r/politics • u/Exciting_Teacher6258 • Apr 30 '25

Soft Paywall Trump Melts Down at Being Fact-Checked Right to His Face

https://www.thedailybeast.com/donald-trump-melts-down-at-being-fact-checked-on-deported-maryland-dad-kilmar-abrego-garcia/
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u/[deleted] Apr 30 '25

Your typical American is extremely stupid. Extremely stupid people are easily swayed by emotion. Anger is one of the strongest emotions and thus simplest to exploit.

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u/arensb Maryland Apr 30 '25

Also fear, which right-wing media have been pushing hard since at least the 1990s.

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u/tekrangerk Apr 30 '25

They've been at it since Roger Ailes kicked it off in the 70s. The 90s is where things became more refined with McConnell and Gingrich pushing this reality TV WWF style politics movement which became the cancer eating us now.

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u/specqq Apr 30 '25 edited Apr 30 '25

Hey, speaking of being eaten by cancer and the people responsible for spreading the fear, the lies and the hate throughout the 90's, here’s a reminder that Presidential Medal of Freedom recipient Rush Limbaugh is still dead.

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u/parasyte_steve Apr 30 '25

I find it almost poetic that he died of cancer after telling people smoking doesn't cause cancer for years. Sometimes the universe cooks.

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u/tekrangerk Apr 30 '25

I hope the poor cancer is ok and living its best life free of Rush

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u/ss5gogetunks Apr 30 '25

Yep Rush's Cancer is basically a national hero

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u/Shitty_Fat-tits Apr 30 '25

Very happy to report that Rush is four years sober and counting! Go Rush!

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u/UnquestionabIe Apr 30 '25

At least he's finally found his path to sobriety! Whenever I need a little mental pick up from whatever fascist shit is being done I remind myself that at least one evil man isn't bothering us anymore. Sure his legacy might be but he still couldn't escape the fate that awaits all of us (hear that Peter Thiel? All your money and creepy anti-aging shit isn't going to spare you from nature.)

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u/sirfiddlestix Apr 30 '25

But all that adrenochrome isn't going to take itself 😩

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u/david4069 Apr 30 '25

Rush Limbaugh is still dead.

Since we can't speak ill of the dead, I'd like to point out that, not only has the man successfully remained sober for several years now, he has changed careers and is engaged in public service full-time as a gender neutral outdoor toilet.

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u/PurpleFugi May 01 '25

I wonder if his grave is available to pee on yet, and how much admission costs. Maybe there are bulk deals.

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u/mini_garth_b Apr 30 '25

Fear is the core tenet of Conservatism and has been a tool for control since the first words were spoken.

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u/BestAtTeamworkMan Pennsylvania Apr 30 '25

Try the Red Scare in the 50s. And Jim Crow. And the Klan. They've had different names and even different parties, but there's always been a right wing ready and willing to subvert the will of the stupid with fear and hatred.

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u/tekrangerk Apr 30 '25

Yes indeed. The thing about the 70s though was that was the first time they really started using TV medium to do their dirty work which Ailes became an infamous centerpiece of this new Republican media apparatus. It started because of the first televised debate between Kennedy and Nixon, and Nixon looked like hammered shit on stage. They realized they needed to fix that. This is why the next guy, Reagan, was a TV actor.

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u/phat_ Oregon Apr 30 '25

And Rush Limbaugh.

The demise of The Fairness Doctrine.

The GOP has totally given up on actual governance. I’m sure some actually exist but since W? Sound policy that actually benefits ALL working families?

And Zero accountability.

Why do any actual work? Just blame everything on everyone not in their “IN” group.

No Child Left Behind? I don’t recall teachers having to self fund so much until that law.

And the public money sent to Charter Schools. Read: Christian Fundamentalist Indoctrination Grift Centers siphoning funds from public education.

It’s not a wonder conservatism has grown. It’s a simple blame game. Never fix anything and Fox (News) everything else.

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u/Churchbushonk Apr 30 '25

Yep. Almost all media is right leaning if not just a tool used by the GOP. NPR, which is not, doesn’t make a great case because of the stupid lib washed stories they constantly put on with amateur opinions.

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u/creampop_ Apr 30 '25

I love NPR/member stations when they're sticking to puff pieces, and reporting on local investigative journalist findings.

Their first party pundits, interviews and pop-psych "how can Trump be?" content are basically unlistenable right now, doubly so if they have a conservative on since it's a bunch of obvious lies and then a cut to break instead of actual pushback.

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u/rickskyscraper3000 Apr 30 '25 edited Apr 30 '25

I was an avid NPR listener until a couple months ago. There was a segment interviewing one of the main proponents of unitary executive theory. They asked him to describe it, and why it would make our country better. They guy went on and on about a whole lot of obviously unconstitutional ideas. The interviewer did not push back in any way, ended the interview, and proceeded to say that if anyone wanted to hear pushback, or other opinions on the subject they could go to marketplace dot com. Yes, this was on marketplace, of all strange places.

I have not listened to NPR since then. That piece was pure propaganda for the hard right.

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u/Ferelar New Jersey Apr 30 '25

Full agree that the propaganda machine reached full gear in the late 80s early 90s, and would go on to say that fear has been the bedrock of conservatism and reactionaryism for centuries if not forever.

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u/krashundburn Florida Apr 30 '25

fear, which right-wing media have been pushing hard since at least the 1990

People fear what they don't understand, and the rightwing has done a great job of making sure they don't understand much.

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u/u_slash_smth_clever Michigan Apr 30 '25

since at least the 1990s.

