General Discussion
Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region Forums(Serious answers please) George W Bush supporters werent at this level
So how come trump supporters are, watching some of the protest videos today,
and its nuts, people dressed as flags screaming abuse at democrats, carrying their
guns.
Hell it use to be, all you got with the republicans was the guy with the banner..
"Don't be a moran"
But trumpy supporters are on a whole different hateful level.
So my question is....
Why??
cos dem
(903 posts)Also, the guy who came after him was much smarter than W.
Sokher217
(6 posts)luvallpeeps
(935 posts)msongs
(67,453 posts)The Magistrate
(95,255 posts)Elevation of a Negro to the Presidency drove a fair portion of the white population stark raving mad.
LizBeth
(9,952 posts)Trump pushing the line way more and still, they are just that. The same. Just the line has moved and they are good with this too.
I saw very sure signs this shit would get worse. They keep pushing and doing well at it.
This is scary shit and it needs more than talking about how to fix it. We need to fix it.
LizBeth
(9,952 posts)And Foxs news Ingrahm called military to liberate these states like Irag.
Very little.
"Fix it?" It is barely acknowledged.
Ahpook
(2,751 posts)And biting my tongue!
There are factions in our society that are out of control.
Let's put them back under their rock!
The Velveteen Ocelot
(115,869 posts)He had his loyal GOPers, of course, but W's thing was the usual tax cuts and nation-building that the GOP had always advocated, and he never encouraged a personality cult surrounding himself. He never had the combination of dark charisma and narcissism that makes that possible.
brettdale
(12,384 posts)Its on a whole different level, an extreme, nasty vile, hateful violent level.
qazplm135
(7,447 posts)Trump is the everclear of evil.
42bambi
(1,753 posts)Ahpook
(2,751 posts)It is slow but here we are
The Velveteen Ocelot
(115,869 posts)Ahpook
(2,751 posts)Unreal
choie
(4,111 posts)the "Brooks Brothers riot" in Miami that occurred during the 2000 recount starring Roger Stone and one Brett Kavanaugh, among others...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brooks_Brothers_riot
The Velveteen Ocelot
(115,869 posts)like the GOP has been doing since Nixon's days. Trump's cult members are just bundles of raw rage and fanatical devotion to someone they worship only because he hates the same people they hate - there's no planning or plotting, just fear and anger.
choie
(4,111 posts)were organized by a Betsy De Vos backed group - there was planning AND plotting.
The Velveteen Ocelot
(115,869 posts)who did what they were told because they belong to the Cult of Trump. They couldn't have planned a trip to the loo without help.
haele
(12,681 posts)Liberals and minorities were "over yonder" in the Urban and University areas of the country; they were in the Majority - on their minds, their employment, their churches. They were the Normal, you know "Real America", without all that fussing and fighting for Rights or other such nonsense.
Then along came that black guy...
And they lost their collective minds.
Haele
KentuckyWoman
(6,696 posts)All of the GOP keeps digging. It will get worse.
SouthernCal_Dem
(852 posts)Theyre just more extreme and open with their hatred and insanity.
Its the same people though.
democrattotheend
(11,607 posts)Every now and then I browse FreeRepublic out of curiosity and people there are not kind to him at all.
SouthernCal_Dem
(852 posts)But make no mistake, these folks are Republicans through and through and they supported Bush.
It's just that they've gotten more extreme.
The election of Obama sent them over the edge and there's no going back for them at this point.
Baked Potato
(7,733 posts)They have figured out they have been fed a load of horse shit and they have nowhere to turn. They are challenging their own faith, too, I think.
NRaleighLiberal
(60,022 posts)NRaleighLiberal
(60,022 posts)the FL recount? But, yes, Obama being black was a catalyst for hatred.
Yet, the years of Rush and Hannity and Fox led us here - trump is the culmination (or bottom of the swamp) that is like the ring - his cult are gollums.
