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archon1410 | on: Trump wins presidency for second time
It implies that either they themselves are even more reprehensible and irredeemable, or the majority of US voters are so morally bankrupt that they prefer reprehensible and irredeemable candidates. The latter is probably true, but why would they say that and then continue to run for elections? Why do they want the approval of morally bankrupt people who prefer reprehensible candidates?

Another option is that voters are just very stupid and fail to see that which is "obvious", repeatedly, despite billions spent on trying to make them "see". Or perhaps their claims are not actually "obvious", and they ought to be... kinder to the other side.

beedeebeedee | parent | next
> Another option is that voters are just very stupid and fail to see that which is "obvious", repeatedly, despite billions spent on trying to make them "see".

Fox News. The folks who voted trump watch only Fox News, which has crafted an alternative and immersive world view that appears coherent if you only watch Fox News and reject conflicting information as lies.

AnimalMuppet | root | parent
There are more people who voted for Trump than there are people who only watch Fox News. So maybe you ought to re-consider the GP's point.
intended | root | parent
The OP is correct though. If the issue is that their statement is weak when its being reduced to just Fox News subscribers, then sure.

However the issue is about the kind of information ecosystems that drive polarization and misinformation.

Disinfo and misinformation campaigns target right wing / conservative viewers more than they do left wing / liberals.

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-024-07942-8

But I can point to research and articles till the cows come home. The fact is that people reject everything negative about Trump and fill in the blanks with whatever they want to believe.

We’re basically playing whose line is it anyway

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locococo | parent | next
I have another take, the democratic party is incompetent.

If they can't convince voters to vote for them given how bad the other side looks then they must be really incompetent.

What's the point of having all the feel good rallies in cities with famous people if you can't reach people in rural areas.

The democratic party is too elitist, too far from regular people.

bjourne | parent | next
You are asking why they would say true things.
archon1410 | root | parent
No, I am asking why they would knowingly desire the approval of those who prefer "irredeemable" candidates. They would either have to lie a lot to get it, or pull themselves down to be more reprehensible. So, what's their strategy? Lieing a lot after telling the "one truth", or becoming more reprehensible themselves? Probably both.
Zak | root | parent | next
Seeking votes is not like seeking approval in a social context. Someone trying to win a contested election desires votes for the purpose of winning.
bjourne | root | parent | next
You did: "The latter is probably true, but why would they say that" The implication of your comment is that politicians shouldn't tell the truth because that offends voters.
bigfudge | root | parent
Or educate and persuade?
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lesuorac | parent | next
> the majority of US voters are so morally bankrupt that they prefer reprehensible and irredeemable candidates.

Well, to make this non political.

Look at how many sports players have a history of domestic abuse; the character of a player is secondary to their ability to play the sport.

data_maan | parent | next
Voters everywhere are stupid but in the country of exceptionalism, they lately seem to have become exceptionally stu... tolerant!
intended | parent | next
> It implies that either they themselves are even more reprehensible and irredeemable > or the majority of US voters are so morally bankrupt that they prefer reprehensible and irredeemable candidates

You dont need to go that far. You just need to create an information environment that is beyond the ability of the average person to navigate.

At that point, the other side is just evil, and your team, even if they are convicted for crimes, have ties to Epstein or anything - doesn’t matter.

——

I mean, you can have privatized thought policing, there aren’t any laws or regulations to prevent. Everyone reads about Big Brother and worries about government control.

So you can create enough of FUD shared till it’s believed.

Don’t forget - we had to deal with Creationism, and that was wildly successful for a completely unscientific argument.

GTP | parent | next
> why would they say that and then continue to run for elections?

Are you suggesting that the USA should have a single political party? Anyone that cares for democracy would be against that, regardless of their other political views.

cdrini | root | parent
My guess would be what they meant was that they should quit. Ie either you respect the intelligence/morallity of the people who you want to vote for you, or maybe you shouldn't be trying to represent them.

And not quit as in leave only a single party, but quit as in leave a vacuum for another party/candidate/etc to step in.

Note these aren't necessarily my personal views, just trying to help clarify what I believe the commentator meant.

hanniabu | parent | next
One side has good marketing and the other has bad marketing. That simple really.
throw0101d | parent | next
> Another option is that voters are just very stupid and fail to see that which is "obvious", repeatedly, despite billions spent on trying to make them "see".

I think this is the correct options.

I mean, look at the people who worked for him in the last administration:

> So how do we explain this near-universal rejection of Trump by the people who worked with him most closely? I guess one explanation is that they’ve all been infected with the dreaded Woke Mind Virus. But it’s unclear why working for Donald Trump would cause almost everyone to be exposed to the Woke Mind Virus, when working for, say, JD Vance, or Ron DeSantis, or any other prominent right-wing figure does not seem to produce such an infection.

