• BraveSirZaphod@kbin.social
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    8 months ago

    Let this be a reminder to anyone who hasn’t liked Biden’s handling of the Gaza situation that this is the alternative.

      • BraveSirZaphod@kbin.social
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        8 months ago

        Sure, criticize away, and you absolutely should. It’s just important to not get so carried away that you wind up contributing to an outcome that you openly know to be objectively worse at the ballot box.

        • themeatbridge@lemmy.world
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          8 months ago

          It’s also important to not get carried away in support because you’re too afraid of losing to even try to improve the outcome. We could do better than Biden, and Biden could do better.

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              8 months ago

              In hindsight, sure. But we’re talking about the next president. Biden will be the nominee, and that’s one of the biggest advantages Trump’s got.

          • gravitas_deficiency@sh.itjust.works
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            8 months ago

            I’m not voting for Biden in the primaries. But I will absolutely vote for him in the general if he’s the not-Republican nominee.

            Do not vote for a third party in the general election. In the context of how our electoral system works, third party votes are literally throwing away your vote. It genuinely does nothing, other than sap support from the less-bad candidate.

            I agree that it’s shitty, and I hate it, but one must reconcile their political desires with how to represent those desires in the context of the electoral system one participate in. Picking a hill to die on because you have strong feelings isn’t going to do shit. Understand the rules of the system, and translating your beliefs into maximally-effective voting action is literally the most efficacious way to use your vote. In the US, that often means voting for people you don’t love. I hope that changes someday, but that day is not today.

          • frunch@lemmy.world
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            8 months ago

            That’s ok–I’ll lend my support to Biden for now. What’s the worst that’ll happen? He’ll claim the elections are rigged? He’ll give awful advice on dealing with a deadly pandemic? Cozy up with a bunch of fascists around the world? I mean, i guess he could do better…

            Tell you right now: He starts pulling any of that shit, then fine–my support will be relinquished!

        • Son_of_dad@lemmy.world
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          8 months ago

          Sometimes though, you even do so much as lightly criticize Biden and you get called a Trumper. It’s like there’s only two extremes and if you’re not one, you’re the other.

          • Sparking
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            8 months ago

            Poster is pretty much saying that there is no difference between him and trump. Just super incorrect and arrogant.

      • pensa@kbin.social
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        8 months ago

        Because we have a first-past-the-post voting system that all but guarantees only two parties are ever real contenders. We must to move toward ranked-choice voting if we ever want to have more options.

      • foggy@lemmy.world
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        8 months ago

        Why can someone collect social security and enact policy that takes it away from people paying into it?

        No senior citizen should be allowed to hold office.

          • foggy@lemmy.world
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            8 months ago

            Are you under the impression that it costs 0 dollars to make an earnest run for president?

            I have my life’s savings to lose. And I’d lose it, because the presidency is a game of connectedness and reach ($), not ‘governing chops.’

            • aviationeast@lemmy.world
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              8 months ago

              I’m running for president. Please write in aviationeast@lemmy.world next year. I swear I am legally eligible…

    • kava@lemmy.world
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      8 months ago

      for many matters trump and biden are identical

      trump moved the embassy to jerusalem, legitimizing israel’s violation of international law

      biden goes over and gives netanyahu a big hug on TV in order to make it clear to the whole world he openly endorses genocide

      trump started the border wall

      biden expanded construction on it

      trump unilaterally broke the iranian nuclear deal

      biden makes no real effort to reinstate it

      trump puts tariffs on chinese steel and other imports from china

      biden continues the same tariffs

      trump used “temporary” covid measures in order to refuse people at the border seeking asylum and separate families

      biden uses the same exact policies, again in violation of both international and internal laws

      the difference between them is narrow and focused on specific topics. for example biden is nice to the rainbow flag.

      • BraveSirZaphod@kbin.social
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        8 months ago

        to make it clear to the whole world he openly endorses genocide

        If that’s your takeaway, you’ll have to forgive me for thinking that you’re not exactly engaging in any meaningful amount of good faith and moving on.

        It is amusing, however, that you say the only difference between them is in narrow specific topics after you’ve just cherrypicked a few select specific topics. As a member of that rainbow flag myself though, that’s a difference I rather appreciate.

        • kava@lemmy.world
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          8 months ago

          I support gay rights, trans rights, whatever you wanna call yourself rights.

