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Post by Cinemachinery on Aug 1, 2017 18:11:20 GMT
I made a comment on here a while back about how the nature of a portion of Trump's base indicated ours is a ripe environment for cults. Some agreed, some didn't, but on the tails of this whole circus with Scaramucci I yet again swung over to the main gathering spots for the alt-right portion of the crowd (outside of Stormfront and some of the hard-core sites they've pretty much congregated on Breitbart and Reddit - FOX has fractured and now seems to play host to fewer of the die-hard Trumpers, more a collection of old-school conservatives scratching their heads and wondering when this mess will end, which really says something... FOX is moderating) with the ongoing idea that "perhaps this will be the be the point where the watch-the-world-burn crowd will stop cheering and start asking questions... like "WTF IS HE DOING?".
I don't know if any of you dip your toes in those forum waters (it's bleak) but, so far, the fiasco has been met thusly:
Spicer stepping down was immediately dubbed "draining the swamp". Same with Priebus. Post after post of "YASSS! He's draining that swamp! #MAGAMAGAMAGA!" This should be jarring to anyone following: these were his own cabinet appointees. His whole platform for the empty "Ima get rid of the cronies" rhetoric was gutting the existing structure. Not gutting the one HE put in place.
But Scaramucci was a level of clumsy fail we haven't seen yet, a guy who didn't wait five minutes into being put into place before sinking his whole position with one seemingly coke-fueled rant about Trump's own people, including Bannon, a guy he'd praised previously and spoke of "fulfilling the wish list" on his whiteboard.
When Scaramucci was appointed, the reaction on Reddit and Breitbart was "YES! STRAIGHT SHOOTER! JUST LIKE TRUMP! THE MAN WE NEED!". So, at least in this one instance, I expected some laments. Maybe the implication that Bannon sunk him to save his hide or something.
But... no. Same reaction: "DRAINING THE SWAMP!"
I saw a couple of people hesitantly point out what I did above: these are Trump's own people. Not 'the swamp" he referred to again and again during his campaign. How on earth can hiring and firing the inept be spun as a positive?"
And the answer was, over and over (and this is where it gets cultish) "Trump is playing a chess game on your checkerboard and you don't even know it!" and all sorts of spins on that phrase. "He's playing 3D chess!" "He's playing it on a level you don't understand."
So even the debacles of the last few weeks are... well, they're not really "spun" so much as they're just grinningly praised as they are. I can't imagine a political climate since Adams insisted Jefferson was a hermaphrodite wherein a portion of the voters so willingly embraced failure as a positive.
What really strikes me is that the tone and even, at times, the content of the responses, is so similar to discussions on Scientology-heavy forums when Miscavige slips up, or when Hubbard's notes on creating Scientology came to light, or when the occassional deaths under the "care" of its adherents were exposed. Or operation Lillywhite.
Same tone, same reaction: no matter how bad it got it was a positive. Miscavige was "playing a game you don't understand". Hubbard's actions were "beyond your understanding". Even when faced with concrete proof of deception, ineptitude, etc.
A cult. Not *all* of his base - a lot are starting to wake up on automation, why coal is failing, the actual likelihood of resurrecting jobs in an industry where there are none, the "hard stance" on Carrier and the like that amounted to gifts-given with no returns. But those #MAGA types wouldn't be out of place at Heaven's Gate.
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Post by rachelcarson1953 on Aug 1, 2017 18:36:13 GMT
That Heaven's Gate cult ultimately committed suicide - er, discarded their vehicles for a higher plane of existence - didn't they?
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Post by Terrapin Station on Aug 1, 2017 18:41:21 GMT
PC/SJW culture indicated a culture ripe for cults long before Trump made any political aspirations public.
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Post by The Herald Erjen on Aug 1, 2017 18:42:00 GMT
Not a cult:
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Post by rachelcarson1953 on Aug 1, 2017 18:56:39 GMT
I saw a couple of people hesitantly point out what I did above: these are Trump's own people. Not 'the swamp" he referred to again and again during his campaign. How on earth can hiring and firing the inept be spun as a positive?" And the answer was, over and over (and this is where it gets cultish) "Trump is playing a chess game on your checkerboard and you don't even know it!" and all sorts of spins on that phrase. "He's playing 3D chess!" "He's playing it on a level you don't understand." So even the debacles of the last few weeks are... well, they're not really "spun" so much as they're just grinningly praised as they are. I can't imagine a political climate since Adams insisted Jefferson was a hermaphrodite wherein a portion of the voters so willingly embraced failure as a positive.
