this post was submitted on 25 Oct 2024
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Anyone who thinks Trump is the sole problem and that him being out of the news will solve all the problems is clueless.
That was not the claim. Just that Trump news are nasty and Trump is one of the few Republicans who has enough charisma to end up in the news. If he gets voted out, there is a good chance of him never running again and fading away into the background. It means the Republicans need a new leader and whoever that is, is probably going to fail.
By no means. That's what people thought in 2020, and look what happened.
Anyone who thought Trump wouldn't run again completely misunderstands what motivates him. And anyone who thinks Trump will run again also misunderstands what motivates him. Trump's whole schtick is that he was cheated out of the election, but losing twice in a row sends a pretty clear message, and he'll lose the support of the party. Also, he'll be 82, and likely won't have the same fire he has today.
He's a complete narcissist, and I don't think he'll risk losing three times in a row. The next election, if it happens, would likely be a landslide (who wants to vote for a loser three times in a row?) and a massive hit to his ego. A close election gives him the opportunity to claim the election was rigged, and being able to pull that off twice is probably enough for him to save face.
I know what you're saying. That the environment that gave us Trump would still exist. Sure. All the issues, both illegitimate (white resentment, racism, propaganda) and legitimate (wealth disparity, disillusioning political figures, late stage capitalistic despair), would still remain.
But that also gives too little importance to Trump's unique place in this. He is a uniquely cynical, sociopathic trigger that is exploiting this populist anger, while being so incompetent that he fails to solve any of those issues underlying it.
He thus is simultaneously perpetuating those issues, while feeding off of them - both creating and burning the fuel of populist anger. DeSantis, Vance, Hawley, all the other toe-headed power-simps who would step in to take his place would fail to hold that paradoxical balance for long - they think they can learn it, but Trump is built for it. That is Trump's unique skill, his singularly destructive, delusional, sociopathic egomania.
Like a wildfire - yes, when there are dry hot conditions, many things could start one. But it's also true that you may have been almost through the dry, hot season when a wildfire hits. And if you could have prevented that first fateful spark a week - maybe a day - longer, you could have avoided catastrophe and tragedy.
I think that's where we were in 2016, and we failed to contain it. It spread so far, that we were barely able to contain it in 2020. But if we can avoid it in 2024, if we can prevent Trump from sparking another wildfire, maybe the season could change.
Nah he's just a dude. Maybe you should quit swallowing his mystique as well, it empowers the guy.
Yeah, of course he's just a dude. He's one of the least worthy dudes out there, for all the attention he's getting. He didn't justifiably earn any of that.
But nonetheless, he is a key that happens to be shaped perfectly to unlock, exploit and exacerbate populist anger. It could have been anyone else if the conditions were different, but it is uniquely him in this history. That's all I'm saying, but it a very important detail.
You are detached from reality if you are unable to see what the OP describes.
It's not even hard to see at this point, the image has long been set in stark, giant, letters, imprinted on history.
But given his popularity, you are not alone in being detached from reality.
Also, if they think he'll just fuck off if he loses, they've not been paying any fucking attention..
I can't wait to see what he does when he loses.