Trump wins presidency for second time

Biden should take on a lot of the blame by immediately deciding he wasn't going to run this year. Then we could have had a robust primary, hopefully ending with a more appealing candidate than Harris. Not a slam dunk, but better chances.

Hope and change. That's the message Obama won consecutive terms with. The Republicans have always thrived on fear and insecurity--and hate, which is just ripe fear. To quote Yoda, "Fear is the path to the dark side. Fear leads to anger. Anger leads to hate." The red scare, the Southern Strategy, urban crime, WMDs, terrorism, immigrants, China--since the 1950s, Republicans have monkey-barred from fear to fear.

It's a natural fit for conservativism. What is conservatism if not the fear of change? And when you're afraid, you want a strongman to lead you, someone who takes pride in our military and law enforcement. Someone who shows no fear, who has swagger. It's also a perfect fit for someone like Trump who would as soon lie as breathe. When you're conjuring terrors, truth is just dead weight.

Kamala didn't run on hope and change. She ran on fear, too. She tried to beat Trump at his own game with none of the advantages of his shameless distain for the truth or a Republican Party and media ecosystem at home with fearmongering. She aped his disdain for immigrants and opposition to China, but of course her main bugaboo was Trump himself. Despite widespread dissatisfaction with our nation's current circumstances, she offered only stasis, while Trump offered revolution.

Non-college graduates know they're getting fucked. Trump says immigrants and China is to blame. Kamala has nothing to say. She could point to the billionaires, the tax dodging corporations, the thriving defense contractors, the predatory medical insurance and pharmaceutical companies, the monopolies bleeding consumers dry in every corner of the economy.

She could paint a vision of affordable healthcare for all, an end to medical bankruptcy, an end to college debt, a thriving green energy blue collar economy, free early childhood education, a guaranteed jobs program, a universal basic income.

She could acknowledge the people who feel left behind and say, "I hear you. This is what I'm going to do for you." Instead, her cries of fear just assured those folks that Trump really was going to fuck shit up fighting for them, that the people who sold them down the river are shaking in their boots. Of course, Trump isn't actually going to make their lives better, but he promised he would, and that's more than Kamala could be bothered to do.

You believe abortion means murder and that illegal immigrants bring in crime. Those are somewhat reasonable things to believe in and both lead to one candidate. I am not as surprised as you are.

I'm not justifying them, but I completely understand why someone would think like that.

Amusingly/sadly JD Vance could tell you exactly why Trump wins. The secret is empty promises. In an unfortunate way, it’s a kind of empathetic approach.

It’s why he called Trump the “opioid of the masses”[1]. You just make promises even when you know it’s total BS. But at least people are feeling heard.

I think the average voter really doesn’t want to have a nuanced discussion where they learn about the problems that they’re experiencing. They just want to hear someone say “I got this”… even if they don’t.

[1] https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2016/07/opioid-...

What?

Trump pulled out of the Iran deal, which pushed Iran to redevelop its nuclear program. Anti-war what?

Trump signed the abraham accords with Saudi/Israeli appeasement, which Israeli intelligence notes pushed Hamas to attack on oct 7 and launch this war. Anti-war what?

Trump withheld military aid from the Ukraine until Zelensky provided dirt on Joe Biden, which was critical for Ukraine's defense against Russia's aggression in Eastern Ukraine, leaving Ukraine weaker and invaded in full two years later, anti-war what?

Trump has threatened to jail his opponents and go after the press, free speech what?

Republicans have banned books, want to ban teachers and fire massive amounts of civil servants, free speech what?

Elitist party, Trump is literally a billionaire who is supported by other billionaires, some of whom he will put in his cabinet. His biggest two policy positions are tax cuts for big corps (elitist) and deportations of the lowest class of people in the US. But Dems are elitist?

I don't think there is much that they've switched on actually in the last election, other than Republicans convincing the working class that they're their party, something republicans have done on and off for many decades.