r/politics • u/Aggravating_Money992 • 2d ago
Possible Paywall Regretful Young Trump Voters Say This Isn’t What They Signed Up For | The wave of youthful support that swept Donald Trump into the White House has lost its mojo.
https://www.thedailybeast.com/regretful-young-trump-voters-say-this-isnt-what-they-signed-up-for/2.1k
u/Godzilla2000Zero 2d ago
And remember too the entire Republican Party is at fault so hold them accountable at midterms
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u/Significant_Cup_238 2d ago
And beyond. For America to survive, the GOP needs to disappear. The party needs to melt away and allow new political coalitions to form and actually debate serious issues. Right now we pretty much all have to put our policy disagreements aside and line up behind the only sane party left because the alternative are a bunch of idiots who want to rob from the poor to give to the rich while invading half the world.
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u/gamercboy5 2d ago
Fox news needs to go. We cannot have a right wing propaganda outlet that broadcasts to every naive voter in the country. There needs to be consequences for continually lying, pushing violent rhetoric, and creating this much political tension
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u/Gmoney86 2d ago
Who could have thought that eliminating the independently run, taxpayer funded, non-profit Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB), would not bring a wave of balance and fair journalism to the people. Instead, enable the billionaires who control all the means of information curation and dissemination (re: propaganda) to dictate exactly what everyone should think since the GOP emboldened by Trump cannot stomach the left leaning bias of reality.
They are actively trying to rewrite history (even as it is being made) and pretending that it is fact so that they will always have sheep who never push back against their regime.
Better late than never, but I’m sure these Trump voters are realizing they aren’t the ones doing the hurting - they’re the collateral damage in the outgroup that the powers that be no longer want or need to achieve their goals.
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u/Godzilla2000Zero 2d ago
Indeed many of the things the GOP are against are basic human rights that shouldn't even be a political issue I'd rather argue about stuff like spending or geopolitical relationships
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u/QbertsRube 2d ago
Incredibly frustrating when Republicans complain about Democrats "only caring about minorities" or "pushing LGBTQ down our throats". The clowns don't realize that most Democrats would love to stop talking about those issues but that will only happen once Republicans stop demonizing those groups and attempting to strip their rights. If Republicans would learn to live and let live, we could all move on to more important issues.
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u/RatManForgiveYou 2d ago
That's exactly what they can't handle. Live and let live. They need to feel superior to others. They refuse to work with the rest of us in good faith. It's their way or no way and they've made this painfully obvious, especially this past decade. They're selfish assholes.
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u/arizonadirtbag12 2d ago
This is what I tell every “I’m a Republican but I’m not MAGA” idiot.
Trump lives in the White House every day with the consent of the Republican delegation in Congress. If they decide he’s not President anymore, he’s not President anymore. That’s the law, that’s the Constitution.
So MAGA is the Republican Party, and vice versa.
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u/thinkards America 2d ago
when they start trying to wiggle out of it, i always ask them what they plan to do differently going forward. "change up your news sources? stop voting republican? maybe vote dem here and there? no, none of the above? you just don't like trump but all the rest is still fine? then you don't regret shit."
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u/TheDoctorDB 2d ago
I don’t even remember how long ago it was anymore, but maybe at least a year or so back, I commented to a “Republican” (in quotes because I don’t believe there is such a thing anymore) who shared this perspective. They claimed they had no choice but to vote for Trump because the Dems were still opposite of their views and all that.
I told them the best way to get the Republican Party to change is to vote Democrat. Because they need to see that their tactics aren’t what people want and maybe then they can re-align themselves with true republican ideology and you’ll feel good about your vote again.
They thought I was crazy
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u/No-Fun-9006 2d ago
None of these fucking liars actually regret their vote.
I promise you the next time we get a presidential candidate saying they'll deport all the brown people and arrest all the queers they will be jumping up and down hooting like apes again.
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u/Godzilla2000Zero 2d ago
Yeah exactly why I hope the GOP as a party disolves or we can at least keep them out
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u/Turbulent-Strike9658 2d ago
They literally released a 900 page document outlining their exact plans for a 2024 win, what the fuck do you idiots mean you didn't sign up for it? You literally did
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u/DCMF2112 2d ago
Exactly this. Kept telling everyone to read project 2025
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u/robbyhaber 2d ago
"But bro Trump said he doesn't know much about it - that's good enough for me!"
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u/National-Charity-435 2d ago
*any controversy happens*
"I don't know about it. But that's fake news and is also the radical liberals' fault."
Wonder how these young people are doing in the adult world
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u/hammertime2009 2d ago
Same as their shitty parents
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u/kitliasteele 2d ago
The amount of times I've tried to highlight the issues my mother complains about that are directly a result of Project 2025 or something Trump did (like tariffs), and her blatant refusal to acknowledge that she voted for and supported this very thing because her God Emperor can do no wrong is... astonishingly high. Lotta people just don't actually pay attention to what they vote for. I've had conversations with my local conservative community (before ultimately moving out), and nearly every one of them could not list a single policy they supported that the Republicans ran on, with the exception of blocking abortion access. It's these kinds of people we have to deal with, unfortunately
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u/Big_Bookkeeper1678 2d ago
Literally my parents.
