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Items tagged with: cruelty
"The answer to the question on so many Americans’ lips — 'How did we get here?' — is straightforward. That answer won’t be found in the margins of which group shifted toward Trump between 2020 and 2024. It is right in front of us. White evangelical Protestants, along with other conservative white Christians, were the principal actors who baptized, defended, rehabilitated and sustained Trump’s candidacy."
"The biggest thing mainstream analysis refuses to comprehend is the continued power of a politics of racial grievance and religious nostalgia among white Christian Americans."
~ Robert P. Jones
The media comprehend this. They just do not intend to admit it, because tax cuts for their super-rich owners and managers count more than anything, and admitting the price of getting those tax cuts is shameful.
#Trump #fascism #cruelty #future
/20
salon.com/2024/11/15/the-ultim…
The ultimate answer to why Donald Trump won: White Christians
The "religious nostalgia" that unites White Christians under Trump has propelled his rise since the beginningSalon.com
"Trump once more owes his victory entirely ... to the votes of white Christian nationalists, people who frankly overwhelmingly favor strong leaders. They want someone to be the victor against evil. They want someone to crush their enemies."
~ Jennifer Rubin
#Trump #fascism #cruelty #future
/18
youtube.com/watch?v=4lDifr-Fn-…
- YouTube
Bekijk je favoriete video's, luister naar de muziek die je leuk vindt, upload originele content en deel alles met vrienden, familie en anderen op YouTube.www.youtube.com
"Beyond all the hot takes of who was up and who was down compared to the last election, the clearest answer to why Trump will be returning to the White House is that white Christians, more than any other religious group, returned to the polls to put him there."
~ Robert P. Jones
#Trump #fascism #cruelty #future
/17
whitetoolong.net/p/the-rest-of…
The Rest of the Story: White Christians and the Second Coming of Trump
Sharing my interview with Jennifer Rubin at The Washington Post and Chauncey Devega at Salon.Robert P. Jones (White Too Long by Robert P. Jones)
"Trump is … an atavist, inviting citizens to satisfy all of their hungry drives, all of their libidinous instincts: His America is a place for malign energies to express themselves in action. There’s a certain pleasure in that, perhaps, a kind of psychic relief—to lose oneself in a radical movement and to express feelings normally prohibited by society."
~ Elizabeth Bruenig
The cruelty is the point.
"One of the reasons those of us who’ve been paying attention were devastated by the results of the 2024 election is because we know not only how cruel my uncle and his supporters are, but just how cruel they intend to be. …
In the last two weeks, Donald has made it clear through his cabinet picks that he—and they—intend to cause as much pain as possible to their perceived enemies and to the most vulnerable among us."
~ Mary Trump
"Trump’s cabinet appointments are agents of his contempt, rage and vengeance. … Wrecking the government is not only Trump’s technique for gaining submission and compliance, but is his ultimate purpose."
~ Sidney Blumenthal
#Trump #fascism #cruelty #future
/14
theguardian.com/commentisfree/…
Trump’s cabinet picks are agents of his contempt, rage and vengeance
With them, Trump will tear down any person or institution that tried to restrain his worst impulses or hold him accountableSidney Blumenthal (The Guardian)
As Wajahat Ali points out, we're being told that "Americans voted for Republicans because they were promised a better economy, cheaper eggs, security, and the romanticized promise of becoming 'great again.”'
Yet, we immediately see them as victors roll out stepped-up attacks on trans people.
How do those attacks address the price of eggs? And what did Americans who say it's all about eggs REALLY want when they voted for Trump?
#Trump #fascism #cruelty #future
/13
thelefthook.substack.com/p/how…
How Will Bullying Trans People Get Us Cheaper Eggs? On Nancy Mace and the GOP’s Crusade of Cruelty and Division
Since Republicans have no solutions for Americans seeking better economic opportunities, they resort to their cruel & divisive strategy of scapegoating the trans community. It's time we say, "Enough."THE LEFT HOOK with Wajahat Ali (The Left Hook with Wajahat Ali)
"Christian Reconstructionism is now at the edge of power in the United States, and the attitude of the relevant people towards the female body and indeed towards rape is an essential element of what is happening and what is likely to happen. Both-sidesism, prudery, and euphemisms are keeping much of the media from bringing this story together in time."
~ Timothy Snyder
“If Donald Trump says tariffs work, tariffs work. Because Donald Trump is really never wrong. Think about it. He is never wrong.”
