#partisanship

[sprites4ever]

Another day, another Trump-supporting POS who tries to distract from the conflict of Rich v.s. Poor, turning it into Left v.s. Right.

You bet that if she supported Republicans, this guy would be defending her right to business, in light of California needing all the water they can get, or he wouldn't be talking about her at all.

[justinspoliticalcorner]

Daniel Cox at American Storylines:

Watching the clips from Trump’s Madison Square Garden rally, what struck me more than anything else is how utterly unrecognizable the Republican Party has become under Trump. A party that once stressed the importance of honesty and integrity is gone. The rally speakers engaged in unrestrained vitriol and bigotry.  It’s not all happening on stage either.  The Washington Post interviewed Craig Dumas, a T-shirt vendor at one of Trump’s campaign events. His best seller? “Say No to the Hoe.” Variations of this message can be found at Trump rallies around the country. When the Post reporters talked with Brian Howard, a Trump rally-attendee, about his “Joe and the Hoe Gotta Go” T-shirt, he replied: “We can joke. We can wear crude shirts. Everybody here is having a good time.” 

Hilarious.  How much is Trump to blame for the type of nasty, derogatory rhetoric that has become a mainstay of American politics? I would argue more than a little.   But worse than the normalization of casual cruelty is the way Trump has subverted the importance of character in politics. In our late summer poll, we found that 44 percent of Americans believe he committed sexual assault. A Marquette Law School poll conducted over the summer found that 62 percent of voters believe Trump is corrupt. Only 41 percent of voters believe Trump could be described as honest and trustworthy. Even a quarter of Republicans do not believe Trump is honest.  Most Americans who are supporting Trump recognize that he has deep personality flaws, that he is not a good role model. The central animating question of the Trump era has always been: How can so many Americans support Trump for the country’s highest office when so many Americans have such a low opinion of his character? 

All Politicians Are Corrupt and Dishonest 

From the very beginning of Trump’s political career, he has sought to position himself as a brash outsider against a corrupt, effete establishment. At the same time, he never promised to restore honor and dignity to the presidency. Rather, he promised to wade into the swamp and fight dirty. Plenty of Americans were receptive to the message.  It’s not hard to see why.  Trust in government has plummeted over the past few decades. Part of the reason this happened is that Americans increasingly view their elected leaders as unethical. This is a fairly recent phenomenon. Twenty years ago, only about one in four Americans rated the honesty of members of Congress as low or very low. Most Americans rated the honesty of their elected officials as average, and one in five rated it as above average. Today, most Americans do not believe members of Congress are honest or ethical. In 2023, seventy percent of the public rated the honesty and integrity of congressmembers as low or very low. That’s a massive change and it has profound implications on the voting decisions Americans make. If elected officials are viewed as universally dishonest, then integrity is no longer a useful metric in assessing their worthiness for public office. 

Who benefits the most from this? The candidates who are most ethically compromised. Officials who engage in the most egregious acts of public corruption. 

[...]

Polarized Voters Want Pugilistic Politicians 

It's been well documented that Americans have become more polarized over the past couple decades. This has been especially evident in the negative views partisans have about those across the aisle—a phenomenon political scientists define as affective polarization. Republicans and Democrats have come to dislike each other much more in the modern era.  A couple years ago I wrote about the dramatic change occurring among partisans during the Trump presidency. Republicans and Democrats not only believed their opponents were simply wrong or misguided, but that they presented a threat to the nation. In 2017, only about half of Democrats and Republicans believed their opposition represented a threat to the country—a worryingly high number. By 2020, three-quarters of Republicans and nearly two-thirds of Democrats said the other side posed a threat to the country. 

More recent polling suggests things may be getting worse. A new poll by Johns Hopkins University found that nearly half of Republicans and Democrats believe the opposing party is “downright evil.” And a recent NBC News survey found that 8 in 10 Democrats and Republicans said their opponents are so dangerous they pose a threat that would destroy America as we know it.  The growing hostility that partisans feel towards their opponents has altered the way voters respond to deficiencies in their party’s candidates. As partisan animosity toward their political opponents grows, Democrats and Republicans become less concerned about the behavior of their own leaders. It becomes easier to overlook disqualifying attributes, because the political alternative is always worse.   It has also led partisans to prioritize candidates who would go after their opponents. If character no longer matters amidst heightened partisan hostilities, an ability and willingness to destroy the other side does. Trump excels at this type of combative politics. He relishes it. 

The real tragedy is that more Americans have come to believe that honesty and integrity don’t matter. Trump has convinced many Americans that being a good guy in politics is not only unnecessary, but undesirable. It’s a sign of weakness or capitulation. An unsurprising result is that more Americans discount a candidate’s character when making political choices. In 2011 most Americans believed that elected officials who engaged in immoral acts in their personal lives would not behave ethically in carrying out their public duties. Now, most Americans believe the opposite. The shift is far more pronounced among Republicans, but it’s not exclusive to them.   Whether he wins or loses, Trump’s legacy will be forever wrapped up in his bizarre, belittling and bullying behavior, and how he transformed our expectations for political leaders. When Jeffrey Goldberg, editor in chief of The Atlantic, talked with Jared Kushner about Trump’s behavior, he received a startling reply. “No one can go as low as the president,” Kushner said. “You shouldn’t even try.” It was a compliment. 

