G650

Y'all motherfuckers calm down on all the friendly fire in here. You are both right.

Damn Lichtman talking shit lol

They aren't mutually exclusive though.

Eye of the Needle is a great book, but anything from him is top shelf

I mean that's great to say and all, but do you also say that about people with autism? ADHD? Substance abuse illness? Other behavioral and cognitive disorders?

The thing is there is a third group that genuinely don't get it. I know that it's seems logically impossible, but it absolutely exists.

I've been on the UBI train for years

10 years? Try 40

Oh it is, its just not as extreme as it used to be. But as I said the billionaire welfare is through the roof now

https://www.pilotonline.com/2024/11/01/well-still-be-neighbors-virginia-beach-yard-sign-aims-to-counter-political-divisiveness/ So I just read this morning we lead the state in political sign irritation. I 100% believe it, it's insane this year.

I mean, my issues with unions was always in relation to how they shit on other labor for their own ends, not how they kept companies in check, which is a good thing. I do think they are generally in a better place now and as I said I have common ground with them. I guess the other part of this is we have gone to a country that is basically welfare for billionaires. Yes, those are definitely all positives.

I mean, I'm still not overly Union to this day. But the enemy of my enemy is my friend, so there's common ground to be had. As I've said before, the 20th century US was basically welfare for mediocre white motherfuckers, and we are seeing the reaction to that going away over the past 15 to 20 year. Unions were just an extension of that philosophy.

So honestly, this guy is a funny story, and there is no way I can really do it justice here, but I will give you the overview anyhow. He is a true believer in every sense of the word and lives in a vaguely attached reality. Probably two or three times a year he will call me in a panic over some totally wacky conspiracy theory he has heard from god knows where. I think the last one was France, India and maybe Turkey were going through with their alternative currency and the USD was going to be eradicated in 3 months. This was maybe in the spring of this year? Anyways. He was a nuclear engineer in the Navy, so clearly has intelligence, but whatever that thing that keeps you in touch with reality is not firing on all cylinders. As far as the riot, he was there for the rally up the street (I actually talked to him on the phone while that was happening. He was like "hold on a second, the President is speaking", which is when it dawned on me where he was). He got sucked up into that through naiveté, and didn't actually raid the Capitol. And on the plus side my guys gave him a hilarious amount of shit for it. So this isn't a guy who is consciously lashing out and knows he is hurting people, he is a true believer.

This is accurate. It's also what the middle and upper middle class have voted for, for almost 50 years running now, and what they culturally value above all else.

God I fucking hope so

Well, we don't exactly, but thats ok too!

I'm certainly not saying the uneducated whites aren't breaking Trump, but what I see is people underestimating just how many middle class suburbanites exist. At any rate, it's an interesting conversation but now its time for me to retire and read a bit before bed so I'll leave it here. I have full faith the night shift will have much for us to ponder in the morning.

He does from some. I spend my days with poor white dudes among others, they aren't universally, or even majority, Trumpy. Upper middle suburban white dudes who like F250s, or have construction companies, or work in finance or plenty of other cross sections are like 99% Trump true believers and there are millions of them. Hell I posted the dude with the Trump Train Fountain speedboat in here, that's like the median Trump acolyte. How many of you guys know anyone that was at the J6 riot? I talk to one almost every day in a professional capacity. Owns a small excavation and grading company, been raking it in past few years. Literally 100% opposite of people who have been left behind supposedly in this economy.

I'm not sure what a Tobias is, but there's a lot more of the people I'm referring to than Cleeti in this country.

I think its number 2

Aye caramba

Aren't there like half a million of them in Florida?

Totally fine to disagree. Empirical evidence has shown who they are to where I'm pretty confident in my opinion though. At the end of the day, from what you have posted over the year I surmise our policy preferences are pretty closely aligned, at least economically. The only real difference I see is you have an eye to the middle class outcomes and I wouldn't care if the US middle class drove off a cliff.

But that is who the core Trump supporter is.

Exactly. Core Trump support isn't remotely tied to who didn't win the inflation lottery of the past couple years, in fact it can't be tied to it at all because of the very fact it goes back 8+ years. To this day it is insane how people writ large still don't get who the core Trump supporters really are. It's upper middle suburban/exurban whites of certain persuasions. It's not Cleetus and Meemaw.