4 ms·

To think Ted Cruz was partially on the money when he said in 2016 that "Donald might wake up one morning and nuke Denmark". What has happened to the US...

sixothree 9mo ago
Fox News happened.
- tstrimple 9mo ago
  Right wing media and Newt Gingrich have really done a number on this country.
- komali2 9mo ago
  Maybe. I feel like I watched live on 4chan as Trump was presented as a joke and then true believers started posting as well. Maybe 4chan was documenting the phenomenon but it always felt like it willed it into existence like it did q-anon.
  - ZeroGravitas 9mo ago
    My similar take is that the edgy 4 Chan users were just kids who grew up in Fox viewing households. They willed into existence the propaganda that had been bathing them since birth.
  - swed420 9mo ago
    It's probably multiple factors at play. Look up the pied piper "strategy" that Dems used to intentionally elevate Trump, exposed by wikileaks.
  - ruszki 9mo ago
    It's not "maybe". As someone who born in Hungary, and have been experiencing our lovely full blown fascist propaganda longer than it became mainstream in the US, Fox News is definitely worse than our main propaganda channel. I was "lucky" to watch it in February, when I was there, and it's pure hate. I cannot imagine that anybody who don't switch channels quite quickly is not an asshole at this point. You cannot bear that shit if you are not a dickhead. I understand that it was slowly normalized, and people don't realize this. But right now on an absolute scale, you have to be pure assholes. Similar thing happened in Hungary, but our government never went to this low as Fox News does. Also looking at right wing pundits' Twitter, there are usually two types of tweets: non-whites making some illegal activities, or stupid; and whites are suppressed. It was funny when Charlie Kirk died and his Twitter account until that point for at least a month contained only, and seriously only these kind of tweets, and it was a question whether he was racist, or not... After his death, Musk definitely pushed the normalization, because my right wing account over there started to be really crazy with these kind of tweets.
- pessimizer 9mo ago
  Fox News has never cared about Greenland, and was energetically anti-Trump during the 2016 primary, most of his 1st term, during the Biden presidency, and during the 2024 primary. They're almost fully in the bag for him right now, but hate tariffs. But even now, Fox News refused to sign on to the new Pentagon press pass requirements, and gave up their access. Important things are going on. It's not good to mindlessly repeat tropes; we have to actually engage with the world as it is.
  - piva00 9mo ago
    It's not about Fox News pushing the Greenland annexation bullshit, it's for everything else they did to be a mouthpiece to spread the "libs are bad!". These acts have a direct link to the power Trump amassed. Refusing the Pentagon prrss requirements is a nothingburger when for the past 10-15 years it brainrotted a large cohort of the American population.
  - _DeadFred_ 9mo ago
    Fox news is also chill with their hosts calling for mass-extermination of undesirables on their channel. That is mainstream right wing in 2026. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=phYOrM3SNV8 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=phYOrM3SNV8
- DustinEchoes 9mo ago
  And social media. Trump is the social media president.
  - jamwil 9mo ago
    This. Mark Zuckerberg is uniquely responsible for this. World went to shit when he figured out how profitable it was to platform outrage.
    - willhslade 9mo ago
      Careless People (the book about Facebook from a rogue insider) has literally a through line about all of this. Zuck is responsible and knew, both times.
mindslight 9mo ago
Even being the slimeballs they are, they all each knew how bad Trump was for their party and for our country. Yet one by one they kissed the ring and now we're expected to lick the boot.
- tim333 9mo ago
  Yet the American people seemed to back Trump. Whenever someone stood up against him like say Rubio the polls would go like 80% Trump 20% Rubio. That's a bit I find puzzling as a non American. Why not choose someone basically decent like Rubio, rather than the Donald?
  - thunky 9mo ago
    > Why not choose someone basically decent like Rubio Rubio isn't decent.
  - mindslight 9mo ago
    If you'd like to understand, there are two things here. The first is the primary system. Most people inclined to see Trump as extra-bad were prohibited from voting in the Republican primaries, as they were voting in the Democratic primaries (or even worse, because they weren't registered Republicans in states without "open primaries"). The second is that everyone was basically bored and upset with mainstream status-quo politicians. The Republican party specifically had been growing and grooming the monster that would become Trumpism for decades on reactionary talk radio. They'd get people all riled up about immigration, globalism, racial tension, sellout politicians, etc. But then they'd cool them down enough to show up and vote for more status quo Republicans on a vague remnant feeling of Republicans being "better". If you want some discrete datapoints to see the progression of this monster manifesting in popular politics: Newt Gingrich, Ron Paul [0], the Tea Party. Trump, the New York con artist Democrat, basically just channeled and took personal ownership of all of that reactionary tripe - "saying the quiet part out loud". So how could Rubio defend against that? Rubio was likely often a target of that reactionary talk radio for failing to take some hardline stance, in favor of the pragmatic American status quo. And so here we are, an entire tribe of the country with no idea how the country actually functioned or what made us a world leader, frustrated and now overrunning the place as an angry mob hell bent on destroying anything they don't understand, which is everything. [0] I myself was a Ron Paul supporter, but I have to be honest and admit that the energy behind him - rather than staying true to "right-Libertarianism" fundamentalism - transformed into the simplistic populist answers of the Tea Party.