          But the 12+ million people living here illegally being promised immigration reform for decades, including by Biden, have it much harder than the gays and are continously ignored and lately the government has been increasingly hostile to them

          Biden, the supposed reformer, even did a photoshoot at the border with border patrol agents to inaugurate the expansion of the wall he promised to halt construction of.

          I grew up illegal. I was under DACA. I trusted Biden to do something, because he said he would. I realize now (I knew before but chose to believe) that it’s all a scam. And the worst part is. The kicker is… that I’m probably going to vote for him anyways.

          This country is a cruel uncaring machine that systematically crushes any sliver of hope.

          Reagan did more for illegals than any democrat ever did. Ronald fuckin Reagan. I’ll give Obama credit for DACA. I assumed Biden would continue in those steps, but instead he’s gone Full Trump.

          As for Israel, what they’re doing is genocide. If you read the facts and have any sliver of empathy or reason then you would see that. Biden knows. Trump knew. They don’t care. Because we actually don’t hold any humanitarian values. It’s all secondary to money and power

          • Nightwingdragon@lemmy.world
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            8 months ago

            I support gay rights, trans rights, whatever you wanna call yourself rights.

            When you refer to the LGBT community as “whatever you wanna call yourself”, your statement becomes less a support of gay rights and more of a variant of “I’m not a racist but…”

            But the 12+ million people living here illegally being promised immigration reform for decades, including by Biden, have it much harder than the gays and are continously ignored and lately the government has been increasingly hostile to them

            They are living here illegally. No shit the government has become hostile to them. Should they be handed coffee and donuts at the border?

            Biden, the supposed reformer, even did a photoshoot at the border with border patrol agents to inaugurate the expansion of the wall he promised to halt construction of.

            Should he offer to take selfies with the ones crossing illegally instead?

            I grew up illegal. I was under DACA. I trusted Biden to do something, because he said he would. I realize now (I knew before but chose to believe) that it’s all a scam. And the worst part is. The kicker is… that I’m probably going to vote for him anyways.

            Wait…wait…wait, what?

            You were here illegally. You’re here under DACA. As there’s no path to citizenship for DACA immigrants, how the hell are you voting?

            This country is a cruel uncaring machine that systematically crushes any sliver of hope.

            You can feel free to return to whatever country you were born in. I understand you were not brought here through your own choice, but that doesn’t mean the US government owes you a free ride, either.

            Reagan did more for illegals than any democrat ever did. Ronald fuckin Reagan. I’ll give Obama credit for DACA. I assumed Biden would continue in those steps, but instead he’s gone Full Trump.

            There are numerous issues with this statement, but I’ll just sum it up by once again saying that the US government doesn’t owe you a damn thing. You came here illegally. By your own admission, you’re still here (technically) illegally. Heck, you’re voting illegally. Stop acting as if the government owes you something for being here illegally.

            As for Israel, what they’re doing is genocide. If you read the facts and have any sliver of empathy or reason then you would see that. Biden knows. Trump knew. They don’t care. Because we actually don’t hold any humanitarian values. It’s all secondary to money and power

            Neither side was right. Hamas literally fucked around and found out. They killed, what, 1400 people and took 200+ hostages in an unprovoked attack. Did they think Israel was going to thank them for visiting? Israel is literally surrounded by countries who believe that it doesn’t have the right to exist and that its citizens should be exterminated. They are the geopolitical equivalent of a cornered/wounded animal. Ever see how a cornered animal reacts when it feels threatened? It was always known that if Hamas or Hezbollah pulled a stunt like that, Israel was going to lash out. They attacked anyway, and now act like they’re the victims because Israel retaliated.

            No, I’m not a fan of how Israel retaliated. They continue to attack blind, with no regard for the difference between Hamas and civillians. They’ve killed thousands of civillians in the process. Their retaliation has clearly been disproportionate. They are just as in the wrong for their retaliation as Hamas was for attacking in the first place. But when you launch unprovoked attacks against a regional superpower that outclasses you by orders of magnitude and say that they don’t have the right to exist, you can’t be surprised when they go full blitzkrieg on your ass in response.

