Trump's Death Cult Explained

[Arrian]

IT'S ALIVE! Heya Elok!

[Dauphin]

Unfettered ‘let it happen’ will kill more Trump voters (old people), and economically benefit Democrat non-swing states more than Republican or swing states, and playing at a war time president and extending panic as much as possible gives him a huge poll filip. Irony.

[Arrian]

Obviously there has to be some sense of scale. That said, we're (as in the US) at 26k deaths and rising, likely to 50-100k, and that's *with* the fairly extreme measures we've taken. What's the economic cost of letting an extra, say, 100k people die? 200k?

The idea here is preventative. Ultimately, a high % of the population will get this thing (many will be asymptomatic). But if we spread it out - if we slow it down - we avoid overloading our healthcare system, or reduce that overload, and that saves lives. And that matters.

[Elok]

WOOT Arrian lives! Hi Arrian!

[Arrian]

"We can't afford healthcare because how will politicians and bankers afford their hookers and blow?"

"You can't get a raise so you can get out of debt because how then will the CEO afford his yacht?"

"We can't possibly pay the people who make all our stuff more than $4/day because their skin is too dark."

"Oh, btw, we need you."

"You're essential! … what, $15/hour? Are you crazy?"

I'm insulated from this stuff about as much as anyone - I'm affluent, I can work from home, and I live in a rural area. Still, it's absurd.

[Aeson]

"We can't afford healthcare because how will politicians and bankers afford their hookers and blow?"

"You can't get a raise so you can get out of debt because how then will the CEO afford his yacht?"

"We can't possibly pay the people who make all our stuff more than $4/day because their skin is too dark."

"Oh, btw, we need you."

[Aeson]

I agree it's a false dichotomy. However, it's one that those who have guided the economy have guaranteed we end up with.

Sociopaths in good times: the rest of you are not important enough to the economy to warrant a share of the economic spoils.

Sociopaths in bad times: why won't the rest of you perform the critical work the system cannot do without?

[Dauphin]

I think wrapping up saving the economy as a Trumpian message is wrong, and makes a false dichotomy.

We, as societies, let people die all the time for economic ‘good’. We permit a level of toxins to be pumped into the air that quantifiably kill in the name of economic progress. We send soldiers to go and fight wars of economic interest, whilst doing nothing where we have no interests. We don’t pay enough for everyone to have health coverage without limit - some treatments are too expensive is often the only reason to deny treatment.

We are constantly doing a cost vs life evaluation. Sometimes incorrectly, sometimes with different personal choices on what those costs are and what a life is worth. But we make them.

Would you accept a full lockdown like we have today if it saved no lives? What about 1? 10? 1,000? 1 million?

The argument of what a life is worth is crass, but necessary. There will be wide opinions, but don’t make the argument of economy vs life a night/day preserve of one group of people or party against another. It is a spectrum we are all on.

Also, on dichotomy - There is more to unpack - you can reduce economic cost and maximise life without a linear trade-off. Eg, shielding the sick and infirm will impact the economy less and save more people than shielding the young only, which will hurt the economy a lot for very little life saving.

[Ted Striker]

The thing about Mango Mussolini isn't that he's the worst. He is, obviously. No, it's about what he's revealed about ~40-45% of the country. Frankly, Hillary was FAR too kind.

Agree. Nothing Trump is doing is new, he's just shameless about it and doesn't try to hide it.

[Arrian]

The thing about Mango Mussolini isn't that he's the worst. He is, obviously. No, it's about what he's revealed about ~40-45% of the country. Frankly, Hillary was FAR too kind.

[Ted Striker]

https://www.salon.com/2020/04/07/cult-expert-steven-hassan-trumps-mind-control-cult-now-faces-an-existential-crisis/

For people outside Trump's cult and the Republican Party, it seems ridiculous and evil to suggest that people should go out and die from the novel coronavirus to save the economy. But Trump's followers seem willing to do so. What is going on in their minds?

If you are in a cult where the leader is claiming to be some type of apostle or prophet who gets revelations directly from God, and who says "just believe in me" and tells you to reject reality or outside information, then you believe that you will be fine. You will be "saved" and go to "paradise." Therefore, if Trump or his other spokespeople tell people to go out, get sick and then die, it is fine because the cult members believe they are going to heaven.

Unfortunately, there are millions of Americans who believe that Donald Trump is doing a good job with the coronavirus pandemic because they are not looking at any other source of news or reality testing. These people are doing a lot of praying and they have put their faith in an authoritarian leader who continually tells them, "I know better than everyone else, the experts, the doctors, etc." Trump says that all the time. He always tells his followers that he knows better than the scientists, generals and other experts. Trump is telling his followers that he is omnipotent.

Trump smilie --- >