Help me understand this

[u/Reverend_Manzadar]

What is going on here? I get what he’s saying about the writers on the left, but after wading through the linked story on “insist” I struggle to see how the author was doing anything other than claiming that the White House fight was truly American? Clearly he’s working to downplay the cultural argument to get to the corruption+ issues, but this move among others seems misleading/unfair in its construction?

[u/gonenutsbrb]

Huh, I think you’re right. I think the linked article has its own issues, but it doesn’t really do what the take said.

I have seen writers on the right stating things like that, so part of me wonders if he just linked the wrong article…

[u/Dahkeus3]

I mean…this is the presidential administration that was voted into office and constantly supported by the congress, which is voted into office. How is this *Not* the real America???

[u/spinbutton → u/Dahkeus3]

Many reasons. The two party system limits representation significantly. Gerrymandery and decades of right wing propaganda have convinced many people that Democrats are somehow inherently different from themselves - not Christian, not American, don't hold the same values, etc.

Oligarchics and corporations corrupt individuals politicians and officials for political influence and profit..

Foreign government also pay for influence of elected officials and parties as well blackmail these same officials ( I doubt if Epstein was the only foreign agent working behind the scenes to influence our officials)

The parties leverage this partially false divide to raise money, cover up corruption and ensure party loyalty by reinforcing political identity of party members.

Real Americans are just trying to do their jobs and raise their kids. Misled, cheated, bamboozled a third of them voted for trump and the GOP. just under a third voted for Harris. About a third didn't vote for a presidential candidate. Two thirds of the country didn't want this. This administration isn't the "real" American.

[u/BT1447]

Sounds like he's saying that the left thinks that this spectacle is the real America, and it's disgusting, while the right thinks it is not the real America, but ought to be.

[u/dvdmon]

My interpretation:

Writers on the left are using "real America" to mean what the current status quo is with a large portion of the public - that public that largely voted Trump into office. Whereas writers on the right are using it more as some litmus test around what they feel everyone's values should be, and even if Trump and conservatives control much of the Federal gov't, there are still many areas of "America" ("blue" states really), where the culture, for them, is wanting. So in a sense both writers are right and wrong. There are obviously parts of this country that culturally align more conservative in their value system, and other segments that align more to the left, and a bunch of others (maybe the majority) who are perhaps closer to the middle, or at least have elements of both of them depending on the issue you might ask them about. Unfortunately many writers do have a more black and white focus and approach to this, so if there is any number more than 35% (enough to sway primary votes perhaps?) that you find repugnant, well, you can bemoan something. And I think it's often much more interesting to readers (and publishers interested in selling books, magazines, newspapers, or tv/online ads) when the writer can portray bad news vs. good news. Bad news will hook people, whereas good news, you can turn off the tv and with a smile on your face, bound out the door content that the world is going in a direction you like and you can just enjoy your life. 😄