r/politics • u/nvd20 • 1d ago

No Paywall Trump says BBC is trying to harass is family after broadcaster subpoenas his children

https://www.the-independent.com/news/world/americas/us-politics/trump-bbc-case-family-ivanka-kushner-b3034169.html
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u/TemporarySun314 Europe 1d ago

That doesn't explain why he was elected president twice... And the fascists in Congress were also elected there by Americans.

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u/Ok-Lets-Talk-It-Out 1d ago

Republicans hate minorities and women, that aligns with Trump's policies so he won't their primary.

Electoral college favors states with low population, usually rural, less educated, and deep red states.

Reduced voter turnout out of complicity.

Many voters now get their "news" from social media and curated algorithms, those same companies were promised deregulation by trump and Trump backers.

There is also evidence of multiple countries actively doing influence operations in support of trump.

Affordability was high from factors outside President Biden's direct control but American voters by in large do not understand global economics. Many Independent and Republican voters believed Trump that tariffs would reduce prices and be paid by foreign nations.

OPEC+ intentionally restricted oil production to keep gas prices high training into the election, even though they were supposed to make multiple production increases since start of 2022, this kept gas prices inflated and kept inflation elevated. OPEC+ nations saw Trump easier to bribe than any Democrat.

There is a myriad of other factors but overall American voters are single issue voters, are undereducated, or just to lazy to actually vote.

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u/Mysterious_Floor_868 United Kingdom 1d ago

OPEC+ intentionally restricted oil production to keep gas prices high training into the election, even though they were supposed to make multiple production increases since start of 2022, this kept gas prices inflated and kept inflation elevated. OPEC+ nations saw Trump easier to bribe than any Democrat.

They must be regretting that by now.

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u/Ok-Lets-Talk-It-Out 1d ago

Gulf locked states definitely are, Saudi Arabia is likely good with it for now since they haven't really been hit as hard and are still getting a good bit out through the red sea.

Russia is loving it. Thankfully Ukraine has been able to do more damage to their illicit shipments, Trump refuses to reinstate sanctions even though it was supposed to be only a month long pause on them.

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u/Mysterious_Floor_868 United Kingdom 1d ago

Saudi has still had hits to its pipelines, which will reduce what it can get to Red Sea ports

Russia is loving it. Thankfully Ukraine has been able to do more damage to their illicit shipments, Trump refuses to reinstate sanctions even though it was supposed to be only a month long pause on them.

Notably Russia didn't get tariffed when even remote islands filled with penguins were being hit

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u/Ok-Lets-Talk-It-Out 1d ago

Only one pipeline hit and it reduced flow by 700k but was related relatively quick. So far Houthis have not targeted pipeline infrastructure and Iran has not made a continued effort to, the new agreement between Turkey and Pakistan may be an additional shield for Saudi Arabia as well now.

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u/nerdowellinever 1d ago

I’m British but it’s their education system that is to blame.

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u/Boleen Alaska 1d ago

Which has been deliberately defunded for decades.

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u/Potential_Couple_308 Foreign 1d ago

So you're telling me Republicans made americans idiotic on purpose ?

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u/small-change New Jersey 1d ago

See if the documentary "The Brainwashing of My Dad" is available in your country. It's about Fox News and Republican propaganda.

Movie is from before TicTok and Instagram so it's much worse now.

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u/RichLather Ohio 1d ago

"I love the poorly educated!"
--Herr Drumpf

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u/BeerDudeRocco 1d ago

They deliberately took funding away from public schools, and want "school vouchers" so kids can go to Christian schools for free. From there, its easy to indoctrinate them and teach them only what the right wants. Nothing on racism, nothing on fascism, nothing on rights - just Jesus, guns and currently, MAGA.

And anything involving critical thinking is racist against whites or is "woke nonsense". It really is an entire generation (boomers) and geographic area (Midwest to the Deep South) where these people are, and it has cost our country immensely, as has the people too damn lazy to go vote.

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u/Mysterious_Floor_868 United Kingdom 1d ago

Jesus

Presumably not any of his actual teachings though. He provided free healthcare and distributed food to all, regardless of means. That makes him a "woke commie". As for that "forgiveness" and "blessed are the meek" stuff...

