- cross-posted to:
- politics@beehaw.org
- cross-posted to:
- politics@beehaw.org
cross-posted from: https://beehaw.org/post/17300245
Donald Trump’s angry threat to impose 25 percent tariffs on all U.S. imports from Mexico—delivered Monday via the cautious diplomatic language of a Truth Social rant—is widely being depicted as a bluff. Trump declared that once in the White House, he will impose the tariffs unless Mexico stops migrants and fentanyl from “pouring” into the United States. Seen as a feint, the tactic could theoretically get Mexico to halt the migrant flow, allowing Trump to pull back on tariffs later while boasting that on the border, he has already bent Mexico to his will.
But amid all this parsing of Trump’s intentions, a crucial fact about his new move is getting lost: At the center of it is a lie. This lie is hiding in plain sight: It’s the underlying suggestion that Mexico is not doing anything to stop migrants from coming and that Trump’s threat of tariffs is needed to change that. Here we’re getting an early glimpse of how he will deceive voters about some of his most potentially destructive designs, on tariffs and immigration alike.
All this is laid bare by the sharp response to Trump’s threat that new Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum issued Tuesday. Her statement is getting attention for its barbed claim that American guns trafficked to Mexico are fueling crime and violence there among gangs supplying U.S. markets with drugs. “Tragically, it is in our country that lives are lost to the violence resulting from meeting the drug demand in yours,” Sheinbaum noted acidly, suggesting that the two countries’ interrelated national challenges underscore the need for cross-border cooperation rather than Trumpian confrontation.
That’s a harsh indictment of Trump’s whole worldview.
FTFY
Don’t underestimate the mindless stupidity of the majority of Americans.
No that’s a lazy and shitty take with no thought behind it. It’s even simpler than that.
For many Americans they simply don’t have the time to read about it. Between worrying about everything else in their daily lives, living paycheck to paycheck, even working multiple jobs to get by. Many Americans barely have enough time after getting off work and commuting home, helping their kids with homework, having dinner, or otherwise winding down a tiny bit after work, to maybe watch an hour of local news before going to bed and doing it all over again the next day.
If you’re worried about making ends meet every day of your life, you’re not paying much attention to politics beyond the little bit you get talking to people you know, or that 30-60 minutes of local news. It’s simply a lower priority than surviving and not losing your home or car which you need to get to work.
Yep, we’re overworked, overstressed, underpaid, don’t have time to be informed or do / learn how to do critical thinking.
Doesn’t change the fact that we’re astoundingly ignorant, and increasingly illiterate.
You’ve provided an explanation (which is not actually simpler, my single sentence summary of your points is), but that does not change the actual fact that 54% of American adults cannot read a children’s story to their own kids, even if they had the time.
Combine that with short form social media addiction amongst children markedly reducing attention span and cognitive ability generally, and the actual reality on the ground is even worse.
If you want a practical, functional conversation geared toward solving the problem, you have to face these facts.
If you want a short lament about the state of society and its general anti intellectualism and ignorance, the person whose take you are calling shitty and thoughtless is actually a pretty concise and accurate remark.
Is it a shitty take to say ‘Under Trump, trans people / latin immigrants / the poor are fucked’?
Does that require an in-depth explanation of how and why that statement is true to not be a shitty take?
… This overexplanation, this attitude that ‘no you must make clear that you understand all the context before you can have an opinion’ kind of attitude is precisely what turns off people who have short attention spans and don’t have the time or are literally incapable of doing their own research.
It is the exact stereotype that Republicans have been successfully utilizing for decades against Democrats, that they’re all stodgy elitists who talk down to anyone who is not as enlightened as them.
… Which is over half of adult Americans.
Keep running with it, you’ll have the moral highground when the flood of economic and climactic disasters washes us all away, with no regard to how many times you can say ‘i told you so’ before you drown.
Mine was actually simpler, and is even simpler than yours…
I just then immediately expanded on that simple explanation, instead of leaving a lazy single line response like the OP. Because this is a place for actually discussing things, not just leaving a side shitty comment like it’s Facebook. The OP I responded to did not even attempt to go beyond, instead going for the low hanging fruit of, “haha Americans dumb” and leaving it at that as of that added to the conversation in some way.
All you’re doing is making excuses for people. If your life is shitty and you simply accept that and don’t look to what might be the cause of your life being shitty, in this case being that our conservative controlled government supporting oligarchs and corporate monoliths over working class Americans, then you are absolutely 100% fucking stupid if you don’t take the time to find out and understand what the fuck is wrong.
I have no sympathy for the people who voted for Trump and are crying now because they didn’t take the time to find out who it was and they were voting for and what it is he actually stands for. Not just what he says he stands for. And make no mistake, a huge portion of the people who voted for Trump were not MAGA people, they were just regular Republicans voting the way they always have.
P.S. I also have no sympathy for people who didn’t bother to vote at all and are complaining because Trump is going to be president and make their lives harder. Seriously fuck you if you didn’t bother to get out and vote.
That’s a lot of text to say you are completely missing the fucking point and to vent to people here that honestly don’t give a shit about your opinion of others.
It’s not an excuse, it’s a real world explanation for why this happens. For someone struggling to survive every day, politics is a much lower priority than keeping food on the table and a roof over their head every day. You’re immediately going to the same place as the Republicans, dehumanizing a group of individuals because you’re either incapable or unwilling to of consider their perspective. Lots of “they’re taking our jobs” energy from you in that post.
The only way I can think that you can’t even consider this position is because you’ve lived your entire live in a position of privilege in comparison. You’ve never had to worry about losing your home, or not having enough food to feed your family even with a full time job, or even multiple jobs. Your lack of willingness to even consider this point of view and instead immediately demonize a large section of the country shows a lot about your character, whether you’re willing to admit it or not. That is not the way to fix our problems. We need to recognize the root causes of WHY people don’t vote, or directly vote against their interests, and work to fix those.
There ARE people that voted for Trump specifically because he’s a shitty human being, just like they are… statistically there HAS to be. But that’s not going to be the majority. The majority are instead going to be the ones that don’t have the time to research, don’t have the education to critically evaluate situations, and the ones that take the various media propaganda and sane-washing of candidates as fact because it’s coming from a “news” outlet. The majority of those people are a lot more nuanced than you are willing to admit, because that’s harder to deal with instead of your simple explanation. Simple explanations about a group are what the Republicans do to create their coalition of single issue voters and their black and white view of the world.
Yeah, these are exactly the people I have a problem with. They are all trash and I hope they feel absolutely fucked with voter’s remorse in the next few years as Trump takes away all the systems and governmental services they take for granted.
They really aren’t. They are just lazy and very very stupid.
So yeah it is all one giant excuse. You’re trying to excuse their stupidity and lack of engagement by giving them some kind of noble self-involvement which is just fucking stupid in and of itself. So please, step off your bloody soap box and ditch the rose colored glasses and have a look at the real world where the majority of the electorate is completely devoid of intelligence at all and should probably be barred from voting because they are incapable of critical thought and the ability to understand the basics of how government works.