4 ms·

The enemy of my enemy is my friend. The Trumpers in DC are chanting "I am my brother's keeper" and are upset at the US plutocracy and are taking a stand against

The enemy of my enemy is my friend. The Trumpers in DC are chanting "I am my brother's keeper" and are upset at the US plutocracy and are taking a stand against it, regardless of how misinformed they actually are. Perhaps the progressive left should forgive them, find common ground, display class solidarity, and work together to actually drain the very real swamp.

mindslight 6y ago
That's nice in theory, but falls apart as Trump supporters seem blind to Trump's own shameless corruption. "Drain the swamp" and "fake news" are valid critiques for sure, but Trump has merely channeled these frustrations to gain support and cover for carrying out his own graft. You can't get more blatant than stealing PPE from hospitals to redistribute it through your own company while taking a healthy cut. As a libertarian I had been intrigued by the meme that Trump hasn't started a new war, but this article puts that in the best context I've seen. He was happy to continue meddling in other countries and committing acts of war against Iran, just nothing strategic or long term. This fits with Trump being of low intelligence and used to simply waving his dick around to get what he wants, but that simply doesn't scale to the actions of a country. And so his pigheadedness is great for drawing attention to the workings of the corrupt system, but that's about it. I do see where Trump supporters are coming from, at least starting out. But I don't see how there can be solidarity while they continue to go on the offensive against the grassroots of the other team (antifa bogeyman, all lives matter, etc). And at this point I would say that is most of the energy of the movement. And so it's ultimately just another round of the same divide and conquer the masses that's been going on for decades, only this time with disastrous pandemic response.
- WealthVsSurvive 6y ago
  1) Admit Trump was right about the coastal elites, then expound upon what they are. 2) Run on draining the swamp. 3) Relay the genuine message of Christ as anti-plutocrat, anti-empire. 4) Build bridges instead of identity judgements.
  - mindslight 6y ago
    > 1) Admit Trump was right about the coastal elites, then expound upon what they are. It's a common critique. So sure he's right (as I said about fake news and drain the swamp), but I don't see how his actions amount to anything more than a battle between different groups of elites. > 2) Run on draining the swamp. No idea what you mean by "run on", but there is no draining going on. Trump is criticizing DC while feasting on it with his set of cronies, the same as every other politician has done. > 3) Relay the genuine message of Christ as anti-plutocrat, anti-empire. I can get behind this being the original message of Christ, but invoking Christ from 2k years ago as characteristic of what his supposed followers want to do today is fallacious. The basic lifecycle of social movements is that they're revolutionary at the start, and conservative after they've become an ordinary part of society. Modern anti-plutocrats have moved on to modern memes, and most people calling themselves Christian seem to want more government intervention into our private lives. > 4) Build bridges instead of identity judgements. To build a bridge requires common ground. As I said, the problem is there can be no common ground while the red team directs their outrage at the grassroots of the blue team. With Republicans in power, it's the responsibility of the Republican grassroots to criticize their own politicians when they go against our country's ideals. But instead they're cheering on authoritarianism because it hurts the other team more. Where are the Republicans seriously condemning this neo-skinhead movement, which is actually manifesting real world violence? Ultimately if you want there to be any shred of a conservative party left, you're going to have to admit you were conned and repudiate your current radical populist (ie anti-conservative) figurehead and his destructive message. Until then this Libertarian is voting straight ticket blue in national elections. At least Democrats are talking about the problems we're facing (albeit in terms of misguided solutions, identity politics, big government, etc) rather than pretending they don't exist while getting whipped into a frenzy with patently fake news (latest delusion: "stop the steal").

mindslight 6y ago

That's nice in theory, but falls apart as Trump supporters seem blind to Trump's own shameless corruption. "Drain the swamp" and "fake news" are valid critiques for sure, but Trump has merely channeled these frustrations to gain support and cover for carrying out his own graft. You can't get more blatant than stealing PPE from hospitals to redistribute it through your own company while taking a healthy cut. As a libertarian I had been intrigued by the meme that Trump hasn't started a new war, but this article puts that in the best context I've seen. He was happy to continue meddling in other countries and committing acts of war against Iran, just nothing strategic or long term. This fits with Trump being of low intelligence and used to simply waving his dick around to get what he wants, but that simply doesn't scale to the actions of a country. And so his pigheadedness is great for drawing attention to the workings of the corrupt system, but that's about it. I do see where Trump supporters are coming from, at least starting out. But I don't see how there can be solidarity while they continue to go on the offensive against the grassroots of the other team (antifa bogeyman, all lives matter, etc). And at this point I would say that is most of the energy of the movement. And so it's ultimately just another round of the same divide and conquer the masses that's been going on for decades, only this time with disastrous pandemic response.

WealthVsSurvive 6y ago
1) Admit Trump was right about the coastal elites, then expound upon what they are. 2) Run on draining the swamp. 3) Relay the genuine message of Christ as anti-plutocrat, anti-empire. 4) Build bridges instead of identity judgements.
- mindslight 6y ago
  > 1) Admit Trump was right about the coastal elites, then expound upon what they are. It's a common critique. So sure he's right (as I said about fake news and drain the swamp), but I don't see how his actions amount to anything more than a battle between different groups of elites. > 2) Run on draining the swamp. No idea what you mean by "run on", but there is no draining going on. Trump is criticizing DC while feasting on it with his set of cronies, the same as every other politician has done. > 3) Relay the genuine message of Christ as anti-plutocrat, anti-empire. I can get behind this being the original message of Christ, but invoking Christ from 2k years ago as characteristic of what his supposed followers want to do today is fallacious. The basic lifecycle of social movements is that they're revolutionary at the start, and conservative after they've become an ordinary part of society. Modern anti-plutocrats have moved on to modern memes, and most people calling themselves Christian seem to want more government intervention into our private lives. > 4) Build bridges instead of identity judgements. To build a bridge requires common ground. As I said, the problem is there can be no common ground while the red team directs their outrage at the grassroots of the blue team. With Republicans in power, it's the responsibility of the Republican grassroots to criticize their own politicians when they go against our country's ideals. But instead they're cheering on authoritarianism because it hurts the other team more. Where are the Republicans seriously condemning this neo-skinhead movement, which is actually manifesting real world violence? Ultimately if you want there to be any shred of a conservative party left, you're going to have to admit you were conned and repudiate your current radical populist (ie anti-conservative) figurehead and his destructive message. Until then this Libertarian is voting straight ticket blue in national elections. At least Democrats are talking about the problems we're facing (albeit in terms of misguided solutions, identity politics, big government, etc) rather than pretending they don't exist while getting whipped into a frenzy with patently fake news (latest delusion: "stop the steal").