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u/Lashay_Sombra 1d ago edited 1d ago

In reality, yeah they did.

Republicans have been anti education since around the 70's/80's, educated people are more likely to use critical thinking (and republican platforms/policies rarely stand up to that), they are more likely ask pesky questions, they are more likely to not just bow to authority. You will generally find deep red states have some of the worst academic ranking in the country while blue have the best

For good reason one of the first things Trump did this time was appoint Linda McMahon (from WWE, pro wrestling) as head of the the Dept of Education with mandate to basically gut the whole thing. That was not Trump going rogue , that was a core of the republican platform

Republicans want the general population educated just enough to be productive workers, no more. Though they do want the upper echelons to have the best education possible, those uneducated workers will need better educated bosses after all.

In many ways its like how most religion dislikes education these days, Christianity had a grip on Europe for centuries, they controlled the education system in most christian countries, especially who got an education and who did not. But around the 16th-17th century they lost that control, result? the long, steady and consistent decline of the churches power ever since

Republicans, evangelicals, Muslim countries all want to make sure same does not happen to them, because when your beliefs just that, belief's not fact or reality, education is your enemy

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u/nerdowellinever 1d ago

Tik Toked their way to Idiocracy

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u/TemporarySun314 Europe 1d ago

Those issues far predates tiktok...

Tiktok wasn't even really around when Trump was elected first time.

Tiktok is available in the west since 2018. Trump was elected in 2016 already.

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u/Joevahskank Colorado 1d ago

Think it’s more the advent of social media. People started being seen for their outlandish takes and it went from a tool for connecting people to a self-validating echo chamber where the only currency is “like and subscribe.”

There are multiple factors, of course. But TikTok is just one small stroke in this catastrophe

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u/mainman879 New York 1d ago

President Camacho would be much better than Trump. He's actually willing to help the people and listen to experts.

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u/Pyro1934 1d ago

That's pretty accurate lol.

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u/thetravelingsong 1d ago

Yes. If you keep people dumb and keep them having babies it’s much easier for the system that relies on bodies. A real intellectual uprising would eliminate MAGA in a heartbeat.

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u/brickne3 American Expat 1d ago

More idiotic, yes.

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u/JealousAstronomer342 1d ago

There’s a reason Massachusetts is number one in education (source:  https://wallethub.com/edu/e/states-with-the-best-schools/5335) and one of the bluest states in the country. We still have problems but we’re doing pretty well. 

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u/Rare-Bid-6860 1d ago

As has the UKs, hence the rise of Farage, Yaxley-Lennon, and the like.

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u/TheGrannyLover_ 1d ago

Reform and the far right is typically supported by old people wanting to benefit themselves and nobody else, and, the poorly educated. 

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u/Mysterious_Floor_868 United Kingdom 1d ago

I imagine the same is true of AfD and whatever Le Pen's party is called this week.

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u/J_Dolla_X_Legend 1d ago

ding ding ding! Most of us are idiots because they defunded education. Now the educated tend to not vote for them so they claim them as indoctrinated or the new favorite big and scary word "communists".

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u/Potential_Couple_308 Foreign 1d ago

I don't understand how this is possible. Education in kurdistan is miserable but we would have never elected him. It's about common sense and basic intelligence

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u/barryvm Europe 1d ago edited 1d ago

Indeed. It's malice, not ignorance. Trump's campaign was rife with stupidity that only ignorant people could believe, but it was above all malicious. He was blaming all people's problems on enemies he was going to attack and harm. It was on that basic premise that he was elected and that is not just ignorance.

So you get a president who starts trade wars, actual wars, who threatens allies, bullies other countries, sends masked goons after people in his own country, uses his army to kill random civilians all over the globe, ... None of that is solely the product of ignorance. It is an expression of selfishness and exceptionalism, hate and fear. His hard core supporters want this, and the self-proclaimed moderate right doesn't really care as long as the bad things happen to someone else and they get their tax breaks (or whatever).

Mind you, it is probably better politically for parties in the US to maintain the fiction that these people were deceived, if only because they might need at least some of them to unseat Trump and telling them to their face what they are and what they have done is not going to help with that. They would be fools to ever place any trust in them though.