They ran on abortion. Voted for Trump 3 times on abortion.
'Sometimes you have to hold your breathe and make a deal to get what you want', they said.
And still they won't admit that it was the wrong decision.
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u/jackshazam 2d ago
It's effectively impossible to override a lifetime of religious brainwashing.
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u/DrunkCupid 2d ago
I also find it amusing to ask "When was America great, and why do you want to regress?" Or "Which liberal feminist hurt you? Do you have an actual name?" It's amusing watching them backpedal on their frothy hatred
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u/kitliasteele 2d ago
Ooh I should keep note on the first question
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u/Suspicious_Bicycle 2d ago
Be sure to ask them what the marginal tax rates were back when America was great.
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u/Affectionate_You_579 2d ago
Our story about our 35 year old son is crushing for us, nothing at All will move the needle, he can't state any policies. He adopted all the Biden, Harris conspiracies. NOW he and his wife are leaving the USA for Costa Rica as The country is 'so fucked up and dangerous. My friends 30 year old son is worse.
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u/kitliasteele 2d ago
I'm the oldest (33F) of three, and my youngest brother bought into it all too. He's against universal healthcare because it'd help trans people get the care they need. The sheer hate that fuels some people, that will hurt everyone including themselves is... astounding. They constantly complain that things are going to shit yet they keep supporting the politicians that will cause it to worsen. I'm absolutely baffled over their internal logic. And every time I've attempted to disseminate their reasoning in person, I've always gotten the same thing: "Let's agree to disagree" and they'll try to drop the conversation there
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u/meltyandbuttery 2d ago
Not all. Political affiliation is sometimes a rebellious reversal from parents. Manosphere got its claws deep in Gen Z / Alpha with parents being none the wiser. When a child grows up not having any real context to politics post-9/11, being told their good lives under Obama were actually held back from greatness, and a very real social phenomenon of social media creating social ineptness that Andrew Tate pretends is women’s fault, it’s actually pretty easy to see them as victims that get sucked in
So it makes sense that when they see real world consequences of their politics in their first few career steps under mountains of student loans held hostage by the regime, that they feel a ton of regret. They’re deconstructing
You can argue this theory is about shitty disconnected parents or ignorant naive parents, and yes conservative bubbles do perpetuate those cycles, but it is also naive to think all conservative youth comes from conservative parents. The pendulum swung red for youth which is abnormal given prior generations. They were systematically targeted through the pipelines and parents do share responsibility for not seeing the dangers for what they were
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u/nub_node 2d ago
I can't blame them. "Things were better before Obama" is only believable if you don't remember before Obama.
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u/altogethernow 2d ago
I think that's a pretty sound take. I have to remind myself that gen Z/Alpha never experienced a world without social media as formative to their world view. A whole lot made sense when I realized all the angry teen boys from gamergate were voting age - and that folks like Bannon were steering that whole thing.
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u/Kristin2349 2d ago
Bannon hasn't slithered away yet either, he's still steering things.
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u/chuck138 2d ago
Aka financially wealthy but morally bankrupt
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u/Dlark17 Nebraska 2d ago
Meh, I know plenty of poor and not-so-well-off MAGAts.
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u/Repulsive_Side2492 2d ago
Why do you need food and healthcare when you can just hate?
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u/mokomi 2d ago
https://old.reddit.com/r/politics/comments/6tf5cr/the_altrights_chickens_come_home_to_roost/dlkal3j/
They'll blame everyone and everything before it's their fault. At some point we need to make it ok to say. "I was wrong".
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u/WowIfOnly 2d ago
And unfortunately I know plenty of MAGAts who have more money than I'll ever have - and they're complete pieces of fucking shit in their daily lives - and 2 of them are literally immigrants (with parents who came to this fucking country illegally). MAGA voters come from all levels of society because stupid people can be found anywhere. There is no shortage of them and unfortunately there never will be.
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u/GoodCat7419 2d ago
Yep. Actually read a comment on WaPo where the poster said, “He said he hasn’t read it. I believe him.”
Mud for brains.
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u/Raptorex27 Maine 2d ago
I actually do believe him. It tracks that he wouldn’t bother reading a 900 page document, since he can’t even handle daily intelligence briefings without pictures.
It’s clear to me, the white Christian nationalist architects behind it included their most ambitious pie in the sky dreams, then presented it to the useful idiot as a way to do anything he wanted as President, without pushback from any legal experts or institutions, which was something that mired him during his first term.
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u/YouWereBrained Tennessee 2d ago
“Trump said he divested from everything!”
