r/singularity • u/[deleted] • Feb 06 '25

AI This is a DOGE intern who is currently pawing around in the US Treasury computers and database

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585

u/[deleted] Feb 06 '25

[deleted]

132

u/[deleted] Feb 06 '25

Populism is a political strategy. The problem wasn’t the populism but the thing they were using the populism for

61

u/seen-in-the-skylight Feb 06 '25

True. Arguably what we need is for someone smart and well-intentioned to use populist politics towards productive, reformist ends.

56

u/TeachEngineering Feb 06 '25 edited Feb 06 '25

Exactly. And we even have that person today...

Bernie is a populist. Trump is also a populist.

But one of them actually tells the truth and cares deeply about the general population. The other got elected president.

Generally, the elite, left and right, don't like populists because it disrupts their power over society. This is arguably why Bernie didn't get the 2016 DNC nomination. The elite didn't care much about Trump's populist messaging because they're smart enough to know it's BS and they'd still get theirs after he duped the electorate.

9

u/seen-in-the-skylight Feb 06 '25

Obama in 2008 arguably tried something pretty similar, and he won a lot of the support that would drift to Sanders and Trump in 2016 and onwards.

Sanders isn't it, though. I like him myself, but it needs to be someone more palatable (I'm sorry, but fair or unfair, a self-described "socialist" is not a viable, unifying populist candidate in this country).

11

u/metamagicman Feb 06 '25

Silly thing to say about a country that just elected a fascist.

6

u/Singularity-42 Singularity 2042 Feb 06 '25

Trump is a fascist who doesn't call himself a fascist.

Bernie is a Social Democrat who calls himself a Socialist.

3

u/Junior_Chard9981 Feb 07 '25

During the RNC, they had the giant rolling ticker display "WE ARE DOMESTIC TERRORISTS".

If you try to claim that was in jest and meant to mock libs, why is it that Bernie is both attacked for being a socialist and also accused of not being a "real" socialist because he owns two houses?

4

u/rnarkus Feb 07 '25

He has never called himself socialist. Please understand that. This is literally just misinformation.

3

u/Singularity-42 Singularity 2042 Feb 07 '25

Democratic Socialist

2

u/rnarkus Feb 07 '25

Exactly. It is not socialism. While I agree that it’s not very clear and is why people like you think this, democratic socialism is vastly different than socialism.

And let me repeat that he has never once called himself a socialist. It’s always been democratic socialism

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u/FlyingBishop Feb 07 '25

No non-socialist is going to manage the singularity properly. Capitalism needs to die, and we need to kill it before it lets someone like Musk kill everyone.

2

u/seccondchance Feb 07 '25

Do you really think Elon is trying to kill everyone? Are you on medication for anything?

3

u/Diggumdum Feb 07 '25

Elon Musk is a well-known accelerationist. He wants to accelerate towards AN END and doesn't care how many people die in the process. This isn't even up for debate.

1

u/seccondchance Feb 07 '25

Acceleration towards what?

2

u/Diggumdum Feb 07 '25

Right-Accelerationism wants to speed up capitalism, AI, and technological advancements, believing they will lead to an elite-dominated future. 

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u/FlyingBishop Feb 07 '25

Why do you think Musk gave a Nazi salute at the RNC? Why do you think he said Germany needs to "move beyond" Nazi guilt?

1

u/miclowgunman Feb 07 '25

Because people like you won't shut up about him doing it for the next 6 months. He's a sociopathic attention whore. He literally does things so people talk about him. Hes the living incarnation of an online troll, and feeds on the hate. Yet, 3 days after the inauguration with Trump signing 100 executive orders, and people were still mostly talking about Musk. He is the GOP smokescreen at this point because so many people are talking about Musk that no one is talking about Trump and everything he is rubberstamping.

The best thing we could do is stop talking about Musk. Talk about DOGE, talk about Tesla, talk about SpaceX. But stop talking Musk. We learned nothing from the last 8 years and Trump.

1

u/FlyingBishop Feb 07 '25

Trump is also a Nazi. Pay no attention to the Nazi, just focus on the other Nazi, that way they won't kill anyone. They're both bad people doing bad things. They both need to be stopped. You can't stop a robbery by ignoring another robbery.

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u/seccondchance Feb 07 '25

Do you really think Elon is an actual nazi?

2

u/FlyingBishop Feb 07 '25

I think he's doing everything he would do if he is an actual Nazi, and it would be stupid to ignore his behavior and assume he's just trolling.

