Mega-Thread: Trump Focused Discussion

[NED funded]

Elon Musk is basically the new Jan 6 when it comes to like the influence of money on politics. Republicans can complain about democrat elite capture and whatnot, and all you have to do is point to Musk threatening to use his money to bully politicians if they dont vote for the stuff he wants.

Like its so blatant.

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How many of these have conflict of interest?
I know Feinberg does

Musk and Chris Wright off the top of my head.

[Rasulis]

Not much to add on my end.

I miss the good old days when billionaires spent their time and money on racing yachts or feeding cows macadamia nuts or build horrible statues for their wife's birthday.

[david0925]

At this point it's just cyber feudalism

[Doomcookie]

How was this different from the past? Were Republicans less full of bullshit in 2016? In 2020? Was that demographic much less tolerant of bullshit in 2012? 2016? 2020?

I rather assumed that you'd prefer a better explanation than "Trump got lucky in 2024." Especially since you can use the same logic to say "Biden got lucky in 2020. He wasn't an incumbent during a pandemic. Trump had a big target painted on his back..." If you're already yielding that this demographic is preternaturally vulnerable to bullshit, then I think the first suggestion is that Biden rode that high in 2020 by promising better government, projecting American calm and diplomacy worldwide. Then he couldn't sustain that bullshit "transitory inflation" which lasted, a disastrous Afghanistan pullout that cost American lives, and a weak and feeble foreign policy that was anything but calm and competent.

You've made for yourself a whole host of problems, but at least you did point to something temporal about why Democrats won this contingent for so long before dramatically losing them. While not satisfactory to me, it doesn't fall apart on its own contradictions!

I assumed that you just worked a little extra hard to defend rape and racism.

Feel free to speak up if you disagree.

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You’ll get a mixed bag here. Which candidate got so many elite and billionaire endorsements in her campaign. Who did Beyoncé support? Who did Taylor Swift? Can you even list Kamala’s billionaire and elite supporters that fired off endorsements on the campaign trail?

Kamala raised a billion dollars in three months. She deserves a little more respect in the contest of which candidate or party is elites and billionaires. Or maybe, tell me how the party of the working class can lose the working class, and remain the party of the working class. If I blindfolded you and didn’t tell you party nor candidate, but told you how those with masters and PhDs, and those earning higher incomes voted, could you reach a conclusion?

Who did you support?

[Shadowferal]

Tesla replaces laid-off U.S. workers with foreigners using visas pushed by President Musk

[Edge-]

Tesla replaces laid-off U.S. workers with foreigners using visas pushed by President Musk

MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN BY IMPORTING CHEAPER LABOR TO REPLACE AMERICAN WORKERS

This is what Donald meant, right?

[Shadowferal]

It's unbelievable that these...MAGAts don't realize just how irrelevant they are to Trump and even less to Musk.

[Odinfrost]

It's unbelievable that these...MAGAts don't realize just how irrelevant they are to Trump and even less to Musk.

Butbutbutbut butt. They promised us everything we wanted and they can't be lying. Only demoncrats lie
- Maga people

[david0925]

I just want to see how magats spin this as a win for themsevlves. They always have some hilarious hand waving tricks

[tehdang]

Not much to add on my end.

This does not even pretend to compare and contrast the celebrity and elite endorsements Kamala obtained in her presidential run.

It does not even pretend to acknowledge and incorporate the raising of a billion dollars in 3 months.

So, in fact, it's barely even a reply.

Your talking about endorsements and donations.

Everyone else is talking about administrative positions.

Harris wasn't going to give a government job to Beyonce.

I was unaware that "party of the elites and billionaires" and "pouring hundreds of millions of dollars into politics" had already been dropped. Maybe tell him to edit his post to reflect the fact that we've already moved the goalposts on the same day.

I'll note: Not all billionaires are equal, nor was their support equal. Endorsements aren't actually worth much. Those donors dumping tens/hundreds of millions into PACs (See Elon's $250M+ in political spending on behalf of Donald), in particular are definitely looking to get a lot out

Nobody is out here defending the corrupting influence of money in politics, but I'll note Democrats did try to make headway on that issue via campaign finance reform back in 2020 and Republicans were unified in their opposition to the idea.

