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This is a tragedy. Our pre-eminence as a scientific and industrial powerhouse that really began post WWII is now disintegrating because of the actions of a few.

This is a tragedy. Our pre-eminence as a scientific and industrial powerhouse that really began post WWII is now disintegrating because of the actions of a few. The funding being pulled from Terence Tao and his institute without due process is not the start, it's merely one casualty among many that began at the start of this administration. This is like cutting one's nose to spite one's face.

watwut 1y ago
It is not actions of the few. This is action of many. There is whole party apparatus behind this, public support among conservative voters, support of tech leaders etc.
- kergonath 1y ago
  This. It’s easy to rationalise what can be seen as completely counter-productive and irrational actions as random acts of deranged minds. But Trump and proto-fascist republicans have genuine popular support. For terrible reasons, but still. And we can argue about how the US political system plays in their favour by giving them more power than their raw numbers would suggest, but even then they are a significant part of the population. Even more so since they managed to capture the broligarchs. To my worried eyes this looks too much like Russia circa 2000 for comfort. Or Turkey early in Erdogan’s reign. Whatever happens, it will be painful and damaging.
- throw0101d 1y ago
  > It is not actions of the few. This is action of many. The US House of Representatives has 219 GOPers that voted to pass certain legislation. The US Senate has 50 GOPers that voted to pass certain legislation and voted to confirm many appointments. A large swath of the US public voted to put those 219+50 people into Congress and voted to put a convicted felon [1] and rapist [2] in the White House. [1] https://apnews.com/article/trump-trial-deliberations-jury-testimony-verdict-85558c6d08efb434d05b694364470aa0 https://apnews.com/article/trump-trial-deliberations-jury-te... [2] https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/12/30/appeals-court-upholds-trump-sexual-abuse-defamation-liability-verdict https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/12/30/appeals-court-upho...
  - whoknowsidont 1y ago
    Not just a felon or rapist, but a pedophile as well.
austhrow743 1y ago
Punishing urban intellectuals for being urban intellectuals appears to be a common theme in a lot of right wing American messaging and the Republican Party won the popular vote. You can’t put this on a few. It’s the genuine desire of the American voter.
- tzs 1y ago
  A majority of the voters voted for people other than Trump. Edit: come on people, read things in context. I was responding to someone who was implying that a majority of American voters support this. To support that assertion about any President's policies at a minimum you need that President to have received a majority of the popular vote. When third parties get enough votes that a President gets a plurality but not a majority you can't really infer anything about what a majority of voters want. Even if all the third parties were on the same side of the left/right spectrum as the President's party you can't infer much because if those voters agreed with most or all of the President's policies they would have voted for the President.
  - ghosty141 1y ago
    49,8% popular vote, 50,2 is a majority but at that point I would say it’s clearly half the American population that wanted him in power.
    - deleted 1y ago
      [deleted]
    - sjsdaiuasgdia 1y ago
      They're technically correct (the best kind etc) because they said "voted for people other than Trump" not "voted for Harris". Voted for Trump: 77.3M Voted for Harris: 75M Voted for other candidates: 2.6M Harris + others = 77.6M, which is greater than Trump's 77.3M
      - qcnguy 1y ago
        That's not even technically correct unless you assume every non Trump candidate was left wing.
EasyMark 1y ago
The long term goal is to dumb down the populace, in anticipation that AI and machines can replace them. Billionaires have the money and resources to play the long game in order to set up an authoritarian society with only two levels. The peasants and the billionaires. Democracy is their enemy, although it served them for a time. It's not really about MAGAs vs Progressives in the USA if you pull back the Wizard's curtain. The MAGAs are being used because they don't question their leaders.
- teiferer 1y ago
  This sounds too much tinfoil hat to be taken seriously in a debate, thus the downvotes, but there is more truth to it than folks on HN would be comfortable with if they were honest with themselves.
whoknowsidont 1y ago
>because of the actions of a few. What do you mean? Over half the country voted for this.
- pragmatic 1y ago
  Not half the country, not even a majority of voters. However your punt stands. I think a lot of those voted for the racism not the economic collapse.
  - whoknowsidont 1y ago
    >Not half the country, not even a majority of voters. Not voting was a vote for fascism. It's not up for debate at this point. >I think a lot of those voted for the racism not the economic collapse. Um, having grown up in the south I can assure you a lot of these people are full of spite and love to see other people hurt. They definitely voted for the economic collapse, they're just too stupid to see that it will affect them too.

