Lindsey Graham Says Joy ‘Doesn’t Exist in the Real World’
Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC) said he isn’t buying all that Democratic “joy” on display at this past week’s Democratic National Convention in Chicago during a Sunday appearance with Jake Tapper on CNN’s State of the Union.
During their conversation, Tapper brought up the “disciplined” and “well-produced” DNC this week that, as the journalist put it, “conveyed patriotism and unity.” Graham didn’t see it that way.
“Well, I didn’t see what you saw,” Graham told Tapper with a laugh. “If you’re a Republican, you saw a hate fest. You saw a hate fest full of insults.”
“Americans are not joyful when they go to the gas station and fill up their car,” he continued. “They’re not joyful when they make their mortgage payment. They’re not joyful when they go to the grocery store. People are hurting, and this whole joy love fest doesn’t exist in the real world.”
To bolster his claim, Graham pointed to the gas prices, the state of the border, and inflation during Donald Trump’s presidency when “the world was not on fire.”
He's either lying or what he said gives us a look into his shitty perspective of the world. Either way such a miserable and pathetic existence.
https://www.thedailybeast.com/lindsey-graham-says-joy-doesnt-exist-in-the-real-worldOpen linkView original on lemmy.world
I think this is a great example of how a conservative mind views the world.
They are never happy or joyfull, its always a struggle and you fight for an idea despite you hating all of it. The idea that your life is not filled by misery is alien to them.
At this point being conservative is just akin to mental illness. Destructive, depressed, delusional to themselves and others. If ever there was a real social contaigion, it would be this state of being.
I grew up in a pretty conservative household and we were literally raised that life is work and work is hell. By way of the transitive property, life = hell. It's taken a long time through various degrees of depression and I'm still not fully grown out of it.
But yes, the entire culture and identity is about being miserable and persevering through it, even if that means making yourself and everyone around you more miserable to justify the perseverance.
Like the saying "nothing good comes free." You could say the sunrise is free, but they'll argue it's not because you have to wake up early and waking up early is by necessity miserable so that the sunrise can be good. They're brainwashed into thinking the only way a good thing happens is through suffering. Except the truly lost ones who only see life as suffering.
Wow.. yeah I grew up this way too. But I'm not sure I ever really put it all together the way you did just now. I'm gonna have to think on this.
As an extension, if the conservative sees something free that people need, they will try to monopolize that free thing and then sell it. They call this innovation.
Everything in their world is transactional
So utterly grim that it perfectly explains the entire conservative movement.
"Life is bad. Anyone who isn't miserable and angry like me is cheating and must be destroyed."
Could also be that any time Lindsey Graham enters a room, all the people around him become miserable, so that's why he thinks joy doesn't exist
It's hard to see any joy in the world when you're a closeted hate-mongerer who can't get laid for free.
I feel the opposite as a Democrat. I support positivity, but I won't smile while Palestinians are being murdered. That seems pretty tone deff. I'm happy Donald Trump is going down regardless. I'm voting Kamala. Please don't forget to protest after we win.
I'm also worried about Armenia, Hong Kong, Myanmar, Syria, Iran, Taiwan, Tibet, Uyghurs, immegrants entering the US, UKRAINE. I am NOT smiling while people are dying and our nation is complacent.
I will tell you in advance: with that mindset, even if every issue you stated in the last paragraph is solved, you will still not be able to smile. People will still keep dying and suffering from injustice, just elsewhere or in different ways.
Try to celebrate every incremental step towards justice and use that energy towards the next step and so on.
Then I'll continue to not smile. I refuse to pretend to be happy while people suffer. It's natural to feel empathy. You guys can ignore it if you need to for your mental health, but as an American with the power to change things, I will continue to protest.
If you have the power to change things, why haven't you done so?
We all are! And it's changing! Pro Palestinian support is finally a thing! We just have to keep protesting while keeping up with the election.
Ever heard of “joy in suffering?”
Generally, the more you have, the more miserable you can be. It’s important to take time to appreciate the positive things in life even while grieving for those who don’t currently get to experience them. Joy and grief aren’t mutually exclusive feelings, and you don’t need to ignore/suppress the grief to experience the joy.
I'm happy in my free time. I'm talking about politics and the way we show ourselves in public. I'm talking about the way we influence people.
Johnny Cash is a good example. Of course he smiled, but he dressed in black and he died in black. I'm fine doing the same.
You're terminally online and need to step away from the internet. Its not real.
"This whole joy and love fest doesn't exist in the real world," said Lindsay Graham, from his mountaintop cave overlooking Whoville.
"MEEMAW! GET THE SLED, WE'RE STEALING VOTES!"
