I'd like to have a serious discussion about Trumpism and it's affect on people.

nanofazz97 posted...

Well, you can move to another country.

It's probably better for you, and if you want to take as many people who agree with you as you can, I wholeheartedly support that.

We want the best for you anyway.

I think it’s you and your ilk that need to pack up and move to Russia.

dermoratraken posted...

Yes, your hostile rhetoric, condescension, and general toxicity are contributors. These are within your control, and perhaps more demonstrative of your hypocrisy, quite unprogressive.

Projection at its finest.

Most of my family my age and older have fallen into the Trump clutches. It's maddening. I just try to not touch upon those subjects with them. Kind of sucks that it shrunk the circle of people with whom I can really discuss such things. Part of why I am on here every day, anymore.

I hope in the next several years, we can return to having some shreds of sanity in which people can approach topics in a rational manner without dismissing real evidence and without accepting every single conspiracy theory just because it isn't mainstream.

WowSoDoge_Amaze posted...

I have never heard of a Bernie cult. Pretty sure the only US politician with a cult is Trump.

Anyhow Sanders would have been an excellent president.

There is a Bernie cult of sorts, but it is nowhere remotely even close to being as destructive or dangerous as the cult of Don, and I agree that Bernie would have been a great leader.

You need to debunk them, but it depends on the person if it should be in public or private. It's about losing face/shame. In private they might consider thoughtfully, but in public might react to save face.

Goldenguy posted...

There is a Bernie cult of sorts

No, that's just not the case.

Let me explain:
1) Bernie supporters are basically progressives and leftist that run a surprisingly large range of ideas from anarcho-communists, to libertarian socialists...from civil rights leaders, to teachers unions.

Trump supporters simply obey the will of Trump. There is no disagreement.

2) Bernie is simply the most powerful person in America that represents a slew of values that are rarely represented in our post neoliberal and neoconservative America. The movement is not about Bernie Sanders and he is not the movement.

AOC, Ilhan Omar, Pramila Jayapal, and many other great progressives will take up the mantle, and it won't be a coronation...it will simply be younger people with the same ideals.

Trump supporters are loyal to Trump. They will not follow another leader until Trump declares his successor. Donald Trump doesn't really stand for any deeply held values either, it's just your right to be an a****** and hate anyone that doesn't look or think like you.

3) Bernie is a humble public servant. Trump is a ego-maniacal con artist.

4) You could say that about any popular leader. Barack Obama was accused being the cult leader of democrats, but he wasn't. He was more of a cult leader than Bernie Sanders by your standard because a lot of people just liked Obama because he was a charismatic leader and great speaker. That doesn't mean Obama wasn't highly intelligent or aligned with their values...but many didn't really know his policies that deeply, they just like him. Sanders has always been about the policies...people love him because he is one of the few public figures with the courage to push for those policies.

cut him out of your life for your safety and your family's

he has made his choice

This has always been a problem with charismatic leaders. The problem with Trump is that he represents a zero sum myth with the endgame of only serving himself. There's still people that believe that because he had the bigger crowd sizes and that Joe spent most of his campaign in his basement figuring out his wifi, that the election was stolen from them. Larger super spreader rallies, in a pandemic that he admittedly downplayed. That's their "proof" they cling to.

It's when you bring up the saying about "a person's character is tested more in how they react to loss" is when I've found the bubble crack a little, because Trump reacts f***ing not normal at all. He's confident until it's someone else's fault, then it's off to the races.

The best thing he should do for his supporters would be to let him them go, apologize, admit his losses and his crimes, set himself free so that they too can move on and leave their burdens behind. But they carry him around their leg like a ball and chain. It's just really sad.