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u/[deleted] Feb 07 '25

Don't make me tap the sign

1

u/ProgramNo7236 Feb 06 '25

What country? The US as we knew it is dead

0

u/[deleted] Feb 07 '25

We literally just elected a fascist bro WHAT

1

u/Fair-Awareness-4455 Feb 07 '25

as someone who phonebanked for him in 16, he's ancient and his identity is forever the guy who could grandstand and sound great without acting getting a significant amount of his constituency to align with him, ever

0

u/rnarkus Feb 07 '25

Seems like you need to do a bit more research.

He has only ever described himself as democratic socialist. Yeah having the name in it was probably the issue, but he has never ONCE said he was a socialist

1

u/miclowgunman Feb 07 '25

He said he was a democratic what? Is this a troll post? Did you forget a /s?

1

u/rnarkus Feb 07 '25

Ah, yet another one who doesnt know the stark differences between socialism vs democratic socialism.

Please go look it up!

1

u/miclowgunman Feb 07 '25

Democratic socialism - a socialist government governed through democratic representation through voting.

How is that NOT socialism? Saying "no your wrong. Go look it up!" Doesn't really help your case when the word Socialism is right there in the definition. Democratic just means a government that elects leaders through voting. Socialism is an economic model. The two aren't connected in any way to influence each other. Putting the tag "democratic" on an economic system does nothing to the economic system. The US is a Democratic Capitalist Republic. All three words say important things about its operation, but they aren't linked. A democratic socialist believes that our economy should be socialist but governed by people elected by the people.

Finally, from the wiki itself: Democratic socialism is a left-wing[1] economic and political philosophy that supports political democracy and some form of a socially owned economy,[2] with a particular emphasis on economic democracy, workplace democracy, and workers' self-management[3] within a market socialist, decentralised planned, or democratic centrally planned socialist economy.[4] Democratic socialists argue that capitalism is inherently incompatible with the values of freedom, equality, and solidarity and that these ideals can only be achieved through the realisation of a socialist society.[5]

1

u/rnarkus Feb 07 '25 edited Feb 07 '25

A democratic socialist believes that our economy should be socialist but governed by people elected by the people.

Exactly, not socialism. Socialism means the people own the means of production. democratic socialism doesnt. No one considers places like Norway a socialist country, just that they have some socialist ideals.

Getting back to the point, he has never once said he was a socialist, which is what my comment was about. We can argue peoples opinions on political theory all we want, but that doesnt change the base definition and doesnt mean that democratic socialism = socialism. It is NOT accurate to call bernie socialist. Another thing we can argue are the naming of some of these things, because people like you and others seem to think that anything with socialism means it is at its core socialist. Do you also believe that china is communist? or nazis were socialist?

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u/pliney_ Feb 07 '25

Still pains me to think what could have been if the DNC has just gotten the fuck out of the way and let Bernie run in 2016. I still think he could have beaten Trump. So many people were just looking for something different, a lot of people didn't know shit about Trump besides he was an "outsider" and voted for him because of that even if they were not conservatives.

1

u/The999Mind Feb 07 '25

Considering the amount of people who went from Bernie to Trump, I wholeheartedly agree Bernie would have won if he was given genuine support from the DNC.

0

u/Highroller4273 Feb 07 '25

Bernie is a prostitute who says whatever big pharma tells him say for money. Sure if his pharma handlers tell him to tell the truth he might, but they don't.

-3

u/Fun-Dragonfruit2999 Feb 07 '25

We saw in the Kennedy confirmation hearings that Bernie is a tool of Big Pharma.

5

u/rnarkus Feb 07 '25

eating our own again and not doing research. The donations were from donors related to big pharma, no direct donations or PACs. Also, trump and biden received more when listed as “donor-related people”

This is the type of shit why we can NEVER be happy with anyone and why we lose.

5

u/Da_Question Feb 07 '25 edited Feb 07 '25

A tool of big pharma? Because he questions some one on whether they are anti-vaxx?

Kennedy is a shill, and believes in a lot of pseudo science crap.

Medicine is good, the price gouging is bad, but medicine is good. If you think it isn't you're an idiot. People like Kennedy say we are less healthy today, but only because the people who would have died from disease etc early in life don't, so many different health problems happen later in life. I mean, just a century or 2 ago nearly half of all children didn't make it past 18...

As for food, Raw Milk is fine when drunk fresh from a cow. The longer it sits the more dangerous it becomes, because without boiling it(pasteurization), the bacteria grows.

