Fuck!
So yes, the polls were very wrong. Right across the board there has been a huge shift to the right.
There is of course the obvious question – why?
Like many others, I also have a few thoughts.
- Democratic norms have been eroded by both social media and also a deep societal insecurity. This has created a very deep polarisation where each side is sincerely terrified of the other, a fear that “they” are a threat. For some that threat is very very real and will now be realized as it unfolds. For others with no moral scruples, such as Trump, it has been an opportunity to leverage for personal gain.
- What has happened has also now exposed the weakness of US democracy in a world now awash with disinformation. It has failed, and even SCOTUS is now a vector for anti-democratic ideals.
- Biden delivered an excellent prosperous economy. Millions more jobs, and lowest unemployment rate … yet none of it mattered because the right-wing ecosystem crafted a campaign of lies that stoked fear and discontent. They bypassed rationality and facts by tapping into deep emotional insecurities and fear.
- Some might suggest, “If only Kamala had …” pick whatever list you like, for example, “gone on Joe Rogen“, “spoke about Gaza“, etc… … no sorry stop. The numbers are clear, nothing she could have said or done would have changed anything. It was not even a racist thing, but for some that did play a role, but not enough to do what we saw. It was not a misogynist thing, but again that also probably played a role for some, but not enough to do what happened.
- The far right coalition ran a campaign of deliberate disinformation … “they are coming to get you“; “are you better off now“; etc … and created a climate of fear. I’m sorry to say it, but it worked, and people flipped to the right over the price of eggs or other similar BS reasons.
- We will now reap the consequences of these stupid choices as he proceeds to unleash his incompetence and chaos.
Seriously now, a lot of people have become very decoupled from reality …
How Fear and Disinformation worked …
There will be obvious consequences …
- No more moral leadership on the world stage, the US will become far more insular and opt out of previous commitments.
- Fuck climate change, drill baby drill, and so humanity will face the long-term consequences of that.
- If indeed RFK Jnr really does get to decide public health policy then his desire to ban all vaccines will result in the return of diseases that had been previously eradicated and forgotten. A countless number of lives will be impacted. Having previously made a villain out of Fauci for trying to protect us, they are now going to make a hero out of RFK, Jr. for harming us.
- If indeed Elon gets to radically slash federal budgets and obliterate FEMA and NOAA then when the next storm comes, nobody will get any warning, and nobody will turn up to help afterwards.
- Packing of the courts and SCOTUS with lots more far-right sycophants. SCOTUS is gone.
- Obliteration of the filibuster to jam wild legislation through.
- Trump empowered to do whatever nutty idea or vengeful thought trickles through his rapidly declining brain with total impunity and no guardrails.
- etc…
All because of manufactured discontent.
Discontent is a breeding ground for populism, and populism quickly turns into fascism.
If you think you have seen a lot of crazy stuff over the last few years, then hold tight and buckle up because the far-right/religious fascism has now been unleashed and will proceed to press forward and cause a great deal of real harm.
I’m honestly convinced that many don’t yet grasp just how bad it really could be, and truly do not grasp the extensive damage that Musk, RFK Jnr, and others are about to inflict once they get their hands on the leavers of power that Trump promised them in exchange for support.
The Trump cult, and yes it really is a cult, may now indeed hail a victory, yet fail to appreciate that they are just as screwed by this result as the rest of us now are. While we might have tried to push back, they have willingly done to themselves what Trump did to Stormy Daniels.
The informed are all, in their own ways, sounding the alarm. The ignorant are celebrating because they have no clue regarding the real implications of what just happened.
Election Fallout
Because of “Biden’s Inflation” that was actually Trump’s fault due to his botched COVID response, people voted for the Guy who caused it all, and against the guy who sorted it out. So yes, via the joy of Trump’s nutty Tariff’s, that many experts tried to explain would cause inflation, they will get lots more inflation …
- Everyone who voted for Trump over the price of groceries and other goods are about to meet the leopard that eats their face.
- The number of idiotic explanations for why people supported Trump are not going to go away anytime soon. Just accept that these people exist, and they live among you. There is almost nothing you can do to talk sense into them.
- So yes, the 2006 Idiocracy movie really was a prophetic documentary.
Kamala’s Vision …
- Kamala’s vision for the future seemed pretty straightforward: that we’d actually *get* a future.
- Advise for women: Before dating, check who he voted for. A vote for Trump raises more red flags than the Chinese embassy does.
The 81% of Evangelicals have once again shown us who they really are …
- They loudly shouted “give us Barabbas”
- One big lesson – never ever underestimate Christian hypocrisy.
- It is indeed utterly bizarre that after Biden materially helped the working class more than any president in living memory, it delivered an electoral punishment that will reverberate for decades.
- His approach led to historic job growth, with over 12 million jobs created and unemployment rates at a 54-year low, including near-record lows for Black and Hispanic workers. As for what comes next, no more of that, because that’s what a majority just voted against. What is inevitable is that Trump will fuck up the economy and then blame everybody else.
- If Gen z thinks this economy sucks, just wait until they get their first recession.
