Front Office Football Central - View Single Post

Solecismic · 06-05-2023, 01:31 PM

One important question is what percentage of the new Republican base is devoted to Trump in that manner.

We're all familiar by now with the Twitterizing of the media. Most stories now are about reactions. Reporters sit in their bedrooms and trawl the twitterverse for the most extreme commentary, then those reactions become the story.

The intent is to manufacture clicks out of nothing. No investment in reporting. The result is an industry that makes its money from the division of America. I think Alinksy's rules apply quite well to the media these days.

So when we see a story about the "other" side, whichever side, it's usually an example of Twitterizing. By no means representative of the majority of the people. The vast majority of Democrats do not dress up in drag and molest children. The vast majority of Republicans do not wish to return to a time when women and black people had no rights.

It's my hope that we have some items here that don't devolve into that, but I get accused of "bothsiderism" when I say that, so I try not to say that too much.

Primaries are designed by parties to protect those in power. Unfortunately for the Republicans, the apple cart was turned over in 2016 because Trump figured out how to beat the system. He tapped into voter frustration with the system. We talk about outsiders and populism all the time, but it almost never comes together like that. We get outsiders who remain at 2%. We get populists who simply repeat the party line. Perot is the only other person who even came close in my lifetime and he didn't have much interest in joining either party. He ended up being the guy who ended the Reagan run by splitting the Republicans more thoroughly than the Democrats. They never quite recovered.

Trump simply took a party (strangely enough, the party he didn't register with for much of his politically active life) and made it his own. He has no overriding political philosophy. He has governed... oddly. Sometimes he defers to the Republican core (his relatively new position on abortion rights being the most notable) and sometimes he doesn't. Maybe that appeals to a lot of people. His greatest political talent seems to be in understanding how to get voters interested in him - positively or negatively. He seems to benefit from both.

The numbers suggest one person would have a tough time beating him. One person divided ten ways... impossible. How people like Pence don't see this is a mystery. I guess in order to seek a major public office one must have a blind spot when it comes to not seeing the bigger picture. In order to beat Trump, someone has to inspire people, not slowly build a political machine that roams the Iowa countryside.

06-05-2023, 01:31 PM	#80
Solecismic Solecismic Software Join Date: Oct 2000 Location: Canton, OH	One important question is what percentage of the new Republican base is devoted to Trump in that manner. We're all familiar by now with the Twitterizing of the media. Most stories now are about reactions. Reporters sit in their bedrooms and trawl the twitterverse for the most extreme commentary, then those reactions become the story. The intent is to manufacture clicks out of nothing. No investment in reporting. The result is an industry that makes its money from the division of America. I think Alinksy's rules apply quite well to the media these days. So when we see a story about the "other" side, whichever side, it's usually an example of Twitterizing. By no means representative of the majority of the people. The vast majority of Democrats do not dress up in drag and molest children. The vast majority of Republicans do not wish to return to a time when women and black people had no rights. It's my hope that we have some items here that don't devolve into that, but I get accused of "bothsiderism" when I say that, so I try not to say that too much. Primaries are designed by parties to protect those in power. Unfortunately for the Republicans, the apple cart was turned over in 2016 because Trump figured out how to beat the system. He tapped into voter frustration with the system. We talk about outsiders and populism all the time, but it almost never comes together like that. We get outsiders who remain at 2%. We get populists who simply repeat the party line. Perot is the only other person who even came close in my lifetime and he didn't have much interest in joining either party. He ended up being the guy who ended the Reagan run by splitting the Republicans more thoroughly than the Democrats. They never quite recovered. Trump simply took a party (strangely enough, the party he didn't register with for much of his politically active life) and made it his own. He has no overriding political philosophy. He has governed... oddly. Sometimes he defers to the Republican core (his relatively new position on abortion rights being the most notable) and sometimes he doesn't. Maybe that appeals to a lot of people. His greatest political talent seems to be in understanding how to get voters interested in him - positively or negatively. He seems to benefit from both. The numbers suggest one person would have a tough time beating him. One person divided ten ways... impossible. How people like Pence don't see this is a mystery. I guess in order to seek a major public office one must have a blind spot when it comes to not seeing the bigger picture. In order to beat Trump, someone has to inspire people, not slowly build a political machine that roams the Iowa countryside.