Former President Donald Trump urged members of a crowd in Florida to vote and said that if he wins, they “won’t have to vote anymore.”

Speaking at a Turning Point Action event in West Palm Beach on Friday, Trump, who tried to overturn the 2020 election he lost, delivered a cryptic message.

“And again, Christians, get out and vote!” he said to a cheering audience. “Just this time. You won’t have to do it anymore. Four more years. You know what? It’ll be fixed! It’ll be fine! You won’t have to vote anymore, my beautiful Christians. I love you, Christians! I’m a Christian. I love you. Get out. You gotta get out and vote. In four years, you don’t have to vote again.”

  • Diplomjodler@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    459
    arrow-down
    1
    ·
    4 months ago

    What the fuck is supposed to be cryptic about this? He’s making it perfectly clear that he wants to overthrow democracy in the US. And everybody who votes for him is OK with that.

    • SlopppyEngineer@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      183
      arrow-down
      2
      ·
      4 months ago

      People asked the question before. It went something like:

      “You do realize that he’ll be a dictator, right?”

      " We don’t care. He’ll be our dictator and that’s all that matters."

      And then they’ll say they do it for freedom and democracy.

      • Guy_Fieris_Hair@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        111
        arrow-down
        2
        ·
        edit-2
        4 months ago

        Or the more common answer:

        “He misspoke and the media is taking out of context.”

        Even though he has said it thirty different ways and this just happens to line up with the narrative.

        • Omega@lemmy.world
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          6
          ·
          4 months ago

          Both groups exist and both ignore that the other exists. Just like every “anti-woke” comment is made. Half of them say it’s about some made up nuanced take, while the other half say “no it’s really just racism/sexism/homophobia”. Which pretty much sums up what Hillary said back in 2016.

      • Flying Squid@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        66
        arrow-down
        29
        ·
        4 months ago

        There’s another angle to the dictator thing-

        A lot of people essentially think the president already is a dictator. That’s why even people on the left say things like, “why doesn’t Biden raise the minimum wage?!” when that requires an act of congress.

          • Flying Squid@lemmy.world
            link
            fedilink
            arrow-up
            21
            arrow-down
            5
            ·
            4 months ago

            Considering how little help the English songs have been, I doubt that they were paying attention to I’m Just a Bill either.

              • Carrolade@lemmy.world
                link
                fedilink
                English
                arrow-up
                5
                ·
                4 months ago

                It’s really not hard. The GOP wants as close to laissez-faire capitalism as they can get. This is not a popular position. To enact it anyway they need to go through deeply convoluted steps to retain support despite their primary demographic of religious voters being in steady decline. This pushes all the more sane types into the dem coalition, where we have to deal with progressive vs more modern neo-lib battles over the course of the nation, exacerbated by progressives in the base often refusing to recognize the moderates have a slim majority in overall population.

                I’m not so good at the music side, so someone else can handle that part.

        • Big_Boss_77@lemmynsfw.com
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          27
          ·
          4 months ago

          My favorite is “Why did Biden make shit so expensive!?” And all I can do is laugh, because my brain plays on a loop Biden sneaking around to all the stores swaping price tags and chuckling maniacally.

          And then I get sad because these were people I once respected as “intelligent”…

        • Transporter Room 3@startrek.website
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          10
          ·
          4 months ago

          I think it’s less “they think the position is already a dictator” and more “the general public has absolutely no idea how the office of the president works, or how the powers and limitations on various branches work in general” which is a failing of their education, and a poor reflection on the country as a whole.

          Of course that’s exactly the way the republicunts like it, “keep the population dumb and they won’t even question why you’re oppressing them”

          If your only experience with the president and their powers comes from (for millennial anyway) various crises (manufactured and non) where the president says “I’m signing this thing to do this” and because the vast majority of congress is behind them, as well as the regular) rest of the population, and it gets done (I’m thinking of things like Iraq), I can see someone thinking “well the president signed a paper, so it MUST happen”

          Which is sad funny since I hear the minimum wage comment a lot, but like… How well do you think that will go? It will go just like the student loan bullshit.

          And republicunts are such fucking insecure losers, they will happily drag the entire planet down into their bullshit to prevent even one single other person from getting help that they believe they’re entitled to the entirety of.

          You know. Like Toddlers.

          • Flying Squid@lemmy.world
            link
            fedilink
            arrow-up
            18
            arrow-down
            9
            ·
            4 months ago

            Where did you get any indication from what I said that I thought it was okay? I’m talking about why people aren’t more concerned about it like they should be.

            • qarbone@lemmy.world
              link
              fedilink
              English
              arrow-up
              10
              arrow-down
              3
              ·
              4 months ago

              So many people are so het up, they come sprinting in, gagging to fight someone.

