their more extreme members. It's similar to how John Boehner was an arguably more moderate Republican, nominally in charge of house. However, he got led around by the nose by the more extreme Freedom caucus who didn't have a lot of official control, but wielded a tremendous amount of soft power.
- watwut 6y agoThen those extreme left flank parts really should stop driving toward all those center desisions and should start putting themselves incharge. Or maybe they drive very little.
- Spooky23 6y agoRight now, sure. But the political machinery is never in bed with the more radical people. Things are extreme now because it’s being driven that way by various parties. As that calms down, compromises will be made and order will return. Recovery from economic catastrophe will be the priority.