~ Texas Rep. Troy Nehls (R)
#Trump #fascism #cruelty #future
/11
maxburns.substack.com/p/can-do…
Can Donald Trump Do That?
Unpacking the facts in a time of constitutional uncertaintyMax Burns (The Third Degree)
"They wanted the 'old stability,' the patriarchy that has run the country for generations. In many ways, that's what’s at the heart of the conservative coalition. It's not a rejection of the established order; it's an embrace of it."
Voters may be in for a shock, though, when they see what they ACTUALLY get:
"The Trump presidency isn’t a pick-your-adventure experience, where you can get some parts of Trump’s plan, but not all of it."
"Voters who ignored the facts about the economy and used them as an excuse to vote for Trump weren’t people who wanted a change. They were people who, actually, didn’t want any change at all. They didn't like new policies advanced by the Biden-Harris administration, a more inclusive vision of America where traditionally marginalized people had equal opportunity. They didn’t want a new generation of leadership."
~ Joyce Vance
#Trump #fascism #cruelty #future
/9
joycevance.substack.com/p/givi…
"Giving Up Is Unforgivable"
I’m not certain it’s possible to understand what happened in the 2024 election this close to it, beyond the undeniable outcome: Donald Trump will be the next president of the United States.Joyce Vance (Civil Discourse with Joyce Vance)
"Overall, 52 percent of respondents to a poll last year by the Public Religion Research Institute and the Brookings Institution thought that America’s best days are behind it. Fifty-five percent, including three quarters of Republicans, said the country’s way of life has mostly changed for the worse since the 1950s.
Altogether, three-fourths of Americans today believe the United States is headed in the wrong direction."
"In a NORC survey in 2017 that focused on questions related to American identity, almost half of respondents said that illegal immigration amounted to a threat to 'the American way of life.' Seventy-one percent of respondents to that poll said the United States was 'losing its national identity.'
This unease extends to other dimensions, such as religion and sexuality."
"For all the polls demonstrating Americans’ grim assessment of the economy, consumers have kept up spending as if they have few worries in the world. For all the gripes about the cost of living, real wages for typical American workers have been rising faster than inflation."
"Just like today, this analysis misses the forest for the trees. Twice already, more or less half of American voters have elected a guy who promises to overthrow the liberal world order — to do away with democratic institutions, values, and norms, trample on human rights, blow up the economy — and to bend the nation, and the world, to his will."
"Explaining the rise of Trump as a consequence of economic forces battering the working class is not a new approach. In 2016, we were told the culprit was globalization and the related 'China shock' that destroyed 1 million or so manufacturing jobs. This analysis pegged generally pro-trade mainstream Democrats (and Republicans) as a gang of cosmopolitan elites uninterested in the fortunes of blue-collar Americans."
~ Eduardo Porter
Once institutions like the media get on board with that claim and spread it further through the population, people begin to think that what really drew them to the shock-and-awe spectacles with their rejection of norms and frank celebration of cruelty was all about economics in the first place.
It's never about the thrill of cruelty, of targeting demeaned others. It's always about the price of eggs.
But, of course, it's not about that at all.
And normalization proves surprisingly easy as institutions like the media, educational institutions, religious bodies, corporations and the business community, get on board with what they see happening — the wave of the future, they tell themselves, the winning side.
One way fascism normalizes itself — always — is by pretending to be all about the economic betterment of economically oppressed people.
A theme running through much testimony by eyewitnesses as Hitler's fascist movement rose to power in Germany was that the Nazis initially represented only a limited percentage of Germans.
But once it was clear that their star was ascending, people began to applaud the movement and the shock-and-awe spectacles it mounted to excite people.
A key project of fascism is always to normalize itself as it rises.
"Let’s not make the mistake of thinking the only reason Trump wants to use recess appointments is to get his team of deplorables confirmed. He’s not even back in office, but he’s already at work manipulating elected officials into a position where the Constitution can be tossed aside at will."
"Trump’s demand for recess appointments is a way of breaking the Senate early on. Once they’ve bypassed the Constitutional dictate that they confirm the president’s appointees, there is no standing on principle to insist on strict adherence to the Constitution."