All kidding aside, I don't get it, either... I know two otherwise intelligent people that are Trump supporters because of his business background. Really? Declaring bankruptcy - failing - is a good business move? It seems so obvious that this jerk is just lining his pockets, how can anyone interpret anything else? |
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Post by gadreel on Aug 1, 2017 19:05:15 GMT
I saw a couple of people hesitantly point out what I did above: these are Trump's own people. Not 'the swamp" he referred to again and again during his campaign. How on earth can hiring and firing the inept be spun as a positive?" And the answer was, over and over (and this is where it gets cultish) "Trump is playing a chess game on your checkerboard and you don't even know it!" and all sorts of spins on that phrase. "He's playing 3D chess!" "He's playing it on a level you don't understand." So even the debacles of the last few weeks are... well, they're not really "spun" so much as they're just grinningly praised as they are. I can't imagine a political climate since Adams insisted Jefferson was a hermaphrodite wherein a portion of the voters so willingly embraced failure as a positive.
All kidding aside, I don't get it, either... I know two otherwise intelligent people that are Trump supporters because of his business background. Really? Declaring bankruptcy - failing - is a good business move? It seems so obvious that this jerk is just lining his pockets, how can anyone interpret anything else? To be fair, most successful businessmen, at least those that go into business for themselves, fail at some point, my experience with the entrepreneurs that I know is two or three business failures before they end up with something that sticks. |
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Post by rachelcarson1953 on Aug 1, 2017 19:12:02 GMT
All kidding aside, I don't get it, either... I know two otherwise intelligent people that are Trump supporters because of his business background. Really? Declaring bankruptcy - failing - is a good business move? It seems so obvious that this jerk is just lining his pockets, how can anyone interpret anything else? To be fair, most successful businessmen, at least those that go into business for themselves, fail at some point, my experience with the entrepreneurs that I know is two or three business failures before they end up with something that sticks. Point made, but that is not the only indicator of his 'qualifications' to be the commander-in-chief. I still contend that he is just lining his pockets - fine for a businessman, not so fine for a world leader. |
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Post by gadreel on Aug 1, 2017 19:14:22 GMT
To be fair, most successful businessmen, at least those that go into business for themselves, fail at some point, my experience with the entrepreneurs that I know is two or three business failures before they end up with something that sticks. Point made, but that is not the only indicator of his 'qualifications' to be the commander-in-chief. I still contend that he is just lining his pockets - fine for a businessman, not so fine for a world leader. Oh don't get me wrong, I absolutely think he is lining his pockets, it is the pretty standard action of the right when in power. |
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Post by Cinemachinery on Aug 1, 2017 19:19:16 GMT
That Heaven's Gate cult ultimately committed suicide - er, discarded their vehicles for a higher plane of existence - didn't they? A comparison drawn in hyperbole, yes, but this is the "he can do anything" parallel I am drawing, yes. |
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Post by Cinemachinery on Aug 1, 2017 19:20:15 GMT
PC/SJW culture indicated a culture ripe for cults long before Trump made any political aspirations public. OK. |
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Post by rachelcarson1953 on Aug 1, 2017 19:23:02 GMT
That Heaven's Gate cult ultimately committed suicide - er, discarded their vehicles for a higher plane of existence - didn't they? A comparison drawn in hyperbole, yes, but this is the "he can do anything" parallel I am drawing, yes. Oh, I got the parallel, I was just being snarky, hoping for a similar fate for the cult ;-) |
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Post by Cinemachinery on Aug 1, 2017 19:24:06 GMT
Putting aside that chanting a candidate's name is a pretty common occurrence and a wild reach for "cult" status: 1) Not the president  2) Failed to manifest any of the posited conspiracies. No sharia law in the WH. No Texas invasion. No FEMA death camps, etc. 3) Thought you weren't a Trump guy? That "But what about [insert past figure] response is common to the Alt-right crowds on both sites mentioned. An inability to ingest criticism of the actual POTUS, an addiction to past conspiracies that simply never panned out. Sounds an awful lot like a Trump guy. |
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Post by vernuf on Aug 1, 2017 21:28:23 GMT
PC/SJW culture indicated a culture ripe for cults long before Trump made any political aspirations public. Nothing says cult quite like thinking people should be judged on their actions not their religious beliefs, skin color, gender identity, or sexual identity. Yep. Cults are well known for not being hostile to outsiders. |
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Post by Deleted on Aug 1, 2017 21:41:07 GMT
I do believe that may be the only truthful thing I've ever seen you say. |
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Post by Terrapin Station on Aug 1, 2017 22:12:32 GMT
PC/SJW culture indicated a culture ripe for cults long before Trump made any political aspirations public. Nothing says cult quite like thinking people should be judged on their actions not their religious beliefs, skin color, gender identity, or sexual identity. Yep. Cults are well known for not being hostile to outsiders. PC/SJWs are anything but "not hostile to outsiders" |
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Post by thorshairspray on Aug 1, 2017 23:33:40 GMT
