Never seen anything like the U.S. fury and panic

[MsAmerica]

It's really been astonishing how in the last few days, people - mostly of the liberal Democratic party - are staggering with fury and panic over the latest from Trump. It reminds me of the awfulness of his first round, where every morning I would cringe to hear on the radio of a new outrage or scandal.

At present, Trump just nominated for Attorney General, the highest law enforcement office in the country, Matt Gaetz, who, among other crimes, has been under a cloud for sex-trafficking of minors. ("The investigation focused on his alleged involvement with a 17-year-old and whether he had paid for sex or paid for women to travel across state lines for sex, which would violate trafficking laws.")

The poster is saying 'WHEN'

For Those on low income this is unsustainable

I don't believe culture wars make good politics or good policies. The problem with the right is it defines them, people like myself just want a government to get on with the job of government and not being religious beliefs etc into government....I want equality, fair political policies that don't undermine the freedom of any portion of society, healthy, educated and have enough money that they have a good life

When you have a government like Trump's that seeks to ban abortion, has no interest in access to free at source healthcare and has a man in charge of health who is an anti vaxer and doesn't believe HIV cause ls AIDs, a right wing Christian extremist in charge of defence when we have a full blown humanitarian crisis in GAZA....you tell me why I don't have the right to label Americans as bloody idiots....

Vast majority of Americans are not living in poverty, needing shelter, food etc.

If anyone believes the stuff Trump has told them, then yes they are stupid.

Why try and minimise this?

My neighbour genuinely believes in "Cloud Seeding" that the vapour trails she/we all see are proof of this, we've had some debate about this and will not accept anything other than its Cloud Seeding and more recent weather changes are caused by this.

She is stupid, if you don't think she is, then what would you call her?

Then I'd say she is blinded by propaganda

I believe social
Media is Pandora's box of evil but I can't belittle people for falling for it. That path leads to nowhere. Listening and Understanding of the issues is a better option

Its not belittling her as i wouldn't say it to her face but its what i think.

Which is more obviously untrue, that "cloud seeding" could conceivably be a thing or that Lia Thomas is a woman?

Look at any photo of Lia next to Riley Gaines.

People don't believe politicians who lie so blatantly.

People voted for the least worst option. It's still a very bad option - it's not as if they're not aware of this for the most part - and millions didn't vote as a result. It's a shame there was no third option, as I'm pretty sure any random person off the street would have been preferable to the other options for many, but you need billions to even be in the race

There were 8 options on my ballot:

But none with the money needed to run the campaign that could win.

True…but that’s the case here too…PM is always Labour or Conservative.

Does anyone think that the election was rigged? I do.
Trump cast the first stone saying that the election he lost was rigged but isn't that how his mind works??!
Online voting could easily say a vote for
Harris = 1 vote and
Trump = 10 Votes
It's not that hard to do I am sure
Which would explain the discrepancy from predicted to the outcome.
He's corrupt to the core and there's so much at stake for his powerful cronies.
Why wouldn't they if they could?
So depressing as the human rights of women will get stamped on.
Watched the film The Apprentice which explains clearly his mindset and where he came from including raping Ivana who complained under oath and later retracted her statement. Like most DV survivors.
He's a disgusting 🍊 asshole and his retribution will be vile.
Wild West with no rules for him as he does
Nepotism
Cronyism
Racism
Mysogynism etc etc etc
His Dad Fred built his fortune by owning a brothel and that's where he came from.
🤢to the very core.
Scary times. I feel for my US friends. Xxxx

It is indeed and likely will be an absolute shitshow. I’m actually really worried about the rise of extreme nationalism especially as we may well begin to see coverage of mass deportations. (Though it may not last long once the rich realise they have no one to mow their lawns or clean their pools).

But there are many State laws that he currently can’t touch, and there will be State governments fighting him tooth and nail over any attempts to over reach his power. So I think the people most impacted will be left-leaning people living in Republican states.

I do feel like some of his picks think The Handmaids tale is a utopian fantasy.

Deporting 11,000,000 - 12,000,000 people, most of whom are low-paid workers, will have a huge impact, not only in the landscaping industry, but in the crop harvesting and meat packing industries—the “not fun” jobs.

Remember though….state laws do not trump federal laws. So if, say, a federal abortion ban were put in place, it means that California state law allowing abortions will be overridden.