> Of course, not everyone who worked for Trump has abandoned and denounced him. Rudy Giuliani, who is now under indictment in several different states, is still among the faithful. Michael Flynn, who was fired by Obama for insubordination and then removed by Trump for improper personal dealings with the Russian government, is still on board, and is now threatening to unleash the “gates of Hell” on Trump’s political enemies. Peter Navarro, the economist1 who served four months in prison for defying a Congressional subpoena, is still a Trump fan. And so on.

> You may perhaps notice a pattern among the relatively few people who are still on board the Trump Train from his first term. They are all very shady people. I don’t think this is a coincidence; I think it’s something systematic about Donald Trump’s personality and his method of rule.

* https://www.noahpinion.blog/p/trumpism-is-kakistocracy

The GOP party has changed:

> As many people have noted, Trump’s movement is a cult of personality. Since Trump took over the Republican party in 2016, essentially every tenet of modern conservatism has been replaced with belief in a single leader. Trump appointed the judges that killed Roe v. Wade, but he constantly goes back and forth on the topic of abortion rights. Trump didn’t cut entitlement spending, but whether he wants to do that in his second term or not depends on which day you ask him. Trump has flip-flopped on the TikTok bill, on marijuana legalization, on the filibuster, on SALT caps, and so on.

> But these flip-flops do not matter to his support at all. His supporters are sure that whichever decision Trump makes, it will be the right one, and if he changes it the following week, that will be the right decision as well. If tomorrow Trump declared that tariffs are terrible and illegal immigration is great, this would immediately become the essence of Trumpism. Trump’s followers put their trust not in principled ideas, but in a man — or, to be more accurate, in the idea of a man. That is what Trumpism requires of its adherents.

* Idid.

ninkendo | parent | next
> or the majority of US voters are so morally bankrupt that they prefer reprehensible and irredeemable candidates

Correct, yes.

tightbookkeeper | root | parent
Maybe 4th time is the charm with this kind of divisive messaging?
anthonypasq | root | parent | next
something can be true but not politically advantageous to mention
ninkendo | root | parent | next
My goal isn't to sway trump voters, they've already demonstrated time and time again, and again, and again, and again, that they have no intention of meeting liberals anywhere, let alone "in the middle", and that there's nothing, ever, ever that anyone could ever do to pry them away from their GEOTUS, so there's no real reason to try to appease them. So I'm left with just calling it like I see it.

Trump supporters blaming liberals' rhetoric for their decisions is a troll tactic: It's a way of trying to bait liberals into paying more positive lip service to Trump. And it works, all up and down the media organizations are terrified to say things that offend trump supporters. All for some vague belief that if they coddle his supporters enough they get some "centrist credibility" or something.

bakuninsbart | root | parent | next
The "grab them by the pussies" comment should have been enough to show everyone that he's a morally reprehensive little clown. I originally typed out a long comment to further elucidate why he is despicable, but it actually takes away from the message. An SA advocate shouldn't be president in the 21st century.
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Pxtl | root | parent
So you expect progressive voters to simply politely ignore the awful things Trump has done, and the fact that his supporters don't seem to care?

Short list: Trump has been adjudicated in court as having sexually assaulted a woman, and has admitted to doing more. Nearly every person who has worked with him has described him in the worst possible terms. Stories of him celebrating Nazis [1], sexually fixating on his own daughter[2], horrifying things like that.

The man is a convicted felon, and has only escaped punishment for various other crime by virtue of his own appointees in the court system.

If a reader accepts these well-supported items as facts, what should they think about somebody who votes for that?

Should they lie and say "a reasonable person would support this"?

Or should they tell the truth even when it is "divisive"?

[1] https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/trump-said-hitler-did-...

[2] https://www.seattletimes.com/nation-world/trumps-lewd-talk-a...

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hhjinks | parent
So your opinion is that elections are a referendum on the moral virtue of the candidate, or that you shouldn't run for office if you think the electorate is morally bankrupt?

I'm sorry, but I have to be blunt. That is an extremely narrow view, and a single second of critical thinking should present a million other possibilities. The former is obviously untrue, considering Trump's long list of vices. The latter is a complete non sequitur. Power is power; the electorate's morals only matter insofar as they're willing to check the box next to my name.

Trump can be reprehensible and irredemable, and still win if he's more believable on the issues Americans care the most about. He could be a fraud, a cheat, even a traitor, so long as he's persuasive. That's how democracy works, how it should work.