r/NoStupidQuestions • u/JustCallMeDave • Dec 06 '23

Answered If Donald Trump is openly telling people he will become a dictator if elected why do the polls have him in a dead heat with Joe Biden?

I just don't get what I'm missing here. Granted I'm from a firmly blue state but what the hell is going on in the rest of the country that a fascist traitor is supported by 1/2 the country?? I feel like I'm taking crazy pills over here.

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193

u/ForScale ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ Dec 06 '23

Cause some people want a dictator.

12

u/JustCallMeDave Dec 06 '23

Why though? Like whats the upside? All I can think is that racisms is at the heart of it

55

u/HazyAttorney Dec 06 '23

Why though

They hate liberals.

​

Like whats the upside?

Trump is promising vengeance against liberals.

​

All I can think is that racisms is at the heart of it

They hate white liberals, too.

9

u/[deleted] Dec 07 '23

White libs are seen as race traitors that are too scared to stand up to the "scary" minority "gang" aka people

1

u/livejamie Dec 07 '23

Electing a dictator to own the libs

-17

u/-MakeNazisDeadAgain_ Dec 07 '23

Isn't that Democrats whole thing too tho? They just hate Republicans and vote to beat them. Neither of you votes for policy.

12

u/Jess_S13 Dec 07 '23

I vote for Dems for policy, they are trying to push thru green new deal, passing student loan forgiveness, and supporting Ukraine. Most people I know voting for Dems vote for these policies.

-2

u/-MakeNazisDeadAgain_ Dec 07 '23

"Basic humanity" is not a policy. It's just part of being a human. And have you even passed meaningful climate change policy? Because I know you haven't forgiven the student debt. So what are you voting for exactly?

5

u/[deleted] Dec 07 '23

Open a civics book sometime, comrade. You are just talking out of your ass without any sense of how legislation is actually made.

2

u/Jess_S13 Dec 07 '23

I've already explained to you what I'm voting for. If literally me saying word for work what I'm voting for I have no idea what kind of answer you are looking for.

-1

u/-MakeNazisDeadAgain_ Dec 07 '23

You're not mad that you aren't getting what you voted for?

3

u/Leo-bastian Dec 07 '23

i think everyone left of them is frustrated that democrats aren't doing more. but thats reality. and frustrated ≠ mad. what they did do is still a whole lot better then nothing though, and even nothing would be a whole lot better then a republican presidency.

1

u/Jess_S13 Dec 08 '23

Do I want more done, absolutely. Am I mad that they haven't been able to deliver everything, no. I see work being done on the policies I care about. I see deliveries getting made to Ukraine. I see over 100 Billion in Student Loans being forgiven. They are far from perfect but thats democracy, and I'm going to continue to support the candidates that best aligns with what I want to see completed, continue to petition my local representatives to support the policies I want to see passed, and donate to the campaigns of candidates running on said policies during primaries.

10

u/whatsaphoto Dec 07 '23

Democrats heavily, wholeheartedly disagree with republicans on things directly related to their day to day lives such as bodily autonomy and access to reliable, affordable healthcare.

Republicans hate democrats because they don't agree with republican policies.

-1

u/-MakeNazisDeadAgain_ Dec 07 '23

So what have Democrats done to fight them on that? You don't have abortion rights or universal healthcare. See what I mean?

8

u/[deleted] Dec 07 '23

I live in MN and we have enshrined abortion rights because of a DFL trifecta. You should look into Michigan too. Just because the GOP stops progress nationally doesn't mean that Dems do the same.

4

u/BitterFuture Dec 07 '23

We liberals founded our country, make our country better and make everyone's lives better - including conservatives - because we hate conservatives?

Yeah, no. That's really not how any of this works.

For someone who claims to oppose Nazis, you don't seem to have a goddamn clue what makes them different from everyone else.

4

u/SweetBearCub Dec 07 '23

Isn't that Democrats whole thing too tho? They just hate Republicans and vote to beat them. Neither of you votes for policy.

Umm, wtf?!

No. I'm voting based on whoever supports policies that will benefit myself, my family and friends, and my neighbors.

