Unfortunately, this does seem to be the inescapable conclusion. All of the alternative explanations I've come across, which purport to account for Trump's appeal--and the GOP's, really--simply do not hold up to scrutiny.
Trump Watch: The Conservative Condition
- Thread starter Tiassa
- Start date
Unfortunately, this does seem to be the inescapable conclusion. All of the alternative explanations I've come across, which purport to account for Trump's appeal--and the GOP's, really--simply do not hold up to scrutiny.
Trump tells those "rugged, determined individualists" that they can be like him - grab pussies, rape women and get away with it for decades, bang a porn star while your wife takes care of the baby, defraud your investors and make off with millions, throw your friends and associates under the bus when they disagree with you, start a riot when you don't get what you want, pay enough to get the women you want, and avoid consequences for all of that.
Needless to say the actual rugged individualists are off doing their own thing. But the rest - the faux Rambos - are seduced by his patter and fantasize doing all the things he is doing, being a "real man" as defined by a woman-hating incel. They never notice that they are being an "individualist" by blindly following the directives of right wing media; to them, individualism means following others who call themselves rugged, brave individualists. To some people, winning means making sure the other guy is losing. And since Trump's #1 principle is "own the libs" this plays very well into their worldview.
Pure democracy is indeed a poor way to run a country. (Imagine, for example, if all Americans had voted on whether to expel all Muslims on September 10, 2001.)
But it is fascinating how much republicans fear the youth vote; their worst nightmare is "a lot of young people come out and vote." Indeed, they come out and say that it's the "secret sauce for disaster." That's why so much of republican strategy is centered around voter suppression - gerrymandering, laws that discourage voting, even outright voter fraud are all tools in their toolbox.
exchemist
Valued Senior Member
Encouraging and mobilising feelings of victimhood and hatred is what Hitler did. It’s not new, when people feel resentful about their circumstances. The American dream has turned sour for them, so someone must be to blame and, importantly, the game is to blame groups other than the true culprits.
Yep. Trump says immigrants are “poisoning the blood of the country.” In Mein Kampf, Hitler warned that contamination from other races was killing Germany through “blood poisoning.”
Trump: "We pledge to you that we will root out the communists, Marxists, fascists and the radical left thugs that live like vermin within the confines of our country."
Hitler on the Jews: “This vermin must be destroyed. The Jews are our sworn enemies."
Trump: US veterans have been "backstabbed and betrayed" by evil actors in the government.
von Hindenberg, Nazi general: ‘The German army has been stabbed in the back' by the Jews.
Seattle
Valued Senior Member
As you point out, pure democracy is a poor way to run a country for the reasons you mentioned. That's also why any party may not be all that fond of "the young vote" because the "young" generally don't have much stake in the system and therefore it's like non-property owners voting on how high property taxes should be.
Well, you could say something similar about any group.
The old vote doesn't have much stake in planning for the future since they will be dead soon. Why would they care about rising debt and global warming?
The white vote doesn't have much stake in civil rights. Why would they care about rights for other people?
But averaging them all out does often work - and parties do have to appeal to as many of them as possible.