'I was dumb as a rock': Hardcore MAGA couple ditches Trump after getting 'kick in teeth'
Last October, Ron, a 55-year-old construction analyst for the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), was furloughed for 43 days as the Trump administration took a sledgehammer to federal agencies’ budgets under the Department of Government Efficiency, an initiative led by the world’s richest man, Elon Musk.
“We voted for Trump, not realizing that he was going to slam as hard as he did, but it was on day one when he sat down, right after inauguration, and started signing those executive orders and just trashed us federal employees, it was a kick in the teeth,” Ron said.
“If people would just listen and research and do something other than just listen to Fox News, we may all be better off, but it's going to take an open mind and an ability to say, ‘I made a mistake,’ because once you say you made a mistake, you can turn the ship around,” said Chrissey Kelley, 50, a stay-at-home mom.
Speaking out against MAGA cost the Kelleys relationships with friends and family members who support Trump, but in sharing their story, they hope to inspire others having doubts about the GOP.
“It's okay to be wrong. You made a mistake, it was a bad choice, but it's not the end of the world. We can fix it. We just got to ride it out and hold strong and support each other through it,” Ron said.
. . . Chrissey said she became a Republican as soon as she started voting.
“You were just a conservative. There was no thought behind it. You listen to Fox News, and you listen to conservative outlets, and you're spoon-fed,” Chrissey said.
Ron, who served in the military for 25 years, said the 2008 housing market crash left him “really disillusioned with the Democratic Party.”
When he couldn’t find work in Detroit, he moved to Georgia. He supported Republicans because he associated them with bigger spending on defense.
Ron said he supported Trump with donations, bumper stickers and the “whole nine yards” of MAGA.
“I bought into the lie about the stolen election and all that, and I thought January 6 insurrectionists were actually patriots,” Ron said.
“I just remember being content with thinking that he was what we needed, and he was going to drain the swamp in Washington until he got into office this third term, and realizing that I was dumb as a rock, and I believed everything that I was spoon fed.”
. . . “Just watching the policies of what's happening in our world today unfold one by one by one, I just started drawing up very different conclusions and found out that I was clueless, and most people are today, but now I'm awake and looking at it for what it is, and I cannot believe that he had my support,” Chrissey said.
“It's lie after lie after lie.”
Ron said he now votes for Democrats, and Chrissey said she considers herself an Independent but has voted for Democrats three times now, something she “never thought in my entire life” would happen.
“The road we're headed down now, if we don't turn this truck around, we're so close to going off the edge of the cliff that we need to stick together,” Ron said.
“We need to put our country back together. It might take decades, but don't give up. We need to be vocal. Stay strong, and follow our laws and Constitution, and hold strong with our values, not the values that the MAGA claims that we have, but the values that we've had in the past 250 years from the founding of the country til Joe Biden's era.”
https://www.rawstory.com/raw-investigates/2676961714/Open linkView original on lemmy.world
My favorite part was when he said they lost their home in the housing collapse, blamed Dems, and then voted Republican because....of spending on defence.
Defence spending doesn't help the housing market but you do you. At least they finally woke up.
Even NOW they still can't understand that the deregulation of banks which directly caused the 2008 collapse, was entirely Bush's policies... if anything Obama's bailout probably saved his home
The deregulation of the banks started under Clinton and was finished under Bush Jr. It was unfortunately not only a GOP thing.
Some observers have persuasively argued that the Glass-Steagall act, which Clinton famously repealed, was already moot by the time he repealed it, that the banking business had figured out legal workarounds for all the activities it was intended to prevent.
The point being, not to excuse Clinton or any political party, but to recognize that the creeping greed of finance isn't something that can be blamed on one or two actors. It's built in to the incentives, the values, the culture.
So you don't repeal it you update it to fix the holes.
I think Republicans controlled the Congress when it happened. I guess Clinton could refuse to sign it.
Well..... maybe but it sure did enrich the motherfuckers who created the crash in the first place.
Well, he's at the beginning of his unlearning journey, hopefully he continues to go further.
Gas prices caused the 2008 collapse. The real estate market is what hurt the rich people, so that's what we still hear about.
It was rich people that caused the collapse, not gas prices. Banks gave out variable interest rate loans, which are risky and predatory, to people that didn't have the credit/income to afford houses. The banks then turned all of those variable rate home loans into housing related securities, which let investors in those programs earn interest on buying a tiny slice of the mortgages. Now the investors need the line to go up. What happens? Those variable rates on those mortgages get jacked up to make profit for the investors. Now Joe Schmoe can't afford his mortgage, defaults on the loan, and loses his house. What happens next? All of those variable rate loans had mortgage insurance, which pays the lender when the borrower defaults on the loan/mortgage. What happens next, the collapse of entities that insured those loans. What happens next? We, the fucking tax payers bail them the fuck out. What happens next? The rich greedy assholes find a new thing required for existence to turn into a commodity to squeeze us more; like healthcare.
What exactly are you smoking?
And how old were you in 2008?
Old enough to not get a passing grade in kindergarten, one assumes.
No, they didn't wake up.
They stuck with Trump through
Etc.
These people are still functionally sociopaths and fascists. They're just upset that now its affecting their wallets.
He's hurting the wrong people!!
I will still take 2 less Republican voters as a win.
Yeah I got pretty confused there. Wasn’t Bush president leading up to 2008 and the market crash? So it was the dems fault? Faux news has done an impressive brain rot.
Just like how Biden failed to prevent the spread of COVID in 2020.
Exactly. Though maybe one person doesn't remember who was president throughout 2020, lol.
Small government people when the government is military spending:
I remember talking to a winger about his defense contractor job. He was raging out about "government workers" wasting "his money", and so on. This was under Obama and he had just seen two people driving in a county truck on his way to work in the morning - he apparently seemed to think having more than one person doing that job was wasteful?
Anyway, I asked him, point blank - "but isn't YOUR job basically a government job?"
I thought the guy was going to pop a vein waving his arms around and yelling how it was the PRIVATE SECTOR, we have to WIN CONTRACTS with the big old mean government, and etc. I remain calm and ask: yeah, but if they are private sector, who are their customers? Are they going to sell weapons to our enemies? Why do you have to get a GOVERNMENT CLEARANCE for that job by the way?
I'm sure the guy is absolutely all-in on Donvict these days and still repeating bullshit mantras about "small government", etc. The guy had full-blown Obama Derangement Syndrome, that's for sure...
I used to work in a pretty right wing office as a government contractor. One day a couple people were standing around complaining about the government and one of the women said "the government has never created a single job". She was on a military base working as a government contracter. She was also in the national guard and engaged to an active duty sailor. I had to walk away at that point.
I don't think these people know what the "govment" even is, to be honest...
They just don't connect the dots...
Beyond "dumb as a rock" for this. People really just take whatever the fuck was is spoonfed to them. At least he did wake up, but by a miracle IMO.
A stupid person is stupid whether they're asleep or awake. These dipshits are clearly no exception.
The great recession started a year before Obama took office, but of course it is pinned to him.
Same as covid happened year before Biden but somehow it is Biden's fault.
Democrats always have to cleanup the shit Republicans make and get blamed for it.
wish idiots would stop voting for these leeches stealing tax money to enrich themselves and generally not giving a fuck about the population other than the megarich
Oh, look who is having the day they voted for.
No sympathy. They voted for this piece of shit after the racism, misogyny, and pedophilia was all out in the open. It wasn't a mistake until it hurt you personally. Fuck you Ron and Chrissey. You learned nothing, and chances are, you'll vote for more of this in the future.
Part of the demagafication of America will need to include accepting those who want to reform.
