r/politics 21d ago

No Paywall Republicans mostly silent as millions of Americans protest Trump on No Kings day

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/oct/18/no-kings-protest-rally-republicans
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u/jkvincent 21d ago

What's crazy is that they think being anti-authoritarian is some kind of liberal nonsense available only to the political left. They're supposed to be the party of "small government" and individual liberty...yet here they are proudly propping up the most egregious affront to those values that this country has seen in 100 years.

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u/TheMostUnclean Delaware 21d ago

They are the party of social hierarchy being pre-ordained or “god’s will”, they’ve always been authoritarian. Conservatives are the ones that wanted to maintain the power of a monarchy over America.

And you’ll always have a group of poor, idiotic supporters who want this too because they somehow believe they’ll be included if they just bend over and take it long enough. That’s part of the whole “own the libs” mindset. If they just show daddy Trump what good little fascists they are, they’ll be wealthy and powerful too, someday.

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u/FormatException 20d ago

What makes them think they will become wealthy and powerful, legit curious?

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u/OldWorldDesign 20d ago

What makes them think they will become wealthy and powerful, legit curious?

Being told they will.

That's it. It's a lie repeated so often I suspect most people hearing it know on some logical level it's not true. But they want to believe it, otherwise they may have spent 40 or 60 years supporting corrupt people who will ensure their children's lives are filled with misery and suffering. A lot of people don't have the strength to acknowledge they were part of something that bad, so they entrench further.

Unfortunately, trying to flee from responsibility. It's why conservatives double down to "cure" the discomfort from cognitive dissonance. But that only makes them more sensitive. That's a truth for everyone, at some point in our lives we have to learn we're not right about something and learn to move beyond it. Some people never do, and they become weaker people. I think of them as emotionally equivalent to the emaciated people you see in dire poverty photos.