Hardkill

Oh.....Wait, I think I got it. So when the conservative party is in charge and the country is in a serious crisis, the people will get desperate enough to prioritize stability over ideology by electing competent liberals like Obama or Biden into power, even if most voters are normally moderate or lean conservative. Is that how it goes?

So, what exactly does it take to cause an uprising against the rich and the corporations like what happened with the labor movement during the end of the Gilded Ages or what happened with the labor movement during the New Deal era? Another economic depression? The major economic inequality we have in our country cannot continue forever. Otherwise, the whole country will fall apart really badly.

Do you think that most Americans hate rich people and corporations in this day and age with the rise of populism? Or are they still so conflicted about them?

Even progressives such as FDR and LBJ had to make compromises with lobbyists. It's just corporate lobbyists have had too much influence in politics since the 1970s, especially ever since the 2010 Citizen United case.

Yeah, and of course every time they lose they always blame the mainstream media for not providing them fair media coverage, which I don't see is true. Other times they would say that it was because their progressive candidate wasn't enough of a firebreather or just wasn't a strong enough progressive candidate. And of course, they blame the corporate donors for giving corporate Democrats an unfair advantage in the race, which is true. Though, I think that kind of explanation is too simplistic.

Yeah, corporate Dems have that unfair advantage, but it also depends on the political environment of the specific district they are running in. Some of those justice Democrats have lost their seats.

Sam Harris really hit the nail on the head! I am glad he called out Musk. We need more public intellectuals like him out there.

I just read Leo's blog "The Devil Wrote The Bible" and it reminded me how I've lately been thinking that all religions have been based on conspiracy theories. What if Abraham's claims about God were based on his own persuasive abilities rather than divine revelation? What if Jesus was simply a deluded charismatic individual who persuaded others he was the Son of God? What if Muhammad was a charismatic leader who convinced his followers he was a prophet divinely inspired by Allah?

His presidential campaign was so laughable. Btw, the whole TYT crew now think that progressive populism is now going to be even more popular than ever before:

Cenk believes that one day progressive channels like their's will dominate the media environment. Btw, Pod Save America, which is also a progressive channel has gotten many major politicians on their shows even though they don't have anywhere as many subscribers or viewers as TYT does. Is that because they aren't fringe?

You know what? You're really getting on my nerves. People, like you are really getting sucked into this stupid anti-mainstream populism.

They were too leftist for them and Cenk has criticized MSNBC often. MSNBC is a center-left corporation.

That's what I've been saying. Cenk claims that he's not a far leftist. He's says that he's a mainstream progressive: While I believe that he's not a Marxist or as far to the left like his nephew Hasan is, I am now not so sure about him being a mainstream progressive.

So, then what’s was the point of having a political awakening about all of the grosteque levels of inequities ever since Trump first rose to power in 2016 if the sobering reality is that nothing more can be done about any of these things for the foreseeable future, especially now that Trump and MAGA will oppress the 90+% of Americans until probably we’ve all passed away?

Still much better than CNN and other mainstream media outlets and infinitely better than Fox News and every other right-wing media outlet.

Very dismaying.....

I hope you're right, but his plans of warping more than half the country's minds is working. It's also not just him. Jeff Bezos bought the Washington Post and forced them not to endorse Harris over Trump. Several other billionaires have been buying and corrupting more and more and more mainstream media outlets and big tech outlets like X, Facebook, Meta, etc.

You know, another thing that's very odd about Democrats having lost in 2024 was that they actually did historically well in the 2022 midterms, which was almost unheard of for the party holding the White House. In fact, Democrats won the 2022 midterms overall when inflation, looming recession fears, and interest rates where much worse back then than during the 2024 elections. Some of it probably had to do with Trump being at the top of the ticket, but Democrats still should've done better than they did overall in the 2024 elections, especially with the economy being in so much better than it was in 2022 and so many people were getting sick and tired of Trump. Not to mention all of the special elections the Democrats have kept winning like crazy since 2022. I think a lot of it had to do with even much greater disinformation that occurred from right-wing billionaires such as Elon Musk after 2022. Could it also be that voters in midterm elections and special elections are generally smarter, more informed, and more involved in politics than voters in presidential elections?

I hope you're right and that I am wrong.

Look who's talking...

I am trying to be grounded, but it's not working.

Sorry for being a downer. I am just trying to understand things from a practical/realistic viewpoint. What exactly is wrong with the last point I made?

So, was the progressive movement started by Bernie Sanders in 2016 all for nothing in the end?

I hope there is a backlash against Trump and his party at the national level because of how disastrous the country will eventually be under their watch. However, couldn't the dominance of right-wing propaganda always protect Trump and the Republicans from ever losing the presidency and Congress to Democrats again no matter how horrific of a job they do at running the country? Also, even when Trump is gone what if most voters who are either moderates or conservatives from now just decide to never vote Democrat again and instead always vote for more normal traditional conservatives/Republicans because Democrats and liberals have now become "too progressive" for the country? I mean imagine a scenario where, despite the country being in a dire situation due to Trump and his party's policies, too many voters will refuse to support the Democratic Party. Why? Because the Democrats have become "too progressive" and "socialist" for their taste. As moderates or conservatives, they'd rather not vote at all than support a candidate associated with the liberal establishment, even if it means tolerating the current administration's and the current party's policies.

They've kept shifting more and more and more to the right ever since the election of Reagan in 1980. However, because most Americans are conservatives or moderates and as long as the extremely influential right-wing propaganda machine keeps growing stronger, it's hard for me to see how Trumpism and the Republican party will ever lose power at the national level again for the foreseeable future. I know you've said a number of times before that Trumpism and the Republican Party will eventually collapse, leading the country to desire more liberal policies. But what if too many voters, despite acknowledging Trump and his party's role in the country's terrible crisis sometime in the future, continue to vote Republican due to their conservative or moderate values and perception that Democrats have shifted too far left in this day and age? What if they're like "I'd rather die than vote Democrat ever again, even if it's someone like Gavin Newsom because they are all radical leftists who are even worse at running the country!"?