Reacting to the republican national convention

 So, I didn't want to respond to the republican national convention until it was over, so here's my thoughts all in one.

Day 1

Here they focused on the economy and i have mixed views. on the one hand, i do think they did a good job with the populist vibes and actually feel kinda jealous knowing if we ran bernie in 2016, that energy could've been ours. But dems are gonna dem, and they can't win elections to save their lives, so...

Anyway, on the one hand, it did have some good vibes. I mean, the union pitch i was somewhat for, although a union guy speaking at the RNC as if Biden hasnt been the most pro union president since FDR kinda reeks of betrayal to me. Some have actually called this almost like the Strasserite strategy, noting the parallels between this guy's rhetoric and the rhetoric of the pro union Nazis during the 1932 election. Those guys purged afterwards. And yeah, why you'd try to play footsie with Trump who is as fascist as American politics get is beyond me. It didn't resonate with me at all. 

Beyond that, there was a lot of misinformation. People hyping up inflation by pointing out gas prices being over $5 an gallon, which was their record in 2022 when Russia was doing it's BS with the world oil market. Guys, the president doesnt control gas prices or inflation. None of this is Biden's fault. biden actually did as much as he could to resolve the problem. I get it, inflation sucks, perhaps the dems should lean into raising living standards, but yeah. 

And then there was the whole job creator rhetoric and blah blah blah small businesses. Several hours of this crap is why I leaned into explaining that capitalism is just slavery with extra steps, because I really do feel like people need to hear my econ 101 explanation for why capitalism sucks and relying on employers to provide a good living for people is just a bunch of nonsense. But that's the GOP for you, and that's what trickle down is, regardless of how populist the GOP makes it sound.

Day 2

I'm going to admit after Day 1 I kind of zoned out a bit on days 2-4 here. I did try to listen as much as I could but it was all in one ear out the other. Day 2 seemed to focus a lot on christian nationalism, which i found cringey. I dont believe we're a christian nation, F off with your religious fundamentalism. Stop forcing your vision on me. Then they act like we're all leftists and postmodernists on the left, and we're not. The dems are actually remarkably moderate.

On trans issues, idk why the GOP cares so much. it's like the speakers on day 1-2 couldn't stop mentioning things like how many genders there are and pronouns, and it's like bro, who cares, let them live their lives without you forcing religion on people.

There was a lot of anti immigration sentiment, and these guys are like obsessed with fentanyl. Like, I don't get it. People act like you're gonna die from fentanyl poisoning just from buying a box of cereal at the grocery store or something. I mean, come on, you get that crap when you seek out illegal drugs on an unregulated black market. First of all, and I'm sure would agree with me on this, you shouldnt be seeking out illegal drugs and i dont really feel a ton of sympathy from those who mess with dangerous substances and die. I mean, how hard is it, to just not get involved with drugs in the first place? Not trying to victim blame, i just think it's super easy for this to never be a problem for most people. Second, as far as the problem goes, gee, if only someone would support centers that would allow people to shoot up with medical supervision. Too bad the right thinks this encourages drug use and is bad. Gee if only someone would tell them prohibition doesnt work and supports decriminalizing drug use, maybe this wouldnt be an issue. And for drugs like marijuana, eh, legalization is probably the answer. Better a regulated product than some crazy black market crap with who knows what in it.

But yeah. I think the easiest solution is to just not do drugs. I mean, as Nancy Reagan, conservative once said, "just say no!" Why is that so fricking hard? (other than addiction obviously, if you got addicted to like pain meds through no fault if your own, that sucks, i feel sorry for you, but otherwise, you're screwing around and finding out). I mean, am i being insensitive? Maybe. I just dont see this issue as affecting most americans as long as they dont, you know, start getting involved with crap they probably shouldn't. And that if we want a better world where we reduce negative consequences of harmful behavior, you should be a leftie or libertarian anyway. 

But yeah. I don't like the GOP. That should be obvious. Their worldview sucks, their ideas suck, their solutions suck, and by the end of day 2 it seemed like whatever detente the GOP had post Saturday is coming to an end. 

Day 3

Ok, here we got to hear from some heavy weights like Don Jr and JD Vance. I don't have much to say here. Quite frankly, most speeches were boring and I dont have any reason to elaborate. Just...bleh. I'm kinda mentally checking out by now. 

