this post was submitted on 11 Sep 2024
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No sir. I'm not seeing that with "Nazi Flag at Trump Rally" and CPAC isn't even on the radar of the average voter. Most people have their interaction with Trump at his rallies and via conservative news. I'm not saying everything is okay. The man brought back 1800's xenophobic myths on the national debate stage. But again the average voter isn't thinking about it that way. They're engaged with it in a fearful way because that's how Fox News gave it to them.
And you guys are still massively missing the point. This is a third of our country. Alienating them plays into the hand of extremists. They need to see they're wrong. Not be shunned out of a society that killed their jobs, left them in broken towns, brought them the opioid crisis, and ignores their needs. They are the epitome of believing government is broken because the Republicans broke it. And you can't fix that by calling them trash. You have to find a way to bring them good governance again. Get them back into mainstream stuff.
This entire flipping thread has been nothing but a project in othering. And you can't do that to 33% of your country without severe consequences.
I misspoke on this part. I was thinking of the confederate flags being pared with trump flags/rallies.
I don't think that particularly matters. If your party's political ideology aligns well enough with neo nazis for them to have a seat at the table, you have a neo-nazi party. Just because they're subtle about it doesn't make the supporters innocent.
That's the main mechanism of fascism. They can be unaware of it all they like, they're still supporting fascism. You're still hillbilly trash so to speak.
Yeah, it's a third of our country. And ignoring how they're flirting with fascism also plays into the hands of the extremists. There is no winning in a situation like this. And so I'd rather be honest given that it's a no win situation.
If playing nice with fascists/fascist supporters was a viable strategy, we wouldn't be arguing about this.
If you can't distinguish between the fascists and the every day people hoodwinked by them then we might as well just start gearing up for ACW 2. Because that's where this leads. Nobody is asking you to refrain from punching the actual Nazis. Just not to drive rural America into their arms with actual elitism. Because it's going to be people like me and my friends who have to go in there and risk our lives to deprogram the "hillbilly trash" who look like shit but are actually extremely good at duct tape engineering and making shit explode.
If I could I would handcuff you together until you figured out you have the exact same core desires of a sane government, freedom, and enough income to feed your family.
I can and do, which is why I use the term fascists/fascist supporters. The everyday people who have been hoodwinked are the supporters. Trump, Vance, DeSantis, etc are the outright fascists. If I wasn't making that distinction I'd just call them all fascists and be done with it.
Sure. That's exactly the message you send when you call them trash.
Good Lord a pragmatic person trying to understand the demographics instead of just casting them all as Nazis? I thought you folks might be extinct here!
I wish more folks took this nuanced view.
Me too. I don't think people realize just how bad things can get. They read about it in other places and times but they just don't connect that to what's happening now.