Because it’s hard to think of a moron like Trump as elite at anything.
To Democrats, “elites” mean your in some top percentile of wealth and income. To Republicans, “elites” means having a college degree.
This is the correct answer to the question the Guardian poses. I’ve lived among them and can 100% confirm this is how they think.
Elites is all about having a college degree and being “book smart” vs their “street smart” or “wise in the ways of man” sort of bullshit charlatans throughout history have used to make up for a lack of critical thinking skills.
It really is the right answer. But I think we can sharpen it if we look at how the media around Democrats elevates and highlights elitism as a quality to be pursued, for example, in a candidate.
A great example of this was the treatment of Pete Buttigieg, and specific media outlets elevation of him to a nationally relevant political actor. Harvard, then Oxford Rhodes scholar then a decade long McKinseyite (that alone should have disbarred him from running for president), then intelligence officer US Navy. He was the definition of “qualified” to the CNN and NPR editorial boards.
But how well had only political bonafides were a failed run for treasurer in Indiana, and a mayoral victory where he garnered all of 10k votes. So the guy has never actually won any significant state or federal elections. Yet in 2020, suddenly this guys is gets treated like a serious contender in the Democratic primary. Why?
Democratically aligned corporate press is obsessed with credentials, and specifically, the kind that comes from “elite” schools and organizations. Partially because they themselves also come from these elite schools and organizations.
Very true. The Dems could really stand for more blue collar qualifications. Especially if we treated “local union president” half as well as “McKinsey employee”
We really have become addicted to certifications and tags and qualifiers for everyone because it’s easier to “understand” them at a glance and that’s decided as all you need.
On paper is good enough for far to many, it’s just easier to categorize people and move on.
Being in your categories is the easiest way to automatically think of then as moral and good because they must be, you are. It’s fucked up both parties. Look at Eric Adams and Marco Rubio.
It means the nerds you shoved in lockers who learned to read and now have successful lives while you scrape by trying to make alimony at a job that would pay a living wage if you didn’t live in a right to work state.
See that’s the elitism. Plenty of bullies made it out and plenty of their victims didn’t. Ruthlessness is profitable and you don’t have to be a good person to go to college.
How exactly is that elitism? You’re specifically arguing against the meritocracy that they consider elitism, all that fancy book-learnin.
Their mascot shits on a golden toilet in his own private country club ffs.
You’re assuming everyone stuck in rural America in a shit job with grievances is a shit person who did it to themselves. A lot of them are, especially the die hard republicans, but plenty had hard choices, or any number of other decent reasons beyond just not being smart or something.
And yeah their mascot is a filthy rich asshole, and a lot of them do suck ass. But also I spend enough time with those people to know plenty of them aren’t terrible but they are sick and tired of being treated like inherently morons for being rural
I get that, but I was that nerd shoved in lockers, and while the Midwest was decent, in the south it was far worse because I wasn’t white.
The south tolerated those assholes a lot, and they were extremely ignorant, and their ignorance was a source of pride for them.
I don’t want to demean the Midwestern red staters in any way, other than they clearly follow the wrong person, but the south is following moloch, their literal antichrist, out of hatred of others, and I’m fine holding them in contempt for that because it’s no better than I would expect for them.
Also, they scream and scream about a Bible they’ve never read, and I say that as someone who went to catholic school, they thought I was lying like I said I memorized the phone book.
That’s not what (((elites))) mean to Republicans.
A lot of times they amp up the dog whistle and say (((global elites))).
So they basically turned anti elitism to anti intellectualism so they can fool their audience.
I mean, I thought we all knew that.
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I wonder what kind of people ran on anti-intellectualism in the past? Maybe around the time of UdSSR, or some German leader? Maybe some famous leader in Cambodia as well?
Yep, my comment was more about how this is kind of a tail as old as time thing.
Basically mob mentality.
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It’s also how we talk, how we walk, and that we often come from elsewhere and think differently.
Because it was always about projection.
They aren’t. Republicans lie all the time and some people are stupid enough to believe them.
Probably for the same kind of reason that “everyone knows” that the corporate media is a “liberal media”.
“The media is liberal!”
“Who told you that?”
“The media.”
Putin is also one of the world’s richest man and funds Trump.
Now that you mentioned putin, I propose we go looking for the Mexican cartel people who do the political events such as head and shoulders separations and we give them a challenge. Maybe give them a small island as a reward? 😉 Could you please bring back putin’s happy face for a chance to win Mara Lago! Or Mara Island! 🏝️🏖️. With margaritas!
Kamala Harris’s campaign should strike a more populist note
I agree, if we could get Kamala to agree then I’d feel a lot more confident about her beating trump.
