The "smart" conservative crowd has to be the biggest enigma in history

Inb4 we make no MAGA are intelligent jokes, I want to add that I intend to have a serious discussion about this topic.

Heres what Im getting at:

I understand why uneducated and low information voters find MAGA appealing. That part makes sense to me. I also understand that intelligent or wealthy (and intelligent) voters may push their principles and ethics aside to do whats best for their businesses and families.

What I struggle to understand is why so much provable disinformation circulates in social circles amongst the informed and intelligent conservative crowd. I.e. people who are educated and think critically, yet push the same lies you hear from Charlie Kirk and Matt Walsh.

This sector of Trump voter has to be aware of all the lies the Trump administration peddles on a daily basis. They absolutely, without question, are in the know. The bizarre thing I find in all of this is how millions of them decided en masse to knowingly lie about a bunch of shit to their friends, family coworkers, and strangers when discussing politics. Some of these people live honest and normal lives, but when politics enters the conversation, they manage to flip a switch in their brain and transform into bad faith actors.

Trumpism is a cult and it would be easy to end the conversation there. But again, some of these Trump voters are so aware of even this factbut are so bad faith they will deny it.

An example of this archetype would be Tucker Carlson. He knows everything Trump lies about is bullshit. He knows Trump is a terrible president, a goof, a con artist. But the thing about Tucker is that he directly profits off of the lies he feeds to his audience. A conservative knowledgable enough to see through Tuckers lies and doesnt profit off of political commentary has no profit motive, especially when talking to people in casual settings.

TLDR, my question is why do all these knowledgable, informed and critical-thinking Trump voters decide to knowingly lie about Trump, Musk, DOGE, the Nazi salute shit, Signalgate, and the cuts to medicaid when politics comes up in conversation?

Because $$$.

Also because being intelligent in one specific area doesn't equal competence across the board, look at Herman Cain.

Smart people can want power for themselves too. An education is not an antidote to evil.

They have taken a look at the state of play and decided rationally and educatedly that people who look like men should have more power and influence in society.

Partially they're grifting to get money and influence.

Partially it's willful ignorance to facilitate their hateful ideology.

Asherlee10 posted...

I think there is a variable you're forgetting that plays a role: Hate

I think it's easy for us to assume that intelligent people would be good natured and moral. That's unfortunately not the case. There are these people that are racists, bigots, sexists, homophobes, tranphobes, etc. and they want "lesser" people to be harmed and controlled.

It's a sadistic state of mind. They enjoy the hatred and the GOP facilitates the fuck out of it.

This, it's this 100 percent hatred of the other motivates people a whole hell of a lot more than anything else, This election was one via hatred and so was the one before it and the one before that and the one before that

I remember back when I was a shitty hotshot teen with a ton of grants being shoved at me for not even trying at school. I had this mindset of "well people who aren't as capable as me obviously don't deserve as much, or they'd be getting what I get, too"

Silver lining to fucking up so bad as to lose all that is you learn how to not be a shit. I think a lot of these people just never grew out of that phase.

clyde_frog posted...

I.e. people who are educated and think critically, yet push the same lies you hear from Charlie Kirk and Matt Walsh.

They and people like them don't believe their own lies. They know they are lying.

The words / lies are just tools for them. Cultural influence as well, if they grew in a conservative household or culturally never voted with Democrats.

Everybody has biases and blindspots.

I think there are a lot of right wing people who are mostly right wing economically, and have just been willing to accept whatever other terrible shit happens to get the economic policies they want in place.

It's like how an Young Earth Creationist can also be an astrophysicist. Yes one actually exists, Jason Lisle and yes his degree is real.

I think a lot of them got swallowed up and subsumed by crypto-nazi rhetoric and 4chins post-irony type behavior. Which has genuinely destroyed bipartisan debate for all time.

creativerealms posted...

It's like how an Young Earth Creationist can also be an astrophysicist. Yes one actually exists, Jason Lisle and yes his degree is real.

Well, real (with a bolded asterisk).

DrizztLink posted...

Well, real (with a bolded asterisk).

Nope it's from a real university and he did do real work, just none of the actual work he did helps YEC.

He's an idiot by choice.

creativerealms posted...

He's an idiot by choice.

That's the asterisk I'm talking about.

* yes this degree is technically real but if he actually understood it he'd be a wildly different person

The intelligent ones are just evil.

PballDepot posted...

The intelligent ones are just evil.

This is what I figure. They don't believe the bullshit. But they are terrible people and want the same end results. So they spread the falsehoods to get more uneducated folks to hop on the bandwagon with them. Gotta have the numbers to get the results.

Tyranthraxus posted...

They and people like them don't believe their own lies. They know they are lying.

How did you miss the entire point? I know they know they are lying. Thats literally what this topic is about champ.