I fear it may be too late. The morbidly rich, who own most of the media here, are focused and united in their goal of recreating a feudalistic society. Ignorance, fear, hatred, bigotry and anger are their tools. We on the left are idealistic, believe in the rule of law, the progressive arc of history, the essential goodness of people. We lack the viciousness and immorality of the morbidly rich. That is why I dread November. Our nation as anything even aspiration ally worthwhile may end the. That won’t affect me much, as I am nearly 76 and in very poor health. But our grandson will be at great risk. If this country and the world survive a return of tfg, it will be my mission in my remaining years to get him and his mother to emigrate to a saner place. Because if November goes as I fear, it could take decades before we restore our country, if that will even be possible. So vote blue, and do all you can to help maximize a blue voter turnout. This is by far the most critical election in my lifetime.
I live among the people you are talking about. 🦊 news is poison. The Republican propaganda machine has been extremely effective. They ARE voting and arguing against their best interests. It IS tough to argue with them regarding the facts that the Democrats have delivered.
Look at what you listed being higher in rural America - crime, poverty, drug addiction, unwanted pregnancies, low high school graduation rates. That’s what they experience. So it’s not difficult for the Republicans to play the blame game. The rural voters don’t follow all the media so they are steered by the lies they are being fed through the firehose of MAGA bs.
Where to counter the free flow of BS is actual Christianity for one. Trump’s messianic views of himself while actually acting like the prequel to the anti christ - can be picked apart. I know some Evangelicals are beginning to have a problem with trump’s actions messiah complex. The MAGAts agenda is definitely the opposite of the Beatitudes.
Additionally - rural voters are supporters of their veterans. What have the MAGAt’s done for our military? Tub Stub but our National Security at risk for his own ego - refused to listen to the top brass.
Matt Gaetz called General Milley a “pig” - WTF 😳- who the is this trust fund puke to call the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff a “pig”. That’s hardly patriotic!!
Law and order- give me a freaking break!! What a contradiction!
Trump let police be attacked for 3 hours while he sat and watched it on TV before he told the attackers to stop. And that’s all he had to do!!!
What kind of mind would allow someone to WATCH people who swore an oath of loyalty to the country be attacked for 3 HOURS and do nothing?
Loyalty and honor means a lot to people who live in rural areas. They need to depend on each other.
Assure them that no one is after their guns because that also gives them a sense of security but hammer on the complete BREACH of honor and loyalty as a leader Donald Trump exhibited on January 6 and has continued to exhibit towards NATO - using WW2 pictures and the devastation of Ukraine.
Take it for what it’s worth - but I immersed myself among this element since 2017 and I used to work in Marketing at Ford World Headquarters.
* Didn’t Trump release all the Taliban prisoners (5000) being held by our forces and the Afghan government without getting the ok from the Afghan government.
What happened to the Kurds who were helping us fight ISIS?
The right has focused for decades on creating this bubble in less populated states to help them manipulate congress and the electoral college. The concerted orchestration on the right is what the left doesn't know how to compete with.
Is the GOP’s cynical manipulation of religion, gender, and race enough to keep them voting to hurt themselves and enrich Republican fat-cats? Ans. Hope not this time.
1. No mention of Nixon's southern strategy or Jungian collective racial subconscious. Nixon's manipulation has worked. Demagoguery also works. But it can be overcome.
2. Anecdotally, I know many full blown racists "up close and personal" and I will testify that everything is visceral. May be an overactive amygdala, elevated fight and flight responses. Based on my own experience, in one on one confrontations, "Trump hates dogs" and "Trump stole from kids with cancer" work.
I recommend posting these, with proof available to substantiate them in comments. I'm also a veteran and "not suckers or losers" work. Try it on military and history web sites.
4. I'm a volunteer with Field Team 6, which has other volunteers using data mining to target unregistered voters. Here's the mission. https://www.fieldteam6.org/mission
6. Inventory their benefits. Even racists who need government benefits to survive sometimes have an epiphany that as takers and not makers their necks are on the proverbial chopping block.
Nothing more ironic than someone on SSI voting Republican.
Democrats and liberals have only themselves to blame. The right wing has proselytized rural Americans for about 40 years via talk radio. Meanwhile, Democrats and liberals sucked their thumbs, letting the wingers/Republicans get away with it, possibly assuming that corporate media would report on the lies and BS on talk radio. But that never happened. Still the Dems and liberal allies kept sucking their thumbs and let neoliberal garbage propaganda make matters even worse (like accelerating media concentration/monopolies).
