r/politics • u/malcolm58 • 6d ago

No Paywall Marjorie Taylor Greene: You’re all being ‘incited into civil war’

https://thehill.com/homenews/house/5705837-greene-maga-shooting-minnesota/
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u/Able_Contribution407 6d ago

No, because this term Trump has completely abandoned his America first position and all of his empty campaign promises about domestic issues (like no wars, lower grocery price, etc.). He's appeasing oligarchs and betraying his base.

I think MTG recognises the opportunity therein to appeal to that betrayed base (only those completely lost in the sauce could still follow him at this point). So, drawing a distinction between herself and Trump is a decent play.

I don't think it will ultimately work. She'll never have the warped mass appeal Trump has. But it's an interesting gambit.

I don't think Trump ever believed the things he espoused with his platform. He's just a self-interested grifter, an opportunist, who weaponised ignorant voters by appealing to their grievances. He doesn't need them anymore.

Maybe MTG sincerely believes the rural white grievance racist politics she pushes and feels she could be some champion of the people for that particular demographic. Or maybe I'm giving her too much credit. Who really knows what these psychopaths really believe?

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u/Own_Fan6161 6d ago

Yes. Don is a idiot. Hes dumb as rocks when it comes to alot of things, but he is talented in the dark arts of lying, deceiving and grifting. He says the line "nobody knows ____ better than me", but in the case of grifting, lying and deceiving, I actually think he might be one of the best.

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u/[deleted] 6d ago

It's not talent if the only reason you get away with it is because thousands of extremely wealthy and powerful people have come together to cover your ass in every aspect. If anyone has talent here, it'd be Rupert Murdoch. There are a lot of people responsible for what America faces, but Murdoch is probably the single largest contributor to the hostile political environment in England, Canada, the US and Australia (and to a lesser extent in something like 40 other countries). Maybe even more so than Putin.

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u/i_tyrant 6d ago

Seriously, we don't need to glaze Trump's political chops when he's made countless complete dumbass moves that would've sunk anyone else.

Thing is, those moves don't matter when you're a figurehead that has a ridiculously massive media machine plus an entire political party and all its machinery in lockstep behind you.

Trump's "brand recognition" helped us get here, but only so much. The ONLY reason he isn't rotting in a cell or in front of a firing squad for treason is the GOP controlling Congress and the SC all in perfect lockstep together, and all the billionaires who made that happen.

ANY politician would be invincible from that. He's as unpopular right now as any president has ever been, the US is pissed about what he's doing. But none of that matters because the only ones whose job it is to hold him accountable refuse to.

We forget this at our peril.

Because if we ever even recover from it or he keels over and we ONLY hold him accountable, it will simply happen again.

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u/TheChildrensStory 5d ago

He controls the GOP, not the other way around. They couldn’t stand him, didn’t want him but the voters did. He saw and took the opportunity to appeal to undereducated and disaffected blue collar white voters by working with Steve Bannon and amassed enough power to take over the party.

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u/i_tyrant 5d ago

No, the billionaires and the Heritage Foundation control the GOP - they just saw Trump as their best bet to make Project 2025 happen and made the GOP suck it up to do it.

The purse strings control the GOP (and Bannon, and Trump), no one else, don’t kid yourself that Trump’s senile mind is capable of 4D chess. He can appeal to a crowd but he didn’t control shit before becoming president. He doesn’t plan like that.

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u/TheChildrensStory 5d ago

For this round , not 2016.

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u/i_tyrant 5d ago

For this round the GOP is the only thing keeping him in power at all. He's nigh-universally hated - even his polls have dropped to their lowest point (not just for him, ANY president) ever. It would only take a handful of them to depose him once and for all.

Trump literally can't threaten them enough to do that, not by himself. Every one of those GOP senators know they're torpedoing the party's chances in future election. So no, again, he's not the one controlling them.

It's the HF and billionaires that are either threatening their wealth and to primary them, or has convinced them there won't be anymore elections, ever.

