The Trump cult

  • Thread starter Thread starter theel4life
  • Start date Start date
  • Replies: 38
  • Views: 846
  • Politics 
Mulberry Heel said:
Yep. Basically the Kevin McCarthys and Cheneys and Lindsey Grahams and Karl Roves - the wealthy GOP business elite and their lackeys - thought they could gain and maintain power by appealing to the bigotries and sexism and homophobia and class and social resentments of white working-class people. In effect they'd wage an all-out culture war so they could gain power and implement what they really cared about, which were massive tax cuts and deregulation and the gutting of government programs created as far back as the Progressive Era and New Deal, all to enrich themselves beyond belief. And in their arrogance they thought they could just throw a few culture war bones and some red meat at their base to keep them voting Republican and that they could maintain control of the party and that all would be well.

And they succeeded beyond their wildest dreams, but they gradually lost control of the monster they created and now it's been steadily turning on them, one by one. Some, like Cheney and McCarthy (and Thom Tillis for that matter), have already been driven from power (if not wealth), while others like Graham are reduced to being suck ups and toadies to a guy like Trump to stay in office. They created a Frankenstein monster that they no longer fully control, although certainly they've achieved most of their initial goals, so I doubt many of them care, although my guess is that people like McCarthy and Lynne Cheney (and Elise Stefanik and others) are bitter about how things ended for them. I don't believe that any of these people (most of the GOP elite) are sincere culture warriors. and they've always known their culture-war bullshit was a lie, which in some ways makes their actions even more despicable than the true believers in the party.
Click to expand...
GOP's smartest move was that they got religion. That was the worm on the hook for the evangelical Christians.
 
dukeman92 said:


I used to wonder how it was possible that Trump could have won in 2016, and then again in 2024, given how emotionally toxic and depraved he is.
I don’t wonder anymore. I think he won for that exact reason. Because he carried at least one broken shard to reflect the broken shards in millions of others.
If you’re a racist, you found your guy. If you’re a misogynist, you found your guy. If money is your only religion, you found your guy. If your heart is armored shut, you found your guy. If you mock the disabled, you found your guy. If intelligence makes you insecure, you found your guy. If you’re a sexual predator, you found your guy. If you trade in humiliation and conspiracy and filth, you found your guy.
If you’ve never done a single hour of emotional inventory, you found your guy. If you cheat, stiff contractors, bankrupt your obligations, and call it savvy, you found your guy. If you lie as easily as you breathe, you found your guy. If cruelty feels like strength, you found your guy. If white grievance is your comfort food, you found your guy. If your ego is a black hole no title can fill, you found your guy. If warmongering fuels your ego, you found your guy, If empathy feels like weakness and dominance feels like oxygen, you found your guy.
If he’d only carried one or two of these pathologies, he might have been dismissed as just another loud, damaged man. But he carried a buffet of them. That was the appeal. Millions could locate themselves somewhere in the wreckage. They didn’t have to agree with all of it. They just had to recognize a piece of themselves in it.
It was never really about him. It was about the validation. The absolution. The permission. He didn’t invent the resentment; he amplified it. He didn’t create the cruelty; he normalized it. He gave millions the intoxicating relief of hearing their ugliest impulses echoed back at rally volume.
Trump is a symptom. The deeper illness is collective. If there’s one sentence that defines his power, it’s this: “He says the things I’m thinking.”
And that’s the part that should chill us.
Because what does it say about us that so many were thinking those things? That tens of millions of Americans harbored resentments so deep, so seething, that they were simply waiting for a demagogue to baptize them as virtue? That after decades of supposed progress on race, gender, and equality, so many white men felt so threatened, so displaced, so furious, that cruelty became a political platform?
Maybe we were living in a fool’s paradise, mistaking silence for healing, politeness for progress.
Now the mask is off. Now we know.
And knowing is a far more dangerous place to stand.
– Michael Jochum, Not Just a Drummer: Reflections on Art, Politics, Dogs, and the Human Condition.
Click to expand...

Agree with all except the last line.
I think “knowing” isn’t more dangerous. I think not knowing is more dangerous.

What’s the old adage? “Know thy enemy” or “keep your friends close, and your enemies closer”.

