CURTIS, Nebraska - The only health clinic here is shutting down, and the hospital CEO has blamed Medicaid cuts in President Donald Trump’s signature legislation. But residents of Curtis - a one-stoplight town in deep-red farm country - aren’t buying that explanation.

“Anyone who’s saying that Medicaid cuts is why they’re closing is a liar,” April Roberts said, as she oversaw lunch at the Curtis Area Senior Center.

  • BananaTrifleViolin@lemmy.world
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    19 hours ago

    But Kemp, a lifelong Republican and Trump supporter, doesn’t hold that against Trump and suggested he might change course. “I really think he’s gonna do something,” she said.

    It’s this kind of thinking I find staggering. Trump has done something - it’s his bill that caused the problem he’s not going to change course. I don’t understand why Trump voters want to judge Trump on his words rather than his actions. They’re amongst those who are going to suffer to preserve tax cuts that won’t benefit them.

    • Wytch@lemmy.zip
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      18 hours ago

      It’s not thinking at all, really. It’s feeling. They don’t know the difference. They feel like Trump should, or will, do something. So that makes it true for them.

      The “participation trophies are bad” crowd have embraced the idea that all opinions are equally valid rather than judged on merit. So they get to live in a world where they can shape reality on vibes. They have no use for critical thought.

      When they say “I think…” what we should hear is “I wish.”

      • Rhynoplaz@lemmy.world
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        18 hours ago

        The “participation trophies are bad” crowd have embraced the idea that all opinions are equally valid rather than judged on merit.

        This is an interesting sentence. It is accurate, but seems contradictory. People who are bad at sportsball don’t deserve recognition, but people who are bad at thinking should be treated with the same respect as scholars and people with real world experience.

        • sawdustprophet@midwest.social
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          12 hours ago

          people who are bad at thinking should be treated with the same respect as scholars and people with real world experience.

          This reminds me of a quote from Isaac Asimov:

          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.’

        • taco@piefed.social
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          17 hours ago

          Of the people I know, this goes well with the self-centered worldview (e.g., things finally click once they’re personally affected).

          Participation trophies in sports are bad, because they’re good at sports which makes them feel superior. Thinking shouldn’t be competitive though, because they suck at it.

          • Wytch@lemmy.zip
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            17 hours ago

            Yes. They have complained for decades that trophies shouldn’t go to losers, because it breeds weakness and complacency. But they only apply that to others. It’s classic projection. It goes hand in hand with the devaluation of education and expertise.

            • TheReanuKeeves@lemmy.world
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              16 hours ago

              As if people are proudly displaying participation trophies rather than tossing it out in shame and getting back to training

            • taco@piefed.social
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              16 hours ago

              It goes hand in hand with the devaluation of education and expertise.

              Another excellent point of hypocrisy, in my experience. There’s a massive (complete?) overlap between people I know who think “no child left behind” is a good thing (despite making high school diplomas, effectively, participation trophies) and people who think a high school diploma should be sufficient education qualifications for any job.

    • taco@piefed.social
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      17 hours ago

      I don’t understand why Trump voters want to judge Trump on his words rather than his actions.

      Because it’s simpler. Actions are many and have complex chains of reactions leading to various outcomes.

      Meanwhile, after the election he literally said “I’m going to fix everything now.” Simple, easy, and something objectively positive. Like the other comment pointed out, this isn’t a decision arrived at by thinking about things.

    • Beesbeesbees@lemmy.world
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      19 hours ago

      I think if they had good judgement, they wouldn’t be trump voters.

      Additionally many of them have a “take it on faith” behavior, because that’s been drilled into them by their churches and communities for decades. Thinking critically would have been punished. It’s hard behavior to unlearn. People were denying covid with their death rattles from covid.

    • Lenny@lemmy.zip
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      18 hours ago

      They’re taught to blindly put their faith into a higher power, and good things will come to them if they do.

      lol

    • vortic@lemmy.world
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      17 hours ago

      I think the point that keeps getting forgotten is that these people don’t even hear about the bad things that Trump does most of the time and, when they do, it comes with spin to make it sound like a good thing. Mostly, they just hear about how much they are winning, how perfect the administration is… how great this administration has been for the economy, how much they have helped minorities but not in a way that will displace white people… how perfectly they are winning on the international stage, how perfectly the most recent special military action went, how much the rest of the world respects the US, how quickly other countries are giving in to our terriffs.

      They don’t hear truth and, at this point, they are so brainwashed that they wouldn’t know what to do with the truth if they encountered it.

      • Supervisor194@lemmy.world
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        13 hours ago

        They don’t hear truth and, at this point, they are so brainwashed that they wouldn’t know what to do with the truth if they encountered it.

        Well, we can see what they do with it right here: throw it right the fuck out. This is literally the scroll of truth meme irl.