sixothree 9mo ago

Fox News happened.

tstrimple 9mo ago
Right wing media and Newt Gingrich have really done a number on this country.
komali2 9mo ago
Maybe. I feel like I watched live on 4chan as Trump was presented as a joke and then true believers started posting as well. Maybe 4chan was documenting the phenomenon but it always felt like it willed it into existence like it did q-anon.
- ZeroGravitas 9mo ago
  My similar take is that the edgy 4 Chan users were just kids who grew up in Fox viewing households. They willed into existence the propaganda that had been bathing them since birth.
- swed420 9mo ago
  It's probably multiple factors at play. Look up the pied piper "strategy" that Dems used to intentionally elevate Trump, exposed by wikileaks.
- ruszki 9mo ago
  It's not "maybe". As someone who born in Hungary, and have been experiencing our lovely full blown fascist propaganda longer than it became mainstream in the US, Fox News is definitely worse than our main propaganda channel. I was "lucky" to watch it in February, when I was there, and it's pure hate. I cannot imagine that anybody who don't switch channels quite quickly is not an asshole at this point. You cannot bear that shit if you are not a dickhead. I understand that it was slowly normalized, and people don't realize this. But right now on an absolute scale, you have to be pure assholes. Similar thing happened in Hungary, but our government never went to this low as Fox News does. Also looking at right wing pundits' Twitter, there are usually two types of tweets: non-whites making some illegal activities, or stupid; and whites are suppressed. It was funny when Charlie Kirk died and his Twitter account until that point for at least a month contained only, and seriously only these kind of tweets, and it was a question whether he was racist, or not... After his death, Musk definitely pushed the normalization, because my right wing account over there started to be really crazy with these kind of tweets.
pessimizer 9mo ago
Fox News has never cared about Greenland, and was energetically anti-Trump during the 2016 primary, most of his 1st term, during the Biden presidency, and during the 2024 primary. They're almost fully in the bag for him right now, but hate tariffs. But even now, Fox News refused to sign on to the new Pentagon press pass requirements, and gave up their access. Important things are going on. It's not good to mindlessly repeat tropes; we have to actually engage with the world as it is.
- piva00 9mo ago
  It's not about Fox News pushing the Greenland annexation bullshit, it's for everything else they did to be a mouthpiece to spread the "libs are bad!". These acts have a direct link to the power Trump amassed. Refusing the Pentagon prrss requirements is a nothingburger when for the past 10-15 years it brainrotted a large cohort of the American population.
- _DeadFred_ 9mo ago
  Fox news is also chill with their hosts calling for mass-extermination of undesirables on their channel. That is mainstream right wing in 2026. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=phYOrM3SNV8 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=phYOrM3SNV8
DustinEchoes 9mo ago
And social media. Trump is the social media president.
- jamwil 9mo ago
  This. Mark Zuckerberg is uniquely responsible for this. World went to shit when he figured out how profitable it was to platform outrage.
  - willhslade 9mo ago
    Careless People (the book about Facebook from a rogue insider) has literally a through line about all of this. Zuck is responsible and knew, both times.

mindslight 9mo ago

Even being the slimeballs they are, they all each knew how bad Trump was for their party and for our country. Yet one by one they kissed the ring and now we're expected to lick the boot.

tim333 9mo ago
Yet the American people seemed to back Trump. Whenever someone stood up against him like say Rubio the polls would go like 80% Trump 20% Rubio. That's a bit I find puzzling as a non American. Why not choose someone basically decent like Rubio, rather than the Donald?
- thunky 9mo ago
  > Why not choose someone basically decent like Rubio Rubio isn't decent.
- mindslight 9mo ago
  If you'd like to understand, there are two things here. The first is the primary system. Most people inclined to see Trump as extra-bad were prohibited from voting in the Republican primaries, as they were voting in the Democratic primaries (or even worse, because they weren't registered Republicans in states without "open primaries"). The second is that everyone was basically bored and upset with mainstream status-quo politicians. The Republican party specifically had been growing and grooming the monster that would become Trumpism for decades on reactionary talk radio. They'd get people all riled up about immigration, globalism, racial tension, sellout politicians, etc. But then they'd cool them down enough to show up and vote for more status quo Republicans on a vague remnant feeling of Republicans being "better". If you want some discrete datapoints to see the progression of this monster manifesting in popular politics: Newt Gingrich, Ron Paul [0], the Tea Party. Trump, the New York con artist Democrat, basically just channeled and took personal ownership of all of that reactionary tripe - "saying the quiet part out loud". So how could Rubio defend against that? Rubio was likely often a target of that reactionary talk radio for failing to take some hardline stance, in favor of the pragmatic American status quo. And so here we are, an entire tribe of the country with no idea how the country actually functioned or what made us a world leader, frustrated and now overrunning the place as an angry mob hell bent on destroying anything they don't understand, which is everything. [0] I myself was a Ron Paul supporter, but I have to be honest and admit that the energy behind him - rather than staying true to "right-Libertarianism" fundamentalism - transformed into the simplistic populist answers of the Tea Party.