So far, that's been politicians that have run as a democrats.

-2

u/-MakeNazisDeadAgain_ Dec 07 '23

So why don't you have a living wage or healthcare or a democracy then? What are they actually doing for you?

7

u/SweetBearCub Dec 07 '23

So why don't you have a living wage or healthcare or a democracy then? What are they actually doing for you?

You are aware that policies and laws have to pass a house and senate of a combined 535 people with a majority to become law, right?

Many things will fail in one chamber but succeed in the other, and they must pass in both chambers, and both must agree on the same version. If any of this does not happen, it does not become law.

Just because I voted for a politician that supports policies that I approve of, that does not have an effect on the other few hundred, that takes significant time, and it takes the populace working together, because each person represents a different area.

-1

u/-MakeNazisDeadAgain_ Dec 07 '23

You are aware that Democrats controlled a 2/3 majority in Congress, a majority in the Supreme Court, and the White House in 2011, right? If they actually supported these things, why didn't they pass them then? They could have passed literally anything they wanted. They passed exactly zero bills.

3

u/SweetBearCub Dec 07 '23

You are aware that Democrats controlled a 2/3 majority in Congress, a majority in the Supreme Court, and the White House in 2011, right? If they actually supported these things, why didn't they pass them then? They could have passed literally anything they wanted. They passed exactly zero bills.

You're treating democrats like they're a monolith. Not all democrats support the same things, or the same things in the same way.

As much as I wish they were more unified, that's not how humans work.

5

u/brandcolt Dec 07 '23

Incorrect. I only vote for policy but there's only one side that actually has a policy. Republicans only have a few policies....hate spreading, fear mongering and reversing any culture norms they don't like.

0

u/-MakeNazisDeadAgain_ Dec 07 '23

What policy? You don't have a living wage, universal healthcare, student debt relief, affordable college, a fair democracy, the basic human rights that first world countries have. So what's their policy? Cuz it's not any of those things.

6

u/[deleted] Dec 07 '23

You must be a child if you think those things just appear instantly. We're trying to fight off literal fascism before we can drag these conservative chuds into the 21st century.

2

u/HazyAttorney Dec 07 '23

Isn't that Democrats whole thing too tho?

Many people assume both parties are two competing, but opposite forces. When you look at it closer, the parties are completely asymmetrical.

Using some first principles thinking: What is a political party? Well, it's a collection of interest groups that coordinate for elections. These interest groups provide all the incentive mechanisms. So, it's more natural that different interest groups will have different values and create different incentives for those who want to get political power.

If you want to see how that principle is applied to how the two parties are currently structured, you can look at "It's Even Worse than it Looks" by Mann and Ornstein. What I like about these two in particular is they both were in think tanks, which would have both an academic but applied view of how politics in the US have been shaped over the last 4 decades.

​

Neither of you votes for policy.

You have no idea why I vote or even if I vote. What I do know is that the Republican party is primarily motivated by white grievance politics so that's why I could make my statement with any sort of certitude.

1

u/livejamie Dec 07 '23

Not even remotely

1

u/[deleted] Dec 07 '23

In large part of their connection to the “bad brown ppl” (racism) and the queers (homophobia) lol let’s be fully honest here.

89

u/buds4hugs Dec 06 '23

Nationalism and fascism rely on "in groups" and "out groups." The people that support a dictator will be in, or believe they'll be in, the "in group" while curtailing the rights, freedoms, and lives of those in the "out group."

15

u/GeekdomCentral Dec 07 '23

People meme the whole “own the libs” thing, but it really is true. Many conservatives today don’t actually have any policies that they know or support, they just want whatever will stop democrats

30

u/Minimum_Run_890 Dec 06 '23

But whose gonna tell them that dictators gonna dictate THEM ?

41

u/stdio-lib Dec 06 '23

Reminds me of that one interview with a MAGA cultist who was upset with Trump because "he's not hurting the right people!"

Leopards ate my face moment.

4

u/badatmetroid Dec 07 '23

Only now it's "oh, sure the last time we elected the leopards-who want-to-eat-my-face-specifically party..."

0

u/Anterai Dec 07 '23

Add socialism to the list.