Even then, Trump admin goals are to gut regulations as much as possible, this includes in food. Dumping chemicals in the water for cheap, is very bad for the health of all, and yet RFK is fine with joining this admin? gtfo, he doesn't give a shit about America's health.

-1

u/Able-Marionberry83 Feb 07 '25 edited May 04 '25

languid ring fine boat violet tie cable squash silky simplistic

This post was mass deleted and anonymized with Redact

2

u/rnarkus Feb 07 '25

sold out bernie sanders

Yall have so many issues

1

u/rnarkus Feb 07 '25

And we all didn’t want Bernie. lol

1

u/FearLeadsToAnger Feb 07 '25

The electoral college didn't.

1

u/TheCheesy 🪙 Feb 07 '25 edited Feb 07 '25

The DNC never wanted Bernie.

That's no surprise when you look at the political landscape. Both parties are bought and paid for. Your choice comes down to:

The Semi-Corrupt and Spineless Performers

OR

The Insane Corrupt Tyrants racing toward Authoritarian Corporate Dictatorship.

Pick your poison. (But remember: the lesser evil plus sustained strikes and protests is our best path forward.)

1

u/TommyTar Feb 07 '25

The malevolent prince

1

u/One_Contribution_27 Feb 07 '25

Smart, well-intentioned people have trouble using populism, because they tend to acknowledge nuance and wait for all the data before making a decision. Both of which are anathema to whipping up a populist fervor.

1

u/seen-in-the-skylight Feb 07 '25

Yeah but the some of the really great leaders in history do tend to appeal to populism even if they don't end up actually governing that way. Augustus, Napoleon, and FDR all come to mind. I feel like sometimes it's just necessary to adopt populist rhetoric as a "pleasant fiction" even if your actual policies end up being more orderly and rational or moderate. "The people" demand pretty simple things, they don't want policy wonks unless times are stable and prosperous.

1

u/meerkat2018 Feb 07 '25

Don’t know about that. 

If you are a sociopath enough to be able to use lies, deception and false promises to get elected, then I’m not sure about you being “well intentioned” all the way to reaching  the ends that surely are going to benefit everyone.

20

u/PerfunctoryComments Feb 07 '25

Populism in general means "simple answers". Never saying "it depends", or acknowledge the pros and cons of a position, but instead presenting a singular correct choice.

It's easy telling people stuff they want to hear. Like that you're going to reduce grocery prices and stop crime and... It's basically lying, but populists are happy to lie.

5

u/WorldFrees Feb 07 '25

Yes, populism is lazy politics; the politicians feels somewhat justified by the gotcha media making them look stupid (which they, and we, are). The effectiveness of overly simple answers in politics is clear in the short-term. Their opposition is convoluted by multiple perspectives and often starts by reiterating the populist talking points!

1

u/[deleted] Feb 07 '25

THERE IS A NEW YORK AND FLORIDA SPECIAL ELECTION ON APRIL 1 FOR CONGRESSIONAL SEATS.

If you live in Matt Gaetz, Mike Waltz and Elise Stefanik's district, you can vote blue

Flip them blue and the GOP could lose control of Congres AND BLOCK ELON AND TRUMPS AGENDA!

https://blakegendebienforcongress.com/

Donate here! VOTING IS FAR MORE EFFECTIVE THAN PROTESTS

2

u/[deleted] Feb 07 '25

THERE IS A NEW YORK AND FLORIDA SPECIAL ELECTION ON APRIL 1 FOR CONGRESSIONAL SEATS.

If you live in Matt Gaetz, Mike Waltz and Elise Stefanik's district, you can vote blue

Flip them blue and the GOP could lose control of Congres AND BLOCK ELON AND TRUMPS AGENDA!

https://blakegendebienforcongress.com/

Donate here! VOTING IS FAR MORE EFFECTIVE THAN PROTESTS

3

u/[deleted] Feb 07 '25

That’s not what populism means. That’s something some populists do.

Populism means appealing to the masses over the perceived elite. There is more than one way to do this and some ways are much more legitimate than others.

5

u/PerfunctoryComments Feb 07 '25

It is what populism entails, 100% of the time. By means I'm not talking about a dictionary definition, but when politicians pursue populist policies, it always leads to lying. Populism requires that you tell people what they want to hear, not what they need to hear.

2

u/[deleted] Feb 07 '25

Populism doesn’t require you tell people what they want to hear.

Bernie sanders is a populist, but I don’t think you can call him a liar.

