You know what was always going to help TFG win?
Internal bickering
If Biden hadn’t quit when he did, the age thing wd have raged on as wouldve Gaza.
So he fell on his sword. If the party had tried to nom someone else-the chaos would’ve done the work & Gaza (that was always going to be a Russ tool against Ds). So Biden chose the next in line who was SO incredibly qualified- she had to fight misogynoir, Gaza & a very short election season.
But ultimately white supremacy/patriarchy won out /1
So nope, you’ll never convince me that Dems could have out maneuvered the GQP and I say that having close family who voted for TFG. They weren’t going to be convinced by a legacy media they didn’t trust. They weren’t going to read a headline at the WAPO and have their eyes opened. They had dumb ideas they got on the internet, Rogan and Faux News. /2
And not only are they GQP voters- my son is a young black man and owns a gun & is anti-immigration. He and his dad both voted for TFG. He works in construction and works alongside Latinx men who are so racist about people from other South American countries… it’s
My daughter is also pretty right wing (also Black)Shes into some rt wing conspiracies. I don’t talk to her about them because there is NO rationalizing w her. She had paxlovid in her refrigerator when I went to visit her in GA. She won’t go to a doctor & takes colloidal silver. She often argues w me about the medical benefits- thats why I won’t argue w her. She’s too busy telling me how great the info she gets off her fake sites is. She works in car sales & they have Faux News on all day. /4
I’m not blaming them- I am upset that my son voted the way he did. He certainly hurt his sister (my other gay daughter, nieces & daughters, his gf) but CO went blue so his vote didn’t change CO. My daughter didn’t vote because she says she doesn’t “know enough.” Thank god for small favors. She should know how racist the GQP she lived among are but then it’s not helpful that so many liberal white people are too. /5
And since she doesn’t understand all the policies… she abstained. My son votes for guns & against immigrants & trans people.
I’m also editing this to add neither if my kids are church goers. They are not buying into the religious fever dream of th far right extremists. I do have other white family members who do that I can’t and won’t talk to. My kids are mostly secular and disinformed by the media outlets I mentioned /6
One last thing… if either of my kids were polled, they probably wouldn’t poll right wing. My daughter is anti-police and pro Black Lives Matter on some things (doesn’t know all the things they stand for) and my son hates big corporations/ big money. We have some things we agree on. The whole “find common ground” thing doesn’t cut it. It doesn’t mean the things that are most important to him will suddenly be pushed aside. /7
@Danetteb What a tough situation to be in
@Danetteb This sounds so grim. I don’t know how to combat the cycle of brainwashing that people have succumbed to.
@SunnJax me either and trust me, I’ve thought about it a lot. My son and I had a discussion about the Venezuelan refugees that are here and he was going on and on about how much money they were receiving from the government- money that should be given to taxpayers in need (and he is having some financial problems no doubt- not starving though) and I was trying to figure out where he heard that and tell him it was incorrect but whoever he heard it from- they told the Truth- not me.
@Danetteb
@Danetteb My family all voted against me, too. Except my gay niece and my gay cousin, that is. I feel you.
@Tarheel
It’s heartbreaking. I’m sorry for you. Sorry for me. Trust has been broken.
@Danetteb
I'm listening to the wrong messages still fro party leaders,when all along the message is a whisper compared to the Fox megaphone, and all their come-alongs
Newsmax ect.
@GatekeepKen and Rogan. My daughter also watches all the “docu-series” on child sex trafficking that are everywhere. So much disinformation all over the place.
@Danetteb
Harris had the absolute perfect message, I don't care what leadership says. She couldn't get it out ,combined with a three month plan to win over the entire country. It's the party leaders failing us. Time to up our voices, to match the screaming.
@Danetteb When I was younger, I used to love listening to Coast To Coast AM, a late night talk show about fringe and paranormal subjects. I have basically always been a skeptic and very scientifically minded, but I enjoyed hearing people talk about fringe ideas from a folkloric perspective. And because of that detachment, I didn't see the danger.
Fringe media sells the "You can't trust institutions; trust me." angle. And it leads to people accepting that parasocial relationship everywhere.
@roadriverrail there’s a whole lot of woo out there that has nothing to do with religion. My roommate listens to a lot of YouTube videos that are on aliens and a lot of that leads down an anti-government/ conspiracy rabbit hole. Did the government use alien technology to go to the moon? To develop the internet? It gets dark pretty quickly.
many people seem to have a need to block out reality
@Danetteb @roadriverrail My impression is that many people have a vulnerability to or even desire for "woo" and as religion faded it's being filled by other nonsense.
I can't claim immunity. I was really into "Chariots of the Gods" as a kid (a 70s extraterrestial visitation book).
@CurtAdams @Danetteb As a teenager, I never missed an issue of Omni magazine. Kids are naive; precocious ones are naive and think big. It's okay to be into some weird shit as a kid; you just hopefully grow out of it.
@Danetteb @roadriverrail
Faith is belief without evidence.
It's a very bad mental habit, exacerbated by woo but independent of it.
@Danetteb Just to be clear, I was definitely not talking about religion. I was talking about the various "experts" who peddle conspiracy theories and bizarre pseudoscience and the like. They still all have the same story-- "You can't trust deliberative institutions. Only I, the renegade, know what's going on. Trust me and my friends."
Like, that's also the Alex Jones move in a nutshell. And the drip drip drip of "don't trust consensus reality/institutions" has been corrosive.
@roadriverrail yes I got that.
@Danetteb ok, cool. I'm not fond of religion either but some parts of a subthread kinda took a bit of a turn I hadn't expected.
@claralistensprechen3rd @Danetteb Who tried Manchin? He said he was going to try for the nomination but nobody “tried” him.
@MisuseCase yeah more of a trial balloon. He didn’t seriously run @claralistensprechen3rd
@claralistensprechen3rd @Danetteb I believe it because going independent didn’t work out for him like he thought it would from the very start and he is a dull, venal man.
@claralistensprechen3rd yes it was Dems making Dems fail but it was also being manipulated by the legacy media. Letting the NYT and WAPO set the agenda all the time as if ANY GQPer ever cared what was said there. In fighting was really manipulated by outside forces in the big picture. But we have to take responsibility.
@Danetteb truth. Anyone who thinks putin and the Koch’s aren’t amplifying any Dem discord online is naive