MAGA- America's prelude to Idiocracy

Dumber than Hell...and damned proud of it

Nov 23, 2023

Before I get myself all wound up here, seeing as how it’s Thanksgiving and all, I wanted to take a few moments to give thanks for what I have, ‘cuz I’m a pretty fortunate guy.

I’m thankful for my wife, Erin, who’s put up with my shit for long enough she should qualify for sainthood.

I’m thankful for my friends, who see through me and STILL let me hang with them.

I’m thankful for my family in the Pacific Northwest and the Upper Midwest. Some of y’all have put up with my shit even longer than Erin has. You’re welcome.

And last, but by no means least, I’m thankful for my readers. Without y’all, I’d be screaming into the void and wondering if anyone was paying attention. Thanks for being there; it’s like therapy without the couch…and the $150/hour invoices.

Jack

The greatest fool is not the person who has been fooled by the lies of others, despite how crafty and ingenious those lies might have been. Rather, it is the fool who has lied with such amazing dexterity and subtle finesse that he himself has come to believe his own lies. And this is the most forlorn and yet the most dangerous person that I can imagine.
Craig D. Lounsbrough

Lately, I’ve found myself asking a question I’m sure many of us have been asking with greater frequency: “Why are so many Trump supporters so stupid?” I ask that not because I’m trying to be disrespectful but because I’m objectively curious. Why are so many of those who support 45 so thoroughly f*****g brain-dead? If you’ve listened to interviews with supporters at Trump rallies, you know we’re not talking about MENSA candidates.

It’s a phenomenon I don’t recall being so widespread in the supporters of any other Presidential candidate in my lifetime. Most Trump supporters believe themselves to be genuinely intelligent and intellectually capable…until you begin to probe and ask them to explain why they support him. What you’ll find more often than not is that their arguments fall apart pretty quickly…if they have a coherent argument to begin with

The five videos I’ve included in this post weren’t selected with any intent to embarrass or shame anyone. They were chosen entirely at random. I wanted a purely random sample of the sort of idiocy Trumpers espouse. There are hundreds, perhaps thousands, of videos like these all over the Internet, chronicling the same phenomenon.

As much as I hate to put it like this, I can think of no other way but to be bluntly honest. These folks are dumb as Hell, and in a world where IQ mattered, they wouldn’t be allowed to vote. They’re too ill-informed and too intellectually bereft to understand that what they believe is bullshit.

There’s no reasoning with most Trump supporters. Most of them know what they know, believe what they believe, and no g*****n Librul will convince them to change their mind. Besides, what will the boys at the Moose Lodge say if they find out someone will vote for Joe Biden? They might as well announce that they’re going to show up at their local precinct naked and vote for Satan Incarnate.

Besides, what have Libruls ever done for them?

Do you mean besides the weekend? The 40-hour work week? Employment-related healthcare and other benefits? Social Security? Medicare?

Stop me if you’re having trouble keeping up….

For whatever reason, these intellectual giants believe Trump to be the bestest, most excellentest President EVAR. Even better than that Ross Perot guy…and wasn’t he a hoot!

There must be a reason why Trump supporters are walking, talking poster children for the Dunning-Kruger Effect.

Well, it turns out there is an explanation, something called motivated ignorance:

We avoid uncomfortable opinions and facts in the same way we avoid going for a root canal or taking out the trash. And we do it to maintain a sense of camaraderie and shared reality with our political teams.
Our brains are more interested in protecting our political groups than finding out the truth.
This “fundamental need for a shared reality with other people” all too often overshadows incentives to weigh evidence or to be objective when it comes to political discussions.
This is the dark truth that lies at the heart of all partisan politics. We automatically have an easier time remembering information that fits our worldviews. We’re simply quicker to recognize information that confirms what we already know, which makes us blind to facts that discount it. It’s the reason why, paradoxically, as we learn more about politics and politically charged issues, we tend to become more rigid in our thinking.

Motivated ignorance isn’t just a Right-wing phenomenon; it can affect those of us on the Left just as easily. It’s all about remembering information that conforms to our worldview. Some might know this as “confirmation bias,” but it’s about getting locked into a point of view that connects to what we believe and not being willing to let go, evidence be damned.

Evidence that contradicts our point of view and proves it false may cause an individual to become more rigid in their thinking.

Intelligent, clear-thinking, and intellectually open people don’t see being proven wrong as a threat. They’re willing to absorb new information and adjust their thinking and beliefs to accommodate new realities.

Most Trump supporters are so locked into their belief system that it becomes who they are. To question those beliefs is to undermine their conception of who they are and can crack the entire foundation of their existence.

These days, avoiding inconvenient and/or unpleasant information is easier than ever. Trump supporters don’t have to go to “Librul” MSNBC or CNN for their news and information. They can get everything they need from Fox News Channel.

That Fox News is a Right-wing propaganda generator is of no concern to those already sucking from the teat of the Right-wing information ecosystem. To them, Fox News is “fair and balanced.” How do they know this? Because Fox News has told them that for years, so long and so frequently that they’ve accepted it as the truth. Even when presented with evidence to the contrary, Trump supporters will continue to insist that Fox News is the only cable news they trust.