Jake Stern
(3,145 posts)Especially during the run up to the Iraq war where Republicans went full nutter supporting him.
I remember being threatened (right in front of a cop no less) with several physical injury by one of Bush's supporters because I was at a protest during a Bush speech.
When I asked the cop why he didn't arrest the dude who just threatened me fhe first tried to accuse me of starting it and then told me that he's "tired of liberals always tearing the president down" before walking away.
Sound familiar?
Bernardo de La Paz
(49,045 posts)Wounded Bear
(58,721 posts)Between hate radio and Faux Noise, it's been ramping up day by day.
Turbineguy
(37,372 posts)compared to trump.
jimlup
(7,968 posts)the disguises are off...
ThoughtCriminal
(14,049 posts)Republicans have been experiencing what is known as a positive feedback loop.
A sort of political "Moores Law" where they double the crazy every two years.
Jspur
(578 posts)something similar to what you are saying. Since Reagan it seems like every republican president that comes after is 10x worse. Obviously Bush sr was slightly better than Reagan but if you ignore SR and then go straight to W to Trump its pretty bad. They get worse every time.
Still Sensible
(2,870 posts)Bush did not have such a cult, despite cheerleaders like Rush and faux noise. While we did not agree with many of his policies he was a more traditional politician.
tRumps narcissism requires the adoration, sycophants, rallies and the like.
eleny
(46,166 posts)Initech
(100,104 posts)Like the Joker from the Dark Knight, Trump is an agent of chaos.
sarcasmo
(23,968 posts)Stuart G
(38,449 posts)Most people do not know that the "Bush War" killed over 100,000 Iraqis..of course..
many people believe that those people do not count. that is very sad.
Also, when the torture came out, they still supported Bush and his torture.. Many said it was correct and proper to do..
Yavin4
(35,446 posts)This has been the Republican party since Nixon.
Drunken Irishman
(34,857 posts)It's been brewing for a long time. Don't be fooled. These cultists existed. Even in the 90s they were out there. A whole lot of 'em. The pro-militia movement, the attack on the federal building in Oklahoma City. That was a preview of what was to come. The right in this country was co-opted by an extremist, anti-liberal, anti-minority, anti-government message that has built over time.
They existed with Bush, just as they existed under Clinton. But, like a lit fuse, its trigger point took time.
Truth be told, Bush's election pacified a lot of these groups. But remember the reaction we saw out of 9/11 - the firebombings of mosques, the assaults on Muslims and then the rage of France for having the audacity to not support the War in Iraq (remember Freedom Fries?). That was an extension of the hate we see today. It was bred out of talk radio in the 90s and Fox News in the 00s. The messages became more and more hateful and paranoid and then you had the creation of the internet, which only amplified the message. In 1994, only 5 million American households were connected to the internet. The sharing of hate was almost entirely confined to newsletters, word of mouth or AM hate radio. In 2004, it was 37 million and growing. Now you had new avenues to tap into. But even then, it was still limited. There was no social media in 2004 - at least, compared to what we have today. Social media in 2004 was universally tied to smaller IRC-like chat rooms and message boards. There was still, even at that point, an overall limit in connection. As of 2018, 14 years from 2004 and 24 years from 1994, 110.5 million households are connected to the internet. In 14 years, it's grown by 73 million households.
In that span, you've seen the creation of Facebook and Twitter and other social media platforms that never existed in 2004. It's not only made it 1,000 times easier to share the same type of hateful, paranoid, anti-government information than 14 and 24 years ago - it's given these messengers access to millions of other people instantaneously.
Think about it this way: In 1994, you may have used a Usenet group to spread your message to, maybe, a couple hundred people over the span of a week. Now using Facebook and Twitter, you can reach that many people in seconds. If you have a following, which a lot of these right-wing personalities do (upward to 100,000 followers), you send out a tweet and, within hours, it's already been RT'd 75,000 times - and those tweets are now going out to the followers of those 75,000 users. In a half of a day, one tweet could hit 20 million people relatively easily. It's the same with Facebook. Think back to the 37 million households in the US who had the internet back in 2004. As of today, there are 221 million Facebook users in the United States (2019). That's more people on Facebook in the US than households that had internet access 14 years ago.
