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> the excesses of the Obama era. Thank you, I needed a laugh today. I mean you're not wrong that it started with Obama but like come on-- I lived through that

by Spivak 1y ago

> the excesses of the Obama era. Thank you, I needed a laugh today. I mean you're not wrong that it started with Obama but like come on-- I lived through that era, you probably did too. It was a visceral emotional response to the most powerful man on earth being a black man. That spawned The Tea Party and birther movement the Venn Diagram of which was a circle. The Republican party noticeably changed to a tone of burn it all down while Obama was in office. Being one of the most outspoken birthers what was put Donald Trump into the public sphere as a political figure. This is where the MAGA wing of the Republican party traces its origins.

SoftTalker 1y ago
Blaming it all on racism is too easy. The left needs to face the real reasons that they lost to Donald Trump (because he was easily defeatable, IMO).
- Spivak 1y ago
  I'm not, that's just where it started. The movement has grown massively since it's humble beginnings during the Barack HUSSEIN Obama era. They started hating Obama before he took office, to say it's a response to what he did during his presidency doesn't track.
lurk2 1y ago
> It was a visceral emotional response to the most powerful man on earth being a black man. This is exactly the sort of mentality that led to Democrats thinking Hillary Clinton was a viable candidate. Leftists all over the world spent the 2010s creating a coalition of the fringes, for whatever reason assuming that young majorities would not take notice. This was a very uncomfortable time to be a young man, even after Trump was elected. Young guys these days don’t have any expectation of being allowed to sit at the table, which is why they are so open about wanting to burn it all down now; a lot of them felt this way when Obama was president, too, but the risk of getting cancelled on Twitter still seemed like a serious threat back then.
- Spivak 1y ago
  Look, we can talk about how the political views of Democrats and Republicans shook out over the last 15 years but trying to dispute that the Tea Party was founded and fueled by an intense racism laser focused on Barack & Michelle Obama is like trying to argue the Civil War wasn't over slavery. This wasn't some liberal media spin, this was straight out of the mouths of prominent conservatives posting on their own websites and ranting on their own talk shows. I was fascinated by these people in the '08-'12 era. I watched so much Fox News, listended to Sean Hannity and Rush Limbaugh, and kept up with Breitbart and The Drudge Report. I got so many free civics papers from my weird obsession. They were racist as hell. I saw it with my own eyes and heard it with my own ears. And it's not like it was just talking heads, conservative online spaces were worse.
  - lurk2 1y ago
    > but trying to dispute that the Tea Party was founded and fueled by an intense racism laser focused on Barack & Michelle Obama The statement I replied to was: > It was a visceral emotional response to the most powerful man on earth being a black man. This isn’t true. The racists you’re describing were (literally) dying out by the time Obama was elected. The resurgence of white identity politics in America was a reaction to a series of riots (e.g. Ferguson, Baltimore, Kenosha, Seattle, Minneapolis), affirmative action policies in higher education as well as in the public and private sectors, and renewed activity in the grievance industry (e.g. Anita Sarkeesian, Ibram Kendi, etc.).
    - acdha 1y ago
      > The racists you’re describing were (literally) dying out by the time Obama was elected. The resurgence of white identity politics in America was a reaction to a series of riots This is both inaccurately describing the protests and also way off on timing – for example, Ferguson was 2014 but the white identity politics was on display before the first time he was elected.
      - lurk2 1y ago

by Spivak 1y ago

SoftTalker 1y ago

Blaming it all on racism is too easy. The left needs to face the real reasons that they lost to Donald Trump (because he was easily defeatable, IMO).

Spivak 1y ago
I'm not, that's just where it started. The movement has grown massively since it's humble beginnings during the Barack HUSSEIN Obama era. They started hating Obama before he took office, to say it's a response to what he did during his presidency doesn't track.

lurk2 1y ago

> It was a visceral emotional response to the most powerful man on earth being a black man. This is exactly the sort of mentality that led to Democrats thinking Hillary Clinton was a viable candidate. Leftists all over the world spent the 2010s creating a coalition of the fringes, for whatever reason assuming that young majorities would not take notice. This was a very uncomfortable time to be a young man, even after Trump was elected. Young guys these days don’t have any expectation of being allowed to sit at the table, which is why they are so open about wanting to burn it all down now; a lot of them felt this way when Obama was president, too, but the risk of getting cancelled on Twitter still seemed like a serious threat back then.

Spivak 1y ago
Look, we can talk about how the political views of Democrats and Republicans shook out over the last 15 years but trying to dispute that the Tea Party was founded and fueled by an intense racism laser focused on Barack & Michelle Obama is like trying to argue the Civil War wasn't over slavery. This wasn't some liberal media spin, this was straight out of the mouths of prominent conservatives posting on their own websites and ranting on their own talk shows. I was fascinated by these people in the '08-'12 era. I watched so much Fox News, listended to Sean Hannity and Rush Limbaugh, and kept up with Breitbart and The Drudge Report. I got so many free civics papers from my weird obsession. They were racist as hell. I saw it with my own eyes and heard it with my own ears. And it's not like it was just talking heads, conservative online spaces were worse.
- lurk2 1y ago
  > but trying to dispute that the Tea Party was founded and fueled by an intense racism laser focused on Barack & Michelle Obama The statement I replied to was: > It was a visceral emotional response to the most powerful man on earth being a black man. This isn’t true. The racists you’re describing were (literally) dying out by the time Obama was elected. The resurgence of white identity politics in America was a reaction to a series of riots (e.g. Ferguson, Baltimore, Kenosha, Seattle, Minneapolis), affirmative action policies in higher education as well as in the public and private sectors, and renewed activity in the grievance industry (e.g. Anita Sarkeesian, Ibram Kendi, etc.).
  - acdha 1y ago
    > The racists you’re describing were (literally) dying out by the time Obama was elected. The resurgence of white identity politics in America was a reaction to a series of riots This is both inaccurately describing the protests and also way off on timing – for example, Ferguson was 2014 but the white identity politics was on display before the first time he was elected.
    - lurk2 1y ago