            • kava@lemmy.world
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              8 months ago

              I’m a citizen now. I was illegal from 5-22

              This country, especially specific states, wouldn’t run without labor from illegals. Inflation would go up because Americans simply don’t work as hard and demand more $. The people running this country don’t actually want that to happen so they play a game where they’re anti-illegal but don’t make any significant moves to get rid of them.

              They’re a perfect population. A silent group that pays taxes, doesn’t pull from welfare, commits much less crime than Americans, and isn’t politically active.

              That’s why people like Trump will shout on and on about a wall when he actually knows the majority of illegals are visa overstays coming on planes. If ICE wanted to, they could deport every illegal tomorrow. I’ve seen the files from an immigration attorney. They have profiles of everyone.

              As for Israel v Gaza. Your same argument can be made to justify Hamas’s terror attack. Israel has been killing Palestinians for decades. Therefore in self defense they attack Israel and the dead civilians are an unnecessary evil to pay because the Palestinians have a right to exist.

              I personally think that civilians don’t deserve to die. Especially thousands of children. There are diplomatic solutions here.

              Reality is though, Israel is the aggressor and doesn’t want a diplomatic solution. The Hamas terror attack was appalling but if you look at the numbers, the number of dead Palestinian civilians dwarfs whatever Hamas did.

              The Palestinians are simply not strong enough to break free on their own. They will continue to get slowly exterminated unless something changes. This is the logic behind Hamas’s suicide attack. They either do something now or die.

              this is the type of country we support? Russia bombed a hospital and killed 4 people the president is talking about war crimes this and collective punishment that. Putin even got tried in the ICC.

              But when Israel does it the best he can do is say that Israel has a right to “self-defense” and give Netanyahu a big hug? Why do we bend over backwards and risk WW3 for such a country?

          • BraveSirZaphod@kbin.social
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            8 months ago

            Immigration reform requires Congressional action, and I’m sure you know the state of Congress right now. I’m gonna take a wild guess that you’re on the younger side, haven’t been around for many presidential elections, and didn’t understand that statements made during the campaign are essentially a glorified wishlist unless they’re things that fall solely under executive authority. The fact of the matter is that no President has the power the unilaterally act on immigration.

            And as a fun fact, that Reagan bill from 1986 got through Congress with more Democrats voting for it than Republicans. In fact, if you only look at Republican votes in the House, the bill would have been voted down.

            https://www.govtrack.us/congress/votes/99-1986/h872

            So the real question is, if Biden had the Congress of 1986 rather than the current one that’s so dysfunctional we don’t even have a Speaker in the House, do you really think that nothing would be happening?

            I get that politics is depressing and deeply frustrating, and that change always happens way too slowly. But if you look at it and come away thinking that there’s no meaningful difference between the parties, you’re simply not paying attention.

            For what it’s personally worth, I’m in favor of largely unrestricted immigration and have also been frustrated with a lot of Biden’s actions. But I can also understand that there’s a level of political reality that has to be accepted. A lot of voters want some level of stronger border control. Tariffs are essentially a handout to domestic blue collar union workers which are vital to winning a presidential elections. It’s all cynical and shitty, but you either accept the reality of the situation, or you don’t and enjoy the consequences of empowering people who actually only care about money and personal power.

        • kava@lemmy.world
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          8 months ago

          Neither do you. We do both know, however, what they are doing. Like sending thousands of bombs to Israel so that they can kill more Palestinians. I believe the latest shipment was about 8,000 bombs. At the rate they’re, going that’s enough for a bit over a week.

          I understand there’s nuance to the situation that I’m ignoring to make a sparky comment. It’s obvious the US is trying to pull back the chain on Israel a little more tightly, especially after the hospital explosion, but at the end of the day Israel is an extension of the US.

          The ethnic cleansing and apartheid did not start Oct 7th. Both Biden and Trump have made it clear they are very pro-Israel. Probably Biden wouldn’t have moved the embassy, I think.