It's so easy to share misinformation and gin up hate nowadays because of the creation of social media.
So, that's why it seems more prevalent now.
In 2010, the right used Facebook to create Tea Party events and posts and rallies that spread through the platform like wildfire. THAT was our first sign that social media would be a toxic, horrible platform in spreading disinformation. In 2008, there was no twitter. In 2008, Facebook was largely still on college campuses. Grandma was relegated to Free Republic or, more likely, stuck listening to Hannity on FOX News or Rush on AM radio. That platform wasn't there.
But then started showing up. In 2008, there was 100 million Facebook users worldwide. By 2010, that number was at 608 million. By 2016, 1.8 BILLION.
Now you had coordinated events and Russian trolling that really blew up during the 2016 election. That disinformation preyed on the vulnerable - the same folk who bought the lies a decade and a half before that said Saddam was responsible for 9/11. They just now had a voice on the internet, where, in 2003, their voice was very limited.
It has spread like wildfire and, unfortunately, it's penetrated an entirely new generation. These protests aren't just boomers - a lot of 'em are Millennials who have been corrupted by the influence of the alt-right.
Hopefully that answers your question. They've always been there. It's just now much easier to reach these people, coordinate events and get their message out than it was even 15 years ago.
brettdale
(12,384 posts)Cheers, explains a lot.
Downtown Hound
(12,618 posts)The future is not theirs. And in the meantime, they'll do everything they can to hold onto what power and privilege they have.
Jspur
(578 posts)of being a minority in the next 20-30 years. I think there wasn't that fear before of what could happen until Obama won twice. They are loony and believe by being a minority that the white race is going to be on the verge of extinction or will be oppressed. So they feel they have to fight to protect themselves and that Trump is the savior for their race. That's the real problem we are facing. Hence why you have them giving passes to Trump for all of his screw ups. Trump is basically white God for them.
SoCalDem
(103,856 posts)that gets their panties in a wad.. Democrats usually protest in FAVOR of good things they want to see happen.
In the 80's republicans started thinking that THEY were the default, so of course, every time a Democrat wins, their sense of outrage boils over. They do love their guns and there are always a bunch of billionaires around who love letting minions do the dirty work, so we get the tea party in 2010 and a decade later we have these evil bastards.
Dems take a more pragmatic approach, and that only makes it more inevitable that we'll always have pushback..
Jamastiene
(38,187 posts)It wasn't because they didn't agree with the rightward shift. It is because he wasn't extreme enough for them. They wanted more. They wanted this out and out neo-Nazi, racist, anti-gay, anti-trans, anti-women movement to happen. They feel entitled so much so that this is what they want. They want open season on those of us who are in those marginalized, minority groups. I had a neighbor, who is one of many who get together and shoot guns constantly, outright tell me they were practicing for when Trump declares open season on those of us in those minority groups. He wasn't joking. He was serious. That is what they want.
Bush wasn't extreme enough for them. Bush did PG-13 rated dog whistles to the racist/extremist hate group element of the Republican Party, which is most of it, in reality. Trump gives them triple X and the money shot is when he does things like he did today when he told them to go all out and do whatever they want with no worries about repercussions. There will be no repercussions. It is a Republican orgy and as we know, Republicans hate sex because they are so horrible at it. They like violence, because blood sports are their thing. So, it is a violence orgy Trump is giving them.
Bush was PG-13.
Trump is just the violent XXX they want.
Kaleva
(36,354 posts)Like some gun owners who may start out being reasonable but become radicalized and arm themselves with semi-autos loaded with bells and whistles and have numerous magazines and thousands of rounds of ammo.