Continuing our theme about loss of trust, here's the partisan breakdown of a recent poll about health care:
It's not "Americans" who have lost trust in mainstream health care. It's specifically Republicans—who have decided instead to trust Donald Trump. Fox News whipped them into a frenzy over masks and lockdowns and vaccine conspiracies and Chinese lab leaks, and that eventually turned into a wholesale rejection of reality.
But it didn't affect everyone. Those who stayed away from Fox News remained immune to the madness.
Frankly, I don't give a damn how many Republicans choose to risk death by trusting medical misinformation Donald Trump or Bobby Jr. or any other fool.
What I do give a damn about is that any fool who's not vaccinated might spread his germs to me at the grocery store, or in a movie theatre, or anywhere else I, a prudently vaccinated but with a diminished immune system septagenarian, might go.
The idiot people have always walked amongst us. It’s just now with the internet - and its propensity to select the most outrageous stuff to populate our feeds - that we see them all the time walking amongst us. I guarantee you though: people ignoring health advice were in close proximity to you back in 2015 before Trump sucked all the air out of the media and political landscapes.
This is what I miss about the pre 2015 era: the blissful ignorance that idiots and assholes and their enablers were literally everywhere. It may have been false confidence that knowledge and decency had won out over stupidity and immorality, but it was a much nicer existence than whatever we have now. Trump stole that from us, and unlike the Treasury which he now plans to loot, we’ll never have that sense of “normalcy” again.
Every once in a while there is a really great post here, and this is one. Could not say it any better. It’s like there was comfort prior to 2015 of “sure, they exist, but how many of them can there be?”. I would have never thought the answer is 77 million.
The same people have always been there. They voted Democratic in the South before the Goldwater/Nixon/Reagan switchover era. At that earlier time they were prone to lynch any blacks who stepped out of line. The general alignment has been the same since the switchover - Nixon and Reagan won with their votes. Trump made the deliberate decision to exploit them more explicitly, by which he took the power in the Republican party from the dog-whistlers, and brought the bigotry out more in the open.
+1
unlike the Treasury which he now plans to loot, we’ll never have that sense of “normalcy” again...
Never's a long time. It's possible the GOP will suck to infinity long after he's gone. But maybe not. I choose to be hopeful Trump is sufficiently sui generis that at least some things about our current era will improve in the post-Trump era. Obviously it's entirely possible I'll be proved wrong. But not inevitable. I find hope is a choice—one that makes the present more bearable. Any of us could be hit by a truck tomorrow. So why not try to be optimistic if it makes the present (which, after all, is all any of us really has) more pleasant?
Seven percent of 'Democrats' trust Dumpster? Statistical variance, sure, but....and it's not just the loss of "trust." It's the malignant, sick, violent demonization of Fauci and anyone else on the 'enemies list.' We are in big, big trouble.
DINOs
The folks who sell horse de-wormer must be thrilled about this. The entire "snake oil" selling industry, anti-vaxxer conspiracists, iron lung manufactures, casket manufactures (and the entire funeral industry), and raw milk providers, will be overjoyed when "Worm-brain" is approved to head HHS.
There are religious sects that trust faith healing over medicine and science, too. This is just another one. Unfortunately, it's become an incredible political force backed by not at all credible right-wing media.
So 32% of Republicans don’t trust Trump for their health information. I suppose for them “random person on the internet” would be who they turn to.
Well, there's how someone answers a poll, and then there's where they go and what they do when they actually get sick.
I think we're seeing a performative response to this poll.
Charles Gaba did an analysis of whether the additional MAGA deaths from Covid would be enough to change the results in the (I believe) Clinton/Trump election. (The one that wasn't fixed.) He came to the conclusion that not enough to make a difference.
Obviously some MAGAdude took that as a challenge.
The poll didn't ask about whether the respondent trusted his/her medical provider?
The study KD linked to did ask about trust of your personal doctor, and the answer was highly positive across the board. During the pandemic, my doctors were shaking their heads in astonishment on the number of their patients (elderly) who simply refused to get vaccinated due to political brainwashing by Faux News. Note that I live in Westchester County, NY, an affluent area just north of NYC that votes Blue overwhelming. Lots of folks (fucking morons) insisted on being treated with horse de-wormer and hydroxychloroquine instead of what their doctors recommended.
I'm starting to like the distinction between "Americans" and "Republicans." Another confirmation that when you stare too long into the abyss, you become it.
Time to back away from the edge.
Maybe a self inflicted demise for the idiotic repulsives. They do not have my sympathy, nor my thoughts and prayers, and we’d be better off without them, and their orange leader.
But no questions about drones? Worthless chart!
The Fox "News" mission statement is to cater to the prejudices of uninformed people and actively work to make them misinformed. Aside from all the other damage it does, it makes the rest of the MSM think that there is a large body of advertising targets that they can't reach unless they also cater to the prejudices of the misinformed. Hence we get stuff like this from the NYT
"The presidential race in 2012 ended a pattern in U.S. politics, which has since become characterized by Mr. Trump’s populism"
The word they were groping for is "racism".
News for people who hate liberals is a product. One that's been carefully tweaked to deliver maximum value to the advertisers. The audience is there, the advertisers are there, and billions of dollars have been made proving a platform for the two to meet.
Everything in a capitalist system is a product, including religion. There are fewer and fewer buyers for the existing brands that feed on bigotry, but they're still pretty well funded.
"Everything for Sale." Maybe I need to check out a copy from the library and read it.
I fully support Republicans getting health information exclusively from Donald Trump and his coterie* while completely ignoring the CDC, NIH, and FDA. Fauci is somewhat problematical, let's put him aside for now.
There is nothing better for your health than snake oil. Look at all these testimonials! And when it comes to peddling The Elixir America Needs, is there a more accomplished snake-oil salesman than Trump? Of course not. [see also: bibles, tennis shoes, guitars, watches, NFTs]
* RFK Jr. and hydroxychloroquine anti-vaccination freaks.
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One aspect of populism is rejection of institutions and reason, with a pivot towards folk-tales and emotionalism.
Is this the evolution of the republican party?
Nixon wanted to propose a national healthcare plan
Saint Ronnie wouldn't touch Social Security
Yet both men believed that government WAS the problem
Just nowhere near the extent that Trump believes it to be (and in all honesty - this belief for Trump is only against THOSE government agencies that have, or can hurt him or the Trump Organization)
Think about it this way
Do away with DoE, DoL EPA, and parts of Treasury, THEN increase Dept of Defense spending and what do you gain? Nothing - in fact you are still losing the fight against the national debt. Whether you think the national debt is important or not, paying a legitimate bill is still important to most Americans.
I was really hoping this could be explained by a shrinking number of dedicated fan-boyz who proclaim themselves Repubs and the rise of the Independents but I'm not seeing it
https://news.gallup.com/poll/15370/party-affiliation.aspx
(Note: different polling orgs though)
Take your health advice from Donald Trump? His medical advice comes with an automatic entry into the Darwin Awards competition.