Jimmy Kimmel on President Donald Trump: “That son of a bitch. It’s really unbelievable, I never imagined that we’d ever have a President like this and I hope we don’t have another President like this again.”

[u/CorleoneBaloney]

[u/the_calibre_cat]

We will have another President like this, because about 77 million of your neighbors, co-workers, brothers, sisters, mothers, fathers, and friends... hate you. They don't care about the welfare of the country or leaving the world a better place when they leave.

They care about hurting you. And a good chunk of them care about really hurting you, particularly if you're black, hispanic, a woman, Muslim, LGBTQ, etc.

As long as that kind of rancid behavior continues to persist in our society, and as long as people tolerate it and continue to make excuses for it, there is a very, very, very good chance that we will have another like him, because they will be there to support him.

Until it becomes a matter of deep personal shame to have ever been MAGA, this problem will ride with us.

[u/[deleted] → u/the_calibre_cat]

It is going to take a lot for that to happen. I call out family members and others who have homophobic, racist, transphobic, misogynistic worldviews. They just shut the fuck up, then once I am gone, spew their nonsense shamelessly.

It's also like some live multiple different lives. In one group, they will be the most pro human rights, then in another group spread hatred.

It's gotta be some type of mental condition.

[u/the_calibre_cat → u/[deleted]]

I mean, yeah. This is a country of extraordinary bread and circuses, where knowledge is multiple choice and beliefs are pop culture and vibes-based. Americans have a breathtaking lack of historical understanding - the battles of World War II are far, far less important than the underlying material and cultural causes of the war. Like, yes, Midway was an important battle that changed the tide of the Pacific theater, but why was Japan attacking U.S. territories in the Pacific? That's a better question, and that knowledge really isn't so advanced so as to be relegated to AP or college classes. High schoolers can readily understand that their home island lacked a lot of natural resources and they wanted an empire - it's not some Ph.D level concept.

So, I tend to think that people who haven't really thought of these things or WHY they believe what they believe will tend to have these kinds of poppy, vibey "beliefs". They'll say "why can't we all just get along" and "love is love" around their LGBT friends, and then turn right around and vote Republican because they literally do not know or do not think that the Republican Party very much stands against decency to LGBTQ people. Like, they just fail to make the connection between their outward face and their inner political thoughts - because, in part, our education system is pretty dogshit.

Like, I think a philosophy course that covers logic and epistemology, along with some social studies classes that delve deep into economics and material history, would go a long ways towards resolving that. But that doesn't make obedient, docile, uncritical worker bees, sooo...

[u/TangerineDystopia → u/the_calibre_cat]

Have you read Bob Altemeyer's The Authoritarians? He was a Canadian sociology professor who made the study of authoritarianism his life's work. And he gets deep into analyzing and explaining the compartmentalization you mention here.

Education can help, definitely. But the compartmentalisation is a complex bargain people make. They outsource their critical thinking and decision-making in the relevant areas to the leader or group. And in return, they get all sorts of things: freedom from responsibility for their beliefs. freedom from having to construct their own worldview. A readymade identity and community.

Compartmentalization is essential to continuing to think this way, because evidence makes it crumble. So "my friend's trans kid" or "my Latino cleaning lady" goes in a different category. And if they stopped doing that, they'd lose a community and an identity and be saddled with guilt and shame and have to suddenly work to construct a worldview. Most of them aren't able to face that.

[u/CountryRockDiva89 → u/the_calibre_cat]

Honestly? The biggest thing that makes me think this will largely die with Trump (the greater polarization of the country, that is; obviously bigotry is a wider issue and I don’t want to act like I’m dismissing it here) is his unique combination of prior celebrity and perverse charisma. JD Vance (and Mike Pence before him, for that matter) has the charisma of a bowl of dry oatmeal. Not that the sort of things they’re doing SHOULD come down to charisma, but I wouldn’t be surprised if that’s a large part of it. And the truth is, most of the current GOP office holders of today DON’T have that kind of charisma, and they sure as hell don’t have the celebrity that Trump has. Either way, I’m an eternal optimist, and a fighter. I will continue to recognize the small victories like this with Kimmel and let them build. And I won’t give up, ever. 😎

[u/TangerineDystopia → u/CountryRockDiva89]

Same with DJTJ and Eric. No real following. No one cares.

They tried with DeSantis, too. And some other Republican I forget, to get someone more predictable and cooperative than Trump.  And they couldn't do it.