Nearly every right-wing populist argument
1) I'm mad about something in the culture
2) Let's make everyone poorer, and then I'll feel better
People shouldn't do this.
Counterpoint: Here’s Trump threatening violence, calling for his political enemies’ executions, celebrating the deaths of people he didn’t like, and otherwise casually promoting political violence. Also there was the small matter of Jan 6 and subsequent pardons for violent felons
As Governor, I know I cannot control global energy markets, or the price of eggs, or whatever the president decides to post on social media.
But there are tangible steps we are taking right now to tackle high costs where Virginians feel them most: healthcare, energy, and housing.
On healthcare, I signed bipartisan bills to prevent insurance companies from overruling doctors, to invest in our health care workforce, and to stop predatory middlemen from driving up the cost of prescription drugs.
On energy, I signed bipartisan bills to protect ratepayers from covering the cost of infrastructure improvements, incentivize energy independence, and help localities invest in new energy technologies.
On housing, I signed bipartisan bills to let localities adopt affordable housing programs, cut red tape, and incentivize construction.
These bills — like so many of the others I have signed — were passed with support from Democrats and Republicans alike. Because nobody asks for your political party affiliation when you’re filling a prescription, signing a lease, or paying a monthly utility bill.
Hats off to the guys who were ok with a coup attempt against Congress, blood libels and concentration camps for immigrants, unprecedented corruption, and federal agents murdering protesters in the streets, but who are now breaking with Trump over the Iran War.
Welcome!!
This by Scott Alexander is excellent, and it strikes me as a normal pattern with conservatives in the Trump era.
1) Your side is morally awful
2) To make your side seem more defensible, exaggerate or make up traits about the other side.
So if you discuss Trump's lies and corruption, they'll pretend that Democrats have had comparable levels of corruption and dishonesty, which is so disconnected from reality it is a sign that a person's entire informational environment is deeply corrupted.
In this case, conservatives don't show basic concern for foreigners and non-humans, even at the level of "don't torture and kill them." Instead of acknowledging that's their view, they pretend like liberals only care about foreigners and would let their children starve in order to give a chicken a higher quality of life. When obviously, if you look at liberal priorities, they're spending a lot more time trying to give fellow Americans healthcare than fighting factory farms or increasing the foreign aid budget.
This particular conservative trait seems to be most popular with techbros and the angry anonymous twitter accounts they all look to for spiritual guidance.