I made a comment on here a while back about how the nature of a portion of Trump's base indicated ours is a ripe environment for cults. Some agreed, some didn't, but on the tails of this whole circus with Scaramucci I yet again swung over to the main gathering spots for the alt-right portion of the crowd (outside of Stormfront and some of the hard-core sites they've pretty much congregated on Breitbart and Reddit - FOX has fractured and now seems to play host to fewer of the die-hard Trumpers, more a collection of old-school conservatives scratching their heads and wondering when this mess will end, which really says something... FOX is moderating) with the ongoing idea that "perhaps this will be the be the point where the watch-the-world-burn crowd will stop cheering and start asking questions... like "WTF IS HE DOING?". I don't know if any of you dip your toes in those forum waters (it's bleak) but, so far, the fiasco has been met thusly: Spicer stepping down was immediately dubbed "draining the swamp". Same with Priebus. Post after post of "YASSS! He's draining that swamp! #MAGAMAGAMAGA!" This should be jarring to anyone following: these were his own cabinet appointees. His whole platform for the empty "Ima get rid of the cronies" rhetoric was gutting the existing structure. Not gutting the one HE put in place. But Scaramucci was a level of clumsy fail we haven't seen yet, a guy who didn't wait five minutes into being put into place before sinking his whole position with one seemingly coke-fueled rant about Trump's own people, including Bannon, a guy he'd praised previously and spoke of "fulfilling the wish list" on his whiteboard. When Scaramucci was appointed, the reaction on Reddit and Breitbart was "YES! STRAIGHT SHOOTER! JUST LIKE TRUMP! THE MAN WE NEED!". So, at least in this one instance, I expected some laments. Maybe the implication that Bannon sunk him to save his hide or something. But... no. Same reaction: "DRAINING THE SWAMP!" I saw a couple of people hesitantly point out what I did above: these are Trump's own people. Not 'the swamp" he referred to again and again during his campaign. How on earth can hiring and firing the inept be spun as a positive?" And the answer was, over and over (and this is where it gets cultish) "Trump is playing a chess game on your checkerboard and you don't even know it!" and all sorts of spins on that phrase. "He's playing 3D chess!" "He's playing it on a level you don't understand." So even the debacles of the last few weeks are... well, they're not really "spun" so much as they're just grinningly praised as they are. I can't imagine a political climate since Adams insisted Jefferson was a hermaphrodite wherein a portion of the voters so willingly embraced failure as a positive. What really strikes me is that the tone and even, at times, the content of the responses, is so similar to discussions on Scientology-heavy forums when Miscavige slips up, or when Hubbard's notes on creating Scientology came to light, or when the occassional deaths under the "care" of its adherents were exposed. Or operation Lillywhite. Same tone, same reaction: no matter how bad it got it was a positive. Miscavige was "playing a game you don't understand". Hubbard's actions were "beyond your understanding". Even when faced with concrete proof of deception, ineptitude, etc. A cult. Not *all* of his base - a lot are starting to wake up on automation, why coal is failing, the actual likelihood of resurrecting jobs in an industry where there are none, the "hard stance" on Carrier and the like that amounted to gifts-given with no returns. But those #MAGA types wouldn't be out of place at Heaven's Gate. Donald Trump is the most polarising figure in politics I can remember. And the thing is the both sides are mired in fantasy. Did you see JK Rowling moaning on Twitter about Trump ignoring that disabled kid, when he did no such thing? She was corrected multiple times and refused to retract or apologise. She has been slated in the British press and even after that she still hasn't aopologised or admitted error. For the Never Trumpers, nothing the guy does will ever be good enough, or even good. He could perform CPR on a dying puppy and saves its life and some people will still slag him off. You seen his twitter? Blue check after Blue Check slagging him off, regardless of the tweets contents. Honoring Veterans, offering condolences to the UK after Manchester. They are they calling the guy. Similarly, I think if he actually started rounding up Mexicans and shooting them, there would still be people saying "yeah but MAGA!" I frequently see Americans accusing Trump of making the US a laughing stock, but it isn't him thats doing that. Its the constant hystrionics surrounding the guy. IT even flows in the UK, with that tosser Jeremy Corbyn standing n the stage at Glastonbury moaning about Trump building a wall. Thats right Jeremy, don't moan about Pakistan sentencing a guy to death for blasphemy. Or North Korea for pushing the World closer to war. You jump on what matters. |
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Post by geode on Aug 2, 2017 5:41:39 GMT
Actually with all the departures it appears that the swamp is draining itself.
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Post by The Herald Erjen on Aug 2, 2017 6:57:32 GMT
I do believe that may be the only truthful thing I've ever seen you say. Look up the word sarcasm sometime. Mr. Merriam and Mr. Webster can help you. |
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Post by Cinemachinery on Aug 2, 2017 8:26:29 GMT
I certainly agree that the "pure" edges of both parties are laboring under some delusions (and willingly, to some degree).
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Post by Cinemachinery on Aug 2, 2017 8:28:48 GMT
Nothing says cult quite like thinking people should be judged on their actions not their religious beliefs, skin color, gender identity, or sexual identity. Yep. Cults are well known for not being hostile to outsiders. PC/SJWs are anything but "not hostile to outsiders" I think that's his point, man. Cults want adherents. If anything, the far left is mired in am "ideological purity" litmus test of sorts. Not to say I think that's a positive... |
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