Thanks for linking the article but the video talks about the “techbro ideology” that fuels at least some of their thoughts and actions. They want to create a kind of feudalism where billionaires can rule fiefdoms without interference however they want, a tech utopia for the worthy. I don’t know though how much they actually believe in this shit, but they associate or at least flirt with it. So the billionaires and tech-bro’s are not fascist or idiots, they are using fascism as a tool.

Trump is also not an idiot, he doesn’t think he can buy greenland, he just throwing shit at the camera lens. Every day has to be a new outrage and own the libs. No politicians ever cared about abortion, it’s a wedge issue to increase power. The cruelty is the point but it does serve a purpose, because you can’t have a functioning democracy without peace, modest prosperity and education / news. We are still “flailing” which is what MAGA wants.

The article doesn’t seem to understand these tactics, nor the strategic goals they want to achieve. Or maybe doesn’t communicate for brevity.

There is an interesting analysis of the ideology of the techbro’s (youtube) backing Trump, who actually do want to destroy the US. I’m kinda shocked how well this explains things, and haven’t found a good written article yet (but haven’t been looking).

That’s like saying the best argument “ought to win” and money doesn’t matter (or media manipulation, the economy or voter roll purging). That is what I mean with the liberal mindset though.

Or another thing: If you divide the population in a smarter and a less smart half - it’s always easier to manipulate the less smart half. This fundamental problem gets worse with the quality of news and social media.

And lies travel fast while debunking them is hard and boring. And people have been trained to accept lies by their politicians, including the democrats.

Hmm, I thought shifting blames on minorities like Palestinians or Latinos was a conservative thing! ;) I do suspect this is agitprop like with tankies.

There are reasons for the outcome, found in how the rules of the system is set up and the emergent effects and resulting outcomes. These are not that unpredictable in hindsight. Fundamentally, how can you have a democracy without a good news media? (also you need prosperity and peace). So fascism is the natural outcome.

So I don’t blame people really, it’s more like the math didn’t pan out.

I’m inclined to believe it, but to know with enough confidence today you need academic sources and hindsight. But that would just be the natural progression of what the US has accepted for decades. In any case the mainstream doesn’t dispute the election, because Trump was smart enough to do that first (projection). So the reason why institutions obey the new order is because there is no alternative, and no ideological imperative to resist.

BTW here is an interesting analysis of the ideology of the techbro’s backing Trump, who actually do want to destroy the US. I’m kinda shocked how well this explains things, and haven’t found a good written article yet (but haven’t been looking).

That’s true, but in the liberal mindset, the majority gives you the moral mandate (liberal as in capitalist democracy, not derogatory). That the news and social media is owned and controlled by the oligarchs doesn’t matter to the liberal mindset. Even cheating like gerrymandering didn’t trigger riots and hanging of the culprits. It doesn’t matter that they promised one thing but lied, that has been accepted for decades also.

So within this mindset the majority spoke and has the mandate for this crap. Practically morality is determined by who has the most money / power. We accepted that greed is good. So it doesn’t matter that the election was cheated, elections in the US have always been a farce, a spectacle. But it is effective to get those institutions in line.

So I agree with you and think all the US elections in the last 50 years were illegitimate. But those institutions don’t, they simply follow this liberal mindset.

Yeah. But I’ve felt burned out by the news for a while already. So this is nothing!

Money. Real lives are affected by defunding and losing your job in this economy.

Over 50% voted for this. Because news and social media are controlled by the oligarchs. And the smartest sociopaths for hire are crafting the propaganda strategy. So you’re not even going to get a majority to back you up. Sanity and morality is now in the minority.

If a liberal merely explains in good faith a right wing position that they’re going to argue against, they’re “enlightened centerists”

I think the problem isn’t so much nuance but that there is now a small(!) but very angry group of progressives. Reddit used to be, and lemmy still is mostly composed of these. I mean, those slightly to the left of the event horizon of tankianism.

The central fundamental outlook of open minded intelligent people today is that climate change is going to ruin or snuff out billions of lives, and our institutions are structurally incapable to address this, and shit is continuing to trend downwards, any political revolution will be a lie(obama) followed by a counter revolution (trump) and any new technology will be enshittified. There is a quiet voice saying this in the back of our minds: we are in collapse.

This explains why the temperature in all camps is raised so insanely, because we can’t stand to look at the abyss in front of us we double down or become hysterical. The old sticks just don’t work any more.

So the anger is about the systems that led us here, the 70 year of lies and propaganda and framing of issues. Like your example, explaining a right wing position - there ARE no right wing positions relevant in politics any more than CAN be discussed in good faith. Continuing to debate if people deserve basic human rights and dignity with people who constantly lie is worse than stupid. The masks are off now.

So well anyway, yeah you can’t invite someone from “The Economist” on the show and think you’re anything but enlightened centristic.