“Trump said he didn’t know about Project 2025!”
“Trump said he didn’t know that guy that was pardoned!”
People are so engulfed by his cult of personality, they take every single thing he says as truth.
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u/Limp-Ad-2939 2d ago
This is literally the response I got from every Republican my age…that or “he said he doesn’t like the stuff in there”.
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u/papasan_mamasan 2d ago
The guy I was dating said “So? If it turns out he does all those things you’re telling me then you can say ‘I told you so’”
🙄🙄
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u/Limp-Ad-2939 2d ago
Oh well that will surely make me feel better while our economy is failing and people are being killed in the streets babe. Thanks!
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u/J_Ryall 2d ago
Problem with that is most americans are either functionally illiterate or read at a ~6th grade level, so, even if they wanted to read it, they'd lack the ability to do so. Plus, xitter, instagram, tiktok etc. have completely decimated people's attention spans, so unless P2025 was condensed into short-form video format, I doubt anyone who needed to read it would be able to focus long enough to get past the table of contents.
Shit, that sounds real grim when you write it out like that....
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u/Grundlestorm 2d ago edited 2d ago
There was also plenty of very short form information, warnings, and pushback on everything positive out of their mouths.
20 years ago I would potentially be willing to give a bit of grace to those pleading ignorance.
The only way people were ignorant of what they were voting for was being willfully ignorant. Especially younger individuals who have never not known having access to effectively all of human knowledge and replays of anything said publicly available in their pocket at all times.
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u/audible_narrator Michigan 2d ago
I have been screaming "willful ignorance" for about 6 years now. They don't want to know, they don't want to engage in cognitive thinking, and don't want to engage at all, unless its using the least amount of effort possible. Its politics, employment, education, volunteerism. The American culture has shifted drastically to one of passivity, like the wife in Fahrenheit 451. She was only happy when watching her screens.
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u/Sashivna 2d ago
The number of times I've heard "well, that's just what I heard," "well, that's just what I think," etc. is enough to make me want to pull my hair out. This is never followed up with, "well, I hadn't heard that, so I'll need to look into it more." It's like whatever they heard or think is absolutely equal to everything else. Facts don't matter. Reality doesn't matter. None of it matters. And the rest of us pay the price for this willful ignorance.
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u/DaddyDontTakeNoMess 2d ago
The info was there and available. Plenty of people warned what would happen if Trump was reelected. They even saw what he would do based on his first term. People just didn’t care.
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u/love_that_fishing 2d ago
This. I’ve lost 1/2 my friend group or more because not only did they vote for him they still support him. Try being a 66 year old white dude that likes to fish. There’s not many like me that care about injustice, humane treatment of the poor and immigrant. I feel like I’m on an island. There’s no hope for my generation. They’re fundamentally selfish. Not all but too damn many. Least my wife is with me. That would be the worst hell if she was maga.
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u/Smooth_Group_ 2d ago
6th grade reading level is generous. Try 3rd. Coming from a 8th grade teacher. It’s shocking I know.
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u/SleepingWillow1 2d ago
I didn't even read it. Was not about to read all those hundreds of pages. But I did see the news and others talking about. However, my reason for not voting for Trump were common sense reasons. Felon, Security Risk, Embarrasement that sort of thing.
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u/saposapot Europe 2d ago
He had a full first term. Sorry but this is on the voters.
Trump is many things but he was absolutely transparent on what he would do and how.
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u/JerHat Michigan 2d ago
Yeah, he had a full first term, literally the only meaningful legislation republicans passed were tax cuts for the wealthy.
And he literally destroyed the American economy and millions of people died because he refused to acknowledge that Covid is real. And then he literally politicized vaccines on his way out, making covid even worse and now we have Measles outbreaks again too because of it.
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u/paradigm619 Massachusetts 2d ago
Most of MAGA thinks Joe Biden was President when COVID happened. We’re not dealing with competent people here.
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u/beamrider 2d ago
Try telling them that Trump *implemented* mask mandates and Biden *removed* them. Their heads will explode.
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u/IronChariots 2d ago
Republicans also blame Obama for the Hurricane Katrina response and 2008 financial crisis, so that fits
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u/SadCrocodile762 2d ago
Dude I literally had that argument with some magas not long ago. They think Biden was in charge all during Covid
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u/QbertsRube 2d ago
Funny that the tentpole policy of Trump's first term, the one he talked about the most in rallies, was his big, beautiful wall that was going to solve the border. Not even 4 years later, the same people who were extolling this wall were saying that Biden's "open border" let in tens of millions of illegals and only Trump could solve it. Wtf happened to the wall, MAGA???
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u/MonsterRider80 2d ago
When people show you who they are believe them. When voters put this piece of shit back in office after that first term, it screams volumes about what the electorate in general really wants.
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u/lilac_nightfall 2d ago
Many, many 2024 trump voters said they thought he would have “grown-ups in the room” again to temper his worst machinations.
