politics

I have an easy answer: just give Trump full control over everything and he'll fix everything and make the good things and good words and good and stuff.

Honestly, "corporate mainstream media sucks" is a thing most people agree on. I know a guy who voted for Trump at least once who has been turning away from that kind of politics lately, and it's this kind of message I hear him repeating. Now, I'm sure we have different views on how to solve that and what alternative sources should be used, but if it's something to agree on, then maybe it's a point of leverage.

You can lead a horse to water but you cannot make them drink.

The issue here is that the horse has been drilled into being gullible for generations now. Compared to other civilised nations, what Fox & co are allowed to spew forth on a daily basis goes way beyond what would be considered libel or incitement in other places. But the root of the problem isn't even that, the real crux is that whoever pays the most, decides what is legal and what not in the US. The fact that pumping money into politics has been decided to be perfectly a-ok freedom of speech instead of skewing legislation towards the richest is incomprehensible in many other societies. The Supreme Court and the lobbies make a mockery of actual democracy in favour of buying influence.

only way to fix the media is to fix the voters.

This narrative serves the capitalist class and cannot be proven. You don't "fix" voters, you create solidarity by dealing with their material conditions (engage in mutual aid).

How would you fix something that isn't broken?

I would respectfully disagree and point out that all of your well-considered points are in fact indicative that media in the US and to some other extent the rest of the world is very much broken.

And has been for well over 50 years.

Third party candidates are often part of the misinformation machine. Used as an attack Vector as well. The problem is Democrats cannot address everything. Oligarchs fund conservative media more than most people realize. So many outlets exist just to push a narrative. Not to make a profit. Tim Pool and several other right-wing demagogues were recently exposed for getting paid hundreds of thousands of dollars effectively a week to put out one or two low effort barely edited videos of propaganda. They made more in a couple weeks than someone like Sam Cedar for instance makes in a year. And they are just the ones we know about. Democrats simply cannot compete with or push back against all of it with the minuscule funding they do get.

yes. agreed. though, once again, working in the community, really opened up my eyes to what a great many naturalized citizens feel is important to them. not all, of course, but it shocked the shit out of me, and no one would have believed it until after they voted.

*edit: it's important to know what your constituency values, and if those things run counter to the basis of secular egalitarian representative democracy, change their minds. just saying well that's stupid and self destructive to the whole, isn't going to win their votes.

The ones that voted are by definition here legally, and they're susceptible to the propaganda about illegals coming in and taking jobs and getting all sorts of resources from the government. If you believe that, while your path to citizenship was anything but that, you might start thinking something needs to be done about the border too.

While the border wall stuff is definitely rooted into racism, the economic argument will still speak to immigrants that are in the country legally. Of course, if Trump is serious about "rounding up illegals" or whatever the plan is, a lot of legal residents will also end up caught in the drag net, and it's going to suck for everyone.

to answer this honestly more than dips the toe into racist stereotypes, and i'd like to have the honest conversation but will suffice to say, the guys i know (and this isn't limited to that small group) appreciate strength, and a heavy hand from their government, almost above all other things.

it would have been advantageous for democrats to have pointed out that, by and large, the nations from which a majority have immigrated from, are corrupt, and dangerous to the point where a living wage is unattainable, and the organs of state either could not or would not keep them and their families safe.

that is what the united states can offer, with a government of by and for the people. now we fall considerably short of this, all the time, and have since the founding fathers, but we have an engine of economy, and relative comparative safety which continue to draw latino immigrants, legal and otherwise.

it's in pointing out the benefits, of a free egalitarian secular representative accountable democracy, which drew they and their families here in the first place, and explain, in detail, how corruption that the MAGA world was threatening, and displayed during Trump's first term, would destroy all that they had come to this country for in the first place.

I've heard it largely stated as an exaggeration equated to when Obama and Biden said there'd be amnesty for non-criminals, but it never happened. "Better the devil you know" applies here, but they largely think Fed's eye is too big to see them in their small corners.

All the direct result of decades worth of work by Republicans to erode public education and vilify ‘expertise’ as a concept.

“Anti-intellectualism has been a constant thread winding its way through our political and cultural life, nurtured by the false notion that democracy means that 'my ignorance is just as good as your knowledge.'” - Isaac Asimov

Trump’s election seems/feels like reoccurring issue with short term memory,

This is actually about all we have. If it happened more than 5 minutes ago, it didn't happen.

long term planning,

Dems tend not to see more than about 5 minutes ahead, either.

critical thinking,

Nonexistent in the modern age. People have long since spoken and have said they prefer online echo chambers where critical thinking is actively discouraged.

and reading deficiencies amoung the American population.

When do you think the last time your average American voter read a book? Or for that matter consumed a piece of news media that wasn't a social media clickbait video from their echo chamber of choice?