watwut 1y ago

It is not actions of the few. This is action of many. There is whole party apparatus behind this, public support among conservative voters, support of tech leaders etc.

kergonath 1y ago
This. It’s easy to rationalise what can be seen as completely counter-productive and irrational actions as random acts of deranged minds. But Trump and proto-fascist republicans have genuine popular support. For terrible reasons, but still. And we can argue about how the US political system plays in their favour by giving them more power than their raw numbers would suggest, but even then they are a significant part of the population. Even more so since they managed to capture the broligarchs. To my worried eyes this looks too much like Russia circa 2000 for comfort. Or Turkey early in Erdogan’s reign. Whatever happens, it will be painful and damaging.
throw0101d 1y ago
> It is not actions of the few. This is action of many. The US House of Representatives has 219 GOPers that voted to pass certain legislation. The US Senate has 50 GOPers that voted to pass certain legislation and voted to confirm many appointments. A large swath of the US public voted to put those 219+50 people into Congress and voted to put a convicted felon [1] and rapist [2] in the White House. [1] https://apnews.com/article/trump-trial-deliberations-jury-testimony-verdict-85558c6d08efb434d05b694364470aa0 https://apnews.com/article/trump-trial-deliberations-jury-te... [2] https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/12/30/appeals-court-upholds-trump-sexual-abuse-defamation-liability-verdict https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/12/30/appeals-court-upho...
- whoknowsidont 1y ago
  Not just a felon or rapist, but a pedophile as well.

austhrow743 1y ago

Punishing urban intellectuals for being urban intellectuals appears to be a common theme in a lot of right wing American messaging and the Republican Party won the popular vote. You can’t put this on a few. It’s the genuine desire of the American voter.

tzs 1y ago
A majority of the voters voted for people other than Trump. Edit: come on people, read things in context. I was responding to someone who was implying that a majority of American voters support this. To support that assertion about any President's policies at a minimum you need that President to have received a majority of the popular vote. When third parties get enough votes that a President gets a plurality but not a majority you can't really infer anything about what a majority of voters want. Even if all the third parties were on the same side of the left/right spectrum as the President's party you can't infer much because if those voters agreed with most or all of the President's policies they would have voted for the President.
- ghosty141 1y ago
  49,8% popular vote, 50,2 is a majority but at that point I would say it’s clearly half the American population that wanted him in power.
  - deleted 1y ago
    [deleted]
  - sjsdaiuasgdia 1y ago
    They're technically correct (the best kind etc) because they said "voted for people other than Trump" not "voted for Harris". Voted for Trump: 77.3M Voted for Harris: 75M Voted for other candidates: 2.6M Harris + others = 77.6M, which is greater than Trump's 77.3M
    - qcnguy 1y ago
      That's not even technically correct unless you assume every non Trump candidate was left wing.

EasyMark 1y ago

The long term goal is to dumb down the populace, in anticipation that AI and machines can replace them. Billionaires have the money and resources to play the long game in order to set up an authoritarian society with only two levels. The peasants and the billionaires. Democracy is their enemy, although it served them for a time. It's not really about MAGAs vs Progressives in the USA if you pull back the Wizard's curtain. The MAGAs are being used because they don't question their leaders.

teiferer 1y ago
This sounds too much tinfoil hat to be taken seriously in a debate, thus the downvotes, but there is more truth to it than folks on HN would be comfortable with if they were honest with themselves.

whoknowsidont 1y ago

>because of the actions of a few. What do you mean? Over half the country voted for this.

pragmatic 1y ago
Not half the country, not even a majority of voters. However your punt stands. I think a lot of those voted for the racism not the economic collapse.
- whoknowsidont 1y ago
  >Not half the country, not even a majority of voters. Not voting was a vote for fascism. It's not up for debate at this point. >I think a lot of those voted for the racism not the economic collapse. Um, having grown up in the south I can assure you a lot of these people are full of spite and love to see other people hurt. They definitely voted for the economic collapse, they're just too stupid to see that it will affect them too.