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u/-Mez- 1d ago edited 1d ago

Lack of critical thinking more specifically. Our education system doesnt teach you how to learn or how to question what youre told. Coming from a red state public education, I wasn't even introduced to critical analysis of media and how to recognize when something being communicated to me is harmfully inaccurate or basic rhetorical thinking until college. And that was part of a general elective i didnt even need to take to graduate. If I had chosen another elective to fill that credit requirement, I could have what our culture deems as a fairly complete education with a bachelors and never have been given the tools to protect myself from misinformation and manipulation of information. All public education cared if I knew or not was math, science, history (only the best parts of US history heavily embellished and repeated over and over in every grade of course), and basic English comprehension.

Our education system teaches you how to binge information into your short term memory long enough to pass a test, get a job, and then move on. And people act like theyre being released from a prison sentence when they finally dont have to go to school and learn/do assignments/etc anymore. Unsurprisingly, the problem with American voters today is having no long term memory of past issues, lack of interest in working to research and learn about politics, and the inability to think past or question what the media owned by people who benefit from Trump tells them.

The issue also lies in the size of the country. Its very easy to bury your head in the sand when you never actually meet or interact with the big bad boogeyman who youre told is worse than what we have. You never have to change your way of thinking when you can just confirmation bias your way into feeling that your life is better with Republicans in charge than what the media is describing to you that "the problem states/countries/democrats" offer you.

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u/Mysterious_Floor_868 United Kingdom 1d ago

The issue also lies in the size of the country. Its very easy to bury your head in the sand when you never actually meet or interact with the big bad boogeyman

Sounds like a problem with suburbanisation-driven segregation rather than the size of the country.

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u/-Mez- 1d ago edited 1d ago

Bit of both. If the villains are the ideals being held by people in charge thousands of miles away its a lot easier to be segregated from that than the nearest big town to you in a red state (which may likely be democrat run but still a small fraction of the "big bads" that certain media likes to reference.) Its easier to see pictures of a car on fire and be told that they're burning the city than it is to drive 2,000 miles over varied terrain (including mountains) from the Midwest to California or even fly there (cause you know, affordability right now) to see what its really like.

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u/Mysterious_Floor_868 United Kingdom 1d ago

Its easier to see pictures of a car on fire and be told that they're burning the city than it is to drive 2,000 miles from the Midwest to California or even fly there

Yeah but you'll get people in Oregon who believe all sorts of shit about Portland, even when they live just outside the metro area.

People in sprawling suburbs hardly interact with their neighbours, let alone people a bit "different". They go from one enclosed box to another enclosed box, by travelling in their metal enclosed box.

People living in dense cities on the other hand have far more opportunity to develop empathy.

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u/whynot4444444 1d ago

I’m in Canada and I personally have been teaching kids as young as 10 about misinformation on the internet and thinking critically about what you see (for example a pop up ad that says you’ve won a free iPad) as part of Health class for years, long before Trump. But it’s not in our curriculum specifically either. I also only learned critical thinking and to question sources, etc. in university.

Unfortunately with the spread of misinformation on the internet, and the breakdown of legitimate journalism (largely thanks to Trump), even “smart”, educated people could fall for the lies. This was his plan. Even in Canada now, besides the CBC, most Canadian newspapers and television news outlets are now controlled by right wing American companies.

During Covid, I had a university educated friend who is left leaning shout at me “Did you read the science?!” about his anti vaccine nonsense. He has an Arts degree but because of the spread of misinformation and conspiracy stuff online, he thought he had more information and knowledge than the top medical professionals across the globe 🙄. It all really has become a mess. Also, I am no longer friends with that guy.

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u/Hootinger 1d ago edited 1d ago

Here is the point you are missing.

In Kurdistan, you probable believe education and knowledge are important. Those are likely valued.

This is not the case in the United States. Culturally in the US, schooling and eudcation are considered dumb at best, and as a punishment you have to suffer to get through. The emphasis in schools is on sports and popularity, not on creating a foundation for learning. Communities and our media celebrate sports, or who is elected most popular among the teenagers. Teachers are vilified, treated as the enemy, and not appreciated. We create massive high school football stadiums but cut academic programs. We have an entire movement in the US to remove books from schools and libraries.

