volkris @volkris@qoto.org

Growing up in the US, decades ago, I was cautiously optimistic about the future for the US government:
Sure, folks had ideological, philosophical, and political differences, but we'd keep on having a big social conversation, challenging each other, to come to a positive consensus, all as the government itself continued to maintain its core functions, shaped by the ongoing debate.

It seemed at the time as if we were working with a rough draft, and things would keep getting better. The government had good bones, to borrow an analogy.

The thing I find so depressing about #Trump as the #GOP
nominee isn't ideological. It's that we're now facing a race where the idea of actually administering a functional government isn't even a significant issue to voters. I never see it coming up in mainstream conversation from either the left or the right.

This is one reason I'm so obsessed about #USPolitics, because in my lifetime it's regressed so terribly, from a functional government that's responding to productive debate to one where functionality isn't particularly interesting to the average voter.

The US population has lost faith in government over this time, but the problem is, well, that's what they voted for by nominating people like #Biden and Trump.

It's why Super Tuesday was a symbol of this regression of the US government to me, even if it had become inevitable.

I remain struck by hearing a #GOP voter say he would be voting for #Trump over #Haley in the primary purely because Haley can't win the primary.

Not the general election, the primary.

That he was voting in.

The most charitable interpretation I have for this is that he wanted to feel good about having voted on the winning side of the primary, fitting in with the crowd.

But really, I think so many voters simply don't know how voting works.

#USPolitics

It's something to think of a #Trump nomination as a team hiring a coach who doesn't know the rules of the game and so can't explain them to the team, leaving them at a self-inflicted disadvantage.

Trump failed so badly during his first term because he didn't know which procedures to use to really press forward with his agenda, and there's little reason to believe he's learned anything since then, and he certainly hasn't been informing his sadly ignorant listeners.

Unfortunately, so many on the other side don't know the rules either, but their coaches do, so they're able to play the game.

We'd all be better off if someone was out there actually explaining to the general public how government works, so we could elect better officials left and right, and fix the derailment.

#USPolitics #Democrats #Republicans

Ah: No, the #Alabama ruling didn't declare embryos to be children, as any reading of the actual ruling would easily show.

In fact, the ruling went out of its way to stress that it wasn't making any deep or broad declaration.

Once again, there's social turmoil over what's either misunderstanding or misinformation. Sadly, I suspect there are plenty of bad actors who know they're spreading lies, but find the drama to be in their own interests.

https://publicportal-api.alappeals.gov/courts/68f021c4-6a44-4735-9a76-5360b2e8af13/cms/case/343D203A-B13D-463A-8176-C46E3AE4F695/docketentrydocuments/E3D95592-3CBE-4384-AFA6-063D4595AA1D

#law #USPolitics

I think a major factor in the state of #USPolitics comes down to a generational shift in mainstream conservative media around the passing of Rush Limbaugh, as the void he left was filled by new figures with a different attitude, one that wasn't so much full-throated promotion of conservatism itself but rather aggressive promotion of superficial fact that happened to be simply incorrect.

Whether one agrees with the conservative ideology or not, this has made a stark difference.

For example, the border compromise legislation weeks ago was sunk not by what was in the bill or by ideological disagreement, but by flat out misinformation about what the bill contained, as that information was emphatically promoted to the huge audiences that these outfits command.

I think if people understand that shift in #GOP rhetoric they can have a better understanding of the state of the world.

One really sad thing is that this change is even bad for #Democrats as it means there's less solid skepticism to weed out bad actors in that party as well.

Of course, this also points to the way #journalism dropped the ball and let that void remain empty to be filled by idiots.

I often stay up to date with #conservative media in #USPolitics just to keep apprised of what the #GOP is talking about, or to put it in a different way, so you don't have to, but lately it's getting just two much even for me.

It's one thing to disagree with facts that #Republicans are working with, but lately they are getting more and more unhinged in their actual arguments, contradicting themselves but seeming oblivious of it.

For example, this week I heard the line that progressive attacks against #Trump are good for him because they will make him seem moderate to voters. If the ideologues are attacking him, then he must be moderate, right? But then the next moment that same presenter started talking about progressive attacks against #Biden without applying the exact same reasoning to that case.

In the past few weeks mainstream conservative talking points have just gotten ridiculous in their blind support for Trump. They've stopped talking about policy, or their claims about accomplishments, or anything like that. Now it's just getting into chanting that really didn't exist before.

On one hand, it's sad to watch, it's pathetic, and on the other hand it's boring.

So I figure they are setting themselves up for a repeat of the red wave that never showed up during the last election. They are not setting themselves up to win.

Sigh. I wish they would at least make it interesting to watch.

The latest in #USPolitics for the many on this platform that never seem to have any exposure to #Republicans is that different factions of that side have contradictory claims about what's in the text of the immigration bill introduced to the #Senate.

One side says that the bill is awful because it does x, y, and z, while the other side says those things are emphatically not in the bill.

One side calls out the other for having supported the bill without reading it even as they themselves vociferously reject the bill... without reading it.

It's a really sad thing to watch, but in order to understand this moment in domestic politics one has to know that this intra party dispute over matters of fact is looming large.

And my impression is that it's really not about #Trump, at least not directly, even though he seems to be trying to claim credit for the tides that were moving already, as he often does.

From what I see it's more about conservatives who have no idea how the US government actually works and so had no ability to properly judge legislation, and so threw a giant hissy fit when they didn't get their uninformed way.

#GOP #border #politics

My experience with #Musk is more interesting than just he's a liar or he's a capitalist or most of the other stuff being thrown at him, and in a really important way:

Over years I watched interview after interview where some reporter or fan would press him to answer questions outside of his level of expertise, and he would tell them they'd need to ask an engineer, but they'd demand an answer from him until he sheepishly gave in and told them what they wanted to hear.

I think over time Musk largely decided it wasn't worth trying to resist and started playing along a lot more.

But this is something we see with many public figures. They become caricatures over time, becoming the thing the public wants them to be.

This isn't at all to let Musk off the hook for anything. But since I personally really don't care about Musk, the larger picture is more interesting.

I think this really captures the state of things with Republicans shooting themselves in the foot because even though these numbers will be staring them in the face, they're going to miss the critical lesson about independants.

#USPolitics #Trump