      • Nightwingdragon@lemmy.world
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        8 months ago

        for many matters trump and biden are identical

        trump moved the embassy to jerusalem, legitimizing israel’s violation of international law

        Not that I really want to be defending Trump here, but remember that the US does not recognize international law.

        biden goes over and gives netanyahu a big hug on TV in order to make it clear to the whole world he openly endorses genocide

        Because of the way Israel handled the situation, there was really no way Biden was going to be able to take one side or the other without pissing somebody off. Both were in the wrong. Hamas clearly should not have attacked unprovoked and taken hundreds of hostages, but Israel should not have gone full “Kill 'em all and let God sort them out” mode either. The hospital bombing didn’t do anyone any favors either, as you could have video evidence proving who was responsible and people still wouldn’t believe it.

        trump started the border wall

        Actually, no. George HW Bush stared the wall and every single president since him has expanded it ever since. Trump was just the first to make it a focal point of his campaign and policy.

        biden expanded construction on it

        So did every president before him.

        trump unilaterally broke the iranian nuclear deal

        biden makes no real effort to reinstate it

        Iran was pissed that Trump unilaterally broke it in the first place, and feel that attempting to re-negotiate would be pointless if the next administration can just unilaterally drop it on a whim. Plus, with Iran seemingly readying to go up against Israel, any attempt to reinstate it is probably dead on arrival at this point.

        trump puts tariffs on chinese steel and other imports from china

        biden continues the same tariffs

        Why should Biden lift tariffs from a country that is becoming increasingly hostile to us and have far more draconian measures in place in their own country?

        trump used “temporary” covid measures in order to refuse people at the border seeking asylum and separate families

        biden uses the same exact policies, again in violation of both international and internal laws

        Again, international law does not apply in the US, and many countries had strict immigration policies in place regarding COVID.

        the difference between them is narrow and focused on specific topics. for example biden is nice to the rainbow flag.

        Well if that isn’t awfully condescending…

      • Sparking
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        8 months ago

        This is such a poor understanding of policy.

        • kava@lemmy.world
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          8 months ago

          yeah i guess i’m just dense.

          when biden says one thing and does another, i guess really he’s not breaking a promise. like with the saudis or with the border wall. i must be misunderstanding

          • Sparking
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            8 months ago

            Yeah, he should just break the law and throw away years of foreign policy efforts. All for a constituency that is always going to find some reason to be mad at something else. Grow up.

            Obviously he should stick to campaign promises or not make them. That’s sloppy politics. But to say that the administration is exactly the same as trump, it’s kind of willfully ridiculous. There are reasons why the admin does these things. You can disagree with them, but I’m tired of the take that there is only really one political party bro.

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        8 months ago

        Biden isn’t really expanding border wall construction. There hasn’t been a policy shift to build a giant wall to solve immigration issues. Just a single case of wall being built. Every one of your points are skin deep and ignores a lot of nuance. Not to mention the condescending comment on being nice to the rainbow flag.

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      8 months ago

      American Christianity. It’s like Christianity but cutting out all the stuff that Christ guy talked about.

      • Grayox@lemmy.ml
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        8 months ago

        Christ: When someone slaps you turn the other cheek.

        Conservative Christians: Instructions unclear, passes stand your ground law and turns their cheek onto iron sights and starts blastin.

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          8 months ago

          Basically they just expect anyone they abuse to turn the other cheek instead of following the example themselves…

      • HubertManne@kbin.social
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        8 months ago

        jesus christ that bible guy was clueless. Its best to just go with baby jesus and leave out that hippie one.

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      8 months ago

      Trump is the religion. Next move is to deport anybody that doesn’t follow it.

    • macrocephalic@lemmy.world
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      8 months ago

      American religion is the worship of money. Sometimes it takes the guise of Christianity but eschews any of the real lessons.

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      8 months ago

      I know people have said “money,” but if there’s anything akin to “a Religion,” it’s American Fundamentalism, the weird amalgamation of white supremacy, conspiracy theories, Christian fundamentalism, apocalypticism, colonialism, constitutional originalism, and American nationalism.

      It’s festered beneath the surface for decades, and Trump was the first to seize upon the true believers and become their defacto demigod. He even has actual pastors revering him not just for his rhetoric but as an actual messiah figure.

  • IchNichtenLichten@lemmy.world
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    8 months ago

    How fucking Christian of him.

    I almost wish religion was real, just so Jesus could come back and start smiting Trump and the rest of these fake Christians.

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      8 months ago

      While I agree with the sentiment, we should take a step back.

      Our” religion!? And what would that be? Pretty sure the founding fathers made it damn clear that there was no official religion and we were to separate church and state.

      I’m so sick of these Christian fascists that see the handmaid’s tale as something to aspire to and the grifting assholes that will drive that into existence for their own personal gain…

      I say if we deport anyone it’s the people who start forcing their religion on the rest of us.