Yeah, but this presumes that his heart will grow and he'll learn compassion, when we know he's just going to remain the same joyless, miserable slug he's always been. The grinch has more redeeming qualities than Graham ever did.
If your heart grows several sizes, get to the ER then a cardiologist
Can't wait for these dinosaurs to go extinct.
Be the asteroid you wish to see in the Yucatan.
You're one of today's lucky 10000!!!
Be the thing that drives them to extinction. Way to make me explain the joke there buddy. Literal interpretation is not the only interpretation. Vote. Organize. Inform. Educate. Have compassion when those in your life change their minds.
I... I don't know how to explain metaphors using crayon. So have an upvote.
A comment likened Republicans to dinosaurs, and being eager for them to be extinct, since dinosaurs are extinct. One possibility is saying they are mostly old and waiting for them to die, another is that they have outdated ideas, even the ones not that old, and to go extinct just means they don't have power and don't matter.
Dinosaurs were made extinct by an Asteroid in the Yucatan. So to contribute to that latter half, work toward making them irrelevant, voting and chosing your media engagements appropriately.
At this point, I would not presume someone is advocating literal lethal violence against the entire GOP, if nothing else that is wildly infeasible and as it stands much more reasonable actions are available to minimize their influence..
Woah, woah, woah!…
One of those is the natural outcome of forces set in motion—and the other killed poor innocent dinosaurs.
Maybe if you're Lindsey Graham. Pretending to be something you're not and constantly sucking up to people who hate you to keep your job sounds miserable enough.
He clearly still hasn’t recovered from his boyfriend passing.
RIP John McCain, thanks for saving the Affordable Care Act.
The state of the border is due to Republican interference on that border bill specifically requested by Trump to keep it an issue this election, and Inflation performance was better overall when compared to other Western Nations during Biden's term and worse than during Trumps.
source
Republicans are full of shit when it comes to both issues.
The problem with inflation is that it's sticky i.e. the inflation that happened under Trump didn't go away under Biden. Inflation has been slower (although you'll notice it's still elevated) but the inflation that already happened is baked in to that.
People can feel that things are more expensive than they used to be. It doesn't matter that things are getting more expensive slower, what matters is a bunch of inflation already happened and it didn't go away (and, in fact, just kept getting worse)
Tranditionally, inflation paired with rising income isn't a big problem.
The real terror of inflation in the modern era is that wages remain stagnant.
Actually, real wages are up for six years running.
Not according to the Atlanta Fed.
Through May 2024, real wages are up 0.5 percent year over year. While real wage growth has turned slightly positive in recent months, the level of real wages is still below where they were at the onset of the inflation surge that we began to see in the first quarter of 2021.
It's ever present too. If inflation were to ever stop for a sustained amount of time I guarantee it would be a far worse political issue. In the meantime things always cost more tomorrow than they will today which is why I argued what I did: relative inflation control was better than it was for almost everyone else under Biden than Trump because it is one of the only ways to fairly compare administrations as each one experiences their one unique circumstances.
Well yeah, inflation is part of economic growth under capitalism. That's just how the system functions, no argument.
What people want is prices to come back down again, and that would require price controls (which Harris is actually talking about when she talks about stopping "price gouging" - I'm tentatively interested to see if she follows through on that)
Why do the colors on your version of that chart not match the legend?
They’re probably using a dark mode extension that’s messing with them
The OG charts have a darker legend too. I don't know why they did that. I upped the contrast and saturation to make it even clearer than it is on the source page.
Lindsey? If you're so concerned with the border, why did you vote down the border security bill?
source on the legislation
source on Graham's vote on the motion where it was killed
You yourself are responsible now, Graham. You voted down legislation which would have addressed this. This is on you now.
Now who's miserable in their lives and wants to make the rest of the country miserable too?
Heh heh heh
This is exquisite.
People who are that deep in the closet usually do lack joy in their lives
He's not wrong. But he doesn't mention his party is the reason for it.
He's got the projection down though
Oh, he’s both wrong AND responsible. He’s pointing at results of policies and blaming people who set the policies that will improve the situation in the future for the results of the policies set by him and his cronies.
He’s trying to normalize a false equivalency.
It’s like blaming the current government for global warming and its effects, instead of just tasking them and empowering them to move the needle back in the right direction so it doesn’t get much worse than it already has.
What does it matter what Graham says? His word is literally worthless by his own account
@exanime @Theprogressivist He's just running out his own clock now.
Projection. If he's not happy then how can anyone be?
Dude, where were you? Convenient amnesia? Ever heard Billy Joel's take on "the fire"?
Yeah, it's not like Trump's presidency ended during a pandemic bad enough people had to stay home, with no vaccine or anything.