Yeah — they caused a lot of damage and I'm not wasting pity on difficulty they've brought on themselves, but it's an important & necessary step for them to do a 180⁰ so I'm glad to hear that and will happily accept their help/votes.
Words are cheap I want to see action from them otherwise I have no faith they have actually changed.
Yeah they’ll be back to lap up whatever the new Republican propaganda is post-Trump
Same thing with Bush Jr. I remember it clearly. They got disillusioned with him because he was an idiot and caused a lot of problems. Then along came Trump, who is worse, and they all jumped onboard no questions asked.
They’ve voted for Democrats 3 times. And lost some MAGA friends.
I’d say those count.
I want receipts. I don't trust traitors.
And part of it will have to include criminalizing being MAGA and using the force of the state, including their monopoly on violence, against those who refuse.
Look at postwar Germany and Japan and what was required to culturally deprogram them from the warpath. It was quiet compared to the bloodshed of WWII but it was not pretty nor a particularly fine example of liberal values.
There should always be a peaceful path to redemption, yes, but there is no tearful "hugging it out" to solve this one. They either rejoin civil society on our terms, or they get punished.
Absolutely.
These people, for all intents and purposes, are traitors to our nation. These weren't gullible fools falling for a sweet talking politician in a single election before learning from their mistake through experience. It has been over a decade and it's really no secret who and what Trump is.
These people have been, and many still are, committed to hurting others. Ignorance is not an excuse.
I personally view them as dangerous enemies and, as you said, MAGA needs to be forcibly cut out of this society and absolutely no concessions should be made in the process. We made that mistake after the Civil War and we're still paying for it.
What does it mean to criminalize MAGA? Making it illegal to vote Republican?
The republican party as it exists is essentially two parts organized crime syndicate and one part terrorist organization and should be disbanded entirely, but that's a separate thing.
It should be illegal to be MAGA in the US the same way it's illegal to be a Nazi in Germany.
What does it mean to be MAGA? Would you support a law that brought criminal charges for anyone who voted Republican in 2024?
No, you bring criminal charges and or fines against people that disseminate intolerant/hateful rhetoric. Is blasting the misogyny of the manosphere worth it if you might face 6 months in jail or a $1000 - $3000 fine? How about a year in jail for preaching hate against immigrants encouraging the government to round them up and incarcerate them when they show up for their court appointments as the follow the LEGAL process for entry/amnesty? This isn't about how people vote. This is about letting hate spread. Letting hate spread is how DJT made it to the primary.
That would be somewhere in the order of 60 million people in prison, I'm not interested in that personally even if it was viable. It's not about dishing out collective punishment to half the country as vengeance, it's about forcing them to be gracious losers going forward so we can move forward without their malfeasance. Not every Nazi was jailed for being a Nazi when the Third Reich was in power, even if they probably deserved it, but denazification was still largely successful because their platform was no longer accepted in polite society.
And that's both what it would mean to be MAGA and when all this would apply. Publicly disseminating the talking points, displaying the regalia, starting neo-MAGA political action, after their theoretical crushing defeat in the future. I wish that defeat meant "in the polls" but I have no hope that anything less than an armed conflict will dislodge them from power at this point. Part of why I think these drastic and frankly undemocratic measures would be necessary to prevent relapse.
It means you punish people for publicly posting MAGA related shit and inciting hate against others because of their race, gender, gender identity, sexual orientation, or religious affiliation.
Germany punishes Nazis through strict legal frameworks, notably Section 86a of the Criminal Code, which outlaws the public display of unconstitutional symbols, including swastikas, SS runes, and Hitler salutes. Offenders face up to three years in prison or heavy fines, and the dissemination of Nazi propaganda is permanently illegal.
What others are telling you, yes, but it also means you prosecute crimes being carried out according to the laws that are already on the books.
MAGA is no longer a valid political movement, it is a criminal organization, and this is easily proven by the crimes it commits in lockstep with this administration.
We have laws, we have a Constitution. The insurection clause, emoluments clause, term limits, ethics rules, the Hatch Act, the list is endless of the laws we already have that this administration pretends doesn't exist.
We can also address the changes in law -- like Citizens United and and the Fox News lawsuits permitting propaganda to be legally called news and even the recent Callais decision -- that permit the current situation to flourish unchecked, and restore our courts to working order.
So you can unclutch your pearls now. There is no need whatsoever to criminalize voters or voting when the time comes that we choose to prosecute actual crimes and actual criminals, and there never was. Criminalizing votes is something MAGA does, and is doing even now: add that to the long list of projections of their own deeds onto the demonized left. We lefties want everyone to vote in genuinely free and fair elections.
If we simply prosecute the criminals for the crimes taking place brazenly in the open right now, there won't even be a MAGA left.
But we might not even have to do much of that. The One Big Beautiful Bill Act that was passed last summer, the one that absolutely fucking GUTS healthcare across the country, especially for rural people like farmers who rely on the ACA (Obamacare) and subsidized clinics and hospitals, was written so that the deepest cuts would not take effect until after the 2026 midterms.
Next year, when MAGA folks who are left in healthcare deserts without doctors, clinics, hospitals, or meds and are already paying triple the costs for gas and the basics of living finally realize their orange savior does not give a shit about them and the demonized Dems had nothing to do with it, there may well be fewer MAGA left to prosecute: at least some are already planning to leave the country. Never forget that Qatar not only gave Trump his own plane, they also host the bank account where he parked the proceeds from his sale of Venezuelan oil.
As for the ones that are left . . .
Maybe I'm in the minority here, but I think people who purposefully hurt others, and their nation as a whole, should suffer some consequences and pay some form of reparations before I accept their fucking apology.
This wasn't a political issue of disagreeing where tax money should go. These are people who condoned a violent insurrection to erase our votes and directly voted to oppress minorities and openly and gleefully supported a felon rapist pedophile who regularly demonizes half our populace.
And to anyone that thinks they didn't generally condone a violent insurrection, they really did because they went out and voted AGAIN for the fucking traitor that instigated it.
Would you support a law that brought criminal charges for anyone who voted Republican in 2024?
100%, yes. We actually don't even need a new law for that. We already have laws against treason on the books. We just stopped enforcing them when the traitors took over.
So they can start their racist, misogynistic, and homophobic intolerant bullshit all over again? No. Project 2025, figureheads like Trump, and movements like MAGA need to absolutely be stamped the fuck out. The paradox of tolerance is a philosophical concept suggesting that if a society extends tolerance to those who are intolerant, it risks enabling the eventual dominance of intolerance, thereby undermining the very principle of tolerance.
Tolerance is a social contract that they broke. I'm comfortable matching the intolerance 1:1.
It really doesn't have to include them at all. They built the camps, we can just reuse them.
Like Israel?
Prosecute, sure. Not interested in "money for war and deportation" however much venom people deserve.
I’m pretty sure somebody said the same thing after the Civil War about the confederacy, and that’s why we’re where we are today.
You’re absolutely wrong about Trump! He’s a PILE of shit, not a piece.
He's a diaper full of shit
Honestly though, What’s the point of wearing Depends if you can’t shit in them? /s
Seriously. Why even wear them if it means you can't just shit sitting at your desk?
Note: the comments under the video are comedy gold.
That traitorous sumbitch should be wearing “Deposits”, not Depends!
Jesus dude, they're barely on their road to recovery, and you want to alienate them for it? That's not going to encourage good behavior you know. You're just going to drive them away again.
I want nothing to do with the likes of anyone that voted Trump in the last election. They don't care about others. They only care now, because they are the ones being hurt. I 100% believe they still don't give a fuck about anyone that isn't a white, cis-het believer in Christ.
