We are all Slave now.

[sebastian_dangerfield]

Originally Posted by Pretty Little Flower

Sorry, I didn't mean to trigger you with my language. All I meant by "belief system" was "things you believe." For example, you believe that if there is no intent, there is no bias. I would address the substance of this belief with you, if it were not for the fact that you don't engage in honest debate, are unable to admit the possibility that you are ever wrong, and are consumed with the spectacular delusion that you are the sole person in your world capable of engaging in skeptical, critical, and unbiased analysis of issues. I now predict that you are going to say that this is a word salad. Because you fucking LOVE that expression, to the point where you have engaged in elaborate extended metaphors based on the concept of "word salad." Which. Is. Weird.

I'm not sure "belief" even works for most of the people in our strata who profess strident political views these days. I'd say most of it is signalling.

If one wishes to demonstrate that he is cultured and smart, he must offer his anti-Trump bona fides early and loudly. Most of my upper middle class friends who wish to ensure you know they're well thought on issues offer that signal to each other and bond over it.

If one wishes to demonstrate he is well-off, he lets you know he's turned off by Trump, but thinks Trump's policies are decent. This same person may have voted for Hillary out of concern that his portfolio would get killed by Trump's election, but is now happily surprised to the upside.

The only people I see who aren't signalling are those falling into minority groups that are targeted by Trump and the Trumpkins in their #Maga hats. The first group of people have serious concerns and are pissed and scared for good reason. The second group have no shame, as they've gotten behind a bigoted agenda and a coalition of voters that includes xenophobes, racists, know-nothings, and deluded fools. Those people are either confused, deluded, or hold deplorable views and goals.

The shy Trump voters aren't signalling anything. They're acting in self-interest.

I find myself signalling a fair amount. I feel like I have to say anti-Trump things in certain circles so as not to upset the group (being quiet or pointing out where they make be misinformed can often cause socially awkward moments... and you certainly can't question whether they're engaged in status signalling). Among Trump fans, you can rip the man all you like, but you cannot say things would have been better with Hillary, or were better under Obama. So I signal. Among my status conscious friends shining their Trump bashing bona fides, I signal with sympathetic criticism. Among the Trump supporters, the stock line is, "I just wish he'd shut up and stay off Twitter."

But it's really all subjective. On immigration, individual taxes, and environment, Trump is miserable. On trade, his impact is yet to be fully understood. I'm skeptical, but it's beyond my pay grade, and Europe seems to be following our lead on China, so there must be some wisdom behind his moves which I am missing. On infrastructure, Trump's ideas are solid, and inevitable (it's going to be done with a mix of private and public money because that's the only option we have), and to the extent his corporate tax policy provided continued and in certain regards more robust growth, allowing the Fed to raise rates, which gives it ammunition just in time to drop them once more when we go into the next recession, it's a solid move (even if accidentally helpful in this regard).

Like all Presidents, he's a mixed bag. An ugly, horribly embroidered, mixed bag of good, decent, bad, and downright atrocious policies. It's unwise to focus on any one of them as overshadowing all others. It's best to just look at them discretely.