Like, the only way it could be remembered as being worse was if it was during a Great Depression.
Joy is not easy.
Happy can be had for the cost of a hobby, or of a friend buying another round, or jamming another game onto the screen.
But as J. D. Salinger said: "The fact is always obvious much too late, but the most singular difference between happiness and joy is that happiness is a solid and joy is a liquid."
Happiness needs a vessel of a certain shape and size.
Joy can fill up anything finite.
Don't mock Graham for this. He is expressing his sadness even if he doesn't see it. Express sorrow for his lack of understanding of our time here.
Joy is fleeting, but it is there, and it is possible to feel it with some frequency. Does everyone feel it? Well, obviously not.
These are all great points, and he’s right! The problem is that the policies he and his party support are not helpful towards solving any of these issues.
What, banning books and preventing people from getting healthcare don’t bring down gas and grocery prices or interest rates? Surely you jest!
As someone with a good amount of privilege, I do smile when I buy snacks. I just wish we had more democrat policies so that others could feel the same way.
I smile when buying gas too… it’s still MUCH cheaper than it will be, and I’m looking forward to abandoning gasoline powered motors completely in the near future.
The smile is both for what will be, and for the increased price of gasoline driving us towards that future.
Smiling because gas prices are high? The world could use more minds like yours.
“Life is a joyless slog, and I do my best to help keep it that way.”
To be fair, that IS the face of a man who no longer believes that joy exists 🤷
Wow, poor guy... He sounds so sad and doesn't even realize he's the one causing the problems he's complaining about...
Oh well, we should probably put him out of his misery.
Of course he fucking realizes he's the cause of it. He's doing the right thing politically in showing empathy to people that feel misery. He's creating the problem and making himself the solution for it. It's entirely calculated and not a "dumb" thing to do.
That's really fucking dark coming from any legislator, but a rank and file GOP coming right out and saying it?
That's not just weird, that's inhuman or downright evil.
It's also a perfect example of psychological projection. He never feels joy and thinks everyone else feels the same way. His is a sad and pathetic existence.
Lindsey Graham proves that all conservatives are angry, hateful people and wants to make everyone else just like him.
The Republican way of life, ladies and gentlemen.
Let me translate: The DNC was not joyful because it made MAGA fear and loath. He then pivots to project all this on the "American people" remembering that that's who he's supposed to care about.
Lindsey is a windsock; useful to see which way the wind is blowing.
Fucking asshole has the nerve to say the world wasn’t on fire during trumps presidency AND that trump is PRO-Life when he was perfectly ok with Covid as long as it was as gonna hurt cities and therefore Democrats more. Media motherfuckers need to start calling out this hypocrisy in real time.
My take is that statement is perhaps the most authentic thing he ever said in his life. He wouldn't recognise joy of it went up to him and kissed him on the mouth.
He must be bewildered seeing all that happy emotion.
Resign and see how much joy suddenly appears
Lady G needs a prostate massage, STAT! She’s lost the joy in her life!!!
My heavens!
What a sad little creature.
You know, fuck Trump, fuck Graham, and fuck every Republican. But:
Is perfectly accurate. I get that everyone is excited about Harris, but lying to ourselves about the economy makes us look out of touch, at best. Most of us can't afford a down payment on a house. Most of us are a few missed paychecks away from homelessness. Most of us are one bad doctor's appointment away from bankruptcy. Most of us are drowning in student loans. Republicans absolutely want to make all of those worse, but pretending everything is fine is bullshit.
No-one is pretending everything is perfect, but you also have to have a positive vision for the future. Having a whole convention bitching about stuff without solutions is not the path forward.
Democrats discussed ideas to make things better regarding the points Graham made, BUT it's the Republicans that are the major roadblock to any and all solutions.
Graham is the guy taking a massive shit in your living room and then complaining that the cleaning lady is too cheerful about cleaning up the room. And she's not fast enough... And she's to blame for making him take that dump.
Fuck all Republican politicans, they offer ZERO solutions to anything. All they do is stoke fear and division.
When would anyone, ever, be joyful in those activities? Is he saying that if Republicans took over, I would be ecstatic to pay my mortgage?
The "joy" or whatever doesn't have to be "Everything is great!" It can also be "Shit sucks but maybe we can get a coalition together to fix it. " Just hoping things can be better gives people joy. Like going to church and stuff
Thank your nearest republican voter, they caused this mess.
There is so much stoic wisdom to respond to this with. Momento Mori would be the most widely known idea, Negative Visualization is similar to that, and the Last Time Meditation is a more obscure one.
There are people who know they will die in the next week. If you can pay your mortgage, and you have good health, that is reason enough to be joyful. Those people would do anything to trade places with you and your good health and your mortgage payment.
