Has Trump forever dumbed down American politics?

[retrospooty]

Trump is a symptom, not a cause.
Remember that people had to vote for him in the first place, or he wouldn't even be where he is at today.
Four years from now, GOP still has to deal with those voters. How can they possibly respond to achieve a different outcome next time?

Exactly... I have been saying this all along > Trump is not the problem with the republican party, Trump is a symptom of the problem with the republican party. That problem being the large portion (I think somewhere between 1/4 and 1/2 of the party) are uneducated, racist, xenophobe, evangelicals (in various mixes) that take no responsibility for their own lives and want to blame all of their problems on brown people, other immigrants, and/or liberals rather than taking ownership of their own lives. It was a stupid thing for a politician to say, but I am not a politician, so I will say it. These people truly are a "Basket of deplorables" and they have been dragging our country down since its inception. They had been fairly well shoved under the rug for the past few decades, but today with Trump and the reps, their voices got louder again. We need a bigger rug...

 

[theeedude]

Exactly... I have been saying this all along > Trump is not the problem with the republican party, Trump is a symptom of the problem with the republican party. That problem being the large portion (I think somewhere between 1/4 and 1/2 of the party) are uneducated, racist, xenophobe, evangelicals (in various mixes) that take no responsibility for their own lives and want to blame all of their problems on brown people, other immigrants, and/or liberals rather than taking ownership of their own lives. It was a stupid thing for a politician to say, but I am not a politician, so I will say it. These people truly are a "Basket of deplorables" and they have been dragging our country down since its inception. They had been fairly well shoved under the rug for the past few decades, but today with Trump and the reps, their voices got louder again. We need a bigger rug...

That's also a symptom, not the underlying problem. The real problem is that the policies the party is selling are contrary to the interests of their own base, and can only be sold through fanning bigotry, fear, and disinformation. Who is going to vote for trickle down in this day and age? Not many, so GOP needs to get them to vote against immigrants, minorities, abortion, etc, and then use it to push trickle down.

 

[Jhhnn]

Exactly... I have been saying this all along > Trump is not the problem with the republican party, Trump is a symptom of the problem with the republican party. That problem being the large portion (I think somewhere between 1/4 and 1/2 of the party) are uneducated, racist, xenophobe, evangelicals (in various mixes) that take no responsibility for their own lives and want to blame all of their problems on brown people, other immigrants, and/or liberals rather than taking ownership of their own lives. It was a stupid thing for a politician to say, but I am not a politician, so I will say it. These people truly are a "Basket of deplorables" and they have been dragging our country down since its inception. They had been fairly well shoved under the rug for the past few decades, but today with Trump and the reps, their voices got louder again. We need a bigger rug...

That's not the answer. The answer is to figure out how to make their lives & our own *better*.

That's also a symptom, not the underlying problem. The real problem is that the policies the party is selling are contrary to the interests of their own base, and can only be sold through fanning bigotry, fear, and disinformation. Who is going to vote for trickle down in this day and age? Not many, so GOP needs to get them to vote against immigrants, minorities, abortion, etc, and then use it to push trickle down.

Agreed. Their divisive rhetoric creates shitty, negative & nihilistic attitudes preventing us from squarely dealing with the changes their own trickle down feed the rich policy has wrought in this country. Their base? Scam victims. We need to not blame the victim but rather help them see that they're being scammed & how to not let that happen.

 

[theeedude]

Yep, GOP's angry base should have been voting for Bernie Sanders just based on the economic grievances they make. But they are instead supporting a guy who would give people like himself a huge tax cut and basically do nothing or worse for them.

 

[MongGrel]

Of course he has.

http://www.npr.org/2016/10/23/49887...e-2016-campaign-that-may-have-been-inevitable

 

[theeedude]

White evangelicals are now the group most accepting of immoral acts, more so than even the religiously unaffiliated.

http://www.npr.org/2016/10/23/49889...warmed-to-politicians-who-commit-immoral-acts

That's what a new PRRI/Brookings poll says. In 2011, 30 percent of white evangelicals said that "an elected official who commits an immoral act in their personal life can still behave ethically and fulfill their duties in their public and professional life." Now, 72 percent say so — a far bigger swing than other religious groups the poll studied.

 

[1sikbITCH]

In order for the average American to understand what you are saying, you are supposed to speak in a 3rd grade level. We as a people are idiots as evidenced by the polls.This is why Trump does well with the uneducated. They can figure out the meaning of basic sound bites but the totality of the message is lost. That's why "Best people with the biggest guns!" is all he needs to memorize. Made it easy on him.

His personal problem is his comprehension when other people are NOT speaking on a 3rd grade level. If you watch the last debate he actually tried to read his notes and talk about issues. It took him 25 minutes to sound out each big word he was trying to read and it has been commented on quite a bit that he had no clue what he was reading. I have to say for all the shit we gave Bush over being stupid, he'd probably swindle Trump out of his pants in about 30 seconds.

 

[Jhhnn]

White evangelicals are now the group most accepting of immoral acts, more so than even the religiously unaffiliated.

http://www.npr.org/2016/10/23/49889...warmed-to-politicians-who-commit-immoral-acts

Immoral acts are one thing. A whole life of immoral self indulgence & rapacity is entirely another. That's our Donald.