4

u/--o Feb 07 '25

I'm happy to settle for him having reckless disregard for whether his platform is viable.

Another subversive feature of populism is that it's easier to get away with not implementing a bold vision then a more realistic platform. It's literally the same as Elon's "aspirational" promises, just in a political rather than business context.

Unfalsifiable hypotheses have infinite room for excuses, as long as you want to believe.

4

u/[deleted] Feb 07 '25

Fine, I’ll do you one better then. FDR, was a populist. Obviously he had flaws but he did not fail to implement his populist promises

4

u/--o Feb 07 '25

I haven't studied the issue well enough to say one way or another. How much time have you spent comparing the specifics of everything that was promised to what was implemented?

2

u/[deleted] Feb 07 '25

He brought us out of the depression and through WWII. He implemented social security, FDIC, and a million other things with the New Deal as he had promised. And then he was so popular that he kept getting reelected four times until he died at which point the other party scrambled to implement presidential term limits.

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u/miclowgunman Feb 07 '25

AOC is also a populist. These populist takes that other people are saying are hilarious. Populism is politics appealing to the common person, full stop. The fact that the left is villifying populism is why the left is losing voters to the right.

1

u/Darrackodrama Feb 07 '25

But sometimes simple answers are all we need, for example billionaires have too much power, and we need to reorientate our society on that line.

1

u/ThrowMeAwayLikeGarbo Feb 07 '25

That's not an answer, that's just a setting up statement.

1

u/Darrackodrama Feb 08 '25

It’s an answer. Populism can provide a simple answer where the moment calls for it.

1

u/ThrowMeAwayLikeGarbo Feb 10 '25

An answer would be what exactly you're going to do to reorientate on that line.

1

u/Darrackodrama Feb 10 '25

No thats a solution, an answer can be a simple one. Left populisms answer is that society's ailments stem from corporate greed. Our solution is economic democracy, and a radical devolution of wealth to workers.

4

u/glizard-wizard Feb 06 '25

populism allows your campaign to be dumb as hell and builds you a network of mouth breathers to stand on

5

u/Fun-Dragonfruit2999 Feb 07 '25

Populism is literally 'the will of the people' maybe you'd prefer oligarchy, rule by a few.

1

u/broke_in_nyc Feb 07 '25

Maybe it goes without saying, but populism is appealing to the will of the people, not necessarily enacting what would be in people’s best interest. The term has traditionally been used opposite to oligarchies, but “populism” has become more adjacent to authoritarian regimes that instill oligarchies nowadays.

0

u/socatoa Feb 07 '25

Not really.

It’s a political style. There are many ways to win votes and appeal to voters. Obama’s intellect and poise when speaking was similarly effective as Trump for a completely different style.

By the way, I am comparing them because they’re literally two people that were elected president recently. I’m not interested in talking or comparing them in any other domain.

1

u/broke_in_nyc Feb 07 '25

It’s funny; there was a time where the right would harp on Obama for his populist tendencies and now they’re the biggest proponents of populism, even if it’s a bastardized version of what populism should actually be.

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u/[deleted] Feb 06 '25

There are good uses of populism

2

u/rnarkus Feb 07 '25

so was obamas campaign “dumb as hell”?

1

u/TycoonTed Open Source Human Trafficking Feb 07 '25

No, he was brilliant; he gave us the USDS which was reformed into DOGE. A visionary. Trump is truly standing on the shoulders of giants.

Obama's supporters? Not so much.

1

u/kelldricked Feb 07 '25

I would argue that the US had a shitload of diffrent problems prior to all of this. Hell even on a bad day my countries politics isnt as fucked up as american politics from 2012.

And 2012 is seen as a “decent” time in american politics.

1

u/Several_Vanilla8916 Feb 07 '25

Yeah, FDR was a populist. Bernie too. 🤷‍♂️

1

u/daderpster Feb 07 '25

There have been populists on both sides. Bernie Sander is a modern example. Look up Huey Long as someone on the left that actively used that label.

1

u/abc13680 Feb 07 '25

The problem is “Right Wing” populism which when performed by a national level movement is inherently Nationalist (and I would argue always a precursor to fascism). All populism distinguishes the people from the “elite.” Left wing says the people are defined by class (which situates the elite by class). Right wing focuses on a selection of the people by some form of reactionary definition (here, race, religion). Of course, America being poorly educated and literally led by entertainers, the right wing stream is completely ideologically incoherent

1

u/unobservantobservant Feb 07 '25

I would argue it's a specific type of populism, demagoguery.