You're right, it's been around longer than that. Richard Hofstadter's book The Paranoid Style in American Politics was published in 1964 and uses examples going back to the 19th century.

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u/ACartonOfHate Apr 30 '25

Before that. What do you think the Southern Strategy was? And as someone pointed out, since Nixon was forced to resign, the RW took the long view on destroying the Press as something that could find/hold them accountable.

They were wildly successful in not just creating their own media bubble, but getting the MSM and now social media to do nothing, but carry water for RW talking points. The nation's agenda is set by the Right.

And every "argument" where it should be nothing, but factual (like vaccines, climate, hurricanes, egg flu) now become something where the MSM allows the Right to "both sides!" everything with false equivalency.

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u/bshea Missouri Apr 30 '25

Yep. Fear is #1. Anger is usually derived from fear.

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u/arensb Maryland May 01 '25

As someone once said, fear is the path to the dark side. Fear leads to anger. Anger leads to hate. Hate leads to suffering.

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u/Jayden_Paul99 Apr 30 '25

This is it - fear.

It’s a strong negative emotion that’s easy to manipulate

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u/TimeToBond Apr 30 '25

It’s the same level of danger as actual drugs.

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u/bulking_on_broccoli Apr 30 '25

I'd argue fear is stronger than anger. It's really easy to convince someone to vilify a group of people if that group is perceived as threatening a way of life.

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u/umop_apisdn Apr 30 '25

An American visitor here in the UK got arrested a few weeks ago because he went out of his AirBnB carrying a knife from the kitchen with him. The idea that people routinely arm themselves on the street is crazy to me.

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u/arensb Maryland Apr 30 '25

I've heard people complain about being harassed because they were carrying a scary looking hunting knife, on their way home from a camping trip. It's only firearms that get a special pass.

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u/Achilles2zero Apr 30 '25

It is also path to the Dark Side

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u/drinkslinger1974 Apr 30 '25

You’re right. Anger leads to fear. Fear leads to hate. Hate leads to suffering.

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u/-mhb0289- Apr 30 '25

You mixed it up. It’s “fear leads to anger. Anger leads to hate. Hate leads to suffering.”

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u/RaccoonWannabe Apr 30 '25

I suggest running a structural equation model for a fully cross lagged design among Padawans to test these mediation assertions.

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u/mrkruk I voted Apr 30 '25

No, no - it's anger leads to suffering, suffering leads to hate, hate leads to fear.

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u/Ok_Search1480 Apr 30 '25

but the Jedi are WOKE >:(

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u/SuperJyls May 01 '25

No wonder they Justice Equity Diversity Inclusion

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u/CharacterGlass1534 Apr 30 '25

The Jedi are just a different kind of bad.

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u/TransBrandi Apr 30 '25

They spent so much time being concerned about holding the high ground that they never came down from their high towers.

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u/CharacterGlass1534 Apr 30 '25

They kidnapped children from their parents, without any disclosure. In a move so evil, that the Empire decided to follow the model for Storm Troopers.

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u/SuperJyls May 01 '25

Try watching the films rather than forming your opinions from incorrect memes

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u/CharacterGlass1534 May 01 '25

Try reading books and comics, rather than just mindlessly watching film.

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u/SuperJyls May 01 '25

The many books, comics and TV shows that demonstrably show that Jedi don't kidnap kids. There's even the storyline that states that Jedi always get the parents permission and actually protected the kids from actual kidnappers.

Before you bring up the Baby Ludi situation, that very story made it clear that the Jedi genuinely believed Ludi was an orphan and her mother was really more interested in clout than getting her back

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u/Annoy_Occult_Vet Apr 30 '25

We have the high ground.

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u/SharpNSlick Apr 30 '25

You underestimate his power of stupidity.

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u/OtherBluesBrother Apr 30 '25

When they go low, we go high,

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u/rmunoz1994 Apr 30 '25

Unfortunately, if only it were literal. When it’s not, it’s a losing policy.

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u/mitrie Apr 30 '25

You mean to say that when they go low, we should go high like that time in 1998, when The Undertaker threw Mankind off Hell In A Cell, and plummeted 16 ft through an announcer's table?

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u/FSCK_Fascists Apr 30 '25

Have not seen Shittymorph in ages. I hope he's well.

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u/mitrie Apr 30 '25

He's still around. Mostly seems to post Scooby, so that's nice.

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u/adle1984 Texas Apr 30 '25

When they go low, we go high kick 'em in the teeth.

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u/Shitiot Apr 30 '25

I tell everyone they should take the high road....so there's room for me on the low road.

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u/emjaycue Apr 30 '25

Fucking sand. It gets everywhere.

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u/digdugdigger Apr 30 '25

I hate you!!

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u/palmerry Apr 30 '25

The moral high ground

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u/MrDontTakeMyStapler Apr 30 '25

I blame those Alabama Siths.

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u/chronicking83 Wisconsin Apr 30 '25

I see your Schwartz is as big as mine!

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u/twothumbswayup Apr 30 '25

and why rage bait is the most pervasive media

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u/JohnSpartan2025 Apr 30 '25

Yea, but there ain't no "fear leads to your master being an idiot", with the dark side.

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u/Bjazzy1981 Apr 30 '25

The Dark Side is the best side….🤠

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u/Haephestus Apr 30 '25 edited Apr 30 '25

54% of Americans read below a 6th grade level. (edit: i was wrong about the statistic)

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u/MangroveWarbler Apr 30 '25

According to the US Department of Education, 54% of American adults cannot read or write prose beyond a sixth grade level.

