We need to define "they." If it's in fact a majority of Americans, we're fighting a losing battle. I don't think they are.
The reason Trump won the election was the swing voters in three states, MI, WI & PA, giving their vote to the Republican candidate. (They gave it to the Democratic candidate in 2020.) I don't think those voters wanted a massively corrupt, massively racist, and massively violent authoritarian. I think they wanted what he promised: lower prices and deportation of CRIMINAL illegal immigrants. That is not what they're getting now. In fact, a majority of Americans prefer a path to legal status over deportation. See https://americasvoice.org/polls/203304/. And he's underwater on the economy.
We don't need to push back MAGA, and we can't. They're cooked. We just need to focus on the 200,000 swing voters in the upper swing states and the 18 districts where the House race is a toss-up
I don't believe that a majority of voters want authoritarianism.
I do believe that more voters affirmatively want authoritarianism than affirmatively want democracy. This concerns me.
I believe that a large percentage of swing voters can theoretically be convinced that they will choose between authoritarianism and democracy based on which would be economically better for them. (Ignoring, of course, that once you've chosen authoritarianism over democracy, the authoritarian can redirect all of the money into his pocket because he no longer needs your support because we're not a democracy; long-term thinking has never been a widely-held human talent.) This concerns me far more.
William, read the Atlantic article by Peter Wehner and another never trump conservative. They report on post election polls indicating " Independents who accepted the corruption of tRump" but thought "he could get things done"! I'm gobsmacked by that!
At least 50% of the electorate either wants authoritarianism or is willing to tolerate it. Nearly everything Trump is doing was articulated by Trump himself or his closest advisers in the election run up. So no one can say they didnтАЩt know. They either affirmatively supported it, or made a conscious decision to tolerate it and hope it all works out.
I think the polling that shows 64% of voters favor a pathway to legal status for illegal immigrants shows that they don't want authoritarianism. See https://americasvoice.org/polls/203304/.
The election was 9 months ago. A lot has happened since then. so it's not a measure of their preferences today.
In October and November, some of those who voted for Trump didn't quite know what deporting 11 million illegal immigrants meant in practical terms. First of all, they thought only illegal criminals would be deported. That did not happen. They also didn't realize it meant invading private businesses and hauling away hard-working, law-abiding persons who built strong families and communities to detention camps, which did happen. They didn't realize then how much undocumented immigrants contribute to the economy and society until those employed illegals were removed from their local businesses and the fields where their produce was grown. They do now. That's what this polling reflects.
We need to define "they." If it's in fact a majority of Americans, we're fighting a losing battle. I don't think they are.
The reason Trump won the election was the swing voters in three states, MI, WI & PA, giving their vote to the Republican candidate. (They gave it to the Democratic candidate in 2020.) I don't think those voters wanted a massively corrupt, massively racist, and massively violent authoritarian. I think they wanted what he promised: lower prices and deportation of CRIMINAL illegal immigrants. That is not what they're getting now. In fact, a majority of Americans prefer a path to legal status over deportation. See https://americasvoice.org/polls/203304/. And he's underwater on the economy.
We don't need to push back MAGA, and we can't. They're cooked. We just need to focus on the 200,000 swing voters in the upper swing states and the 18 districts where the House race is a toss-up
Those voters were either idiots or snookered. maga was never going to give them lower prices and "just the criminals" deported.
I don't believe that a majority of voters want authoritarianism.
I do believe that more voters affirmatively want authoritarianism than affirmatively want democracy. This concerns me.
I believe that a large percentage of swing voters can theoretically be convinced that they will choose between authoritarianism and democracy based on which would be economically better for them. (Ignoring, of course, that once you've chosen authoritarianism over democracy, the authoritarian can redirect all of the money into his pocket because he no longer needs your support because we're not a democracy; long-term thinking has never been a widely-held human talent.) This concerns me far more.
William, read the Atlantic article by Peter Wehner and another never trump conservative. They report on post election polls indicating " Independents who accepted the corruption of tRump" but thought "he could get things done"! I'm gobsmacked by that!
At least 50% of the electorate either wants authoritarianism or is willing to tolerate it. Nearly everything Trump is doing was articulated by Trump himself or his closest advisers in the election run up. So no one can say they didnтАЩt know. They either affirmatively supported it, or made a conscious decision to tolerate it and hope it all works out.
I think the polling that shows 64% of voters favor a pathway to legal status for illegal immigrants shows that they don't want authoritarianism. See https://americasvoice.org/polls/203304/.
To say the least, there is a disconnect between what people tell pollsters and their revealed preferences (i.e., elections).
The election was 9 months ago. A lot has happened since then. so it's not a measure of their preferences today.
In October and November, some of those who voted for Trump didn't quite know what deporting 11 million illegal immigrants meant in practical terms. First of all, they thought only illegal criminals would be deported. That did not happen. They also didn't realize it meant invading private businesses and hauling away hard-working, law-abiding persons who built strong families and communities to detention camps, which did happen. They didn't realize then how much undocumented immigrants contribute to the economy and society until those employed illegals were removed from their local businesses and the fields where their produce was grown. They do now. That's what this polling reflects.