The Tipping Point of Stupid

[Nevilledog]

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Robert Young Pelton
@RYP__
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Beltway and East coast liberals need to travel to red states more. Much of America fully supports Trump, are anti vax, want Hunter's laptop investigated, support fake election crap and much more. They have the Fox logo burned into their Costco flatscreen.

theatlantic.com
The Tipping Point of Stupid
In most states, you can’t pass yourself off as an election-denying January 6 truther and still be taken seriously by a majority of voters.
10:57 AM · Sep 22, 2022


https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2022/09/trump-apologists-republican-candidates-midterm-elections/671501/

No paywall
https://archive.ph/jndPA

Donald trump has a knack for making his most committed apologists look like complete imbeciles—even if they are not complete imbeciles, though many of them are. This has been true for several years. But in recent weeks, Trump’s trickle-down idiocy has become a significant midterm-election issue for Republicans, and a drag on some of the party’s most vulnerable Senate candidates.

If you’re a candidate seeking a GOP nomination, Trump’s blessing can be a political wonder drug. But it comes with debilitating side effects. These go beyond the standard debasements that Trump inflicts on his dependents (for instance, Trump boasting at a Youngstown, Ohio, rally on Saturday that J. D. Vance, who is running for Senate there, was “in love” with him and “kissing my ass, he wants my support so much”). Assuming an acceptable Trumpian posture requires a determined self-lobotomy. In most states, it’s nearly impossible to pass yourself off as an election-denying January 6 truther and still be taken seriously by a majority of voters. Yet many candidates who clearly know better are doing exactly this.

You might be a media-slick, Ivy-bred brainiac like Vance or Dr. Mehmet Oz, and even admit backstage that you don’t really believe the asininity you’re spouting. As a general rule, though, discerning swing voters tend not to differentiate between fools and those who just play them on TV.

Not every Trump knockoff is faking it, of course. The former president has mainstreamed an authentic collection of cranks, bozos, and racists. The preponderance of safe, gerrymandered seats probably ensures continued employment in the House for the loony tunes likes of Marjorie Taylor Greene.

*snip*



The tweeter suggests dems are underestimating the existence of extremists. I'm interested in what DUers think. Lord knows we have a shit ton in AZ.

[live love laugh]

1. Two Americas ... or three ....

We definitely aren’t the United States.

[Walleye]

2. OK then let them die on that hill. The truth will out

[GenThePerservering]

3. People need to not confuse noise with numbers

or stereotype dissidents as 'beltway and east coast liberals' - a lot of us are quiet voters who may run the gamut all the way from moderate conservatives to militant progressives (me), but we all see what is happening and deplore it. We just don't get shouty about it.

[jcgoldie]

4. Im in rural southern Illinois

It isn’t a red state, but it is very red regionally and right across the river is Missouri which seemingly grows redder with every election cycle. I do not feel its accurate at all to say many people “fully support Trump.” They aren’t extremists and they sure wouldn’t support their everyday lives being upset to storm the capital. But theres a big difference between “fully supports Trump” and would hold their nose and vote for an election denier because they can’t stand to cede ground to democrats.

The greatest disparity between widespread attitudes that I see here and things I read on DU, for example, regards covid. Almost everyone here put that in the rearview mirror 6 months ago. I teach in a school of 2000 kids and havent seen a single mask at work or in any public space since perhaps May. Its really out of touch in my anecdotal regional experience to see people criticize Biden for saying the pandemic is over. Thats off topic but just came to mind talking about the differences I see between the attitudes of “east coast liberals” and the rural midwesterners Im in contact with daily.

[CrispyQ]

5. How politically diverse is your neighborhood?

Enter your address to see how politically diverse your neighborhood is. I live in a a democratic bubble. Only 15% of my neighbors are republican. I also entered the addresses of friends and family I know. So interesting!

https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2021/04/30/opinion/politics/bubble-politics.html