Starfish Who Can’t Think Something Witty @irhottakes.bsky.social
I feel like a lot of our political moment stems down to tens of millions of Americans literally incapable of imagining something worse than someone being annoying.
In all the old documentaries about the Nazis, they always stress how much turmoil and suffering the Germans endured under the Treaty of Versailles, Great Depression, and hyper inflation. Americans turned to fascism because they made us wear masks and put too many minorities on TV.
Alternatively, it’s a response to a very small shuffle to the left.
There was a robust left wing in 1920s Germany. There was a point when leftist parties and the early National Socialists were shooting at each other in the streets. German capitalists and the old landed gentry (the Junkers) freaked the fuck out and backed the Nazis.
The MAGA movement stems from the Tea Party, which itself is a response to Obama. The guy who can barely be called leftist at all. There’s a rumor that when he entered office and the financial crisis was at its worst, he told Wall Street tycoons that his Administration was the only thing standing between them and the pitchforks. No matter if it happened or not, I think that statement is correct, they knew it, and they loathed him for it. That slight move to the left–and racism was definitely part of it–sent them into orbit with rage, and Trump is the ultimate result.
As tempting as it is to shit on Americans and/or Republicans, no. This started with Nixon’s Southern Strategy and Obama did massively piss Republicans off so racism is a big part of all this, but while modern Republicans have it much better than 1920s-1930s Germans your portrayal ignores a very real and very significant decline in economic conditions for the average American over the past 40 years. Deindustrialization, loss of purchasing power, plain capitalist greed, housing crises all over and complicit neoliberal administrations on both sides of the aisle (anyone who thinks this is exclusively the Republicans’ fault needs to go read a history book) led to a situation in which people were hurting and nobody was providing solutions, even before you get into the decline of rural America specifically. I mean hell, even just firty years ago single-income households were actually a common thing before being destroyed by the two oil crises. It’s this underlying economic environment that makes it appealing to find a boogeyman to pin all your problems on and persecute, and what does this lead to? You guessed it, fascism. It’s no coincidence that successful progressive politicians* tend to get at least some support from Republican voters; people are looking for solutions, not specifically for fascism.
*Most recently Obama and Bernie.
America had always had race based fascism / a race based caste system. Obama becoming president kinda broke the nations psych so the full blown fascism came out.
No democratic nominee has won the majority of the white vote since the civil rights act passed.
You may not like it but Americans have been suffering for decades as well. They also keep saying this is the best economy ever when everyone is dying because they can’t get healthcare. Our suicide rates have BEEN high. Wage theft is rampant and there is no way to thrive. You can barely survive. The playing field may have changed to look more glamorous but the toll on our psyche has not. We are suffering and history will show the true depth of it even as our government denies we have a recession or depression. Hundreds of thousands sleeping in tents that get swept up once a month. We ARE suffering. We ARE enduring turmoil. We just aren’t allowed to admit to it because why? We have internet now? How much is the intent costing? More debts. This phone I have in my hand on a payment plan costs more in debts than the Germans could even imagine. That weighs on people. We are absolutely suffering.
This is where the cognitive dissonance shows up. One party tried to push health care for all, cheaper education, relief from loans, and the other did absolutely everything they could to worsen the situation if not outright sabotage it. Yet that same fascist side is the one that people wanted, that offered no real solutions, and unquestionably stated they were going to implement policy that would cause more harm to those already down on their luck. But that didn’t matter. Nationalism, prejudice, and (troll-farm assisted social media) hate for their opponents won instead of supporting policy that would actually have helped.
That’s ignoring the fact that the election was rigged. Trump straight up bragged about it, but no one did a thing.
One party tried to push health care for all, cheaper education, relief from loans,
Uh… No? Democrats had a supermajority that one time and decidedly did not codify healthcare for all. And, you know, they’re the ones keeping the filibuster around, so all that progress they’re supposedly trying to achieve is being sabotaged by them. Point being: If they actually wanted any of these things, they would’ve made them reality rather than make up reasons for why they couldn’t. When Republicans make concrete policy promises they actually get them done or make a real effort to do so, while Democrats for the most part don’t. Democratic bad faith is as important a part in all this as Republican fascism.
Don’t forget about like 5 trans people doing sports.
You are forgetting the horror of asking people to not be dicks to people because of race or gender.
“How dare my made up perception of you disrupt my day!” - Kevin & Karen.
“Let’s enter the 4th Reich because we don’t want someone who is bubbly leading us.”
I think it’s more the American people still won’t accept a woman as president.
Those Americans would vote for a woman as long as she said that women, minorities, and immigrants are inferior to them.
… what?
Something something her laugh.
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