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Doug-a-boo McCrae @dougmccrae.bsky.social · 12h

The unmooring from reality is distinctive of right wing populism in general and Trumpism in particular. Recent claims about “war ravaged Portland” are a good example, but just one of many. The movement couldn’t exist without the bubble provided by the right wing media ecosystem.

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Doug-a-boo McCrae @dougmccrae.bsky.social · 14h

Nonetheless I think the claim that Trump has "faced surprisingly little resistance... in the first nine months" is entirely correct.

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Reposted by Doug-a-boo McCrae

Brendel @brendelbored.bsky.social · 1d

I like how the news will be like “while the President claiming Portland was ruled by a giant skeleton named Mr Nibbles is not strictly true, it does speak to the anxiety of many Americans”

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Doug-a-boo McCrae @dougmccrae.bsky.social · 1d

That does make me wonder whether players in a horror rpg should act sensibly or like characters in horror fiction ie always going into the cellar, attic, spooky house, etc. In general I have a preference for doing in genre stuff when an rpg has a clear genre.

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Doug-a-boo McCrae @dougmccrae.bsky.social · 1d

I think it's having an impact. I live in Scotland and I just saw videos of the Portland protests on Facebook. There were many comments, all positive or mocking ICE. It's not going to change the minds of hardcore Trump supporters (nothing will ofc) but it may well be reaching low info neutrals.

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Doug-a-boo McCrae @dougmccrae.bsky.social · 1d

She's at least there in spirit, if not in person.

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Doug-a-boo McCrae @dougmccrae.bsky.social · 1d

Not firebombing a Walmart.

bsky.app/profile/doug...

Doug-a-boo McCrae @dougmccrae.bsky.social · 1d

Tweet by user Basil@LinkofSunshine

People on twitter will really be like "you believe in voting? that pales in effectiveness to my strategy, firebombing a Walmart" and then not firebomb a Walmart

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Doug-a-boo McCrae @dougmccrae.bsky.social · 1d

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Reposted by Doug-a-boo McCrae

NY Times Pitchbot @nytpitchbot.bsky.social · 1d

News footage from Portland shows a calm, tranquil city. But an AI video that Stephen Miller texted to Donald Trump shows the city as a burning hellhole. The truth may lie somewhere in between.

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Doug-a-boo McCrae @dougmccrae.bsky.social · 1d

He’s not even the most important person in the US government. That would be Stephen Miller.

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Doug-a-boo McCrae @dougmccrae.bsky.social · 2d

Lots of Saltires along the road near Stobhill Hospital, probably put up with racist intent. You can't be certain these days whether a Saint Andrew's Cross represents patriotism, an upcoming Scotland game, support for Scottish independence, or nativism. Exciting times for semioticians.

Doug-a-boo McCrae @dougmccrae.bsky.social · 3d

Apparently there's a term for it in the US.

bsky.app/profile/bren...

Brendan Nyhan @brendannyhan.bsky.social · 3d

Kinsley gaffe

Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 3d

Trump: "We took the freedom of speech away because that's been through the courts and the courts said you have freedom of speech, but what has happened is when they burn a flag it agitates and irritates crowds."

Doug-a-boo McCrae @dougmccrae.bsky.social · 3d

I think the NYT's ongoing narrative wrt the Ivy League is:

students today = bad
students in my day = good

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Doug-a-boo McCrae @dougmccrae.bsky.social · 3d

They admit everything. Ted Cruz called on politicians to "stop attacking pedophiles". A slip, yes, but I suspect he might've been thinking of GOP efforts to prevent the release of the Epstein files.

www.c-span.org/clip/senate-...

User Clip: Ted Cruz Saying "Let's Stop Attacking Pedophiles" - Trump Admin. Response To Crime in Cities 9/30/25

Ted Cruz Saying "Let's Stop Attacking Pedophiles" during a Trump Admin. Response To Crime in Cities aired on CSPAN 9/30/25 Time marker 1:49:53-1:50:10 https://www.c-span.org/program/senate-committee...

www.c-span.org

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Doug-a-boo McCrae @dougmccrae.bsky.social · 3d

Their political movement worships masculinity but they possess zero virtues traditionally considered masculine. Trump, for example, whines constantly, is extremely vain and thin-skinned, and the pursuit of attention has been his main aim for his entire adult life.

