[lanstin]

The weird spanner in the works is that while people may be unhappy, they are unhappy because of things they believe that aren't true. Covid response in the US wasn't that bad; global warming really is causing the floods and fires and hurricanes and the EVs really are helping, as would methane emissions rules and so on; if people think the bi-coastal elites are looking down on them (and they are), like so what; that's not a serious problem. If the wealthy don't pay enough taxes, the middle class will be harmed. Making sure black folks and other historically disadvantaged groups do better will raise the quality of life for all of us; if we don't encourage the successful migration and acculturation of people from around the world, our population will decline and our economy will decline. If we don't invest in science, we will loose power and knowledge to those that do. The entitled white folks that teased all the kids that were good at math and science in the 1970s etc. might wish it weren't so, but it is so.

But they now believe that movie actors are drinking the blood of babies and that China somehow rigged up the increase in CO2 as a way to confound us. They think scientists are mostly lying.

It's not clear from an information theoretic perspective how to restore stability to the US system.

Maybe once they've killed a million immigrants, I'm sorry had excess mortality in the camps in the hot SW and in Cuba, and things all around them are worse for their own children and families, they will repent and embrace truth, justice and the American way. One can hope.

[pstuart]

It's a third rail to touch but important: "wokism" has been weaponized by the right, and for low information voters (i.e., a majority of the population), voting is an emotional act. Hate and anger are powerful emotions.

[KennyBlanken]

> Covid response in the US wasn't that bad

...what?

Trump's son-in-law was put in charge of supply distribution, refused to invoke the defense production act, and when they finally did, Trump took ages to actually "order" ventilators. They refused to implement testing because they knew that tests would show how bad things were and justify measures that would hurt the stock market.

Trump largely didn't do anything at first because COVID-19 was most severely impacting the coastal blue states because of higher population densities.

https://www.nbcnews.com/think/opinion/did-trump-kushner-igno...

and https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2020/09/jared-kushner-let-th...

They routed supplies away from blue states to red states. He sent ventilators to Russia, FFS:

https://ru.usembassy.gov/delivery-of-u-s-ventilators-to-russ...

Trump told states to get their own PPE (because blue states needed them more badly than red states, and he didn't want red states to have to pay for it), then the feds outbid state agencies for PPE. And when that didn't work, just outright had customs steal them:

https://www.warren.senate.gov/oversight/letters/warren-deman...

https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2020/05/how-the-federal-gove...

Our state's orders for PPE was impounded at the port by the feds, who them claimed they had no idea what anyone was talking about. Our state got a bunch of PPE because the NFL football team owner sent his team's 737 to China to pick up masks and gowns (which turned out to have all sorts of problems, like being sized for children.)

Our governor stopped just shy of saying "yes" when asked if he'd sent state troopers into NYC to meet the plane and escort the truck.

https://www.wbur.org/news/2020/04/14/baker-mum-on-whether-st...

> If the wealthy don't pay enough taxes, the middle class will be harmed.

"Will be"? It's been going on for decades. Bush and Trump tax cuts made it even worse and skyrocketed the deficit to boot.

[flaminHotSpeedo]

Ugh it sucks to be reminded of all that bullshit. Though it's good not to forget.

But I think the earlier comment may have been referring to the restrictions in the US relative to other countries. Most other countries were much more severe for their lockdowns

[subpixel]

I think what the commenter meant to address was the right-wing perception that mask mandates and shutdowns were the first step that ends with the government taking away your guns.