Disinformation propaganda running 24×7 really did play the key role in what happened …
For those wondering why the left can’t do the same, well yes, it is rather obvious …
I mean seriously now, did none of his supporting fools even pause to consider this …
- And yet the new slew of victims all seem to think this time it’ll turn out differently for them.
Meanwhile, some of the utterly clueless have already reached the “Finding out” phase …
Stolen Election claims are still rolling out from Trump Campaign
Dispatches from an alternate and less bleak universe …
- They were fully intending to run the 2020 playbook again this year in an effort to steal what they also anticipated would be a Harris victory.
Christian Nationalism
Here is a pre-election nugget of religious lunacy.
Christian nationalist state Sen. Dusty Deevers of Oklahoma says that all political leaders are “Christ’s deacons” and their chief duty is to “submit to his authority”: “Every sphere is his sphere, and it’s yours to extend his dominion in.”
- Basically two words – the second one is “off”, and you can indeed correctly guess what the first one is.
- Side Note: Yea, that’s his real name, and yes he got elected in 2023 by a handful of votes. This is what happens when people don’t bother to vote.
Post-election, yep, they are all fully orgasmic and going full throttle with the desire to make the US a “Christian” nation.
Christian nationalist Lance Wallnau says Trump’s election gives right-wing Christians an opportunity to tear down the “gates of hell” in government: “We’ve got one administration, one four-year period to do it.“
- His “tearing down the gate of hell” is his own personal wet-dream that is designed to make life hell for literally everybody.
- One possible rather slim hope to cling to is this – When Trump needed the support of the evangelicals he pandered to them and told them what they wanted to hear, but now that he has what he wanted, it is possible that he might not pay the bill that they believe is due for giving him that support.
Christian nationalist pastor Joel Webbon says that “half of my household vote was stolen from me” by the 19th Amendment and so he only allows his wife to vote as a form of “restitution”: “Wicked people stole half of your vote, husband, and I would like to give it back to you.”
- Fun Fact about this guy, he may indeed have a large following across various social media platforms (116K on YouTube for example), but back in the real world his actual church that he is a pastor of is tiny … really really tiny. So tiny in fact that it is basically a backroom in a Dale’s restaurant in a shopping mall in Tx. You probably don’t need to use all your fingers and toes to count the size of his entire broom-cupboard cult.
Demons
Todd Starnes declares that “it’s very possible that people like Liz Cheney and the Democrats and the Media are under the control of a demonic spirit.“
- He has been banging his demon drum for years. Todd even got fired from Fox News back in 2019 for claiming that all Democrats worship a pagan god, Moloch.
Tucker Carlson says “human forces” did not create nuclear technology. Instead, it was demons. “I have never met a person who can isolate the moment when nuclear technology became known to man. So, where did it come from exactly? … it’s very clear to me these are demonic.“
- Ummmm…Ernest Rutherford would like a word.
- Perhaps Tucker Carlson should read a book so that he doesn’t automatically assume that everything he doesn’t understand is “demonic.” – He needs to go read “The making of the Atomic Bomb” (That’s a Wikipedia link about the book) written by historian Richard Rhodes. The text has been praised both by historians and former Los Alamos weapon engineers and scientists. It is considered to be a general authority on early nuclear weapons history.
- So what is the half life of Tucker Carlson?
- I do have to wonder if he was always like this?
The False Profit$
QAnon conspiracy theorist/self-proclaimed “prophet” Johnny Enlow claims that SCOTUS has secretly ruled that the 2020 election was stolen and is calling for that ruling to be made public so Trump can return to the White House by Monday.
- Excellent news if true … it means he would not be allowed to have a third term.
- Since every single one of his previous predictions have turned out to be Bullshit you really don’t need to suspend judgement on this one until Monday.
Weirdest of the Weird
Mario Murillo says that the election of Donald Trump is “the greatest intervention of God imaginable.“
- “imaginable“! – Mr Murillo’s imagination is really not all that good, nor does he appear to have read the Bible which is stuffed full of far bigger “interventions” such as creation, the flood, raising dead people, and also apparently locating numerous sets of lost car keys and parking spaces for the supposedly chosen.
- I’m also confused about the mechanics of Mr Murillo’s claim. He appears to be suggesting that a god supernaturally interfered to corruptly rig the election so that his preferred candidate, a voracious sexual predator and convicted felon, won. It leaves me wondering if his specific god is really Loki, the Norse god of Pranks.
The Daily Show expressed it rather well
Political Cartoons from the past week
It’s always the political cartoonists who best express it.
And also …
Thread of the week
If time permits check this excellent thread out …
Finally…
Yep, they did a full comedy special is PA (pre-election), here it is, enjoy …
Below are a couple more of their final pre-election clips. Listening to what some of these people “think” explains a great deal. Social Media has totally banjaxed their brains.
My jaw literally hit the floor on this one when I listened to how this guy justified his confederate flag shirt. I really thought I had heard it all, and then half way into this clip … yikes! …
One Last Thought
I’m going to let Jon Stewart have the last word this week …