I don’t understand why people want to blame everyone except Kamala and her campaign for her campaigns failings tho.
The media is always mad at Dem voters for not being excited for Dem candidates, probably because the wealthy owners of the media are the same ones donating so the left most option isn’t really all that “left”.
Because it’s easier and then it becomes someone else’s fault.
I don’t understand why people want to blame everyone except Kamala and her campaign for her campaigns failings tho.
There are a lot of things outside of Harris’s control though - having two important voting blocs (the Jewish vote and the Islamic vote) that are on opposite sides of a big and important single issue, the need to draw in moderate Republicans, etc.
I agree, if we could get Kamala to agree then I’d feel a lot more confident about her beating trump.
Based on her 2019 platform I’d suspect that this is secretly the case. I’m expecting a massive turnaround - but this is conditional on Dems also gaining a majority in the House and retaining the majority in the Senate.
The media is always mad at Dem voters for not being excited for Dem candidates, probably because the wealthy owners of the media are the same ones donating so the left most option isn’t really all that “left”.
Actually it’s a failing of FPTP, with a system like that folks need to aim for the centre.
Projection.
Propaganda.
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https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2024/oct/10/democrats-elites-trump-musk-republicans
Democrats believe they alone should be the alternative to the Republican party. Their refusal to replace First past the post voting in the states they control is them telling us they know better then everyone else.
The state of Maine disagrees. Dems got ranked choice to pass.
Aren’t you telling everyone you know better than them right now?
That being said, we have preferential voting here in Australia, and it’s Awesome. We can vote for who we want, and they still get paid if they get a minimum amount of votes.
But eventually, your votes keep filtering down until one prference is selected
Because projection, misinformation, disinformation, and political agendas.
yup. Amoral leadership lying to gullible supporters who want conspiracies, it’s really that simple. A base who want simplistic explanations that reinforce their prejudices. Truth doesn’t even rate.
This is one of the greatest scams that conservatives get away with IMO, not just in the US but it happens in the UK and other places too. Conservatives get in, go hog wild cutting taxes, selling off public assets and throwing huge contracts to their friends, and then as soon as the other side gets back in they find that they have to now balance the books, the conservatives start complaining and saying they’re the fiscally responsible ones.
It’s literally happening right now in the UK - we just got rid of the Tories finally after about 15 years, and the new Labour government immediately found a £20 billion hole in the economy which they now have to make harsh cuts to sort out, and they’re the ones getting criticized for it by the media.
not just in the US but it happens in the UK and other places too
Damn. Can’t believe New Labour is getting tarred with accepting soccer tickets, fancy clothes, and vacation packages from British Peer Lord Alli. Seems so unfair. Wish people would stop accusing the Labour government of being corrupt, when they are very obviously following the rules of accepting gifts and definitely not operating on any quid pro quo.
the new Labour government immediately found a £20 billion hole in the economy
New Labour has a set of accounting rules that count investment in capital as an expense and insists on running daily budget surpluses for their operating expenses.
Popping open your household account, making cartoonish bug-eyes, and announcing “We owe $200k on our 30 year mortgage but we only make $80k/year! We’re bankrupt for the next three years until we pay this house off!” This is New Labour accounting. It’s laughable and only ever used as an excuse not to spend any money.
On the flip side, this is the same party that insists on privatizing everything. From Thames Water to British Gas to UK Rail, every once-public service has to be turned over and rented back from the private sector. The Brits pass out these privatization contracts as sinecures, guaranteeing their financial friends huge piles of free no-risk revenues at the expense of the British taxpayer. And then they complain that the country has no money.
That New Labour slid directly into the driver’s seat the Tories left and gunned it isn’t something you can ignore, simply because the party leadership has changed.
To be fair, in this monopolized 2 party system, both parties are owned by pretty much the exact same corporate interests and mega rich. Everything is by design. There is nothing they leave to chance.
I’d half agree; they could raise taxes instead of making cuts.
Don’t say this around any conservative. They only believe in cutting taxes.
They always have these “household budget” analogies when it comes to the government, but even in a “household budget” situation one solution to overcoming debt is to find a way to raise your income so you can pay down the debt faster…
That generally also does not go over well in the media.
Conservatives make a mess to their advantage and win/win every time
Sure, because the media is generally profit oriented and therefore aligned with capitalist interests. We need more mutually supported and supportive media and journalism.
We need a government report card.
At the end of every administration, we need to compare the national debt and all important factors.
It’s one thing people missed in coming up with democratic systems. If different people take turns to steer the ship then you need to define what their goal is so you can evaluate each.
Accuse your enemies of that which you are guilty.
Because rich Republicans also own the media.
