Glinner Bullseye comment on X

[Thatcatsaflippingnightmare]

Always trying to explain Glinner to DH, today he showed me on X JD Vance defending murder of the woman by ICE. Glinner had replied something like 'bullseye', as in agreement. I tried to comprehend with "satire?" but he said no he's on Liz truss show these days. I said well he's always been about protecting women and children, he's not suddenly supporting femicide, but the post convinced DH otherwise. Any insights? I'm not on social media

Sorry my picture didn't load. It was one of his many retweets already posted in this thread (the one spoofing a romance novel and implying upset over her death came from women's secret desire to be dominated by ICE agents. Hah hah hah so funny).

Michael Jochum, on a Facebook post on his profile put it better than I ever could. Here you go:

’I used to wonder how it was possible that Trump could have won in 2016, and this second time in 2024 given how emotionally toxic and depraved he is.

I no longer do. I actually think he won, for that precise reason. Because he had at least one fucked-up part to mirror the fucked-up parts of millions.

If you are a racist, you found your guy. If you are a misogynist, you found your guy. If all you care about is money, you found your guy. If you have an emotionally armored heart, you found your guy. If you make fun of disabled people, you found your guy. If you hate intelligent people, you found your guy. If you are a rapist, you found your guy. If you like golden showers with Russian sex-workers, you found your guy. If you have not done a stitch of work on your emotional issues, you found your guy. If you are a serial cheater, you found your guy. If you are a perpetual bankrupt, you found your guy. If you don’t pay people for their honest work, you found your guy. If you are a hustler and a conman, you found your guy. If you mock people’s physical appearances, you found your guy. If you long for a toxic Daddy, you found your guy. If you are dissociated and disembodied, you found your guy. If you are unconscionable in all your economic dealings, you found your guy. If you lie day and night, you found your guy. If you have never eaten green vegetables, you found your guy. If you are a white supremacist, you found your guy. If you have a hole in your ego so big that not even the presidency could fill it, you found your guy. If you are a sociopath, and care not one iota about other humans, you found your guy. If you...
If he only had two of these issues, he never would have won. It was the fact that he had hundreds of them, that made him the winner. Because millions of humans are toxic. So they could relate to him, in one form or another.

It's never been about trump. It's always been about the people who finally have their twisted feelings about others validated. trump has given "those people" permission to disparage and hate their fellow human beings.

trump is only symptomatic of a much larger issue of a collective toxicity. If there is a single sentence that characterizes trump it is this: “He says the things I’m thinking.”

That may be what is so terrifying. Who knew that so many tens of millions of Americans were thinking unconscionable things about their fellow Americans?

Who knew that tens of millions men felt so emasculated by women and challenged by minorities? Who knew that after years of seeming progress on race and gender, tens of millions of white Americans lived in seething resentment, waiting for a demagogue to arrive who would legitimize their worst selves and channel them into political power?

Perhaps we had been living in a fool’s paradise.

Now we aren’t.’

In theory, it's possible to invest in NHS, safeguard abortion, stop deporting people who work and whose only crime is not having a visa whilst also stopping child transitioning and keeping prisons single-sex. In practice, there's no one to vote for on the left who will safeguard women and girls, unless you live in Rosie Duffield's constituency. It's tedious being told to throw female prisoners and autistic girls under the bus because the scolder considers other issues more important.

So what do you propose to do about all these heinous racists?

Honestly? I think it’s too late and we’re in a terrifying spiral that will impact the whole world, regardless of your views. I hope I’m wrong. Did you stop at the ‘racist’ bit, by the way?

Ok well that's that settled then

Ok…?

I repost:

The left, in public: "The people are stupid, easily-manipulated, sexist, racist, and greedy."
The people: <see what the left are saying about them and vote accordingly>
The left: "Why did we lose the election?"

Pretending that we are invoking the "look what you made us do" argument is dishonest. As Brown's Labour party found out, calling people "bigots" makes sure that they'll vote for someone else.

