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Replies: 35
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Top TigerNet [29021]
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Political parties in America today.
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Feb 16, 2025, 7:35 PM
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Are political parties becoming more and more like a cult?
Below are 5 signs of a cult.
1. Absolute authoritarianism without accountability
2. Zero tolerance for criticism or questions
3. Unreasonable fears about the outside world that often involve evil conspiracies and persecutions (The government is out to get us.)
4. A belief that former followers are always wrong for leaving and there is never a legitimate reason for anyone else to leave.
5. A belief that the leader is right at all times
We’re not there yet, but are we far closer than we were 50 years ago?
Here is what made me think of this. I was presented with 2 questions:
1. Do Republicans tend to think of Democrats as being cult-like followers?
2. Do Democrats tend to think of Republicans as being cult-like followers?
Obviously the answers to the above questions are subjective and relative, not absolute. Just curious as to what y’all think.
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Valley Protector [1487]
TigerPulse: 94%
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Yes. MAGA is definitely a cult.
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Feb 16, 2025, 7:44 PM
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Democrats had a lot of the same qualities when Obama was president, but it’s been a while, and there wasn’t the level of following like we see with MAGA, where they blindly support and admire everything Trump does no matter what. Trump correctly said he could shoot someone in the middle of the street and not lose any support. People really admired Obama, more so than is healthy, but not to the “worshiping” level we see with MAGA.
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Hall of Famer [8250]
TigerPulse: 100%
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Re: Political parties in America today.
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Feb 16, 2025, 8:01 PM
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Yes. MAGA Republicans are approaching a cult-like status. And they also score high on the characteristics of fascism scale. Democrats have plenty of faults and presidents of both parties have tried (and at times succeeded) to exert powers that exceeded their constitutional authority, but what we are seeing today exceeds most previous examples. Lincoln and FDR stretched the boundaries but have been mostly forgiven. We may not be so fortunate this time around.
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Paw Warrior [5089]
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Clemson Conqueror [11877]
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A 3rd party is needed for the people in the middle***
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Feb 16, 2025, 8:24 PM
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National Champion [7960]
TigerPulse: 100%
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The Common Sense party****
Feb 17, 2025, 12:25 PM
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Game Changer [1780]
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Rival Killer [3043]
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The GOP is closer to a cult than the Dems....
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Feb 16, 2025, 8:43 PM
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Both parties are more extreme than the old days. But since 2016, the GOP has pushed itself far far far from the middle on basic things like election results, and all government decision-making power being vested in one guy. Everything right now is a glorification of the leader. Trump himself is like a religion to some of these people. The GOP is really a lost cause. The Dems have some groups within their coalition that are crazy, but they've managed to keep their most extreme voices isolated somewhat from real power.
I would LOVE to see Congress take its power back right now.
I would love to see Michael Johnson & John Thune get together and start to assert their power. They don't have to fight everything the President does. But just some occasional reminder that they are a co-equal branch would be refreshing. They are sitting in DC, with their thumbs up their ###, while Musk is destroying the congressional power of the purse. They are allowing their own institutional power to be annihilated....and they seem OK with it....or maybe it's because they're afraid of their voters.
This is why I think the GOP is a cult.
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Paw Master [16777]
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GOP are cultists about secure borders and state's rights
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Feb 16, 2025, 8:46 PM
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Dems are cultists about spending and fraud.
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Paw Master [17822]
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Re: GOP are cultists about secure borders and state's rights
Feb 16, 2025, 8:50 PM
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Seems the Repubs are the same way. What makes you think they have been different? What brought you to that conclusion?
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Valley Protector [1487]
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Valley Protector [1487]
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110%er [3634]
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Re: GOP are cultists about secure borders and state's rights
Feb 16, 2025, 10:55 PM
[ in reply to GOP are cultists about secure borders and state's rights ] |
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What about the eggs? Have we forgot about those prices that were the most important thing in the election? Not as big of a deal now for some reason 😳
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Valley Legend [12867]
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National Champion [7136]
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Re: Political parties in America today.
Feb 16, 2025, 10:17 PM
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Look at the core tenets of each party and its pretty each to tell which is more cult like and not based in any way whatsoever in reality.
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110%er [3634]
TigerPulse: 100%
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Re: Political parties in America today.
Feb 16, 2025, 10:57 PM
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Yep the right wing conspiracy theorists 😏
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Valley Protector [1487]
TigerPulse: 94%
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Agreed. The Democrat platform is a bunch of issues
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Feb 17, 2025, 5:15 AM
[ in reply to Re: Political parties in America today. ] |
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they have certain viewpoints of. The Republican platform is to support Trump in everything he does.
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Orange Phenom [14995]
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Re: Political parties in America today.
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Feb 17, 2025, 7:20 AM
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Both sides are cult like.
MAGA with believing everything Trump says.
And democrats disagreeing with Trump on most everything and at least implying he’s a Hitler or dictator in one way or another. Just watch the Sunday shows: it’s weird how the talking points start and before you know it, you see democrats on this board and everywhere using those same talking points. Sheep.