Thus, we have had to suffer through 40+ years of corrupt Republican control of a little over half of the states and 22 years of illegitimate presidents since talk radio hit the air and corporate media either cowered in the corner via "bothsideism" or jumped onboard the fascist express. (Add to that most of the remaining states following the money and being run by neoliberal, incompetent and/or corrupt Democratic parties.)
Now we are faced with another serious challenge to the notion of government of, by and for the people. It's up to We the People to listen to the complaints of our rural neighbors, establish common ground and share our values and then share accurate information face to face, neighbor to neighbor.
Republicans Fascists keep screwing their rural constituents because they are of great use to them .
They screw them into worse poverty , radicalize them , and sit on piles of money that should have gone to the citizens.
The Republicans system has been corrupt for so many years and they are working harder than ever to make it worse for rural people every day .
It seems that many of these people are angry at their perceived enemies as instructed by these twisted politicians.
It is important to get information to them .
The Maga Republicans under Trump., want them angry and approaching violence.
The destructive thought that has gone into this Republicans plan to screw their constituents, and by extension , the rest of us, has gone on over many years.
This falls in line with the plan of the Federalist Society and other branches of White Supremacy.
These people with their superiority in their pockets with their power that is money, know this is the result .
They thrive on it and blame everyone but themselves.
As long as the power in this country is held by a few of the wealthiest destructive immoral Americans, it will continue to get worse and extinguish our society.
"... is the GOP’s cynical manipulation of religion, gender, and race enough to keep them voting to hurt themselves and further enrich Republican fat-cats?"
With maga morons there is not much to do. What should be called brain has long been frozen in times. As Voltaire once wrote: it is difficult to free fools from the chains they revere. The only solution is to cut the head. Lock him up. Go after the corrupt scotus and gop. Free America. Vote BLUE. Amen
I know that right-wing media, especially Fox, has whipped the Evangelical base into a contemporary frenzy. But to be honest, these people were the same before Fox. The Conservative base has never been any different than they are today - easy prey to outrage, misogyny and racism, and at about the same percentage of the citizenry. They just didn't have a national right-wing network to confirm their bigotry and misogyny, working towards providing them with the control of others that they've always lusted after. They are the same vicious minority they've always been, using twisted interpretations of the Bible to justify their ideologies. What's changed is SCOTUS legalizing bribery and dark money flow, obscene gerrymandering and voter suppression. All of this is on behalf of the Federalist Society goals of a USA feudal system.
They are not different than they were in the 50's; they are simply more empowered. That the world they want to create will destroy their children is of no mind to them; only the afterlife matters. Yet, very few of them actually take the teachings of Jesus seriously.
Rural Americans, and my first home was a 1 rm log cabin in Hocking county, Ohio, are rebels at heart and Our Mad King Donald and his corporate media controlling comrades have stoked that fire to keep us/them in a state of fear/xenophobia. The corporate controlled media presents almost entirely highly emotional enraging content, and that rage-focused state is addicting and anti-intellectual. Firing the faster limbic "survival" brain turns off the higher, slower thinking brain, and it's fun. Just look at our "entertainments": NASCAR, WWE. MMA, Prize fights, violent movies (I dare you to show me one without gun violence), violent "sports", war "news", etc.
Many thanks to Thom for another fine article! 12-step meetings often have a sign on the wall: "THINK, THINK, THINK!", and Bill Wilson, co-founder of AA, and the other 100 recovering alcoholics who supported/wrote the iconic book, "Alcoholics Anonymous", suggested that we focus on ridding ourselves of ALL resentments, if we wanted to have a sober and productive life. Those who choose to ignore this sage advice too often come to a miserable, drunken end. We can only hope our constitutional Republic does not follow the same self-destructive path, as only misery can follow.
This is what happened during the Civil War. The confederate army was made up of poor white males that had no vested interest in the war. They didn’t own property or slaves. But they were convinced that freeing the slaves was a threat to them.
Having lived in rural south, and under the roof of a Southern Baptist Preacher Uncle. I know what shapes their minds, believes and opinions.
The Pulpit, Press and Peer Pressure. Mostly the Pulpit
There is not much to do in these communities except go to Wednesday night prayer service and Sunday church services, where they get harangued by the preacher, told what to think, and get reinforced in the parking lot, home visits, phone and the grange.
The local press is as bigoted and selective, then there is Fox, OANN and now social media.
There is no way I can think of to get through to them, religion has them thoroughly brainwashed and under control.
Wondering why rural America is such a mess compared to rural regions in the EU? I’ve thought about this for a long time … I think the answer lies in EU labor market policies which guarantee most full time workers 4 or more weeks of paid vacation per year. The connection? All those well paid urban folks take significant vacations in the countryside: hiking, biking, camping, skiing, fishing & just plain old relaxing doing not much.