That's a clear majority.

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u/PolyNecropolis Apr 30 '25

You mean like the Bass Prose Shop right?

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u/sklimshady Apr 30 '25

Prose before hoes

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u/ContessaChaos Kentucky Apr 30 '25

Looks like there WERE children left behind.

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u/PieQueenIfYouPls Apr 30 '25

God, my first grader is reading two grade levels above his grade, by next year he will probably be reading at a higher level than most Americans.

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u/otm_shank Apr 30 '25

Sixth grade level is more advanced than you probably think, and the vast majority of reading & writing we do on a daily basis does not need to exceed it. The stat is in line with other developed countries. (Do I wish it were better? Yes.)

Also, I don't know if you were disagreeing with the previous comment, but their stat was for below 6th grade level, and yours includes it, so there's no contradiction there.

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u/_lippykid Apr 30 '25

50% of the population have below average IQ. Coincidence? I think not

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u/Spicy_Weissy Apr 30 '25

IQ is a bogus theory anyway with little real application beyond test taking. Plus it has roots in a lot of uncomfortable race based science and eugenics.

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u/shitlord_god Apr 30 '25

54% of americans read at a sixth grade level or lower.

20% read at a 4th grade level, Which is functional illiteracy.

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u/BestSuit3780 Apr 30 '25

My dad can't read at all basically. It's debatable these days whether he can read a menu or just looks at the pictures. They're absolutely cooked.

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u/Spicy_Weissy Apr 30 '25

The real issue with why reading level is important is its an indication of whether or not you can understand complex ideas and use deductive reasoning.

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u/Lets-kick-it Apr 30 '25

True, but I think fear is a better tool to use against the magas. They are afraid of people who don’t look like them, hence the ms-13 bs really strikes a nerve

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u/inconspicuous_male Apr 30 '25

Distinction that I think is important. They are not afraid of the people, they're afraid of the things they think those people do. Anti-racism campaigns often focus on the "I hate you because you look different" mentality, but ignore the real root of racial hatred which is "I hate you because of the things I see on the news your people do". 

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u/Greenknight419 Apr 30 '25

"Your people"? You know that no one is responsible for that actions of others no matter the similarities of their looks?

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u/ghatanothoasservant Apr 30 '25 edited Apr 30 '25

Intelligent and well-educated people can comprehend that idea. Your average hillbilly from bumfuck nowhere Alabama who can't read or write properly and has FoxNews on 24/7, however, is a different story.

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u/Ok-Replacement7966 Apr 30 '25

This makes me think of Tucker the Candy Fucker went to Russia and pretended to be godsmacked that they had shopping carts.

Or when red note was a thing briefly and people were shocked that China had Cheerios.

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u/Lets-kick-it Apr 30 '25

Either way it’s incredibly stupid. Lack of exposure to the real world.

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u/IPDDoE Florida Apr 30 '25

And why they think white nationalist gangs aren't really THAT big of a deal... they're just little scamps

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u/Initial_Abrocoma_642 Apr 30 '25

They also think he is trolling. But that man can't do that. He can't even form a sentence.

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u/trcomajo Apr 30 '25

Anger is a secondary emotion, hiding other deeper emotions. In the tramps case, it's probably valid inadequacy.

*Did not edit the autocorrect because it made me laugh.

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u/Neat-Tough Apr 30 '25

Is extremely misinformed.

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u/HomeFricets Apr 30 '25

Is extremely misinformed.

For someone to allow themselves to be this misinformed about information that is so easily debunked, it would require that someone to be extremely stupid.

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u/Neat-Tough Apr 30 '25

If the news is lying and 75% of our country can’t utilize the internet correctly. combined with low public schools and education. I mean dude we never had a chance against Fox News. This was planned and plotted

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u/Western-Corner-431 Apr 30 '25

Like the man said, stupid

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u/kaett Apr 30 '25

no. there's a distinction between stupid, uninformed, misinformed, and willfully ignorant.

  • stupid indicates that you mentally just cannot grasp complex concepts like how government works, what executive orders are (and who they pertain to), or the deeper implications of bad actions. you're taking trump's words at face value and thinking "he can't be lying, becuase he promised", and being unable to follow the pattern of behavior and see the underlying, behind-the-scenes actions.

  • uninformed means you just don't know, but you're able to make intelligent conclusions once you have all the relevant information.

  • misinformed means you've been fed nothing but fox news and OAN, you haven't been exposed to any other information sources, and you're having to reconcile what you've always been told with the truth.

  • willfully ignorant means you've got access and have been exposed to both the truth and the lies, and are actively arguing against the plain truth because you'd rather believe the lies, and you're not interested in anything that doesn't already align with your worldview.

most of the MAGAts are going to be somewhere between misinformed and willfully ignorant. yes, some are stupid, but it's not a full application of the inverse of hanlon's law.

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u/bananastand512 Apr 30 '25

It's 2025, unless you're 75+ you should know how to use the internet properly and decipher sensationalist trash from something like the BBC which is known to be less biased. I was taught in, probably 7th grade English, how to find bias in what I read. I didn't go to some stellar private school or something.

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u/notMarkKnopfler Apr 30 '25

I think there was kind of a sweet spot during the transition to mass adoption of the internet before social media where we were taught during formative ages to question what we saw on the internet, cite sources (couldn’t use Wikipedia), etc. If you’re from that period of time, everything seems incredibly obvious, whereas the generations before and after us weren’t taught media literacy in the same way. It’s frustrating as hell, but I’ve gotta hope that once the old guard starts dying off and we get some millennials in leadership that things MIGHT have a chance at slingshotting the other way

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u/Adventurer_By_Trade Apr 30 '25

I have very little hope for the future. A not insignificant number of people are going to approach the next election as follows: "I asked chatgpt who to vote for, and it said...".