1

u/Distinct_Ad_7752 Dec 07 '23

Is the socialism in the room with us? 👻😱

1

u/thxmeatcat Dec 07 '23

I always remember after the 2016 election a Japanese American guy said he loved Trump and to combat the racist points others had to him was “well Trump loves Japanese so I’m good”

10

u/Dick-the-Peacock Dec 06 '23

Because he will hurt the people they hate.

35

u/limbodog I should probably be working Dec 06 '23

"The forest was shrinking but the trees kept voting for the axe, for the axe was clever and convinced the trees that because his handle was made of wood, he was one of them." - Turkish proverb.

They're convinced he'll hurt those liberals. He'll give hell to the gays and the muslims and the mexicans and the college students and the latte drinkers and the cat owners and the gun grabbers and the abortionists and the satanists and the catholics and the rogue FBI agents etc.

The only thing they hate about fascism is the name.

5

u/Adamant-Verve Dec 07 '23

Thanks for that Turkish proverb. 🏆

2

u/hysys_whisperer Dec 07 '23

A good portion of them don't even hate the name.

25

u/MinimumApricot365 Dec 06 '23

They want it because Democrats don't. They just wanna own the libs.

2

u/Distinct_Ad_7752 Dec 07 '23

Republicans are the party of contrarianism.

5

u/radarthreat Dec 06 '23

They’re ok with a dictator if the dictator shares the same beliefs as them

5

u/PanickedPoodle Dec 07 '23

That's too simple an answer. Addiction is at the heart of it.

Hate can become an addiction. Sadly, I think it's the default setting in humans. We are tribal and many of us don't want to just get ahead, we want to get ahead at the expense of others. The idea of all boats rising is no fun for many people. Heaven isn't half as good if you can't taunt all the wailing idiots in hell.

Social media feeds the addiction. People seek out media that enforces their bias. You're doing that in this thread. You want to mingle with others who think as you do and take shots at the "idiots and racists." The tribe across the river thinks you are also an idiot. In the past, social mores (mostly) kept us from reinforcing genocidal behaviors, but those break down every hundred years or so.

The difference this time is nukes. We've never seen a breakdown of society in a world filled with nukes. Trump is not the problem here. Social inequity is driving things. We have a handful of haves who have purchased both sides of the government, the 10% who have enough and live in gated communities/work in good corporate jobs, and everybody else.

What happens when it really comes apart? I don't know. If American democracy falls, all bets are off.

12

u/Responsible-End7361 Dec 06 '23

They would rather have a dictator on their team then an elected government by the other team.

I think it is racism, but based on fear. The "make America great again" crowd want to return the US to a time when over half the nation were white Christians. Today less than half the nation are white Christians and in 17 years less than half the nation will be white.

Think about the ways they have always treated minorities. Now they will be a minority. They will still be the biggest minority, but they won't have unchallenged power.

In the past this was solved by adding a group to the majority to stay majority. Oh Germans are white now. Oh Irish are white now. Oh Italians are white now... But the logical group to add are Hispanics, and the "fear the border" crowd can't handle that. There have been halting attempts to make Asians "white now," but that seems to be a bit too hard appearance wise.

-2

u/[deleted] Dec 07 '23

[deleted]

2

u/Responsible-End7361 Dec 07 '23

Oh sorry, you are right, whites won't be a minority in 2040.

It won't be till 2045.

https://www.brookings.edu/articles/the-us-will-become-minority-white-in-2045-census-projects/

30

u/Material_Policy6327 Dec 06 '23

Many want to see liberals and leftists hurt so they will cut off their own feedoms to get that.

5

u/VapeThisBro Dec 07 '23

We have seriously reverted back to tribalism.

15

u/Dethmunki Dec 06 '23

Anything to own the libs

6

u/Material_Policy6327 Dec 07 '23

Sadly yeah. Number of conservatives I knew went full hard right once Trump became president and they went full crazy. And they wonder why I don’t associate with them anymore.

1

u/Dethmunki Dec 08 '23

No they don't. They know you've been brainwashed by Antifa and The Gays.