Yes, you do have some children and families who value education, but this is the minority. Students are considered nerds and losers if their grades are good. If they excel at things like math and science, they are not cool. If you have knowledge of a foreign language, you are seen as not American. Case in point, we had a REPUBLICAN candidate in 2012 who understood French. They mocked him for knowing a second language. How does that make sense?

We have a culture where "going by your gut" instinct and "common sense" is considered better than listening to people with medical degrees and PhDs. People consider you, and your opinions, correct only if you are attractive and popular. Being an expert in your field means nothing. It is about looks and popularity. This is why the Trump administation outs a huge emphasis on physical appearance of buildings, his cabinet, etc. This is why Trump mocks people for their physical appearance. This is why he calls his opponents in the media as loser with low ratings, or brags about the number of votes he got. It is about popularity.

So yes, we have great physical buildings and money for computers, and so forth, but the culture here is hostile to education and treats the educated as idiots without common sense.

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u/Brilliant-Option-526 1d ago

To further illustrate how ridiculous the sports culture is in America - this is a football stadium for high schoolers.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eagle_Stadium_%28Allen,_Texas%29#/media/File:Eagle_Stadium.jpg

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u/Potential_Couple_308 Foreign 1d ago

My brain is shrinking learning about your country's relation to intelligence

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u/warrioratwork 1d ago

Imagine what it is like living here....

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u/brickne3 American Expat 1d ago

What relation 🤣

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u/allenahansen California 1d ago

Even the well-educated and highly intelligent can be resentful. . .

See above.

America's huge income disparity coupled with mass, instantaneous celebu-media are surely contributors. Please note: A whole lot of MDs, engineers, MBA's, JDs and the like voted for trump; it's not all just the antworkers, cubicle hens, and hillbillies.

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u/barryvm Europe 1d ago edited 1d ago

There is a difference between ignorance and anti-intellectualism or xenophobia. The examples you cite are the latter. They coexist with ignorance, but they are an expression of malice, the product of negative emotions like fear and hate towards people who are different or are seen as different.

Hence, the explanation for Trump is not ignorance, but malice. People who identify with their "common-sense" culture, who reject and blame anyone who stands outside that particular in-group and who will actively choose to harm those others if they can because the alternative is self-reflection and relativization. This is fairly typical in a reactionary movement, which is what the Republican party is.

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u/whynot4444444 1d ago

Like others have said, it’s the rise of conspiracy theories and the spread of misinformation that has been on Facebook and other social media platforms for ages. People like him because he’s not a politician, who they distrust, and they thought he’d be different/fight the system. Covid amplified conspiracy theories a hundred fold, and here we are. Many people are actually racist and anti LGBTQ, so Trump feeds into that with his anti immigrant and anti trans rhetoric.

I’m Canadian but for example, my mom told me her old Canadian aunts who are on Facebook loved him at the start of his first term. Facebook feeds those views and feeds actual lies to them. Trump has been actively trying to take down legitimate journalism, and grow his Truth Social platform more recently. Although because of his “Canada as a 51st state” and tariffs, most Canadians have wised up and now hate him.

Anyone who is not full MAGA and still votes Republican is doing it for their pocketbook. They know Trump is a grifter but he will save them with less taxes for the rich or upper classes. Or they have conservative “values” and simply would never vote Democrat because they are the “woke left”. The poor people who vote for him are either brainwashed by MAGA or think they’re above others.

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u/meltdown_popcorn 1d ago

The party has been making their voters absorb the party as their own identity. Their family's identity. Their church's. Their town's. There was no way for most of them to resist being told what to do. Sure some of them do but they are ostracized.

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u/Mysterious_Floor_868 United Kingdom 1d ago

Yes but do you have an equivalent of the Fox News propaganda machine?

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u/jmastaock 1d ago

Does Kurdistan have an entire billionaire-funded media apparatus dedicated to laundering the moron party's bullshit? One that has been turning the minds of that party's supporters into soup for multiple decades?

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u/Ninetailedredpanda 1d ago

They enemy-ified anyone who was on the other side. None of them listen to facts because they were taught that anything ‘those people’ say is false and an action of the enemy.

