How much truth is here?

[Person Man]

The entire alt-Right thing seems to be an isolated thing and to blame 4chan for Trump seems to be like saying any one major MC pastor was responsible for W but still...how much does this article explain the cultural dynamics surrounding the current Republican dominance?

https://medium.com/@DaleBeran/4chan-the-skeleton-key-to-the-rise-of-trump-624e7cb798cb#.yprtjb1qq

[Absentee Voting Ghost of Ruin]

It's a good essay. My takeaway is not that it's blaming the alt-right (or 4chan) for Trump, but explaining why both Trump and his support from those groups are *symptoms* of what's wrong with America. This is the same conclusion the author reaches:

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Moving forward, the problems are many:

The Establishment (Dem or otherwise), while preferable to Trump, also still fails at solving America's underlying problems.

Trump's victory may empower his cultists and other followers. And make no mistake, they all representing a worsening of an already bad situation.

I don't know if there are good solutions to the problems that created Trump and his cult, or to the problems they themselves represent. I'm starting to think we only have a choice of bad solutions. (Flight, violence and/or loss of democracy, collapse.)

[afleitch]

As I've mentioned before, I think we've already moved past their point of relevance as an 'alt' force. They weren't supposed to 'win' this early; they wanted 4, maybe 8 years of instability in which they were the outsiders. Russia sort of wanted that too. Now there's an internal and international backlash against them brewing. There's nothing 'edgy' about being the establishment.

[Hindsight was 2020]

I agree somewhat but I think the rise of Trump is linked more to just rapid right partisanship that began after Bill beat HW Bush. After Bill won we saw the rise of talk radio and Rush. Conspiracy theories ran rapid during this time. Then followed was the 2000's after 9/11 and Iraq were questioning Bush made you a "traitor/siding with the terrorist" ala Fox News. The we have Obama an the tea party with it's heavy wink toward racism along with the police shootings.

[Person Man]

It's a good essay. My takeaway is not that it's blaming the alt-right (or 4chan) for Trump, but explaining why both Trump and his support from those groups are *symptoms* of what's wrong with America. This is the same conclusion the author reaches:

You must be logged in to read this quote.

Moving forward, the problems are many:

The Establishment (Dem or otherwise), while preferable to Trump, also still fails at solving America's underlying problems.

Trump's victory may empower his cultists and other followers. And make no mistake, they all representing a worsening of an already bad situation.

I don't know if there are good solutions to the problems that created Trump and his cult, or to the problems they themselves represent. I'm starting to think we only have a choice of bad solutions. (Flight, violence and/or loss of democracy, collapse.)

The only good solution could be that the Trump movement finally ruins this country and there is a constructive force that comes along that actually solves our growing problems ala 1920-1932. That's not a good way to think, though. Things might not need to get to the point everyone is getting thrown in jail and even people with good jobs now can't make enough to live (Prohibition, Depression). And if that happens, maybe we fail this time. Maybe things just keep getting worse until we are all either in jail, dead, or have found a new home.Maybe we just back up into the trees for a few decades..