Why Trump has won

[abaris]

We think of it in terms of that little 4 square grid but it's more of a circle.  The far right and far left have pretty much everything in common except for the subjects to which they apply their shared tendencies.  They certainly have more in common with each other than either does with a centrist.

Ever noticed that dark red is only a shade removed from turning brown?

That's what I used to say when there actually was a far left. But, as I said repeatedly, they seem to have died out these days. At least the political and organised left.

[Edwardo Piet]

We think of it in terms of that little 4 square grid but it's more of a circle.  The far right and far left have pretty much everything in common except for the subjects to which they apply their shared tendencies.  They certainly have more in common with each other than either does with a centrist.

(obvs I only mean that as it relates to the american scene...which has been nosediving collectively into authoritarianism regardless of it's being left or right- no idea how it plays out elsewhere)

Maybe with the groups but not necessarily with individuals. The member Gemini, here on AF, is both one of the most liberal people I've ever known and one of the nicest people I've ever known. So it's certainly possible to be very Left without being authoritarian about it. This is why I think it's more of a case of the so-called 'regressive Left' not actually being Left at all rather than them being authoritarian about it. The 'regressive left' is people pretending to be liberal. It's people who care more about seeming liberal than being liberal. SJWs are all about appearances, drama, and playing the "I'm offended so shut the fuck up" card. They don't care about being liberal, they only care about pretending to be liberal. It's all a self-image thing rather than a genuine political identity thing. SJWs don't give a fuck about politics they only care about how their politics appears to other people and how it affects their self image. And they sure as hell like calling dramas when anyone offends them or threatens their image.

My bolding.

[The Grand Nudger]

It's possible, but ofc it's also possible to have voted for trump whilst not being an explicitly racist shitlord (gotta leave room for the shitlord sympathizers).  I know we want to think that they're just "pretending" to be liberal....just like Tibs likes to imagine that there are people "pretending" to be libertarians.

Nope.  That;s what these people have been taught and have taken liberal to be and to mean.  They aren;t pretending..and becauise these terms aren;t a set of golden tablets handed down from on high and set in unchangeable type....it's actually what  liberals -are- now...despite the existence of a holdout here and there like Gemini.....just as surely as republicans were the party of lincoln and democrats were the party of the jim crow south.

[Fireball]

It's possible, but ofc it's also possible to have voted for trump whilst not being an explicitly racist shitlord (gotta leave room for the shitlord sympathizers).  I know we want to think that they're just "pretending" to be liberal....just like Tibs likes to imagine that there are people "pretending" to be libertarians.

Nope.  That;s what these people have been taught and have taken liberal to be and to mean.  They aren;t pretending..and becauise these terms aren;t a set of golden tablets handed down from on high and set in unchangeable type....it's actually what  liberals -are- now...despite the existence of a holdout here and there like Gemini.....just as surely as republicans were the party of lincoln and democrats were the party of the jim crow south.

Bolding mine. There are a lot of people in the US in this category, mainly the people who aren't in the big cities "where all that liberalism lies". I know many of them. But the part that bothers me is that they swallow the koolaid without an analytical bone in their bodies, ignoring the insane shit that flies out of his mouth, only to be contradicted by more insane that flies out of his mouth 5 minutes later.

[Edwardo Piet]

Nah, there are plenty of people who don't really give a fuck about politics and only care about their image and playing the offence card with their pseudo-liberalness. Social Justice Warriors are those very people and the so-called 'regressive Left' are very much SJWs.

[The Grand Nudger]

Ham, you're not reading me.  They think that politics -is- image and offense...how do you think we keep ending up with hollow shells of human beings as candidates?

[abaris]

Ham, you're not reading me.  They think that politics -is- image and offense...how do you think we keep ending up with hollow shells of human beings as candidates?

Money in politics.

[The Grand Nudger]

-and money is all about advertising - image. Why on earth would money attach itself to a principled candidate? They want a gamer with a brand.

[Homeless Nutter]

[Edwardo Piet]

Ham, you're not reading me.  They think that politics -is- image and offense...how do you think we keep ending up with hollow shells of human beings as candidates?

Doesn't change the fact that politics isn't image and offence. What they think is irrelevant to what it actually is. Projecting spurious pseudo-political fake opinions to mask an egoistic two-faced hypocritical agenda that doesn't actually hold political viewpoints and is all about self-rationalization and maintaining one's own individual self-image like a SJW (that doesn't really give a fuck about social justice and only cares about the appearance of it) =/= a political view.

I am reading you.

My bolding.