I think I’m starting to realize something fucked up about us. What if he’s who we really are deep down? What if this is just what America is and it’s not just him? And that’s why nothing actually gets rid of him.
I’m not an American exceptionalist. I don’t think there’s anything extraordinarily broken about Americans that isn’t present elsewhere.
You can take that optimistically (“We don’t have to continue this pattern, just change our circumstances”) or pessimistically (“Oh, so that’s why there’s so much backsliding towards far-right parties worldwide”)
That’s why the rest of the world is backing away from the US and trying to find partners that better share their values.
It isn’t that Trump and his administration is so awful. It’s that the US elected Bush Jr., then Obama, then Trump, then Biden, then Trump again. This isn’t an exception anymore, this reflects who the US is. It isn’t consistently pro-war and far right. But, enough of the electorate supports that kind of person that it really doesn’t matter who the next president is. It’s just a matter of time before there’s another right wing president who rips up treaties and does illegal things.
America is not a group of like-minded individuals, no country is really. So you (plural) are not one-thing deep down. But there are enough people in favour of Trump who each have very different reasons) that he can stay in power. That sure says something about some people from America but not something about all Americans.
My fear was he is something of like a shadow self that even those of us who hate everything thing he stands for can’t even kill. Like even though I hate all this there is some part of me that prefers to be a useless bystander while he runs rampant. I dunno, our democracy is straight up broke but what do we even do about it? Just keep trying to vote it right again. But I’m projecting my own weakness and complacency on other Americans. You and Pug are right. It’s not everyone, it’s just me
Trump is the sum of American will put together. There are plenty of people pulling in the other direction, but not enough to counter his runaway train of ingrained selfishness.
He’s the sum of a garbage political system, not its people. California has 40 million people and Wyoming has 550k, and yet they have the same number of senators.
Most people see the bloated orange huckster toddler for who he is, but imperfect systems of government are always fallible to bad actors.
That’s what I’m afraid of. The best of us aren’t even good enough to offset the net harm he does. Or maybe the best of us just are a little bit like him too, in a way that isn’t perceptible to us because of how we’re raised.
I think I’m starting to realize something fucked up about us. What if he’s who we really are deep down? What if this is just what America is and it’s not just him? And that’s why nothing actually gets rid of him.
I’m not an American exceptionalist. I don’t think there’s anything extraordinarily broken about Americans that isn’t present elsewhere.
You can take that optimistically (“We don’t have to continue this pattern, just change our circumstances”) or pessimistically (“Oh, so that’s why there’s so much backsliding towards far-right parties worldwide”)
That’s why the rest of the world is backing away from the US and trying to find partners that better share their values.
It isn’t that Trump and his administration is so awful. It’s that the US elected Bush Jr., then Obama, then Trump, then Biden, then Trump again. This isn’t an exception anymore, this reflects who the US is. It isn’t consistently pro-war and far right. But, enough of the electorate supports that kind of person that it really doesn’t matter who the next president is. It’s just a matter of time before there’s another right wing president who rips up treaties and does illegal things.
I can’t even blame anyone for backing away
America is not a group of like-minded individuals, no country is really. So you (plural) are not one-thing deep down. But there are enough people in favour of Trump who each have very different reasons) that he can stay in power. That sure says something about some people from America but not something about all Americans.
My fear was he is something of like a shadow self that even those of us who hate everything thing he stands for can’t even kill. Like even though I hate all this there is some part of me that prefers to be a useless bystander while he runs rampant. I dunno, our democracy is straight up broke but what do we even do about it? Just keep trying to vote it right again. But I’m projecting my own weakness and complacency on other Americans. You and Pug are right. It’s not everyone, it’s just me
Trump is the sum of American will put together. There are plenty of people pulling in the other direction, but not enough to counter his runaway train of ingrained selfishness.
He’s the sum of a garbage political system, not its people. California has 40 million people and Wyoming has 550k, and yet they have the same number of senators.
Most people see the bloated orange huckster toddler for who he is, but imperfect systems of government are always fallible to bad actors.
That’s what I’m afraid of. The best of us aren’t even good enough to offset the net harm he does. Or maybe the best of us just are a little bit like him too, in a way that isn’t perceptible to us because of how we’re raised.