              They need to just deep breathe twice and think a little, please.

              • beebarfbadger@lemmy.world
                link
                fedilink
                arrow-up
                3
                ·
                4 months ago

                Trump’s always been banking on everybody giving him the benefit of the doubt, and they do, but he thinks it’s because he’s so very clever that he’s tricking his opponents with his thinly veiled veneer of plausible deniability. In actuality they just do it because he’s rich.

                • Tarquinn2049@lemmy.world
                  link
                  fedilink
                  arrow-up
                  5
                  ·
                  4 months ago

                  To be fair, if they are doing it because he is rich, then he is indeed tricking them. Even with all the reasons why he should be rich; owning a bunch of buildings, rarely paying anyone that does anything for him, being born rich… he actually still isn’t. He’s so bad with money that despite all that, he’s overall in the hole most of the time. Which is why he so vehemently defends any financial info coming out about him. It’s a point of pride to him that people think he is rich.

      • ikidd@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        11
        ·
        4 months ago

        Those fuckers should be deported to some authoritarian shithole with Sharia law like Iran so they can appreciate what they’re throwing away because they’re terrified of “the gays”.

        • SlopppyEngineer@lemmy.world
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          7
          ·
          4 months ago

          Same with the “migrants out” thing. If immigrants actually left, farmers and business would be desperate within days because all their hardest and/or cheapest workers just vanished and now there are no more truck drivers, no more field workers so crops left rotting on the field, no more waiters, … Prices of stuff would shoot up. UK tried this recently and that’s what happened.

      • beebarfbadger@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        7
        ·
        4 months ago

        “We want our dictator for… what are the good words again?”

        “You mean freedom and democracy?”

        “Yeah, whatever, for those!”

    • PassingThrough@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      46
      ·
      4 months ago

      Many don’t think he can pull it off, which is the scary part that might let him do it.

      “Oh, that’s all talk. He can say what he wants but can’t do shit without the House and Congress, and if he wanted to change things to get more terms? With states majority agreement that’s required? Not in his lifetime. You worry for nothing, PassingThrough, it’s all showmanship, as it always has been. And no, the Army wouldn’t help such an obvious fool overthrow the government either.”

    • SailorMoss@sh.itjust.works
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      5
      ·
      4 months ago

      Trump said it in a way that he could have meant that you won’t have to vote for him again. He kept saying “vote for me now and in 4 years you won’t have to vote again”. I’m sure if you made this criticism to Trump’s face he would act like you’re being unreasonable and pretend that of course he meant that he can only do 1 more 4 year term. Trump’s supporters would respond similarly. But that’s why it’s called a dog whistle, the message gets to the people he wants it to while it forces his detractors to debate what’s going on inside Trump’s head.

    • suction@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      5
      arrow-down
      1
      ·
      4 months ago

      Also anyone who doesn’t go vote because of edgelord reasons or laziness is guilty. If the US becomes Russia v2.0, we’ll all die in WW3 guaranteed.

    • blattrules@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      6
      arrow-down
      2
      ·
      4 months ago

      I’m guessing it’s cryptic because he can just say that he meant “for me” and not “in general.”

  • overload@sopuli.xyz
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    266
    arrow-down
    5
    ·
    4 months ago

    Your country is insane.

    In any other democratic nation in the world, a politician saying this would be finished.

    I hope for the sake of humanity that all the sane people in the US go out and tells everyone they know that cares about democracy and the rule of law what Trump is planning to do, especially in the swing states.

    • prole@lemmy.blahaj.zone
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      101
      arrow-down
      2
      ·
      4 months ago

      Our country is full of proudly ignorant bootlickers

      Turns out all you need to do is make up some bullshit about “American dreams” and “bootstraps,” make them believe they too can (and probably already should!) be a billionaire, and the one thing stopping that are those goddamn Marxist Democrats and their “progressive taxation,” and “social safety nets for the blacks (please ignore the fact that I’m on disability, it’s different)”.

      Republicans have been sabotaging our country’s own public education system for 25+ years at this point. Selling the future prosperity of our nation down the river for a voter-base with cult-like devotion, and a unique ability to ignore objective reality.

      Unfortunately for the planet, it seems to have been wildly successful.

      The next step is to do away with democracy altogether.

      • Jaderick@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        29
        ·
        edit-2
        4 months ago

        It’s been the Koch brothers and the John Birch Society’s dream (amongst others) to propagandize so many people of the “American Dream” and evils of anything other than capitalism. They were ecstatic when the Tea Party movement worked out for them, but they lost control of it with Trump. It’s a monster of their own making.