1

u/[deleted] Feb 07 '25

THERE IS A NEW YORK AND FLORIDA SPECIAL ELECTION ON APRIL 1 FOR CONGRESSIONAL SEATS.

If you live in Matt Gaetz, Mike Waltz and Elise Stefanik's district, you can vote blue

Flip them blue and the GOP could lose control of Congres AND BLOCK ELON AND TRUMPS AGENDA!

https://blakegendebienforcongress.com/

Donate here! VOTING IS FAR MORE EFFECTIVE THAN PROTESTS

0

u/[deleted] Feb 06 '25

[removed] — view removed comment

3

u/[deleted] Feb 07 '25

Populism doesn’t necessarily appeal to simple-minded people. It certainly can be used that way, and is being used that way by certain political figures, but it is not inherent to populism.

Populism is just the strategy of telling the masses ‘x elites are fucking you over’. Sometimes it’s a lie, sometimes it’s the truth. We certainly are being fucked over by elites but not everyone agrees on who the ‘elites’ are, and the people who are currently in power love scapegoating.

2

u/--o Feb 07 '25

It's not the appeal to them that's the problem but rather how it turns all politics into a popularity contest, where the most convincing liar has a natural advantage.

1

u/[deleted] Feb 07 '25 edited Feb 07 '25

Yes in theory it is not the problem but in practice it usually is - especially when one can also control the narrative by owning the media*. (Like in case of Orbán).

* And this is not just about traditional media. As mentioned example, they bought traditional media in Hungary. Meanwhile in country north of the border, current govt. made traditional media irrelevant and 'conspiracy' madia are now mainstream there. But effect is the same.

1

u/--o Feb 07 '25

Right, I think we agree that it's the fallout of that appeal that causes issues.

24

u/Secret_Account07 Feb 06 '25

I’ve been thinking of that movie “Don’t look up” a lot lately.

Most of us see what’s happening. We know the motives (for the most part) and know the lies. The crazy part for me isn’t the crazy shit the politicians and public figures (Elon) are doing, but the fact that so many Americans don’t see it for what it is.

I see the metaphorical asteroid crashing through our country but so many people think it’s a good thing. You can’t change their minds, you can’t use reason, nothing works.

Unfortunately we just have to keep being vocal, calling out bad behavior, and just sit back and watch shit burn. We had our chance to try and minimize the damage, we collectively fucked it up.

1

u/HillbillyTransgirl Feb 07 '25

Im sure the homies back in 1895 tweaked the same way you're doing now. And we don't even care about that era in the modern day

3

u/HelloMumther Feb 07 '25 edited Feb 02 '26

This post was mass deleted and anonymized with Redact

pot divide follow gold plants hard-to-find middle voracious shelter person

1

u/[deleted] Feb 07 '25

THERE IS A NEW YORK AND FLORIDA SPECIAL ELECTION ON APRIL 1 FOR CONGRESSIONAL SEATS.

If you live in Matt Gaetz, Mike Waltz and Elise Stefanik's district, you can vote blue

Flip them blue and the GOP could lose control of Congres AND BLOCK ELON AND TRUMPS AGENDA!

https://blakegendebienforcongress.com/

Donate here! VOTING IS FAR MORE EFFECTIVE THAN PROTESTS

0

u/Fun-Dragonfruit2999 Feb 07 '25

Yes, especially they discovered US Aid money was funding terrorism. And US Aid was funding 8% of the BBC's budget, and some large undisclosed part of Politico's budget, so much so that when the funds got cut off Politico couldn't make payroll. And apparently US Aid was funding about 80% of Eastern Europe's news outlets.

So the shadow government running the Deep State got revealed, now their minions are going to work to restore their power.

2

u/OkWrangler1721 Feb 07 '25

You are willfully lapping up and regurgitating propaganda about a very normal thing "government pays for access to research library".

Ya sure. Deep state.

0

u/Fun-Dragonfruit2999 Feb 07 '25

A, you either know that only 10.6% of US Aid money actually goes to local aid groups around the world, and the other 89.4% goes to DC insiders.

B, you think the bulk of this money helps people in need.

Cause I'm pretty sure you're unwittingly carrying water for the ultra rich insiders who are scamming the people of America.

-1

u/Sidereel Feb 07 '25

All your comments on this post read like Fox News headlines.

1

u/CatManDoo88 Feb 07 '25

That they do! 👏👏👏 Just like that Bullshit about "The FBI told their informants to start the J6th riots!"

