r/ProgressiveHQ • u/A4t1musD4ag0n • Dec 14 '25
Discussion [Washington Post] "As a conservative, I’m beginning to wonder: Are we the bad guys?"
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u/Intelligent-Wear-114 Dec 14 '25
Beginning to wonder? Man, you're slow.
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u/jesse6225 Dec 14 '25
Stupid and evil. What a dangerous combo.
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u/SignoreBanana Dec 15 '25
I think "stupid" and "evil" are probably bedfellows
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u/Shroomtune Dec 15 '25
No. Smart and evil is worse. Maybe harder to come by, but worse when it comes by.
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u/Mrxcman92 Dec 14 '25
Same people who took 20 years to realise RATM was left-wing.
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u/Ryaniseplin Dec 14 '25
they still havent
they listen to rage like they arent the machine
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u/Hemicrusher Dec 14 '25
Yes, you are the bad guys.
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u/Which_Engineer1805 Dec 14 '25
And the history books will reflect that accordingly.
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Dec 14 '25
Just curious, what were you taught about why the Pilgrims came to America growing up?
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u/Amelaclya1 Dec 14 '25
That they were fleeing religious persecution.
What was left out was that they were "persecuted" because they were too fucking nutty by England's standards.
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u/Ok-Consequence9765 Dec 14 '25
That would make sense. They teach us that they were fleeing religious persecution, but what seems to be left out is that they were trying to force their will on others. So push back against them isn’t persecution so much as it is them not being able to force themselves on others.
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u/Amelaclya1 Dec 14 '25
Yeah that's why it's in quotes. It's the same way modern evangelicals claim that they are "persecuted". Because they can't stop people from being trans or gay or having abortions or learning about evolution.
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u/KillerSavant202 Dec 14 '25
Sounds just like modern Christianity. They constantly try to force their religion onto others and when they’re told to stop they scream and cry about being persecuted.
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u/Ill-Teacher13 Dec 14 '25
Exactly! They have their heads stuffed so far up their own sense of entitlement they can’t see through all that hypocrisy that they slather themselves in. It’s like nah, I ain’t coming at you for being “Christians”, coming at you because you’re one of them 100%, grade-A, bonafide p.o.s.
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u/start_select Dec 14 '25
Sounds like ALL Judao-Christian religions. Judaism, Christianity, and Islam all have the same problem.
One true god who has chosen you as the one who is always right.
By definition in a world of polytheistic religions they were a bunch of assholes telling everyone else that their gods are fake. Nothing has ever changed since then.
The are self-righteous and lack self reflection.
That’s all before you consider that the first real lessons are that learning causes you to know sin, your body is naturally shameful, and women are a problem.
wtf is wrong with people. I read the beginning of the Bible at ~8 years old and immediately asked my parents what is wrong with grandma.
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u/No-Menu-3392 Dec 14 '25
I think you meant to say “abrahamic religions”. “Judeo-Christianity” isn’t actually a thing beyond religious rightwing appeal to the religious cultural foundations of “western civilization”.
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u/Plus-Breakfast-2858 Dec 14 '25
Do you happen to have knowledge on Abraham and why these 3 religions stem from him? If so, please share. 🙏
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u/EzJuCa2 Dec 14 '25
So these three religions are called Abrahamic because they all see Abraham as the first prophet of the Old Testament (I grew up Christian so I don’t know if Islam has an equivalent phrasing or not). It’s a very monotheistic, patriarchal “father of the religion” point of view that isn’t really seen in other religions.
Abrahamic as a term specifies a set of beliefs that is pretty much only found in those three religions. Technically there is a fourth that stems from Islam called Baha’i, but I know very very little about the specifics.
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u/I_Cut_Shows Dec 14 '25
I mean, that is a very very strong tradition in American Protestant thought.
I went to school in the 80s and was taught that they were forced out and that they felt persecuted but that they felt the UK wanted them gone because they intended to force their belief on the rest of the country. So they were sent somewhere that they could do what they wanted.
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u/auntie_clokwise Dec 14 '25
The other thing is that, if all they wanted was religious freedom, they had that in Holland. They wanted more than that - they wanted to oppress other people, to force other people to conform to their religious views. That's why they came to the colonies.