Motivated ignorance.

Right. They’ll believe without question the false story about Joe Biden deciding that Thanksgiving turkeys would cost $90. Why? Because they’ve been conditioned to believe any terrible thing that Fox News says about President Biden.

Garbage in. Garbage out.

There’s a committed core of American voters- probably somewhere in the neighborhood of $20- who’d vote for Donald Trump if he buggered a goat on a Thanksgiving Day Float in New York City. These folks are convinced he’s somehow going to make their lives better. They don’t realize that he doesn’t care about them…save for their vote, and once he has that, he’ll ignore them for four more years.

The 20 per cent or so of Americans who follow Trump no matter what, as opposed to the other 20 plus per cent who vote for him as a Republican or because they believe he’ll cut their taxes, are largely the forgotten, the ignored, the disrespected.
In the early 20th century, those in the southern and western United States resented the federal government, largely controlled by politicians from the northeastern reaches of the country.
The West was underpopulated and felt ignored; the South was angry over the loss of the Civil War, the harsh terms of Reconstruction and the end of slavery, which had fuelled the southern economy.
The West, especially California and Texas, is now an economic powerhouse, and no longer feels ignored. In the South, however, there is still a degree of resentment that southern views are not reflected in national policies. Trump has been trying to amplify this resentment with his defence of statues of Confederate heroes and of keeping the names of Confederate officers on military bases.

These 20% are drawn to Trump like a fly to horseshit. They know it won’t benefit them, but they can’t help themselves.

The same holds for Evangelical Christians, who sacrificed their morals and beliefs to throw in their lot with a man who’s a Christian like Jeffrey Dahmer was a vegan.

Evangelicals were seduced by a corrupt wannabe dictator who promised them a seat at the table of power, and it was that shot at power that seduced them into sacrificing everything they stood for. When all was said and done, Evangelicals proved themselves to be faithful Christians in the same way Hamas is about nonviolence.

Trump’s followers are a diverse alliance. Southerners who feel ignored are just one faction within a broad alliance of citizens who feel that the national government does not serve them. One other easily identifiable group are evangelical Christians.
Non-Americans tend not to realize the scope of evangelical Christianity in the United States and are often puzzled by the many references to God in speeches by politicians, especially federal politicians.
These are references to the idea that Americans are God’s chosen people. This is, however, not a homogeneous group, despite media generalizations. Not all are anti-abortion and anti-gay, but many have a sense that America is sliding backwards morally.
That explains why a segment of the movement supports a president who is almost certainly a serial adulterer — his speeches and his actions correspond with their concerns.
Trump was the first president to attend the annual March for Life this past January, and supporters also welcomed his appointment of social conservatives to the Supreme Court, bringing it closer, they believe, to overturning Roe vs. Wade, which legalized abortion.

Many love Trump for the simple reason that he hates the same people they do. Xenophobes, racists, homophobes, transphobes, and others who want America to be the property of White Conservative Christian Cisgender Heterosexuals are convinced that Trump speaks their language…and he does. He speaks their language not necessarily because he shares their hatred (though he probably does) but because he can read a crowd and tell them what they want to hear.

Notice anything about this crowd? All White faces, as far as you can see.

As was true throughout the 2020 Presidential campaign, violence will remain an ever-present threat in 2024. With Trump’s language becoming increasingly unhinged, it’s difficult to imagine him dialing back the rhetoric in the run-up to November 2024.

And then there’s the specter of January 6th that will be with us if Trump loses until the day Joe Biden retakes the Oath of Office.

Many who identify with these different groups may fall into more than one category; for instance, evangelical Christians who are angry about the de-industrialization of America.
Why are Trump supporters likely to make the situation worse this election?
The answer should be obvious. When a group feels that something critical has been denied them for a long time, its members will protest. If the protest still does not bring about change, some or all will resort to violence to try to force change.
Among the staunch Trump supporters are those who will merely vote for him, those who will demonstrate for him — something Trump encourages — and those who will use violence in order to ensure the re-election of the man they see as their only potential saviour. Violence is a real possibility as the campaign progresses.

Yes, the ignorance and arrogance of Trump supporters represent a significant hurdle for reasoned and rational public discourse leading up to Indecision 2024.

We feared that so much could go wrong in the 2020 Presidential election, only to see one of the freest and fairest elections this country has ever experienced. Through preparation and vigilance, we could see the same thing happen again. Or the process could degrade into chaos and violence.

Let’s give thanks today for still living in a free country. We can’t know what the next 11+ months hold for us, but we can hope for the best and ensure that we convince like-minded friends, family, and neighbors of the importance of voting. If we can create a high turnout on Election Day next year, we should be OK, but let’s not take things for granted. We can’t afford to get lazy…because you can bet the enemies of democracy sure as Hell will be working overtime.

Happy Thanksgiving, y’all!!

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