I'll start. Fahrenheit is the superior temperature system for weather reporting. We should use metric for literally everything else, even Celsius for cooking, but I'll be dead in the cold ground before I abandon a system in which you actually get to experience both 0 degrees and 100 degrees. Freezing being 32 instead of 0 is literally the only downside, and it's not a hard number to remember. I'm prepared to die on this hill in the comments.
This involves politics but not leftism. But its definitely an unpopular opinion.
But I generally speaking believe a lot of the russiagate allegations. I know a lot of people on the left call that Q for libs. But here I am I guess. The democrats in congress not actually impeaching him over the stuff played a big part in my shift left in politics though.
I don't believe any of the absurd stuff. But generally speaking I think trump was knowingly leveraging his presidential run to attempt to secure loans and promises to get his names on buildings and primarily in Russia. I also believe the fbi looked at this though and their instinct wasn't to attain justice or something but that they could use the threat of this investigation as blackmail over trump. And ultimately what trump is acused of doing feels perhaps an aggregous example of, but an example nonetheless of the same type of influence china exerts over people like Diane fienstein, or mitch McConnell. Or Israel over orgs like aipac, etc...
In the grand scheme of things I think its largely unimportant to our discourse. But I do believe he "colluded" with russia.
Edit:
here are some things im like 50/50 or more on believing:
Russia was laundering money into republican campaigns through Russian American citizens and donations to the NRA.
Based off Reality Winner's leak it feels kinda likely to me voters were dropped from voter rolls preventing them to vote in both the primaries to help trump and hrc, and then in the general to help trump.
I generally believe russia has offered women probably including underaged girls to trump. I generally think the pee tape is real, or at least the threat of their being a tape is real.
I read Seth Abramsons first two books...
Don't cancel me, please. :(
I don't think that people say this because they don't think Russia interfered. They say it precisely because of the more ridiculous aspects of the whole ordeal. The idea that Trump is a Manchurian candidate that has been groomed since the 80s in some masterclass move by a guy who was stationed in Germany at the time. The idea that (and Louise Mensch actually said this) there are secret trials for people like Bannon and Bannon will be executed for treason.
Also, it's arguable that much of reporting of intelligence sources paralleled the reporting in the Iraq war lead up, and in various other circumstances. So even if you agree with the broader message, imo russiagate showed that there is much to worry in how intelligence sources are treated in media, and how easily consumers buy these stories.
The biggest mistake people make when trying to figure out conspiracy theories is assuming the "master plan." Trump has done shady shit with shady Russians since the 1980s, that's basically public record, and the leap from that to what you described is totally unnecessary. What's far more likely is that a guy with all this shady shit in his background was opportunistically prodded when he unexpectedly rose to political prominence.
And of course the focus on this exclusively, at the expense of the million other reasons 2016 went down the way it did, is laughable.
yeah, that stuff is absurd. I followed Louise Mensch for like 48 hrs. The Bannon being imminently arrested thing I think is what made me ditch that, hahha I loved Claude Taylor too for like a minute.
And yeah, if he was "groomed" in any sense i think it started in like 2013. Not 1988 or whenever he visited russia.
The part people relate to Q is the fact that very real and bad and shady hit happened but they try to tie every single sin of America and every failing of the Democratic party and all criticism of the Democratic establishment to Trump and Russia both.
Just like there is a very real global sex trafficking ring for billionaires that includes children. The Q people then crafted a massive mythology around it to call it somehow a liberal/left wing plot.
Yeah, I know I'm walking a fine line in saying I'm being unpopular. But to be fair I havent betrayed just how much the "collusion" I think happened, hahah
At this point though, I find it absurd how people connect russia to everything. And again, its obvious the entirety of the investigation was just show boating.
But here are some things im like 50/50 or more on believing:
Russia was laundering money into republican campaigns through Russian American citizens and donations to the NRA.
Based off Reality Winner's leak it feels kinda likely to me voters were dropped from voter rolls preventing them to vote in both the primaries to help trump and hrc, and then in the general to help trump.
I generally believe russia has offered women probably including underaged girls to trump. I generally think the pee tape is real, or at least the threat of their being a tape is real.
I read Seth Abramsons first two books...
Don't cancel me, please. :(
I still don't disagree with really any of that. The specific sort of things I and I think most others are calling Q for liberals is when you get called a Russian bot for criticizing Biden or Harris, when you see them blaming police brutality or fash radicalization efforts (both of which have been going on since before WW2 even started) on Russia.
I don't think it's really an unpopular opinion. It's generally agreed Trump colluded with Russia, and that Russia interfered in the election. What's unpopular is how far people think it's gone, the amount of the influence it had and that Trump or Putin are some kind of masterminds. Of course Trump ran for president to get more money, he's Trump. Of course Putin was trying to influence the American elections, why wouldn't he? But Putin didn't make Trump win.
deleted by creator
I don't think the pee tape is real, I don't think they had to blackmail him into it tbh I think they just offered him an opportunity to make some dirty cash and he took it. Like if there was compromat I wouldn't be surprised but even if it existed I'd imagine it plays a pretty inconsequential role in the whole thing, if any. Like, we already know Trump was pallin' around with Epstein and it has made 0 difference in his political status, what could Putin have on him that's worse than that?
Nah I’m right there with you. The story all fits. He’s a bastard. I think chapo was against it because a lot of libs places all their bets on impeaching him but like... why would republicans give up power over ethics. What are you stupid? Ya know?
yeah that's for sure. I kinda wish the hosts would elaborate on it more. They've like interviewed Matt tiabbi about it but that was more of a after the fact gloat session. They're really wasnt much of a critique outside what you said.
But I'm like right there with everyone. I was a radlib in 2016. I think I clung to the impeachment thing because it felt like the most viable way to remove trump. But alas, too many dems and repubs would get their own blowback from their own corruption to ever pull the trigger on that.
Unrelated but it's "egregious" :)
Unfortunately I believe I have misspelled it so many times my phone no longer reminds me...