Everybody in this space, yeah, absolutely.
Everybody who is informed and has been paying attention, definitely.
Everybody in the voting public of the US, not so much.
American exceptionalism is a real thing. The vast majority of the country has been fed fairytales about how they live in a perfect utopia where things are always getting better. They were taught that they were the richest, strongest, smartest, nicest, and most popular country in the world. Hollywood and the press barraged them with the message that everybody wants to either be them, be friends with them, or they’re an evil person with no understandable motive that seeks to destroy them so that they can take over the world and rule with an iron fist. They won every war they’ve ever fought in, usually showing up to save the day in conflicts that aren’t their own, just because they’re that kind, generous, and always looking out for the little guy. Nothing bad ever happens within the impenetrable borders, and when it does, it’s just a freak accident or a single bad apple.
A shocking number of people began to interpret “American” exceptionalism as something that only applies to the largest part of the population, the straight, cis, white, Christian. Suddenly everyone outside any one of those categories becomes un-American and therefore the evil person who cannot be understood and deserves no sliver of empathy in attempts to do so.
Those people voted for Trump.
Twice.
In 2024 they made up the popular vote. That’s the majority of America. That’s what this country was then. That is “everybody.”
It’s crazy how long it’s taking for people to wake up. It seems like if the election would happen today, Trump wouldn’t win, but that approval rating might swing if his opponent is anything other than a straight, white, masculine, cisgendered man, with multiple children who all celebrate Christmas together.
When will the truth become mainstream? What additional atrocities will need to occur before Trump becomes as universally hated as Hitler? I honestly feel like we’re not there yet. If anything happens to Trump now, it seems that nearly half the country will turn him into a martyr before realizing they are free of the figurehead of a fascist oligarchy.
other_cat@piefed.zip 3 weeks ago
Given the amount of people still proudly sporting Trump merch in the rural area I live, I do think he’d still win. I literally don’t understand these people, the sheer lack of… anything. Awareness. Empathy. Self-preservation!?
The only person I vaguely know well enough to take a crack at why she’s like this, is because she herself is a raging narcissist who wants to be special and feel special. So she aligns her views with the person who tells her “You’re special!” and gives her that desperate validation. Morals become secondary to feeling good rather than being the source of it. It’s incredibly sad.