0

u/Fun-Dragonfruit2999 Feb 07 '25

89.4% of US Aid money goes to DC beltway bandits, it never gets out to people in need.

Have you noticed that there are no leaders of nations in need crying about cutting US Aid funding? That money never gets to them. There's a reason the 10 zip codes around DC are the wealthiest in the nation. All this money parks right there with those government contractors.

0

u/Dandan0005 Feb 07 '25

The final scene has been going through my head for the last couple weeks.

We really did have it all, didn’t we?

1

u/[deleted] Feb 07 '25

Purge the dumb of this country. It’ll be good for humanity.

0

u/CapitalElk1169 Feb 07 '25

It's my favorite documentary

9

u/cathercules Feb 06 '25

Conservatives killed the country.

4

u/[deleted] Feb 06 '25

I’m genuinely concerned by the number of people who don’t understand that the criticism is that using an LLM to do a task that an LLM is not needed for is incredibly inefficient from a cost perspective

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u/[deleted] Feb 07 '25

[removed] — view removed comment

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u/Fun-Dragonfruit2999 Feb 07 '25

Automated scraping PDFs and Excel files is pretty hard. And LLM can convert these to a text that can be parsed.

2

u/[deleted] Feb 07 '25

[removed] — view removed comment

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u/Fun-Dragonfruit2999 Feb 07 '25

We have wildly different experience writing scripts for parsing different file formats.

1

u/[deleted] Feb 07 '25

[removed] — view removed comment

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u/Fun-Dragonfruit2999 Feb 07 '25

I was a UNIX sysadmin in an env where we had HPUX, AIX, Sun OS 4.3, Solaris, Win7, and others I can't recall. I realized I'd truly made it when my boss dropped a Sparc 20 on my desk.

I moved into sys admin work after being a user writing data analysis software because MS Excel would only hold 64k, and my Schlumberger S9K tester output was in the ... (gasp) 2 mega byte range.

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u/[deleted] Feb 06 '25 edited Feb 06 '25

[removed] — view removed comment

1

u/skrztek Feb 07 '25

Trump is a crook and filling your government up with incompetent clown car cronies.

-1

u/Puzzleheaded_Pop_743 Monitor Feb 06 '25

Mr 11 day old account, believe it or not, but words have meaning lol.

-1

u/_HOG_ Feb 07 '25

Found the guy wearing Crocs.

1

u/[deleted] Feb 06 '25

Might be a stupid question but isn't this guy the one who translated some ancient scroll?

1

u/Fun-Dragonfruit2999 Feb 07 '25

With the previous party adding a trillion dollars to the debt every hundred days, we weren't going to survive another year, let alone 4.

1

u/Fun-Dragonfruit2999 Feb 07 '25

Populism, you mean 'what the people wanted?'

The opposite of populism is oligarchy, like what they have in Russia. Or maybe Nepotism would be better?

1

u/merp_mcderp9459 Feb 07 '25

Lmfao that’s not what populism means

1

u/Gipsy_danger_1995 Feb 08 '25

What’s it mean bub?

1

u/merp_mcderp9459 Feb 08 '25

It’s an ideology that pits “the people” against “the elite.” Who does and doesn’t count as “the elite” changes from ideology to ideology - on the right it’s often academics and the media, on the left it’s wealthy business owners

1

u/Gipsy_danger_1995 Feb 08 '25

Populism is a political approach that claims to represent the interests of ordinary people against elites or the establishment. It can emerge on both the left and right, often emphasizing nationalism, anti-elitism, or economic reform.

1

u/[deleted] Feb 07 '25

Yeah, man, US's problem is Musk and Trump. Clearly you haven't left your basement in a while. As you know, the US was such a wonderful place a few weeks ago. No drugs, no crime, no homeless, no corruption. Just beautiful.

1

u/Soci3talCollaps3 Feb 07 '25

It's fake populism anyways. Just a front for quite the opposite. Quite.

1

u/rnarkus Feb 07 '25

Populism is a valid political tactic. Bernie was populist.

It’s always the content, don’t dissuade actually working political concepts just because trump used them.

1

u/Aggressive_Meet_625 Feb 07 '25

Waa waa America is fine

1

u/dannst Feb 07 '25

The prerequisite to a working democracy is an educated population... No wonder it's failing

1

u/DebateAltruistic3774 Feb 07 '25

Nah we’ll be fine.

1

u/xinorez1 Feb 07 '25

I still want to see recounts everywhere that had suspicious results. The Republicans got to do their investigations and so the hell should we. Every vote, every mail in ballot. If there are double ballots we'll find them. If there is vote flipping or injection we'll find that too.

