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[–] 86 points 1 year ago (28 children)

33% of people approve

For real? We're so fucked.

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  • [–] 29 points 1 year ago (5 children)

    I'd be curious to know how many of those 33% are actually aware of each thing RFK Jr has done, how many approve each of those things, and how many are just stating their answers here as a way of expressing their support for Trump.

    The propaganda bubble most of these people live in insulates them from reality, but at the same time, I'm pretty sure you could invent a fictional Trump appointee and a majority of Republicans would claim they approve of the job they are doing. And you could probably get them to say they support all kinds of crazy shit they don't actually agree with as long as they view the question as a partisan referendum.

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  • [–] 6 points 1 year ago (3 children)

    I have a coworker who is anti-vax and also anti-immigrant. This would be utterly unremarkable except that the reason she is anti-immigrant is that she thinks they're all unvaccinated and bringing diseases into this country.

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  • [–] 10 points 1 year ago

    I would add on: How many people just know rfk as "that health guru my favorite celebrity talked about".

    Never forget that there was a fairly large trend on google of "Did Biden drop out" last year on fucking election day.

    People are deeply ignorant. Intentionally so. Just think about all the times over the years you have seen "I am going to stop watching the news for my mental health" and all that.

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  • [–] 37 points 1 year ago (20 children)

    @Assassassin @vegeta And another 30% can’t be bothered to get off their ignorant dead asses to even VOTE. So you are correct, we are fucked, and getting more fucked every single day.

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  • [–] 26 points 1 year ago (16 children)

    voter suppression. non proportional representation.

    the pitifully low voter turnout is a systemic issue.

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  • [–] 14 points 1 year ago (14 children)

    Which just means we’re more fucked because to fix the system we need people to vote more.

    We’re in a crashing plane and the cockpit is locked.

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  • [–] 7 points 1 year ago (13 children)

    Elections are run locally. You can get involved.

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  • [–] -5 points 1 year ago (12 children)

    If I thought it would have any effect at all I would certainly do that.

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  • [–] 8 points 1 year ago (11 children)

    New York fielded AOC and now Mamdani. Georgia flipped blue back in 2020.

    Local elections matter. Arguably moreso than federal (barring deranged fascist dictators taking over...). That is how republicans gain the power to destroy school boards and take over states so that they can gerrymander it and make it much harder to ever be voted out.

    So... maybe you should think harder before choosing to do nothing?

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  • [–] 1 point 1 year ago (10 children)

    You say that like I haven’t been fruitlessly doing that for a quarter century.

    Maybe think harder before assuming I don’t know how fucked we actually are.

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  • [–] 2 points 1 year ago (9 children)

    Ah, apologies. I did not realize you were part of secret seal team seven.

    But... honestly? Try harder. It fucking sucks and it is massively demoralizing. But if there is any hope in the system then it involves fixing things locally and propagating that upwards. It is literally what republicans did and we can see the counter efforts bearing fruit around the country.

    And if there is no longer any way to run counter efforts (increasingly likely come 2028...) then we are in a very different stage of things and probably shouldn't be discussing that on public facing forums.

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  • [–] 2 points 1 year ago (8 children)

    See, I’ve given up hope in the system. Republicans managed to do it because the institutions still sort of worked, and they destroyed them during their takeover so it can’t happen again.

    We are most definitely in that new stage.

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  • [–] 3 points 1 year ago (7 children)

    And that's great.

    But you'll understand if stuff like what you said makes people assume you are a lazy doomer who doesn't understand how the government works rather than someone actively discouraging others from even trying.

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  • [–] 1 point 1 year ago (5 children)

    Jesus fucking christ dude, you're talking like anyone can run and win in local elections.

    Over 100 people usually run for every position, and most of them never get the signatures they need to run because nobody knows them because they don't start off with enough money to advertise their name everywhere.

    The system is absolutely fucked and we are not going to vote our way out, engage with reality and stop with the Neoliberal talking points

    Please stop discouraging people from understanding the systems around them and feeding them propaganda.

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  • [–] 3 points 1 year ago* (3 children)

    No. I am not saying "anyone can run and win in local elections"... barring the really fucked scenarios where there is literally a single person running.

    But if you coordinate with one of the local parties? You would be shocked how easy it is to get those signatures. Because, for even a medium sized city, it actually doesn't take THAT much money to run a campaign. And many local orgs will have their own team of volunteer phone bankers and people willing to go door to door. Or... there aren't even that many candidates and they spend more time convincing someone to run for comptroller than actually convincing people to vote for said comptroller.

    The key is that you have to actually get involved. You can't just show up on election day and say "Fuck you, vote for me because I am against dark money". You show up for meetings. You get on the zoom calls that actually discuss policy and strategy (and realize how wild it is to literally be asking a future POTUS questions and grilling them on things behind doors that don't come up on CNN) and so forth. And no, you don't need to become a massive big wig for that. Calls to the regional offices are actually pretty common because... those regional offices are what put us in a position where a congress person or POTUS can even do anything in the first place.

