He's not a Soprano. The Sopranos were all really good at what they did. Tony Soprano would strangle someone with his bare hands, not get a bunch of people all fired up to do it for him because it would make him queasy.
Walter White had an extremely successful business model - something Trump has never had, so he loses in that comparison, too.
He's whiny and manipulative when he lacks power and callous, bullying, murderous and domineering when he has it. He's an abusive, arrogant, intolerant bully.
Walter White had a conscience though. And what he did he did for his family, at least initially. Or had convinced himself that this was the reason.
For Trump none of that is true. He has no measurable conscience, and he doesn't give two shits about his family, as can be seen by the total fuck-ups that they are. And he has no need to convince himself otherwise. In Trump's world exists only one person and that is Trump.
The key part of this article is the one explaining why they are considered “swing voters”
“All 11 participants in our Times Opinion focus group were swing voters: They had supported or been open to Hillary Clinton or Mr. Biden at least once in 2016, 2020 or 2024, and backed or considered Mr. Trump at least once in those years as well”
Supported or been open to? That means absolutely nothing and anyone who voted for Trump even once is not a “swing voter”. Who did they vote for in 2016 or 2020 and who do they support now? I bet at least 8/11 voted for Trump both times.
This ‘shock to the system’ thing people go on about: I see it a lot. The rough notion seems to be: I don’t like how things are, so I’m going to elect someone who’s going to break everything... And somehow this is going to make things better...
This is not your brain working, when you get notions like this. This is the frustrated chump part of you.
It’s kinda understandable, I guess. Modern civilisations are complicated. Governments are complicated. People don’t really get how they work. Nor do some of them even want to put in any work to get it at all. So this notion that things aren’t how I want them so let’s burn it all down, it’s a bit like someone who knows fuckall about plumbing realising the drains are plugged and realising the plunger is getting them nowhere and then just saying fuck it and blowing up the bathroom.
Several problems with that approach, in case you’re not already getting why there just might be.
First of all: governments aren’t like some flower garden you can rip out and do without a bit while someone plants a new one. In the modern world, they’re more of a life support system. If you’re on your way to the moon and there are technical problems with guidance or something, you probably don’t want to start by handing the controls to the experimental spider monkey they’re testing on a heavy dose of LSD in zero G. Nor do you probably want just to vent the atmosphere to space yourself and hope somehow this will help. Pro-tip: it’s rather unlikely this will work out well. You probably need to work the problem rather more thoughtfully than that.
Second of all:
You’re not actually likely to be burning it all down anyway. As the world is full of cynical liars who know your vulnerabilities, what you’re actually going to be doing is giving power to someone who has an agenda they are hiding behind ‘burn it all down’ stuff they have pushed and ridden all the way to power and exactly because they know you’re a sucker for it. And, oh, sure, they’ll burn some stuff down... To consolidate their own power and wealth. The checks against their corruption will be the first to go fwoosh. In the current case, followed shortly by any means you had of getting rid of the monsters you gave that power.
So don’t be a fucking idiot. Don’t burn it all down. Thank you for coming to my Ted Talk.
"He’s the bad guy that’ll do things on our behalf."
God, the Sunken Place is a horrible, magical location from which good sense will never escape. This friggin' credulous fool apparently missed not only President Klan Robe's entire career starting by discriminating against Black folk, but him doing everything to get more of us killed, including calling for the executions of five INNOCENT Black men.
This is where I am confident a few of these are chaos agents just on their next play. And I am sure a nonzero number are actually Republican activists; that's how they get recruited for these Cletus Safaris.
President Klan Robe's cult is a fascinating, terrifying thing.
So-called ‘conservatives’—there’s really no such thing anymore because they’re all extremists now—have ceded any and all claims to ‘morality,’ ‘family values,’ and ‘law and order’ in their defense of a thrice-married serial adulterer and decades-long criminal.
I am fascinated by the fact that people actually believe Trump fights for anyone other than himself. What possible evidence do they have that he has selfless motivations?
The nutso part is that Trump already showed what he represents as a "shock to the system." A tremendously pompous ass who doesn't so much govern as give other terrible people free reign to push their terrible policies through.