        • beebarfbadger@lemmy.world
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          18
          ·
          4 months ago

          and evils of anything other than capitalism

          *other than WHAT THEY CALL capitalism

          They look at monopolies where the market leader buys laws, lobbies for protection and muscles competition out of the game unhindered and then they decry anybody calling it out as communists or socialists or the devil or whatever other bad word is en vogue that day.

          • prole@lemmy.blahaj.zone
            link
            fedilink
            arrow-up
            2
            ·
            edit-2
            4 months ago

            You’re almost there, comrade…

            It’s not just what they call it, this is capitalism working as intended. This is the end game. Always has been. It’s just now they have the tools to essentially brainwash millions using modern tech, and a wealth disparity that has been growing constantly for what, 100 years now?

            That’s why it seems different this time; they learned from past attempts. Not only can you just make them not revolt (or shit, why not just Orwell it up and make it so they don’t even think they want to), you can direct that hate, anger and vitriol at your “enemies” to sow more chaos and division.

            I don’t think any of the people responsible for planning and carrying out this decades-long coup could have predicted it would be this wildly successful.

            It’s like Putin tossing a million bucks to a state sponsored hacker group (because meh why not, what could it hurt?), and ending up with a fucking Manchurian candidate and an army of loyal GOP politicians terrified enough of what might leak from those hacked emails that they are literally willing to destroy their own country from the inside. Unreal.

            • beebarfbadger@lemmy.world
              link
              fedilink
              arrow-up
              1
              ·
              4 months ago

              Oh, this system is definitely doing what it’s designed to do, but “capitalism” nominally is this fair competition among equal players where the market decides which ideas and products rise to the top based on merit and whatnot. This would, however, require a level playing field which goes out of the window the moment the strongest player on the market uses their power not to provide the best products and services, but instead uses their power to solidify their top position by legal or illegal means or in ways they make legal by lobbying, bribing and otherwise convincing the legislative. The moment the biggest corporations secure themselves the cooperation of the political parties for one-sided tax cuts, bailouts, deregulation of limits and massive regulation in favour of the corporations’ goals, that is the moment where we’ve left this impossible ideal of capitalism far behind.

              But yes, the monopolies reigning from the corpse of the capitalist idea while telling you that capitalism is alive and well have worked hard to shape the status quo to what it is and they are definitely pretending that this abomination perfectly encapsulates the unreachable purity of the perfectly fair notion of “capitalism” every chance they get.

        • Carrolade@lemmy.world
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          7
          ·
          4 months ago

          Kochs lost control of Trump to the JBS types. The Kochs are more Mitch McConnell type power brokers, all about the money and corporations. JBS is more MAGA, with the heavy undercurrent of conspiracy.

      • Jackie's Fridge@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        8
        ·
        4 months ago

        Exactly - I started noticing prideful ignorance in the early 2010s. People around me made bad choices and would not be corrected. Their ignorance was just as valid as someone else’s actual knowledge. That’s when, strengthened by their own baseless pride, their shame disappeared. I’m not saying shame is good, but when it’s the only thing keeping the deplorables in check, maybe a little of it helps.

        It used to be that I’m general, horrible people realised they were horrible and at least went through the motions of being decent. They were like cockroaches scurrying for the shadows when you turned on the light. Now they’re like a cat peeing on your bed - they pause long enough to lock eyes with you, then continue peeing.

        Speaking optimistically, at least now we know exactly who they are.

        • rottingleaf@lemmy.world
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          4
          ·
          4 months ago

          They were like cockroaches scurrying for the shadows when you turned on the light.

          Oh, I actually used this comparison once when such people still generally did that. They were pissed. I didn’t directly address them BTW, they decided which side they’re on for themselves.

        • prole@lemmy.blahaj.zone
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          2
          ·
          4 months ago

          It’s wild that all it took was one sick, deranged, racist, liar (who hasn’t been able to string together a coherent sentence since the early 90s) to lead by example…

      • rottingleaf@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        5
        ·
        4 months ago

        Turns out all you need to do is make up some bullshit about “American dreams” and “bootstraps,” make them believe they too can (and probably already should!) be a billionaire, and the one thing stopping that are those goddamn Marxist Democrats and their “progressive taxation,” and “social safety nets for the blacks (please ignore the fact that I’m on disability, it’s different)”.

        Well, to generalize your statement a bit, I’ve had a conflict with people who thought that the only thing preventing them from living in socialist heaven were jerks like me talking about human rights, market economy, transparency, accountability, governments actually changing, putting thieves in jail and getting activists out of jail, legalization of various substances, any consensual sexual activity, privacy, freedom of speech, competitive judicial system, culture of protest, yadda-yadda once a few years …

        They sincerely thought all this prevented life in my country from being good, while themselves being thieving ignorant intriguing insecure shits was normal. You know, the kind of people who contribute clearly negatively to the society, but think life is unjust to them, they should live better and somebody has stolen everything from them.