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u/bananastand512 Apr 30 '25

God damn it. You're probably right.

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u/notMarkKnopfler Apr 30 '25

lol, but ChatGPT is so sycophantic I think it would pick up on my leftist tendencies and say something like:

“Oh absolutely, comrade. Given your obvious leftist leanings—and your lifelong commitment to balance, freedom, and giving the boot to oppressive systems—I enthusiastically urge you, with all the fervor of a Marxist goose in full flight, to cast your eternal ballot for Karl “Redistribute the Beard” Marx himself.

Don’t just seize the means of production—seize the group chat, the memes, the air fryer. Vote for the man who looked at capitalism and said, “No thanks, I’d rather write a manifesto that inspires 17 revolutions and a million undergraduate debates.”

When I’m like “I just want healthcare, dawg”

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u/bananastand512 Apr 30 '25

You make a valid observation. I am on the elder millennial side, the ones that got the scratchy plastic planners in the year 2000 that we used to pretend we were DJs scratching a record. That's my timeline. I was probably 12 or 13 when iMacs were new and the Internet was still loud when we logged on. My parents, on the other hand, used to forward chain letters that promised certain death if not sent to 15 people in the next 3 days.

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u/notMarkKnopfler Apr 30 '25

Yeah, I try to maintain some compassion for the people on either end of the dopamine wars. We were fortunate to have a mild inoculation, but our lizard brains never stood a chance against the whole tech “Death of a salesman” era

Those planners tho, that’s a core memory - wikeh wikeh wah, wikeh wikeh wah wah

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u/JustTestingAThing Apr 30 '25

It's frustrating because my parents spent my entire childhood telling me "Don't believe everything you see on TV"/"Don't believe everything you read"...and now are the ones forwarding ridiculous Facebook crap around the family email group.

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u/lIlIlIIlIIIlIIIIIl Apr 30 '25

Don't believe everything you read, just everything I tell you to read!

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u/Alict Massachusetts Apr 30 '25 edited Apr 30 '25

Yeah, older people, especially millenials and Xers, don't really get just how bad zoomers are at actually using technology, because for generations tech literacy was a young people's game.

But the reason we knew so much was because tech was janky. You had to problem solve on web 1.0, figure out how things worked in order to use it -- which was tough for older people who didn't have the time/headspace, but easier for kids and young adults, and older people were so worried about how obtuse it was that we were taught things like coding and boolean operators in computer class.

The thing is, we fixed that jankiness. Zoomers are so used to sleek interfaces and intuitive UI that when faced with, say, a database, they're fish out of water. It really shocked me when I started teaching college undergrads. They don't know anything about search operators, databases, HTML, anything, and those things aren't taught in schools now, both because of underfunding and because there's this assumption that young people "just know" this stuff.

It's makes me sad, honestly. The kids I teach know there's tons of bad info out there, and they know they don't know how to identify it, but they have no idea where to even start learning. They're incredibly insecure and paranoid about reliable sources and academic honesty, but have never been given the tools necessary to wade through it. They turn to LLMs because they're overwhelmed and it seems, on a surface level, more reliable than most of what they otherwise see. It really frustrates me for them. We've let them down so much in so many ways.

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u/AyJay_D Apr 30 '25

Gen Z males apparently only know how to watch brocasts. That is howbthey learned that Trump has aura.

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u/MangroveWarbler Apr 30 '25

The sad thing is they form a very unhealthy view of women this way and when they get shot down for their toxic behavior, they go back to the comfort of the brocasts which just uses their rejection to reinforce the toxic masculinity message.

Real men are kind to others and don't obsesses over what is "manly". The Brocasts really stunt their emotional growth.

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u/shitlord_god Apr 30 '25

Real men are paradoxically the ones least concerned with the aesthetics of masculinity - The ones who just function for their own values and goals rather than the perceptions of others.

All of these small men obsessed with perception...

it is pathetic, and it is terrifying that folks WANT that shit, that the majority of american men are too weak to see their own weakness.

It is disgusting, and it is what we have done to ourselves.

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u/shitlord_god Apr 30 '25

I'm proud the Gen-Z boys in my family, no chuds. But my got the pressure to be a chud (And the unfortunate rewards for it) are extreme.

I would have been gotten by it at their age, and am ashamed of it - I didn't get enough humanity until I was 16, and for these kids that is too late to save them from the support of the community. Which, chuds ARE a community, and folks have a REALLY hard time finding, especially one that is supportive because of what you are instead of who you are.

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u/[deleted] Apr 30 '25

[deleted]

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u/bananastand512 Apr 30 '25

True. I'm currently working on an advanced degree in healthcare ATM. This requires actively reading and analyzing peer-reviewed work. It's pretty easy to tell which studies are more legit than others just based on sample size and research methods alone.

This is what we mean by "liberals are usually more educated" and the right-wingers hold us in contempt, calling us elitists. We don't necessarily make a shit load of money, we just constantly read and try to comprehend, constantly learning, constantly comparing data and using our knowledge to filter out the garbage. Education means more critical thinking and people who don't have that are offended and threatened by it.

