cross-posted from: https://piefed.social/c/shermanposting/p/1855263/don-t-be-a-loser
this post was submitted on 04 Jun 2026
709 points (98.0% liked)
Political Memes
11923 readers
2591 users here now
Welcome to politcal memes!
These are our rules:
1) Be civil
Jokes are okay, but don’t intentionally harass or disturb any member of our community. Sexism, racism and bigotry are not allowed. Good faith argumentation only. No posts discouraging people to vote or shaming people for voting.
2) No misinformation
Don’t post any intentional misinformation. When asked by mods, provide sources for any claims you make.
3) Posts should be memes
Random pictures do not qualify as memes. Relevance to politics is required.
4) No bots, spam or self-promotion
Follow instance rules, ask for your bot to be allowed on this community.
5) No AI generated content.
Content posted must not be created by AI with the intent to mimic the style of existing images
founded 3 years ago
MODERATORS
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
view the rest of the comments
Sadly he joined the GOP.
While I may like the sentiment, his actions are contrary to it.
Perhaps have a look at what he achieved instead of the label he achieved it under. His policies were pretty far removed from what you would expect from a Republican.
Then maybe he shouldn't be registered with a party that's against all his values.
He's a Republican because he fell for the Reagan bling, he's said multiple times he got in it for him. I think he never really understood what that actually meant, and he did side with leftist ideas more often than against, and he did do a bunch of things that are more leftist than he understands, but he still had some pretty entrenched ideas of what a Republican is that he never managed to question despite having reality shoved in his face, so he's still a Republican by religion and lack of reckoning of what that really does.
Imagine this, though: Imagine the above comment was made by a conservative, upset at AOC, a deeply progressive politician, for joining the Democratic Party, a group that supports Israel and tends to work quietly against universal healthcare.
It’s sometimes poor logic, but people do successfully cherry pick reasons to feel the same about the Democrats - fans of progressives especially.
It's not a very good analogy. AOC has two choices in American politics: Democrat or Republican. She may not be a perfect fit for the Democratic Party, but she's significantly closer to them than she is to the Republican Party (even before MAGA).
Schwarzenegger had the same options. He would have fit fine in the Democratic Party, but he, for whatever reason, chose the Republican party; a political party that has been overtly racist for as long as any of us have been alive.
Maybe he had some good reason to throw his support behind the Republican party pre-MAGA, but it is still a valid criticism that he made that decision.
Valid, but I have to admit, it's not a very useful criticism. What's he going to do; time travel back and prevent himself from making that decision?
Part of my point is, I think everyone has had “romantic, classical notions” of what their party used to represent, and defer to that notion when considering which party a good person should join.
For Democrats, that involves protecting minorities, a strong government, etc. For some Republicans, it’s about more state-level government, and strong businesses. The wishful often want to believe it’s just those - that racism isn’t built into that party, only “protecting the border from criminals”.
And if you look way back in history, there are “hints” to that too - Lincoln freeing the slaves, Reagan welcoming immigration to strengthen the economy. They’re not true anymore, of course, just as the Democratic Party won’t lift a finger for anything that stands against Israel, or could actually pass universal healthcare. But I could imagine an older guy like Arnold remembering that image when he signed up. Maybe to some degree there’s a Code Geass’ Suzaku style of “The only right way is to change them from the inside!” thinking.
Robin Williams said it best.
The GOP glorifies personal responsibility while making sure that individuals without wealth have little to no power.
Decidedly have no love for the GOP, but he was a politician in a time where the GOP was immensely different from what it is today, and the focus of the party was not overt bigotry and absolutism. Iirc, he was also talked about as a bit of a black sheep during the Bush Jr.-era GOP politics, but I might be misremembering things based on my own impressions from that time.
The GOP in 2016. "We can't have Hillary as President. The world will laugh at us!"
The GOP in 2016. "Who cares what anyone thinks of us?? USA! USA!! USA!!!"
The GOP back then when Arnie joined was more socially progressive and actually fiscally conservative. This was the party that allowed more migrants in the 1980s, and courted Muslim voters in 2000 presidential election by tapping into the mostly immigrant Muslim's entrepreneurial spirit-- and it worked. I won't vote for any conservatives because I inherently disagree with them on economics and I am not religious, but 2000's GOP is the kind of conservative that I identify as conservative.
"socially progressive and fiscally conservative" is and always has been a copout phrase used by people that will never, ever, support wide spread systemic change to better people's lives, but dont want to be yelled at for it. Its the "thoughts and prayers" group.
Notice that everyone who claims to be socially progressive and fiscally conservative still always votes Republican. It's basically their way of saying "I don't personally want to kill all gay people, but would gladly vote for politicians who do if it means I might get a tax break."
Well they are called conservatives for a reason. Because they value "conserving" whatever it is.
He's referring to people who claim to be "socially progressive and economically conservative" because those two concepts are diametrically opposed
Because those who are "socially progressive and economically conservative" are operating from the classical liberal sense of personal freedom and freedom from government control on the market. Liberalism and capitalism are progressive ideas when they first came out, as these ideas were opposing the aristocratic hierarchy and government control of economy to turn profit (mercantilism). Now, with aristocracy pretty much gone, personal liberty is practically non-questionable, and free market is widely adopted, these are given and hence became "conservative" in the modern sense.