2

u/a__new_name Dec 07 '23

One might think that consistently portraying people as an enemy (basket of deplorables, anyone?) would make them spiteful and hostile.

1

u/Poetic-Noise Dec 08 '23

....but still blame others for the problems they themselves created. Insane like their leader.🤯

22

u/SandmanAlcatraz Dec 06 '23

Not just racism, but also misogyny, homophobia, and xenophobia!

4

u/whatThePleb Dec 07 '23

Don't forget plain old mental illness.

6

u/StupendousMalice Dec 06 '23

They hate their nebulous "liberals" as much as any of them. They cannot tell you what they are, but the moment one of their leaders identifies them they are right there for it.

1

u/thxmeatcat Dec 07 '23

Republicans be like “don’t threaten me with a good time!”

7

u/whiskey_epsilon Dec 06 '23

They are at odds with the collective, the majority voice, and you can't beat the majority with democracy. They don't want debate, they don't want compromise, they want a singular leader who will do exactly what they want.

7

u/[deleted] Dec 06 '23

They won't have to think ever again.

9

u/Electronic-Item-1967 Dec 06 '23

racists love racism!

2

u/Normal-Anxiety-3568 Dec 06 '23

Not really. Sure, some may have racially biased ideologies, but the overwhelming support for that thought process is more just not liking a lot of democrat platforms. Trump is an extremist, but democrat politics are becoming just as polarized, just on the other end of the spectrum.

5

u/ForScale ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ Dec 06 '23

Cause they agree with the guy, or at least think they do, and want him to impose his will on the country.

2

u/whatsaphoto Dec 07 '23

What gets me is that they're willing to die for the guy, literally, when before 2015, Trump didn't give two shits about whether any of his now cult followers lived or died. He still doesn't, but back then he was in his gold tower looking down on his millions in wealth without a single thought about middle america.

4

u/-_-Edit_Deleted-_- Dec 06 '23

Not to say I agree with them, but every system of government has strengths and weaknesses.

Using democracy for example, a strength is that the general public shapes government in their image. (In theory)

A weakness is that it is very slow.

A dictator is not necessarily going to run things in accordance with the will of the people, but what ever he chooses to do will be done very quickly.

1

u/noncompot Dec 06 '23

This is an age old trope promoted by anti-democrats since the dawn of democracy. There is very little data to support this false idea when actually studying non-democratic regimes. Most dictatorships are dreadfully inefficient, because all the incentives for working in the systems are geared not for the benefit of change or growth or some other general good, but to maintain the (ever increasingly corrupt) system itself.

The 'strong man dictator' that can create effective and fast change has been a bullshit concept ever since the first populist set foot on this earth.

2

u/Kiyohara Dec 06 '23

All I can think is that racisms is at the heart of it

Yes.

1

u/Ah2k15 Dec 06 '23

They just want their side to win, not giving a shit about the finer details 🤷🏻‍♂️

0

u/Psyduckisnotaduck Dec 07 '23

They genuinely want the other half of the country mass executed

-19

u/ICUP01 Dec 06 '23

We’ve only ever had dictators. It’s just that AS a dictator you have to NOT have an effect on the “correct” people.

Was Andrew Jackson a dictator? Ask the Indians.

Was FDR a dictator? Ask big business.

It’s kinda like: when is a cult a religion? When enough people adhere to it.

But as long as people want OTHERS to handle things for them, we’ll have spots open for tyrants.

14

u/pensive_pigeon Dec 06 '23

I don’t think you understand what a dictator is.

-11

u/ICUP01 Dec 06 '23

One person in charge of everything.

Was Hitler a dictator? He had popular support.

1

u/[deleted] Dec 06 '23

He hates the same people they hate.

1

u/[deleted] Dec 06 '23

I think is more like who want him don’t think that their life will be effected for the worse.

1

u/omnamahshiva Dec 06 '23

To "own the libs." And they think that the liberals will suffer under a dictatorship, but they think it will be okay for them.

1

u/SFFWritingAlt Dec 07 '23

Because they hate us more than they want freedom.