I think now that we most definitely know about all those millions amongst us, we can see them. Before, they only came out at night with hoods on. Before, they wore a hood and only came out at night, then they’d go back to being your barber or your grocer. At least now we can see them in the broad daylight. We know who they are now. We can identify them, shun them and boycott them.

Before, I had no idea who was burning a cross in my yard. Now I know exactly who it is. They somehow feel LESS dangerous, not far more dangerous, but less.
 
Last edited:
Centerpiece said:
Agree with all except the last line.
I think “knowing” isn’t more dangerous. I think not knowing is more dangerous.

What’s the old adage? “Know thy enemy” or “keep your friends close, and your enemies closer”.

I think now that we most definitely know about all those millions amongst us, we can see them. Before, they only came out at night with hoods on. Before, they wore a hood and only came out at night, then they’d go back to being your barber or your grocer. At least now we can see them in the broad daylight. We know who they are now. We can identify them, shun them and boycott them.

Before, I had no idea who was burning a cross in my yard. Now I know exactly who it is. They somehow feel LESS dangerous, not far more dangerous, but less.
Click to expand...
I'm pretty sure it was the deacons who burned the cross at our house. They asked for my stepfather's resignation the next Sunday. It sure didn't pay to preach a sermon in favor of civil rights in 1966 in Lenoir County. Who cares if the Southern Baptist Convention said it was Race Relations Day?
 
finesse said:
I'm pretty sure it was the deacons who burned the cross at our house. They asked for my stepfather's resignation the next Sunday. It sure didn't pay to preach a sermon in favor of civil rights in 1966 in Lenoir County. Who cares if the Southern Baptist Convention said it was Race Relations Day?
Click to expand...
Whoa. I dont think I have heard that story, but I'm guessing you have shared it here before. Did you stepfather stay in the ministry?
 
8992Tiger said:
Whoa. I dont think I have heard that story, but I'm guessing you have shared it here before. Did you stepfather stay in the ministry?
Click to expand...
Yes. That was the third church for the same reason and there were two more to come before I left home. It's how I went to 4 different grade school and 3 high schools, all in ENC. He preached until he was in his late 60s or about another 25 years. He was dedicated but not tactful worth a damn.
 
Centerpiece said:
Agree with all except the last line.
I think “knowing” isn’t more dangerous. I think not knowing is more dangerous.

What’s the old adage? “Know thy enemy” or “keep your friends close, and your enemies closer”.

I think now that we most definitely know about all those millions amongst us, we can see them. Before, they only came out at night with hoods on. Before, they wore a hood and only came out at night, then they’d go back to being your barber or your grocer. At least now we can see them in the broad daylight. We know who they are now. We can identify them, shun them and boycott them.

Before, I had no idea who was burning a cross in my yard. Now I know exactly who it is. They somehow feel LESS dangerous, not far more dangerous, but less.
Click to expand...
Agree with the tweet, and your exception to the last line.

Trump is who we have always known him to be. I recall him being an arrogant, shallow, narcissistic, self-styled playboy / "businessman" back in the early 80s. What is new, and incredibly disappointing, is the number of people, especially people in my "tribe", who follow him, vote for him and make excuses for him. Apparently the "R" is more important than the "666".

Now that we know, we know how dangerous this is. The cancer is dangerous. Diagnosing the cancer is not.
 
finesse said:
Yes. That was the third church for the same reason and there were two more to come before I left home. It's how I went to 4 different grade school and 3 high schools, all in ENC. He preached until he was in his late 60s or about another 25 years. He was dedicated but not tactful worth a damn.
Click to expand...
I imagine that was tough. Speaking truth to power is what got Jesus killed, so your stepfather is in good company.
 
8992Tiger said:
I imagine that was tough. Speaking truth to power is what got Jesus killed, so your stepfather is in good company.
Click to expand...
Well, he was on the right side, mostly, but he was also a reasonably stupid ,self righteous jerk who was easy to dislike. I managed to do so with very little effort. We mended our fences for the sake of my mom much later.
 
Last edited:
8992Tiger said:
Agree with the tweet, and your exception to the last line.

Trump is who we have always known him to be. I recall him being an arrogant, shallow, narcissistic, self-styled playboy / "businessman" back in the early 80s. What is new, and incredibly disappointing, is the number of people, especially people in my "tribe", who follow him, vote for him and make excuses for him. Apparently the "R" is more important than the "666".