When a man calls his wife names repeatedly, we describe his behaviour as abusive and we encourage her to leave him.

When a political faction calls the electorate names repeatedly, how is that not also abusive?

Are you including the former Democrats in that too? Or just anyone you disagree with?

That was grim, absolutely agree.

The left, in public: "The people are stupid, easily-manipulated, sexist, racist, greedy, sexually-depraved, work-shy, sociopathic, lying, disablist criminals."
The people: <see what the left are saying about them and vote accordingly>
The left: "Why did we lose the election?"

It's not a particularly out there idea. The original writers of the American constitution (themselves racists to be fair but those were different times) were fully aware of the tendancy for groups of people to be swayed by their worst impulses. Thats why the constitution had so many checks and balances. It was carefully designed to prevent the "tyranny of the majority" even if it also made politics more slow and unwieldy. Unfortunately a lot of the checks and balances aren't proving to be enough to prevent Trump because of political partisanship (and cowardice and bootlicking). But they tried.

Perhaps, who knows. I just know what the current outcome is and frankly it’s heading in a horrifying direction for everybody. Save for a few billionaires and dictators.

Heather Cox Richardson is a good read if you’re looking for an educated historian’s take on what’s happening in America.

Yes. It’s been quite shocking how easily the checks and balances put in place to prevent that tyranny have just been steamrollered by Trump.

"The spirit of encroachment tends to consolidate the powers of all the departments in one, and thus to create whatever the form of government, a real despotism. A just estimate of that love of power, and proneness to abuse it, which predominates in the human heart is sufficient to satisfy us of the truth of this position"
George Washington. He really hated people.

Apart from Jesus (if you are a Christian) every person ever born has a capacity for hate and grievance. It's possible for skilled manipulators to speak to that. The best way to avoid being manipulated is to acknowledge that those parts of us exist. Where I think the right in America was correct was when they said that there was a modern tendancy to see all negative feelings or criticism as bad. Where they go really wrong is in failing to see it also applies to themselves.

If it’s what you’ve based your extremely dim view of most of humanity then I think I’ll pass thank you. I don’t believe that most Americans are horrendous human beings. Ditto Brits.

That's a lot of words to say "power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely".

I'm not sure what any of that has to do with not slagging off the electorate if you want to be elected. Did you quote the wrong post?

Aargh removing duplicate post

I know women I deeply respect who have issues with Glinner and I understand those reasons fully, but I broadly agree with you on his GCness and completely agree that it’s not likely that he actually meant to endorse the message that women should have the vote. I think people are blinded by their hate for him, as pp said.

Fair enough. Your loss.
.

I think the point of that very long list is not that everyone posseses all those negative traits. But that everyone posseses at least one of them. I feel very insecure about my intelligence for example and can react badly if I think someone's trying to show of they have more education than me. If I was to focus on that I would be swayed by JD Vance's and Trump's anti-intellectualism. But knowing I'm like that, I can gain perspective on it.

@WowFantastic you'd better find an island with only turtles for company if you can’t stand the majority of your fellow humans.

Persephone appears to be suggesting that most Americans chose to be hateful when they voted for Trump. Whereas I think in reality they were stuck between a rock and a hard place and had to choose the least worst option and make the best of it.

Exactly.

Under my past usernames, you and I have actually had some great respectful conversations on feminism, fundamental points where we agreed, actually.

It doesn’t really matter what you think about my views, but again I do really recommend Heather Cox Richardson. American politics are complex and I don’t think we are often educated on them in the UK, speaking for myself, anyway. She has a very educated, clear-eyed view of how we have got to where we are today and what it means. So where I’m being called ‘very dim’ on here fair enough, but she really is worth the read. I think you might find it interesting.

And FWIW I don’t hate my fellow humans, I’m in tears most days seeing what’s happening to people in the US, right now. @persephonia is making some really great points, better than I have, on this.