I don't necessarily have sympathy for them, but they do say that they have voted for Dems since and that people need to stop watching Fox News. I obviously have no way of guaranteeing they never vote R ever again, but it seems like they learned at least a little. Is it enough? Probably not, but they apparently were willing to lose friends and family over this change. I'm sure there's still a lot of distance between their politics and mine, but at a certain point we have to allow people to come out and say this. They're publicly isolating and basically humiliating themselves to show people there's a way out. I can't offer that and someone needs to because there needs to be a viable path out of the Fox News pipeline. I'd love if everyone woke up tomorrow with the goal to bring about luxury gay space communism or whatever, but barring that, how do we expect the country to change for the better if we don't allow people to change for the better? Even if what sparked that change isn't what or when we would have liked. I'm not saying we have to like or forgive them, but they live here regardless so I'd rather too little too late than never at all.
I agree with everything you say, and I would add that we as a country actually need them. We need them to reach their neighbors on a personal level; we need them to show other MAGA that there are valid offramps to the craziness; we need them to be an example of change for others they know that are still in the trap.
That, plus there's no zeal like the zeal of a convert. And these folks are literally converts from what can indeed be likened to a cult. If they want to evangelize against the big Trump propaganda-fueled lie, I'm all for it.
It's one thing to toss out empty words; it's another to have demonstrably paid a tangible price for what you believe. These ex-MAGA have paid a real price, and if they follow that up by being examples to others still in the MAGA propaganda bubble, they will reach people that no one else can. I welcome them with open arms.
So the last year of Bush's second term. What a fucking idiot.
Lol that's how far I got and just fucking Roflcoptered....like how fucking dumb can you be...
Apparently dumb enough to repeatedly vote for a lifelong grifter rapist felon pedophile.
Republicans spend their term(s) wrecking the economy, then some people get pissed when the Democrats get control and don't push the emergency "fix everything right now" button.
Never been on Reddit or Facebook?
This disillusionment may refer to the D response to the 2008 crash (Obama's first term, too big to fail, doubling down on Bush's TARP, Tea Party, etc.).
Yes. the way Obama and his administration dealt with that crash was poorly thought out (to be charitable), but I really don't think from what I read, this guy was that nuanced in his thinking. Probably more along the lines of "Democrats are bad therefore this is their fault."
Typical myopic stance. "I had no idea it was bad until it started to impact me." The complete and total lack of empathy from people is a core problem I don't care what political side you are on. How can you be so selfish to not think about impactful others around you? Do you live on an island of one? Are your fellow citizens nothing to you?
Social media has allowed us to slip even more into a solipsist mindset.
Absolutely astounding how Americans care NOTHING about anyone that is not themselves. The orange pedophile has literally been directly responsible for the slaughter of THOUSANDS and that fact does not even register with this piece of shit
We Americans have, unfortunately, a very individualist society. That sort of thinking prevents us from acting in the best interest of people who are not ourselves because we don’t see the immediate benefit to ourselves.
It’s extremely shortsighted, foolish, selfish, and the exact opposite of the message the dominant religion in the nation preaches. But it’s hard to shake that kind of cultural thinking. That journey took me a while, and I started in a more “advantageous” position (in regard to this topic) than some because my parents instilled a deep sense of compassion and a desire for truth, even if they themselves are still stuck as single-issue pro-life republicans.
Every individual who gets slapped out of their conservatism by personal consequences has a chance to end up breaking free and realizing how harmful myopic thought is, and I’m cheering for them even if they have a long way to go on their journey.
What is the most important step? The next one. Always the next step.
I wholeheartedly agree with you and wish you the best of luck in your journey
White Americans care nothing about other people…
When I was a kid my tribe would bring dentists to my elementary school, and it didn’t matter if you were native or not you would still get tooth care.
Was? Nah you just jumped ship because it affected you negatively. You still dumber than a rock drooler.
100% this. If he didn't lose his job he'd bend over backwards and take more of it.
He was so upset at the Democrats for the 2008 housing crisis (Which was caused by private equity, not the government, also remind me who was the fucking president in 2008? I seem to have lost my memory on that /s) that he moved to the south and supported increased spending on the military and defence instead of checks notes FUCKING HOUSING.
Fuck this absolute twat.
I lost it at that. The market fucking collapsed while Bush was president. That's some genuine "everything I know is from watching Focks Nooz"
Don't let perfect be the enemy of good. These people were inundated with powerful propaganda and influential family structures and managed to escape it. MFing these people and calling them twats isn't going to win their hearts and minds and working people need as many allies as we can gather against a billionaire class that continues to tighten their grip.
I'm just as frustrated as you and people like them voting these ghouls into power is the reason they're in power, but they speak some truth here and maybe they can convince some of their maga family to change course.
Neither the Democrats nor the Republicans are big fans of spending on housing, not since the Red Scare of the 1950s. Investments in public goods carry a faint odor of socialism and are therefore verboten in the United States.
The (Republican-led) government did play a role in bringing about the 2008 subprime mortgage crisis: George W. Bush's administration successfully lobbied for the abolition of regulations which had previously prevented people with insufficient credit from getting a mortgage approved.
But of course the right wing narrative held Jewish bankers at fault for inner city types defaulting on their mortgages, bankrupting Lehman Brothers et al. Not a combination of deregulation and corporate greed.
You know, it's great that they woke up at all, late as they are. Two less trump supporters, and if they can spread their story they might bring a few of their friends and neighbors along with them. Give them a place to vent their discontent without being shunned by "liberals" or brainwashed in maga echo chambers.
But I had to laugh at this:
Obama didn't even take office until 2009. What a dumbass.
Title should read "i am dumb as a rock" instead.
I used to be dumb as a rock. I still am, but I used to be too.
Yes, I think we need to give them and others a soft landing spot where they can save at least a little face. We should help them lean into the narrative that “Trump lied and tricked his supporters into thinking he had virtuous, selfless objectives.” The more we scold them for not seeing what we’ve been screaming for over a decade, the more likely they will dig their heels in just to save face.
Cognitive dissonance is a very powerful drug.
Have you ever heard about this little thing called the civil war that they had in the US, back in like 1860ish?
They gave those guys a "soft landing" too and look how great that's been working out for the last 170ish years....
Yeah exactly, it would be extremely counterproductive to give these people no way out
2024 was their way out, after the first term, after jan6, after sex change operations in prisons and Haitians eating cats and dogs, they knew what they were voting for. They wanted and voted for exactly this to happen, they're just upset it's happening to them instead of brown people.
These people should never be allowed to vote in any election ever again, they have proven time and time again to be stupid, ignorant, bitter, racist, pieces of shit, and will continue to be stupid, ignorant, bitter, racist pieces of shit for the rest of their miserable lives. Because that's what they deserve.
Or instead of being vindictive and reinforcing the cycles that force these people to not listen to you, and to vote against your interests every time out of spite, maybe you could give them an out and let them prove their sincerity by contributing to being part of the solution rather than the problem.
Or you can just keep turning them around on their road to redemption and sending them right back to the enemy. And then wondering why the enemy still has a hold on 40% of the population...
At the same time, if they are able to just skip off into the sunset AGAIN we will be back here before long. Every. Single. Time. This shit happens, the shitty mother fuckers who wouldn't listen to a fucking word anyone said get to destroy society, enable the deaths of millions, and then go back to doing the crossword on Sundays because we have to give them an out so we can have a society.
Fuck that. I want their faces ground on the fucking gravel. I want them to ALL know exactly how fucking moronic they are and to remember it for their entire lives.
