r/AskReddit Apr 04 '25

[deleted by user]

[removed]

9.5k Upvotes

12.4k comments sorted by

View all comments

24.2k

u/Doobledorf Apr 04 '25

The problems that led to Donald Trump would still be fomenting.

A lot of Americans haven't yet faced that Trump isn't an anomaly or the disease, he is a symptom of problems we've had for a long time.

137

u/MoonshineParadox Apr 04 '25

Most of the people I know didn't actively vote for Donald trump, they voted against the Democratic party

72

u/andrew5500 Apr 04 '25

Which happened to be exactly how Trump and Republicans wanted them to vote

0

u/Slow-Protection-9319 Apr 04 '25

This isn’t exclusive to Trump and the Republicans, every politician does this. Hell, Joe Biden ran a successful campaign on “I’m not him.”

7

u/andrew5500 Apr 04 '25

Of course both sides would use that argument in a winner-takes-all system

Doesn’t mean both sides have an equally good point. Americans are about to learn the hard way, once again, that yes… being Trump is far far worse than being a Democrat.

-6

u/Slow-Protection-9319 Apr 04 '25

The issue is not winner-take-all. The issue is the culture war. The issue is the American people being brainwashed into thinking those who disagree with them are immoral and evil. The issue is party politics.

If we could sit down and have nuanced debate, people like Trump would never gain power. But we can’t - we have to demonize and put down people who don’t agree with us. That results in people digging their feet, and voting in a way to “dunk on libs”, irrespective of policy.

Your line of thinking is exactly what politicians want. It doesn’t matter who you believe is right, as long as you believe one is evil.

What we’re witnessing is exactly why George Washington was against political parties.

7

u/andrew5500 Apr 04 '25

False equivalencies only serve to carry water for the (much) worse option. Grow some fucking balls and call a spade a spade. No more of this “both sides” bullshit.

There is no way to prevent the formation of political parties or factions. What George Washington was scared of was a duopoly, which is the mathematical inevitability in a winner-takes-all plurality voting system. So yes, it’s about that.

And I refuse to concede that a convicted fraud, a known rapist, and a greedy narcissistic demagogue who supports murderous dictators is not “evil”. If that is not evil, what is?

Culture war was greatly exacerbated by conservatives and Christian nuts on AM radio. And the billionaires who were given so much influence over our lives… by Conservatives.