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Clemson Conqueror [11684]
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Re: Political parties in America today.
Feb 17, 2025, 8:42 AM
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never trust hamas or democrats
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Ring of Honor [23976]
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Re: Political parties in America today.
Feb 17, 2025, 8:43 AM
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Most of y'all were Democrats until 60 or so years ago. Might still be if they hadn't passed the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and desegregated the schools.
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Clemson Conqueror [11684]
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Re: Political parties in America today.
Feb 17, 2025, 8:47 AM
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nope, democrats own it
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Ring of Honor [23976]
TigerPulse: 100%
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Joined: 2007
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Clemson Conqueror [11684]
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Re: Political parties in America today.
Feb 17, 2025, 12:17 PM
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too funny
democrats always judge people by skin color
never stopped
which party chose their VP by skin color
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Orange Beast [6599]
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Re: Political parties in America today.
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Feb 17, 2025, 9:44 AM
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label it whatever, if I am in a cult that
- believes there are two genders
- believes family and two parents are important
- believes that you get what you work for
- believes that equality should prevail, not a predetermined equity
- believes history that shows free societies moving to socialism and communism have NEVER worked out for the masses
etc.
Then so be it.
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CU Guru [1528]
TigerPulse: 98%
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Lol, if Trump told you to disregard all of that
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Feb 17, 2025, 12:09 PM
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and suck him off, you would. You don't have any principles, so stop acting like you do.
The only thing Trump could tell you to stop doing and you probably wouldn't listen to is being an overt and outward racist.
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Orange Beast [6599]
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Libs of TNet are
Feb 17, 2025, 12:29 PM
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remarkably talented at knowing 100% of what everyone else thinks.
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Valley Legend [12867]
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Re: Political parties in America today.
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Feb 17, 2025, 12:39 PM
[ in reply to Re: Political parties in America today. ] |
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President Musk and first tubby Trump between them have fathered children with 7 different women. Do you think they’ve been present in the lives of all of those children in different households?
The Sec def, Chief of Intel, head of homeland security, head of HHS, and virtual every member of DOGE are unqualified for their jobs relative to other candidates. They didn’t work for what they got; they simply give full and devoted loyalty to Trump so he gave them jobs. You know it ain’t what you know it’s who you know.
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Top TigerNet [29021]
TigerPulse: 100%
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Thanks to all the responses.
1
Feb 17, 2025, 12:03 PM
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The answers seem to support my theory that everybody thinks the other party is a cult but their party isn't.
My belief, which certainly can't be verified but is based on personal observation is that there is a slight difference in the two parties in terms of being "cultish."
Democrats tend to support whatever the Democrat Party supports. There loyalty isn't so much to an individual as it is to a party. I have friends who were no in favor of same-sex marriages until the Democrat Party was. (Just one example, I could give others.) Barack Obama became somewhat of a "cult like leader" and Democrats fawned over him. But, in general, Democrats support whatever the Democrat party supports.
Republicans, on the other hand, seem to support Trump, no matter what Trump says. And, if you dare call yourself a Republican and question anything Trump says or does, then you are no longer welcome in the party. It's not so much the Democrat and the Republican party as it is the Democrat and Trump party.
While neither party is truly a cult, in the nature of Jim Jones or Charles Manson, both are moving toward demanding total loyalty to the leader and/or the party.
Just my observation and conclusion. Feel free to disagree.
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Orange Beast [6599]
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Re: Thanks to all the responses.
Feb 17, 2025, 12:31 PM
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It's an interesting topic, sort of, but the more important point is why do they support Cult 1 vs Cult 2 or what specifically is Cult X calling for that you support?
What do the Cults and their supporters want to happen in the future?
These are the key questions...
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Top TigerNet [29021]
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Good question. My speculation is...
Feb 17, 2025, 8:40 PM
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...they have different reasons.
Democrats support whatever the party supports because, "I'm a Democrat." I grew up in the south. I knew people who said, "My daddy was a democrat and his daddy was a democrat and his daddy was a democrat, so I'm a democrat." The fact their daddy, granddaddy and great granddaddy were Democrats because Democrats supported segregation is irrelevant. I think the feeling is just so ingrained in them that they just assume the party is right. Why else would any rational person believe that an 8 year old boy who says, "I'm a girl" should be taken seriously? Why else would a rational person not even be able to define what a woman is? (It's simple, a woman is an adult female human being.) It can only be because "I'm a Democrat and I believe whatever my party says."
And, I think Trump has helped them. He makes it much easier for a Democrat to oppose the Republican party, not matter what the Republican party position is.
Republicans, on the other hand, have rallied around Trump. They didn't universally and blindly support either Bush. But, Trump is different. I really shouldn't call it the Republican party anymore. It is the Trump party. If you don't blindly support every action taken by Trump then you aren't a Republican. At least that is the position of the "MAGA Republicans."
It will be very interesting to see if Vance can pick up the mantle in 2028 and inspire the same blind loyalty that Trump inspires. Or if the MAGA phenomena will die.
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Rival Killer [3043]
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Times have really changed in the South....