      • IchNichtenLichten@lemmy.world
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        8 months ago

        “Our” religion!? And what would that be?

        In theory, yes. There should be a separation of church and state.

        In practice though, there are a lot of Republicans who would welcome a fascist theocracy and they’re working toward that end. They get away with it because there are so few moderate Christians who are willing to go to war with these assholes.

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      8 months ago

      The religion he’s talking about isn’t Christianity. Trump wouldn’t recognize Jesus Christ if he smacked him in the face. He’s talking about Trumpism.

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        8 months ago

        Trump wouldn’t recognize Jesus Christ if he smacked him in the face.

        Just for the record… if Jesus came back, he’d do a lot more than smack Trump in the face - I don’t want to get into details, but I’d imagine the involvement of a holy flamethrower is a distinct possibility.

    • DoucheBagMcSwag@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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      8 months ago

      As someone who grew up in a religious household but is now agnostic….I sometimes have second thoughts with the fact that trump is basically frame for frame the “antichrist.”…and we were taught that the Antichrist would be “injured” for a short time but they will eventually win and that’s when the NWO, join or die and the mark of the beast shit will happen. Sometimes that gives me pause for the future.

      What are your thoughts?

      • IchNichtenLichten@lemmy.world
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        8 months ago

        I always thought the antichrist would have to be pretty smart. Either Trump has been playing the long con for the past 60 years or he’s the moron so many people who have interacted with him say he is.

        • DoucheBagMcSwag@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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          8 months ago

          But if you don’t look at intelligence, everything that was predicted about the Antichrist is true when it comes to trump. Sometimes my previous upbringing comes up and I start to wonder if he really is the Antichrist

          • IchNichtenLichten@lemmy.world
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            8 months ago

            You could ask the same of Hitler, Pol Pot, Idi Amin, or any number of other monsters throughout history though, surely?

            It could be that you happen to exist at the same time as Trump so you’re picking him out as a candidate. If humanity survives over the next few hundred years, other monsters will present themselves and people in the future will be asking the same question about them.

  • kromem@lemmy.world
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    8 months ago

    “Our” religion.

    Dude doesn’t even know how to orient a Bible for a photo op, and couldn’t name his favorite part - or any part - of the Bible in an interview.

    The closest he gets to studying Christianity is sitting next to a book of Hitler’s speeches for inspiration via osmosis from a Catholic.

    That he can be so successful with the religious right says quite a lot about their critical reasoning abilities.

    I guess maybe raising children not to question anything and to commit themselves to obeying authority might not have been the best idea in retrospect…

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        8 months ago

        I mean, why would he? You have to feel as though you’ve done something wrong in order to ask for forgiveness. I genuinely don’t think Trump has ever done anything that he recognizes as wrong. I think you could get him to recognize that he’s done things that have hurt people, intellectually, but at best he’d say it was someone else’s fault and/or they deserved it.

      • kromem@lemmy.world
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        8 months ago

        Well yeah, but he as often as possible gets his little wine and his little cracker…

        I get the feeling if you asked him what those represented and why, he’d flub the answer and have to redirect to talking about “The Power of Positive Thinking” again.

    • FaeDrifter@midwest.social
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      8 months ago

      That he can be so successful with the religious right says quite a lot about their critical reasoning abilities.

      It’s a cult. They aren’t consistent with the values of Christianity, because it’s just an aesthetic. The cult itself is always first. In-group vs out-group. Ally vs enemy.

      Tankies are the same. Communism is just an aesthetic, the cult is always first.

    • Flying Squid@lemmy.worldOP
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      8 months ago

      I’ve pointed that out many times.

      Anger, Envy, Vanity, Lust, Avarice, Gluttony, Sloth- he embodies them all.

      • whofearsthenight
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        8 months ago

        I don’t think that I’ve seen that one, and even as an atheist I was like “well… maybe???”

        • AngryCommieKender@lemmy.world
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          8 months ago

          Yep. I’m a Baha’i, and our interpretation of The Antichrist isn’t a person, the antichrist is whatever gets between ourselves and self improvement, and self education. Even with that definition, I was going… “Ummm… This is a bit ‘on the nose’”

      • TechyDad@lemmy.world
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        8 months ago

        I remember that article. I’m not Christian - and so don’t believe in an anti-Christ. However, if you told me that the anti-Christ was real and was alive today (and I had some iron-clad reason to believe you were telling the truth), Trump would be my first guess.