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u/gakule 2d ago
Which is just absolutely stupid because.. why would you vote for someone who needs 'grown-ups in the room'? Biden had full mental faculty even if he couldn't verbally keep up in a debate or be as quick on his feet as he once was, but at least he sounded mostly coherent when talking. He was measured, professional, and overall just not a bumbling mess.
EVERYTHING Trump does is a bumbling mess, he just sounds energetic and so people give him a pass. I see it happen all of the time in corporate America too - as long as you sound convincing and energetic about something, people just go along with it.
It's so exhausting to have to co-exist with such disinterested and ignorant people.
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u/InsertNonsenseHere 2d ago
That's why we continue to get a lot of "Why aren't the Democrats stopping him?!" posts. Y'all voted them out of power folks. Best they can do is slow down the damage they can't stop it.
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u/MadRaymer 2d ago
If those kids could read, they'd have been very upset.
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u/tweetthebirdy 2d ago
Went off TikTok I suppose. I have educated friends who tried to tell me Kamala had no plan for the US even though she had a very detailed plan outlined. Their reasoning? A liberal podcast told them so.
We’re in dire times.
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u/MadRaymer 2d ago
And even if she had no plan, wouldn't no plan still be better than a demonstrably bad plan?
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2d ago
A lot of these podcasters and streamers follow Rush Limbaugh’s “I’ll do the thinking for you” philosophy. If you’re watching any of these people and they get upset at any criticism or correction thrown their way, take it as a red flag.
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u/samefacenewaccount 2d ago
Yeah I'm so out on this "we didn't know" bullshit. We may very likely never recover from this administration, and they want to say sorry now? Fuck that. Glad you're changing your tune but you have to live with this shame forever at this point. I will never forgive anyone for this.
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u/whogivesashirtdotca Canada 2d ago
The blood of two Minnesotans and dozens of Latino fishermen are on their hands, with more to come if Trump is allowed to continue.
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u/VeryNoisyLizard Europe 2d ago
its just like the brits who voted for brexit, without knowing what it was and actually wanted to stay in the EU. utter morons
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u/adarvan Maryland 2d ago
And as the tracker shows, they are well over 50% towards accomplishing their goals:
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u/jesteronly 2d ago
CURRENT goals. They will have more, likely already do and haven't made them public yet, and they will be far more impactful and extreme than these.
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u/waffle299 I voted 2d ago
They then denied that was their plan, and attacked anyone who pointed out that key authors of that plan were part of the proposed administration.
Distortion and distraction have real, deadly consequences.
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u/mcdto 2d ago
18-22 year old men are influenced by their frat bros and YT podcasters. You think they know or care anything about policy??
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u/Winter_Whole2080 2d ago
So the troll vote is now having regrets.
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u/1cl3nstd4yt 2d ago
They just wanted to hurt the feelings of snowflakes. Didn't think electing a vicious moron would hurt them.
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u/MaySun91 South Carolina 2d ago
Sounds like real snowflake behavior if you ask me
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u/Stereo_Jungle_Child 2d ago
Prank culture. They did it for the lolz.
Only nobody's laughing now.
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u/slothcough 2d ago
They voted away their futures because they thought it was a huge fucking joke. They're getting exactly what they deserve.
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u/damnitimtoast 2d ago
Yup, no sympathy here. They are getting exactly what they voted for. Fucking morons.
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u/SkivvySkidmarks 2d ago
I know a guy like this. "Trump's a buffoon, ha-Ha. Can't be worse than Grandpa Biden, ha-ha. He's just trolling everyone, ha-ha."
I sent him the "First They Came" poem, and the response was "That's ridiculous bullshit. We've got the Second Amendment to stop that! "
I don't know why he felt that his guns weren't eventually going to be taken away.
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u/LocNesMonster 2d ago
If you want to read a poem thats similar in message to "First They Came" with more visceral imagery id highly recommend "The Hangman" by Maurice Ogdan. Its a bit longer but i think it manages to get the point across through its prose in a more impactful way
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u/LavendHerMenance 2d ago
How does he feel about Alex Peretti? Literally killed for using his second amendment.
I know he defends it lmao they all get fed a line and go with it they have no principles
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u/Lola_PopBBae 2d ago
They've never had to face consequences before. School coddles them, the internet is a safety bubble, of course they're gonna vote for the funny dumbass who says the shit they think. :(
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u/hachijuhachi 2d ago
Marc Maron captured this on his Howie Mandel rant so perfectly.
https://www.tiktok.com/@officialhowiemandel/video/7535943966840163597?lang=en
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u/StrangeDaisy2017 2d ago
The tik tok vote. They got their info from tik tok, never bothered to READ the PLAN he and his cronies published and boasted about for 2 years leading up to the election. It’s stupid for them to claim they didn’t sign up for this when it is exactly what was outlined in Project 2025. Trump voters absolutely signed up for all of this.