None of those interviewees are serious people. If they're complaining now he didn't get a chance to "drain the swamp," then they believe in fantasies about why he was prevented from governing the way he wanted to. But also it's the Times, so there you go.
People who want to see a "shock to the system" generally don't understand what the system is or what it does for them.
"I want to shake things up!"
Ok, so that might mean not getting your social security checks, airports shutting down, oh and that food you buy won't be inspected, you're good with that?
"I didn't mean it that way!"
Well, that's the system, genius. Reforming is fine, and you're better off with someone who genuinely understands the system and has respect for it to get in and reform it, but "tear it down" will mean things you haven't thought about.
I have to believe that most of them know this on some level--they think he's in it for himself, but in doing what he does for himself, it will benefit them too.
It's like the dishonest person who makes a great mark for a con man--they think they're in on the con, and not the mark.
Trump was a criminal when elected in 2016, a criminal when he ran for a second term in 2020 and is still a criminal. Has been one his whole life. Those idiots in the article do know Soprano and White are fictional, right? They were given some redeeming qualities by writers. Trump has no redeeming qualities. And as much as I enjoyed Breaking Bad, I wouldn’t vote for Walter White to be president.
I think the non-morons among us will find people like Soprano and White watchable, but would never in a million years want to be near such a person in real life.
I mean, look what they do to random people who get in their way! Sure it makes compelling TV, but who would want to be there???
We are sleepwalking right into 2016-1933... I really lay the blame on our media for their horse race coverage and freely repeating the authoritarian talking points.
He's not a Soprano. The Sopranos were all really good at what they did. Tony Soprano would strangle someone with his bare hands, not get a bunch of people all fired up to do it for him because it would make him queasy.
Walter White had an extremely successful business model - something Trump has never had, so he loses in that comparison, too.
"This is too absurd for even Camus."
Famously known as "the fourth Goon".
He is like Walter White.
He's whiny and manipulative when he lacks power and callous, bullying, murderous and domineering when he has it. He's an abusive, arrogant, intolerant bully.
Walter White had a conscience though. And what he did he did for his family, at least initially. Or had convinced himself that this was the reason.
For Trump none of that is true. He has no measurable conscience, and he doesn't give two shits about his family, as can be seen by the total fuck-ups that they are. And he has no need to convince himself otherwise. In Trump's world exists only one person and that is Trump.
He's no Walter White.
The key part of this article is the one explaining why they are considered “swing voters”
“All 11 participants in our Times Opinion focus group were swing voters: They had supported or been open to Hillary Clinton or Mr. Biden at least once in 2016, 2020 or 2024, and backed or considered Mr. Trump at least once in those years as well”
Supported or been open to? That means absolutely nothing and anyone who voted for Trump even once is not a “swing voter”. Who did they vote for in 2016 or 2020 and who do they support now? I bet at least 8/11 voted for Trump both times.
This ‘shock to the system’ thing people go on about: I see it a lot. The rough notion seems to be: I don’t like how things are, so I’m going to elect someone who’s going to break everything... And somehow this is going to make things better...
This is not your brain working, when you get notions like this. This is the frustrated chump part of you.
It’s kinda understandable, I guess. Modern civilisations are complicated. Governments are complicated. People don’t really get how they work. Nor do some of them even want to put in any work to get it at all. So this notion that things aren’t how I want them so let’s burn it all down, it’s a bit like someone who knows fuckall about plumbing realising the drains are plugged and realising the plunger is getting them nowhere and then just saying fuck it and blowing up the bathroom.
Several problems with that approach, in case you’re not already getting why there just might be.
First of all: governments aren’t like some flower garden you can rip out and do without a bit while someone plants a new one. In the modern world, they’re more of a life support system. If you’re on your way to the moon and there are technical problems with guidance or something, you probably don’t want to start by handing the controls to the experimental spider monkey they’re testing on a heavy dose of LSD in zero G. Nor do you probably want just to vent the atmosphere to space yourself and hope somehow this will help. Pro-tip: it’s rather unlikely this will work out well. You probably need to work the problem rather more thoughtfully than that.
