cross-posted from: https://beehaw.org/post/17300245
Donald Trump’s angry threat to impose 25 percent tariffs on all U.S. imports from Mexico—delivered Monday via the cautious diplomatic language of a Truth Social rant—is widely being depicted as a bluff. Trump declared that once in the White House, he will impose the tariffs unless Mexico stops migrants and fentanyl from “pouring” into the United States. Seen as a feint, the tactic could theoretically get Mexico to halt the migrant flow, allowing Trump to pull back on tariffs later while boasting that on the border, he has already bent Mexico to his will.
But amid all this parsing of Trump’s intentions, a crucial fact about his new move is getting lost: At the center of it is a lie. This lie is hiding in plain sight: It’s the underlying suggestion that Mexico is not doing anything to stop migrants from coming and that Trump’s threat of tariffs is needed to change that. Here we’re getting an early glimpse of how he will deceive voters about some of his most potentially destructive designs, on tariffs and immigration alike.
All this is laid bare by the sharp response to Trump’s threat that new Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum issued Tuesday. Her statement is getting attention for its barbed claim that American guns trafficked to Mexico are fueling crime and violence there among gangs supplying U.S. markets with drugs. “Tragically, it is in our country that lives are lost to the violence resulting from meeting the drug demand in yours,” Sheinbaum noted acidly, suggesting that the two countries’ interrelated national challenges underscore the need for cross-border cooperation rather than Trumpian confrontation.
That’s a harsh indictment of Trump’s whole worldview.
All you’re doing is making excuses for people. If your life is shitty and you simply accept that and don’t look to what might be the cause of your life being shitty, in this case being that our conservative controlled government supporting oligarchs and corporate monoliths over working class Americans, then you are absolutely 100% fucking stupid if you don’t take the time to find out and understand what the fuck is wrong.
I have no sympathy for the people who voted for Trump and are crying now because they didn’t take the time to find out who it was and they were voting for and what it is he actually stands for. Not just what he says he stands for. And make no mistake, a huge portion of the people who voted for Trump were not MAGA people, they were just regular Republicans voting the way they always have.
P.S. I also have no sympathy for people who didn’t bother to vote at all and are complaining because Trump is going to be president and make their lives harder. Seriously fuck you if you didn’t bother to get out and vote.
That’s a lot of text to say you are completely missing the fucking point and to vent to people here that honestly don’t give a shit about your opinion of others.
It’s not an excuse, it’s a real world explanation for why this happens. For someone struggling to survive every day, politics is a much lower priority than keeping food on the table and a roof over their head every day. You’re immediately going to the same place as the Republicans, dehumanizing a group of individuals because you’re either incapable or unwilling to of consider their perspective. Lots of “they’re taking our jobs” energy from you in that post.
The only way I can think that you can’t even consider this position is because you’ve lived your entire live in a position of privilege in comparison. You’ve never had to worry about losing your home, or not having enough food to feed your family even with a full time job, or even multiple jobs. Your lack of willingness to even consider this point of view and instead immediately demonize a large section of the country shows a lot about your character, whether you’re willing to admit it or not. That is not the way to fix our problems. We need to recognize the root causes of WHY people don’t vote, or directly vote against their interests, and work to fix those.
There ARE people that voted for Trump specifically because he’s a shitty human being, just like they are… statistically there HAS to be. But that’s not going to be the majority. The majority are instead going to be the ones that don’t have the time to research, don’t have the education to critically evaluate situations, and the ones that take the various media propaganda and sane-washing of candidates as fact because it’s coming from a “news” outlet. The majority of those people are a lot more nuanced than you are willing to admit, because that’s harder to deal with instead of your simple explanation. Simple explanations about a group are what the Republicans do to create their coalition of single issue voters and their black and white view of the world.