The people responsible, meaning the people at the top of their internal hierarchies, should be held accountable and shown no mercy. Even the people who enabled it by their support should be held accountable, at least to the degree that they contributed to the problem.
But people willing to change should be given an opportunity to do so. I can't explain how counterproductive and idiot it is to reject your enemy's former supporters when they finally decide to turn on them. That is not how you win wars, especially when you're the underdog.
I don't believe for a god damn second that WE are the underdogs. We may not be in the government but there are far fewer of them than us.
I honestly don't believe them when they say they realized they were wrong. In the vast majority of cases, they are just now being affected by their policies. They are the exact same people who voted for trump 3 times. They haven't changed. I don't want to walk with them. I don't trust them.
After the civil war, did we hold anyone to account? After the Nazis were defeated, were all officers and government officials held to account? Beyond that, did we hold any of the people who supported these ghoulish regimes, through bitter war and death, to account? Or did they just fold back in and disappear like snakes in the grass, dripping poison in the ears of society until they could foment more turmoil to take advantage of and seize power. It is generational.
I refuse to allow them back into polite society with but an apology, if we are lucky, as you suggest.
I mean they only control the police, military, prisons, and intelligence agencies and infrastructure. They've got the corporations in their pockets and a stranglehold on taxpayer dollars, a trifecta in the executive and legislative branches, with a stacked supreme court.
But you're right, that totally doesn't make us the underdogs /s
You are absolutely right. But I still think that if people were slightly more motivated it would be a very one sided dispute. Motivation in the form of starvation is approaching. So I suppose we are the underdog because we are currently sleeping, but waking up.
He literally goes “this third term” at one point in the article. And that we need to go back to the morals this country had up until “Joe Biden’s term” He hasn’t learned a thing.
Uhm about that ...
That soon? I was with him until "follow our laws"; the onion of stupidity has many layers to peel away, and most of us will weep the whole time.
It's heartbreaking that they only ditch maga when it negatively affects them, but yet wildly cheer maga when it negatively affects their fellow Americans.
These people are traitors and I'm done trying to pretend they're not.
Liberals vote so even the people they don't like can have a good education and healthcare and social safety nets in case they get fired/laid off/hurt.
Conservatives vote to hurt others, which inevitably hurts themselves too.
They are traitors to their nation because they don't care about the wellbeing of their nation and their fellow citizens.
Wait a minute, I hadn't read it until now.
Who was in office when this happened, you stupid fuck? Was is a man named George W Bush? Was he a dem? I don't appreciate the dems (they don't do anything but perpetuate the status quo; I want socialism), but this man betrays his lack of thought with that quote.
I always found it funny that stupid people sent money to "a rich guy" for the first campaign. Of course, his many failing businesses don't matter after the graft of his second term. Whether he was close to insolvency or not, he's got a lot of money now.
"I thought stupid, violent criminals were good people. Like the guy wearing the Auschwitz tshirt who was in a lot of media."
Oh my fucking god, he said exactly the thing I said about some other right-wing assholes!
The wife:
No, most of us aren't. You're just a fucking dumbass. Others read and learn and check facts and verify what people say. I'm not clueless. There's a lot that I don't know, but I am not someone who just listens to a blowhard and nods my head like you did. Wait, let me put gauze on my ear to show support for some jackass who loots my country because I don't know what's real and what's not. We need a ballroom!!!!
Well, I'm sorry to say that the dems will disappoint and these people will return to fringe right-wing bullshit as a result. We need actual leadership and change. I voted for Bernie but he's retiring and even he wouldn't call out the genocide in Gaza (fuck israel). Give us people who want to upend the system to take care of people and tax billionaires, I promise they'll get votes. Instead, Chuck Schumer will blah blah blah blah blah and Nany Pelosi will retire on a pile of money.
"One of the Greatest Wall Street Investors of All Time Announces Retirement"[0]
Is the Trump administration the worst fascist ever? Their policies are very anti-ordinary people. At least most other fascists have "socialist" policies to appease the population for as long as possible. The Trump regime's broad policy, in every sense of the word, is "fuck you, got mine." What a baffling buffoon. But my guess is that Trumpian fascism is more rooted from American individualism; which makes Trump an outlier.
They’re speed running fascism, but they never finished reading the history on how those kinds of regimes ended.
Long live Caesar.
Because it is all emotions. Fascism is the rejection of reason.
Read? Are you some kind of NERD?! Fucking loser.
/s I'm a history nerd and I read a lot.
Something, something doomed to repeat, something, something, doomed to watch.
Yeah, yeah, it’s true. But you’re just repeating what they said and then adding “Duh!!”
I dunno, they’re agreeing to speak out, it’s not nothin’. Yes, they’ve enabled genocide and fascism but no more so than those who didn’t vote at all.
...and they're speaking to fellow Trumpers saying "you're not the only fools".
I know we all want to shout "leopards ate your face!", but this is what shifting opinions will look like.
To be fair, the response to the financial crisis happened in one of the brief times when Democrats had the presidency and a supermajority in Congress and the bailout didn't really impact ordinary people very much. I think if they'd have gone full FDR they'd have had majorities for a long time after that, but they didn't.
But, yeah, the rest of it is bullshit.
I promise they didn't stop believing terrible things. Don't consider these assholes "the good ones" or the ones "that converted". They hate people who aren't like them. They're probably racist (I don't know that). They're probably bigots against other religions (especially from Brown places). They just found out that the asshole they worshipped doesn't give a shit about them. They didn't become good people with positive values.
All the things Trump is doing was laid out in Project 2025. I was begging people to read it and all of my mouth breathing friend just ignored me. I really don't have friends anymore and I am OK with that. This dumb fuck claiming he did know Trump would do this just ignored the warnings because he thought Trump was only going to fuck the libertards. So the leopard eats his face and he cries.
Trump himself said he'd never heard of it, which for some was apparently all the evidence they needed, regardless of all of the other giant, glaring warning signs.
Yeah I was laughed at and told to stop believing the liberal media’s lies.
Imagine having a brain that, without question, believes the words of a lifelong grifter, prolific liar, felon, rapist, and pedophile.
Yeah, there's no coming back from that kind of brain damage.
Actually Trump said he never read it, which was a rare instance of Trump telling the Truth.
This does not mean that someone didn't give him a tl;dr and he said, "New Jim Crow?! Sign me up!"
Thing is, I went to that site several times before the election, and throughout the summer of 2024 was a big "Apply Now" link at the top in the upper right. If you clicked it, it asked you if you wanted a career with the new Trump administration and invited you to submit your resume, especially if your area of experience pertained to any of the Project 2025 policy objectives. This is an article with a screenshot of that front page in the summer of 2024.
So when people threw that shit at me, my immediate response was, "So you haven't applied for a job with the planned administration? Because Project 2025 is taking Trump administration applications right now."
And they'd shut the fuck up, which was always the desired effect. I don't know if they ever went and saw it for themselves, but they could have if they'd looked. It was always there.
Note: I went back to archive.org to see if they still have what I am talking about, but the only available archived versions of the page are from earlier in 2024 when the big red "Apply Now" button led to hiring for Project 2025 itself. Anything that would show the changed version I'm talking about has now been removed and the blue links all go to a redirect, not an archived page. The Library of Congress has it, but the archived site can only be accessed in-person, so it's pretty clear the administration has cleared it from the net themselves.
Well that at least makes them more intelligent than most Trump voters. A very low bar. An extremely low bar if they still plan to vote for republicans.
Not sure I believe that's true. They were NEVER going to change but were slapped in the face and directly impacted, They will not ever naturally care about other people. They don't like trump because he hurt THEM. I bet they're still perfectly ok with Alligator Alcatraz, because those people are getting what they deserve.
