And for those that think you're joking. The showdy is often relevant.

No wonder the same bunch think Biden had "the worst economy", LOL. Cannot even recall basic recent history.

The first round of covid stimulus checks that went out had trump's fucking signature on them. He insisted that it be on there.

Do they not remember crowing about "not cashing the check if you hate him so much?" Because I fucking do.

No no no!!! Covid happened under tan suit Obama. /s

It’s truly incomprehensible to most blue/libs that magas and conservatives are genuinely and permanently deranged cultists

They really believe it’s possible to use words and logic to convince them of things, hence the poster being confused why they aren’t convinced of anything

21% of American adults are functionally illiterate. I wonder if that 42% has all of the 21%?

The 42% are locked on Fox News.

From my experience living in the US, I would say "dim" is an incorrect characterization. Supportive of corruption, crime and dishonesty is IMO a much more accurate characterization.

The majority of Americans have significant, legitimate material and social grievances that cause them real duress.

And yet, most of the grievances that Trump bleats about are neither significant nor legitimate. "THEY'RE EATING THE DOGS AND CATS!!!"

Quit pretending those fools are reasonable and have anything behind their hatred besides stupidity.

And the only official political choice they’re ever allowed is between two preselected corporate stooges.

Go on, say that both sides are the same.

zero sum in-out group thought

Curious what you mean by zero sum in this context.

I would disagree (not from the US, but I have lived there, travelled extensively and have American friends who I speak to pretty regularly).

The "low information" environment is a choice (especially nowadays). Scapegoating is a choice. A two party state is a choice. Even the unaddressed material and social grievances is a choice. US is rich enough to solve all these issues with no problem at all.

The real issue is that a significant portion of Americans support corruption, crime and believe lying is good. While at the same time parroting tedious polemics about "freedumz and shiiit".

And on top of that the majority of the voter base of the centre-right opposition is fundemantely opposed to anti-corruption, anti-crime and governance (in terms of real outcomes, not words). Most of them are simply too well off to risk rocking the boat (until it's too late).

While this is a gross generalisation, there is a reason why the following stereotype is applied to Americans:

There are no poor people in the US, just soon-to-be billionaires

Yep. Expect a whole lot of Sudden Independents. Or people claiming they belong to a non-existent party like the teabaggers, oops, I mean the "Tea Party".

Both of which will likely wait on the sidelines for a bit, too embarrassed to admit they are conservatives, and not principled enough to be liberal, but will likely continue to secretly vote Republican, if they vote at all. They just might not broadcast it so much.

The biggest indicator that a conservative is operating in this mode - when they talk about "both sides" and wave in the direction of something David Brooks recently said or wrote...

It's evangelicalism all over again. Having destroyed any plausible deniability that people are good despite, not because of, Christianity, their new goal is proving that every negative thing a socialist has ever had to say about American politics is, in fact, true.

I only voted for one issue.

Hm, I wonder what that was.

Regardless, it's not like someone is going to spend four years on one issue.

But that’s because Trump speaks in open ended words like - freedom, patriot, illegal. People create their own narrative for what those words mean, and apply it to Trump and then are surprised that their definition doesn’t match trumps… I mean they can’t know everything right? /s

That's the thing. They aren't so good at the whole reading thing.

Because so many Americans are irredeemable idiots

There are a lot of people who are just now realizing, with the threats to Greenland, that the rest of the world won’t be coming to save them.

No shit, multiple people really do believe that NATO is supposed to be policing US internal politics, and liberating them from the orange turd.

It’s only now starting to dawn on them that the rest of the world will defend each other from the US, but they won’t save the US from itself.

You would have to have done some serious pretzel logic to believe Trump is delivering what he said.

End Ukraine War day one? Absolutely not.

End war in Gaza? Isreal is still regularly blowing up people in their one-sided cease fire.

Close the border? This racist dog whistle worked I suppose. Less illegal border crossings. I am personally surprised anyone would want to come to the US right now so it is a mixed bag.

Make the largest deportation event ever? Honestly Biden and Obama are going to be hard to beat especially now that no one wants to come here.

End birthright citizenship? This is straight out of white supremacist's playbooks. He has not accomplished this yet thank goodness.

Impose tariffs to improve economy? He has certainly imposed and withdrawn and then reimposed and then re-withdrawn a lot of tariffs. This has made him and his cronies very rich but it has generally hurt everyone else. I think in the next year we will begin to see how devastating they have been to the economy.

End inflation and lower prices? Absolutely stupid promise that no administration could hope to make happen. It is simply out of their power so it was stupid to even say this and it has not been fulfilled.

Make government more efficient? This has been one of the worst failures of any administration in history. This administration fundamentally misunderstanding of the agencies they slashed shows a profound lack of judgement. They are beyond inept and probably criminally negligent.

Ban transgender people in Sports? Considering it was never actually a problem it is hard to say you can be successful in solving an imaginary thought exercise. Having said that the conservative have spent a huge amount of time passing laws around this subject instead of governing real and important issues.

Eliminate the Education Department? This is one of those promises that should have never been made. The federal government is required by law to provide services for children with disabilities amongst many other critical programs. While this administration has been successful in greatly disrupting it, without having any alternative plan, they have not and cannot be successful because of numerous laws. This is once again tantamount to criminal negligence.

Cover IVF? Weird promise, has not been delivered but could in the future.

Pardon Jan 6 rioters? Stunning success except for the fact many have been locked up for additional crimes. That one pardon has now literally lead to thousands of crimes that this administration is now culpable for. Bizarre decision to subvert US law.

End DEI? While the administration can't stop the spirit of DEI since it is American in value, they have certainly made any mention punishable by firing thus violating everyone's right to free speech. Truly a bizarre move because if the government can just randomly decide DEI bad why not anything else without justification. Promise kept though to best of their intolerant little hearts.

I can't see success here, but they have kind of accomplished some things. They are so spiteful and incompetent I will be surprised if it can last. Their legal counsel is inept, their leaders are barely functional, and their agenda is anti-human. Not really a winning combination.

Unless you are benefitting from the pump and dump schemes this administration seems to love so much I don't think there is anything to like. Even their extremists are turning on them. They got a limited lifespan unless they can pull off something they seem incapable of.