after bush, we had PALIN, we thought she was the worst of the gop.
this post was submitted on 06 Mar 2026
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Bush had a 90% approval rating following the attack on the twin towers. Americans were not surprised by the "war on terror", they did not resist it, they were cheering for it.
It was only later once people realised there was no obtainable goal in sight, and no exit plan. That they started questioning it. But the was years later.
In fairness, Bush's rating declined steadily after 9/11, and was in the mid 50s when he asked Congress for a formal declaration of war in Iraq.
And that makes sense - Americans rallied in the days following the attack. Bush played his role perfectly. He was very presidential after 9/11. He was serious. Somber. He mourned and offered consolation. He was dignified.
The Trump administration missed a crucial step in starting a war. He forgot that Americans hate wars of choice - and especially when the gas prices are affected.
The attack left an emotional impact that could be manipulated to brainwash support. Today's brainwashing techniques require a lot less, are more effective, and attack people's egos directly through group psychology and cults-on-demands of the engagement algorithm.
There was no brainwashing... Americans were angry and wanted someone to pay. Who exactly didn't matter. As long as someone paid.
As of now. There's no brainwashing. People are not supporting Trump because they don't know better. They're doing because they agree with him.
Straight from the horse's mouth: https://www.military.com/feature/2025/11/16/long-arc-of-influence-how-modern-governments-build-and-weaponize-propaganda.html
How naive can you be? Like literally, after things like Cambridge Analytica, technobro billionaire oligarchs openly buying up social networks and openly admitting that without them, their candidates would have lost elections, like after a gazillion stories about troll factories, bots, users being sold on the market because of their relevance in the platform due to reputation gaming, literally f-ing Project 2025 and the rise of technocracy zealots in power, wealth, and influence, how utterly naive is it openly acceptable to consider someone as being while believing they are a participating in good faith?
I never said you can't influence anyone through propaganda. But I do not believe Americans were "brainwashed" to do anything. I think they wanted to do it.
I don't think they're brainwashed, I think they're genuinely that dumb and uneducated.
In any other civilised country, if the government started a war without congressional approval. They would riot in the streets of the capitol and stay there until they get what they want.
"Dumb and uneducated" is the same thing as brain-washed.
It's not accidental.
In any other civilised country, if the government started a war without congressional approval. They would riot in the streets of the capitol
No, they wouldn't and they haven't. In Europe, this is what's fueling the rise of the far-right. The difference is largely that their forms of government are more resilient. You could not be any more mistaken. There are riots in Europe, just like there are in the US, but MAGA is perfectly able to organize riots and protests as well, and so are their fair-right counterparts in the EU, and theirs has much more money behind them and is much more cultified.
Oh, which European country exactly launched a full scale war against another country without congressional approval?
I would love to know just how mistaken I am.
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"There was no brainwashing..."
Define brainwashing. Tell me why a farmer who lives 3,000 miles away from NYC should be emotionally affected by 9/11, but not by the countless other injustices in the world. How else do you define mass media if not "brainwashing"?
Making someone adopt radically different beliefs, often by force or severe systematic pressure.
Charles Manson would be the classic example of someone that brainwashed vulnerable people into doing things they under normal circumstances would never even consider.
I cannot tell you why your fictional farmer would or would not be emotionally affected by various tragedies... in my experience, people are different and have their own views. Some are deeply affected by attacks on their nation, some are not.
I don't think mass media is brainwashing people, because I don't think they're making them adopt new beliefs. I think they're re-affirming and confirming people's already held preconceived notions and prejudice.
If you think it's brainwashing that's fine. But I would disagree.
I don’t think mass media is brainwashing people, because I don’t think they’re making them adopt new beliefs.
And where did those beliefs originate?
Where does any belief originate?
If you're trying to allude to those beliefs coming from brainwashing. Then we are all brainwashed by our parents.
But we generally call that "being raised". And as you're well aware, different people are raised differently.
Americans: we can go dumber
We'd probably be better off if we elected a golden retriever.
There's no law that says a dog can't be president...
Except they have to be over 35 years old. : (
What about dog years?
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Guilty as charged.
I recall squirming in embarrassed discomfort listening to Bush try to form a coherent sentence.
GLORY DAYS
In 2001, I was one of the few against the Iraq war, and we were pariahs. Flags flying everywhere
i remember living in redhatistan in 2003. it was halloween. i thought of the thing that would be scariest to my neighbors so i dressed up as an iraq war protestor. most of my neighbors immediately got it and thought it was hilarious. about 15% of them were insanely offended and two or three grown men squared up to fight me until they realized the puny disabled kid had this long board with nails in it holding a small sign. i was not unprepared in any way.
I went to a Halloween party in 2004 dressed as an Abu Ghreb detaineee. I was basically naked with flesh-colored compression shorts that had a stuffed dog biting the crotch, a black hood, chains and a leash attached to my wrists, and "property of Abu Ghreb" written on my chest. Absolutely nobody got it (this was also in the South, in a Louisiana town with a big air force base, so it's probably best that it wasn't understood).
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I got garbage thrown at me in school and I was the one called to the the office over it. I didn't even have a complex opinion on the war. I was just creeped out by jingoism and I wanted to distance myself from it.
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Isn't this saying US citizen are the dumber man (as a whole) for electing fucking dimwits again and again and again who have war crimes to their names?
So, voting for war criminals isn't a sign of stupidity per se. Republicans generally like war crimes.
And liking war crimes is a sign of what?
Greed, sociopathy... And yeah probably also stupidity, but it's not required.
The intelligence of the american people cannot be underestimated.
Both of those men stole elections to get into office.
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They stole that election.
His daddy is cia.
One of the varieties of voting machine (the ones made by Diebold) in use during that election used Microsoft Access as its database for storage. Only oldheads will understand how horrifying that is. Access did have an audit table (a part of the DB that records all transactions made to the data) but it was hand-editable.
I know this is a meme so I shouldn’t look for historic accuracy here but a the vast majority of the US, and many of our allies, were on board for an invasion of the Middle East (Afghanistan) in 2001 after 9/11. It was the invasion of Iraq in 2003 that turned many people off.
Fool me once!
Afghanistan is in Southwest Asia, not the middle east, fyi
Thanks for the info! In the early 20th c. “The Middle East” was defined as the land between India and the Ottoman Empire. The term has since changed to not include Iraq and Afghanistan. During the invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq, the US government used the term “Greater Middle East” to encompass those two countries. That’s where my confusion lies. Learn something new every day.
The middle east is also southwest Asia.
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The south doesn't deserve to vote.
Suspend their statehood and keep them as permanent territories with zero voting representatives.
The south isn't the only states that voted for the pedo...the midwest is filled with evangelicals who voted for him all 3 times.
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As long as the dumb man continues to have supporters, we must assume there are still dumber men out there. Watching. Waiting. Eating dirt.
Can't wait to see how stupid the next quarter-century idiot will be
Well yeah, who's the more foolish? The fool or the one that follows him?
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