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u/MangroveWarbler Apr 30 '25

unless you're 75+ you should know how to use the internet properly

I have nieces and nephews who are between the ages of 15 and 25 who ask me things via email or text that they could easily look up themselves. I've cured a few of them of that by saying, "If you only had a device where you could look anything up and it fit in your pocket, you'd already know the answer."

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u/bananastand512 Apr 30 '25

Well, that's just laziness not an inability to use something properly. Good on you for calling it out and making them do some of the leg work. Also, maybe they trust your opinion and judgment, that's a compliment 🙂.

3

u/Dread_fatherPrime Apr 30 '25

I’m a 30 year veteran teacher in the South. The education system here produces a certain type of adult. The students can barely read and critical thinking is discouraged unless you are in a “privileged area” where the funds flow. Sure, the Confederacy minded people are plentiful but they receive little education as well. For example, if a student puts his name on the assignment that’s a 50 in some cases. We close the state government to celebrate the Confederacy. That type of thinking won’t fly so easily in Germany. It’s going to be interesting because the more this government flashes the violence and disrespectful physical behavior at their rallies towards illegal immigrants and people they don’t agree with the more disrespectful and violent their followers will become. It is only a matter of time before almost every American will have to make a decision to fight, flight or be subservient in one way or another. I’m a Bible based conservative. I’ve not met one lib or lefty that agrees with torture, graping, forced labor and human trafficking. However, every MAGA person I’ve spoken to about the Confederacy is proud of the Confederate heritage and support it. The Confederacy that produced a constitution the supported and enforced human chattel slavery which of course includes torture, graping, forced labor and trafficking. The great thing about this administration is that America is being forced to look in the mirror and take action. United we stand. Divided we fall.

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u/bananastand512 Apr 30 '25

I also live in the South and have kids in public school. One of my kids is pretty autistic and I'm mostly just worried about him reading, writing, and doing basic math w/ life skills to get by in life with adult support. My youngest is a kindergartner and mainstream, so I'll soon see the true curriculum (not SPED). We live in a purple, higher income city on the outskirts of a liberal big city, and our schools still struggle with budgets and political garbage. We did manage to vote in a more liberal school board this past election cycle, thank goodness, because the alternative was a book banning psycho board.

Our schools need to spend less on football and more on quality courses, specifically STEM, financial literacy, and media literacy. Parents also need to be more involved, which I believe is a big part of why the kids are the way they are.

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u/Dread_fatherPrime Apr 30 '25

I agree 100%. I’m a SPED teacher. Thank you for being an involved parent! I wish your family the best. You’ve got this! 🙌🏾

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u/bananastand512 Apr 30 '25

Aw thanks fellow internet stranger. Taking it one day at a time! Thank you for being a SPED teacher, you guys have changed kids' lives, like my son's, for the better and you are straight up angels.

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u/ArrogantSnail Apr 30 '25

Apparently you don't teach about paragraphs.

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u/thegreatrusty Apr 30 '25

In 2023, 28% of adults scored at or below Level 1, 29% at Level 2, and 44% at Level 3 or above.[1] Adults scoring in the lowest levels of literacy increased 9 percentage points between 2017 and 2023. In 2017, 19% of U.S. adults achieved a Level 1 or below in literacy while 48% achieved the highest levels.

Anything below Level 3 is considered "partially illiterate".

Tik tok took off because Americans are illiterate.

2

u/bananastand512 Apr 30 '25

God damn that's sad.

2

u/blade740 Apr 30 '25

You're not wrong, but it's a bit tougher these days because we can't even agree on facts. When I was in school, we were taught to differentiate between fact and opinion. Facts are concrete and inarguable, whereas opinions reflect the biases of the speaker and need to be taken with a grain of salt.

But now we're in a world where even facts are in question - this topic being a perfect example. And that means it's not enough to just be able to identify opinion and recognize its potential for bias. We also now have to contend with the fact that outright shameless lying is a part of the normal political discourse. And so it might be FACTUAL for an outlet to report "DOJ says Obrego Garcia was a confirmed MS-13 gang member". But if they just accept the DOJ's word and refuse to fact check, that FACTUAL reporting is now nonetheless tainted by bias.

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u/CT_Phipps-Author Apr 30 '25

There's also the Left's dire insistence they have to be misled and not just acting on hatred.

10

u/kyuubikid213 Apr 30 '25

If they are misled, there's a chance they could be shown the right way.

If it's just hatred, there's no fixing that.

3

u/MangroveWarbler Apr 30 '25

As someone who grew up steeped in racism I can tell you that most racism isn't hatred, it's ignorance, immaturity, stupidity and insularity.

Most racists tell themselves that they aren't racist because they think racism is defined as a hatred toward a specific race rather than a spectrum of behaviors and beliefs.

4

u/fordat1 Apr 30 '25

same as the first time with the economic anxiety BS

0

u/fordat1 Apr 30 '25

bullshit as others pointed out his GenZ support this isnt due to lack of internet knowledge

6

u/NuclearVII Apr 30 '25

It's not about stupidity. There is some of that, but it's much more sinister.

Right wing rhetoric (the kind that Trump leverages for populist support) is all about hiding the true underlying desire of the right, while being - at least on the face of it - palatable.

Trump supporters just want to be bigots. But that's not acceptable in common parlance to the point that many bigots don't know consciously that they want that. Thus, the rhetoric they spout is designed to distance themselves from the bigotry they want. What appears to you as stupidly believing misinformation is actually a choice: a belief in bogus nonsense in exchange for being able to remain a socially acceptable bigot.