        • ANGRY_MAPLE@sh.itjust.works
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          8 months ago

          For real, though. I was raised Catholic, and a big part of the belief was that the devil would try to sway you away from God’s teachings. That the devil would use trickery and temptation to lure people into evil, and would turn us against eachother. I was taught that it would even turn parents against their own children. (Sound familiar?)

          Mind you, I was lucky in the sense that the community I grew up in actually followed the “love thy neighbor” stuff, so my experience is probably anecdotal.

          It’s at the point where I’m not sure any of them would believe Jesus if he ever hypothetically returned. They would probably just explain it away with conspiracy theories and blame someone else if they were ever questioned on it.

          It’s almost funny how many religious people seem to think saying a few prayers on the death bed will absolve all of their sins. A huge part of that forgiveness is repentance/regret for misdeeds. How do they think an all knowing God would somehow not see through their ruse? It just doesn’t make sense to me.

          • AngryCommieKender@lemmy.world
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            It’s at the point where I’m not sure any of them would believe Jesus if he ever hypothetically returned. They would probably just explain it away with conspiracy theories and blame someone else if they were ever questioned on it.

            The funny part to me, as a Baha’i, is that they did exactly that, when he did come back. The world ended. Look around. How many horse and oxen powered tools do you see? How many candles, lanterns, and torches? The old world got replaced by the one we live in now. Seriously, if you brought a human from 12,000-15,000 years ago at “the dawn of civilization” to the early 1800s, they’d still recognize parts of their world. Sure they’d be amazed at how much better everything was, and I’m sure that trains and steamboats would be straight up magic, but they’d recognize what a horse drawn carriage is, it’s just fancier than anything they had, but they had horse and oxen drawn carts. If you try the same thing with someone from the early 1800s and brought them to today, they will recognize almost nothing.

  • Queen HawlSera
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    8 months ago

    Trump is literally an atheist who has been caught mocking the faith of his own followers in private

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      8 months ago

      He’s also an elitist east coaster that they used to hate.

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        I’m just glad that we can firmly document that Hank Hill would not vote for Trump. Dale Gribble probably would though

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          Dale gribbles probably third party. He’d believe the election was stolen, but by the aliens, and that Biden is secretly one of them.

          To which Hank would go “Dale, you gibblet head.”

          Thatherton, though…

    • Wilibus@lemmy.world
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      Not sure if this says more about him, or the average practioner of these religions who keep voting for him.

      • June
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        My mother is convinced he’s chosen by god even though he’s a terrible person. She’s just hand waving all of his obviously ‘sinful’ behavior as irrelevant to god doing god things. She keeps saying ‘he’s a man for such a time as this’ and it’s fucking wild how hard she’s gone in on this fascism since I broke contact with her and stopped fact checking her.

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          I feel your pain. My very religious mother just supports him because he’s anti-choice. Nothing else matters, not the bragging about SA, not his obvious worship of the almighty dollar, not Jan 6. As long as more babies get shat out unto the world, regardless of the environment they’ll live in, that’s all that matters.

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              I can’t disagree with you on that, despite how sad it makes me. She’s progressive in almost all other areas, but she’s a single issue voter so it doesn’t matter. She’ll vote for fascists because they pay lip-service to her beliefs.

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              8 months ago

              Like most Republicans he’s in the camp of “privileges (in this case abortions) for me not for thee”. He’s definitely caused some abortions.

          • June
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            And she’s not even Calvinist lol.

            She’s one of those Christian’s that has no idea what ideology they follow. They just listen to what they like and run with it. Absolutely zero thought put into it.

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              Calvinist thinking seems to run throughout American fundamentalism. Or possibly just humans in general; tribalism didn’t start with Calvin.

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        It says he’s a man of no principles who will take any audience or following he can get, as long as it gets his foot in the door. Even if the following is antithetical to the few things Trump keeps near and dear to the cancerous black mulch he has where the rest of us keep our hearts.

        For evangelicals, it says they’re batshit crazy, but that’s not new information.