    If all you want is accelerationism because call of duty taught you that you'll end up on top? We... might already be there. But don't get pissy if other people are actually trying to do what the republicans literally fucking did to take over this country and put us in this mess in the first place.

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  • [–] 1 point 1 year ago (2 children)

    You are talking about local orgs that don't exist doing free work for hundreds of candidates.

    I live in one of the poorest states, the canidates for local representatives at the city and state level require hundreds of thousands of dollars in advertising just for regular people to know their name.

    It isn't realistic. What's more realistic at this point is the violent revolution you're afraid of.

    You gotta grow up and touch grass on this one.

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  • the canidates for local representatives at the city and state level require hundreds of thousands of dollars in advertising just for regular people to know their name.

    It isn't realistic. What's more realistic at this point is the violent revolution you're afraid of.

    I'm confused here. How do you organize the masses to risk their lives in violent revolution if you lack the ability to organize the masses to fill in a bubble on a piece of paper?

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  • [–] 2 points 1 year ago*

    Okey dokeys. You don't have to do anything and are a super special person for actively choosing to do nothing.

    Let the people who actually care put the work in to build up those grass roots efforts. We weren't expecting you to do shit anyway. We would just ask that you maybe refrain from throwing a temper tantrum at the idea of people doing more than you. That is a very trumpian mindset and it makes everyone miserable.

    If shit were easy and guaranteed to succeed it would already be done

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  • [–] 6 points 1 year ago

    Turnout in 2024 was above the baseline. It was just off the '20 record high, thanks to sharp constrictions in rules for registration and mail-in ballots.

    Incidentally, the move to grant universal national mail-in voting in 2020 saw national turnout skyrocket to levels historically enjoyed by states like Wisconsin and Oregon, which already had universal state-level mail-in voting.

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  • [–] 0 points 1 year ago (2 children)

    And another 30% can’t be bothered to get off their ignorant dead asses to even VOTE.

    Reasonably sure HHS Secretary isn't an elected position.

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  • [–] 7 points 1 year ago (1 child)

    People appointed by an elected official are the consequences of the election that installed that official. Thus, the 30% that did not vote were in effect, indirectly responsibe for the HHS secretary appointment.

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  • [–] 1 point 1 year ago*

    Thus, the 30% that did not vote were in effect, indirectly responsibe

    You're assuming this 30% would default to the second place candidate. If they split their vote, it's a wash. If they all vote third party, its a wash. Hell, if they reinforce the EC margins in big blue states, its a wash.

    Our winner take all system deliberately marginalizes fringe positions. The only way this 30% matters is if they voted for Harris in exclusively Red States in sufficient quantities to flip those states.

    Beto played this game in Texas and lost, repeatedly. It turns out that Republicans can also activate idle voters, and at a pace that's faster than their liberal peers.

    Meanwhile, Harris underperformed other Democrats in purple/blue states, suggesting she just ran a bad campaign

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  • [–] 47 points 1 year ago (11 children)

    Unfortunately, these waning numbers for RFK may not mean all that much. According to the Quinnipiac poll, 71% of Republicans still approve of Kennedy as HHS chief. And while some members of the GOP have become more critical of RFK Jr.’s performance, especially following the CDC defection, many are still roundly in his corner—most notably President Donald Trump himself.

    71% just from republicans is actually pretty bad...

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  • [–] 12 points 1 year ago (10 children)

    That works out to what, something like 20% of all Americans?

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  • [–] 15 points 1 year ago (9 children)

    Close-ish...

    Exactly 33% of respondents said they currently approved of Kennedy’s stint as HHS secretary, while 54% disapproved

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  • [–] 24 points 1 year ago (4 children)

    It’s that same core of 30% that apparently want to follow the GOP straight to their own graves. As much as Trump is the current problem, there needs to be a reckoning with this rot sooner or later.

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  • [–] 15 points 1 year ago (2 children)

    It's normal human variation.

    A chunk of any group of humans just wants someone to confidently tell them what to do.

    Unfortunately intelligence and confidence is usually an either/or thing.

    Someone who knows their shit and is intelligent is aware of possible flaws with their plan, and is pre-emptively coming up with possible fixes if needed. They will never be 100% confident.

    But an idiot with no idea what they're talking about?

    That's exactly the type of person to always be 100% confident.

    Our monkey brains are wired to think that if someone is that confident, they'd be dead if they weren't also capable.

    Generational wealth/power isn't unique to humans, but inherited wealth/power is. With everything else if the powerful parent is gone, the nepo kids lose all status.

    That's the disconnect from how we evolved and how we currently live. Especially when we stop educating people so they can think past instincts

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  • [–] 5 points 1 year ago* (1 child)

    Think of that one guy in the office who is just average. Does their job OK, but your life is better when you don’t have to interact too much with em.

    Not really all that interesting to talk to. Maybe has some dull hobbies, probably not all that deep into them. Drives a midsize sedan or a minivan. Can do some household repairs so long as it involves a hammer or duct tape: Probably likes to mow the grass as a good pastime. Sits a lot, enjoys watching the TV. Hasn’t read a book in years.