Daniel Cox of American Storylines wrote a stark reminder that character and morals were jettisoned with the rise of Donald Trump in GOP politics.

[nodynasty4us]

A new NBC News poll shows another difference along partisan lines: media consumption. Among consumers of traditional media (newspapers, national networks and cable news networks), Joe Biden leads 52% to 41%. Among people who get their news from social media, Google, and other digital sources, it's Donald Trump 47% and Biden 44%. Among people who don't get any political news, Trump leads 53% to 27%. Also, the less well-informed you are, the more likely you are to support Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

Electoral-vote.com

[mooretoons]

Division

This whole cartoon is a response to a single article in the New York Times, “Two Families Got Fed Up With Their States’ Politics. So They Moved Out.” Well, and taking a potshot at David Leonhardt, whose bloodless newsletter appears in my inbox every morning, like a turd on my doorstep. I moved to Portland in 1995, when housing was still affordable and employment was easier to find. Yet the seeds…

[nosferdoc]

“The alternate domination of one faction over another, sharpened by the spirit of revenge natural to party dissension, which in different ages and countries has perpetrated the most horrid enormities, is itself a frightful despotism. But this leads at length to a more formal! and permanent despotism. The disorders and miseries which result gradually incline the minds of men to seek security and repose in the absolute power of an individual, and sooner or later the chief of some prevailing faction, more able or more fortunate than his com-petitors, turns this disposition to the purposes of his own elevation on the ruins of public liberty.”

— George Washington, September 17, 1796, Farewell Address.

[erik-even-wordier]

The major dynamic here is called the polarization cycle. Not all conflicts are polarization cycles, but you get such cycles when you have two groups at either extremes, groups that each believe they are in an existential struggle for survival. Especially when you also have a media environment that feeds the worst statements and actions of the other side instead of the average statements and actions. So each side is then driven towards more and more passion by all the anecdotes and stories that supposedly confirm the radicalism of the other side. Both sides also believe the end justifies the means so neither side will care about due process and law. Victory must be had at all cost. Then, yes, you get a polarization cycle that can easily lead to violence. In America we are absolutely experiencing a polarization cycle.

Jonathan Haidt in How to Overcome Tribalism, the Shouty Minority and Facebook Toxicity - POLITICO

[luvsjimmyreed]

I’m not a Democrat. I’m not a Republican. I’m also not a Libertarian or a member of the Green Party. My principles don’t jibe entirely with any of the political parties established in this country. My principles are about basic human rights, freedom, equality, and treating others the same way you wanna be treated. I don’t believe in ‘us versus them’. I believe in trying to see the good in everyone. It’s not to say that there don’t exist people with hate in their hearts, but I try to treat everyone with dignity and respect - and I also believe in letting people’s actions speak for themselves. There is a reason for the adage of ‘actions speak louder than words’.

Jimmy Reed, On Principles versus Partisanship

[allurlsaregone-blog]

Politics as eradication. Policymaking as the foremost idea of the fattest faction at the moment the vote is taken.

[usindistress]

Republicans have so much animosity against liberals they will try to punish conservative voters in blue states for "liberal tears" rather than take the uncontroversial stance of FUNDING DISASTER RELEIF IN A DISASTER!

Matt Gaetz is a horrible person who is horrible at government.

[polymathchristian]

The Danger of Divisive Partisanship: A Nation Divided

[christianornot]

The Danger of Divisive Partisanship: A Nation Divided

In today’s political climate, it’s not uncommon to hear one side accuse the other of “hating America.” These sweeping statements have become all too familiar, as political rhetoric grows more heated and personal. Yet, in this era of finger-pointing and division, what is often overlooked is the fact that the road we’re marching down today could one day lead to the very demise of the ideals we…

[firstoccupier]

The Need for Political Authenticity

By, Cliff Potts, WPS News, Editor-in-ChiefBaybay City | January 17, 2025 In today’s highly polarized political climate, the act of lionizing politicians has become a common practice across social media and mainstream discourse. This glorification often leads to an unrealistic portrayal of political figures that can obscure their flaws and biases, ultimately hindering our democracy rather than…

[meadowslark]

Off topic, but....

With the experiences of a half century of voting (and many "principled" votes which in retrospect served neither the public nor my own good), I have to concur. And for the record, I am a FORMER Republican precinct person.

Vote! And honestly, this year I've got to encourage you to vote Kamala and down ticket Democrats.

made a beautiful google slides infographic in 60 seconds on why u should Fucking Vote

[nodynasty4us]

Marriages where the couple belongs to different parties are common, although partisanship is so strong now that there are separate dating services for Democrats and Republicans. Interestingly, the Democratic site offers four options: man seeking woman, woman seeking man, man seeking man, and woman seeking woman. The Republican site offers only two options. We don't want to spoil it for you, so we aren't going to tell you which ones here.

Electoral-vote.com

[thewordenreport]

Much more subtle, yet even more damaging, than the ethical lapses by some U.S. justices is the imprint of extra-juridical partisan ideology on the Court, and the related bias in the Constitution that implicitly encourages it. https://thewordenreport-governmentandmarkets.blogspot.com/2025/01/undermining-us-supreme-court-on-roles.html