        So I’d say it says more about him

    • Skanky@lemmy.world
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      Trump is not an atheist. He’s a pretender who will say whatever the fuck he thinks makes him look good

      • Queen HawlSera
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        Actually one of his staff who was of the MANY arrested testified that behind closed doors after getting back from a rally… Trump commented on his religious followers by saying something to the effect of “Can you believe people really go for that kind of stuff”

        In reference to the existence of God.

        If he doesn’t believe in God he is by definition an atheist

          • Queen HawlSera
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            8 months ago

            I mean if he were a New Atheist then I’d agree.

            But he seems to be just your average run of the mill, simply doesn’t believe in God types.

      • Kedly
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        Why do you think Trump is spiritual/religious in ANY way?

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          He certainly claims to be, and i guarantee you he would never proclaim to be an outright atheist (unless of course it was socially or politically advantageous).

          Trump is a fucking liar in all regards.

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        Does declaring yourself an atheist make yourself look good in American politics in your experience?

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    Can’t wait to see North Americans come back to Europe to runaway from religious persecution.

    Welcome to the Old World my friends !

    • Flying Squid@lemmy.worldOP
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      Sorry, we all were educated by the American school system and thus have no useful skills or knowledge Europeans need.

    • Tarte@kbin.social
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      What you imply is a common misconception. Puritans did not flee to America in the early modern period because they were religiously persecuted. They fled to America because they were not allowed to religiously persecute others anymore. They were scolded because of their religious intolerance not because of their religion per se.

        • Tarte@kbin.social
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          I was way too unspecific and have corrected my comment. Thank you for pointing it out.

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        Depends on if you mean Puritans in Massachusetts, or Quakers in Pennsylvania.

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          Puritans in Massachusetts are the reason Rhode Island exists and maintained indepedence when lots of early small colonies got absorbed into what became the other New England states. Roger Williams was like: fuck these guys, they said they wanted freedom of religion and I believed them. So after he obtained the land, he went back to the king to ratify the transfer which lead to borders that weren’t easily dissolved.

        • Tarte@kbin.social
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          I was way too unspecific and have corrected my comment. Thank you for pointing it out.

  • Tolookah@discuss.tchncs.de
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    “Our?” His religion is money, so uh, ban immigrants who don’t like money?

    Edit: I’m 30 minutes late, flyingsquid got to religion=money first

    • paddirn@lemmy.world
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      He’s very likely the first truly Atheist President this country has had, which makes me mad that it was a piece of shit like him and not a better representative, someone who was an Atheist for intellectual reasons and not because they’re just a massive narcissist.

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        I feel like “atheist” implies that he’s given religion one iota of critical thought, beyond how it can benefit him personally.

        Maybe I’m splitting hairs, but I’d classify him as irreligious as a result of indifference and his narcissistic inability to comprehend that there can be anything greater than him.

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    “Give me your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, The wretched refuse of your teeming shore. Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me, I lift my lamp beside the golden door!”

    Emma Lazarus speaking on the Statue of Liberty

    I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me.

    Jesus speaking in Matthew 25:35

    Truly I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of my brethren you did it to me.

    Jesus speaking in Matthew 25:40

    vowing to “immediately restore and expand the Trump travel ban” and “halt all of the refugee settlements to the United States” on “day one” of his presidency.

    Trump speaking in New Hampshire

    Let’s go with Trump.

    American evangelicals speaking in 2023

  • Gaim@lemmy.world
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    8 months ago

    These comments just seem like he’s drowning and he’s desperated to drum up any kind of reaction to take away from the fact that he’s probably gonna lose most of his trials

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      Something has definitely started happening with him in the past few weeks. He’s been stumbling in speeches, confusing WWII, forgetting who he beat in 2016. The dude is not well. And he’s the one that says Biden has dementia. My how the tables have turned.

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        Isn’t this also the same guy who caused “sharpie gate”?

        I’m referring to when Alabama was added as a weird sharpie blurb on the hurricaine forecast back in 2019.

        No one owned up to physically using the sharpie to doctor the report, but trump was very stubborn that the sharpie was correct.

        I still can’t imagine trying to “win” against the national weather service when your only “evidence” is a random sharpie blurb lmao.

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          That is true. He’s always done dumb things but he still always spoke with a type of confidence even when blatantly wrong. This is on a different level. He comes off as tired and loopy.