Those vacations do 2 things.
First, that’s a consistent flow of income to the rural regions.
Second, and as important, it brings rural folks into regular contact with people from away. This reduces the fear factor, the resentment factor & the ignoramus factor.
Once again Thom, your analysis offers deep insights on the “self loathing” behavior that is driven by revenge and underlying hatred of “the other.”
I’m more convinced than ever that the propaganda and psych warfare employed by cynical Fascist loving billionaires has now reached the boiling frog in a pot level.
Yesterday, I attended a talk by two highly regarded and experienced academics who spend serious time a resources on bringing people from the left and right together to find “common ground.” While I appreciate this effort it is something that assumes there are far right “leaders” who can look beyond the detritus they have been thriving on easily since Goldwater and the John Birch Society whacks to the embrace by Reagan, through the Bush era to Trump. This adherence to the mythical reach across the aisle mentality to find common ground is literally like thinking you can do so with Nazi acolytes of Hitler in 1933.
For those who think comparisons to the rise of Nazism in 1933 to Trumpism today;
Read “The Nazi Seizure of Power: The Experience of a Single German Town, 1922-1945” is like a bone chilling and virtual dé·jà vu of what we are now undergoing. The book originally written in the 80’s no less takes the single mid-sized city of Northheim as a microcosm of the rise of Nazism.
People, stop with the “It can’t happen here” ‘tude and get out the blue vote. That is the first and only line of defense we have!
Right on Thom! We must inform rural Americans of the truth about the Republican agenda. It hasn’t helped them in decades & will not benefit them in the future with Trump.
The rage is carefully - and very skillfully - managed by a small number of people whose wealth and power would be threatened by enlightened policies. Lyndon Johnson laid it out plainly, if a bit crudely: "I'll tell you what's at the bottom of it. If you can convince the lowest white man he's better than the best colored man, he won't notice you're picking his pocket. Hell, give him somebody to look down on, and he'll empty his pockets for you." I would add "hate" to "look down on."
I fear it may be too late. The morbidly rich, who own most of the media here, are focused and united in their goal of recreating a feudalistic society. Ignorance, fear, hatred, bigotry and anger are their tools. We on the left are idealistic, believe in the rule of law, the progressive arc of history, the essential goodness of people. We lack the viciousness and immorality of the morbidly rich. That is why I dread November. Our nation as anything even aspiration ally worthwhile may end the. That won’t affect me much, as I am nearly 76 and in very poor health. But our grandson will be at great risk. If this country and the world survive a return of tfg, it will be my mission in my remaining years to get him and his mother to emigrate to a saner place. Because if November goes as I fear, it could take decades before we restore our country, if that will even be possible. So vote blue, and do all you can to help maximize a blue voter turnout. This is by far the most critical election in my lifetime.
I live among the people you are talking about. 🦊 news is poison. The Republican propaganda machine has been extremely effective. They ARE voting and arguing against their best interests. It IS tough to argue with them regarding the facts that the Democrats have delivered.
Look at what you listed being higher in rural America - crime, poverty, drug addiction, unwanted pregnancies, low high school graduation rates. That’s what they experience. So it’s not difficult for the Republicans to play the blame game. The rural voters don’t follow all the media so they are steered by the lies they are being fed through the firehose of MAGA bs.
Where to counter the free flow of BS is actual Christianity for one. Trump’s messianic views of himself while actually acting like the prequel to the anti christ - can be picked apart. I know some Evangelicals are beginning to have a problem with trump’s actions messiah complex. The MAGAts agenda is definitely the opposite of the Beatitudes.
Additionally - rural voters are supporters of their veterans. What have the MAGAt’s done for our military? Tub Stub but our National Security at risk for his own ego - refused to listen to the top brass.
Matt Gaetz called General Milley a “pig” - WTF 😳- who the is this trust fund puke to call the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff a “pig”. That’s hardly patriotic!!
Law and order- give me a freaking break!! What a contradiction!
Trump let police be attacked for 3 hours while he sat and watched it on TV before he told the attackers to stop. And that’s all he had to do!!!
What kind of mind would allow someone to WATCH people who swore an oath of loyalty to the country be attacked for 3 HOURS and do nothing?
Loyalty and honor means a lot to people who live in rural areas. They need to depend on each other.
Assure them that no one is after their guns because that also gives them a sense of security but hammer on the complete BREACH of honor and loyalty as a leader Donald Trump exhibited on January 6 and has continued to exhibit towards NATO - using WW2 pictures and the devastation of Ukraine.
