I can't confirm it, but the current situation of progressive or "far-left" pushing toxic policies which then pushes people to the alt-right feels like a good cop-bad cop dynamic at play. Even with trade, it's China that's primarily exploiting USA, but now Trump is looking for a "deal" with China to "peacefully coexist" while putting tariffs on close allies?

Both of these agitative forces are opposed to Liberal Enlightment principles, to the legacy of the West, and have sympathies to Russia and China, and their policies in turn act to continously corrode the center moderates who genuinely believe in America.

I was in the office of a school the other day and overhead the security officer talking to the receptionist about the price of eggs. It went something like this:

    "It's the oil; once Trump starts to drill, the price of eggs will go down because the price of oil makes everything expensive."

Never mind the avian flu, never mind that America became a net exporter of crude in Obama's years, never mind that US oil production has been growing.

That virus you're referring to has a name: "ignorance"

> This mindset stems from eroding trust, economic struggles, and feelings of disrespect. Trump isn't the cause; he's its manifestation.

Yep. If you read history - this is how things generally play out, when the prospects look too grim, for too long, for too much of the population.

But labeling it a "virus", denouncing the counterfactuals, and hand-wringing about the horrible consequences are all dysfunctional wastes of time, while bad problems keep getting worse - because all of those encourage further "us vs. them" social divisions, while none of those do squat to address the actual causes of the problem.

Bernie is on the march. Join him. People will get sick of Trump much faster this time around. We just need a decent alternative to rise up and that will happen only through organizing and action - https://bobertea.sg/news/bernie-sanders-heads-to-heartland-t...