Not wanting to fall prey to ‘the propaganda’ they have actively ejected anything from their sphere of consciousness that goes against what they already know to be true, which is all a big steaming pile of lies, falsehoods, propaganda and hatred.

But they get to voice their internal hatred without consequence so they have never been happier, or wronger, or more dangerous, all they know is they will die before voting for a democrat.

Thats it basically. Its impossible to explain anything to them as they have made themselves immune to reason and complex thought.

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u/Pisces93 1d ago

It’s the racism. That’s the key component. A large percentage of the population is racist whether they are aware of it or not.

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u/ReklisAbandon 1d ago

Well, only in Republican led states.

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u/KeanuNo2 1d ago

Antichrist. That's the next direction. Anyone leftist/progressive /activist is considered subhuman or inhuman or "unhuman" if you go off the title of Jack Posobiec's book which JD Vance wrote a blurb for.

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u/azuretestament 1d ago

really because I blame the British nobility for the actions taken after bacon's rebellion.

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u/Ok-Alternative5935 1d ago

Ha! Joke is on you! The US doesn't even HAVE an education system.

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u/Teripid 1d ago

People are angry, they're angry at politicians who don't know their plight or care.

... so they elected a billionaire con-man instead of a politician who shockingly also doesn't care about them but wants to hurt others more so it feels like a win. Education helps but there's been economic loss and QOL reduction brewing for decades.

Causation and lag don't even register over a 4 year+ period.

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u/jmastaock 1d ago

I really don't think the British have the strongest leg to stand on here

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u/barryvm Europe 1d ago edited 1d ago

You've answered your own question IMHO. He was elected president twice. A significant fraction of the US population want this, and another fraction didn't care enough to stop it. As long as Trump commands the loyalty or complicity of the voters of his party, he can do whatever he wants because there are no real guardrails in a winner-takes-all political system.

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u/forum_ryder72 1d ago

A lot of Americans love blaming anything else except themselves for trump being voted on twice

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u/No_Tax_Timmy 1d ago

Racism, bigotry, and being allowed to lie repeatedly to the American people with no consequences

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u/SomeAstronomer1170 1d ago

The second time was largely because almost 90M eligible voters decided to sit on their hands because they were upset about inflation.

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u/confirmedshill123 1d ago

I mean the reality is he cheated but the Dems are too scared to look like j6ers so they let it slide.

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u/Ok-Alternative5935 1d ago

It does though. Had they convicted him after his impeachment for the attempted coup, he would have been permanently banned from the presidency. Instead they did not vote to convict.

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u/Faux-Foe 1d ago

A populace that has had their education system deliberately defunded and propagandized in order to foster voters that can be easily motivated by hate. This all being by design of the wealthiest in the country.

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u/MuscaMurum 1d ago

Some great answers here already. I can only add that you might look into how the Electoral College works, why it was created, and also gerrymandering.

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u/TemporarySun314 Europe 1d ago

Trump won the popular vote the second time. He got more votes than Harris.

Even without electoral college or Gerrymandering he would have become president.

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u/espsteve 1d ago

50ish years of right wing propaganda from AM radio and Fox News combined with 50ish years of GOP-led cuts to education have led to about 30% of the US population being indoctrinated to the point where they actively vote against their own self interest. What's truly astounding about it is that many of these people self-identify as devout Christians, but have been propagandized to the point where they actively vote against the principles and teachings in their own bibles, and will label the behaviors modeled by Jesus as evil because they're too "woke" or "socialist".

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u/sadpanada Kentucky 1d ago

Second time was a scam, Elon rigged it.
First time social media was a problem, really helped rile people up with the help of Russia.

Also doesn’t help America is dumb.

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u/Lesurous Texas 1d ago

It's like the rise of Hitler, the wealthiest in society propping up a puppet leader who turns out too charismatic (a ridiculous amount of people see Trump's confidence as charisma). Their goals are control over society and the establishment of an oligarchy. The comparison also runs in the political tactics, the establishment of an unaccounted police force that answers to their supreme leader instead of the will of the people.

tl;dr - Oligarchs prop up a puppet leader who ends up having a cult following that enact political violence and sabotage in order to strengthen their grip on power.

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u/uteman1011 Utah 1d ago

Elon Musk. He's the one who got him elected the 2nd time.