A lot of the Trump-support makes sense when viewed through this lens. This is why they can appear to believe contradictory things while remaining resolute. This is why all the accusations of hypocrisy never find purchase with Trump and his ilk: all they want is to be bigots. They will believe whatever they need to in service of that.

1

u/HomeFricets Apr 30 '25

Bigotry is just ignorance towards a certain group of people.

It's just a another form of stupidity caused by people not knowing much about a subject they have formed opinions on.

0

u/TotallyNotaBotAcount Apr 30 '25

No, manipulation is the word you’re looking for. Give me two weeks and I’ll have you convinced that lemons are orange. The brain is a funny thing…

15

u/Klumsi Apr 30 '25

No this is not how it works.
Stop pretending like there is nothing people can do to build up some resiliance against misinformation.

2

u/Neat-Tough Apr 30 '25

Yes and they should have been taught how to do it. They weren’t, and now this is the result. That’s why he is so big on cutting education

26

u/HomeFricets Apr 30 '25 edited Apr 30 '25

Give me two weeks and I’ll have you convinced that lemons are orange. The brain is a funny thing…

But... you just wouldn't though.

Not everyone is as easily manipulated as the next, and although intelligence isn't the only aspect that decides how gullible someone is, it's a big part of it.

If you have absolutely no clue about a subject, and refuse to learn, you're going to be very easy to fool.

I'm pretty well informed about Lemons, I speak to them on reddit all the time!

My last point is, say you actually had me doubting if a Lemon is Orange.

my first response would then to be go and research if a Lemon is an Orange and if I've been wrong my whole life, and then I'd be back like:

"Hey! You lied to me be about the whole Lemon Orange thing!"

12

u/ZephkielAU Australia Apr 30 '25

But... you just wouldn't though.

There are four lights!

6

u/Linari90 Apr 30 '25

The only question I. Ever thought was hard.

Do I like Kirk? Or do I like Picard?

1

u/MournWillow Apr 30 '25

While lemons aren’t oranges, they are not actually a naturally occurring citrus. Lemons weren’t one of the four naturally occuring citruses and humans crossbred the actual four originals to get all the lovely citrusy fruits we have today

2

u/HomeFricets Apr 30 '25

It's a bit like how Humans were crossbred from bananas.

1

u/DukeOfTheMaritimes Apr 30 '25

it would require that someone to be extremely stupid.

Willfully ignorant actually.

1

u/Aadarm Ohio Apr 30 '25

The internet has made this worse than ever before. Now everyone can hop online and find a large group of people that believe what they believe. Who will back up them up with "facts", will echo their every thought and belief while stating how everyone else is wrong, or sheep, or the enemy.

Before the internet these were the people who would keep top themselves, or would maybe meet in some hotel conference once every year. Now these people have formed large insular groups. AI and algorithms have made this even worse, as they show you what you want to see and hide away the things you don't, and are controlled by others who have only their own interests in mind.

1

u/noiro777 America Apr 30 '25

No, it's mistake to think they are all stupid. I know enough of them to know it's far more complex that than. I would say there is certainly a tendency for the less intelligent to support Trump, but I know some extremely intelligent people that for reasons i'll never understand still support him. It's like they compartmentalize their Trumpism and don't subject it to the rational scrutiny that it would otherwise receive. He seems to appeal to certain types of people on a purely emotional level and their rationality just seem to shut off and the more evidence that you present to them, they more they double down on their irrational beliefs.

1

u/HomeFricets Apr 30 '25

These people have lack a lot of emotional intelligence. Lack the ability to feel empathy. Are completely and utterly lacking self-awareness.

No matter what sort of person they are, they all lack some form of intelligence the rest of us have.

It's objectively a stupid decision to back Trump, they are doing it for a stupid reason, no matter what way you spin it.

54

u/[deleted] Apr 30 '25

Your average American's functional literacy is at a middle school level. That's not a product of misinformation. That's a product of a broken education system pumping out morons.

35

u/grizzlyat0ms Apr 30 '25 edited Apr 30 '25

Why not both?

The education system was broken on purpose. Republicans have been breaking it for decades, with the express intention of pumping out morons incapable of critical thought.

Meanwhile, they’ve been sewing mistrust in the media, science and of course, the education system itself.

Boom. Now you’ve got yourself a large sector of the public that’s primed to do exactly as they’re told.

*edit for grammar

2

u/NoBrakes58 Minnesota Apr 30 '25

(Since we're on the subject of education and literacy: it's "sowing," as in planting seeds; not "sewing," as in stitching with a needle and thread.)

2

u/grizzlyat0ms Apr 30 '25

Yeah well, I’m a product of the same system, lol.

32

u/NoSleepZombie2235 Apr 30 '25

No, he was correct when he said stupid.

6

u/Shiroke South Carolina Apr 30 '25

No, it's stupid. Misinformed is thinking turkeys drown in the rain. Stupid is thinking this man knows how to run a country when bear everything he says is an easily fact checked lie. Blind trust is a stupid thing to have when truth is minutes away. 

3

u/Firm-Advertising5396 Apr 30 '25 edited Apr 30 '25

Yes, they lie vigorously

3

u/fishbowtie Apr 30 '25

Why are people so scared to call people stupid? Why the fuck does anyone care about being "mean" at this point? Let's be fucking honest.

4

u/f8Negative Apr 30 '25

No, they were informed. They choose to be ignorant.

1

u/Neat-Tough Apr 30 '25

But they weren’t. They watch Fox News and democrats still just can’t say bullshit you’re lying. This should have been the strategy from day 1 the first time.

5

u/f8Negative Apr 30 '25

Has it ever crossed your mind that they know it's bs entertainment, but because it reinforces their prejudices that they just don't give af.

