The answer to how Trump has succeeded is really simple: He lies nonstop, and lying works. Sure, there are other factors in play—he tapped into and intensified a certain strain of profound proletarian resentment of liberal elites, and … well, that’s about it. But mostly, it’s the lies.

…And, to reiterate, Trump tells many such lies a day. He talks to the press two or three times a day most days, which probably adds up to what, 45 minutes, an hour? Spitballing it at one lie every two minutes, which may well be low, that’s around 25 factual lies a day.

    • hume_lemmy@lemmy.ca
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      14 hours ago

      The point I’m making is exactly what I wrote. The majority of voters either voted for Trump, OR looked at Trump - a verifiably incompetent lunatic who’d had one term already and fucked everything up - and said “Meh… whatever happens, happens”. They did NOT vote to keep him out.

      • RememberTheApollo_@lemmy.world
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        13 hours ago

        Again. The MAJORITY of voters did NOT vote for trump. Read what I wrote. You are wrong. As for “not voting against trump”, that’s the same as not voting to keep the sky blue. You can’t prove a negative.

        • hume_lemmy@lemmy.ca
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          13 hours ago

          I never said they voted FOR Trump. Read what I wrote. Not making a choice is itself a choice. 77.3M voted for Trump. 75M voted for Harris. 89.2M stuck their thumbs up their asses and didn’t express an opinion. 77.3M + 89.2M is a majority. I don’t care if it was malevolence, negligence, indifference or apathy. It was abundantly clear that Trump was going to do bad things. They either thought those bad things were going to be good, or they didn’t think the bad things would happen to them.

          When evil triumphs don’t try to plead the morality of “good men who did nothing”.

          • RememberTheApollo_@lemmy.world
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            11 hours ago

            Most Americans did not vote for Trump.

            Here’s how it works: US Population, adult over 18: ~250 million.

            Of that population, ~244 million are eligible to vote.

            Of eligible voters, only 63.9% voted.

            Of the 63.9%, less than half, 49.8%, went to Trump.

            To re-emphasize that point, Trump did not get more than 50%.

            As far as not voting against trump being a vote for trump, I’m not going to entertain that at all. Might as well say they were for Putin to be president, the flying spaghetti monster to be president, whatever.

            • hume_lemmy@lemmy.ca
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              9 hours ago

              Putin wasn’t on the ballot. FSM wasn’t on the ballot. Harris and Trump were on the ballot, and the US has a first-past-the-post electoral system (to its demerit) and like it or not if you didn’t endorse the loser you implicitly endorsed the winner. It’s zero-sum. That’s how it works. Trump now represents you, the entirety of the US of A, whether you like it or not.

              People who shout “it’s not my fault, I didn’t vote!” are just trying to abdicate their responsibility and excuse their pathetic passivity. Nobody gives a shit.

              “I didn’t drown that little girl in the pool. I stood there and watched her drown, but I didn’t drown her. How dare you imply I’m culpable?”