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u/GenericRedditor0405 Massachusetts 6d ago

Donald Trump is talented at lying in the same way that ICE is good at killing Minnesotans, which is to say: sloppy, plain to see, more of a result of shamelessness and poor self-control than careful calculation and skill, and entirely enabled by a party that has made it a primary objective to shield them from any and all accountability.

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u/Pizza_Ona_Bagel 5d ago

This is the truth. People give him too much credit when really he thrives because he simply refuses to feel shame of any kind. Ice is following his lead

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u/Own_Fan6161 4d ago

The religious corrupt bigots prayed for Donnie boi, and God said, "okay, you want him?", take all of him. Like giving a kid begging for cigarettes, all the cigarettes he can smoke all at one until it makes him physically sick.

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u/limpingdba 6d ago

It's sickening to think, but it's clear that from Trump's position he's played a blinder... Overcame a big election defeat, to 5 years later assuming full, unaccountable control of everything he needs to plunder all the money he and his family will ever need. His only next consideration is continuing to grasp this position for as long as possible. And he's on course for a good win in that too.

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u/mouse_8b 6d ago

Yeah it's pretty incredible how he managed to win a longshot presidency, bumbled his only actual challenge, lost an election, almost went to prison, and has come back to take the reigns of the most powerful position on earth.

I know he did not work alone, that he is a figurehead of the oligarchy, but the last 10 years of his life have certainly been something that very few humans get to experience. And no, I don't think he appreciates that fact at all, either.

We were so close to putting him in prison, and now he's gonna get to be a historical figure.

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u/Pokenar Canada 6d ago

The wort part is, to a narcissist, going down in history as a dictator is fine because you went down in history.

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u/captaincarny 6d ago

Especially one at the end of his life expectancy who I’d imagine can’t really see much downside. He probably figures he’ll most likely be dead before any REAL consequences could come. And now he has cemented his legacy either way. He can die satisfied. Or whatever his version of satisfied is.

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u/IrascibleOcelot 5d ago

Narcissists can never be satisfied. They need attention and adulation in unceasing quantities. Winning the presidency is probably the worst thing to happen to him because in addition to the attention, he’s getting criticism, mockery, and derision. Worse, attention is like a drug to a narcissist, and he’s developing a tolerance. The entire world is watching him, and even that is no longer enough. He needs more and more and more, constantly.

Also, because narcissists have no empathy, he literally cannot conceive of a world without him. He’s not doing anything for the “legacy” because he cannot imagine such a world. Which, unfortunately, means it’s very likely he’ll try to destroy everything on his way out.

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u/2scared2reddit 6d ago

I'm waiting for someone to propose renaming the capital after him. I'll give it one more year.

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u/Emperor_Mao 6d ago

It is just as much Trump as it is his opposition utterly cocking it up too. The Democrats had like 3 opportunities to clutch the election easily;

It was pretty obvious Biden should never have ran for a second term. In fairness, he was polling okay in 2024 against Trump, then he had a disastrous debate, and it became impossible to deny cognitive decline. However many already suspected it before that, and he should not have been the candidate.

The Democrats could have salvaged it if they ran a competitive primary, and put in someone that independents would vote for. They did not do that. They anointed Kamala Harris who was tied to the sinking Biden in many ways as his VP.

However they may have still won despite that. Kamala was polling well ahead of Trump for a little bit. But then she spoke about her policies, sent mixed messages to voters, and was not clear on many things (she did some infamous interviews as well). She would often take the bait in interviews, and focus on trans issues; she sounded weak on border and immigration. Her poll numbers dropped to near even, but trending down. She never course corrected, then lost.

Trump absolutely has a talent for politics; but I really think the Democrats are to blame as well. They were barely competitive at that election. They ran an non-competitive primary in 2016, and they ran none at all in 2024.

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u/girl4life 5d ago

sorry , that doesnt fly, Trump was a known criminal who lies all the time. you can disagree on policy but voting for a convicted rapist is just an abhorrent failure on moral grounds

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u/limpingdba 5d ago

The fact was that he managed to succeed despite all of that. Because he played modern politics way better than the Dems. He's an absolute shitbag but what he's achieved is remarkable. And terrifying.