If you want to put the net worth of every endorsement up against each other, I'll welcome it.

An immense amount pulled in via small-dollar donations. Donald was far more reliant on his billionaire donors, including their PACs, than Kamala was on moneyed billionaires backing the Democratic party. Don't erase the grassroots fundraising success of the Democrats just because they also succeeded with billionaires as well.

They also succeeded with billionaires, which complicates the picture if you want to present Democrats as not the party of billionaires. "Elites and billionaires" in this case. I think any honest person would have to admit that the race is divided.

Freeze Peach Paradise formerly known as Twitter.

I see we're into the meme debates now, so I guess I need to adjust to compensate. If you're going to lose the working class, then kindly be a little less insanely elitist and don't tell them they're too stupid to vote for the party of the working class. That way only lies out of touch elitism (and I hear the "But Trump! cries already) of the very tired variety: Why are the proletariat too dumb to welcome in the marvelous revolution!

[NED funded]

This does not even pretend to compare and contrast the celebrity and elite endorsements Kamala obtained in her presidential run.

It does not even pretend to acknowledge and incorporate the raising of a billion dollars in 3 months.

So, in fact, it's barely even a reply

You care about the endorsement of Taylor Swift, I care about the billionaires in the government.

[Ivanstone]

This does not even pretend to compare and contrast the celebrity and elite endorsements Kamala obtained in her presidential run.

It does not even pretend to acknowledge and incorporate the raising of a billion dollars in 3 months.

Elmo raised a 44 billion in a few months so he could have a bullhorn for conservative politics.

How many Harris donors would've gotten plum government positions that they could enrich themselves with?

[Evil Midnight Bomber]

This does not even pretend to compare and contrast the celebrity and elite endorsements Kamala obtained in her presidential run.

Big difference between endorsements and members of the adminstration.

[Edge-]

If you want to put the net worth of every endorsement up against each other, I'll welcome it.

You really want to focus on endorsements, which are fairly meaningless, over donations, which are significantly more meaningful. Much less an analysis of the individuals and what they may be angling for in showering the respective parties with money.

[Jastall]

You really want to focus on endorsements, which are fairly meaningless, over donations, which are significantly more meaningful. Much less an analysis of the individuals and what they may be angling for in showering the respective parties with money.

Of course he has to focus on endorsements. It's the only way his sophistic argument and eternal both-sides (but actually Democrats bad) shtick can possibly gain any traction.

[ringpriest]

How many of these have conflict of interest?
I know Feinberg does

Obviously you're not familiar with the new American Nazi talking point:
"GOP Gov. Claims Musk Is Too Rich to Be Corrupted by Conflicts of Interest"

[Edge-]

Obviously you're not familiar with the new American Nazi talking point:
"GOP Gov. Claims Musk Is Too Rich to Be Corrupted by Conflicts of Interest"

Like...do any Republican voters actually believe this drek?

[Santti]

Like...do any Republican voters actually believe this drek?

Do we really need to ask?

[Rustedsaint]

Like...do any Republican voters actually believe this drek?

I mean, that’s a little late to be asking that.

[Endus]

I see we're into the meme debates now, so I guess I need to adjust to compensate. If you're going to lose the working class, then kindly be a little less insanely elitist and don't tell them they're too stupid to vote for the party of the working class. That way only lies out of touch elitism (and I hear the "But Trump! cries already) of the very tired variety: Why are the proletariat too dumb to welcome in the marvelous revolution!

We're already seeing a lot of "wait, he's gonna do what he said he was gonna do if we voted for him?! This is terrible!" from various groups who flipped for Trump.

If people are making stupid and ill-informed decisions, you don't try and win them over by blowing smoke up their asses, which seems to be the only strategy you think could ever work. Can't be honest and open with them, huh?

Sorry, I'm treating voters like they're sane, intelligent, responsible people who are fully equipped to make their own decisions and accept personal responsibility for the consequences thereof. If you think you need to lie to them like they're children that Santa Trump is super gonna fix everything, that's a fuck of a lot more condescending than me telling them they made a mistake. You're the one treating the proletariat like they're gullible idiots, here, not the rest of us.