    Now realize that 50% of the population is him or worse.

    Hell, 16% of people think nuclear war would be a good idea. So yea, morons.

    This one goes out to you, Dan.

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  • [–] 3 points 1 year ago

    I think the same percentage of people approved of Nixon even as he got on the helicopter to fly away, an absolute disgrace. It's probably the exact same people in some instances, certainly the exact same type of people...

    W probably had similar numbers, and was why his supporters were given the "out" of the astroturfed and completely fake, teabagger movement. The "Tea Party" doesn't exist any more than the "Democrat (sic) Party" does.

    I don't know if Taco will go out with similar numbers, but I think something will be done in the aftermath to give these people an out. In the aftermath of Nixon there was no real "out" for the voter, but the rabid right wing set to work on building Bullshit Mountain so that they'd never have to worry about a mainstream media telling their voters something they didn't want to hear...

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  • [–] 2 points 1 year ago* (3 children)

    Hmm that suggests the remaining ~10% must be from non-Republicans which is really depressing. I suppose he might have fans in the anti-vaxx movement still and a certain percentage of those are non-Republicans so maybe that explains it.

    Edit: Just did some napkin math and it comes out to ~12% of non-Republicans approving of him.

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  • [–] 4 points 1 year ago

    It's probably the "alternative medicine, don't trust doctors" crowd, which traditionally wasn't a particularly right-wing thing but then merged with the right around the pandemic/QAnon time. Some of them must have been left behind.

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  • [–] 3 points 1 year ago (1 child)

    You can't just add up D and Rs and expect to get total population...

    A bunch of Americans still don't identify as either.

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  • [–] 1 point 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

    That's why I specifically said non-Republicans.

    Edit: here, I'll walk you through the math. The article says 70% of Republicans approved of him and 33% of everyone approved of him. Republicans make up ~30% of the population. 70% of 30% is 21%. That leaves 12% unaccounted for (33-21). So 12% out of everyone both approves of him and doesn't identify as a Republican, while 21% out of everyone both approves of him and identifies as Republican. The remaining 67% of everyone doesn't approve of him whether or not they identify as a Republican.

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  • [–] 38 points 1 year ago (2 children)

    Does not matter, he will not go away or be removed by Trump.

    Popularity polls have no meaning if they are ignored or shrugged off, and the regime in charge is not interested in functioning or suitability for a position anyway.

    RFK will only be told to pack his bags if he does something outright disastrous like inject members of trump's family with chlorine.

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  • [–] 8 points 1 year ago (3 children)

    That 33% approve of his governance is an amazing stat.

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  • [–] 6 points 1 year ago (1 child)

    The same poll shows just 30% approval of the Democratic party. In other words, RFK Jr is slightly more popular than the Democrats.

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  • [–] 2 points 1 year ago

    Hilarious. Does anyone at Dem HQ ever stop to consider the implications of that stat or do they continue with their strategy of corporate kleptocracy? It seems that a FPTP system tends to converge to a race to the bottom where the electorate is forced to permanently choose a lesser evil. The civilisation we are building is too big to fail and we need an anti trust action. That seems to be emerging in the form of climate change while we argue about gender politics.

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  • [–] 14 points 1 year ago

    And that matters how? He is a tick. They all are. They've burrowed into the skin at this point.

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  • [–] 7 points 1 year ago

    Did they ever even fucking start with this dumbfuck?

    Taco only "won" by the slimmest of numbers. Most people hate Taco, too, but a lot of apathy and stupidity had people sitting out and therefore, Taco "won". Taco gets in there and puts fElon in there and Bobby Brainworm in there as a giant FUCK YOU to "the left", but most people don't like either of these two douchebags.

    People especially hate Bobby Brainworm since what animates Bobby Brainworm is to take vaccines away from Americans so that people, including children, can die of preventable diseases. And he sat there and FUCKING LIED about it during his hearings. And Republicans, the little quislings that they are, didn't care at all that he is a lying liar.

    Bobby Brainworm can go fuck himself with his crazy cult of "wellness".

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  • [–] 4 points 1 year ago

    Purge the unclean

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  • [–] 3 points 1 year ago

    It is both saddening but also wholly unsurprising that the "Tylenol causes autism" is probably a big reason for this. Not just because it's baseless conspiracy slop; No, that would make too much sense. A big part of the divide is because the conspiracy slop enjoyers are upset that it isn't THEIR conspiracy slop that he's peddling. They're mad that he isn't saying this about vaccines first.

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  • [–] 4 points 1 year ago

    Rfk's agenda would go nowhere without people under him doing his bidding

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  • [–] 2 points 1 year ago

    I'm not sure the strategy of hiring someone who has personally injected every single drug into his veins at some point in his life to be health chief was ever going to work out.

    At least they should give him all the diseases too so we can see if the drugs work!

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  • [–] 1 point 1 year ago

    "Chapaquiddich: Pinky and the Brainworm" written, directed and produced by JKRowlings

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