"I believe this election turned out the way it did in no small part because a large number of Americans are now submerged in new factories of lies more insidious than anything Orwell imagined,"

[wdlindsy@toad.social]

"For example, they account for an estimated 30 to 50 percent of workers in meatpacking.

If these workers are deported, the food industry will probably have great difficulty replacing them. Even in the best case, the industry will have to offer much higher wages — and, of course, these higher wages will be passed on in higher prices.

(Oh, and while we produce most of what we eat, we also import a lot of food — whose prices would be raised by tariffs.)"

#Trump #fascism #disinformation
/8

[wdlindsy@toad.social]

"Undocumented immigrants are more than a fifth of the construction work force, so deportations would severely hamper efforts to increase the housing supply. (And no, contrary to what JD Vance said, immigration hasn’t driven the recent spike in housing costs.)"

#Trump #Republicans #fascism #future #disinformation
/9

[wdlindsy@toad.social]

"Could we easily make up for the loss of these workers by replacing them with native-born workers? No. Employment among native-born adults in their prime working years is higher than it was at any point during Trump’s first term. There just isn’t a large pool of idle but employable native-born Americans to put to work."

#Trump #Republicans #fascism #future #disinformation
/10

[wdlindsy@toad.social]

"For American democracy, this election has been like going to the doctor for a routine annual physical, only to be shown an X-ray revealing a sinister dark mass over the heart. ...

This election has taught me that our country has made a fundamental shift in its core values."

~ Kareem Abdul-Jabbar

#Trump #Republicans #fascism #future #disinformation
/11

Bloomberg - Are you a robot?

(www.bloomberg.com)

[wdlindsy@toad.social]

“He’s good and bad. People say he’s a dictator. I believe that. I consider him like Hitler. But I voted for the man.”

#Trump #Republicans #fascism #future #disinformation
/12

~ Scranton, Pennsylvania, voter Matt Wolfson

Democrats kept calling Trump a fascist, but these Pennsylvania voters thought he could help them pay the bills

Even though Trump spewed violent and anti-democratic rhetoric, these voters think he can help the economy and their bottom line.

https://www.inquirer.com (www.inquirer.com)

[lightfiar@med-mastodon.com]

@wdlindsy Pretty much it WAS their fault and 50 years of neoliberal bullshit that dems like Clintons, Obama, Biden (the worst) embraced (and Reagan, Bushes amplified). They took votes for granted; then shit on labor, the poor, BIPOC, the planet, just offering window dressing and crumbs. Of course the "answer" wasn't Drumpf and now we're all horribly, thoroughly 100% fucked to death. ALL. Including the .1%--it'll just take a wee bit longer to get to them.

[wdlindsy@toad.social]

"Politics isn’t about politics anymore.

That significant numbers instead see it as a vehicle to channel their fears and resentment-driven emotional instincts – beyond facts – is the existential challenge facing democracy today. ...

The tech revolution has changed everything."

~ Hardeep Matharu

#Trump #Republicans #fascism #future #disinformation
/13

The Psycho-Social-Techno Politics of ‘MAGA’ Trumps Democracy – And The Liberal Left Needs an Answer

Donald Trump’s second victory in the United States is a warning sign to democracies everywhere of the centrality of emotions – and their manipulation – in our politics

(www.bylinesupplement.com)

[wdlindsy@toad.social]

"For many outside of progressive, liberal, and left-leaning circles, social media platforms rife with conspiracy, disinformation, and hate are what people are seeing daily – and where they develop their sense of the world they live in. Social media is now the media."

#Trump #Republicans #fascism #future #disinformation
/14

[wdlindsy@toad.social]

"In this ecosystem, what matters is what resonates, regardless of how outrageous, and getting riled up is rewarded by the algorithm. Again, there is the interaction of such visceral instincts with the more factual grievance of the system not working in their interests."

#Trump #Republicans #fascism #future #disinformation
/15

[pricklypam@mstdn.social]

@wdlindsy

First, I have to admit I didn't read/listen to this article.

That said, many people just don't read/listen to mainstream media. They can't be bothered. It's not fun.

Instead they get their news from podcasts and TikTok videos.

Those are more entertaining to people who can barely read.

[lolonurse@ohai.social]

@wdlindsy
Anyone who hasn't seen the "comedy" film A Day Without A Mexican", you really ought to!

[wdlindsy@toad.social]

@LightFIAR Feel free, if you choose, to focus on the perceived shortcomings of Democrats and not the serious threat looming before all of us, and, in particular, before the most vulnerable of us.

Some of us don't have the luxury of playing that supercilious, self-defeating game. I'm among those "some of us." I refuse to entertain it, not even for a second.

[wdlindsy@toad.social]

@lolonurse Thank you for recommending it. I haven't seen it and will look for it. I need comic relief now, for sure.

[gooba42@mastodon.social]

@wdlindsy Deportation is expensive. Bullets are cheap. The final solution in the situations is always the same.

We're going to arrest and enslave people and then when we've decided we've got all we need, we'll execute the rest. This playbook was written a long time ago.

[skua@mastodon.social]

@wdlindsy

Thinking that one way to punish states what weren't loyal to DJT would be to sweep them clean of undocumented workers.

Disruption of production. Wages rise. Local inflation. Less local purchases.

Products from loyal states stay cheaper.

[wdlindsy@toad.social]

@PricklyPam Yes, this is the case. Many people, especially ones raised with the internet, read less and less in any case — and that's surely a big part of the problem facing us now.

[nazani@universeodon.com]

@wdlindsy Some years ago a raid on 2 Missouri chicken processing plants rolled up 700 undocumented workers. Don't know if the employers were arrested. Definitely sure locals didn't cue up to fill those jobs.

[wdlindsy@toad.social]

@Nazani Yes, this has gone on in waves in some places in the past decade or so. Agricultural workers in Alabama were targeted, and the upshot was that crops needing to be harvested were left to rot in the fields. Some of us are so eager to hurt others of us that it never seems to occur to us that we hurt ourselves in the process.

[wdlindsy@toad.social]

@skua Yes, I could see that possibility. If so, we would all need to be very concerned about the fact that so much of our food is supplied by the blue state of California, where immigrant labor is absolutely essential (as in the rest of the country) to growing and harvesting food.

[wdlindsy@toad.social]

@gooba42 Yes, when we set ourselves on this path, we need to be very aware of grim historical precedents. Many of us are low-information voters who haven't troubled to inform ourselves of that grim history.