They’re not stupid. These voters see government as a means to enact cruelty on outgroups they don’t like. That’s why they vote for cruel people who don’t care about hurting others. They are not stupid. They know exactly what they are voting for and are overwhelmingly supportive if it.

▲ AlecSchueler a day ago | parent | next [-]

That sounds so incredibly short sighted I think it could still be reasonably described as stupid.

▲

ryandrake a day ago | parent [-]

We shouldn’t excuse these voters as merely stupid, like they’re just innocently ignorant or uninformed. They are deliberately malevolent, and vote specifically for cruel, terrible politicians because they, themselves are cruel and terrible people and desire such representation.

And they are not just supporting cruelty. They are cheering and screaming for it. They want more.

	▲	AlecSchueler a day ago \| parent \| next [-]
		It's no excuse at all, just pointing out that the malevolent/stupid dichotomy is a false one.
	▲	SantalBlush a day ago \| parent \| prev [-]
		I feel like my understanding of politics dramatically improved once I considered that some voters are malevolent. Some voters consciously support inhumane policies, but due to social pressure, they feel that they can't be truthful about it. So they will claim to be in favor of more socially acceptable policies, but vote against those policies giving some nonsensical reason, and it gives the appearance of stupidity.

▲ ModernMech a day ago | parent | prev [-]

I've spent some time reading r/leopardsatemyface, and there's just an unending stream of people who say something like "I didn't vote for this. I voted to inflict this cruelty upon other people, but now that it's coming for me I'm upset. Please redirect this toward people who deserve it. That being said I still support Trump."

This quote from 2019 really sums it up:

  “I voted for him, and he’s the one who’s doing this... I thought he was going to do good things. He’s not hurting the people he needs to be hurting.” [1]

The "good thing" he needs to do to according to this voter is "hurt people who deserve it".

I've honestly tried to avoid this conclusion for years, thinking there has to be more to it, but at long last it seems there's not. People want to hurt other people, and they see Trump as their vehicle to do so, because that's what he promises; "I am your justice...I am your retribution" was his literal campaign pitch. [2]

[1] https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2019/1/8/18173678/tr...

[2] https://www.c-span.org/clip/campaign-2024/former-pres-trump-...

	▲	FireBeyond 3 hours ago \| parent [-]
		What's the quote? "A Republican would happily eat dog shit if he thought a Democrat would have to smell his breath".