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Of course it's a generalization, I'm explicitly generalizing.

But, I should note, I'm not speaking on conservatism or the GOP in general. I'm speaking on, specifically, far-right populist messaging, current-day known as MAGA.

This is a different, but related, beast. I'm confident in speaking on it in this way because populism, by it's nature, appeals to the lowest common denominator in order to be successful. We can make a lot of assumptions about populist movements because we know how, and why, populism works. MAGA operates less like a policy set and more like a Cult, like populist movements of the past.

And, to my original point, if I were to explain to you some of the objectively awful things the Trump administration is doing right now, I am very confident you would have no choice but to use the 4-step game plan written above to dismiss it.

When you have subscribed to a religion, you have no choice but to use the powers of divination and faith to argue. The populist movement never had any logical backing to begin with, so you cannot just conjure one out of nowhere.

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lazyeye 4 days ago | parent [-]

You say alot of words without much content.

You dont think there could be any logical reason why 77 million Americans voted for Trump?

You don't think alot of contemporary Democrat beliefs could also be described as a religion that people blindly follow no matter how stupid or extreme?

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const_cast 4 days ago | parent [-]

> You dont think there could be any logical reason why 77 million Americans voted for Trump?

No. Well there is, but not in the way you're thinking.

Far-right populist messaging works because the message is good and designed to cater to as many people as possible.

It plays into people's emotions and sense of identity. It calls upon a sense of national pride and creates an enemy within. It plays into the ego of MAGA cultists, proclaiming them to be the true Americans while those around them are lazy, on handouts, and don't deserve to be here.

> You don't think alot of contemporary Democrat beliefs could also be described as a religion that people blindly follow no matter how stupid or extreme?

Sure, some of it, yeah. There are, after all, populists in the democratic party.

But the democratic party is almost all right-leaning ultra-capitalists. There really are next to no extremists in the democratic party. The only reason you may believe otherwise is because of - you guessed it - far-right populist messaging. MAGA would like for you to believe that the democrats are baby eaters, pedophiles, and communists. Of course, it's just not true. Please see "enemy within" above, sense of national pride, appeal to emotion (harming children) etc etc.

> You say alot of words without much content.

No, I think what's happening is you don't understand what I'm saying or are choosing not to process it, and instead just kind of going "nuh uh!".

"nuh uh!" might have worked before the election. Now that MAGA is destroying the US from the inside out and posting Deportation ASMR while committing crimes against humanity, the "nuh uh" doesn't work. I'm sorry, you have no plausible deniability. You can continue to avoid accountability, but that doesn't change reality happening around you.

	▲	lazyeye 4 days ago \| parent [-]
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