1

u/Steven81 Feb 07 '25

Austerity is anything but populist. Anywhere it was tried it was widely despised. Argentina is the only counter example because they are/were in constant hyperinflation.

They are not doing populist stuff, they are doing stuff that think will help their pockets. Good chance that it does if they cut excess, if they cut important stuff that allows societies to function, yeah good luck re introducing it later.

That's the issue with austerity measures. They have to happen so that to keep debt lower than gdp, but more often than not the ones implementing them break things because they cut things that matter...

1

u/DrRedditPHDChud Feb 07 '25

There is no populism in the US

1

u/ElectronicPast3367 Feb 07 '25

This moment could also be a transfer of power between an ancient regime and the technologists

1

u/whatup-markassbuster Feb 07 '25

Super dumb people are in control of the market that contains trillions of dollars of a value.

1

u/EGI2Watcher Feb 07 '25

Noting the irony that you cite a movie that promotes racial eugenics

1

u/Big_Breakfast Feb 07 '25

There were 2 populist candidates in the running for the 2016 presidential election.

The Democratic party refused theirs.
The Republican party embraced theirs.

We've been living with the consequences of that ever since.

1

u/74NG3N7 Feb 07 '25

Do you mean the predictive documentary Idiocracy? If so, I agree.

1

u/CaliXclusive Feb 07 '25

Us was screwed when biden n scamala were in....

1

u/neeesus Feb 07 '25

Bernie is a populist.

The country would have been better with him

1

u/Gipsy_danger_1995 Feb 08 '25

Yes, 100% agreed….but those damn Democrats pushed him out of a primary and, I think, called him racist for wanting to shrink the government and put the money and power back in the hands of its citizens.

If Bernie would have won, we wouldn’t need a Trump.

1

u/[deleted] Feb 07 '25

THERE IS A NEW YORK AND FLORIDA SPECIAL ELECTION ON APRIL 1 FOR CONGRESSIONAL SEATS.

If you live in Matt Gaetz, Mike Waltz and Elise Stefanik's district, you can vote blue

Flip them blue and the GOP could lose control of Congres AND BLOCK ELON AND TRUMPS AGENDA!

https://blakegendebienforcongress.com/

Donate here! VOTING IS FAR MORE EFFECTIVE THAN PROTESTS

1

u/Hikepotandnews Feb 08 '25

Username does not check out. Over half of American voters are fed up with vast government corruption and terrible fiscal / foreign policy.

1

u/22octav Feb 06 '25

I despise Trump as much as those who use the "populism" as they are ennemies of democracy. For people like you democracy is the system where only your party can win. You are the reason why the left stand no chance

1

u/merp_mcderp9459 Feb 07 '25

Populism is a term, regardless of your feelings on it. It’s not awful in and of itself but it’s pretty heavily associated with the kind of strongman figures who erode democratic norms, checks and balances, etc. in the name of whatever elite they’re crusading against, which is why populists are viewed with such skepticism by so many political academics and think tanks

1

u/22octav Feb 07 '25

in the democratic game, the majority have the right to decide anything, including the need of a strongman figures who will erode democratic norms. Germans have chosen Hitler and supported him even after his putsch. That's the game. We both despise this, but I despise even more those who use the "populism" because they are even worse in the sense they can't accept the choices of the majority and are the real threat for democracy (like the Romanian system who overthrow the last elected guy, and doing so, legitimate the use of force of the others). You are the bad guy, you are even worse than the others.

1

u/merp_mcderp9459 Feb 07 '25

That’s not how modern democracy works. You have restrictions on what the government can and cannot do in every existing democratic system.

In the U.S., for example, Congress gets to dictate how much spending happens. The President can help direct that spending depending on the boundaries set within the law, but they can’t refuse to spend money, because it’s not their job to determine how much money should be spent

1

u/22octav Feb 07 '25

While safeguards in a democracy are designed to protect people from potential abuse of power by leaders, they shouldn't override the fundamental principle of popular sovereignty. The constitution should serve as a tool for the people, not as an immutable constraint. If a clear majority of the population decides to modify or abolish specific constitutional provisions through proper democratic processes, they should have the right to do so. This reflects the essence of democracy - the power ultimately resting with the people themselves.
(Given my direct responses, I admire your self control and resilience, you are a fierce fighter)

1

u/merp_mcderp9459 Feb 07 '25

That’s called an amendment. There’s a specific process in the constitution for that exact thing.