 

[Paratus]

White evangelicals are now the group most accepting of immoral acts, more so than even the religiously unaffiliated.

http://www.npr.org/2016/10/23/49889...warmed-to-politicians-who-commit-immoral-acts

Well what did you expect from the strongly held beliefs of those "value voters".

The only value they hold is they're side winning.

 

[Jhhnn]

Well what did you expect from the strongly held beliefs of those "value voters".

The only value they hold is they're side winning.

Some of them aren't terribly far away from a "Kill for Jesus!" headset.

 

[Indus]

When you look at Americans and education, you realize the problem is more the average American is trailer trash and has no education at all to speak of and therefore no skills to make money of. This is 68% of WHITE America but they love to blame the minorities and say they're lazy and shit.

Ultimately education means what people see as their horizons. Without education they're limited to seeing a sweet talker with lots of money saying vote me in, I'll make you rich and safe.

So yes the Trump phenomenon isn't isolated but they won't believe poor folks like themselves.. they'll believe the Bernie Madoff charmer type.

Also with changing demographics, I see them nominating more nuts but they may not win the general since the anti-resentment sentiment + logical people > uneducated racist voters.

 

[Puffnstuff]

This is why Trump does well with the uneducated.

I find this truth to be quite frightening myself. Even educated people with a confirmation bias will continue to support this baboon. I keep running into this with my own mother who turns a blind eye to Trump's exploits to point out faults in every Democrat around her. She calls the media biased as long as we aren't talking about Faux trumpeting the Republican rhetoric.

 

[Jaskalas]

We need to not blame the victim but rather help them see that they're being scammed & how to not let that happen.

Inequality For All holds a critical point of view for how to do this.
The loss of wealth in labor and the need to do something about it is backed by some powerful truths.
America's declining stats are an insurmountable opponent for "trickle down".
People just need to know America was once great under different policy. They are not aware of this.

 

[debian0001]

He has taken what Fox News has been spewing out for years and applying it. Reap what you sow. Trump and the fake republicans have ruined their image for years to come.

 

[Jhhnn]

When you look at Americans and education, you realize the problem is more the average American is trailer trash and has no education at all to speak of and therefore no skills to make money of. This is 68% of WHITE America but they love to blame the minorities and say they're lazy and shit.

Ultimately education means what people see as their horizons. Without education they're limited to seeing a sweet talker with lots of money saying vote me in, I'll make you rich and safe.

So yes the Trump phenomenon isn't isolated but they won't believe poor folks like themselves.. they'll believe the Bernie Madoff charmer type.

Also with changing demographics, I see them nominating more nuts but they may not win the general since the anti-resentment sentiment + logical people > uneducated racist voters.

Please. Let us not look down our noses at each other. That's the divisive rhetoric of the right wing flipped upside down.

 

[sportage]

I agree, America has been pretty dumb for quite some time now.
Ever since people figured out how to convince other people vote against their own best interest.

 

[Indus]

Please. Let us not look down our noses at each other. That's the divisive rhetoric of the right wing flipped upside down.

Easily fixable if we had a college grad rate of 90% instead of what we do now.

 

[Puffnstuff]

My mother, a staunch Republicrat (intentional misspelling), suffers from confirmation bias as she and my dad will both refuse to accept any evidence that doesn't fit into their narrow mind sets. They grasp at straws and will accept any information source that is an outlier spewing what they want to believe. Trump could grope a woman right in front of them and they'd refuse to see it yet exercise pretend righteousness when watching tv. The religious right is blinder than a bat when it comes to critical thinking or discerning evidence and it shows in the ridiculous things they are willing to believe in. If a pastor says that the tooth fairy is real they will believe it even in the face of evidence to the contrary. My mother still believes in aliens and that they are responsible for crop circles even though they are a hoax and the evidence shows this to be true. Religitards make me sick and anytime I try to use reason, evidence combined with clear explanations I cringe at the result.

 

[wingman04]

Trump speaks like Abraham Lincoln, so it is very easy to understand what he is saying. Trump is also highly intelligent he attended Wharton School of Finance.

 

[sportage]

Trump speaks like Abraham Lincoln, so it is very easy to understand what he is saying. Trump is also highly intelligent he attended Wharton School of Finance.

And I'm sure Trump will be quite the gentleman during his concession speech.

 

[Puffnstuff]

Trump will declare that Hillary is an illegal immigrant who is not eligible to run and that he should be installed as president.

 

[sandorski]

Immoral acts are one thing. A whole life of immoral self indulgence & rapacity is entirely another. That's our Donald.

At least he's not a woman!

 

[Indus]

Trump speaks like Abraham Lincoln, so it is very easy to understand what he is saying. Trump is also highly intelligent he attended Wharton School of Finance.

LMAO I haven't laughed so hard in decades.. my sides hurt!

Good one.

 

[DrDoug]

LMAO I haven't laughed so hard in decades.. my sides hurt!

Good one.

I had a good laugh too... I can just imagine Trump speaking like Lincoln: "Four deferments and 7,000 lawsuits ago...". That and the bit about being intelligent because he went to Wharton School of Finance. The bankruptcy king of business is a financial genius?

Too funny... 9/10, would laugh again.

 

[Victorian Gray]

Trump speaks like Abraham Lincoln, so it is very easy to understand what he is saying. Trump is also highly intelligent he attended Wharton School of Finance.

"Four score and seven pussies ago"