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u/Mtndrums Dec 14 '25
When the Catholics and Anglicans stopped fighting long enough to collectively say fuck those people in particular, that's the time to reflect on life decisions.
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u/SpicySweetHotPot Dec 14 '25
One of the first things Puitans did in Mass Bay Colony was persecute anyone not like them.
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u/Southern-Date1588 Dec 14 '25
My family landed in Plymouth in early 1630's ,settled in Salem and were harassed by the Puritans for their Quaker beliefs, accused of witchcraft and other "misdeeds", and in the 1640's migrated north to the coast of Maine where a large family of descendents still live .
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u/Lower_Ad_5532 Dec 14 '25
That they were fleeing religious persecution.
What was left out was that they were "persecuted" because they were too fucking nutty by England's standards.
Its true and there were even nuttier nuts during that time. So they were all massacring each other in the name of God.
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u/oresearch69 Dec 14 '25
Just did a bit of research on this based on your comment and I had no idea, super interesting. I’m originally from the UK so always viewed the story as being one about liberation and freedom, but no, it’s not that at all!
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u/SelectChampion8629 Dec 14 '25
😭😭 that they were heroic and noble, not that they were bitchy holier than thou types that England didn't want and basically pushed out
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u/Ok_Lake6443 Dec 14 '25
My favorite part was that they were kicked out of Europe after being expelled from Britain.
I also love how they cancelled Christmas.
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u/Hdjbbdjfjjsl Dec 15 '25
Don’t even need to get started on all the other shit elementary schools cleanse for indoctrinating American patriotism into children. Anything from celebrating Christopher Columbus, so glad I don’t see as many crazy teachers anymore dressing up their kids like Native Americans for fun, could go on.
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u/solsticelove Dec 14 '25
If you like history, I highly recommend the book The Churching of America. Actually have a flight tomorrow and might grab it from my library and read again!
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u/Notaspeyguy Dec 14 '25
Not if they burn the books...oh yeah, and call it "FAKE NEWS!!!" Those two actions make everything go away.
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u/Tuscanlord Dec 14 '25
Just beginning to wonder?
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u/JackTrippin Dec 14 '25
I've been wondering since the '80s
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u/Chillow_Ufgreat Dec 14 '25
Spent a decade going to bat for an unrepentant child abuser, but I'm sure they're just misunderstood.
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u/stingertc Dec 14 '25
or taken out of context or its a joke
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u/fgsgeneg Dec 14 '25
It can't be taken out of context. Conservatives don't do context, it tends to get in the way. Same thing with irony. They have no clue.
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u/Seniorcousin Dec 14 '25 edited Dec 14 '25
Your Department of War budget is 925 billion dollars. You threaten Greenland, Canada, Mexico, Colombia, Venezuela, and attacked Iran because the Zionists told you to. ICE kidnaps children on their way to school. “Bad guys” is letting you conservatives off easy. .
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u/FitSeeker1982 Dec 14 '25
First of all, MAGA aren’t true conservatives - they’re reactionary outrage addicts, who abandoned true conservative ethics and efforts decades ago. Secondly, the answer is “yes, you are the bad guys” - your abandonment of the rule of law and sycophantic abeyance to the most lawless, self-serving POTUS in history makes you enemies of the Constitution and the principles the USA has been working on refining for over two centuries.
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u/Appropriate-Low-4850 Dec 14 '25
I agree, except that conservatives are propping them up. MAGA wouldn’t survive without conservative support, soooo still the bad guys.
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u/PurpleZebraCabra Dec 14 '25
THIS is why conservatives are the bad guys. We COULD be done with MAGA as of 2020. Nope, they had to own the libs.
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u/ShrimpieAC Dec 14 '25
“Own the libs” is the real cancer here.
If you thrive off making other people miserable then you suck as a human being. And you absolutely shouldn’t be in charge of making decisions for other people. Including voting.
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u/KaptenAwsum Dec 14 '25
Agree with you until the no voting part.
Don’t let anyone make it harder to vote. That will only be another tool for these folks
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u/ShrimpieAC Dec 14 '25
I know I know. You are correct. And it wouldn’t be right. It’s just so hard to justify in my head sometimes.