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Feb 18, 2025, 11:28 AM
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The "I'm a Democrat because my parents & grandparents were" generation has moved on. What you are describing hasn't really been the case much for the last 2 decades.
The new default, probably since about 2002-2008 for most people in the South is GOP, and probably 2/3 of them don't even know what policies they're voting for. They're just voting GOP because that's what their peer group & family does.
The segregationist southern democrats moved on many decades ago, either to meet their maker or they switched to the GOP or they had a change of heart.
And at this point, there really isn't a Republican "party" anymore. It's just MAGA. And it's really just around preserving as much power for Donald Trump as they can. This was on display after 1/6/21, where the GOP Senators were too afraid to vote to convict Trump even though they knew he was guilty.
You can contrast that with the Dems. In 2024, the Dems forced Joe Biden to step aside and not run for office. They don't have anything comparable to what has happened to the Republicans in terms of cult of personality.
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Gridiron Giant [15857]
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Re: Times have really changed in the South....
Feb 18, 2025, 12:11 PM
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The Dems only forced Biden out because he was going to lose and lose in a big way, taking a lot of the with him.
Joe didn’t want to go. He was not selfless and the Dems were fine with keeping an obviously cognitively impaired person as President until they felt he was going to lose.
Everything Joe Biden was behind wasn’t bad. Everything that Trump is doing isn’t bad either.
MAGA trashed everything related to Biden/Harris and the same is going on now with the Dems vs Trump.
Eric Swalwell is now blaming Trump for the spate of airplane crashes, never mind that firing roughly 400 of 45,000 individuals, none of them ATC personnel, and Canada at this point not a state with US federal personnel at the Toronto airport or the pilot being a Trump employee.
I agree that Trump has an outsize influence and has essentially taken over the GOP. Very few in the GOP have the stones to challenge some of the stuff that I think are foolish Trump proposals.
However, lots of Dems are losing their minds over every single thing Trump is doing.
Both parties need a reset and it’s a shame that many folks are abandoning family and friends over politics. It would appear from what I’ve read and experienced that the Dem antipathy towards conservative voters is greater than the other way around.
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Top TigerNet [29021]
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I think we agree more than we disagree.
Feb 18, 2025, 2:33 PM
[ in reply to Times have really changed in the South.... ] |
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I'm in my 70s. I have friends who are lifelong Democrats. There parents were Democrats. They taught their kids (these people now in their 70s) to be Democrats. These people have taught their kids (now in their 40s) to be Democrats. They support whatever the Democrat party supports. It's like party affiliation is handed down from generation to generation. Doesn't matter that the Democrat party is nothing like the Democrat Party that supported Lester Maddox for governor in the 1960s. Their family has always been Democrats, so they will always be a Democrat.
Democrats are "cult like" because the follow the party, regardless of who the leader is or what the policies are.
You are right about Republicans. The "cult like" people are not following a party, they are following a man, Trump.
But, I think the speculation is fairly accurate.
1. Republicans consider the Democrat Party a cult, but they don't consider themselves as being in a cult.
2. Democrats consider the "MAGA-Republicans" as a cult, but they don't consider them as being in a cult.
I see neither as a pure cult. But I see both as having way too many characteristics of a cult than I am comfortable with when it comes to the future of America.
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Rival Killer [3043]
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One additional aspect that needs calling out:
Feb 18, 2025, 10:22 PM
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When I think of which party has gone the most bonkers, I often think about who threw away most of their previous identity over the last 15 or so years. The GOP essentially threw away almost everything they claimed to stand for when they went in with Trump. Maybe everything but "low taxes".
Wanting to align with Democracies? Gone. Free trade? Gone. Small government? Gone. Being the pro-business party? Gone. Being anti-Russia? Gone. Literally, the Hippee Left used to be the anti-vaxxers. Now being anti-vaxx is officially part of the GOP. The GOP used to be bullish on stuff like the CDC & NIH. In the old days, the GOP wasn't the "I hate immigration" party.
There's really nothing left that ties the GOP to anything conservative. It's almost all gone.
Oh...and I forgot to mention...The GOP thinks elections they lose are rigged, too. That comes with the territory when you align with autocrats like Putin.
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Tiger Titan [47689]
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MAGA is. The rest, IMO, no.
Feb 18, 2025, 12:02 PM
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Real Republicans and the real GOP will question party leaders and criticize. I find Dems to be especially critical of their own and I think a lot of that is how grossly inept and incompetent the Dems have been lately along with terrible candidates.
MAGA, it's own animal, checks all those boxes, and for the same reason as other cults. They either have made the cult part of their identity... or they're too frightened to speak out against it even though they know it's wrong. They think it's too late to turn back.
But there's no question they are a cult. When a person gets angry when you criticize the leader on anything, he's fallen into cult worship status. Nobody should ever feel anger when a politician's flaws or mistakes are noted.
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Tiger Titan [51049]
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It's basic history being replayed.
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Feb 18, 2025, 2:49 PM
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Check out Southern Strategy and replace "black people" with "immigrants"
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Replies: 35
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