I remember when Trump first won, the American-centered part of the web I would occasionally stop by seemed completely infiltrated with MAGA trolls. You had this feeling people thought it was edgy and fun - the worst kind of cultural moment seemed to be happening.
This time around I’m not so much on mainstream social media. And when I do check them out, it seems hard to understand what the vibe is as most content is AI or from professional content creators.
The closest thing I see to Trump supporters these days seems to be the enablers who endlessly repeat how they won’t vote for Harris for some dumb reason or another - they simply cannot vote for a black woman president because it’s not progressive enough, and all that jazz. But I don’t ever see Trump supporters.
Of course they exist still. I have just chose social media platforms strategically to avoid toxic people.
So I’m wondering if the same enthusiasm for Trump that seemed to be boiling online in 2016 is still there today, and if this election only feels different because I’m self-selected into saner platforms. Or if it is really different this time around.
I get that it’s an incredibly difficult question to answer, but I would love perspectives from people who have kept up an active use of mainstream social media, or otherwise have some insights I lack.
Here in a red state, when I venture into the real world, I still see Trump flags everywhere. Much more so than I recall in 2016. They definitely have upped their merchandise game. On the other hand I see many more Harris/Walz signs than I ever saw in support of Clinton. When I talk to people I get much more passion about Harris than I ever heard about Clinton or Biden. It is more akin to Obama’s first term, if not even more intense. This time around Trump is vehemently disliked. During Trump’s first campaign he was a disruptor and there was a lot of curiosity about what that meant. That has been replaced with fear and hatred. My few remaining social media friends who support Trump seem to do so from a religious point of view. Somehow they see him as more godly.
Agreed, I think the diehards have gotten much louder and the people who saw him as a catalyst for change have gotten a whole lot quieter.
I admit that I very much didnt think it was a good thing when he got elected but I did think “Maybe he will piss off a few people who need pissing off, upset some apple carts and generally upset the status quo and MAYBE be a catalyst for change some of which for the good.” Yeah… it wasnt.
I remember a guy much further down that “catalyst” line of thinking telling me that things have to get worse before they can get better: a phrase that’s easy to bust out as a grand conclusion to huge sweeping societal problems, but is based on absolutely nothing.
They have been feeding us hope and chang since obama… Only chamge we got is clown ACA and tax reforms both of which fucked the working people.
Fucked the working people? Because of ACA a whole bunch of people, including me, were able to stay on their parents health insurance while younger when we had the post mortgage crisis recession abd couldn’t find gainful employment.
If that’s fucking the working people I’m spreading my ass cheeks wider.
I am happy for you!
Plebs collecting pennies socialized by the working people while providing political cover for real people to extract millions from the system.
Just been a parade of Reagans ever since Reagan. CIA Reagan, Band kid Reagan, Warmonger Reagan, Black Reagan, Orange Reagan, Sleepy Reagan, and soon we’ll probably have Girl Power Reagan.
Such is the st8 of American Politics. This is the bad place. Nothing ever gets better here. This whole country is 12 megacorps in a trenchcoat lording over one massive slave pen.
Hurt me harder, daddy
Well yeah. Jesus loves to “grab em by the pussy”, apparently.
I’ll admit I haven’t quite found that Bible verse…
This is your periodic reminder that “White Jesus” was modeled on Caesar Borgia, Michaelangelo’s “very close friend” as historians like to put it.
Also xmas trees are giant cocks. Yep. Huge phallic symbols.
Happy Saturnalia.
Today I learned!
I’m going to enjoy Christmas trees even more with this knowledge. Thank you.
Though, when looking for a source for others to enjoy, it also turns out it’s complicated.
Edit: Caesar Borgia. Unsubstantiated…except by pretty much anyone who, you know, has a quick look at the various portraits of him.
Xmas trees are originally a northern European solstice or Yule tradition. Because there was very little green in the winter.
Probably it was to celebrate the end of the days getting shorter, and a sort of marking of a new year, and to be reminded of the greener more pleasant seasons.
I have no idea where you have the idea from, that it should be a Phallus symbol?
I’ve been hearing a lot about this “everything that’s manmade, tall, and narrow is a phallus” theory the last few years, online and even in some college courses. Frankly, I don’t really buy it. Disclosure, this is totally out of my field, so feel free to set my take on fire if I’m wrong. I don’t doubt that the phallus explanation is true in a few cases, but for most towers, spires, steeples, and other pointy monuments, there’s a couple of other possible inspirations that seem more likely to me. The first would be the upright and narrow stance of humans as opposed to animals standing on four legs close to the ground, like a monument to human exceptionalism. Another theory that I would buy is that tall things just look cool to us on an instinctual level. Trees, mountains, and cliffs are beautiful and are more easily personified than other natural features (relating back to the first point). They have this dignity and magesty about them, it makes sense that our architecture and art would attempt to convey that.
I don’t know, I guess I’m just projecting when I say this, but I just can’t imagine designing a building with cool spikes and thinking “these represent my dick”.
IMO 99% of Phallus claims are infantile amateur psychology. To call something that grows naturally, and isn’t even man made a Phallus symbol is particularly weird.
Religion is poison that turns good people into pieces of shit
That’s super interesting, thanks!
I find the last point particularly fascinating - that memes might have been replaced by God somehow. I feel like this resonates with an impression I already had, but that I haven’t thought consciously about before now. Tucker Carlsen’s demon attack story seems symptomatic.
With turnout being the decider in our elections, I think it’s of critical importance if a candidate scares the shit out of the other side. Hilary Clinton for whatever reason definitely pushed conservative buttons and got them to the polls. The Trump phenomenon was happening at the same time, but we can’t discount the anti-Hilary energy.
While the right certainly doesn’t like Kamala, their hatred is nothing close to what the left feels for Trump. Between that and Roe, if we can’t activate voters and take this election, then we really have lost the country, and Trump’s second term will only dig that hole deeper.
No pressure, America!