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Reposted by Doug-a-boo McCrae

-C-M-F- @chrispps.bsky.social · 3d

even more than Trump I, Trump II is distinctive in the extent to which it represents a merger b/w the right-wing media and right-wing government; it is a government that lives within the propaganda bubble it sprang from but also makes policy decisions with an eye to content creation for said bubble

James Vizzard @jwvizzard.bsky.social · 3d

Interesting rundown on how RW media influencers drove the administration's Portland actions. Strikes me that we need to remap the GOP extended party network--or more accurately the MAGA EPN. Ppl like Sortor on not really outside actors.

goodpoliticsbadpolitics.substack.com/p/sordid-sor...

Sordid Sortor

A dust-up in Portland reveals the dangerous degree of Trump administration overlap with the right-wing marketplace

goodpoliticsbadpolitics.substack.com

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Doug-a-boo McCrae @dougmccrae.bsky.social · 3d

Yes, right wing media is a huge part of this. Trump himself is primarily a showman. His main aim for his entire adult life has been to court attention from the media. He spends a lot of his time watching 24-hour TV news.

But it's not just Trump, ofc. Many right wing politicians are immersed in it.

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Doug-a-boo McCrae @dougmccrae.bsky.social · 5d

This paper finds that economic crises benefit the right.

onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

How do voters respond to economic crises: Do they turn against the incumbent, reward a certain political camp, polarize to the extremes, or perhaps continue to vote much like before? Analyzing extensive data on electorates, parties, and individuals in 24 countries for over half a century, we document a systematic pattern whereby economic crises tend to disproportionately favor the right. Three main forces underlie this pattern. First, voters tend to decrease support for the party heading the government when the crisis erupts. Second, after crises, voters tend to assign greater importance to issues typically owned by the right. Third, when center-right parties preside over a crisis, voters often drift further rightward to nationalist parties rather than defect to the left. The far-right thus serves as an effective vehicle for keeping the center-right in power even when facing postcrisis disaffection by its voters.

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Doug-a-boo McCrae @dougmccrae.bsky.social · 5d

Trump is so far beyond the boundaries of acceptable behaviour that to include him would mean giving up on morality and the notion of legitimate authority altogether. If Trump’s acceptable then everything is.

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Doug-a-boo McCrae @dougmccrae.bsky.social · 5d

as the Cats went out at a hole neare the chemnie, the last turn’d about his head and cryes forth, Ai what ailes Beatie now. In this meane tyme, the poor mans wife Bettie Sandilands whose face Jean Craig had blowne on, was lying bound hand and foot because of her Madnesse.” 3/3

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Doug-a-boo McCrae @dougmccrae.bsky.social · 5d

Craig then sent a horde of cats to torment Beatrix’s husband, John Parkie.

“The said Jeane is accused for making a number of Cats skip and trip round about Johne Parkies Fire side and hee to rid himself of such a horrible sight, taking up a Tree [piece of wood] to chase them away, 2/3

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Doug-a-boo McCrae @dougmccrae.bsky.social · 5d

There was a particularly bizarre alleged incident in the records of a 1649 Scottish witch trial. Jean Craig was accused of causing the madness and subsequent death of Beatrix Sandilands by blowing in her face and uttering a curse: “ane blak sicht be upone that face”. 1/3

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Doug-a-boo McCrae @dougmccrae.bsky.social · 6d

Further evidence that he always believes whoever spoke to him last!

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Doug-a-boo McCrae @dougmccrae.bsky.social · 6d

Strangely after Trump spoke to Gov Kotek six days ago he said she was "very nice" and asked "am I watching things on television that are different from what's happening?"

But after this moment of lucidity he claimed today that the politicians only say "there's nothing happening" out of fear.

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Doug-a-boo McCrae @dougmccrae.bsky.social · 6d

Yes, there are groups that aren't doing much, like the Dem leadership, mainstream media and the business world. And there are those that actively support Trump: GOP, Supreme Court, right wing media, Musk and some other billionaires. The military leadership seem to despise Trump and Hegseth.

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