100

ITT: we take bets on the shooters ideology (hexbear.net)

submitted 4 months ago by ZZZZedong@hexbear.net to c/chapotraphouse@hexbear.net

84 comments fedilink hide all child comments

1.Blue Maga

2.Neo nazi who doesnt like Trumps Zionism

3.Actual Leftist

4.other

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments

[-] happybadger@hexbear.net 28 points 4 months ago

        Radlib of some kind. It doesn't make sense to me as a leftist. I agree with SorosFootSoldier that qanon goober would be another likely bet, but the only two political shootings I can think of from the democratic base were both social democrats- the baseball field shooting and that one outside a bar in Ohio. Adventurism makes sense if you're a liberal drunk on Great Man Theory without any kind of actual sociopolitical theory that'd give you something beyond it.

[-] Riffraffintheroom@hexbear.net 12 points 4 months ago

I have a hard time reconciling great man theory being bullshit with Trump being the only American arch-conservative with the special sauce.

[-] happybadger@hexbear.net 11 points 4 months ago

Hogs are hogs. If someone feeds them slop they squeal for that person. Trumpism isn't unique at all from run of the mill fascism and a fascist just speaks to the crowd.

[-] Riffraffintheroom@hexbear.net 2 points 4 months ago

Yes but hogs have short attention spans and expect to be entertained at all times. If not Trump, who could and would have done that and kept it going? Vince McMahon? There’s lots of people in America who want to be fascist leaders, but Donald Trump is one perhaps uniquely suited to it and positioned for it.

[-] happybadger@hexbear.net 1 points 4 months ago

He has a unique wrestling/television background for presentation, but nothing he says or how he communicates it is original or limited to him. He's speaking to the crowd and saying 50% more of the quiet part out loud for bog standard right-wing policies. All the next crop of far-right politicians has to do is speak to the crowd with the same lack of filter. If the market still exists someone not on my radar will fill that niche in the same way that I think there are probably plenty of decent-ish left-leaning politicians that we don't see on democratic tickets because the democratic machine currently suppresses them. Even if it's just the-republican , that's probably a winning electoral strategy when the opponent is brump .

[-] Wheaties@hexbear.net 8 points 4 months ago

The "special sauce" is that he's seasoned television personality first, and a politician at distant second. He knows what looks good on stage. He's got the theatrical instinct (arguably the only real skill he has). He's willing to court an audience, there's an audience that wants to be courted.

We're a TV-brained people, us yankees. It's how we get our ideas of the world. But there's a contradiction that comes with it - we can't help but compare the television show to our actual lived experience. For a lot of people, Donald Trump gives them permission to do what they were going to do anyway. He sells them the dream that the disconnect between television and lived experience will go away if they just keep watching TV. Specifically watch him. And buy his merch.

Great Man Theory would see him authoring events. He's done no such thing. Events author him - he just happens to embody a pretty core contradiction in american society. If he never existed... someone else would fill the niche. Probably not in the same way, or to the same timetable. But the potential would still be there, would find someone to fill the void.

[-] Riffraffintheroom@hexbear.net 3 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago)

Thanks for the in-depth reply and that’s a great point about Trump being a media personality who became a politician rather than vice versa. But I’m not entirely sure I agree someone else would fill the niche were it not for Trump. They tried to find a replacement trump for the first few years of the Biden administration, and even as late as last year they were still at it and nobody worked. I agree that Trump was the right guy at the right moment, but doesn’t Trump’s position in culture perpetuate and the extend that moment? No one can know for sure but the world may well have moved on from where it was in 2015 had Trump never gotten into politics.

Great Man Theory would see him authoring events. He's done no such thing. Events author him

This is very accurate and concise. Gonna use this in the future.

[-] StalinStan@hexbear.net 3 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago)

He is a WWE hall of fame wrestler. Just like Plato said. Wrestling is thr key to all philosophy.

Also, all the politicians go out of their way to be unlikeable. All they have to do is offer us anything and we go wild. It is a deliberate political strategy to keep us unenguaged. Any one of them could just break ranks and be cool and win. They are all just too dedicated to making money off thr system to do that