There are people who cannot pay their mortgage. People who got a foreclosure letter from the bank last week. Would Lindsey Graham rather us all be in a miserable situation like those pitiful people?
Sure, paying your mortgage is not great, but you can mope about it, or you can be joyful with what you have. You will not have another today. Would you rather spend it moping about what is impossible to achieve today, or joyful about the positive things in your life right now? I know which one I would pick.
At the same time, I know this may be hard to grasp because it took me decades to discover that joy can be a choice. It can be really hard to see that, which is why I pity Lindsey Graham.
I definitely chose to spend my day organizing for better conditions instead of settling for scraps and being joyful that other people have it worse.
That’s why they didn’t want that student load debt pardon. Everybody must be miserable all the time.
Pretty much, anything he says can be dismissed with a subtle jerking-off motion.
Graham in 2016:
"I want you to use my words against me. If there’s a Republican president in 2016 and a vacancy occurs in the last year of the first term, you can say Lindsey Graham said let’s let the next president, whoever it might be, make that nomination."
Graham in 2020:
"I fully understand where President @realDonaldTrump is coming from. https://t.co/qlhtEwTCdX
As to my view of filling a Supreme Court vacancy in 2020, I’d encourage you to review these most recent statements.
NBC News https://t.co/wGnCdcpJjr
The Hill https://t.co/cagapf6S9t
The two biggest changes regarding the Senate and judicial confirmations that have occurred in the last decade have come from Democrats.
#1"
Source: https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/lindsey-graham-backpedals-saying-words-183103615.html
Not when you are a joyless cunt.
Lady G sometimes dresses fancy and calls himself "Joy", this is just him continuing to be in the closet and deny the clear reality we all see.
When running for president, lindsey graham was once asked who his first lady would be, he replied... "Well my sister would be!"
Oh lindsey... Sweetie :(
He seems pretty joyful when he forces sex workers to deal with his "ladybugs."
Lindsey Graham hates consent.
I'm pretty doom and gloom but I still have joy in my life, so even if no one else does I'm proof it does exist. I would feel bad for Graham if he wasn't such a wretched creature
I hope he is miserable every second of his wretched and deceitful existence.
This makes me so sad for him, but keep telling on yourself Lindsey. Also fuck you
Denying your sexual identity leads to self-hatred and little joy. No surprise there.
Lol. Fuck you, repubs.
Yes there is no joy in the GOP nightmare. I look forward to driving it from all offices.
Lindsey would experience true joy if he finally came out of the closet and stopped licking Trump’s asshole constantly.
I mean, it was basically an insult fest against the GoP lol. Not that I'm complaining; it just makes sense the Republicans are whining about it. Fucking hypocrites.
Gas is $3.21 around the corner from my house.
Joe Biden didn't this, apparently.
$2.23 across the street from my apt.
Yeah I'm so confused they've been trying to push that one. I think it's just about 2019 prices near me, maybe a little better.
So, what feeling is being sought after when republicans commit sexual assault?
I can see how spending your whole life in the closet could make a guy miserable.
In SC, where Graham is from, gas prices are lower than they've been all year. Not sure what he's talking about.
Somebody needs to hit back with "joy is a cold beer on a Friday night. A pair of jeans that fit just right..."
What a sad world Lindsey lives in.
I'll feel joy when that old fuck kicks the bucket.
What a weird thing to say.
Last I checked, gas was about $3.03 where I'm at. Border crossings are lower than when Joe took office. And nobody was happy about their mortgage payments under trump either.
He and his party have certainly tried to rob everyone of it, sure.
I wonder when the last time he filled up his own car, or went to the grocery. So sick of the rich telling me about the struggles of the common folk.
Piss off...
Him being closeted for his whole life, I can see why he thinks that way.
Makes sense when you give fear and hate too much control of your life
I just ate a pretty good salad, pretty sure I felt joy.
Maybe this is why they act the way that they do.
republiQan muckety-fucks: Goddam this Kamala/Walz ticket is knocking our dicks in the dirt! We’ve gotta send some messengers out to the talk shows, who do we got who isn’t facing trial for felony crime?
republuQan intern: Well, we have Lindsey Graham.
republiQan muckety-fucks: (sighs loudly, rubs eyes for a long time)
republuQan intern: . . . Sirs?
republiQan muckety-fucks: (a full sixty seconds later) . . . Fine. Send out Graham.
How did Lindsey Graham get a Grindr cock out of his mouth long enough to say this?
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Well, he's right in the sense of those emotions on stage being fake.
Fake joy is a recognizable cultural trait of Americans elsewhere actually.
And there was hate.
Now, of course, there is joy in life, but usually not connected to political events.