The MAGA Loyalty Crossroads

[huckelberry]

There is a difficulty. All politics are team politics. Politics and team are closer than two sides of a coin. It doesn't matter what system you have it involves team politics. If you are king or dictator you still have the politics of your team. Perhaps an exception would be a one person camping trip.

Yes, but at a certain point it becomes a borderline criminal conspiracy to cover up for the party or leads to a civil war with one team constantly attacking the other and sometimes rising to violence. It's gotta stop. Emotions should lessen and regardless of whether or not we have a bull in the china shop or an alzheimer's patient, we are all Americans and party affiliation is used as a method to divide us in favor of the donor class.

I get that people are angry at the current president and others were angry at the other president not really being there, but let's not forget the fact that Congress, both parties, cannot keep a law on the books that prevents them from insider trading. There was recently a news story about Senators having interests in Ukraine that could be evidence of more corruption. It'll probably not go anywhere as a news story because the corporate media masters probably have their hand in the corruption as well. Forget an audit of the funds sent to Ukraine, it's probably Russian propaganda, or at least that is what the corporate media tell us.

I think we are being played by the donor class and party affiliation is a major source of their power. Divide and rule or divide and conquer has been used at least since the Roman times and was used by the British to subjugate India. Perhaps these fights over the 10 commandments being placed wherever and the relentless push to have trans athletes in women's sports is part of it? Keep the population busy while the looting goes forward? And you better support your party and continuously point the finger at the others while your own leaders pick your pockets.

Seems like we should be at a zenith of all this partisan nonsense and realize what is really going on.

Exiled, I think you make good points here. Just because politics operate as a team enterprise does not mean one should be blindly loyal or permanently attached to one team. In a free society, political teams can change, develop correcting subgroups or new teams. People should feel an obligation to correct the team they find themselves associated with or concerned with, with or without some sort of official affiliation.

[Jersey Girl]

The problem you seem to have is thinking everyone is on one team or another.
…
My team is people who care about what is actually real.

This.

I’ve never been a registered member of any political party. I don’t have a team to pledge my allegiance to. And either party can be purveyors of BS.

That said, pretending that there aren’t obvious and critical differences between the type, amount, severity and consequences of the BS being offered up, would be a ridiculous stand to take.

Yes. I always voted outside party lines. Went officially unaffiliated to achieve authenticity and so no party could claim me as a member.

Don't fence me in.

[Physics Guy]

I don't even understand this American thing of registering as a party member. In all the other countries I know, being a member of a political party is like being a member of any other club. What business is it of any government body whether you are a member of the Democratic or Republican Party, any more than whether you are a member of the Stamp Collectors' Association?

[Jersey Girl]

I don't even understand this American thing of registering as a party member. In all the other countries I know, being a member of a political party is like being a member of any other club. What business is it of any government body whether you are a member of the Democratic or Republican Party, any more than whether you are a member of the Stamp Collectors' Association?

I don't understand it either, PG. I think it's absurd and I say it's dangerous. I could give you a female's perspective on how I think we ended up with teams. You're a smart person. You already know what I'd say.

That said, I recall my mother saying that there are three things you don't discuss with others. Politics, religion, and how much money you have. She wasn't wrong! No one here is obligated to share their political affiliation with anyone else but I'll tell you, it's easy to search up if one wants to. Now that Elon has got hold of our personal data, political affiliation is the least of our concerns.

[Kishkumen]

I’ve never been a registered member of any political party. I don’t have a team to pledge my allegiance to. And either party can be purveyors of BS.

That said, pretending that there aren’t obvious and critical differences between the type, amount, severity and consequences of the BS being offered up, would be a ridiculous stand to take.

Word.

[Gadianton]

Just to get this out there as a possibility so it doesn't look like every liberal was blindsided in the event it happens. I watched part of Mountainhead on Apple TV a couple days ago. It was amusing for about fifteen minutes but I ultimately fell asleep for most of it. I'll call out the spoiler here though don't think many will watch it anyway. It's about 4 tech bro alpha males who meet up at luxury mountain house to conspire on world takeover. The older guy who obviously is supposed to be Jordan Peterson (though a tech bro) is a much better character than the others, though he would have been perfect if he were a non-tech theological guide the others looked up to. There's a falling out between two of the bros over one of the conspiracies that leads to the other three trying to kill the one of lesser power in the fallout. the murder attempt culminates in a pretty extreme act, but ultimately they back down and "it's all good"; get over it and have a beer.

The movie accurately predicts a dramatic Trump - Musk style of fallout, but it also predicts wounds will be licked and world takeover will continue. So all those liberals convinced that words have gone way to far may not understand the mind of the true alpha male. Exposing each other as pedos, or threating to financially or politically ruin each other, or threating deportation or even death is the sort of thing 7-point Elk bucks do that liberal men with low testosterone levels wouldn't understand.

[Some Schmo]

The movie accurately predicts a dramatic Trump - Musk style of fallout, but it also predicts wounds will be licked and world takeover will continue. So all those liberals convinced that words have gone way to far may not understand the mind of the true alpha male. Exposing each other as pedos, or threating to financially or politically ruin each other, or threating deportation or even death is the sort of thing 7-point Elk bucks do that liberal men with low testosterone levels wouldn't understand.

I'm sure guys like this likely think this way about themselves, but it's more like what happens when one megalomaniac butts head with another. Massive emotional insecurity fighting in public.

[ajax18]

If he did it seems that Biden administration would have leaked them before the election.

No, the left would never weaponize the criminal justice system out of partisan political motives.

And also for the record, I agree with Musk that we need to cut spending, and I'll repeat what I wrote earlier that I have no idea how we will pay for the Bill.

The beautiful thing about this is that we have two former Democrat donors in Donald Trump and Elon Musk arguing about whether or not we cut enough government largesse. I agree with Elon from an ideological standpoint. We need major entitlement reform if we ever hope to save the country from fiscal ruin. But I agree with Trump from a pragmatic standpoint. There's not enough political capital in Congress to do that. Sadly there's not even a broad enough consensus of Americans who are willing to suffer the pain that necessary cuts would cause. It's why Trump and Musk's past support of Democrats is a sin for which repentance is especially sore. Once democratic socialism and the culture of welfare takes root across generations, it's nearly impossible to turn back the tide even if you now see the damage it's doing more clear than ever. The big beautiful bill was always a crap sandwich. But if the alternative is no bill with no definitive tax cuts and a continuation of democratic socialist scamdemic welfare spending, then I'll opt for the crap sandwich.

[ajax18]

I started a thread last night about a CT representative that read from a book, in elementary school libraries that speaks of eating p***y and giving Blowmobs. Again this is in elementary school libraries. And the democratic party leaders belittled to person reading the book in the chamber for speaking vulgarity.

That's what Kishkumen is talking about when he accuses Governor DeSantis of book banning and attacking free speech.

[Kishkumen]

That's what Kishkumen is talking about when he accuses Governor DeSantis of book banning and attacking free speech.

You really do have a crap memory. I stood against others here in favor of limiting kids’ access to sexually explicit materials in public school libraries, and I took some heat for it, too.