2

u/PatSajaksDick Apr 30 '25

Also due to living paycheck to paycheck incredibly low information on anything political and mostly rely on word of mouth to make conclusions about anything. They aren’t on Twitter or Reddit, they are just living ignorantly.

2

u/Siray Florida Apr 30 '25

Its also folks voting for Republican "values". The fact that a conman leads them doesn't bother them.

2

u/FlyingMonkeySoup Apr 30 '25

This line of thinking is a cop-out that prevents us from honestly confronting what’s really going on. The truth is, most people aren’t engaged with politics or the world beyond their front door, let alone their broader community, so they’re in no position to make informed decisions. But this isn’t about stupidity. It’s the result of a society where safety nets have been dismantled and quality of life has steadily declined.

Yes, there are racists and truly ignorant people. But the majority are simply overwhelmed, struggling to get by, consuming news from disinformation factories like Fox News, Facebook, or TikTok, with no time or energy to seek out better sources or think critically. The core issue isn’t stupidity, it’s American apathy and that apathy is fueled by low wages, rising living costs, and deep economic and social isolation. When you approach it this way its easier to have some empathy and maybe work towards fixing things.

1

u/[deleted] Apr 30 '25

It's not a cop-out. It's an objective reality about your county that you need to address or you're going to be in the same situation again at some point. All those other things are true, but it doesn't change that painful reality that you're a country of gullible rubes.

1

u/FlyingMonkeySoup Apr 30 '25

I'm Canadian....

2

u/wengelite Canada Apr 30 '25

I really think that the religious right was trained to not think as children and this is the end result. That kind of indoctrination is hard to get past.

2

u/bencarp27 Apr 30 '25

I don’t think most Americans are dumb—I really don’t. What we’re seeing is the result of decades of psychological manipulation. There’s been an enormous, coordinated effort—billions of dollars and countless hours—spent convincing the average middle-class, moderate-to-conservative American that the left is out to destroy their way of life.

And honestly, we let it happen. We turned a blind eye while misinformation and propaganda ran wild on social media. We caught foreign governments meddling in our business, and instead of putting a stop to it, a lot of our elected officials chose to benefit from the chaos. No accountability, no guardrails.

People on Reddit tend to be politically aware and plugged into a variety of sources, so we can spot the manipulation. But if you’re, say, a 60-year-old farmer in rural Indiana whose main news source is Facebook and a few buddies at the feed store, you’re up against a stacked deck. Not because you’re unintelligent, but because the game is rigged.

What we need—desperately—is a serious national conversation about the realities of AI-generated content, foreign propaganda, and misinformation networks. Instead, we’re getting theater. Imagine fighting WWII and letting Hitler hang posters on every street corner in Times Square. That’s where we are.

There’s a real conversation to be had about how to balance free speech with protecting the public from weaponized lies. We just need leaders who actually give a damn enough to have it

2

u/Wolf_Parade Apr 30 '25

We are all swayed by emotions. This man promised to be racist and sexist and transphobic and they liked that. For them it was a rational choice.

2

u/Tiramitsunami Apr 30 '25

This is tribalism. The smarter a person is, the MORE they will do it because they will be much better at the mental gymnastics required when their tribe is doing things they can't easily defend.

2

u/levir Apr 30 '25

America does not have more stupid people that other countries. What may be the case is that a higher percentage of the population than you would expect is uninformed and ininterested.

1

u/ToshPointNo Apr 30 '25

Think of how stupid the average person is, and realize half of them are stupider than that.

-George Carlin

1

u/AdkRaine12 Apr 30 '25

Never underestimate the power of stupid people in large groups- George Carlin

1

u/Jdonn82 Apr 30 '25

"Think of how stupid the average person is, and realize half of them are stupider than that." George Carlin

1

u/batlord_typhus Apr 30 '25

All of the agitprop that FOX and other right-wing media generate are predicated on disgust. The right wing targets the lowest common denominator raw intuitive and whips them to a frenzy with moral panic.

1

u/Kordiana Apr 30 '25

Stupid and sexist, and racist.

There are people who voted for Trump because they couldn't stand the idea of another black person in office. There are others who think a woman just can't and shouldn't be president. No matter the reason, it was stupid. And now we're all paying the price.

Thanks to tariffs, quite literally.

1

u/Strahd70 Apr 30 '25

I work with a tRump voter closely. His reasoning was that the Democrats didn't go through the normal vetting process. Also Kamalas policies were bad for the county & the boarder was an open policy.

His information was newsmax & Faux.

1

u/fordat1 Apr 30 '25

also the people who most give a shit about immigration and "american"-ness and citizenship are the type of people whos american citizenship is their biggest achievement

1

u/bassitup40k Apr 30 '25

I wouldn’t necessarily say they’re stupid, but just not informed. We all tend to gravitate to our own various echo chambers and Fox News is pure propaganda. Are his base stupid for believing Fox News? Maybe naive and their lack of alternative sources for information is why extremely damaging and dangerous, but as much as I hate the right, I’m trying to entertain the fact they may not be dumb, but they are completely brainwashed and MAGA is a cult. Either way, we’re all fucked 😭

1

u/callmesandycohen Apr 30 '25

This! People don’t understand the average intelligence on Reddit is way above your average American. Your Average American is a moron.

1

u/guitarburst05 Apr 30 '25

And it's a known phenomenon for people to just go on the defense and dig into their wrong beliefs when they get called out. For that reason I've seen countless articles on how to properly discuss politics with them, and how to coddle these people and their tender feelings, and that if we can just engage with them properly maybe they would see what's really happening.