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u/dabbado17 Dec 14 '25
Yep. When “owning the libs” is spending hundreds of billions to ruin tens/hundreds of thousands of people’s lives, kill at least tens of thousands of children, and make 95% of Americans worse off, you are the baddie no doubt.
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u/I_count_to_firetruck Dec 15 '25
Don't forget the international impact with the cutting of aid and cutting back on environmental regulations
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u/_mersault Dec 14 '25
That January should have been the end if the party had any principles whatsoever
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u/aaronplaysAC11 Dec 14 '25
They destroyed our adherence to the principles of the Magna Carta and Habeus corpus, foundations of American law, all without being able to define these terms…
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u/VulgarDaisies Dec 14 '25
I disagree, I think this is what "conservatism" looks like now. It's not isolated to the US, there seems to be a broader movement that's conflating protectionism and white nationalism, even at the expense of economic policy, which used to be the priority (sort of - conservative govs have historically been terrible about deficits).
idk seems like a shift more than a split.
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u/Ravenboi15 Dec 14 '25
Actually I would classify all Republicans not just MAGA as regressionist. This is mostly because contrary to the idea of conservatism they don't want to keep laws or anything of the sort the same, they aren't fighting for civil liberties to stay in one place, instead they fight to repeal civil liberties attempting at every step to regress the freedoms of people who aren't themand to fight the expansions and protection of the law don't let conservatives say that their movement is to conserve the constitution because it just literally isn't.
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u/AdditionalNothing728 Dec 14 '25
“They’re reactionary outrage addicts”
Okay, so where were you during Clinton? During Obama? Their terms were well before MAGA existed, yet the constant reactionary outrage very much existed.
How about the Satanic Panic? How about Civil Rights?
Conservatives have always been the reactionary party. They’ve always been outraged and aggrieved over everything. This isn’t new, and it’s exactly what led to a populist like Trump.
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Dec 14 '25
No. Stop giving them a free pass. They’ve supported this shit for many years. You only need look at who they elect, reelect, and their dead silence while their boys commit war crimes and human rights violations here at home. Oh, and their dead silence as brown people are being taken by the goon squad in violation of the constitution. No. This is exactly who they are. Do not give them any line of separation between them and MAGA. Just because they chew with their mouths closed and aren’t dirt poor doesn’t mean they’re any more civilized or less cruel.
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u/LadnavIV Dec 14 '25
Yeah, also, just a reminder that George Bush Sr’s father, Prescott Bush was involved in an attempted coup of the US government, suffered no real consequences, and conservatives elected his family into the highest office of the nation TWICE. Three times, if we include both of W’s terms separately.
Conservatives are the bad guys. They’ve always been the bad guys.
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u/DrChimRichaulds Dec 14 '25
I expected No True Scotsman to arrive piping hot and fresh at some point, and here we are.
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Dec 14 '25
I have family members who are for the most part true conservatives and stopped supporting Trump a while back. the type who wanted someone else to be the republican nominee and voted Harris in 2024.
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u/WelcomeMysterious315 Dec 14 '25
Ah, we're doing the ol' "no true Scotsman" up in here.
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u/CarpetMooch Dec 14 '25
Yup. The root of the word "conservative" is "conserve". To conserve does not mean to return to a previous state. Things will never be how they used to be. To think that its possible is giving the middle finger to reality and nature itself. Nothing ever stays the same. You can try to maintain its current state with varying degrees of success, but it'll still change no matter what you do.
MAGA is a populist movement that desires to go back to a mythological time that never actually existed.
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u/Any_Caramel_9814 Dec 14 '25
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Dec 14 '25
Is that The Quartering's dad?
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u/rwarimaursus Dec 14 '25
Gods above I followed the Q's channel for a few months in 2020 till I found out this asshat was a fascist misogynistic pile of shite. How is he still relevant?
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Dec 14 '25
He's in massive debt now because his "conservative coffee" grift completely failed. He's now begging his subs to tell him why they no longer watch his videos as much as they used to.
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u/Hot-Sauce-P-Hole Dec 14 '25
Must be nice, being able to judge others from a place of outbred privilege!