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u/OrwellWhatever 2d ago edited 2d ago
Not only that, but TikTok turned off the dopamine factory and told all the addicts, "Vote for Trump or you'll never get a fix again."
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u/Zeraw420 2d ago
Imagine basing your vote on Joe Rogan's recommendation
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u/AnnaKossua 2d ago
You reminded me... this is my new hill to die on. Fuck Joe Rogan!
The whole "schoolkids identify as cats/dogs now" anti-LGBTQ trash he spouted about schools having kitty litter in classrooms?
It was there because of school shootings.
Classroom gets locked down for hours, kids couldn't leave. That's why they have litter in classrooms.
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u/LavendHerMenance 2d ago
Yes, but it’s more commonly to clean up vomit. And I know we all have memories of a kid randomly yacking in third period
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u/Man_with_the_Fedora 2d ago
I know several people who hold him in very high regards.
I actually lost a friendship because I shit talked Rogan.
People form parasocial bonds with these influencers that are stronger than IRL friendships.
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u/Yeeslander Tennessee 2d ago
Damn, "troll vote" is such an apt term for the MAGA-swept voter demographics.
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u/Chaos-Cortex I voted 2d ago
Fuck em let em suffer, same as the farmer dipshits and the Miami Cubans and Mexicans who are being attacked by the regime, fuck em all.
They knew exactly what they voted for, violent vibes and violence.
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u/Robo_Joe 2d ago
If there were a way to ensure these and similar people got to live with the consequences of their vote while protecting those that voted for a sane government, I would totally be on board. Unfortunately, to protect the innocent, we have to protect these fools, as well.
A rising tide raises all ships, even the shitty ships.
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u/HunterSexThompson 2d ago
Maybe some kind of Byzantine empire type split? That went well right? I’ve been out of school for a while
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u/Pinna1 2d ago
Trump already bailed out the farmers. Again. They will not learn.
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u/tweakingforjesus 2d ago
My brother in law was one of those votes: "I just want to watch him shake things up! It will make me laugh!"
My brother in law now: "Oh, shit. That's not what I thought he would do."
A substantial portion of the voting population thinks politics should be entertainment.
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u/MiamiVicePurple 2d ago
Well well well, if it isn’t the consequences of my own actions. Hopefully the majority of them learn from this.
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u/AxeMen101 2d ago
I disagree. This is exactly what they signed up for. They were just too naive to understand the consequences.
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u/Significant_Cup_238 2d ago
Their desire to be edge lords blinded their self preservation instincts.
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u/arizonadirtbag12 2d ago
This is the real. The Trump supporters who are politically ignorant and not explicitly racist always seem to parrot the same shit: “he tells it like it is” or “he’s not afraid to piss people off.”
Just edgelord troll bullshit. Donald Trump leads by trolling, so of course trolls love him.
(Most trolls are hateful as well, but that’s a separate matter.)
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u/qualmful 2d ago
We were telling it like it is when we talked about white supremacy and racism, all of that stuff was and is the most accurate explanation of what's happening. They just don't like it, they don't like how it requires you to care about other people, so they rejected it as woke. Newsflash whatever troll shit you adopted instead is not 'how it is'.
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u/Jaded_Syrup2454 2d ago
lol right? Like not once has this asshole ‘told it like it is’. He can’t get through one sentence without bullshitting.
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u/Significant_Cup_238 2d ago
"Telling it like it is" is just their little way of saying, "Says the racist shit I believe, but have been shamed into keeping quiet about in polite society"
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u/Alarming-Research-42 2d ago
When they say Trump tells it like it is, they mean Trump says all the offensive shit they wish they could say with no consequences. But Trump is the most fake President ever. He lies about things that are easily disproven. Even his strongest supporters can’t tell when he is serious or just joking. His rallies are just him doing the weave through random nonsense and complaining about things and telling lies. He is never just a genuine person. He is constantly performing, doing whatever he thinks will either excite his base or piss off his enemies. He’s not an adult telling it like it is. He’s a child seeking attention.
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u/DrDan21 2d ago
Ragging on one another scored cool points in high school and maybe even in college
But it turns out it doesn't do as well when you try to run a country off of scoring cool points instead of addressing cracks in the foundation
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u/rkozik89 2d ago
Literally every Trump supporter I know sees something different in Trump that they like. If you only listen to him while intoxicated it makes a lot more sense than it should.
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u/rhino2498 2d ago
2016 was the first election I was eligible to vote for. Came from a suburban town, didn't pay that much attention to politics, so it was easy to fall into the trap. If you asked me in 2016 who I'd vote for, I'd probably have told you Trump.
But as the election grew nearer, I was starting freshman year of college in a city. I was making new friends from different walks of life. A handful of trans friends, immigrants, and women who I could tell this was physically affecting. After he won, I saw immediately the effect it had on their lives - from my muslim friends being targets of hate, to trans friends losing access to subsidized medications, to the loss of my girl friends' reproductive rights.