Now that we know, we know how dangerous this is. The cancer is dangerous. Diagnosing the cancer is not.
Click to expand...
Tiger, your post reminds me of an old dspn 30/30 about the USFL. It talked about the innovations it’s introduced, some of which were eventually adopted by the NFL. A big part was about its downfall and antitrust lawsuit against the NFL. They talked to a lot of the former owners, including Trump. This was way before he ever thought about running for president. The general consensus was that Trump got involved in the USFL was to get an NFL franchise on the cheap. When it became obvious that wasn’t going to happen he punted. The end of his interview happened when the guy doing the interview said he had something for him from one of the other owners. It was a blowup of the $3.60 check from the NFL they got for winning their lawsuit. Trump said,”this interview is over.” He got up and walked away.
 
Last edited:
finesse said:
I'm pretty sure it was the deacons who burned the cross at our house. They asked for my stepfather's resignation the next Sunday. It sure didn't pay to preach a sermon in favor of civil rights in 1966 in Lenoir County. Who cares if the Southern Baptist Convention said it was Race Relations Day?
Click to expand...
Any chance your stepfather knew Edwin Luther Copeland? He was a Baptist Minister and a Baptist Missionary to Japan? I thought a lot of Dr. Copeland.
 
05C40 said:
Any chance your stepfather knew Edwin Luther Copeland? He was a Baptist Minister and a Baptist Missionary to Japan? I thought a lot of Dr. Copeland.
Click to expand...
Maybe, but I'm not aware that he was. My stepfather was at Wake Forest and Southeastern Seminary for much of the 50s if that could have led them to cross paths.
 
finesse said:
Maybe, but I'm not aware that he was. My stepfather was at Wake Forest and Southeastern Seminary for much of the 50s if that could have led them to cross paths.
Click to expand...
Dr. Copeland bounced between Japan and and Wake Forest during that time. At Dr. Copeland's funeral one of his fellow missionaries told a great story about him. This fellow missionary said his first mission was to go to Iran. He said Dr. Copeland reminded him that the "wise men" who came to praise Jesus at his birth in Jerusalem were from Iran. So Dr. Copeland told him to treat the people he met in Iran as if they were the cultural descendants of the wise men who were the first to recognize the importance of Jesus. And this speaker at the funeral said he followed that advice and had a wonderful growing and learning experience while in Iran all because he chose to learn from those he met rather than just proselyte to them.
 
Patb78 said:
Tiger, your post reminds me of an old dspn 30/30 about the USFL. It talked about the innovations it’s introduced, some of which were eventually adopted by the NFL. A big part was about its downfall and antitrust lawsuit against the NFL. They talked to a lot of the former owners, including Trump. This was way before he ever thought about running for president. The general consensus was that Trump got involved in the USFL was to get an NFL franchise on the cheap. When it became obvious that wasn’t going to happen he punted. The end of his interview happened when the guy doing the interview said he had something for him from one of the other owners. It was a blowup of the $3.60 check from the NFL they got for winning their lawsuit. Trump said,”this interview is over.” He got up and walked away.
Click to expand...
I saw another doc that also said the idea to go head to head against the NFL in the fall was Trump's idea and the downfall of the USFL. His fingerprints are all over it.
 
OMB said:
The cult is spreading this image around. lulz
lol.jpg
Click to expand...
There's no way in hell that Trump isn't the lowest person on that list - below Biden, Ford, and all of them. He's always been as ignorant, shallow, dumb, and lacking in critical thinking skills as anyone who has been in politics. His only real skills lie in his instinct for bringing attention to himself, conning and scamming gullible people, and for dominating any situation he finds himself in via bluster and bullying and threats. In terms of actual intelligence he may well be at the very bottom of the list of presidents.
 
8992Tiger said:
I saw another doc that also said the idea to go head to head against the NFL in the fall was Trump's idea and the downfall of the USFL. His fingerprints are all over it.
Click to expand...
John Bassett owned the Tampa Bay Bandits and was the most knowledgeable and powerful owner in the USFL. He hated Donald Trump and definitely believed Trump ruined the USFL.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top