Second of all:
You’re not actually likely to be burning it all down anyway. As the world is full of cynical liars who know your vulnerabilities, what you’re actually going to be doing is giving power to someone who has an agenda they are hiding behind ‘burn it all down’ stuff they have pushed and ridden all the way to power and exactly because they know you’re a sucker for it. And, oh, sure, they’ll burn some stuff down... To consolidate their own power and wealth. The checks against their corruption will be the first to go fwoosh. In the current case, followed shortly by any means you had of getting rid of the monsters you gave that power.
So don’t be a fucking idiot. Don’t burn it all down. Thank you for coming to my Ted Talk.
He only cares about himself. HIMSELF. How can they not see this???
"He’s the bad guy that’ll do things on our behalf."
God, the Sunken Place is a horrible, magical location from which good sense will never escape. This friggin' credulous fool apparently missed not only President Klan Robe's entire career starting by discriminating against Black folk, but him doing everything to get more of us killed, including calling for the executions of five INNOCENT Black men.
This is where I am confident a few of these are chaos agents just on their next play. And I am sure a nonzero number are actually Republican activists; that's how they get recruited for these Cletus Safaris.
President Klan Robe's cult is a fascinating, terrifying thing.
So-called ‘conservatives’—there’s really no such thing anymore because they’re all extremists now—have ceded any and all claims to ‘morality,’ ‘family values,’ and ‘law and order’ in their defense of a thrice-married serial adulterer and decades-long criminal.
Mr. Trump is the living embodiment of republic. The world you see around you is republic, in action and deed. Millennia strong...
I am fascinated by the fact that people actually believe Trump fights for anyone other than himself. What possible evidence do they have that he has selfless motivations?
Have they even just noticed the scores of people thrown under his bus? It looks like a goddamn corduroy road under there!
God helps us!!
The nutso part is that Trump already showed what he represents as a "shock to the system." A tremendously pompous ass who doesn't so much govern as give other terrible people free reign to push their terrible policies through.
None of those interviewees are serious people. If they're complaining now he didn't get a chance to "drain the swamp," then they believe in fantasies about why he was prevented from governing the way he wanted to. But also it's the Times, so there you go.
People who want to see a "shock to the system" generally don't understand what the system is or what it does for them.
"I want to shake things up!"
Ok, so that might mean not getting your social security checks, airports shutting down, oh and that food you buy won't be inspected, you're good with that?
"I didn't mean it that way!"
Well, that's the system, genius. Reforming is fine, and you're better off with someone who genuinely understands the system and has respect for it to get in and reform it, but "tear it down" will mean things you haven't thought about.
The system is fine to burn down if it doesnt affect you. They may believe it doesnt, until they realize it does. Then its too late
They really just want to kill another million Americans so they can have $1.99 diesel again.
Trump is chaotic evil.
He might even be that little square that's outside the grid, just to the side and down from Chaotic Evil.
I have no clue why anyone would think Trump cares about them. He doesn't care about anyone but himself. How can they not see that?
I have to believe that most of them know this on some level--they think he's in it for himself, but in doing what he does for himself, it will benefit them too.
It's like the dishonest person who makes a great mark for a con man--they think they're in on the con, and not the mark.
Surely it will trickle down to me!
Trump was a criminal when elected in 2016, a criminal when he ran for a second term in 2020 and is still a criminal. Has been one his whole life. Those idiots in the article do know Soprano and White are fictional, right? They were given some redeeming qualities by writers. Trump has no redeeming qualities. And as much as I enjoyed Breaking Bad, I wouldn’t vote for Walter White to be president.
Is this what reality tv hath wrought?
THROW THE CHAIR! As reasonable discourse?
I think the non-morons among us will find people like Soprano and White watchable, but would never in a million years want to be near such a person in real life.
I mean, look what they do to random people who get in their way! Sure it makes compelling TV, but who would want to be there???
Lol, exactly!
We are sleepwalking right into 2016-1933... I really lay the blame on our media for their horse race coverage and freely repeating the authoritarian talking points.