By this point I notice people are wearing ear bandages in solidarity with Trump. And chanting "FIGHT FIGHT FIGHT", which my german Rammstein friends are saying looks directly from the the third reich. And I can't disagree. 

Oh, speaking of which, Im using incendiary rhetoric. And one thing I noticed is they kept trying to blame the left for the Trump being hitler talk raising the temperature of the country. Uh, you ever think of not being like the nazis if you didn't wanna be criticized for being like the nazis? Stop blaming us. Besides, the shooter wasnt a leftie. He was just a lone wolf whack job with school shooter syndrome. I mean, come on. 

But yeah this is where the detente with the left is really breaking down for me. I won't wish death on people openly, I won't say that Trump or conservatives deserve to die, but as far as your own fascist bullcrap, no, I'm gonna call you out, and you gotta own that crap. 

Oh yeah, and they also took a lot of shots at us for not being mindlessly pro Israel. I mean, I dont embrace the free palestine nutcases myself, but I don't like the dogmatic pro israel crap either.

Day 4

Really? Vince McMahon's wife? Hulk Hogan? Kid Rock? The head of the UFC? What is this the WWE? Come on, man. This convention is turning into a joke. And most speeches tonight were horrible.

On foreign policy, they keep blaming Biden for Afghanistan? But Trump signed the agreement with the taliban that gave us that deadline. And yeah, Biden kinda botched the pullout, but again, it was kinda chaotic. And honestly, Afghanistan was like, this is a no win situation just rip the band aid off. I know it gives imagery similarly to our pull out from vietnam, but we'll survive. And now we can focus on stuff like countering Russia and China that actually matters.

Btw, Trump is essentially anti nato and an isolationist. His foreign policy is actually really scary and dangerous given how dictators like Putin and Xi are making moves that they shouldn't.

On Trump's speech himself, I call it boring. he talked about his assassination and how he was basically saved by God (uh, letting my own spirituality in here, but you realize being saved from assassination doesnt make you a good person right? Just saying...). He went on about immigration killing hundreds of thousands of people a year, but the irony of almost being killed by basically a "school shooter" with an AR15 is kinda going over his head there. And yeah there was a lot of circlejerking both from him and Eric's (Trump) speech about the American dream. And talking about how government spending is why inflation happened. Even though his tax cuts have the same inflationary effect.

As far as lowering the temperature goes, as I said, if he wanted to not be accused of being Hitler, dont act like him. And no, he's not "saving democracy", dude tried to overthrow an election.

But yeah, by this point, I'm bored, I'm underwhelmed. I dont buy this vision at all. And yeah. It's just an hour of verbal diarrhea. I'd actually rather listen to Biden stumble over his words because at least he makes sense and he's honest.

Overall thoughts

Eh, at first, my thoughts were "oh hey, we're screwed". These guys came off as very populist at first, but then they let their butts hang out as it went on. Day 1 I was thinking "we're screwed", day 2 onward I started feeling like these people are insane. By day 3, I just saw through the grift. And by day 4, the entire thing felt like a joke. it was like a ride where I was getting sick and I just wanted off.

Like seriously, don't vote for the GOP. They dont have any good ideas. They're a bunch of religious extremists who fake being populist but dont want good things.

I mean, just before trump spoke, I heard some of Biden's student debt stuff got shot down by the courts again. And I'm just to the point of being like screw these guys. 

I mean, really. I'm just so over this convention by this point. It started strong and turned into a slog. And honestly, I cant even say it was less fascist than I expected, given the "fight fight fight" stuff. 

For a republican Trump himself comes off better, and I do support populism, but it's just so fake. He really is like a wolf speaking to sheep and being like "I'm totally not gonna eat you, I'm a vegetarian". It's bullcrap. Don't believe it. 

PS, I understand I'm posting this while Donald is still speaking, but let's face it, the dude's been rambling for over an hour by now, and I'm so done. He's not saying anything worth a darn, he's just rambling about illegals. It's boring. My gosh, this dude is so BORING these days. I don't understand why people like him any more. 

Put Brandon on. I don't care how many words he flubs. He's better than this guy.