4 ms·

That's an oversimplification. They helped but white nationalists weren't the only ones not interested in the GOP status quo during the primaries, or the Democra

That's an oversimplification. They helped but white nationalists weren't the only ones not interested in the GOP status quo during the primaries, or the Democrats offering for POTUS. The two parties served up tired rehash and paid for the mistake. W.DC is still living the myth that they contributed nothing to Trump's rise. That's impossible. Every moment has context. And while that was for the win in 2016, the fact is Trump got more votes in losing than either Obama win. Yet look at how the media paints each. I don't like Trump but the majority of the narratives spun around him are nonsense, which only fuels the idea that The People are not being served by the system.

hangpelosi 5y ago
[flagged]
- ineedasername 5y ago
  @dang a likely throwaway account with a username that advocates violence.
  - philipkglass 5y ago
    Writing "@dang" in a comment doesn't notify him. Email hn@ycombinator.com to report badly behaved users. For unhinged users like this one, the community flags them enough that notification emails usually aren't needed to get the account banned by mods. Click on the timestamp of the post and then click "flag" to flag egregious posts when you see them.
    - ineedasername 5y ago
      Thanks-- I've had dang reply to @ references before, but it's useful to know there are more direct ways of dealing with this. I very rarely even downvote a comment, especially if I merely disagree with it, but this...
syki 5y ago
I don’t claim they were his only supporters but he clearly targeted them and emboldened people to say/do things that they kept suppressed. I think historians will agree with my assessment. I could be wrong.
- chiefalchemist 5y ago
  That's true but the point is it an oversimplification, a fringe subset that fits a now convenient narrative. Trump targeted the discontents. Full stop. Like it or not, that's what good marketing does. Like it or not - and the status quo still refuses to admit it - those numbers are significant. Significant enough to get Trump elected. The fringe subset narrative of white supremacists is just that...spin. Unless of course all those who went for Trump in 2020 are white supremacists. That doesn't seem likely, not based on the numbers we're talking about. It's also important to realize the fact is, the same actors who push the white supremacists narrative are the same who crafted and front lined the Russian narrative, and as we know that was a lie.
  - syki 5y ago
    A lot of the discontent as you put is race based. Whites soon will no longer have a majority and there is an ongoing shift in the demographics. There is a sense amongst uneducated whites and lower class whites that things aren’t right and their ire is focused at the wrong thing. There is also a rural/urban divide. As is common in America the lower classes get sidetracked by talking about race instead of class. There is anger and it is being successfully diverted from the oppressor to the “other” side. There is definitely a white nationalist backlash at a grand scale. America is changing demographically and the infrastructure is declining. Women are dominating in terms of college degrees now and in terms of graduating from college. Russia and others have done a great job at sowing dissent. Corporate media too have done a great job. Humanity is not prepared to be manipulated at the scale Facebook enables and the cost doing this manipulation is cheap. The U.S. is in a long term state of imperial decline. We are not ready for the social changes that are occurring. All of these things suggest to me that the country is ripe for authoritarianism. It just takes a demagogue with an ounce of competence to install it. Trump, fortunately, is devoid of competence and he failed. The next demagogue will likely succeed.

hangpelosi 5y ago

[flagged]

ineedasername 5y ago
@dang a likely throwaway account with a username that advocates violence.
- philipkglass 5y ago
  Writing "@dang" in a comment doesn't notify him. Email hn@ycombinator.com to report badly behaved users. For unhinged users like this one, the community flags them enough that notification emails usually aren't needed to get the account banned by mods. Click on the timestamp of the post and then click "flag" to flag egregious posts when you see them.
  - ineedasername 5y ago
    Thanks-- I've had dang reply to @ references before, but it's useful to know there are more direct ways of dealing with this. I very rarely even downvote a comment, especially if I merely disagree with it, but this...

syki 5y ago

I don’t claim they were his only supporters but he clearly targeted them and emboldened people to say/do things that they kept suppressed. I think historians will agree with my assessment. I could be wrong.

chiefalchemist 5y ago
That's true but the point is it an oversimplification, a fringe subset that fits a now convenient narrative. Trump targeted the discontents. Full stop. Like it or not, that's what good marketing does. Like it or not - and the status quo still refuses to admit it - those numbers are significant. Significant enough to get Trump elected. The fringe subset narrative of white supremacists is just that...spin. Unless of course all those who went for Trump in 2020 are white supremacists. That doesn't seem likely, not based on the numbers we're talking about. It's also important to realize the fact is, the same actors who push the white supremacists narrative are the same who crafted and front lined the Russian narrative, and as we know that was a lie.
- syki 5y ago
  A lot of the discontent as you put is race based. Whites soon will no longer have a majority and there is an ongoing shift in the demographics. There is a sense amongst uneducated whites and lower class whites that things aren’t right and their ire is focused at the wrong thing. There is also a rural/urban divide. As is common in America the lower classes get sidetracked by talking about race instead of class. There is anger and it is being successfully diverted from the oppressor to the “other” side. There is definitely a white nationalist backlash at a grand scale. America is changing demographically and the infrastructure is declining. Women are dominating in terms of college degrees now and in terms of graduating from college. Russia and others have done a great job at sowing dissent. Corporate media too have done a great job. Humanity is not prepared to be manipulated at the scale Facebook enables and the cost doing this manipulation is cheap. The U.S. is in a long term state of imperial decline. We are not ready for the social changes that are occurring. All of these things suggest to me that the country is ripe for authoritarianism. It just takes a demagogue with an ounce of competence to install it. Trump, fortunately, is devoid of competence and he failed. The next demagogue will likely succeed.