They're not awake, they're blindly voting 'blue' because 'red' hurt them.
And they're still more intelligent than the ones that have been repeatedly dick slapped and still gladly voting red. It's not high praise to say their mildly smarter than a single digit IQ average Mega voter.
I'm right there with you, I don't think they've truly learned anything. They're just recoiling like dumb animals. But then not voting for more direct abuse is still an improvement I will take.
I don’t know believe that. I don’t believe that empathy is some inherent trait that cannot be learned. People change, but momentum can be hard to overcome. They’ve just been handed an opportunity by having their momentum disrupted.
They’ve been slapped personally enough to realize MAGA was terrible. They’re already talking about having been fed their opinions. That’s important, it means they’re now reflecting and thinking. Those are important steps.
People like this think politics are like their Jesus cult - if you repent then all is forgiven. Sorry dipshit, this is real life. You don't get a pass for apologizing and pinky promising that you'll never do it again. Fuck you. Go actually do something to work off the damage you've caused. It will never be enough of course, because the damage is catastrophic, but at least then you should be able to eventually earn a modicum of forgiveness.
In Judaism, you've got to meaingfully atone in order to be forgiven.
In catholicism you have to repeat a silly little verse 10-15 times....
It's supposed to work that way in Christianity too, but nobody treats it like that. It's so goddamn stupid.
Really? It just occurred to me I don't know what atonement is supposed to look like in Christianity?
What kind of work have you done against the damage caused?
They'll be back. They'll vote Republican. They can't learn.
I get why you are frustrated with them. We’ve been burned so many times.
But, I think this type of attitude makes some people push harder into MAGA. I feel that most people don’t vote red because they believe in it, they do it to spite people on the left who talk down to them.
They do it to spite. You could have stopped there.
Nice try, FBI
I don’t see why we have to be so mean to each other. Even here on Lemmy, where we all are on the left, we do it to each other.
Never, ever, underestimate Americans ability to turn lemonade into lemons.
Imagine working FOR the government and ever voting for the party of small government.
I work for my county, I have coworkers who are proud that they don't vote and don't follow politics
WE. WORK. FOR. THE. GOVERNMENT! Go up the food chain from us a couple steps and our boss', boss', boss' boss or something along those lines is an elected official! You're basically passing up an opportunity to choose who your boss is, and those elections often end up happening on off years when there's no presidential or other big election going on and even less people turn out to vote, so your vote really counts.
A government so small it can fit in my uterus.
I DON'T CARE
IT'S TOO LATE
YOU FUCKING TOOLS DID THE SAME THING WITH BUSH JR
YOU WILL DO ALL THIS AGAIN BECAUSE YOU ARE IDIOTS
None of this means anything. These people do not learn from mistakes. That is abundantly clear at this point. And in the unlikely scenario that this one actually did, they are such a vanishingly small percentage that it really just doesn't matter. The vast majority of conservative voters that actually are turning on Trump will NEVER, EVER, EVEN UNDER PAIN OF DEATH, vote for anything other than Republicans.
That's how cults work.
Well, they did learn from their mistakes. Most of the time these stories are like 'it affects me now so I'm against it now', but these people took that selfish starting point and unpacked all the fox propaganda and how it all happened
It is a cult; but some people leave cults
I get that we all have to be really sceptical of 'reformed' Magas. Most of them will just be rats fleeing the sinking ship, with no actual reflection or admitted culpability
But at the same time, I've marched with a block of skinhead ex-nazis who were violently opposed to racism now. People do change sometimes - people are able to unpick the propaganda they once bought into and grow
So scepticism, absolutely. But a life-long condemnation of anyone who ever bought into Fox News, without exception, is not the way to go
I agree. Ron seems pretty legitimately aware of how it works now.
If only these people had figured it out after his first term. Oh wait, they weren't harmed personally in his first term.
If someone said, "I was dumb, I didn't know he was going to cut off aid to starving people, didn't know he was going to send masked thugs into the streets to beat, kill, kidnap and disappear innocent people, didn't know he was going to start wars, didn't know he was going to betray all our allies and destroy any remaining drop of goodwill toward the US in the world, ... etc"
Then I'd say, "yes, you were dumb, very fucking dumb, exceedingly dumb, but welcome to humanity. Some things are permanently ruined because you were so fucking dumb but now let's start picking up the pieces and try to create a better system than the one that allowed someone like trump to gain so much power."
But it's never that. It's always, "I didn't know he was going to hurt MEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!"
Conservatism can be summed up in a single word, repeated ad infinitum.
"ME"
"Ron, who served in the military for 25 years, said the 2008 housing market crash left him “really disillusioned with the Democratic Party.”" ...what? How unaware does someone have to be to say something like that? The GOP took (literally) the WH and held congress for most of the years leading up to the '08 Crash. I mean, not knowing that the GOP are the ones that led us into the Great Depression (a feat they're about to repeat) is one thing, but this moron was alive and presumably can read during the events he is describing.
I’m sick of sharing a planet with cave people
Acknowledging a mistake only works if you them stop making that mistake. And I'm not convinced these or similar people will do that.
How many red flags have they ignored? They didn't give a shit about other people being screwed over by him. It was only when it affected them that they started to question. He worked for the Federal government and was still bashing the shit out of it. They ignored the January 6th riots. They voted for the this THREE times. This is all typical maga idiocy, and the reason why we're in such a mess.
I mean, I guess it's good they're seeing reality now. But holy shit. And these stories are basically pointless. Anyone who hasn't pulled their heads out of their asses by now won't because of other people's accounts like this. The only thing that will change their minds is personal hardships. And even then it's a toss-up.
People consume media that is constantly lying to them, they are surrounded by people being fed the same lies, creating a feedback loop that suppresses any opposition. It's even worse these days with social media and algorithms, they just constantly get fed the lies, the propaganda.
At least these people came around eventually. Lots of people dont think politics matters that much until it severely affects them. So its going to take that kick in the mouth, unfortunately. Even if they are still selfish in their change, at least it will help the masses.
Saying "I told you so" doesnt really help, people like this were truly misguided and deluded.
Boiling down the frustration of me and others in these situation to "you're just saying I told you so" is facile. We've been down the path of "yay, good job on seeing the light! Go you! One of us gobble gobble!" far too many times. And it doesn't do shit. Like I say, I guess it's good they finally saw the light. But I'm not going to give this couple a proverbial medal or lavish them with praise for finally seeing the fucking obvious.
And like I say, relaying these stories doesn't help either. At this point anyone maga who hasn't realized the error of their ways can only learn through the direct consequence of their action. They won't change their mind because some maga HUD employee three states over got screwed. That's not how this works.
Edit: fixed an autocorrect error.
You dont have to flip to the other extreme. Nobody is saying to praise these people, just don't shun them. Perhaps they already voted out of spite, maybe they will again.
It's in our best interest to have them away from the fascist cesspool, even if I don't give much of a shit about them personally, for what they previously had a hand in.
Also, you dont know what people might see or read that changes their mind on something. Not sharing it at all is only negative. If someone who is deluded keeps seeing posts about it, maybe they will wonder why. Just scroll past it if it bothers you.
And also inherently stupid. And stupid people tend to not truly learn from their mistakes.
That is why I, and many others here, are skeptical.
Yes, they were affected by propaganda and group think, but they also already experienced one failed presidency with this CONVICTED FELON and ADJUDICATED RAPIST and still threw in their support. That's actual stupidity, and not just influence from peers or "news" networks.