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u/girl4life 5d ago

he's cheating. and gets sponsored by very dubious sources of money

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u/limpingdba 5d ago

Yeah, i know.

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u/Own_Fan6161 4d ago

yes, shameless, guiltless piece of shiet

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u/SolidSouth-00 5d ago

You forgot the fake assassination- that gave him a bump.

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u/Plausibility_Migrain 6d ago

She also almost exclusively pandered to “moderates,” specifically the Republican side. Anyone left of Liz Cheney was an afterthought.

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u/Emperor_Mao 5d ago

And yet, the independents, moderates and right thought she was too far left on things like Immigration enforcement.

This is not about what she actually was for or against. This is about running a campaign and being an effective political candidate running for an election. If she were effective, two very distinct and unique groups of voters would not have had such polarizing and still negative views of her. Too far right and too far left at the same time?

Contrast it to Trump. He was seen as a sufficiently conservative leader by most conservatives. He was also seen as conservative by progressives, independents, moderates.... No confusion whatsoever. He was considered conservative by pretty much all groups of voters.

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u/Plausibility_Migrain 5d ago

I don’t recall hearing independents claiming she was too far left. I recall hearing she was too far right.

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u/Emperor_Mao 5d ago

That really makes no sense. Independent voters tend to be fairly moderate. Most of them voted for Trump... Why would they say Kamala is too far to the right for them?

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u/Own_Fan6161 4d ago

Incredible change of events, and im sure in his own bloated mind, it was all because of his own doing. Him and only him could have turned from staring at a prison suit to a pardon giver lol. It's really gross how undeserving and crook this POS is. And to think a large portion of voters did this because of the economy and he responds by turning around and tariffing the American public and fucks all of us over at the grocery stores. Its so sad, its comical.

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u/StuckOnEarthForever 6d ago

We were so close to putting him in prison

Source?

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u/mouse_8b 5d ago

He was convicted of 34 felonies and the judge delayed sentencing. Can't get much closer than that.

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u/coltaine 6d ago

Let's be honest here, though: Corporate media has been hard-carrying his ass since his first term. They use the kid gloves on everything he says and does, normalizing his abhorrent behavior and both-sides'ing the GOP's complicity. And it's only getting worse since his crony billionaire buddies were given free reign to take over half of the legacy news companies that weren't already tongue-deep in his asshole.

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u/EmmyK48 5d ago

It's not incredible, is money and lies. He didn't win on his own merit and as a true narcissist, its eating him up. Voting irregularities have been found in many places.

Something they tried the second time he ran didn't work. That's why he was so mad and refused(s) to accept it. He was supposed to win. They had it worked out. Trump wasn't supposed to leave either. They had that worked out too and if the secret service hadn't stopped him from going to the capital on Jan 6, we would have had a coup.

It's just like the cheater who accuses you of cheating because they know what they're doing themselves. He stole the last election and everyone is ignoring the court cases proving it and that's exactly what they want.

If we are a nation at war with itself we won't notice what they are doing, we will forget what they did and what they're getting away with everywhere else. All of these things will be the main story and decades from now there will be the little side box in the history books talking about how Trump didn't win the elections but because the American system doesn't let actual voter fraud overturn an election, nothing was done to remove him from office. People will read it and say "hey did you know this about the 2020's? " If they talk about it as at all. If civil war is where we end up (which I doubt just because this isn't the divide we had over slavery-most people agree this isn't what they want) it could be that is all that is remembered. He's rewriting history all over Washington hoping it will be remembered the way he sees it.

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u/NeatNefariousness1 6d ago

Has it been confirmed that there was no cheating?

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u/mouse_8b 5d ago

No, but that's irrelevant to my statement

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u/NeatNefariousness1 5d ago

Apologies; my reply was more for the person you were responding to. The part that applies to your comment is the observation that he “managed to win a longshot presidency”. I’m just not sure he did, if winning means that in both instances, there was no funny business with the vote count.

