Obviously, I am not conservative. I have been struggling with the way a lot of conservatives are responding to the election. I do not understand their willingness to go along with obvious lies by Trump sycophants at all, and their willingness to undermine a presidential election, and by doing so, undermine our very form of government. This thread is from a former conservative journalist, well, he’s still conservative I think, but has left his positions in traditional conservative organizations. It’s a long thread but fascinating.
Understanding The Conservative Mindset
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MT15
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I will paste a few of the salient portions of the thread. I do not know how valid his viewpoint is, but I am going to read more about it because it is the first time I have read a thoughtful rational explanation, rather than “those people are just bad people”.
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V Chip
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A thread unroll (hopefully this works for all)
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Thread by @mattsheffield on Thread Reader App
@mattsheffield: As a former conservative activist and journalist, it has been so frustrating to see my former compatriots spreading wild and unchecked claims about "voter fraud." @jacknicas of the NYT took a deep lo...…
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Taurus
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This is something I hope President Biden can wrap his head around. You can tell he believes we're all Americans together, that we all just want what's best for the United States.
Except Trumpers don't. To them, the U.S. can go eff itself because this is about Good vs Evil on a cosmic plane. Evil must be opposed, repudiated and defeated by any and all means. Joe could offer to cure cancer, he could offer to cure their cancer and a Trumpist would refuse it as a Faustian offer from 'Ol Scratch Himself. They'd then expect Yahweh to wave a wand and make everything work out because they 'kept the faith'.
It changes your tactics when you know going in that all negotiations will be in bad faith, that your opponent really will cut off his own nose to spite your face.
Except Trumpers don't. To them, the U.S. can go eff itself because this is about Good vs Evil on a cosmic plane. Evil must be opposed, repudiated and defeated by any and all means. Joe could offer to cure cancer, he could offer to cure their cancer and a Trumpist would refuse it as a Faustian offer from 'Ol Scratch Himself. They'd then expect Yahweh to wave a wand and make everything work out because they 'kept the faith'.
It changes your tactics when you know going in that all negotiations will be in bad faith, that your opponent really will cut off his own nose to spite your face.
DaveXA
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When you value party over country, your priorities are whack.
SystemShock
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Taurus
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Except by the article, it's not party over country, it's God over country and they'd say your own priorities are whack if you feel differently. Not just whack, but a certain sign that you're on Team Evil.
SFIDC3
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Perfectly said....but I believe it goes deeper than that. Trump could start his own party and 99% of his followers would join him....it is not about being a Republican so much as being a Trumper....IMO
DaveXA
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Yeah, I'd really love it if Trump would just go ahead and start his own party. I don't think 99% would follow him. I think it's closer to 50% than 90%. That's just based on anecdotal conversations I've had with other Republicans i personally know.
SystemShock
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God makes a good chunk of the GOP's ideology. That is the very reason evangelicals are Republicans and vote for people like Trump, because they see him as a mean to their goals/prophesies.
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superchuck500
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DaveXA
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Maybe, but you'd be surprised how many churchgoers don't really care for the prophecies nonsense often preached in sermons.
When I was a minister, I intentionally avoided 2 things when I preached, politics and prophecy. Politics for obvious reasons, and prophecy because there is a lot of disagreement within the church on what prophecies entail or mean.
Another thing that always bugged the sheet out of me is when Trump used the Bible as a prop on a number of occasions. I had two thoughts. One, have you ever read or thought to act in a way that reflects the teachings in that book? Two, how are good, well-meaning Christians not seeing right through his Bible-waving?
Baffles the hell out of me. I've come to the conclusion that politics have co-opted religion in many churches. And that disgusts me.
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superchuck500
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Thanks for starting a new conversation this - it totally merits it. I posted this tweet/thread the other day in another thread but it got lost there for the most part.
I do, however, think it's more about the mindset of conservative media and leadership rather than broadly applicable to American conservatives in general. But the power of that mindset (it's a psychosis of sorts, really) is difficult to avoid and it seeds how their supporters think and interpret events.
But what I like about his message is that is isn't conservatism that is the problem - conservatism can be "saved" from the current delusion, the willful detachment from reality, that plagues the movement in the Trump/Rush Limbaugh/QAnon era.
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SystemShock
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I am aware. But the block we refer to as "evangelicals", they do. It may be wrong to assume so, but the evidence shows otherwise.
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