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> Donald Trump still maintains a 39% approval rating among the electorate. It turns out that a lot of people are indeed quite stupid. No. It's partisanship and

> Donald Trump still maintains a 39% approval rating among the electorate. It turns out that a lot of people are indeed quite stupid. No. It's partisanship and polarization, which has little to do with intelligence. But there's one thing that I know is stupid: assuming the reason opposite pole doesn't do what you think they should is because they're full of stupids.

CamperBob2 2mo ago
No, it has everything to do with intelligence. What you are saying is correct in the context of traditional liberal/conservative axes of debate, but that's no longer the basis for discussion. Liberal or conservative, left or right, authoritarian or libertarian, it doesn't matter: if you (still) think Trump is the right man for the job, then you are either a criminal or other subversive agent, a glassy-eyed cultist, or stupid. Failure to call out stupidity when we see it is no virtue, to paraphrase Goldwater. It is costing us everything we built as a society over the last 250 years.
- palmotea 2mo ago
  > ...if you (still) think Trump is the right man for the job, then you are either a criminal or other subversive agent, a glassy-eyed cultist, or stupid. No. I personally don't like Trump, and looking forward to the day he's gone, but: 1. Thinking of your opponents are stupid (or some kind of cartoon villain) is itself a really stupid attitude to take. It might feel righteous, but it blinds you. Some of them may actually be literally stupid, but there's no value in even thinking about them. Looked at objectively, there's also lot of stupid on all sides. See: much of the Democrats'/progressives' reaction to Trump. 2. Approval is complicated. It's not a choice made in a vacuum. American politics nowadays is (for many people) a choice between the best of bad options. Partisanship exacerbates it, because it makes many of the alternatives seem even more loathsome. 3. Not everyone is a news junkie, and expressing approval of Trump (for instance), may not be even meant to be an evaluation of his job performance. 4. etc.

CamperBob2 2mo ago

No, it has everything to do with intelligence. What you are saying is correct in the context of traditional liberal/conservative axes of debate, but that's no longer the basis for discussion. Liberal or conservative, left or right, authoritarian or libertarian, it doesn't matter: if you (still) think Trump is the right man for the job, then you are either a criminal or other subversive agent, a glassy-eyed cultist, or stupid. Failure to call out stupidity when we see it is no virtue, to paraphrase Goldwater. It is costing us everything we built as a society over the last 250 years.

palmotea 2mo ago
> ...if you (still) think Trump is the right man for the job, then you are either a criminal or other subversive agent, a glassy-eyed cultist, or stupid. No. I personally don't like Trump, and looking forward to the day he's gone, but: 1. Thinking of your opponents are stupid (or some kind of cartoon villain) is itself a really stupid attitude to take. It might feel righteous, but it blinds you. Some of them may actually be literally stupid, but there's no value in even thinking about them. Looked at objectively, there's also lot of stupid on all sides. See: much of the Democrats'/progressives' reaction to Trump. 2. Approval is complicated. It's not a choice made in a vacuum. American politics nowadays is (for many people) a choice between the best of bad options. Partisanship exacerbates it, because it makes many of the alternatives seem even more loathsome. 3. Not everyone is a news junkie, and expressing approval of Trump (for instance), may not be even meant to be an evaluation of his job performance. 4. etc.