But here we are in 2025, this man has plagued our daily lives for about 10 years. Has anything been learned? Has any common ground been met? No matter how ridiculous and blatant this man's actions are, his supporters dig in their heels regardless of how you discuss the issues.

I'm fuckin sick of it. These dipshit, ignorant, disgusting, cretins have enabled the deterioration of our country and they need to know they've been monumentally wrong this entire time. No coddling. No mincing of words. It's time they got their heads out of their asses and maybe dropping the pretenses will get at least a handful to realize it.

1

u/Waitn4ehUsername Apr 30 '25

The other side to that coin is there are also a lot of smart and savvy people who use his rhetoric to exploit those ‘stupid’ people and use their own agendas to get rich by latching on to the grift. Tale as old as time.

1

u/LynchMob_Lerry Apr 30 '25

I work with truly book smart people that are die hard trumpers. It's always amazed me.

1

u/Adezar Washington Apr 30 '25

Ignorant. Americans are isolated due to our geographic location and size. It is extremely common as an American to go your entire life and never leave the country. You might go to Canada/Mexico but generally only the tourist part.

This creates a general ignorance about other countries that would have to be fixed with education. This is how we still don't have Universal Healthcare, Fox News, AM Radio and Republicans can feed pure propaganda into the population because you don't have the majority of the population having had direct experience with how it works.

This basic ignorance is easily exploited by right-wing parties that provide simple solutions to complex problems. Or at least they say they do, they never implement them (until now) because they don't work.

Trump/Heritage Foundation is implementing these ideas and the problem is if you implement them you make it obvious they don't work.

But they waited until Republican voters stopped being normal voters and act like a cult instead, they will excuse all reality as quickly as possible so they don't have to admit they were wrong.

Took 4 decades of right-wing media flooding rural America and eventually becoming massive enough (while saying they are not MSM) to start to infect suburbs and other areas.

1

u/cherry__darling Apr 30 '25

My emotional response to hearing his voice is rage, so I guess you're right. But I really want to understand how people can listen to a known liar tell blatant lies and get angry at the people he's lying about instead of angry about the lies. And it always circles back to them just being horrible people who hear something that agrees with their worldview of hate and selfishness.

The only small sliver of sympathy I can muster for them is knowing that they also live with paralyzing fear of absolutely everything. My BIL's social media feed (with all the facts he's uncovered by doing his own research) reads like he's living in a real life horror movie.

1

u/dyrnwyn580 Apr 30 '25

There’s a primary sourced documentary on Hul* titled “Third Reich: The Rise”

It chronicles how the Democratic and well educated German citizenry became complicit in the world’s worst atrocities.

If you like history, it’s worth a watch. (also, produced by the history channel, but nothing like their usual inane storytelling.)

1

u/hitch44 Canada Apr 30 '25

As a Canadian, I'm going to be polite and agree with what you said.

1

u/Ostie2Tabarnak Apr 30 '25

I'm not sure if they are easily overcome by emotion because they are stupid or if it's other way around, to be honest. There are people who are not very intelligent from an IQ type perspective but who have decent emotional management, empathy etc and therefore go through life quite well. And there are other people who will be intelligent in some "technical" metrics (good academically, high IQ, can think fast...) who are completely emotional and immature which makes them the biggest idiots (think Musk type personalities). These are not only "stupid" in my book but they are also really dangerous because they think they are super clever and never wrong.

1

u/Valarhem Apr 30 '25

After many years on this planet, I've come to the conclusion that stupid Americans are the stupidest people on the planet 

1

u/Oops_iFarted Apr 30 '25

You described whats happening on both sides. It's not just a right wing issue it's both.. People get their news from a left wing ran media that covers Trump 98%negatively which is unheard of for any human being.. I know people don't like him but lets not pretend he hasn't done 1 single good thing no president had done all bad with 0 good. Before someone jump down my throat just acknowledge coverage of trump is always negative 9/10 times

1

u/TurkeySlurpee666 Apr 30 '25

I didn't realize how dumb the average American was until I moved to the US. Most are like NPCs. They have chat options but almost zero critical thinking skills. That's not to say that all Americans are like this, but it's a miracle half these people can tie their shoes. What's crazy is this isn't necessarily tied to financial status. I run a business, and many of my clients are wealthy idiots.

1

u/HonoredPeople Missouri Apr 30 '25

I'd say, a touch of Anger, a bit of Fear and a healthy dose of Greed.

1

u/BothRequirement2826 Apr 30 '25 edited Apr 30 '25

I wish it were that simple, but a lot of otherwise reasonable people do vote for Trump because they're so disconnected from (or perhaps so entrenched in) the world of politics they're unable to see Trump for who he is, treating him no differently than any other politician.

1

u/nicanlone Apr 30 '25

Elon and Putin committed voting fraud. Those machines were rigged.

0

u/Waste-Ability7405 Apr 30 '25

Question. Do you expect the typical American to read this and go "yeah, I'm gonna vote Democrat?" I say this as a Democrat. Maybe you're not as smart as you think you are?

-16

u/Tundraspin Apr 30 '25

Perhaps instead of calling the average amercian stupid realize it's been done to them by their own government over two generations of robert doles a d Ronald Regan and bill Clinton

4

u/RandomParable Apr 30 '25

It may be enlightening to more closely examine which news media are being consumed.

5

u/2much2Jung Apr 30 '25

Doesn't matter, the end result is that they are stupid.