      • Ragnarok314159@sopuli.xyz
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        2
        ·
        4 months ago

        The GOP have been selling these people hope and magic since Reagan. It’s no longer about hard work for republicans, now all they have to do is destroy cities and kick out everyone they don’t like, and we will return to the magic that never existed in the 1950’s.

      • beebarfbadger@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        37
        ·
        4 months ago

        It may be the most successful example of indoctrination of parts of the populace of a supposedly developed nation by the ruling class though.

        • barsquid@lemmy.world
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          22
          arrow-down
          1
          ·
          4 months ago

          It’s a smashing success for regulatory capture of the courts so that unlimited funds, foreign and domestic, can be legally spent on propaganda targeting fear-addicted racists.

        • TrickDacy@lemmy.world
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          15
          arrow-down
          1
          ·
          4 months ago

          Probably because it’s one of the worst examples of many bad things. Source: am American. The only way you can avoid criticizing America as a thinking person is to focus on the ways it’s a little better than other countries. For example we mostly have clean drinking water while other countries don’t. But if you for a moment focus back on America itself it’s hard not to find things that just damned well ought to be better. Never be sick in America. Our healthcare is a pathetic piece of shit!

          • EatATaco@lemm.ee
            link
            fedilink
            English
            arrow-up
            1
            arrow-down
            1
            ·
            4 months ago

            I’ve got no problem with reasonable criticism of America. In fact I have many of my own. My issue is that here, shitting on America is well received regardless almost completely regardless of how reasonable it is.

            • TrickDacy@lemmy.world
              link
              fedilink
              arrow-up
              3
              ·
              edit-2
              4 months ago

              Hmm, I don’t see that. I can’t remember the last time I saw an undeserved criticism of America. But I would agree with you if I did see that

              • EatATaco@lemm.ee
                link
                fedilink
                English
                arrow-up
                1
                arrow-down
                2
                ·
                4 months ago

                Nayib Bukele, a pretty blatant authoritarian, just won an election in El Salvador. And have you been paying attention to the rise in right wing authoritarians winning in Europe?

                The idea that this is isolated to the us makes no sense.

            • TrickDacy@lemmy.world
              link
              fedilink
              arrow-up
              2
              arrow-down
              2
              ·
              4 months ago

              I realize that. I should’ve said that some countries don’t have clean drinking water. For me it has been shocking when I’ve experienced that because I’m “spoiled” by safe water most places I’ve ever visited.

              • suction@lemmy.world
                link
                fedilink
                arrow-up
                1
                arrow-down
                1
                ·
                4 months ago

                The thing is that for any single positive item many people thing of being exceptional for the US, the truth is that most other countries in the 1st world are on par or better. I mean I heard Americans wonder if Germans have access to running water, that was in 2023.

        • Freefall@lemmy.world
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          10
          arrow-down
          3
          ·
          4 months ago

          Pointing out flaws instead of blindly shouting “murka numbuh wun!” is not a bad thing…

          • EatATaco@lemm.ee
            link
            fedilink
            English
            arrow-up
            2
            arrow-down
            1
            ·
            4 months ago

            100% agreed. But that’s not what I’m talking about. People just mindlessly shit on America here all the time. Just because I recognize the unreasonable American hate does not mean I’m an unreasonable American supporter. Not every is simple and black and white how you would like it.

          • EatATaco@lemm.ee
            link
            fedilink
            English
            arrow-up
            2
            arrow-down
            3
            ·
            4 months ago

            Well, first, judging what’s right based on what’s popular is dumb on it’s own, but it’s even more dumb here because the up vote/down vote is current equal for my post, making it clearly not “everyone.”

    • solsangraal@lemmy.zip
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      52
      ·
      4 months ago

      in any other democratic nation, he would have been finished in 2015, when the “grab’em by the pussy” tape came out

      but no, it’s 2024 and we STILL have to waste time arguing about drag queens and library books

    • raspberriesareyummy@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      35
      arrow-down
      1
      ·
      4 months ago

      In any other democratic nation in the world, a politician saying this would be finished.

      Unfortunately not anymore, no. Bolsonaro (luckily voted out) and Orban and the Polish potato (also luckily voted out) have been spouting similar bullshit for 10+ years. Also, Erdoğan talks bullshit like that.

      All of them a little less incoherent than the fat orange turd, but still, they say this kind of bullshit.

