Friday, October 7, 2022

Brett Stevens Said What?

 Brett Stephens wrote an article titled "I Was Wrong  About Trump Voters" in the July 24, 2022  edition of the New York Times.  Earlier, August 31, 2015 Brett Stephens wrote, " If you watched Mr. Trump mocked fellow candidate Lindsey Graham's low poll numbers and didn't cringe at the lack of class, you are incapable of class."  Mr. Stephens presented some arguments for him being wrong . This  disquisition addresses the inaccuracies of that article. 


In Stephen's article ,he regretted almost nothing he said about the man but didn’t accurately describe his ( moral ignoramuses) followers.  He saw a bigoted, self  grandiose  blowhard making one ignorant argument after another who raised his middle finger at a self satisfied elite that had produced a failing status quo.  Yes, he did make ignorant comments and he supposedly told others to f...k off. But, Trump didn't do anything to restore a failing status for these economically left behind.In fact , he made it worse. These followers are in worse shape psychologically and economically now than they were prior to him being elected.  So you turn to a narcissistic personality to do what?  Narcissists have poor reality perception themselves. That means, they are incapable of  acknowledging and addressing your needs.  They are more angry and acting out their frustrations as evidenced by social media hate,  hate crimes and  following  anti government Covid-19 recommendations.  Our country is now politically,economically and psychologically in worse shape, not better.They are in debt with  children living at home because they're financially unable to leave as well. On the other hand, Donald gave a tax cut to the top 1% and bent over backward financially supporting large corporations during the  Covid -19 boondoggle . Donald didn't protect the unprotected lives in failing neighborhoods or their schools  either.  Stephens went on to say that he understood why these people were angry. Yes, but to scapegoat and blame others while believing lies of  a narcissist. ?


Stephens went on to say that the anger was not unfounded, illegitimate, or  aimed at the wrong target .  Really, expressing anger on social media that’s based on falsehoods, scapegoating and pure prejudice is inappropriate. It's just a convenient medium to act out one's frustrations and emotional difficulties without value .  It also highlights their inadequacies as humans who demonstrate a lack of  empathy or caring for others.  One sees aggressive Irrational nonsense.  Anger and frustration  should have been expressed towards  unworthy Trump as he failed on the Covid -19 pandemic , lack of infrastructure spending and his  crazy tariff  policies with China.  Yes, he was impeached twice.  He's the evil one.


Were these bigoted individuals betrayed by the nations elites,or were they betrayed by  a paranoid, morally inadequate , self serving individual  with the do-nothing Senate.  Stephens went on to say that they were betrayed financially and bore the brunt of the cost of the Afghanistan and Iraq wars  while the financial class was being granted a bailout. Busch lied and the country supported it.  I agree that individuals were betrayed financially and did bore the brunt of the cost of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars.  On the other hand, individuals  have to take responsibility for their economic well-being too.  In our capitalistic society, one has to develop skills so that he can sell himself profitably on the market.  That means some form of university or trade school education.  Without being able to sell oneself in the market, the likelihood of economic success is limited.  Moreover, aligning oneself with the GOP party also sets oneself up for failure.  The GOP is against minimum wage, health insurance, infrastructure, support for public school education, voting against FEMA disaster relief  and so forth.  Without skills, and aligning oneself with the GOP, one can expect being betrayed for the financial elite in our country.  To blame others for your misfortune is simply scapegoating and not taking responsibility for your own decision-making.  



The Republican Party hides the reality behind the real problem facing this country.  The significant issues are not CRT,antifa, same-sex marriage, etc. but are economically  based on our capitalistic system of greed, profit and exploitation.  Small minority of wealthy people or venture capitalists are becoming more wealthy.  Blame is placed on Biden for gas prices.  Biden does not decide on oil crude oil prices.  The increased wealth is going to?  With inflation, the CEOs are not complaining, but are happy because their profits are increasing.  Further, certain financial groups are acquiring more businesses in exchange for stock  and corporations so that they can better control  and exploit those markets.  By consolidating the power, they controlled the supply and began to monopolize those industries and services.  These takeover practices benefit only a small minority and discriminate against the many.  The GOP does not want any regulation that affects these takeovers.  That's the hidden crime facing this country and not these social, religious distractions.


  Let's face it, same-sex marriage, sex segregated bathrooms , abortions, reverence for patriotic symbols has accomplished what for these followers ?  These diversions do not put bread on the table.  These issues express narrow retentiveness with thinking and  beliefs that goes back to earlier times.  These people were not able to acknowledge and understand their moral ineptitude and lack of humane thinking.  Do these people in the Republican Party talk about our country's problems in a way that makes sense? No, it's a clever distraction and it's easy to  scapegoat and blame others.


I agree with Stephens when he said few  of these people have been honest with themselves about the elaborate hoax-there's no there's just no other word for it-there was a Steele dossier, and all the bogus allegations courageously parroted in the mainstream media that flowed from it.  I think that the biggest hoax was not the Steele dossier. What about the  lie that the election was stolen?  If one can't acknowledge that truth then we are   a deeply divided nation  based on lies, paranoia and fiction . Are we too gullible to separate fact from fiction ? Too many Republican  crazies  are in power. I would agree with Stephens that morally it's one thing to take a gamble on a candidate who  makes irrational promises. It's another to do that with an ex-president with a record of trying to break the Republic itself.


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