Yes, targeted misinformation and outright lies, carefully seeded within the right wing media bubble, was a major contributor to R vote capture. This proved tragically successful with large pockets of "profoundly ignorant" voters (I am citing HCR's newsletter from tonight). It was there in HCR where I read painful accounts of Trump voters…
Yes, targeted misinformation and outright lies, carefully seeded within the right wing media bubble, was a major contributor to R vote capture. This proved tragically successful with large pockets of "profoundly ignorant" voters (I am citing HCR's newsletter from tonight). It was there in HCR where I read painful accounts of Trump voters who are now shocked about what the tariff wall will bring, or that their family members will be deported. That profound, mass ignorance did not arise by chance -- it's been cultivated over decades.
At this point though, I wholeheartedly agree that finger-pointing gets us nowhere constructive. We are shocked and grieving and desperately sorting for answers and closure. Yet facing the future with clarity, and what I believe will be a fairly solid House presence -- if not a majority -- can hopefully help push back somewhat. These representatives are smart, tough, and have constituencies they actually care about, or they wouldn't be there now. I am somewhat relieved to see my state, NY, flip three seats back, and a fourth was already replaced by the farcical Santos scandal. It will be a very thin R majority, with vulnerable members and an wildly unstable executive branch.
This troubles me: does anybody have an idea what the follow-through may be for something like social security or Medicare? Because there are already two conflicting possibilities that were floated: Trump actually campaigned on a "promise" (cough) to maintain social security and cut its taxes. There is some sense to this, though it will run down the reserves faster. He at least claimed -- correctly -- that he is a senior too. And there's Trump's massive ego and congenital laziness to consider (I think it was Jay Kuo who mentioned to just let him play golf, which he assuredly will). Yet the other potential is the slash and burn manifesto floated by the increasingly obnoxious and ingratiating Musk -- to "take a[n austerity] haircut" -- which accords with the 2025 loonies. But Trump may get some pressure from more seasoned political operatives, both new and old, to not burn all of it down so fast. Assuming there are elections in two years, which I still believe there will be, somebody with an ounce of sense may remind them their majorities are at stake. Which begs the question, what social safety net policies are more realistic to be enacted in the next two years?
Thank you sincerely to all here, and especially to Robert, for providing this essential community at such a critical juncture. We need each others' support right now.
I don't know if I am about to read this in the comments, but it strikes me that Republicans aren't claiming the "election was rigged", fraudulent, etc.
Yes, I read about this on one of the reputable sites (maybe TPM) just in the last day. When the election went their way, R's went crickets on election fraud.
Yes, targeted misinformation and outright lies, carefully seeded within the right wing media bubble, was a major contributor to R vote capture. This proved tragically successful with large pockets of "profoundly ignorant" voters (I am citing HCR's newsletter from tonight). It was there in HCR where I read painful accounts of Trump voters who are now shocked about what the tariff wall will bring, or that their family members will be deported. That profound, mass ignorance did not arise by chance -- it's been cultivated over decades.
At this point though, I wholeheartedly agree that finger-pointing gets us nowhere constructive. We are shocked and grieving and desperately sorting for answers and closure. Yet facing the future with clarity, and what I believe will be a fairly solid House presence -- if not a majority -- can hopefully help push back somewhat. These representatives are smart, tough, and have constituencies they actually care about, or they wouldn't be there now. I am somewhat relieved to see my state, NY, flip three seats back, and a fourth was already replaced by the farcical Santos scandal. It will be a very thin R majority, with vulnerable members and an wildly unstable executive branch.
This troubles me: does anybody have an idea what the follow-through may be for something like social security or Medicare? Because there are already two conflicting possibilities that were floated: Trump actually campaigned on a "promise" (cough) to maintain social security and cut its taxes. There is some sense to this, though it will run down the reserves faster. He at least claimed -- correctly -- that he is a senior too. And there's Trump's massive ego and congenital laziness to consider (I think it was Jay Kuo who mentioned to just let him play golf, which he assuredly will). Yet the other potential is the slash and burn manifesto floated by the increasingly obnoxious and ingratiating Musk -- to "take a[n austerity] haircut" -- which accords with the 2025 loonies. But Trump may get some pressure from more seasoned political operatives, both new and old, to not burn all of it down so fast. Assuming there are elections in two years, which I still believe there will be, somebody with an ounce of sense may remind them their majorities are at stake. Which begs the question, what social safety net policies are more realistic to be enacted in the next two years?
Thank you sincerely to all here, and especially to Robert, for providing this essential community at such a critical juncture. We need each others' support right now.
I don't know if I am about to read this in the comments, but it strikes me that Republicans aren't claiming the "election was rigged", fraudulent, etc.
Yes, I read about this on one of the reputable sites (maybe TPM) just in the last day. When the election went their way, R's went crickets on election fraud.