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Yep. One of the things that we're going to have to understand and then come to a conclusion about what we're gonna do about it is that conservative bleating about voter fraud and legitimacy isn't about integrity anymore than gamergate was about ethics. It's about power and who... https://twitter.com/nberlat/status/1325972205981880325
gets to claim and weild it. The rhetoric around it is just an excuse. The thing we're going to have to accept (and Black and Brown people have been telling you) is conservatives don't see any power but their own as legitimate. It's how they can twist losing by 3 million votes...
into a mandate and why the idea that they're a minority party doesn't matter to them. They only see themselves and their ideas as legitimate and anything else is a lie at best and a moral failing that will plunge the country into ruin at worst. Especially when their opposition...
is elected by people they don't like. AKA anyone who isn't straight, white, male and at this point christian. And this is unrelated to Noah's point but I get annoyed that other folks don't realize this is why "reaching across the aisle" doesn't really work. You can't work with...
people who do not see your existence or that of the people you represent, as legitimate because you can't even agree on the same fundamental reality. You literally don't even have a common ground to start from (TBF, Dems and Reps DO have a common ground of white supremacy)...
but that's a more nuanced point other people have made more effectively and I won't go into in depth here and it's only tangentially connected to the broader point I'm concerned with here. The issue is that conservatives don't care how badly they're beaten. They believe only...
they should get to wield power and that anyone else doing so is fraudulent or illegitimate and the mask is off. Everytime they lose they're going to do this as a way to stoke their supporters and convince them they are the persecuted ones. That victim complex works wonders!..
Furthermore I want people to understand how this plays into the Senate races and a longer term strategy. Because that's what this is, a strategy. These people aren't necessarily unintelligent or incapable of long term planning. It's actually probably their greatest asset. ...
Think about it, ACB was the end game of 50+ yrs of right wing action. Conservative's ancestors set up this game and taught them to play and play ruthlessly if not well. There are conservatives who hated Trump not because of what he did, but the way he did it. He was too loud...
too blatant and too abrasive. Gone were the dog whistles and the plausible deniability that had given them cover. THAT was what we saw time and time again from Republican former Trump supporters. It wasn't that they recognized his wickedness, they were mad they couldn't pretend!
But these were not people on board with the Dems. Remember, they don't see Dems in power as legitimate. So, as Bree Newsome noted, they split the ticket. This. Was. Deliberate. In the states it was possible they voted to keep Republicans in congress because they wanted to limit..
the incoming administration. Gridlock is good for them because it plays into their idea that gov't can't get anything done. It becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy and again, ensures people they don't like get hurt worse. Believe me when I say they're already planning to try...
to control the entire government again in 2024 and will be looking for someone who can deliver Trump cruelty with the plausible deniability of past conservative presidents. The whipping up of the base here is part of the delay strategy to give them time to pull that off.
And it's the fact it's happening in Georgia in a runoff election that makes this terrifying because runoffs in states that gerrymandered for the Republicans tend to be tough. Runoff's, like any election that doesn't have the attention of presidential politics tend to have...
lower turnout. Not favorable for those of us who want to see some kind of forward momentum in the US. It can be won but we're going to have to accept several unpleasant realities and one of the bigger ones is something that I've been trying to figure out how to talk about...
for awhile. It's this: The Conservatives don't have an off season.
They NEVER stop looking for a way to take advantage. I know because I've listened to them talk. Years ago I was at an event and overheard some conservative business folks talking. I was hired help for the...
They NEVER stop looking for a way to take advantage. I know because I've listened to them talk. Years ago I was at an event and overheard some conservative business folks talking. I was hired help for the...
event and you'd be amazed what people will say around people they think are just "the help." A minimum wage increase had just been passed in my state and these guys were talking about it. Clearly didn't like it. One guy said, "I'm golfing with the new state congressman...
and we need to make sure we get a good deal out of this. I'm fine with people making more money but if everyone else's paycheck goes up, mine needs to too."
This man said this wearing a VERY expensive suit btw in a room talking to two other people also in very expensive suits.
This man said this wearing a VERY expensive suit btw in a room talking to two other people also in very expensive suits.
And this wasn't a big event either. This was basically a graduation type environment to give you some perspective. This was days after the election. None of my liberal friends were having conversations like this but these guys? They were already scheming.
These guys were already plotting to figure out how to undermine the minimum wage increase such that it wouldn't impact their personal fortunes when they were already successful with more than enough to survive. THAT is what we're up against. We have to be ready and prepared...
to deal with that level of committment. Otherwise we'll have trouble surviving! Forget about winning.
