Pic Of The Moment: Dear America, This Isn't Complicated

[EarlG]

[TwilightZone]

1. About 45% of our fellow Americans suck.

That's the uncomplicated answer. Partisanship clearly has few limits.

[Think. Again.]

10. They DO suck...

...but it isn't 45% of Americans, it’s 45% of registered voters.

Only about 28% of voting age Americans are registered republicans.

Let's not make them out to be stronger than they are.

[TwilightZone]

11. Many polls survey all adults.

Reuters, for example, always includes data for all adults vs registered voters. The numbers are pretty much the same, usually within 1-2%. There's very little difference in overall approval between registered voters and all adults. My point stands.

"Only about 28% of voting age Americans are registered republicans."

While that's true, it ignores context. It doesn't include right-leaning independents and states where there is no party registration. DU tends to pretend they don't exist, which is why we also consistently underestimate them.

The real number is about 44%. Hence, my assertion that about 45% suck.

Here's the math:

https://democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1002&pid=18724313

[ShazzieB]

21. Thanks for this reminder!

[Initech]

18. 45% have been heavily brainwashed by a steady diet of Fox, AM radio, and megachurch bullshit.

We won't begin to heal as a country until we recognize that Fox News is an abusive entity and they have been heavily abusing this country since 1997.

[TwilightZone]

20. The polarization long precedes Fox News.

While right-wing media is unquestionably responsible for stoking fear, ignorance, and intolerance, in many cases, they just exposed and accentuated what was already there. Same with Trump. Trump just made it more acceptable (to the general masses) to be overt about it. The current polarization dates to at least the Civil Rights Era and the Southern Strategy, and was further ramped up by Reagan, who made liberal and government dirty words. Trump took it to a new low.

Putting a damper on right-wing media would no doubt help, but there's little chance of healing as a nation until the underlying beliefs that they exploit - racism, sexism, bigotry, intolerance, anti-immigration, anti-intellectualism, and the like - are somehow changed. I have no clue how we accomplish that.

[BobTheSubgenius]

31. I blame the genesis of The Great Divide on Lee Atwater.

He certainly didn't do it alone, but he was a major player with more than the ear of powerful, powerful people. Here was a man who, dying of cancer, lied about reading a Bible he received in his 'hour of need', and didn't even bother to break the seal on the volume and lend at least a shred of plausibility to his assertion. A real POS.

He did have his finger on the pulse of around half of the average right-leaning Americans bullshit tolerance, though. It was said that he invented the push poll, although I think, if anything, he just brought it up to then-current tech levels.

[czarjak]

33. The pulse of White Supremacy hasn't and won't change. Period.

[Evolve Dammit]

24. And so many more "outlets."

[Evolve Dammit]

26. Forty years of Limpbaugh cannot be overestimated

[CrispyQ]

2. "And I need to come up with $454 million, stat!"

Frist he'll drain the RNC, then he'll rob the Treasury. 🎶

[TwilightZone]

3. The RNC doesn't have anything.

And the terms of the penalty arrangements wouldn't allow him to rob the Treasury. He either needs to come up with the cash or find someone who would post bonds.

Former President Donald Trump owes legal penalties totaling hundreds of millions of dollars in two civil cases recently decided in New York, raising questions about how he'll pay the staggering amount.

The short answer is that Trump, whose political persona is tied to his career as a wealthy businessman, will either pay himself or have other entities post bond on his behalf.

https://www.npr.org/2024/02/20/1232688266/trump-afford-legal-penalties-civil-cases

[CrispyQ]

5. If he gets in the White House again there won't be any penalty & he'll take everything.

Donald wants to rule the world. He never will but he can sure fuck things up trying.

[TwilightZone]

7. He has to post the bonds within 30 days.

He's not going to be president in the next 30 days.

[et tu]

8. hope the wh rx dispensary

gets a lock on the door- more please [adderall]~

[TeamProg]

4. Instant classic.

[underpants]

6. Stealing

[mahina]

29. Hahahahaha!

Thank you, Bernard.

[Niagara]

9. Excellent job, EarlG!!

[LetMyPeopleVote]

12. K&R

[IronLionZion]

13. I want him to run for office from a prison cell

He can keep whining about political persecution and his stupid supporters will keep giving money to a supposed billionaire. That should keep them occupied for a while.

[Tree Lady]

14. It's totally insane but most

People other than his rabid fans are voting for the R.

I think to myself what would I do if it was reversed? Would I vote for a horrible dem if it meant saving Roe, getting better policies on issues I really really want?

And that is how I understand it crazy as it seems.

[hadEnuf]

17. For many Trump is simply the means to an end.

The hard right has been pushing their agenda on steroids since Reagan. They are so fanatical they don't really care who gets them there, just as long as they get there - even if they screw themselves along the way.

It's what fanatical cultists do.

[samplegirl]

15. Effing Covid Killer

😡😡😡😡😡

[DemocraticPatriot]

16. Oh, LOOK! He caught one already!

[link:|


https://democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1002&pid=18733819

LMAO

[Dave Bowman]

22. Lol, first big laugh today. :D

[Otterdaemmerung]

25. "I moved on her like a b*tch"

Turnabout is fair play.

[Escurumbele]

19. No its not, why can't so many people not understand it? And I bet that no one who owns a business

would hire anyone with the buffoons resume full of criminality, but some want to have him in power of the USA...Amazing!

[Dave Bowman]

23. I wouldn't hire him to clean latrines.

[FakeNoose]

27. He has never held down a REAL job in his life

Working for Dad isn't a real job....

[mahina]

28. One for the ages!

[spanone]

30. K&R

[uponit7771]

32. K&R