I originally started using it during my conservative days, and it was meant to lean into the idea of all Republicans being evil, mustache-twirling, bad guys. Now it doesn't feel so funny.

You too North!

Thanks!

(Man, I have really got to change that avatar :)

I agree on people not voting for Trump, but not voting for Biden either. I see that a lot her in KY because we always go red, so they can stand on principles and still see their team win, but tell everyone it wasn't their fault he is a turd.

Biden has to thread the needle because Millennials are not excited about him at all and GenZ is pissed about Gaza. Both groups see him as too old. So he has to do something to get them hyped up without alienating moderate conservatives that might switch teams. My money would be on legalizing weed in October.

Concerns about the black vote shifting or staying home seems to happen every four years. This is not the year to worry about it.

I could definitely see Trump rallying the immigrant vote (nobody is more xenophobic than the last group off the boat). But that is offset by his deportation plans.

Things are getting interesting!

Yeah, at this point, the two biggest IF factors for me in the general are A) Will Republicans circle the wagons after Trump gets the nomination and B) How much does Palestine hurt Biden among the Far Left and Gen Z?

With that said, Trump lost nearly 50% of his votes from 2020, so that is worth considering. Really curious to see what happens in NH.

Trump got something 97% of the vote as the incumbent in 2020. Roughly 50% of the delegates choosing someone else this year leaves me mildly optimistic about November. A lot of these people are pretty turned off by Trump's behavior, and would prefer an alternative.

With that said, the pull of Team Red is strong, and conservatives especially have an amazing ability to undertake all sorts of mental gymnastics in order to justify an R vote.

My hope is that as we see a tsunami of details coming out on classified documents and Jan 6th this year, will that tip them into the Never Trump category, but that's a tough one to see right now.

"We have claims right now that the cops and the rest of society is creating these murder rates. Something something poverty, something something redlining, something something history of racism."

But those actually ARE the primary drivers of crime in black communities. So... shouldn't we be looking at that?

;)

When people routinely don't follow laws, it is an indictment of the people, or the law?

The same goes for enforcement. Why aren't these laws being enforced?

"Anyway you slice it, handguns are the preferred weapons of criminals, and that includes active shooters and mass shooters. This may shock you because of the emphasis that is placed on “assault weapon” bans as a solution to the problem, but if we look to the data, we see that this strategy is misdirected."

You convinced me. So... handguns are the problem we should be focusing on.

Well, to be fair, they already had the playbook:

https://www.amazon.com/How-Fascism-Works-Politics-Them/dp/0525511857/ref=sr_1_1?crid=1KVV6LVLJXDY1&keywords=how+fascism+works&qid=1638541620&sprefix=how+fasc%2Caps%2C168&sr=8-1

Agreed. As I always reply to those family members, what is so scary about the Authoritarian Right is how organized and coordinated they are.

This point has probably already been made in the 183 comments on the thread, but in my anecdotal sample, the charges of Leftward Authoritarianism feel like they are mostly coming from 'mainstream' conservatives that are desperate to not look at their own side. They need a boogeyman on the Left because they aren't ready to admit that they are at a crossroads of a) Join the march towards fascism or b) Abandon ship. I have Republican family members that answer every horrible thing done by their side of the aisle with whataboutism about the Left while never actually denying the charges leveled at Republicans. Quillette is a good example of monetizing this impulse. They routinely provide fodder about why the SJ Left is the real threat.

Thanks man.

What's crazy is that I don't remember writing a word of that.

Yes indeed - I'm a grandfather now, so it goes with the territory.

It's still here - just with a bit more white in it.

When you check in on the OT after an absence of 2 years and find out your friend mentioned you in their post yesterday... That was delightfully weird.

Just wanted to say, great post Christopher. Agreed with all of it. I have said for years that the best strategy has to be creating financial incentives for everyone to embrace the changes we need to make. I don't need someone to believe that climate change is real, I just need them to do it. Making that choice financially beneficial is the best way to get there.

Agree with every word of this Chip. Well-said.

Chick-fil-a is the only fast food joint that I would go to if there was a line around the building. Fast, efficient, good quality and pleasant employees, so I agree on their loyal following. Has anyone seen the 'Little Things' commercials?

https://thechickenwire.chick-fil-a.com/Inside-Chick-fil-A/The-big-stories-behind-the-little-things

"I worked in both fast food and a factory and can testify that they require about the same amount of skill.
The fast food job was making pizzas in a small restaurant, and the factory job involved loading new glass bottles into boxes, and stacking the boxes."

Respectfully, that doesn't actually sound like factory work. That's basically entry-level warehouse work. Actual manufacturing is quite a bit different, although yes, it can still be very boring.

There's a balance to be found between work and school. I worked 30 hours per week my junior and senior years to pay my tuition. It definitely hurt my grades. On the flip side, I increasingly hear, "Kids don't want to work," from parents of teens. So those kids are deciding ZERO is the right number of hours per week. Even beyond that, my company increasingly struggles to hire kids in their early 20s, which used to be the backbone of our warehouse labor. Our pay has stayed about the same, so either all those kids are in college now, or simply don't want to work in a warehouse.