Interesting. I do not have a mastodon account, but I wonder if this is not why boosting a comment or post might accelerate federation? I have noticed that (some) of my own comments or posts do not show on other instances unless I boost them myself, which not something I prefer doing as upvoting/boosting my own post seems kinda weird...
Just from quickly poking around, I think Boost only alters the comment order for kbin instances. Lemmy only seems affected by upvotes & downvotes. Lemmy also seems to give each post or comment an automatic upvote (or maybe that is just lemmy.world, idk), whereas kbin does not do this. I am also not sure if the automatic upvote transfers between kbin and Lemmy. This all being said, I could also just be completely wrong and misinterpreting things lol.
As a side-note, I can only seem to get my posts and comments to show if I boost my own post... I am not sure if that is just a kbin thing or something unique to my particular instance.
The Bible Belt I can believe, though I am not sure about the Rust Belt. It may have been true in 2016, but I think the 2020 election paints a different picture.
When I think of the Rust Belt, I think of places like Detroit, Cleveland, Buffalo, Milwaukee, Pittsburgh and St. Louis. Of those cities, it seems only Missouri is hardcore republican (despite St. Louis’s and Kansas City’s best efforts). Michigan seems to have swung pretty left (though there are definitely still red areas), Pennsylvania voted blue and Wisconsin is on the verge of undoing a-lot of republican gerrymandering. Ohio looks like a red-leaning mixed bag, but it doesn’t strike me as a republican bastion.
Granted, most of these are major battleground states with both parties in almost equal numbers, but their conservative populations don’t seem to be anymore Trump-oriented than other states.
I actually agree with your assessment, though I was specifically referring to the debates, not the elections cycles themselves.
The democrats (and the left in general) had a propensity for hyperbole that labeled McCain and Romney as dire threats to democracy. At the time, I think thought of this as a viable tactic to win the election (in a way not too dissimilar from LBJ’s “Daisy” campaign ad against Goldwater). However, it essentially turned them into the “Boy Who Cried Wolf” when Trump came around, because huge swaths simply refused to believe them.
So, I do actually agree that democrats helped to create Trump, or at least helped to create an environment that allowed him to rise. How we stop Trump now though is beyond me.
CoffeeAddict
joined 1 year ago
I sure hope not.
I am not sure about others, but I am not comfortable with ANY possibility of Trump winning back he White House. Any support for him is dangerous and reckless.
Supporting him is only going to fuel the conspiracy theories he endorsed & started. These lies have shaken the trust in US institutions, especially with his base. His first loss resulted in him lying and causing instability. They actually stormed the capitol! That did not even happen during the US Civil War! If he loses again it will be no different.
Furthermore, any continued support is legitimizing his claims that he is being “unfairly targeted” or that the left is engaging in a “witch hunt” against him. What will his supporters do if he is jailed? What happens if he wins from jail!? Will there be violence? Probably.
And if he actually wins the White House again, what will happen? Now there is an actual traitor to the nation in the White House! I would be shocked if that didn’t also cause violence and instability! The amount hopelessness that would cause would surely create instability and a serious lack of trust in the United States and its institutions.
TL DR: Any support for Trump is going to cause instability, violence, and a constitutional crisis! I understand the Democrats think they can beat him again - and hopefully they can - but I would sleep a little better knowing he was completely off the table.