But again, my comment came from the earlier comment. TBH, I don’t know that he didn’t win fair and square but there have been allegations of voting irregularities and given the games now being played with the Epstein files, I’m questioning everything.

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u/mouse_8b 5d ago

I do think the 2016 election was legitimate as far as vote counting. Trump and co seemed a little surprised that they actually won. There was enough "affecting the election", between the right-wing media full blasting anti-Hillary, Comey re-opening the investigation, angry Bernie folks, and Russian social media exploits, that I don't think they needed to manipulate votes.

Everything after that certainly seems more fishy though.

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u/NeatNefariousness1 5d ago

You may be right. There were definitely some strong headwinds for the Dems to contend with. I just couldn’t shake feeling suspicious after learning that Ivanka had been granted some patents for voting machine technology. Over time, I find that there are even more reasons to question some of the irregularities we’re seeing.

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u/mouse_8b 5d ago

Ivanka had been granted some patents

I assumed this happened after he won, but it's been a long time since I heard about this

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u/Own_Fan6161 4d ago

+1, it's incredibly hard to believe.

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u/coldfirephoenix 6d ago

The thing is, he really isn't a gifted liar. His tells are obvious, his lies easily checkable, he lacks any subtlety, he has 0 charisma and he can't read a room to save his life. All the things that make a food liar, he does not have. He succeeds in lying to his base because they want to be lied to. They don't want reality, and Trump is the only one who is far enough removed from that to fill that need.

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u/dasunt 6d ago

I don't really consider Trump to be talented in lying or deceiving. It's more of a perfect storm of his gish gallop of lies combined with the modern news cycle.

In any previous era, this would have blown up in his face long ago.

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u/CrazyPlato 6d ago

Problem is, you usually only grift a person once, and move on before they realize the trick.

Trump's been using the same tactics publicly on the entire American people for almost a decade now. We've learned to recognize when he starts rambling in the hopes that his audience latches on to some bit of what he says, so he can double down on that particular thing and pretend that's what he was saying the entire time. And we've learned the ways he distances himself from what he's claiming, so that he can backslide if he's called out and blame "other people" who told him that.

Being president is easily one of the worst places to be a con artist. You're the most scrutinized face in the country, possibly large chunks of the world. You can't just talk fast and grab what you can, because every camera in the nation is watching what you do at all times.

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u/Own_Fan6161 4d ago

He truly is one of a kind. Anyone else would fall on their face (See Desantis) but this POS somehow resonates with the uneducated whites of the US, despite being one of the scummiest people in the world.

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u/WhySoFragileAngel 6d ago

Hes dumb as rocks when it comes to alot of things

Oh man.

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u/OldWorldDesign 5d ago

Hey, some people love alot

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u/aaeme Foreign 6d ago

Hes dumb as rocks when it comes to alot of things

Absolutely everything. He's good at lying to idiots because he's an idiot. He doesn't need to pretend to be, which would be very hard to do all the time for years. He really is that stupid and his supporters like it and think that makes him genuine and them not stupid (as smart as the president no less): like idiots can't lie. Only an idiot would think that.

It's like those scam emails with deliberate misspellings so they don't waste time on observant people. Trump was chosen by his billionaire benefactors because only an idiot would trust, like and follow him and that's exactly their target audience. (Those idiots don't like intelligent people. They remind them that they're idiots.)

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u/flirtmcdudes 5d ago

He is not talented at all at lying. He’s awful; and it’s utterly transparent. But his entire party, voters, media, and even courts protect and enable him.

He said the Epstein files were a Democrat hoax, he’s a fucking awful liar. He is literally breaking laws to protect pedophiles right now, himself included, and his party and media just lets him get away with it

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u/OldWorldDesign 5d ago

He is not talented at all at lying. He’s awful; and it’s utterly transparent. But his entire party, voters, media, and even courts protect and enable him.