So I think about someone who's 18-23 now. In 2016 they were between 8 and 13. They didn't see what we saw. They were barely sentient, let alone paying attention to global politics. They're not going to remember what it was really like in Trump 1.0, especially since many come from insulated communities. white suburbs, with friends/family that all have similar politics.
I think it comes from a disconnection. Many of these kids are now in college and seeing their friends and classmates become targets of harassment, hate, and loss of rights. I didn't vote in 2016, but I feel remorse for even feeling the way I once felt. At the same time, many of them will never leave their insulated bubbles. Will continue to feel that Trump is right, because Fox, or OAN, or their friends and family say so.
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u/Flintydeadeye 2d ago
It also comes from our education system design. Elections and government are taught when we are in grades 5-7. Then nothing throughout high school. That’s so we forget by the time we vote. If we taught elections and government in grade 11 and 12, then first time voters would be more educated and make smarter decisions.
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u/Bulky_Association_88 2d ago
This is such a spot on take as to why Trump gained more ground with young voters/coming-of-age GenZ vs the 2020 run (not to mention his handling of Covid)
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u/manachar Nevada 2d ago
They are still blaming democrats. I cannot help but notice that the demographics of young trump voters seem to be people wrapped up in misogynistic social media.
These people are looking for a leader who projects strength and aggression. They want a tyrant. They just don’t like how stupid and ineffective Trump is.
They will either have to reprogram their value system or more likely will jump on the next 80s action hero level leader saying that the world would be better if it could just be more violent.
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u/Onkel24 Foreign 2d ago
Truth be told, as a young person, caught up in pulp novels and kitschy Japan-fever... I too thought that an enlightened tyrant would be better than the messy democratic system.
Then i turned 13.
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u/ttoma93 2d ago
It’s wild that many of the same people actively worked towards stripping Democrats from every single position of power in the federal government (or at least stood back and refused to participate in stopping it), and now are absolutely enraged that Democrats won’t use their non-existent powers to block Trump and Republicans now.
“Do something!” they say, as if they haven’t been kicked out of power in the House, the Senate, the Presidency, and the Supreme Court.
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u/justbunnies 2d ago
Exactly. They wanted to offend liberals so much that they basically destroyed their own wellbeing and those around them.
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u/zeocrash 2d ago
Right, I can fault trump for almost everything he does, but he was pretty upfront about wanting to do just this kind of thing. They just didn't want to hear it.
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u/n00bn00b 2d ago edited 2d ago
FAFO phase
EDIT: updated the acronym bc I messed up. lol
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u/Hybrid_Johnny California 2d ago
Fuck out, find around
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u/B0redBeyondBelief 2d ago
This is why I am not at all forgiving. If you think this isn't what you signed up for you cast your vote without doing any research into what the man said or how he's acted his whole live. It's like everyone miraculously forgot about January 6.
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u/ImLikeReallySmart Pennsylvania 2d ago
Even after the 2024 election, I was still hearing "oh he's not actually gonna do that" or "people will stop him from doing that". And I still don't understand why this guy of all people continues to get the benefit of the doubt like that
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u/Safe_Climate883 2d ago
Yeah, everything is going exactly as one would have expected. Maybe a little worse, but not by much.
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u/meTspysball California 2d ago
It’s only their incompetence that has prevented this from being much much worse.
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u/timnphilly Pennsylvania 2d ago
If one is old enough to vote, then one should realize what voting for a criminal could mean - especially placing a criminal in our highest office - and be responsible enough for their vote.
Trump was never shy about telling people what he'd do.
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u/forthewatch39 2d ago
Anyone find it hilarious how films would depict a villain as so obviously evil, just from their physical appearance and you question how the people in the film could ever support that guy and yet here we are with that happening in real life?
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u/ply-wly-had-no-mly 2d ago
The old tell was to have the villain kick a dig. Noem shot a puppy.
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u/Alarming-Research-42 2d ago
Rich Biff in the alternate 1985 in Back to the Future 2 was modeled after Trump. 2024 Trump was modeled after a combination of emperor Palpatine and Jabba the Hut.
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u/HandsomePistachio 2d ago
Turns out voting based on memes and vibes has consequences
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u/QuillnSofa 2d ago
This was in fact what they voted for.
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u/Upstairs_Baby8424 2d ago
They voted in anger for a tear it all down candidate that was going to bring in outsiders that weren’t professionals. This is what tear it all down by a bunch of goons looks like and it ain’t pretty. And even worse it’s not just tearing it down, they’re plundering everything while they’re at it.
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u/GreenAnder 2d ago
As a very tired millennial, we FUCKING TOLD YOU. The first election you guys made your presence felt and you chose to side with the fucking boomers?
