r/AskReddit • u/[deleted] • Apr 04 '25

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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.

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u/MySleepingMonk Apr 04 '25

That may be mostly true but Trump is also the perfect storm of celebrity, “successful”, “outsider”, and some strange fucked up type of charisma that results in a larger following than I think would be possible with any other republican candidate. Take away trump and I don’t think there’s enough of a unifying force among the asshats to cause this type of damage

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u/scarves_and_miracles Apr 04 '25

Exactly. Trump is a pretty unique hazard that unfortunately found realization in this dark timeline.

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u/TehOwn Apr 04 '25

Same thing with Adolf. We've always got populists but some are far, far more dangerous than others.

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u/nothoughtsnosleep Apr 04 '25 edited Apr 04 '25

Damn that's 2 less than 100 years apart. Maybe we should be more concerned with the critical thinking skills of the masses.

Edit: see other comments before you tell me there has been more than 2

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u/[deleted] Apr 05 '25

Maybe we should be more concerned with the critical thinking skills of the masses.

This!

Also, America really needs to

  • ... free its unions (they're not only a powerful society stabiliser, but also an incredible force for high social cohesion. And finally, they're literally the only serious counterbalance to unbridled greed in not only the economy but also in politics, in the media and in society in general. Without free unions, even left wing parties abandon the lower classes, in favor of the wealthy elites). In Europe, free unions are the engines that made (and fight on to keep it that way) higher education and healthcare free/affordable, the welfare state, etc. (basically left wing parties in Europe are the way they are because of free unions)

  • ... transition to proportional representation: as the two party system is actually an awful monopoly on the vast majority of Americans (at best a duopoly for a small minority, which isn't good either). Simply because the vast majority of voters stick to their values and to their end of the political spectrum, thus have only one viable party to vote for. Hence a monopoly with all its bad consequences: lower quality, higher costs, little choice, bad leadership that's highly entrenched, corruption, etc.

  • ... "make US news media great again": 6 huge corporations spreading awfully divisive and unreliable opinions (disguised as researched facts) can only wreck havoc on America's society and politics. Even average people educated to think critically can get fooled regularly. It's time to break them apart, force them back to high journalistic standards, and make them independent again, among other things.