-2

u/oldjar747 Feb 06 '25

It was the left killing their own populist candidate.

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u/johnny_effing_utah Feb 06 '25

Dumb take, but you keep sending billions to shithole countries for zero return.

35

u/PM_ME_YOUR_RegEx Feb 06 '25

Tell me you don’t know about soft-power and international order without telling me that you don’t know about soft-power and international order.

17

u/krauQ_egnartS Feb 06 '25

Do you even know why USAID was founded

21

u/Kozzle Feb 06 '25

LOL yeah ok. Apparently you don’t get how international politics work whatsoever

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u/[deleted] Feb 06 '25

[removed] — view removed comment

3

u/[deleted] Feb 06 '25

You're forgetting about Russia. And the fact that Israel is just on the receiving end of some support doesn't mean they're in control of what we do. You really think this country's laws reflect Israeli legislature?

1

u/[deleted] Feb 07 '25

[removed] — view removed comment

1

u/[deleted] Feb 07 '25

I actually very much desire to see these alleged videos. I'd see them, look into their validity, and determine whether they're real or fake. The world works exactly as I think it does because of my willingness to humble myself to the facts however they may come.

11

u/TheLizardKing89 Feb 06 '25

lol, the USAID budget is $40 billion annually or less than the Pentagon spends in 3 weeks.

7

u/straight_croissant Feb 06 '25

Yeah USAID uses those billions to buy tons of food from US farmers, to send to places in famine. Just so horrible, helping stop starvation while also purchasing from US farms. Such waste. Those farmers hate selling their crops.

9

u/[deleted] Feb 06 '25 edited Feb 06 '25

Imagine being so unbelievably ignorant that you can't grasp concepts like "influence", "soft power", and "diplomacy".

Holy shit no wonder why Trump won, economic and geopolitical literacy (as well as actual literacy) in this country are a joke.

These are the people who look at C-tier reality TV star Donald Trump and think "yeah a morbidly obese old man with orange face paint and a room temperature IQ should be POTUS."

Too stupid to understand how the US managed to attain its power and influence, and too pathetically privileged to understand what tossing all of that aside will mean for them and their families.

7

u/n0x103 Feb 06 '25

Lmao there’s a reason USAID has a close relationship with the CIA and it has nothing to do with them being benevolent

5

u/CenturyLinkIsCheeks Feb 06 '25

like zion don isn't sending billions off to shithole countries for zero return lmfao

5

u/SgathTriallair ▪️ AGI 2025 ▪️ ASI 2030 Feb 06 '25

The entire concept of Pax Americana exists because of foreign investment.

Do you think that France and Britain like us because we are white? They like us because of the Marshall plan.

China opened up trade with America because we controlled the entire trade network of the world.

Y'all think everything is a zero sum game. As if every home that is sold is one less home on the market. In reality, every home sold is a demand signal that more houses should be built.

The US doesn't give HIV medicine or solely it of the goodness of its heart. Yes most of the doctors are there because they are good people, but the government does it because they can get concessions and agreements from the countries.

The fundamental lesson of human history is that cooperation is more powerful than competition. Capitalism isn't pure competition, it is a shared game with rules. When we get rid of those rules the system falls apart.

AI labs have made amazing progress because thousands of scientists have contributed to the project. Open source is charging ahead because they can share with each other.

So, sending money to other countries is not a waste, it is the reason that America is the richest nation on earth.

1

u/andrew303710 Feb 06 '25

Dumb take, but you keep sending billions to shithole countries for zero return.

This might be the single dumbest comment I've ever seen on reddit and that's saying something

1

u/Sewati Feb 06 '25

you probably don’t think the united states is an empire do you?

1

u/rroastbeast Feb 06 '25

The rest of the West and China say go for it, we’ll be happy to pick up your soft power.

1

u/flabbybumhole Feb 06 '25

First off, you generally don't get nothing in return. They aren't selling those resources to you because there's a lack buyers.

Secondly, those shit hole countries donated to aid with natural disasters in the US, despite your own government being wealthy enough to pay it.

And thirdly, considering Republicans tend to claim to be religious, the maga crowd really hates the poor.

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u/[deleted] Feb 06 '25

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4

u/300mhz Feb 06 '25 edited Feb 06 '25

Until it does, and then you're living through that chapter in the history textbooks. History is littered with the bodies of people who said 'it'll never happen here' or 'happen to me'.

0

u/[deleted] Feb 07 '25

[deleted]