this post was submitted on 21 Aug 2025
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[–] solsangraal@lemmy.zip 98 points 1 day ago (2 children)

fascists will blame it on biden and mexicans, and stained-wifebeater-wearing bumpkin yokel walmart shoppers will be parroting it before the fox news ticker even scrolls to the end of the sentence

[–] Brunbrun6766@lemmy.world 32 points 1 day ago

AND they'll continue to shop there

[–] Voroxpete@sh.itjust.works 1 points 1 day ago (4 children)

Maybe. But not everyone who voted for Trump is a fascist. There are enough voters on the edge who really did vote for lowered cost of living, after four years of everything getting more and more expensive under Biden. Those voters can be won over, and this is really going to slap them in the face.

[–] prole@lemmy.blahaj.zone 4 points 19 hours ago (1 children)

Maybe. But not everyone who voted for Trump is a fascist

Maybe in 2016. But there's no excuse for 2024.

If you see a table with 9 Nazis, and you go sit with them, then you've got a table with 10 Nazis.

[–] Voroxpete@sh.itjust.works 1 points 16 hours ago* (last edited 16 hours ago) (1 children)

The problem is that a lot of people really are ignorant and gullible enough to not realize that the other nine people are Nazis.

This doesn't make the effect of their actions any less bad. Not knowing that you're helping fascists doesn't make what you're doing any less fascist. But it does matter when it comes to assessing who those people are, and how reachable they are.

Reaching out to fascists is pointless. They know what they're doing and they're going to keep on doing it. But a lot of people make the mistake of thinking this means it's also pointless to reach out to anyone who has ever been duped by fascists. And that's an attitude that very quickly leaves you on a shrinking island with fewer and fewer friends.

This is the trolley problem all over again. Do you want to do the most good, or do you want to avoid anything that makes you feel icky?

Progressives in America need every ally they can get. Whether that's to win the next election, or to win the civil war, numbers still matter. You're not going to get those allies without reaching out to some groups of people that you don't personally like or respect, and one of those groups is the gullible idiots in the middle who have been swayed by false promises.

Telling yourself that every person who's ever voted for Trump is a lost cause just leaves you with fewer people you can call on. It's not a winning strategy. This isn't about being nice, it's not about forgiveness and kindness; it's about doing what it takes to get your country back, before its too late. Even if that makes you feel icky, or forces you to swallow your pride and make nice with people you don't respect or like.

[–] Lukaro@piefed.zip 2 points 16 hours ago (1 children)

I'll keep from getting shit all over myself by not swimming with the assholes who keep shitting in the pool even after being shown where the toilet is. If you want to forgive and befriend the people who want nothing more than to punch you in the balls go right ahead.

[–] Voroxpete@sh.itjust.works 0 points 14 hours ago (1 children)

No, the people you're talking about aren't the people I'm talking about, and the fact that you can't figure out the difference perfectly illustrates my point.

There are people who hate us, and there are people are genuinely just misguided. If you can't figure out the difference you're going to throw away potential allies at a time when you could not possibly need them more.

[–] Lukaro@piefed.zip 1 points 12 hours ago (1 children)

There are lines of morality that can't be crossed.

[–] Voroxpete@sh.itjust.works 1 points 11 hours ago

There's nothing moral about allowing your country to fall into fascism because you couldn't swallow your pride.

[–] N0t_5ure@lemmy.world 39 points 1 day ago (1 children)

There are enough voters on the edge who really did vote for lowered cost of living. . . and this is really going to slap them in the face.

Honestly, I hope it rips their fucking faces off. Trump showed who he was during his first term, and it took a "fuck everyone else, gimme what I want" mentality to vote in favor of his second term. As a consequence, U.S. democracy is effectively over and everyone is much worse off for it. The leopards have been feasting, and it's about to get much, much worse.