Take it for what it’s worth - but I immersed myself among this element since 2017 and I used to work in Marketing at Ford World Headquarters.
* Didn’t Trump release all the Taliban prisoners (5000) being held by our forces and the Afghan government without getting the ok from the Afghan government.
What happened to the Kurds who were helping us fight ISIS?
You can’t trust Trump!
The right has focused for decades on creating this bubble in less populated states to help them manipulate congress and the electoral college. The concerted orchestration on the right is what the left doesn't know how to compete with.
Is the GOP’s cynical manipulation of religion, gender, and race enough to keep them voting to hurt themselves and enrich Republican fat-cats? Ans. Hope not this time.
1. No mention of Nixon's southern strategy or Jungian collective racial subconscious. Nixon's manipulation has worked. Demagoguery also works. But it can be overcome.
2. Anecdotally, I know many full blown racists "up close and personal" and I will testify that everything is visceral. May be an overactive amygdala, elevated fight and flight responses. Based on my own experience, in one on one confrontations, "Trump hates dogs" and "Trump stole from kids with cancer" work.
I recommend posting these, with proof available to substantiate them in comments. I'm also a veteran and "not suckers or losers" work. Try it on military and history web sites.
Here's proof. https://rvat.org/ Check out the individuals.
3. How to undermine it. Check out Forgotten Democrats. https://forgottendemocrats.org/
Also organizations like Blue Missouri.
4. I'm a volunteer with Field Team 6, which has other volunteers using data mining to target unregistered voters. Here's the mission. https://www.fieldteam6.org/mission
5. Address their culture.
Broken Truth. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kRSNNrAfv3s
The Day That Democracy Died https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Ue5F57dZMU
6. Inventory their benefits. Even racists who need government benefits to survive sometimes have an epiphany that as takers and not makers their necks are on the proverbial chopping block.
Nothing more ironic than someone on SSI voting Republican.
Democrats and liberals have only themselves to blame. The right wing has proselytized rural Americans for about 40 years via talk radio. Meanwhile, Democrats and liberals sucked their thumbs, letting the wingers/Republicans get away with it, possibly assuming that corporate media would report on the lies and BS on talk radio. But that never happened. Still the Dems and liberal allies kept sucking their thumbs and let neoliberal garbage propaganda make matters even worse (like accelerating media concentration/monopolies).
Thus, we have had to suffer through 40+ years of corrupt Republican control of a little over half of the states and 22 years of illegitimate presidents since talk radio hit the air and corporate media either cowered in the corner via "bothsideism" or jumped onboard the fascist express. (Add to that most of the remaining states following the money and being run by neoliberal, incompetent and/or corrupt Democratic parties.)
Now we are faced with another serious challenge to the notion of government of, by and for the people. It's up to We the People to listen to the complaints of our rural neighbors, establish common ground and share our values and then share accurate information face to face, neighbor to neighbor.
Republicans Fascists keep screwing their rural constituents because they are of great use to them .
They screw them into worse poverty , radicalize them , and sit on piles of money that should have gone to the citizens.
The Republicans system has been corrupt for so many years and they are working harder than ever to make it worse for rural people every day .
It seems that many of these people are angry at their perceived enemies as instructed by these twisted politicians.
It is important to get information to them .
The Maga Republicans under Trump., want them angry and approaching violence.
The destructive thought that has gone into this Republicans plan to screw their constituents, and by extension , the rest of us, has gone on over many years.
This falls in line with the plan of the Federalist Society and other branches of White Supremacy.
These people with their superiority in their pockets with their power that is money, know this is the result .
They thrive on it and blame everyone but themselves.
As long as the power in this country is held by a few of the wealthiest destructive immoral Americans, it will continue to get worse and extinguish our society.
"... is the GOP’s cynical manipulation of religion, gender, and race enough to keep them voting to hurt themselves and further enrich Republican fat-cats?"
Yes. I grew up with these people.
With maga morons there is not much to do. What should be called brain has long been frozen in times. As Voltaire once wrote: it is difficult to free fools from the chains they revere. The only solution is to cut the head. Lock him up. Go after the corrupt scotus and gop. Free America. Vote BLUE. Amen
I know that right-wing media, especially Fox, has whipped the Evangelical base into a contemporary frenzy. But to be honest, these people were the same before Fox. The Conservative base has never been any different than they are today - easy prey to outrage, misogyny and racism, and at about the same percentage of the citizenry. They just didn't have a national right-wing network to confirm their bigotry and misogyny, working towards providing them with the control of others that they've always lusted after. They are the same vicious minority they've always been, using twisted interpretations of the Bible to justify their ideologies. What's changed is SCOTUS legalizing bribery and dark money flow, obscene gerrymandering and voter suppression. All of this is on behalf of the Federalist Society goals of a USA feudal system.
