Funny thing is I'm not from such an area. Hell here on Plague Island there's really not such stigma really as such at least media wise, maybe socially wise but that's changed a lot too among most.
I don't even think Trump was good just very much the lesser of the evils because he wasn't competent enough to be a threat of doing any real kind of damage ultimately (say what you will about social perception but the USA survived Bush and Palin and trust me in the UK the portrayal of Bush showed America as far worse while Trump just comes off as a mean spirit egocentric asshole).
Bernie (2016 campaign) was probably the better option.
Hell Biden if he follows through on actually trying to heal the divide could be very good but it's kind of if people even allow the divide to be healed at all now because it might mean "eeww I have to actually acknowledge Trump supporters are human and equally deserving of a voice and not act like the old British aristocracy towards them? Intolerable" or whatever.
I think for Trump supporters it's not about revenge, it's just about being heard.
Who it is about revenge for seems more to be I don't know the kind of person who would claim Magneto was right maybe.
Yes there is some "Stick it to the libs" sentiment but a lot of that I believe comes from the belief and position the libs have been trying to stick it to them for years
There's a good bit we agree on. Like seriously, Bernie was the choice for me. I've said it many times. He was the choice for me again. His skeleton will be the choice for me in 2024.
Trump being the lesser of two evils? I personally can't get there. I wanted to leave this country a good bit ago, but I put Trump in the same aisle I put Ross Perot. Being a good businessman means nothing when it comes to leading and doing the best for literally hundreds of millions of people. They aren't workers. You are beholden to them, not the other way around. Being a New Yorker and having heard things from friends in construction... yeah, I had no reason to trust that Trump would do a good job.
But you touched on it. There is so much knee jerk bile that comes out when people are talking that it's hard not to be on the offensive. From Religion to Politics to Gender to Race, everyone has had it. They don't want to be bothered. Which is tough, because we do live in a melting pot. I do not lie when I take life and humanity seriously. If a Independent Lesbian Native American woman is hurt, I'm going to care because in my heart of hearts, the most important thing is that she's a human. I don't really care about what she believes in as long as it doesn't harm others.
And it feels very lonely here having that standpoint. So many people are checking for teams that it gets tiring. For people who want to have a fight to people who want safe spaces so they can let loose without worrying. And I also get that. But we can't be myopic for the sanity of one type of person to be comfortable and forgo the rest. I don't have the answer of how to get there. I can't just tell everyone to just think like I do. But I vote with who at least seems they are trying to think about everyone. I'm not going to get all the focus, but I believe an overall well maintained machine works better than a machine that only has the dials maintained while the core machinery is rusted to hell.
I won't lie and say there aren't some Liberals who do love making Conservatives sad. If you have a group of people, some percentage of those people will be dicks. That's just how humanity is. But I don't know how to abide anyone who will give power to a party simply to think about themselves and/or make other people upset. It, to me, is a wasted vote.
Of course Trump did some things that has benefited America. There's absolutely no way he could have messed up every deal unless he was a computer designed to do so. But we have to look at the state of things compared to the way it was before. Are we better off, are we the same, or are we worse? My perception is worse.
We're more divided than ever. Our economy isn't the best. We have deniers of a deadly virus that people are so misinformed that they die cursing their nurses for not giving them the cure for the 'real' thing that's made them sick. Our allies consider us a laughing stock. Our enemies are over the moon happy with the state of our country. And we have a hospital system that is about to collapse with millions facing eviction. People say Trump made the best decisions with what he had, and I see third world countries that have more people than we do and who are doing better than us.
The bad completely outstrips the good for me. I have to hunt for the good. I think a lot of us feel the same about Trump. So that's why we're just so clueless about his supporters that feel like they literally want to deify him.
