7 ms·

So, what's a charitable interpretation of that? For five straight years, we were bombarded with how awful it is that someone could be so extreme and racist, the

So, what's a charitable interpretation of that? For five straight years, we were bombarded with how awful it is that someone could be so extreme and racist, then we elected a card-carrying KKK member into office? Seems implausible. That 40% of people spent decades being given the false choice between big-government shill D and big government shill R. They finally were given a real alternative, so they trusted him. He told them that 2020 was a manufactured win by a big government shill D, just like the last 15 elections. Why wouldn't they believe him? You ask them to trust the experts. Well, he supplied a lot of experts to back him up. You ask them to trust YOUR experts. If you bothered to ask them, they'd ask you to trust theirs. Normally the way we fix these things is have discussions and try to understand each other. That, apparently, is no longer on the table. Instead we get veiled "the other guys are idiots." Not helping.

PartiallyTyped 5y ago
What alternative? The same alternative that cut taxes for his rich friends [1], and hiked the taxes for the same people that voted for him [2-3]? [1] https://www.theguardian.com/business/2019/oct/09/trump-tax-cuts-helped-billionaires-pay-less https://www.theguardian.com/business/2019/oct/09/trump-tax-c... [2] https://www.nytimes.com/2020/10/31/opinion/republicans-biden-taxes.html https://www.nytimes.com/2020/10/31/opinion/republicans-biden... [3] https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2017/11/16/senate-tax-bill-cuts-taxes-of-wealthy-and-hikes-taxes-of-families-earning-under-75000-over-a-decade/ https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2017/11/16/senat... > The law they passed initially lowered taxes for most Americans, but it built in automatic, stepped tax increases every two years that begin in 2021 and that by 2027 would affect nearly everyone but people at the top of the economic hierarchy. All taxpayer income groups with incomes of $75,000 and under — that’s about 65 percent of taxpayers — will face a higher tax rate in 2027 than in 2019.
- hirako2000 5y ago
  by 2027, the over $75k earners will represent far more than 65% of tax payers. even at ordinary inflation, which is very unlikely going to remain as "low" as for the last 5y. interesting struggle ahead. Thanks for posting some sources. it's fascinating.
  - PartiallyTyped 5y ago
    I have sources for more interesting stuff regarding Trump, here: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=30542741 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=30542741
pixl97 5y ago
At the end of the day, sometimes the other guys just are idiots. See current story.
darkerside 5y ago
I don't think it's intellectual idiocy at fault here. I actually think it's emotional immaturity and incomplete theory of mind. When I was younger, conspiracy theories seemed quite plausible. Perhaps I was the only one who saw the truth, and perhaps everyone was aligned on keeping certain secrets. Now that I'm older, I realize people are people, and I'm not very different. Most of us are not good at keeping secrets, and all of us are pattern finding machines, seven when the pattern is not there. After assuming incompetence instead of massive and applying Occam's razor, the world all still makes sense. It's a simple duck that looks like an elaborately constructed rabbit.
ZeroGravitas 5y ago
A charitable reading of both Putin and Trump fans could be that both are in the thrall of small but immensely wealthy groups who need some level of legitamacy from the masses. And while it is cheaper and easier overall to just make peoples lives better, for that powerful minority they can make themselves much, much wealthier by feeding propaganda to their people. So they did and do. And lots of people helped them, for lots of different reasons, but primarily because people paid them to or because they got conned by the people getting paid to con them. Does that make the Russian and American public dumb? I don't think so, but they're definately misinformed about reality and contributing to their own problems (up to and including death) as a result. You can't even enjoy people getting caught out by their own propaganda (like Trump getting booed for saying vaccines work) because it basically signals that even they have lost any semblence of control over where things are going and the horrible monster they created. Now we have a mob of angry, scared people who don't trust politicians, media, science or experts (because powerful groups attacked and undermined all of these) and they're leading the way.
hattmall 5y ago
Are you saying Biden is in the KKK?

PartiallyTyped 5y ago

What alternative? The same alternative that cut taxes for his rich friends [1], and hiked the taxes for the same people that voted for him [2-3]? [1] https://www.theguardian.com/business/2019/oct/09/trump-tax-cuts-helped-billionaires-pay-less https://www.theguardian.com/business/2019/oct/09/trump-tax-c... [2] https://www.nytimes.com/2020/10/31/opinion/republicans-biden-taxes.html https://www.nytimes.com/2020/10/31/opinion/republicans-biden... [3] https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2017/11/16/senate-tax-bill-cuts-taxes-of-wealthy-and-hikes-taxes-of-families-earning-under-75000-over-a-decade/ https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2017/11/16/senat... > The law they passed initially lowered taxes for most Americans, but it built in automatic, stepped tax increases every two years that begin in 2021 and that by 2027 would affect nearly everyone but people at the top of the economic hierarchy. All taxpayer income groups with incomes of $75,000 and under — that’s about 65 percent of taxpayers — will face a higher tax rate in 2027 than in 2019.

hirako2000 5y ago
by 2027, the over $75k earners will represent far more than 65% of tax payers. even at ordinary inflation, which is very unlikely going to remain as "low" as for the last 5y. interesting struggle ahead. Thanks for posting some sources. it's fascinating.
- PartiallyTyped 5y ago
  I have sources for more interesting stuff regarding Trump, here: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=30542741 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=30542741

pixl97 5y ago

At the end of the day, sometimes the other guys just are idiots. See current story.

darkerside 5y ago

I don't think it's intellectual idiocy at fault here. I actually think it's emotional immaturity and incomplete theory of mind. When I was younger, conspiracy theories seemed quite plausible. Perhaps I was the only one who saw the truth, and perhaps everyone was aligned on keeping certain secrets. Now that I'm older, I realize people are people, and I'm not very different. Most of us are not good at keeping secrets, and all of us are pattern finding machines, seven when the pattern is not there. After assuming incompetence instead of massive and applying Occam's razor, the world all still makes sense. It's a simple duck that looks like an elaborately constructed rabbit.

ZeroGravitas 5y ago

A charitable reading of both Putin and Trump fans could be that both are in the thrall of small but immensely wealthy groups who need some level of legitamacy from the masses. And while it is cheaper and easier overall to just make peoples lives better, for that powerful minority they can make themselves much, much wealthier by feeding propaganda to their people. So they did and do. And lots of people helped them, for lots of different reasons, but primarily because people paid them to or because they got conned by the people getting paid to con them. Does that make the Russian and American public dumb? I don't think so, but they're definately misinformed about reality and contributing to their own problems (up to and including death) as a result. You can't even enjoy people getting caught out by their own propaganda (like Trump getting booed for saying vaccines work) because it basically signals that even they have lost any semblence of control over where things are going and the horrible monster they created. Now we have a mob of angry, scared people who don't trust politicians, media, science or experts (because powerful groups attacked and undermined all of these) and they're leading the way.

hattmall 5y ago

Are you saying Biden is in the KKK?