One of the amazing political achievements of Republicans in this election cycle has been their ability, at least so far, to send Donald Trump’s last year in office down the memory hole. Voters are supposed to remember the good economy of January 2020, with its combination of low unemployment and low inflation, while forgetting about the plague year that followed.

Since Trump’s romp in the Super Tuesday primaries, however, the ex-president and his surrogates have begun trying to pull off an even more impressive act of revisionism: portraying his entire presidency — even 2020, that awful first pandemic year — as pure magnificence. On Wednesday, Representative Elise Stefanik, the chair of the House Republican Conference, tried echoing Ronald Reagan: “Are you better off today than you were four years ago?”

And Trump himself, in his Tuesday night victory speech, reflected wistfully on his time in office as one in which “our country was coming together.”

Non-paywall link

    • Nudding@lemmy.world
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      8 months ago

      Fall of Rome in real time, expedited by its media and put under a microscope thanks to the Internet.

    • blazeknave@lemmy.world
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      8 months ago

      Bullshit. Trump getting elected is far worse for democracy than Biden. Stop. You have no logic. Explain how him winning will make things better or cut the shit. I’ve had enough of you people.

      • agamemnonymous@sh.itjust.works
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        8 months ago

        No no, they’re right, you’re confusing them for the actual “both sides” crowd. They are saying to vote for Biden. Obviously Trump is worse than Biden, and voting blue is prudent harm reduction.

        They’re just saying that while voting blue is necessary it is not sufficient. We must also take actions in addition to voting if we hope to transition from the important task of decelerating fascism to the important task of stopping fascism.

        • blazeknave@lemmy.world
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          8 months ago

          I reread it. You’re right. I thought there was a sarcastic/rhetorical tone. Sorry, I was wrong.

        • blazeknave@lemmy.world
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          8 months ago

          They’re not “saying” it aloud and you give too much credit to the people consuming the comments that they can separate the two.

          • norbert@kbin.social
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            8 months ago

            Go ahead and vote for Biden but unless you start taking non-voting actions and immediately it really won’t matter.

            I understood them pretty well, direct action is needed. Voting is a requirement and is only the very beginning if you want to achieve your goals. You have to organize and canvas and make calls and attend those city council meetings.

            The left is scared to say the quiet part out loud other than (non) jokes about “eating the rich,” because it gets you visited by the FBI. The right can organize and scheme and the status quo is fine with it but if “commies” start agitating they bring out the rubber bullets and teargas (see BLM protests).

        • blazeknave@lemmy.world
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          8 months ago

          It’s a feedback loop. The environment allows for his rise. He stokes the people and rewrites the environment to support his normalization. Rinse repeat. Also fwiw it’s about capitalism not American culture. We’re just at this stage and have a history of “liberation” in the 20th century that makes it look even worse than elsewhere. Look at the populists all over the place though.