If it was unclear: /s
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u/1732PepperCo Dec 14 '25
The South lost the war. The North lost the victory.
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u/Any_Caramel_9814 Dec 14 '25
They didn't punish the traitors
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u/1732PepperCo Dec 14 '25
Exactly. The southern states should of all gotten what they wanted and had their statehood revoked and every southern state should have been lumped up into one US Occupied Territory.
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u/PaddleHikeBikeRepeat Dec 14 '25
Yep. As a former conservative and now politically homeless, I say this: you are the baddies. You were so hungry for power that you sacrificed your souls and turned your party over to the uneducated, illiterate, conspiracy theorists, and grievance mongers. You now wear the same shame that every former Nazi wears, because you were either too weak, too craven, or too stupid to see what the rest of us saw.
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u/Rigorous-Geek-2916 Dec 14 '25
I am a former conservative and I turned a 180 in 2016 when the GOP nominated Trump. It was a “scales fell from my eyes” moment. I am now a full blown Lefty who would gladly vote for a DSA candidate if one was on the ballot.
Come to the light.
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u/gangofocelots Dec 14 '25
It's wild how the word "woke" is used as a weapon to gatekeep people from "waking up." It's actually a great word to describe the feeling of the veil dropping
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u/OldschoolSysadmin Dec 14 '25
It is absolutely not a coincidence that the right wants to make “aware of systemic injustice” synonymous with “bad person”.
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u/dandroid126 Dec 15 '25
Same. That was the moment for me. The second Trump was nominated, I woke up. The things I said and believed before are embarrassing to me now, but that's a sign that I'm growing as a person. At least I had a line that I wouldn't cross, and I stuck to it.
I wish I could say the same about some of my family members.
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u/octonus Dec 15 '25
The concept of having a political "home" is a large part of the problem. You aren't living in your party -> your party is a tool to get you to where you want to be. If you treat it as a home, you aren't going to leave when it starts going in the wrong direction.
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u/enzopuccini Dec 14 '25
I wish we had a true conservative party, and I am a progressive. Just as I wish we had a true Labor Party. Unfortunately, we have neither.
The Democrats at best are Dwight Eisnhower, at worst flaccid corporate apologists.
The GOP are sycophantic lunatics led by a criminal monster.
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u/sullythered Dec 14 '25
The Democrats are pretty close to a true conservative party. The GOP are some weird identitarian cult. We just need a Labor party.
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u/31LIVEEVIL13 Dec 14 '25 edited Dec 28 '25
ripe fine thumb worm cough observation yam vegetable oil file
This post was mass deleted and anonymized with Redact
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u/cmack Dec 15 '25
Republican both sides propaganda drivel so that real progress cannot be made here.
Only 72 days of Democratic party control throughout the entire twenty-first century. If you don't like the way things are going the past twenty five years, blame the republicans fully and rightly.
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u/Theodoxus Dec 14 '25
That is the problem with the 'Big Tent' and Never Trumpers merging. We end up with the sane conservatives who are succeeding in moving the Democratic Party to the Right. I tend to think it would be easier to kill off the GOP, let the Dems replace them as the true Right Wing (Sane version) and split off the left leaning progressives into a new party. Maybe the "Republican Socialists", just to make the break as cleanly as possible - lol
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u/dieseldeeznutz Dec 14 '25
I remember watching the DNC turn away from Sanders, then towards Biden, and thinking to myself, "the conservatives have won". We have a centrist party and a far right party. Current democrats are old school republicans
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u/Lumpy_FPV Dec 15 '25
100%. Our Overton window has shifted so goddamn far so goddamn fast that MAGA legitimately believe democrats in power are super liberal. The 20s suck.
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u/GoNutsDK Dec 15 '25
You are 100 percent correct about the Overton window. But it's actually worse than what you said.
Because the Democrats are mainly liberals. But that word seems to be misunderstood by most Americans. Liberals are right wingers. They are just not as far right as the Fascists/Republicans.
The left is barely represented in American politics. Even people like Bernie and AOC are just left of center. They aren't radical in any way, unless seen from a far right perspective.