[–] hume_lemmy@lemmy.ca 27 points 1 day ago

Trump showed who he was during his first term

And his entire life has shown his complete and utter fucking ineptitude when it comes to handling money. The only reason he has a cent is because he's been propped up his entire life... and now he's been given unfettered access to empty the US Treasury into his own pockets.

[–] Azal@pawb.social 13 points 1 day ago (2 children)

Then those people were fucking idiots. Things were shit under Trump 1.0 with the inflation starting under him, it continued with Biden who was trying to keep an economy from collapsing after the Trump idiocy with a pandemic, so brought back in Trump 2.0 to finish the job of wrecking the economy.

[–] onslaught545@lemmy.zip 5 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Yes, we all agree they're idiots. That's old news.

[–] Azal@pawb.social 9 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Yet we have people that seems to defend these people like they're not.

I don't have a lot of hope of "winning people over", it might come from living in a red state where people keep voting for the party that fucks them over, they get mad when they get fucked over, then they vote for the party that promises to take away the lube.

[–] onslaught545@lemmy.zip 4 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (2 children)

Saying they're idiots instead of fascists really isn't defending them. They're stupid people who keep getting duped by conmen, largely because those conmen have captured the media and education systems in their states to keep them stupid and gullible.

It's about recognizing that things aren't as black and white as they're portrayed, and having some compassion for people who are literally brainwashed by a cult.

Attacking them by calling them fascists will only serve to dig their heels in deeper by establishing yourself as the enemy, like their brainwashing tells them.

[–] Azal@pawb.social 1 points 6 hours ago

Oh I've done the compassion front right up until the last election. I talked just like this on "No, we need to meet halfway."

After enough "I did it to own the libs" I've learned my lesson.

[–] prole@lemmy.blahaj.zone 3 points 19 hours ago

They are useful idiots, an important aspect of a fascist regime.

They are fascists.

[–] Voroxpete@sh.itjust.works -1 points 20 hours ago (2 children)

Yes. They were ignorant, and stupid, and poorly informed.

Where does that get you? Does writing them off instead of reaching out to them make the world better?

If elections still matter, you need them to win the next election. If elections don't matter, you need them to overthrow the tyrants. Either way, you need them. You need every single person you can win to your cause. Even the idiots.

You don't get to work with only people who meet your standards for intelligence, capability, and moral purity. You're not going to fix the world hanging out in your little "Smarts only" club with the ten other people you deign to associate with.

[–] Azal@pawb.social 1 points 6 hours ago

Where does that get you? Does writing them off instead of reaching out to them make the world better?

I'll tell you where working with them, trying to understand them, trying to help them see how the different parties have direct affect on their lives has gotten me. I've got to have the ability to talk republican because I work in blue collar jobs, yet I've tried so very hard to show how it directly affects their lives and being compassionate.

It's gotten me them proudly coming in and crowing they voted Republican, keeping to their sports teams, and the people who hate the republicans telling me "I just really don't care about politics."

So where does me writing them off get me? Finally understanding I CANNOT get to them, and my life has been a process of teaching a pig to sing. It wastes my time and annoys the pig.

[–] Clent@lemmy.dbzer0.com 3 points 14 hours ago (1 children)

It's not my job nor my responsibility to seek out these people fix others stupid.

They are free to reach out but they need to extend the olive branch.

There are too many cultists to weed through to find the one person who is genuinely confused but is somehow unable to navigate their own way out.

[–] Voroxpete@sh.itjust.works 0 points 14 hours ago

It's not my job nor my responsibility

Then why do you care?

[–] corsicanguppy@lemmy.ca 24 points 1 day ago

voters on the edge who really did vote for lowered cost of living, after four years of everything getting more and more expensive under Biden

I love how, with no ability figure out things like "inflation", or "pandemic killing supply chains means even more inflation", they're left with "Brandon took mah terlet papar".

I lump the "it's Joe's fault because we weren't told by Trump any other ideas" people in with the rest of 'em. They test-drove the circus once already so they knew better.