Of course they are stupid and they might always be stupid, but they can still vote, so we should try to keep them voting progressively instead of just telling them to fuck off and leaving them to vote for fascism again. I'm not saying to have empathy for them, as you said, they voted for a child rapist. Just get their vote, it's what we need. This doesn't just apply to the USA, but all over the world where fascism is now creeping in.
What are the odds this dude votes for Vance in 2028?
1,000,000% he is voting republican all the way down the ticket in 26 and 28. They won't learn, they won't change, they won't grow.
They'll vote red, lose even more, might have another minor revelation but they'll drool they're way back red
If Vance is the RNC nominee, it’s probably the only way I’d think less of them.
Well. There’s lots of ways. That’d just be one of them.
My god, the clarity! Sadly, the people able to see it and recognize their error is vanishingly small. Most just seem to double down on their error and make excuses to justify their position.
Great now we’re up to what 7 defectors? Just 70 million more to go.
Cheap words, motherfuckers.
There's no sticking together. We're already off the cliff. You don't automagically fix the damage thats been done. You don't unkill the millions dead from your choices. You don't unsteal the data stolen from multiple gov agencies on all citizens. You don't unfuck the climate from it's tipping point. You can't vote out a dictator. You're human trash without redemption. Whatever happens next you must own with a smile, even if its death.
Yup. There's no sticking together with people that condoned erasing our votes and systematically oppressing minorities.
These are trash humans and I don't stick with trash.
I mean, I'll take the win. They owned up to it, are voting Democratic now, etc.
Can't unring a bell but at least they're somewhat atoning. Easy to be angry still and I don't blame people for that but again, can't fix the past. Maybe their story will inspire a few others to leave the cult.
Yeah I don’t understand all the negativity towards folks like this. Yes they made a monstrous mistake that may be unfixable but I’d rather have people that can see their failures and are willing to change any day of the week. I’ve made multiple mistakes in my youth that I learned from and became a better person. And folks like this are better equipped at helping others to see the light that are in the same boat.
Believe me we are going to need as many people as we can to see the empires has no clothes (but I literally never want to see him naked…I’m gonna vomit)
The problem is that elections have consequences. Big ones. Ones you can't take back, ones you can't undo. People have died. People have lost everything. People have been hurt in ways that there will never be any amends for, or any possible. People saw this coming and begged people for a decade to see reason, and they were ignored. These were their countrymen, their families, their people and they did it anyway. There are real, tangible consequences to these votes, this isn't some abstract ideological game. These people have actively turned the wolves on their neighbours, and that's not a "mistake" that's easy to forgive. If your brother killed your son while you were screaming for him to stop the car, would you ever be able to forgive him? To trust his judgment ever again?
It's a privilege to be one of the ones who were not so directly hurt by them. To be able to welcome their change of heart and offer them grace. Don't ask those who don't have that privilege to do it.
This is the big one for me.
This wasn't a confusing thing. Like you said, it's not abstract. This whole experience has probably been the most clearly definable political thing in the history of our nation. To make this kind of mistake with that in mind I have to assume they either have brain damage or pure, unadulterated hate toward their fellow Americans. And the consequences are generational. Decades to claw back. We will live the rest of our lives with some of these consequences.
Why....how, would I ever trust them with anything important ever again? They simply cannot handle the responsibility as functional adults.
I'd at least rather have them than those who still refuse to see reason.
Skepticism whether they've "changed their ways" or just rejected the one person who hurt them.
These are people who were totally down with draining the swamp of all its career politicians and bureaucrats, right up until they were the bureaucrat being drained. They were down with storming the Capitol so only real American votes would be counted. Article bravely stays away from racism. The whole "be a conservative like everyone else" and "vote for Trump like everyone else" vibe suggests they'll be ready to vote for the next demagogue who promises them easy solutions to intractable problems.
There's no indication in the text that they have suddenly discovered empathy, only that they've learned small government policies cost them their government job. Maybe that's just the way the article was written, but I don't think empathy is something one just discovers at middle age.
Exactly. I will NEVER hold hands and sing Kumbaya with someone who condoned erasing my vote. They are my enemy forever.
And it's a rare damn thing to find a conservative who condemns Jan6 and doesn't try to excuse it as a simple "protest". If that day had really gone their way, not a single fucking one would have stood up and spoken against it. Fuck them.
In this case they seem to be aware now that they were traitors
Because they haven't really learned anything. They just know Trump is awful, but as soon as MAGAs try to slip back to being Republicans again, and pretend MAGA never happened, these people will race back to it. They don't think Republican policies are bad, just Trump.
I’m glad they’re moving in the right direction. Their loss of family and friends needs to be addressed so they don’t ever go back.
But I’m scared that it’s not enough. It seems like they are against Trump but are they against other Republicans and their policies? Are they going to be critical of Democrats too? Because we’ve got big problems that neither big tent party are addressing and these two people seem to be about sixty years behind the curve.
Yup. It's a weird quirk of human psychology that some people are more mad at these people than at the ones still in the cult. Focus our efforts, people!
How would that possibly work? Every MAGAt that breaks away is immediately excommunicated, to prevent them from influencing the flock - just like every other cult.
"...until he got into office this third term".... Yeah, the brainwashing is still in there. I don't think this reform is going to stick.
He only cares because he lost his job.
Fuck 'im!
Too dumb and self centered to be part of a functioning democracy.
Hope he gets to analyze the structural integrity of the tiny home he retires in.
No he’s still there, it’s just fucked up now.
A kick in the teeth isn't enough for these idiots. They need to be kicked in the balls. Repeatedly.
They kinda did by voting Republican ... They just didn't know it.
Sorry, not buying this at all. They knew Trump was a fraud and didn't care. It only got real when they got butt fucked without lube.
Running to the Democratic Party is not going to solve the problem even if it is a slightly saner choice. As long as we openly allow the wealthy to lie and manipulate people en masse there will be no real improvement.
Idk man... They stopped consuming any conservative news. I think they'll be fine.
You ever checked out Whitehouse.gov? That is not Fox but you could have fooled me reading it. This is the official line people. You can't escape from Fox by turning it off anymore.
They are not going to be fine because they are no where near deprogramming themselves to a lifetime of garbage, but I do appreciate your hopefulness.
No one has ever visited it except to criticize what's happening there. I loaded it for the first time a month or two ago when they launched their new propaganda campaign to see how blatant it was. I imagine Tea Party shitheads loaded it while Obama was in office. No one is loading it daily to find out what's going on. And if anyone is, they are braindead morons (I think there's a venn diagram here with maga shitheads).
How about they visit Truth.com the website owned (wish this wasn't real) by Trump to get all their news about the administration. Do you think owning a fucking propaganda outlet would be a conflict of interest as the President.
Don't worry his words are echoed onto to every major platform. There is no escape.
Edit: supposed to be truthsocial.com
Not the same thing. And truth.com isn't Truth Social. You made me wonder if it was worse than I realized, but I just loaded it and it's some bs that isn't his platform.
Whoops, I meant truthsocial.com.
Glad to see an "investment" tab on the official whitehouse page.
At least America isn't hiding it anymore. In a sense, it's a little freeing.
It's easy to say "Fuck America" now, even as an American.
Well, I don't think they're going to stop consuming all news. I'm sure they'll switch to liberal sources atleast.
No, they're really that stupid. That's why we have a problem with fundamentalist christians sending money to grifters in the USA. THEY ARE AS DUMB AS FUCKING ROCKS!
Good for them.
I can't believe things have actually gotten so bad that people are getting directly affected and realizing they fell for the propaganda machine. I had hoped this might help counteract the regime. Let's see if it does.
