America & the World V: DOGE Business

[dataDave]

You can be sure that the majority of Americans don't give 2 hoots about DEI, gender issues, liberal race equalisation.

They do care, it's probably just that they care about affording food more.

[Baseley09]

That's fair.

[QualityChimp]

There's going to be a whole lot more prejudice in America now.

For example, when someone says they voted for Trump.

[Mayhem]

The 2020 vote was the outlier for the Dems. In 2020 they got 20m more votes than usual, probably because of what a **** up Trump was. 4 years later everyone's forgotten.

Cue all the conspiracy that the Dems stole 2020 because Harris got way less votes than Biden did, and on a par with Clinton and Obama.

[MartyG]

Maybe. But that won't merit them an ounce of sympathy when they find out how wrong they were; they had plenty of chances to figure that out.

In the same way people who voted for Brexit do? The mental gymnastics will be the same, any resulting issues will be caused by the deep state of course.

[egparadigm]

I’ll be interested to see the final votes tally. At best, Trump looks on track to get the same number as last time. It’s the Democrats that have fallen back.

[Neon Ignition]

The thing that I struggle to square to an extent is that US voters might feel like punishing the Democrats for not focusing on working class people enough but this wasn't a vote between a change candidate and an unpopular incumbant. It's a special level of sheer ignorance and/or stupidity for a voter to hear Trump's words and believe any of them. He already had the same tour, he's a known operator and he won't do jack for anyone but himself. You're very quickly left with all the other elements at play with him and the idea that voting for Harris compared negatively in any way to what someone has to hold their nose to with Trump is where things come back to the point of that voter being inexcusable. We 100% definitively know now that he will never face any consequence for any of his actions or crimes, the sole silver lining would be that his actions in the coming four years are slightly tempered by him no longer needing to keep the voter on side anymore. He could essentially put his feet up, rake the role for every dime he can and then ride off into the golf course sunset in 2029. Chances are he won't though, incredibly high chance he'll do it with more bodies in his wake this time.

I suppose part of it comes down on not just how tribal voters are but on how incredibly revisionist they are too. It remains galling still over here, the Labour landslide has provided a lot of underlying frustration at our own voters

"Damned Tories! 14 years of ripping up the NHS and making us people worse off!"

**** off

A huge number were happy to pucker up and kiss Johnson's clammy backside cheeks after pretty much a decade of exactly that, christ, it wasn't till 2022 that public opinion really started to shift and even then it took a staggering, embarrassing amount of non-austerity related scandals to finally shift the needle.

It's why I feel we might be approaching the end of the progressive era, or the attempt of one in media and politics. At this point it feels pretty obvious that the majority - when it comes to the broad strokes of society - simply don't give a ****. There are single issues etc that they're happy to address as and when they come up but most just want it to be the 1980's again without actually accurately remembering what the era was like.

[Neon Ignition]

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/live/2024/nov/08/us-election-live-donald-trump-cabinet-house-of-representatives?page=with:block-672d92b68f083dc4c0059f96#block-672d92b68f083dc4c0059f96

Trump has appointed his campaign manager as his White House Chief of Staff

Trump has also confirmed that his first priority will be to continue with his plan to immediately work to mass deport immigrants out of the US. Republicans are also now only 7 seats away from completing the trifecta and taking the House.

A former CIA Director has predicted that Trump will give Netanyahu his support to launch all out war on Iran

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/live/2024/nov/08/us-election-live-donald-trump-cabinet-house-of-representatives?page=with:block-672dc43e8f08cfbf3817c83f#block-672dc43e8f08cfbf3817c83f

Hungary's Prime Minister has said he expects Trump will cease all funding to Ukraine

[QualityChimp]

It's worrying that our best hope is that he loses interest in stuff.

Heard a former staffer talking about some Presidents liked lots of data and to get involved. Richard Nixon stayed up reading the newspapers to 3 or 4am, Jimmy Carter insisted on taking bookings for the Whitehouse tennis court personally, for example.

Trump, however, like 2-page reports with lots of pictures, especially pictures with him on it, maybe with a MAGA hat, but only front-on because he thinks pictures from the side make him look fat.

[Asura]

It's why I feel we might be approaching the end of the progressive era, or the attempt of one in media and politics. At this point it feels pretty obvious that the majority - when it comes to the broad strokes of society - simply don't give a ****. There are single issues etc that they're happy to address as and when they come up but most just want it to be the 1980's again without actually accurately remembering what the era was like.

It's taking a lot of effort to not become a massive misanthrope (something I went through in ~2005).

What it comes down to, though, is I think COVID showed us how so many people just absolutely fall apart when even the slightest hardship hits them. Like when you had those people having meltdowns when asked to wear a mask at the supermarket.

This may seem sappy, but I grew up watching Star Trek, and I think that franchise's enduring legacy was that it showed a humanity that pull together when things get difficult. They derive strength from their divserity. They easily spot attempts to be manipulated. I've seen things in my lifetime that made me think that maybe, just maybe - not within my lifetime, but eventually - we might actually reach that point as a species.

In 2024 I frankly think that's a total fantasy. It's much more likely we're gonna have some relatively minor setback in the grand scheme, and then we're all gonna kill each other.

[Neon Ignition]

Star Trek's vision of the future isn't necessarily fantasy... well, not if everyone starts sporting goatee's

[Neon Ignition]

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/nov/07/4b-movement-trump-women

[wakka]

6 months after I become single, progressive women swear off heterosexual sex for the next four years. As if this election couldn't get any worse

[Soundwave]

I genuinely thought that 4b movement had existed forever anyway & it was just called "marriage"

Neil

[MartyG]

The thing that I struggle to square to an extent is that US voters might feel like punishing the Democrats for not focusing on working class people enough but this wasn't a vote between a change candidate and an unpopular incumbant. It's a special level of sheer ignorance and/or stupidity for a voter to hear Trump's words and believe any of them. He already had the same tour, he's a known operator and he won't do jack for anyone but himself. You're very quickly left with all the other elements at play with him and the idea that voting for Harris compared negatively in any way to what someone has to hold their nose to with Trump is where things come back to the point of that voter being inexcusable.

The simplest explanation (which are usually the best), is people like Donald Trump and what he says he's going to do - as despressing as that is.

The whole Haities eat dogs stuff, for example, no one heard that and thought oh yeah, I hate Haitians now. They heard it and thought, those immigrants I already don't like, I can believe they would do that and Trump will get rid of them, I doubt that thought process goes any deeper than that.