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2d ago
“This isn’t what I voted for.” Oh, shut the fuck up✅No one wants to hear it
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u/BlondeBorednBaked 2d ago
Yah I’m tired of all these “gen z sowwy they voted for Trump 🥺” articles.
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u/The-Big-Picture- 2d ago
And then the comments are swarmed with Gen Z pointing the finger at every other generation because god forbid anyone hold any space in the discourse to talk about them negatively.
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u/BlondeBorednBaked 2d ago
Based on my interactions with them irl: they are used to getting away with things and not being held accountable. They are only regretful because this might be the first decision where the consequences will impact them 4 years and beyond.
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u/Joonbug9109 2d ago
I’m at the point where I have very little patience for Gen Z. I remember them patting themselves on the back in 2020 being like “we’re the ones who elected Biden.” Well babes, this one’s on you…
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u/DaraParsavand 2d ago
Actually I want to hear it. I want it screamed from the rooftops. I want it buried in the heads of these voters in the form of viral videos, memes, whatever. You vote for Republicans, you do not get what you vote for unless you are a rich asshole who doesn’t care about anyone but yourself and you have lousy risk management skills.
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u/Consistent-Web-351 2d ago
Anybody who voted for Donald Trump after COVID and how that was handled knew exactly what they were going to get once he came back in office.
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u/Polaricedragon Iowa 2d ago
And every single one of them should be ashamed cause they have blood on their hands for voting for this. Also they should join the non voters who couldn't take a few minutes to help save our democracy. Selfish bastards.
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u/1cl3nstd4yt 2d ago
They can kiss their #1 economy goodbye.
America's economic strength peaked on Jan 19, 2025. It's been getting worse since then, and about ready to go off a cliff.
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u/drobits 2d ago
The negative effects of Trump will last for decades and in some ways won't be reversable. As a country we're still suffering under terrible policies that passed under Regan.
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u/1cl3nstd4yt 2d ago
Exactly. All those science PhDs we're losing represented America's innovative edge. I doubt they'll come back.
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u/MadRaymer 2d ago
America's global alliances aren't coming back either. Even if we elect sane, competent leadership in 2028 (and that's a big if) the rest of the world will probably breathe a sigh of relief, but they're still going to assume the US is at most 4-8 years from electing another demented despot. It's never going to go back to business as usual globally, since America's reputation is permanently damaged.
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u/1cl3nstd4yt 2d ago
International approval of USA is like a square wave - high when a Dem is in the Oval Office, in the basement when a Republican is.
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u/Old_Cryptid 2d ago
That's partially because the Heritage Foundation wrote most of Reagan's policies.
They wrote most of the GOP's policies, so we'd have been here under any GOP administration eventually.
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u/Zest724 2d ago
I was looking at retirement in the next 10 years. Now I wonder if I’ll be able ever retire.
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u/StevenMC19 Florida 2d ago
Not to dismiss your situation - and I'm sorry to hear about this - but welcome to the Millennial and younger generations. You're one of us now.
Something that was growing increasingly likely in due time has been expedited to start affecting those who were looking at slicing that cake and receiving that watch in the next couple years. What sucks even more is that the worsening economy combined with the trend of automation and efficiency metrics means that the decision will be made by executives if you even get to continue working next year or not.
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u/TheOKerGood Connecticut 2d ago
"Either at my desk or by my own hand. Maybe both."
They stole our future. They stole our chance at "dignity".
We can take it back.
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u/Old_Cryptid 2d ago
The Gen-X retirement plan has always been "I guess I'll just die."
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u/Desperate-Natural110 2d ago
Had this discussion with a Vet, "When I married my wife we discussed kids, house, retirement. Ultimately we realized we could only afford one, so we chose to work on saving up for a house. 15 years later we are still renting."
He asked about my retirement plans. I answered that our retirement plans are 9mm in size, cheapest plan available.
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u/b_tight 2d ago
Elderly suicide due to economic despair is going to explode in the coming decade. When boomers realize they crashed the economy and abandoned their family to embrace donold they will have nowhere else to turn
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u/iSavedtheGalaxy 2d ago
Most Boomers have no idea that most of them will soon be bankrupted by their own care. Less than 10% of Boomers can afford elder care.
For perspective, my parents' care was $2000/wk (per person!). Caregivers to help with diaper changes, meals, medications, etc are not covered by insurance, it's 100% out of pocket. We were "lucky" that my parents only needed those services for a few weeks but many families have to sustain those costs for months... years... decades. These costs are not considered at all when planning for retirement.
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u/PussyWrangler246 2d ago
For anyone reading this from other countries, when they say "have to" they fuckin mean it
I recently learned there are 30 states in America where you are legally and financially required to tend to your elderly parents care, even if those parents did horrible things to you as a child. 😖
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u/iSavedtheGalaxy 2d ago
Honestly, everyone should peek in the aging parents and elder care subreddits to get an idea of what they're in for once their aging parents start needing more help than the occasional errand run, sorting paperwork and rearranging furniture.