    • Ech@lemm.ee
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      29
      ·
      4 months ago

      The craziest part is that, even with the absolute insanity this election has already been (and it will absolutely get worse), I’m seriously worried there’s going to be a worse turnout than 2020. 30% of voters are holding the country hostage, but another 30+% still can’t be bothered to get out and do the most basic thing they can do to fix it. It’s absurd. The nutjobs in the US are dragging the country to the gallows, but apathetic voters are tying the noose.

        • Ech@lemm.ee
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          4
          arrow-down
          1
          ·
          edit-2
          4 months ago

          I am aware (hence my point of 30%), and that was still abysmal. 60% turnout is not much of an achievement, and that only happened because of the pandemic (which is also still happening, though easier to ignore now). Existential threats to the country just aren’t going to motivate the chronically apathetic the same way, even if they are actually a bigger threat overall.

          • dhork@lemmy.world
            link
            fedilink
            English
            arrow-up
            3
            ·
            4 months ago

            Don’t automatically assume the 30% who don’t bother voting are guaranteed to vote against Trump. Historically, it has been younger voters who don’t bother voting, and they do tend to be more liberal. But this time around, young voters are starting their adult lives in a world that is stacked against them, and they know it. They have felt the effects of post-pandemic inflation but have not had their pay raised to match. Those who were old enough to be adults pre-pandemic might very well conclude that they were better off personally when Trump was in office, and may be dismissing all the alarm at his re-election.

            There have been several studies indicating that “disengaged” voters, if they show up, would break toward Republicans this time around. This article is from before Biden quit, but shows a clear preference for Trump among these voters:

            https://today.yougov.com/politics/articles/49987-disengaged-voters-role-2024-election-biden-trump-poll

            • Ech@lemm.ee
              link
              fedilink
              English
              arrow-up
              3
              ·
              4 months ago

              I’m not assuming anything. I know Trump got a hefty share of the extra voters in 2020. That doesn’t change anything I said.

    • brucethemoose@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      6
      arrow-down
      1
      ·
      4 months ago

      It’s especially weird because he’s a Republican. Traditionally they’re the party more sensitive to controversies like that, and older conservative folks I used to know would squirm if they saw the tapes or statements.

      But honestly Trump just drowns everything out. Most people don’t, and never will, know the controversies because there are simply too many to keep up with.

      • Montagge@lemmy.zip
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        2
        ·
        4 months ago

        Gingrich has been married three times. In 1962, he wed Jacqueline May “Jackie” Battley (February 21, 1936 – August 7, 2013), his former high school geometry teacher, when he was 19 years old and she was 26.

        Throughout his congressional campaign in 1974, Gingrich was having an affair with a young volunteer. An aide who worked with Gingrich throughout the 1970s stated that “it was common knowledge that Newt was involved with other women during his marriage to Jackie.”

        In the spring of 1980, he filed for divorce from Jackie after beginning an affair with Marianne Ginther.

        In September 1980, according to friends who knew them both, Newt visited Jackie in the hospital the day after she had undergone surgery to treat her uterine cancer; once there, Newt began talking about the terms of their divorce, at which point Jackie threw him out of the room.

        Although Newt’s presidential campaign staff continued to insist in 2011 that Jackie had requested the divorce, court documents from Carroll County, Georgia, indicated that she had in fact asked a judge to block the process, stating that although “she has adequate and ample grounds for divorce … she does not desire one at this time [and] does not admit that this marriage is irretrievably broken.”

        According to L. H. Carter, Gingrich’s campaign treasurer, Gingrich said of Jackie: “She’s not young enough or pretty enough to be the wife of the President. And besides, she has cancer.”

        Following the divorce, Jackie had to raise money from friends in her congregation to help her and the children make ends meet; she later filed a petition in court stating that Newt had failed to properly provide for his family.[262] Newt submitted a financial statement to the judge, which showed that he had been “providing only $400 a month, plus $40 in allowances for his daughters. He claimed not to be able to afford any more. But in citing his own expenses, he listed $400 just for ‘Food / dry cleaning, etc.’—for one person.”

        In 1981, a judge ordered him to provide considerably more; in 1993, Jackie stated in court that Newt had failed to obey the 1981 order “from the day it was issued.”

        In 1993, while still married to Marianne, Gingrich began an affair with House of Representatives staffer Callista Bisek, more than two decades his junior.

        Gingrich filed for divorce from Marianne in 1999, a few months after she had been diagnosed with multiple sclerosis.

