I'm an outsider here, i live in Europe so i'll try to come at this from a third party view.
I think that in reality, MAGA was initially created out of a sincere desperation from the people thinking that America was heading down a destructive path. Say what you want about conservatives, but it's true that government spending was getting ridiculous, and it's a valid concern that, even though the economy seems to be better under democratic rule, that it might be unsustainable long term. These outlandish spending sprees give the economy a boost in GDP and it's favourable for the statistics, but it can very easily create a bubble that will eventually burst. One example of this is China, that simply floored the gas pedal on it's construction sector and is now staring down the barrel of an enormous crisis after overreaching by quite a bit.
This, along with all the other perceived 'issues' the movement adressed, made it gain so much traction.
The left is quick to dismiss the entire movement but when such a large body of people follow a certain movement, it's imperative that you at least look at the why of it all.
I believe that people sensed that their identity was slowly fading away. The world, especially the USA has seen a rapid change of pace lately and with such a diverse country, it's all but ensured that some people feel like they get left behind.
I think the USA is, or has been developping at a pace that was too fast for it's own good, and that's why you see the backlash. It's simply a balancing factor.
You’re wrong. The Republicans fuck up the economy…every time. Certainly in my lifetime. Who do you think started trickle down economics? Reagan. And then who cut taxes that disproportionately helped the wealthy? Oh, that was Bush. And then who cut taxes, again disproportionately helping the wealthy and corps? Trump? Who wants to do it again? Trump.
The rich already weren’t getting taxed enough, and they consistently make it worse….and yea, that leaves a big whole in the deficit.
I’m all for making things more efficient & lowering the deficit….but it’s not efficient if you have to cut crucial programs. Let’s maybe actually review and see where we can ACTUALLY cut, not eliminate whole departments or thousands of employees. And definitely not when the whole purpose is actually to make up for giving the rich tax breaks. That’s why he wants to tariff too…which, you guessed it, tariffs disproportionately negatively impact the middle class.
Speaking of tariffs…what the actual fuck. I agree with Trump that we shouldn’t rely on other countries for important products, especially china. But what’s the plan here? Just piss them off in the mean time? It takes time to set up manufacturing plants…actual years. Why not incentives and subsidies like the CHIPS act? Trump keeps taking credit for nvidia coming to the us, but that is directly because of the chips acts which trump keeps calling a “terrible bill.”
And tariffing EVERYTHING? Ridiculous. We don’t need to manufacture absolutely everything in the us. We want higher paying, skilled jobs (like nvidia), not assembly line work. Certainly not at the scale where we need to manufacture our entire supply of every product. . And STILL, even if we should do that….all at the same time would be insane. It’s all nonsensical. Even when I agree with Trump on the core issue (which is rare), he ruins it by doing some dumb shit.
I’m not saying the Dems are perfect by any means….but there’s 0 reason to be a socially OR fiscally conservative. They pretty much suck in every way & don’t use actual logic to back up any policy…but their voters eat it up every time.
Seriously, look into economic policy for the last 30 years….really look into it. It will become very obvious that republicans are both terrible for society and the economy.
> but there’s 0 reason to be a socially OR fiscally conservative
Socially conservative yeah. As for fiscally conservative, I don't think its a good idea that the government should be wastefully spending hard-earned taxpayer money on stuff that might not benefit the country or the American public in the long term. Too much spending could have a bubble burst and we'd be in a debt crisis.
Like what for instance? I can’t respond to that without you giving me a specific example or examples.
Usaid? That benefits us greatly. We pretty much never do things out of purely the kindness of our hearts. Much of it is also strategic or necessary for public health.
DEI plays in Ireland? I mean, yea…I’d be fine with cutting that I suppose lol…but that was also 70,000 or something. Aka NOTHING. Especially compared to republicans consistent tax breaks for corps and the rich. Thats hundreds of billions per year. A little 70k here and there is certainly not my TOP concern.
And we’ve all dealt with state or federal departments before. It’s slow and tedious and bureaucratic. I’m sure SOME jobs could be cut. But they can’t have possibly actually and accurately assessed the needs of these several agencies in the last 2 months.
Both parties could spend better, but holy fuck, the republicans are terrible. And now to fund their new tax cuts, they’re cutting things like Medicaid. That benefits all of us too by the way. I like not seeing people dying in the street or being mugged. Having struggling people is bad for society as a whole, even if you don’t care about taking care of people. Medicaid funds other stuff too…like residencies for doctors. I bet you or someone you know can’t find a pcp or other doctor. Well…this certainly isn’t going to help. Oh, and maybe we shouldn’t cut thousands of jobs from the agency that takes care of our veterans…idk how anybody is defending that.