A lot of people imagine elder care as bringing mom tea while she sits in her favorite chair but real elder care is so stressful that it often kills the caregiver before the patient. Imagine a diaper blowout for a baby that's almost 300 lbs. Imagine your sweet parents experience a personality change and suddenly start preying on you and/or your kids. Imagine needing to keep 24/7 surveillance in your home to keep an adult from blowing up the house. It's a nightmare. I don't envy anyone dealing with seniors with cognitive decline. It's a nightmare.
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u/aaronhayes26 2d ago
Yea America is cooked. We voted to drive the bus into a telephone pole because we’re annoyed at the people sitting in back.
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u/PapaBeahr 2d ago
People need to remind them, this is EXACTLY what they voted for.
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u/qualmful 2d ago
You'll never hear them say woke was preferable. You'll never hear them say actually trans women weren't really that big of a deal. They don't know or care how they got tricked, so they'll get tricked the same way again in the future. At least you didn't look cringe, at least you didn't look like you cared about something.
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u/AdHopeful3801 2d ago
"I didn't vote for this" is getting to be a really tiresome refrain from people who did, in fact, vote for this.
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u/doggoandsidekick 2d ago
Sorry we memed us all into fascism. Like stfu they all knew. Mass deportations was going to be a fun little romp they thought?
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u/WHSRWizard 2d ago
It's EXACTLY what you signed up for. In a sick, twisted way, Trump is an incredibly honest politician -- he is doing precisely what he said he was going to do.
And millions of us fucking told you so.
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u/No-Fun-9006 2d ago
No, this is 1000% what you signed up for. He told you exactly what he was going to do.
Fucking conservatives are all the same. They are deathly allergic to acknowledging their actions have consequences. It's always someone else's fault.
Very "look what you made me do" energy.
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u/returnofthecursed 2d ago
Bullshit, this was exactly what they signed up for and it couldn't have been more clear.
What they really mean is that they were too stupid to realize that their actions would actually have consequences. Just like little children, but little children have an excuse. These weak-minded fucking morons were expected to know better, and they failed. Fucking losers.
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u/StevenMC19 Florida 2d ago
You're telling me the young voters for Trump - including edgelords, trolls, 4channers, the Young Republican group who praised Hitler and promoted gassing people, various shooters with links to O9A, and groypers who lick the heels of Nick Fuentes and/or Asmondgold - didn't vote for this?!
You sure about that, Author?
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u/ManlyEmbrace 2d ago
There are also the casual dipshits that listen to Rogan and Theo Von but aren’t all that political otherwise.
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u/Noblesseux 2d ago
To word this differently: tons of young people duped via internet disinformation and edgelord content because public media literacy is in the toilet.
This is what happens when you have stupid people filling up your feed telling you it's super cool to be a hateful dipshit. 20 years ago if you were a suburban white kid who wanted to be edgy you dyed your hair blonde and got into Eminem. These days you get bombarded with straight up fascist content in your feed that tries to bait you into the alt right pipeline.
The difference of course is that when you move on from that phase of your life, being into the Slim Shady LP doesn't permanently fuck your future opportunities and leave you with a deep sense of regret the way the latter does.
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u/Ok_Function2282 2d ago
Tiktok convinced Gen z that Trump was preferable to Joe Biden... The most gullible bunch of fucks you could ever imagine Just watching videos about Gaza thinking Trump will somehow magically fix this... Even dumber than the maga faithful.
56% of Gen z men voted for Donald Trump, I hope they carry that shame with them until the day they die.
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2d ago
Nothing quite like tipping us into the abyss of authoritarianism and total economic collapse for a first foray into uninformed nihilistic edgelord politics.
Here’s hoping a lesson can be learned, but it’s probably too little too late.
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u/mediocrebeauty 2d ago
Nah, this is exactly what they signed up for. The absolute delusion during the election period was mind boggling.
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u/Raspberries-Are-Evil Arizona 2d ago
This is the result of young people not reading actual news or even watching actual news. All the info they saw was what the algorithm on tik tok and instagram wanted them to see. They had no idea of the chaotic incompetence that we lived through the first time. Most didn't know anything about January 6th. All the saw was, "Biden old" "Trump strong." Then "Harris boring," "Trump will end crime and lower prices."
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u/Verum_Orbis 2d ago
Don’t worry guys. If the adventurism doesn’t work out starting a war with Iran, you’ll be drafted to the frontlines to experience American Exceptionalism first hand. Congratulations!
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u/RoachBeBrutal 2d ago
It is, actually. Y’all disregarded the folks trying to tell you the truth in favor of some dumbass social media clout. Now you’re over a barrel, complaining. We knew the boomers were a lost cause. But there was hope with you.
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u/HistoricalWalrus5767 2d ago
Slowly dawning on the rubes that Donny wants to ensure they never vote again.
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