They are not different than they were in the 50's; they are simply more empowered. That the world they want to create will destroy their children is of no mind to them; only the afterlife matters. Yet, very few of them actually take the teachings of Jesus seriously.
Rural Americans, and my first home was a 1 rm log cabin in Hocking county, Ohio, are rebels at heart and Our Mad King Donald and his corporate media controlling comrades have stoked that fire to keep us/them in a state of fear/xenophobia. The corporate controlled media presents almost entirely highly emotional enraging content, and that rage-focused state is addicting and anti-intellectual. Firing the faster limbic "survival" brain turns off the higher, slower thinking brain, and it's fun. Just look at our "entertainments": NASCAR, WWE. MMA, Prize fights, violent movies (I dare you to show me one without gun violence), violent "sports", war "news", etc.
Many thanks to Thom for another fine article! 12-step meetings often have a sign on the wall: "THINK, THINK, THINK!", and Bill Wilson, co-founder of AA, and the other 100 recovering alcoholics who supported/wrote the iconic book, "Alcoholics Anonymous", suggested that we focus on ridding ourselves of ALL resentments, if we wanted to have a sober and productive life. Those who choose to ignore this sage advice too often come to a miserable, drunken end. We can only hope our constitutional Republic does not follow the same self-destructive path, as only misery can follow.
This is what happened during the Civil War. The confederate army was made up of poor white males that had no vested interest in the war. They didn’t own property or slaves. But they were convinced that freeing the slaves was a threat to them.
Having lived in rural south, and under the roof of a Southern Baptist Preacher Uncle. I know what shapes their minds, believes and opinions.
The Pulpit, Press and Peer Pressure. Mostly the Pulpit
There is not much to do in these communities except go to Wednesday night prayer service and Sunday church services, where they get harangued by the preacher, told what to think, and get reinforced in the parking lot, home visits, phone and the grange.
The local press is as bigoted and selective, then there is Fox, OANN and now social media.
There is no way I can think of to get through to them, religion has them thoroughly brainwashed and under control.
Wondering why rural America is such a mess compared to rural regions in the EU? I’ve thought about this for a long time … I think the answer lies in EU labor market policies which guarantee most full time workers 4 or more weeks of paid vacation per year. The connection? All those well paid urban folks take significant vacations in the countryside: hiking, biking, camping, skiing, fishing & just plain old relaxing doing not much.
Those vacations do 2 things.
First, that’s a consistent flow of income to the rural regions.
Second, and as important, it brings rural folks into regular contact with people from away. This reduces the fear factor, the resentment factor & the ignoramus factor.
Think I might be onto something?
Once again Thom, your analysis offers deep insights on the “self loathing” behavior that is driven by revenge and underlying hatred of “the other.”
I’m more convinced than ever that the propaganda and psych warfare employed by cynical Fascist loving billionaires has now reached the boiling frog in a pot level.
Yesterday, I attended a talk by two highly regarded and experienced academics who spend serious time a resources on bringing people from the left and right together to find “common ground.” While I appreciate this effort it is something that assumes there are far right “leaders” who can look beyond the detritus they have been thriving on easily since Goldwater and the John Birch Society whacks to the embrace by Reagan, through the Bush era to Trump. This adherence to the mythical reach across the aisle mentality to find common ground is literally like thinking you can do so with Nazi acolytes of Hitler in 1933.
For those who think comparisons to the rise of Nazism in 1933 to Trumpism today;
Read “The Nazi Seizure of Power: The Experience of a Single German Town, 1922-1945” is like a bone chilling and virtual dé·jà vu of what we are now undergoing. The book originally written in the 80’s no less takes the single mid-sized city of Northheim as a microcosm of the rise of Nazism.
People, stop with the “It can’t happen here” ‘tude and get out the blue vote. That is the first and only line of defense we have!
Right on Thom! We must inform rural Americans of the truth about the Republican agenda. It hasn’t helped them in decades & will not benefit them in the future with Trump.
The rage is carefully - and very skillfully - managed by a small number of people whose wealth and power would be threatened by enlightened policies. Lyndon Johnson laid it out plainly, if a bit crudely: "I'll tell you what's at the bottom of it. If you can convince the lowest white man he's better than the best colored man, he won't notice you're picking his pocket. Hell, give him somebody to look down on, and he'll empty his pockets for you." I would add "hate" to "look down on."