        On January 19, 2012, Marianne alleged in an interview on ABC’s Nightline that she had declined to accept Newt’s suggestion of an open marriage.

        https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Newt_Gingrich

        It’s been a thing for a while. They do a performative squirm and vote for monsters anyways

    • TrickDacy@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      6
      arrow-down
      1
      ·
      4 months ago

      Your country is insane.

      You don’t say! I simply hadn’t noticed! What’s so crazy about people voting for someone with no experience whatsoever except for being a rich asshole which he proved every second breath? I mean that’s just normal!!

  • CitizenKong@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    218
    arrow-down
    2
    ·
    4 months ago

    “I love you, christians. I am a christian!”

    Who the fuck talks like that? And who the fuck votes for a guy that talks like that?

    • sp3ctr4l@lemmy.zip
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      67
      arrow-down
      1
      ·
      4 months ago

      Imagine how stupid the average person is, then realize half of all people are stupider than that.

      • George Carlin
      • Ragnarok314159@sopuli.xyz
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        26
        ·
        4 months ago

        I read something that put conservatives into greater context, just changed one word.

        “Imagine how stupid the average Republican is, then realize half of all republicans are stupider than that.”

      • qjkxbmwvz@startrek.website
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        13
        ·
        4 months ago

        Median would be the more generally correct number to use, but apparently IQ (debatable as a proxy for intelligence…) is roughly normally distributed, so either is likely close enough.

        • OwenEverbinde@lemmy.myserv.one
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          9
          ·
          edit-2
          4 months ago

          Oh yeah, they normalize IQ every year, and 100 is always used as the median.

          But thanks to the Flynn Effect, getting a 100 (the number they always choose for the middle) in 2024 means you’re significantly smarter than someone who got a 100 in 1990.

          So when Carlin said, “think of a person with average intelligence” he was calling to mind (to his 1990 audience) a person who was average in 1990 but would score [EDIT: I originally said 70s to 80s, but I was off by a lot. Such a person would actually score right around 90 points] today.

          This is what happens when you take the lead out of gasoline.

          • roscoe@lemmy.dbzer0.com
            link
            fedilink
            arrow-up
            2
            ·
            edit-2
            4 months ago

            A person would only drop a couple points over time. 80s, and especially 70s, would be significantly impaired.

        • tate@lemmy.sdf.org
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          7
          ·
          4 months ago

          The word average is used to signify mean, median or mode freely, depending only on context. For example, “he’s just an average Joe” is to say he’s like most other men in his demographic. In that case average means mode. In Carlin’s joke, average means median.

          • TrickDacy@lemmy.world
            link
            fedilink
            arrow-up
            1
            arrow-down
            1
            ·
            4 months ago

            Aw thanks! I didn’t even realize it was so until you said that. Curious – how did you know? I’m using boost right now and it’s not made obvious anywhere I’ve checked.

            • Centaur@lemmy.world
              link
              fedilink
              arrow-up
              2
              ·
              4 months ago

              There is a picture of little cake on the right side of your nick. Maybe Boost don’t like cakes?

      • cygnus@lemmy.ca
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        17
        arrow-down
        2
        ·
        4 months ago

        When you’ve already lost the capacity for critical thought…

    • ipkpjersi@lemmy.ml
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      2
      ·
      4 months ago

      Millions of stupid Americans. They are everywhere! Even in your city, maybe even in your neighborhood.

    • NutWrench@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      1
      ·
      4 months ago

      Who talks like that? A grifter. A guy who literally embodies all of the seven deadly sins, trying to convince his followers that “he’s a Christian.” That is just exploding with irony.

  • Furbag@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    183
    arrow-down
    2
    ·
    4 months ago

    Trump using the language of a tyrant is not an accident. When people say that democracy is on the line this election, we’re not being hyperbolic, we’re saying that because of statements like this. Please get out there and vote this November.

    • CileTheSane@lemmy.ca
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      48
      arrow-down
      1
      ·
      4 months ago

      Him saying it out loud is an accident. People with dementia often forget that they’re not supposed to say certain things out loud.

      • Xanthobilly@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        44
        ·
        4 months ago

        While that may be true, I also think it’s because he feels comfortable enough to say it out loud. These people and a fanatic third of the US are that far gone.

        • 4lan@lemmy.world
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          4
          arrow-down
          1
          ·
          4 months ago

          At this point we have found out that he can say or do anything and half the country will still support him. There is no convincing anymore for most of them.

          We outnumber them we just need to get higher turnout and we win every time

      • FiniteBanjo@lemmy.today
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        24
        ·
        4 months ago

        Idk, the crowd was cheering for him. Think he just doesn’t have a grasp on what the average person thinks.

    • UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      25
      arrow-down
      4
      ·
      4 months ago

      When people say that democracy is on the line this election, we’re not being hyperbolic

      The election system in the US has been under siege since the end of Jim Crow. The conservative response to the civil rights act has been to egalitarianize disenfranchisement.

      We’ve had Republicans chipping away at the functional organs of democracy since Eisenhower’s Red Scare leveraged the Hoover FBI to infiltrate and eradicate self-sufficient communities and their unionized labor leadership back in the 50s.

      Meanwhile, the Democrats’ leadership have never sat particularly well with the influx of minority voters following the Civil Rights Act. They’ve had to digest racist backlashes within their own party from the George Wallace Dixiecrat break away campaign under LBJ to the Hilary Clinton “birther” attacks launched at Obama during the '08 primary.

      The end result is Republicans openly embracing fascism at the state and local level, while Democrats dissolve their own primary system in pursuit of a rigid corporate sponsored nomination process.

      This isn’t something that’s going to be fixed in an election cycle. Trump losing won’t make Republicans less fascist. Kamala taking the nomination of the discarded carcass of an establishment insider like Biden won’t heal the divide in the Democratic Party. And it certainly won’t undo the fascist GOP takeovers in Texas, Florida, and Ohio.

      We’re in for a rocky road ahead under either Presidency.

    • zarkanian@sh.itjust.works
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      6
      arrow-down
      1
      ·
      4 months ago

      If our democracy is so fragile that it can be destroyed by voting for the wrong person, then we have to fix some shit.

      • Cosmicomical@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        3
        ·
        4 months ago

        It’s not just one person. There are years of hijacking that the republican party has done to the us system, like packing the supreme court. Those must be fixed as soon as possible.

  • Sidyctism2@discuss.tchncs.de
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    161
    arrow-down
    2
    ·
    4 months ago

    oh yeah, so cryptic. gotta bust out my cryptography degree for this one. might need a couple quantum computers too. wow, the crypticity is at an all-time high. its over 8000, i tell ya.

  • coyootje@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    143
    arrow-down
    1
    ·
    4 months ago

    As an outsider I honestly just don’t get what people see in this idiot. How can you take someone that talk like that seriously? He sounds like a nutter that is promising crazy stuff that would literally mean the end of the USA as we know it.

    If he’d get his way with this and the other project 2025 stuff it’d honestly be the end of America I think.

    • rtxn@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      86
      ·
      edit-2
      4 months ago

      Trump is a cult leader in all but name. His zealots support worldviews that have been made illegal, taboo, obsolete, or otherwise unacceptable, like white supremacy and racism, fascism, theocracy, homo-/transphobia, and mysogyny; they perceive this as an attack against their lifestyles by “the others.” They will rally to the loudest voice that speaks out against “the others” and support him as long as that remains true.

      Trump cultists are irrational creatures, you can’t apply rational expectations and deduce a satisfactory answer.

    • Tylerdurdon@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      49
      ·
      edit-2
      4 months ago

      As an insider, it’s even worse. You didn’t have to suffer 4 years of continuous clusterfuck and embarrassment only to be topped off by a planned insurrection that they still try to gaslight everyone about.

      You’re absolutely correct that it would be the end of America.

    • mad_asshatter@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      46
      arrow-down
      1
      ·
      4 months ago

      I’m Canadian and whenever I’m abroad, the locals ask me what the fuck is wrong with Americans. Expecting I’ll know better bc we’re neighbours.
      Which is true, since we’re more likely to interact.
      All I can reply is, “They’re just totally fucked!” It’s that simple!

      Also, when I meet Americans abroad now, the first thing they do is apologize for America. That’s the only Canadian trait that’s rubbed off on them.

    • prole@lemmy.blahaj.zone
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      44
      ·
      edit-2
      4 months ago

      As an American, neither do I. The man was a national joke for 30+ years, and all it took was a shiny new coat of paint in the form of a reality TV show where they just straight up constantly lied about his wealth and business acumen, for people to literally begin worshipping him.

      Watching your loved ones fall into this shit is heartbreaking.

    • tburkhol@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      21
      ·
      4 months ago

      He promises simple solutions with no sacrifice, essentially just “I’ll fix it.” Certain people love that. Don’t care what the solution is, don’t care that the problem has been simplified beyond recognition, just fix shit.

      • ChronosTriggerWarning@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        16
        ·
        4 months ago

        Paraphrasing here:

        “Let’s just take the guns away. Due process after.”

        “I’ll have Medicare fixed. Just wait a week.”

        “Mexico will pay for it.”

        This is the insane dribble this fuck spews on the daily, and people eat it up.