I know we gotta support people ammending their mistakes and all, but it's hard when he speaks like "Now we can turn the ship around and fix everything."
ICE already killed people, they aren't getting revived.
We can reverse his monetary problems at most and he talks as if that's the entire thing.
Most of the comments in this thread show exactly why Europe needs to get away from the US as far as possible, even if they do vote differently next time. Everything is set up to be polarizing, nothing has more than two options... democrat/republican, left/right, good/bad, winner/loosers, popular/unpopular, smart/dumb, ingroup/outgroup... and once you're pigeon-holed you can't ever be rehabilitated, because the other side won't let you. Come to think of it, that seems like a side-effect of internalized consumerism, "Broken? No need fixing, just get a new one!". Combined with American individualism, staging and making a huge fuss about themselves, plus the lefty urge to feel intellectually and/or morally superior (while chanting slogans against hierarchies and classism LOL) they will never be able to reconcile and just swing back and forth between political extremes ad infinitum. That country is a lost cause for at least my lifetime, we need to find allies that can deal with grey areas and know how to fix things, including relationships.
They won't. Most European countries are just like the US. Only 5 or 6 years behind. It's full of stupid emotional ppl who want simple solutions to difficult problems. They want to be able blame all their problems on someone else. Friedrich Merz, Macron, Keir Starmer are all versions of centrist democrats in their respective countries and all they're doing are leaving the public pissed off. All it would take is a charismatic right winger to come in and I guarantee things would look exactly the same as the US
No country in Europe has the idiotic power concentration that the US has... maybe Hungary has/had it but Orban was kicked out and the new government has an absolute majority to roll things back and make them more. We'll see how that goes, but the start looks promising. All countries in Europe have more than (de facto) two parties and many form coalitions... within the EU they are all somewhat dependent on other countries even. Most people and parties here still have the skill to make compromises. Also on average people here are more sceptical of shit that is spun around on "social" media and there's a mostly functional press landscape with far fewer billionaires involved than in the US. No offense, but what you claim sounds like you have zero clue about Europe... I guess I know which side of the pond you're from.
I live in Germany genius. I get to see first hand how your all easily scared and vote against your best interest all because of those "mmigrants". The AFD continue to get more and more votes every year. Italy voted in a facist sympathizer and Spain has nostalgia for Franco. You're thinking is exactly why things are getting worse. You have this holier than thou arrogance that makes you think you can never slip back into facism. And I get to watch all the same talking points ppl said about trump never getting elected get repeated while the population votes more and more right wing nuts in.
Living in France, Germany, and Spain has taught me you Europeans are all just as stupid, naive, and arrogant as Americans. The funniest part is all my german friends say most of Europe is 5 years away from looking exactly like the US
Edit: also European arrogance is honestly worse. American arrogance is from more of a place of ignorance/propaganda and white supremacy. European arrogance is more smug/vain but also comes from white supremacy
Wait until actual diversity approaches.
Well you can take the American out of the US, but you can't... never mind.
I would ask in what way I claimed I was "holier than thou", but frankly I don't care. I would also ask what media you consume, because it's clearly not giving you a differentiated picture. But you and your friends sound like the whiny, defeatist lefties (probably pretty young too), that are exactly why things sound like they are getting worse, leading to cozy self-imposed surrender, so again I don't care. Luckily I am seeing a growing number of people and organizations that are analyzing mistakes and creating ideas for the future and acting on them, which is why I am positive that Europe will not look like that failed state across the Atlantic in 5 years at all... I never claimed that we can never slide back into facism and I don't claim it will be a linear path, but as long as there's enough people doing effective shit against facism, which includes getting people out of those bubbles and welcoming them when they made it out, maybe even analyze how they got dragged into the right-wing narrative in the first place and getting active against those root causes as well, I'm hopeful. The doom-scrolling whiners that run away as soon as things get a bit uncomfortable won't help, but I don't see those being the majority.
Edit: Yeah, yeah, everything is white supremacy in the end... leftist folks have been sounding like broken records for years, having nothing to offer except pearl-clutching and online-outrage. That won't improve things, hasn't worked so far, won't work going forward.
Im in my mid 30s and my friends range from their 60's to their 20's. Plus Im a black dude. If theres one thing i can easily recognize its white arrogance and you're embarrassing need to sweep it under the rug is reminiscent of America. Europe is LITERALLY the home of white supremacy and you went around the world ransacking thE globe yet somehow you think it just magically ended after WW2.
Youre probably one of those city folks who never venture out into the country side and see the ignorance and hatred of those in rural communities who feel left behind. You yourself exist in a thought bubble because you probably only surround yourself with those that agree with you. Germany thought the Social Democrats would never work with the AFD but look what happened.
You can fight all you want but the biggest issue in american politics isnt leftist giving up. Its centrist siding with facist and thats exactly what's happening across Europe. You can be as hopeful as you want but as long as right wing politicians stoke the fans of hatred vs immigrants and ppl keep falling for it you're screwed. Id honestly say you're dumber because you can see the playbook playing in real time in America but you all keep falling for it. Imagine supporting the National Front, UK conservatives, AFD, or FDI after you saw what Trump was doing. Yet here we are
Yes here we are... still whining and misdiagnosing the root causes, and playing the "people who lived on the same continent of where you are now ages ago did bad things so you inherited guilt and must always be wrong". Exactly the divisive playbook that will not get anyone anywhere good. This is getting dull, have a good one and greetings from the country side (admittedly not the very poor and left-behind kind).
It's always "Not MY face!"
It's never about actual values or morals or rights or principles. It's never about concern for family, friends, neighbors, fellow citizens.
It's always "This isn't working out for ME."
Maybe it's the nature of the news business. Maybe there are some who are changing their minds more quietly, who don't get profiled in the news.
Zero forgiveness. Ignorance in this day and age should be made a felony.
Fuck them.
So NOW he regrets it, now that it affects him. Well too late now the country is destroyed. Does he really think the next person coming in is going to give away all that power. Sure things will just go right back to normal.
The stuff does scratch a certain itch, but I'm also moreso just so god damn tired of hearing about stupid fucking idiots that think they're stupid fucking choice that they now regret is news
how many times did they make this "mistake"?
Until they realized it was a mistake?
Let’s say someone moves to the UK from the US. They’ve figured out that you have to drive on the left side of the road instead of the right, but they didn’t know you can’t turn (left, not right) on a red light when there’s no traffic coming. So they do this several times.
A cop sees them do this and pulls them over. He informs them that this is illegal, and decides to be gracious and say, “since it’s your first mistake, I’m not going to write you up.”
Would you then pipe up from the back seat and say, “They actually turned on MANY red lights. They made this same mistake a lot of times!”
If people are going to change for the better, encourage that change. Don’t belittle them for not changing faster. We want people to be better.
Three.
Oh look there are consequences for our actions and we're still not through with the consequences oh no, fucking idiots.
It's well known that conservatives empathy is socially shallow (has to affect me or my family) and because of that trait I never really thought there would be a big shift in their thinking. But goddamn it if trump's fuck ups haven't done a speed run on changing views. When the man who is supposed to be looking out for the American people says "I don't think about how much the American people are hurting" and then acts accordingly you're going to get more MAGA people hitting that socially shallow empathy level.
Disillusioned by the subprime crisis?
That shit was driven by republican action and deliberate inaction.
Republican regulators prevented states from trying to crack down on predatory lenders and congress refused to impose oversight and pushed deregulation. The Bush administration allowed banks to begin “super leveraging”, iow they could lend even more than before yet have less in reserve, so when the crash happened there was no cushion. The repeal of the Glass-Stegall act got the ball rolling on creating these mega-banks that doubled down on bad lending, bought and sold bad loans, and then they all needed bailouts.
