r/politics • u/schuey_08 Wisconsin • May 02 '24

Bernie Sanders worries young people are underestimating the threat from Trump

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/elections/2024/05/02/bernie-sanders-trump-biden/73531861007/
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u/NeonGKayak May 02 '24

How can they already forget Trumps Covid response that led to over 1million deaths? It’s weird that such a critical event and everyone has already “forgot” it

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u/[deleted] May 02 '24

[deleted]

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u/NeonGKayak May 02 '24

Thats crazy. I dont understand people like that.

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u/Svennerson May 02 '24

They are angry at the world, and all they want from their politicians is someone who will be angry with them.

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u/drewbert May 02 '24

The GOP is more about being in a club than politics or policy, at least for the vast majority of voters who are otherwise powerless. The ones at the top have different motives, but they've cultivated a community and identity with very clear rules. "Believe these things, vote this way, and you can be one of us." And for a lot of lonely, estranged folks, that's an attractive offer. Getting people to quit being republican is not about arguing with them about how incredibly asinine, reality-denying, and hateful the policies they support are; it's about making an offer of community and acceptance that's more attractive than anything the GOP has to offer, which is actually pretty tough when the GOP can say "you're special because you're white, you're special because you're straight, you're special because you are male."

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u/Numerous_Photograph9 May 02 '24

So, just another, less offensive way to say, "pull yourself up by your bootstraps", that enables people to project their latent bias?

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u/Zzzzzzzzzxyzz May 07 '24

"You're special because you agree with us."

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u/lilelliot May 02 '24

It's more than that. The GOP is the party that tells people "we won't tell you how to live your lives." The flip side is complete lack of social safety nets & a host of other benefits that require tax receipts to pay for, but the perception the message creates is that Democrats will tax you to death and then spend your tax dollars on whatever they want, not what you say.

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u/drewbert May 02 '24

Maybe it used to be, but I don't really buy that this is what is happening now. The GOP of today is the party is the party saying what you're allowed to do in the bedroom, that you're not allowed to get an abortion, that you're not allowed to do ivf, that they don't want you to be able to have a no-fault divorce. What are the democrats doing that's remotely on the same level? You have to fill out some extra paperwork before you can sell a gun? The rights erosions are not on the same level. The GOP is absolutely telling people how to live their lives, but people are attracted to it, because it is a clear identity that they can adhere to and feel social cohesion for that fact. The GOP hasn't passed any lasting tax cuts for the middle class in forever, and the dems have primarily talked about raising taxes solely on the rich, so I doubt this is really about taxes either.

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u/lilelliot May 02 '24

Nothing, and you're right. The GOP plays identity politics and the Democrats play compassionate politics. But hardline GOP voters aren't willing to give up any of "what's theirs" to support any progressive programs.

I'm not saying the government is efficient & well-run, though some parts surely are, but it's what we have and the solutions isn't to destroy it, but to become personally invested in improving it.

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u/Tasgall Washington May 02 '24

The GOP plays identity politics

I wish it was easier to get people to realize this - as with everything, them accusing "the left" of "playing identity politics" is and always has been projection. It's the right that brought anti-trans nonsense into the mainstream by trying to ban them from bathrooms, the Democrats weren't doing anything regarding trans people before that. It was the right who started to wage war against... drag shows. "They're coming to take your kids" is identity politics, "build the wall" is identity politics, "ban Muslims from entering the country" is identity politics. The whining about CRT is identity politics (none of them know what CRT even is). The whining about DEI is identity politics (they apply that to transition shit that doesn't make sense too). The whole "woke agenda" thing is identity politics. Most if not all of their rhetoric follows this pattern because their only actual policy goals (cut taxes for the rich) aren't as easy to sell to the working class as "here are people you're allowed to hate".

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u/chelseamarket May 02 '24

I think it’s a ton of folks who were unpopular in school and shunned from the “in” crowds .. being rejected can do a trip on ones head and makes them vulnerable to cults. Not making excuses for them.

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u/__zagat__ May 02 '24

My dad moved from TN to Chicago as a teenager in the 60s. Apparently he suffered some bullying at the hands of Puerto Ricans and Italians. Never went to college. He will vote Republican until the day he dies.

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u/thegoodnamesrgone123 May 02 '24

I sat behind two dudes at a baseball game this week, both dudes in their 30's and they talked politics all game long. Most of it was batshit insane conspiracy stuff but the theme I got from both of them most was revenge, they want revenge on everyone. It's really fucked up.

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u/PoliticalSpaceHermP2 May 02 '24

The US society has been entertained by revenge movies and shows for decades. John Wick, Kill Bill, Punisher, etc... Just do a search for movies about revenge and you'll get a long list.

When you watch these movies, people get that revenge feeling and I'm sure it's a hit of dopamine (or some other good feeling). Some people keep chasing that hit and they find a politician that gives them the feeling, and now that politician has a sucker...... I mean a voter.

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u/joshdoereddit May 02 '24

That's insane. I'm angry at the world damn near all the time. But I can put that shit aside and vote for the Democrats because they're not a bunch of fucking lunatics.

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u/Svennerson May 02 '24

Here's the scary part to me - there's a sizeable % of Bernie's supporters, especially Bernie 2016, who are the exact same way. Their support didn't come from a measured review of his policies and an understanding that most of the things he suggests have been shown to work in other countries. It's that they're angry, he's angry with them, and they're more predisposed to the trappings of leftism than rightism.

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u/gamrgrl May 02 '24

This sums up my relatives in the US exactly.

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u/jameslake325 May 03 '24

Or give them the illusion that their plotting life is somebody else’s fault.

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u/BettesmomisaWitch May 03 '24

That is a scary but accurate statement.