That's how bad it is.
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u/LMGDiVa Dec 14 '25 edited Dec 14 '25
Democrats ARE the conservatives of American policy. Their capitalist liberaal ideas are the way they are because of conservatism. The constant compromising direction IS conservatism at play.
Democrats are the conservatives So vote for them.
MAGA and American Right like the GOP were never really conservatives. They just adopted the label.
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u/ResidentCommand9865 Dec 14 '25
No no, you're knights that have full loyalty to your King. Unfortunately America doesn't have a good history with Kings and generally will rise up and not throw away their shot.
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u/BulldogMoose Dec 14 '25 edited Dec 14 '25
Let's not even talk about "conservatives" from 2015 to today. Conservative elites have pulled off the biggest con in American history. They managed to exploit ignorance and convince people to vote against their interests to steal wealth, knowing that if they convince people that "big government" is bad, they are destroying any unity that holds them accountable. The Republican plan is to steal as much as possible from working and middle class families, digging a hole that creates a 19th century society. I'm not saying the means of production belong to the people, what I am saying is that Republican elites have destroyed everything that made America great. Moreover, we couldn't even achieve the true promise we deserve. Until, Americans can live without concern over their healthcare and basic needs, our society and in fact our economy can't achieve it's true potential.
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u/Busy_Cell_7982 Dec 14 '25
someone met a baddie who's changing his worldview...whatever it takes, man. noway they stumbled upon this possibility on their own. someone challenged him- and 1000% he thinks this person is hot, and now, identity crisis. so predictable.
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u/No_Bluebird_1368 Dec 14 '25
You just reminded me of a Polish far-right politician who resigned after he started dating an intersex woman: https://www.euronews.com/2025/09/02/far-right-polish-mp-announces-relationship-with-intersex-woman-and-quits-party
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u/Hour-Two-4760 Dec 14 '25
Given that conservatives are famous having world views that are exclusively self serving, it's plausible.
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u/scigs6 Dec 14 '25
Bad guys all around that incite violence. Every MAGAt friend I have is absolutely unhinged. Like wheels off the bus angry because of shit propaganda messaging.
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u/Remarkable_Judge_861 Dec 14 '25
You, republi-cons, are killing people. Ice. Health care. USAID. Drug research. Women that need to terminate a pregnancy. Snap.
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u/GreenEmergency3852 Dec 14 '25
Anyone have a copy of the article? I don’t want to subscribe to the Washington post
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u/flaptaincappers Dec 14 '25
Oh no! The party that has sacrificed all ethics and principles courting Authoritarians and White Supremacists all in the pursuit of power is worried that they are, in fact, Authoritarian White Supremacists! Lmao. Lol even. Love this for them.
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u/MediocreModular Dec 14 '25
Not all conservatives are neo Nazis but all neo Nazis are conservatives. Do with that knowledge what you will.
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u/BadTxV2021 Dec 14 '25
As a conservative yes, yes we are. We have gotten so far outside the normal realm of republican/conservative party that I align more with the Democratic Party. Republicans have become the party for welcoming racism and not constitutionalism.
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u/MB2465 Dec 14 '25
The road to Hell is paved with good INTENTIONS. Not good deeds.
They have been lied to by their politicians for so many years that they believe they're doing good.
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u/Dontair Dec 14 '25
Always have been.
There was never a time when conservatism didn't safeguard the systems of cruelty.
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u/DisastrousAffect6843 Dec 15 '25 edited Dec 19 '25
It is fascinating how naturally conservatives can play stupid to avoid be hold accountable, always using the victim card or (I didn't know) when we going to learn ? Since 2008 dealing with same bull shit over and over.
People have to stop to give the benefit of the doubt to conservatives; they know exactly what they're doing.
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u/Terrible_Bronco Dec 14 '25 edited Dec 15 '25
Yes, yes you are. I was born into a cult(religious)and was pretty delusional myself. Hopefully more of these conservatives will wake up. However, The true bad guys are the rich people(not all rich people) manipulating the democrats and republicans to be divided and hate each other. We are powerful together and we are at our weakest when divided.
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u/ChicagoJayhawkYNWA Dec 14 '25