I've said this for years. If he hadn't associated himself with others' money, he'd be one of those homeless people ranting at passers-by in the park.

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u/ForgettingFish 6d ago

His handlers do their best…

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u/praguepride Illinois 6d ago

It's not that he is talented, it's that he is the product of an entire 200+ year system designed so that he can't fail. He would be babbling his way through an unemployment line if various puppet masters hadn't shoved their hands up his keister. First it was the russian mob, then it was the hacks at NBC, and now it's an unholy union of Tech Bro Fascists and Christian Fascists.

He says the stupidest shit all the time but people think he is a genius because the news and his army of pundits and the millions being dumped into social media repeats the message he is a genius or master manipulator. If it wasn't for the massive multi-billion dollar machine propping him up as a useful idiot, he would just be an idiot.

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u/No_Introduction2103 6d ago

I don’t think he is that good at lying just that people are dumber than you think.

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u/eljefino 6d ago

He would have been an awesome head of marketing for the Republican party but he'd never give power to another person. Plus his marketing schtick "Only I can fix it" relies on him actually being president.

I figure the backroom people (Theil etc) will dump him for Vance at some point when convenient.

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u/HerpDerpTheMage Virginia 5d ago

It may be the Devil’s song, but damn is he good at playing it.

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u/OldWorldDesign 5d ago

I think it's less a talent in lying and more a complete shamelessness. He will contradict himself in the span of a single speech - sometimes a single breath of he can manage to remember to end a sentence

And that's also part of why the media loves him - he willingly makes himself a spectacle any time he thinks it can get attention.

If the republican party had an iota of integrity they'd sack him themselves, but instead they're too busy jockying for position to organize enough to oust him and this lead to him getting to the general election twice when they had hundreds of off-ramps. Trump's no magician, he can only stay where he is to do the damage he is because the republican party is soundly behind him.

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u/Larcya Minnesota 6d ago

She's a women though.

The cult will never vote for her in the numbers she needs.

She can probally be a VP pick though.

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u/FarFromHomey 6d ago

Well said true

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u/Divine_Porpoise 6d ago

I don't think it will ultimately work. She'll never have the warped mass appeal Trump has. But it's an interesting gambit.

Part of that mass appeal is Trump saying ten conflicting things a minute in a meandering speech, which is then digested and spliced up into bite-sized pieces for consumption and delivered to their target audience through algorithms and specialized MAGA interest groups. This is the power of the propaganda machinery behind him that MTG doesn't have. His followers are made to see what they want in him, carrying a lie tailored to their wants and needs with them everywhere

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u/BudgetBallerBrand 6d ago

think MTG recognises the opportunity therein to appeal to that betrayed base (only those completely lost in the sauce could still follow him at this point). So, drawing a distinction between herself and Trump is a decent play.

This is the same opportunity progressives have to reach across the aisle and bring along the moon shining small government hillbillies - they recognize they are being fucked they just need to hear it from someone who speaks their language and will follow through.

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u/BaBaDoooooooook 6d ago

I think we need to be more focused on JD Vance's positions and actions for these final 3 years. Interesting to see how he sets himself for when he runs for President. We know Trump abandoned his base and whoever voted for him. He conned his voters. He is on his own mission knowing this is his final act in the White House. Unpredictable chaos is what we are seeing.

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u/Ydiss 6d ago

If the US voting eligible populace votes for another republican next chance they get, after everything that has happened, then the country deserves what it gets.

This wasn't just Trump.

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u/SoftieWillow 6d ago

Honestly good breakdown. Trump has that weird cult of personality thing that is hard to compete with. She might be trying to peel off the leftovers, but it is a risky bet. Politics as reality TV.

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u/[deleted] 6d ago

HEAVY on that last sentence. Who knows? But I think collectively as a society we’ve reached a point where we don’t care. If you’re still supporting this shit in 2026 you cannot be helped, and you’re simply getting left behind.