Sertraline and therapy will help you

"Thats really funny, Trump was backed by the extreme religious right - who believe the world is 8000 years old and the Geneses creation, anti abortionists, climate change deniers, anti vaxxers and people who believed that Trump had the 2020 election stolen from him and storming the Whitehouse was a great thing to do."

I agree. I am left of centre and I disagree with Trump's politics in every way.

Both the right and the left put forward batshit beliefs as facts and suggest that disagreement reflects moral bankruptcy.

I am far more concerned about the left's shortcomings because I want them in power.

The left need to stop blaming voters for being racist, thick, transphobic and colonialist and instead recognise what they have got wrong. The vast majority of people are not racist, transphobic, bigoted oppressors , at least not until you re-define these words to reflect views that are not hate fuelled and discriminatory.

Some will read my last sentence as evidence of my ignorance, privilege, hate etc. These people are blind to the unfalsifiable nature of their theories and how this is a thinking trap they are caught in. So long as they fail to engage in logical, well reasoned argument, and stop dismissing them as evidence of oppression, they will never win people over.

@Brainworm listen to Sam Harris's latest podcast (Making Sense). He nails it, exactly what you've said here

As i said earlier, it wasn't possible to counter these beliefs, people hold on to them and they will argue Black is White until their dying breath to support them.

We are in the age of the populist politician, driven on by social media "i saw it on Youtube etc it must be true, MSM are controlled by the deep state, i get my news from other sources"
They think themselves "clever" because unlike the sheeples, they are not followers...

It's very hard to counter, people are not open to argument or persuasion.

Apart from Biden stepping down a year 18months ago, which he didn't, there was little the 'left could do, Harris did as well as she could considering she had just 4 months.

I wouldn't rule out this lot changing the rules. All bets are off now.

In a nutshell, tell us what you think postmodernism means.

"In a nutshell, tell us what you think postmodernism means"

That's a lot easier to do if reference can be made to ontological positions and in doing so not having to explain ontology!

Postmodernism is a wide ranging philosophical movement but in the context of this discussion, I am referring to the process of deconstructing objective accounts of reality, and claiming they are social constructs.

A relevant example to this discussion is:
Traditionally, a 'woman' was understood to be an adult human female and a female as being one of two human phenotypes upon which survival of the species is dependent.

Postmodernist accounts zoom in on biological exceptions and the ability to redefine the words to mean different things, to claim that the only meaningful way to categorise people when it comes to sex is by people's self identities in relation to it.

Robust counter arguments to this show that the 'exceptions' (differences of sexual development, aka intersex conditions) are sex specific and you can change the definition of terms like 'woman' to include whoever you like, but this won't change the material reality of the group of what where previous called 'woman' from existing.

The response to these counter arguments usually involves either nonsense 'science', accusations of evil intent, and/or appeals to be kind.

As I've said previously, objections to postmodernist accounts are not always (I would go as far as saying rarely) motivated by hate or lack of acceptance.

Many (most?) people want and expect honesty, even when the truth is difficult. Many (most?) don't really care about trans issues. What they care about is being able to speak the truth without being others wrongly accusing them of hatred. They want politicians to handle sensitive issues compassionately and thoughtfully with honesty and integrity. Saying woman can have a penis doesn't demonstrate this, neither does saying 'I refuse to answer this 'bad faith' question. The question is a test, and without showing you can speak the truth and honour competing interests, you fail the test. The democrats failed the test

Listening and Understanding of the issues is a better option

What if the 'issues' simply aren't rational?

What if the 'issues' simply aren't rational?

Even if everyone were stupid, they have a vote so it matters what they think.

What else are you going to do, kill everyone who disagrees with you?

No, I'm not advocating for mass murder.

An account of postmodernism that doesn't even attempt to first define or at least map out modernism - which is no less culpable for the analytical and ideological shifts that you describe. So you're just using it as fancy bogeyman word. At least you didn't trot out the risible oxymoron 'postmodern neo-marxism'.

Swimsong, I interpreted your post as intentionally patronising. Is that correct?

As I referenced earlier, I mention post modernism more from its relativist ontological perspective. In this vein, I didn't reference modernism, I indirectly referred to positivism. Mentioning Marxism was never on the table. This doesn't fit with anything I have written. My points refer to post modernist relativist stances.