~ Joyce Vance
#Trump #fascism #cruelty #future
/1
joycevance.substack.com/p/what…
What Letting Trump Use Recess Appointments Could Mean
Donald Trump’s stated desire to use recess appointments is about more than putting his cabinet secretaries and other appointees in place without a fight.Joyce Vance (Civil Discourse with Joyce Vance)
"Kennedy has devoted his life to destroying public health. He’s obsessed with a confused, quasi-fascist idea of purity, which leads him to attack medical interventions like fluoride, pasteurization, and vaccines, as well as perceived outsiders like Asians and Jewish people. That makes him a good fit for Trump and Trumpism. It also makes him a massive danger to the US and to the world."
~ Noah Berlatsky
#Trump #fascism #cruelty #future #RFKJr
/3
publicnotice.co/p/rfk-jr-publi…
RFK Jr. is a massive public health threat
Dems like Jared Polis shouldn't pretend pretend otherwise.Aaron Rupar (Public Notice)
"The rise of the brosphere, the manosphere, was a funded effort. It did not come out of left field. You know, you have... the Kochs and other very special, large special interests and very, very wealthy interests who are funding these. So it's not organic. No, it's not organic."
~ Alex Winter
#Trump #fascism #cruelty #EconomicElites #manosphere #brosphere #misogyny #DarkMoney
/1
thelefthook.substack.com/p/thi…
This is How Big Tech Radicalized America and Helped Trump Become President
Filmmaker Alex Winter joins The Left Hook to discuss how right-wing media and big tech have monetized disinformation to radicalize Americans, spread confusion, and ultimately help Trump win.THE LEFT HOOK with Wajahat Ali (The Left Hook with Wajahat Ali)
Eventually, philosophers arrived at the superiority theory of humor, according to which every joke is, at its core, a hostile attack designed to affirm the comic’s dominance and assure the subjugation of its target.
2/3
#Plato #Aristotle #comedy #cruelty #ThomasHobbes #laughter #humor #philosophy #jokes #comic #dominance #subjugation
For those of us foreseeing that "things are going to get very bad," Sherrilynn Ifill offers some valuable pragmatic tips about surviving:
"• Save some cash. And keep enough in the house for gas and food for a week.
• Let yourself imagine what you would do if you lost your job in terms of finding new employment, paying rent/mortgage for several months, and start building what you need to be able to meet that moment if it comes."
I just posted this valuable statement by Noah Berlatsky on Facebook, and Facebook immediately took down the posting:
"It may not be safe to remain friends with MAGA. Trump voters have told you they will hurt you. It’s reasonable to believe them. …
I’m not saying everyone in every case has to cut their MAGA family out of their life. Different people are in different circumstances; you can’t make blanket rules."
Erin Reed reminds us of the practice, life-or-death challenges now facing some of us due to the choice made by the rest of us. She's offering advice to trans people and people who care about them:
"I wanted to share some very practical next steps for my trans readers. Here are the things I recommend:"
#fascism #cruelty #USA #Trump #future
/12
substack.com/chat/994764/post/…
Erin Reed in Erin In The Morning
Checking in... Let's talk. Hey y'all. We are one day out, and you've already made it 24 hours. That's good. I am so blessed to have been able to spend what was otherwise a horrific night with the company of all of you.Erin In The Morning
"Trump’s predictable return to the presidency—in what is the final American presidential election of our lifetimes (a conservative plan decades in the making, with help from liberal complicity masquerading as incompetence)—was nothing more and nothing less than the majority of white voters confirming that they want to live in a country that adheres to the standards of living as expressed in 1824 rather than 2024."
"The majority of white people knew that a vote for Trump would be a vote against Black people, Brown people, Asian people, queer people, trans people, disabled people, poor people, Black and Brown immigrants, Palestinians, children, the rights of women, unions, literature, art, the environment, and democracy."
"The media will be complicit in protecting the majority of white American voters from being labeled as the staunch and bred bigots that they are."
~ Robert P. Jones
#fascism #cruelty #USA #Trump #future
/7
robertjonesjr.substack.com/p/b…
"Because They Think They Are White"
“But this cowardice, this necessity of justifying a totally false identity and of justifying what must be called a genocidal history, has placed everyone now living into the hands of the most ignorant and powerful people the world has ever seen.Robert Jones, Jr. (Witness)
"America’s long term, festering reactionary racism and white supremacy has threatened democracy throughout US history."
~ Noah Berlatsky
#fascism #cruelty #USA #Trump #future
/6
publicnotice.co/p/kamala-harri…
The global anti-incumbent backlash doomed Kamala Harris
Tragically, the beneficiary happened to be Donald Trump.Noah Berlatsky (Public Notice)