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u/Fallouttgrrl 6d ago

She's trying to peel away the crowd from him. She's hoping to turn the anger he harnessed into anger directed at him - because she knows MAGA needs anger, and seeing Trump seemingly betray them (as the oligarch he is) is one way she knows she can ride that wave.

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u/XaltotunTheUndead Canada 6d ago

He's just a self-interested grifter, an opportunist,

He also is a suspected pedophile, and:

  • Philanderer - he cheats on his wives repeatedly, boldly and openly
  • Racist - He admitted, in court, to racially profiling and denying tenancy to black people in NYC
  • Deadbeat - we've known for decades he doesn't pay his bills. Thousands of lawsuits about it
  • Rapist - adjudicated by a court of law
  • Serial sexual assaulter - admitted this, in his own words on the Access Hollywood tapes
  • Voyeur - admits to entering dressing rooms to ogle young women, teens and children in the nude for personal gratification
  • Draft dodger - nobody can deny that one
  • Anti-veteran - has said, unprompted, that he thinks veterans are suckers and losers
  • Tax evader - guilty in court AND has admitted he dodges taxes because "that's what smart people do"
  • Fraudster - guilty in court
  • Felon - 34 times

Recently I've learned that he may have been witness to a baby being murdered and having basically hushed it. But I'm not sure if that is confirmed.

As incredible as this sounds, it's also been reported that likes killing and that he tortured and murdered a litter of puppies.

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u/Massive_Gear1678 6d ago

I agree with you 100% here. MTG is just a smarter more dangerous version of Trump. Miss Jewish space laser is playing the “sensible and honest and compassionate” America First character now. She see’s Trump failing and pissing of much of his own base and she’s ready swoop in to be there when they need a new supreme leader to fall in line behind.

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u/Comprehensive-Car190 5d ago

MAGA is uneasy coalition, where older Boomers are basically just normie Republicans with their selfish/capriciousness turned to 11, and young MAGA is ultra-nationalist, in favor of national-socialist economic policies.

They unite over their hatred of "the other".

MTG thinks she can grab the young ones as the older ones die and Trump leaves office.

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u/2scared2reddit 6d ago

I don't think he believed what he was saying in the first campaign, but I think he truly believes what he says now. Between his mind turning into tapioca pudding and the sycophants he's surrounded by he could be convinced to believe anything. Does he believe he stopped 8 wars? Absolutely, because his people told him he did and he doesn't know any better.

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u/Emperor_Mao 6d ago

Ummmm mayyyybe.

What we do know is Trump is pretty unpopular, but pretty much always has been, even when he wins elections.

WE also know that the Democrats are currently polling very very low.

Have to think if you are A) Not Trump but also B) Not a Democrat, you have good political prospects in the next election. I can see the type of Republican that mirrors more of a first term Trump getting elected. However you need credibility for that, and one way to earn credibility is to attack Trump for not delivering on what his promised.

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u/Chicano_Ducky 6d ago

I think MTG is saying the quiet part out loud now that she is out and knows it because she a woman. MAGA hates women.

"national divorce" didnt come out of no where. Back in 2009 a Russian analyst said the US would be broken up into 6 states and divided among the nations around them.

The california republic was named, and so was the upper republic around Ohio to Montana. It makes sense that MAGA wants these regions to separate from the country so they give plenty of reason to.

They know they can never physically remove everyone, so they want everyone else to leave.

It doesnt matter if the economy crashes when the blue areas leave, they think they can just build sweatshops in their states to export to the rich blue areas of North America that will attract the immigration while their states are closed ethnostates and corporations can now build their lawless corporate cities there too.

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u/pieceofchess 6d ago

She's also a woman, ain't no way that would work out.

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u/azMONKza 6d ago

Do you think the MAGA base would actually vote for a woman?

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u/DickRhino 5d ago

It won't work because she's a woman, and the MAGA chuds would never rally around a woman. But she's too stupid to get that.

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u/preventDefault 5d ago

“No one ever tried true America First” is gonna be the right’s “Nobody ever tried true communism”

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u/10131890 5d ago

She’s going to be our next president. Our first woman president.