    • retrospectology@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      11
      ·
      edit-2
      4 months ago

      I think what Trump’s following kind of reveals is a sad truth about humans generally; about a quarter of people are very stupid and very susceptible to cult-think. It doesn’t always manifest as support for a politician, it could be anti-vax beliefs, or racism, zionism etc.

      Wherever you are, about 25-30% of people are simply not equipped to think critically, and that stupidity is activated or weaponized under various conditions, most often during times of economic stress or social chaos. People who can’t understand the complex causes of a problem are easy to manipulate – you give them a simplistic answer.

      “It’s the jews” or “trans people are the root of your problems” etc.

      It can happen anywhere because a certain demographic of people are just dumb, and there’s no way around it other than trying to reduce human suffering across the board and making it less likely that anyone is struggling.

    • Substance_P@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      5
      ·
      4 months ago

      I think if Trumps plan plays out and if If Project 2025 is enacted it will likely have more than an effect on the US, it will likely have profound effects on the world. It will change geopolitics and economies through shifts in alliances, trade dynamics, nationalistic sentiments, and domestic economic policies.

      Thinking it through, it’ll probably move towards an increasingly complex global landscape, overshadowed by uncertainty and potential conflicts.

    • style99@lemm.ee
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      2
      ·
      4 months ago

      People who vote for Trump have been brainwashed by Fox News. It really is as simple as that.

  • Takios@discuss.tchncs.de
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    118
    arrow-down
    1
    ·
    4 months ago

    This is as cryptic as saying “I will come to your house tonight and burn it down with everyone still in it.”

  • Todd Bonzalez@lemm.ee
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    116
    arrow-down
    2
    ·
    4 months ago

    You heard it straight from Trump: you don’t have to vote anymore.

    If you’re a trump supporter, take a break on election day. He’s got it covered.

    • dch82@lemmy.zip
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      3
      ·
      4 months ago

      If you’re a trump supporter, take a break on election day. He’s got it covered.

      But not if you’re a Harris supporter.

      No, Trump isn’t talking to you; don’t be lazy, vote!

  • Duamerthrax@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    103
    arrow-down
    1
    ·
    edit-2
    4 months ago

    Too all the Trump supporters, if you want, you can stop voting now. No, seriously, it is a hassle. Stay home, the rest of us can handle it.

      • 4lan@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        14
        ·
        4 months ago

        I seriously want to just scatter pictures of this quote all over town… don’t see how any Republican could be on board with this unless they actually want a dictatorship

    • masterofn001@lemmy.ca
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      5
      ·
      4 months ago

      What? Speaking to “Christians” and saying he’ll be god king emperor and/or he’ll help usher in the second coming…you know, Armageddon - the end of the world?

      Nothing scary at all.

  • NutWrench@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    96
    arrow-down
    1
    ·
    4 months ago

    There’s nothing subtle about Trump. So when he say something blatantly stupid and evil, it doesn’t need translation or interpretation. If he says, “we’re going to ‘fix’ voting so that you’ll never have to worry about voting ever again” there only ONE way to interpret that. Believe people when they show you what they really are.

    It also doesn’t help that our mainstream, “liberal news media” (you know, the one that’s owned by only six corporations) is constantly running interference for Trump.

  • Frank Ring@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    97
    arrow-down
    2
    ·
    4 months ago

    I’m not american, but I have a feeling this election is going to go into history.

    Vote for Trump and he’ll turn it into dictatorship.

    Vote for Harris and she’ll be the first woman president.

    What will it be?

    • Zeke@fedia.io
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      47
      arrow-down
      7
      ·
      edit-2
      4 months ago

      Not just the first woman president, but the first female mixed race president and the first to snap back when attacked in a long time. Trump is scared. He just went from saying “you don’t need to vote because we have plenty of votes” to “please vote so we can put an to end voting”

      Edited to say first female mixed race since Obama was first mixed race

    • Tryptaminev@lemm.ee
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      10
      arrow-down
      30
      ·
      edit-2
      4 months ago

      I hope if Harris gets into office she will be more than just a token granted by the DNC to appease minority voters. We already saw Obama being a mediocre at best internally, and internationally brutal war criminal, president. Him being black did not make him a good president. And for Hillary Clinton the “she’s a women” trope failed catastrophically and brought us Trump in the first place.

      Harris needs to convince with policy and character, not with race or gender.

      EDIT: I did not mean that Harris would only convince with ther background. It is important to move past the tokenism approach that the DNC used to take.

  • Mushroomm@sh.itjust.works
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    88
    ·
    4 months ago

    Cryptically? This motherfucker is the most transparent asshole on the planet. He couldn’t convince a bucket of fish they were out of the water.

    He plain and clearly said “if I win it will be the end of democracy”. There isn’t subtext.