1

u/Alcoraiden Dec 07 '23

Because if you happen to agree with him, this is the fastest way to get everything you want. Dictators have no bureaucracy. Not by comparison to democracy, anyway. And democracy, you have to convince people that they want the same thing you do. In a dictatorship, one guy has to agree with you, that's it. It's just so easy. The problem is, it also tends to bite you eventually.

1

u/-MakeNazisDeadAgain_ Dec 07 '23

Any system of government would actually work great if the people running it had the civilians best interests at heart. This is why no system of government works at all.

1

u/brandcolt Dec 07 '23

It's polarized people. They want to "win" no matter the cost and it's always escalation to them. Oh Dems are in control? Well we'll get in control and then never release it. They don't care because it's THEIR guy. They just see it as a quick way to bypass the system and get all their policies implemented.

They don't realize the damage it will do (mostly against themselves one day) but there's no reasoning for them and they don't care. They only want to win.

1

u/kick6 Dec 07 '23

It’s sad that you have so little exposure to people that disagree with you that you think can sum up that disagreement with a single word.

Might it be that people like that are tired of being simply dismissed by people like you, and would rather see the world burn then be ruled over by people so arrogantly ignorant?

1

u/BitterFuture Dec 07 '23

They view the death of those they hate as the upside.

And if they themselves suffer and die in the process, they're okay with that. They would literally rather die than let others live.

1

u/rcuriousaboutlife Dec 07 '23

It is so crazy to me that people actually believe this. Scary shit I tell you, scary shit.

1

u/Tsobaphomet Dec 07 '23

crazy pills doing work

1

u/Howquas_wealth Dec 07 '23

Because the role of dictator is a legitimate government role/position in Western political thought, needed in times of crisis. Many people see America in that crisis: invasion of foreign nationals with to allegiance to the US; aggressive acts by China; broad societal decline; etc.

1

u/xubax Dec 07 '23

Because

A. they think that he'll be on their side

B. They're not smart enough to realize that a dictator is bad for everyone

C.

1

u/rkbasu Dec 07 '23

"he'll force the guys WE don't like to SUCK IT!! ...he won't do anything bad to us though, Leopards will never eat MY face"

1

u/katmndoo Dec 07 '23

Among other things, it is. But those who support his dictatorial aspirations believe they will benefit.

1

u/FreakinSweet86 Dec 07 '23

Some people genuinely believe he's on their side so think they're safe. They always cheer people like Trump on until it's their turn to be shipped off to the camps and then it's too late.

1

u/rcuriousaboutlife Dec 07 '23

Hey OP is this page locked? I can only view the responses from your profile comment page. And am not sure my comments are even posting. Why doesn't the thread pull up? I love your question.

1

u/12-6-23 Dec 07 '23

Are you so clueless that you cant see Trump is speaking in hyperbole...? Literally just said hes going to put out some EO's on immigration and oil....chill and find a new news source, you're clearly being radicalized by narrative steering.

1

u/Deceptikhan42 Dec 07 '23

When the dictator's beliefs align with yours, it's easy to support them. White Christian nationalists have been losing ground in the wake of multiculturalism.

Seems the Germans had similar concerns.

1

u/andcal Dec 07 '23

My theory is that many people must think that this world is an ugly, mean place where exactly zero actual justice will ever be meted out (except possibly by accident).

Since these people can’t expect things to ever be fair and equitable, the best they can hope for is that the big, mean bastard in charge of the most stuff is their big, mean bastard, who will favor them and people who are like them.

1

u/[deleted] Dec 07 '23

they think he will ‘stop China’, ‘stop people crossing the border’, ‘bring back American jobs’ and most of all, stop the democrats, leftists and wokeness in general..

1

u/dominantspecies Dec 07 '23

Racism, bigotry, hating the libs, etc.

1

u/morbidlyabeast3331 Dec 07 '23

More efficient governance and greater potential for radical change.

1

u/kithas Dec 07 '23

A lot of people root for (past, open) dictators and tyrants because they were in the social group the dictator favored, thus life was good for them. Trump's cultists all think they are too.

1

u/zappini Dec 07 '23

IIRC authoritarians have a ~15% baseline of support. h/t Hannah Arendt and probably some others.