Are 62% of Americans the Stupidest People on Earth?
A poll taken within days of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine showed 62% percent of Americans believed Putin wouldn’t have invaded if Donald Trump was president. Where exactly this sixty-two percent had been living for the last five-and-a-bit years is a mystery.
I’ve let this sit for several weeks to see if anything would soften my reaction, or if there would be a retraction from the polling company due to a mistake, say, like… oops, sorry, we meant 26%…
Because off the top of my head the red flags keep flying.
As President:
Trump consistently attacked Nato threatening to withdraw from the alliance
Attacked the EU
Trump on a congratulatory call to Zelenskiy (then the newly elected Ukrainian president) threatened/bribed to withhold arms to support their ongoing conflict with Russia
Trump abandoned Kurdish allies
Trump signed a deal with the Taliban (without the Afghan government) to withdraw from Afghanistan (same shit would have happened last year)
Powder puff sanctions over Russia’s interference in Donbass and the illegal annexation of Crimea (Crime A). As a bad-ass, strongman president he could have taken a different stance to the previous administration, say, like he did over climate change policy
Fawning over Putin himself (think Boney M)
Imagine the message this sends to a fascist waiting for his moment to regain the Russian empire from the history books and making Alexandr Dugin’s brainchild a reality.
I can understand a core support believing Trump would have stopped this from his golf cart and Chuck Norris would’ve ended the war after twenty-five minutes, but 62% of the population?
Shit. Only 71% of Russians believe in the special operation in Ukraine. This in a recent poll that drew scepticism because it was conducted by the Russian state and respondents might fear being truthful — never mind the shutdown of the remnants of independent media and the arrest of protestors. Curiously, an independent poll earlier in the invasion had support at 58%.
But let’s stick with seventy-one percent. 71% versus 62%. Not much difference when it comes to brainwashing, but while there’s a legitimate, if despondent rationale for the response of Russians, what excuse do Americans have?
This in a country with a free press and mainstream media accused of being dominated by a liberal, leftist elite. If the poll proves one thing, it’s the fallacy of that accusation.
Assuming the poll isn’t wrong, the rest of America and the world should be concerned because sixty-two percent of the population have bought into the strongman persona. If the door to fascism was ajar five years ago, now it’s wide open.
Tucker Carlson continues to operate as if a Kremlin agent selling bullshit to his audience, and no one should be fooled by the brief coming together of most of Congress to denounce Putin’s war.
The assault on voting rights continues by those in government who assail state interference. The denial of women’s rights is alive and well, conducted by those in government who assail state interference. It’s monotonous. The anti-globalists decry the imagined loss of national independence, but have no problem with the invasion and control of sovereign countries, and the death and destruction that comes with it. They may shrug off Putin’s war as a strategic mistake, but they have no issue with his aim.
Sadly, the culture wars are set to resume because they’re easy pickings for angry, hollow fascists looking to distract voters from what’s actually happening…
Oh.
I think I may have stumbled upon my answer.
Stupidity isn’t permanent, it can be overcome. You’re welcome to believe Chuck Norris flying a MiG painted in Chinese insignia taking on Russia is the way to go, or you could do some research into Putin whisperer Aleksandr Dugin and watch your matrix unravel.
Works well with a good set of headphones.