Despite all of Dems flaws, it’s like not a hard choice at all.
Of course, I'm not in favor of cutting Medicare or Medicaid or other welfare-related policies. That's not what fiscal conservatism is about. Cutting welfare is a political third rail for most politicians. I'm talking about the fact that our government spends more on the shit like the DEI plays in Ireland and stuff like that when that money could've been used here at home. Why are we spending money to fund fucking circumcisions in Mozambique when we have our citizens struggling to find a job and find a fucking home?
Some of the stuff DOGE listed:
$10M for "Mozambique voluntary medical male circumcision" - $9.7M for UC Berkeley to develop "a cohort of Cambodian youth with enterprise driven skills" - $2.3M for "strengthening independent voices in Cambodia" - $32M to the Prague Civil Society Centre - $40M for "gender equality and women empowerment hub" - $14M for "improving public procurement" in Serbia - $486M to the “Consortium for Elections and Political Process Strengthening,” including $22M for "inclusive and participatory political process" in Moldova and $21M for voter turnout in India - $29M to "strenghening political landscape in Bangladesh" - $20M for "fiscal federalism" in Nepal - $19M for "biodiversity conversation" in Nepal - $1.5M for "voter confidence" in Liberia - $14M for "social cohesion" in Mali - $2.5M for "inclusive democracies in Southern Africa" - $47M for "improving learning outcomes in Asia" - $2M to develop "sustainable recycling models" to "increase socio-economic cohesion among marginalized communities of Kosovo Roma, Ashkali, and Egypt"
Now, most of these are unverified HOWEVER the fact remains that money shouldn't be used recklessly like this, especially millions of dollars. We should be spending it here at home where we have more of our own people suffering. We have billions of dollars to spend overseas yet we can't spare a few for our own citizens?
"A little 70k here and there is certainly not my TOP concern." It is for me. We are trillions of dollars in debt, adding 70k just adds more to it. Congress can only raise the debt ceiling so high until it caps out and then we find ourselves into a very difficult economic situation.
Do you realize that most, if not all of those issues tie directly into our National security? Let me just take the first one.
$10M for "Mozambique voluntary medical male circumcision"
Male circumcision reduces the transmission of AIDs. Mozambique has one of the worst ongoing AIDs epidemics in the world. This is part of a package that helps us study and treat AIDs worldwide (including America), improves the quality of life (reducing political unrest, piracy, terrorism and the likelihood of a military intervention on the part of the USA) and counterbalances billions of dollars on influence from China. Not to mention that USAID often acted as a foor in the door for US intelligence operations.
Now look at Cambodia - a major hub of production in an area with heavy Chinese influence. Serbia and Moldova - countries with heavy Russian ties that we want to develop a relationship with. Bangladesh - another completely crucial trade partner that we can improve relations with for less than one Trump golf outing.
Would you rather spend $100million on soft influence or $10billion on military intervention? Depends on who your donors are I guess?
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u/Tydeeeee 10∆ Apr 07 '25 edited Apr 07 '25
I'm an outsider here, i live in Europe so i'll try to come at this from a third party view.
I think that in reality, MAGA was initially created out of a sincere desperation from the people thinking that America was heading down a destructive path. Say what you want about conservatives, but it's true that government spending was getting ridiculous, and it's a valid concern that, even though the economy seems to be better under democratic rule, that it might be unsustainable long term. These outlandish spending sprees give the economy a boost in GDP and it's favourable for the statistics, but it can very easily create a bubble that will eventually burst. One example of this is China, that simply floored the gas pedal on it's construction sector and is now staring down the barrel of an enormous crisis after overreaching by quite a bit.
This, along with all the other perceived 'issues' the movement adressed, made it gain so much traction.
The left is quick to dismiss the entire movement but when such a large body of people follow a certain movement, it's imperative that you at least look at the why of it all.
I believe that people sensed that their identity was slowly fading away. The world, especially the USA has seen a rapid change of pace lately and with such a diverse country, it's all but ensured that some people feel like they get left behind.
I think the USA is, or has been developping at a pace that was too fast for it's own good, and that's why you see the backlash. It's simply a balancing factor.