>>512448222
>But backing a conman because he talks like he cares while gutting programs that would help them is a tragedy.
See?
There it is.
Have you ever examined the Russian arguments for the war in Ukraine?
I’m a big supporter of Ukraine, for the record.
Russia often talks about in propaganda how the US is manipulating Ukraine, how the CIA caused the 2014 revolt, how Zelensky suppressed the Donbass (when in actuality he was killing Russian glowies).
What is the point of these arguments?
To take agency away from Ukraine.
In truth, they revolted in 2014 because their Russian puppet leader quashed a deal to support greater ties with the west. The people there were so incensed they took to the streets and threw the puppets out. They cared more about the prospects greater ties with the west would bring - money, prosperity, opportunity - than they were afraid of Russia.
Russia has always been close to Ukraine. They need to tell themselves, to tell their people, that Ukraine is being used and mislead by the evil west, because the prospect that they CHOSE this, that they KNOWINGLY defied Russia, then invites a harrowing possibility:
What if Russians decide the same thing?
My point being: Democrats do much the same thing. They do not afford those on the right agency. It’s a subtle way of dehumanizing, of giving yourself the moral high ground while disparaging your opponents as misguided idiots being led around by a charlatan.
But it is rarely, if ever, true. Surprisingly, people don’t take well to being told they don’t know what’s good for themselves.