Republican deregulation and refusal to engage in oversight by both dems and repubs caused the crash.
I assume 'disillusioned with the Democrat party' after 2008 means the bank bailouts and lack of prosecution. Conservative brain is generally ok with businesses fucking the economy over, but they expect (at least ideologically) that companies will fail when that happens. Not their company, but nebulous companies that don't employ them or their friends.
TBH, I would have liked to see a lot more fraud cases come out of 2008. I would have liked to see banks get 'right sized' so there's no more "too big to fail."
Uhhhh... eh?
Hollow words from white fools following hate who never thought the hate would effect them.
Honestly, I doubt they've learned anything.
So I have zero fucks to give for you. None.
Bad news guys--dumb isn't something you just wake up one day cured from.
Well . . . no, but being lied to your whole life can be.
Can be.
No you're dumber than shit, and you've likely been dumber than shit your whole misbegotten existence.
'I made a mistake' people have spent their entire lives in prison for smoking weed and you think we should just turn around and continue to let you participate in society? Cuz you made an oopsie whoopsie and voted for what's happening in the country and it's just so happened to negatively affect you?
Fuck. That. Trump supporters are subhuman and their voting rights should be taken away.
Dude the Republican party has never cared about you, the last recession was caused by Bush and the Republican party. Trump has always been a fuckup. You're still idiots, I don't care if it took a mountain of bad things to happen for you to realize you might be wrong...
like goddamn, you want a cookie or something?
I expected the haters to dogpile on them - and rightfully so - but it’s also important to recognize that we’re in a little progressive bubble in here, and the majority of voting americans barely disagree with them.
Yes they got their share of being f*ked by trump policies and incompetence but that’s not the only thing they talked about. They talked about being in the cult. They called out Fox News. They said they “woke” up! *gasp*. And to cap off their newly minted vows to Satan, they actually voted Democrat! *shrieking*
Hell some of you fuckers haven’t even gone that far!
No, I kid, I kid. I’m just saying this is not the “They tooked mah jorb, but I still support ‘im”, this is a ‘holy shit we’re the baddies’ - in very early stages.
You want they should get violently assaulted, they should wear sandwich boards declaring their complete idiocy, they should never feel joy or contentment again - I get it. But in reality, that’s not going to happen. What might happen is they tell their new church friends or whatever that they have revised their opinion of foxnews and that’s progress.
Slow, slllooowww progress, but they did it themselves. And a lot of their former cultmates don’t have that in ‘em.
Wholeheartedly agreed.
lmao at the fact that these people might have done materially more for the nation than leftist vote protestors, but it's true! Remember: If you want to protest vote, vote third party. Not voting is useless and fails to signal the desire for change.
Congratulations on breaking out of the conditioning and cult, even if only recently.
You still voted for the Pedophile Party though. 3 times. Do better.
Zero congratulations. Fuck this turd and what he help create. This goes far beyond just America and his stupidity and utter ignorance and incompetence has affected the world.
He is the problem. Not just Trump or the GOP. These fucking idiot people who get to vote based on "feels" are the reason the whole fucking world is in this mess, not just the USA.
Has no job, struggling financially yet donates money to Trump who not only was a previous billionaire himself (was close to bankruptcy when he was running I think) but received donations from billionaires. Truely a new level of intelligence.
Negative IQ
Being dumb must hurt as much as it is blissful.
Former cult members explaining how to leave a cult.
... After the cult burned you and hurt billions of people globally and you want to separate yourself from the cause.
Tell that to the disappeared that went to the US concentration camps thanks to your trump vote
And will continue to vote republikkkan down the ballot every time...
Didn't the article say they're voting democrat from now on though? I don't get it
Good for them for trying to get through to the cultists and good on them for snapping out of it. That's not easy to do on your own in an identity cult. I still find them repulsive and have no desire to associate with them or people like them.
Fuck these Nazi fucks
hahaha fuck them
If these morons really wanted to do some good they'd shut the fuck up, stop forming opinions, and stop voting. Encourage their peers to do the same.They've clearly demonstrated that they're too fucking stupid to participate in the democratic process.
Six million Democrats sat out the last election, they have taken your words to heart
I'm GLAD these people FINALLY saw the Light and will STOP voting for
the SAME Politicians who KEEP putting them into This Mess!ONLY Donald J. Trump!So he's woke now?
I guess better late than never, if it sticks.
Do the type of people who are so easily fooled by Fox propaganda run back to Fox the next time the Dems do something distasteful to them like raising taxes to feed school children or trying to achieve energy independence by moving from oil to solar and wind?
"was"
I see a sudden turn towards socialism in his future....
Good. More!
Was??
I know it's cool to say "fuck you" when people say "i fucked up". Because it makes you a tough guy. Punishment and vengeance make you strong. So I really thank you all for your strong vengeful comments.
I do think part of the revelation where they were talking about fox news spoonfeeding them a narrative is pretty interesting. I'm not from the USA, but any time I visit, I'm mesmerized by the two parallel versions of reality on TV. Im memorized by how many places there is just a TV somewhere that is ON and has Fox News on it.
I don't think you fuckers fully comprehend how bonkers that is within the context of the rest of the world. You grow up with it do you think it's normal.
"Yeah of course as I traverse my environment there are propaganda boxes talking to me, so fucking what?"
Anyhow, I'll let you Americans keep circlejerking the "fuck yous" to this family which is trying to turn themselves and the country around, without giving any thought to the introspection they provided. I mean, if the USA has shown anything in the last 15 years, it's that you've got this all figured out.
You know what? Fuck you, my guy. This is just a television show for you; the rest of us are forced to live here. How fucking dare you criticize the anger people feel at the fucksticks who did this to us while you're sitting at a far remove mostly unaffected by the carnage?
Hm yeah good point, the insanity is the USA hasn't really affected the rest of the world very much.
Thanks for the reality check. Im glad that people with the level of rational comprehension to conclude that Trump hasn't really materially impacted the world outside the borders of the USA are making pragmatic and wise decisions. I can't stress enough, you're all doing a great job over there. We're all pretty impressed with you all right now.
You really can't help but be a smug asshole, can you?
I actually can't comprehend how one could make that accusation.
Like, step back for a second and just accept the reality that ylwe all need everyone who voted for the GOP death cult to stop that.
Then step back and say that when people DO that, instead of rewarded, or even ignored, they are viciously ATTACJED.
First by the HOP friends they left behind.
And then by the rest. They are making objectively better decisions, decisions that could literally save the world.
And then you absolute brainlets start dunking on them for it? This is behavior to encourage.
And why? Because you're mad? That's fucking pathetic. Grow the fuck up. We all get mad, that doesn't mean you're entitled to actively sabotage people moving away from the cult. It makes you feel better? I don't give two fucking shits about your dumbass feelings when that lunatic is starting wars and funding genocide. Get over it. Swallow your pride and when someone says "I realized MAGA is fucked" say "better late than never". If you're too pathetic to do that, feel free to just shut the fuck up.
Calling ME smug for pointing out YOU are actively sabotaging your OWN interests because YOU CAN'T HELP YOURSELF dunking on people who are actually helping to dislodge a dictator? Holy fucking shit the absolute delusion. No wonder your country is so fucked. I hear about the horrors of the US educational system. You honestly don't realize how incredibly stupid you are and it terrifies the rest of the world.
I ain't reading all that shit, bro. Go fuck yourself, you mad, whiny, smug bitch.
Tl;dr : your educational system has failed you.
Your most clever retort: Jokes on you, I can't read.
So then he is still a conservative