One of them said that conservatism doesn't really exist.
Going back to Trump threads from 2011 and seeing how many Freepers, some of them longtimers, have completely reversed themselves, leads me to wonder how genuine his support really is here. I would venture to say at least some of them are afraid to buck what they see as the forum trend; they think it's safer to go along and get along.
Which would be pathetic...I thought we left that kind of thing behind in junior high.
There is one ‘rule’ to go by on any internet/social media forum
“High School never ends”.
Once you accept that most people are exactly who they were in high school, just older, the behavior is unmistakeable. Actually ALL people are. Its just that a few of us can control it and ‘act’ like adults. Most don’t even try. And it usually manifests in the personality cult behavior that is a mirror of the ‘cool kids table’ in the lunch room.
One of the memes being pushed - Questioning the very concept. Or they really don't know, and they are here as single issue conservatives - taxes, R2KBA, etc. ... I have had a bit of that too: 'What is conservatism really anyway?' or 'Conservatism is different for everyone'... Really parallel to the liberal 'Don't label me' thing.
How often are the 3 pillars discussed? Where's the 3-legged stool? There is a complete departure from Reagan - No understanding of what he gave us, that what we should look for in a candidate is the guy who not only satisfies one's own principles, but rather, the principles of all three factions. Nobody goes under the bus, nobody has to sit in the back of the bus... The only way it works is when we all get to drive, in the person of a fully fledged Conservative - One who embraces all of the principles of Conservatism.
Another meme is to question whether there are enough Conservatives left to get a win - This is inevitably pointed at the last several candidates, and their failure to bring it home (as if they were Conservatives at all, in the first place). Inevitably, they preach a necessity to win over Democrats, and appeal to the mythical middle.
Which would be pathetic...I thought we left that kind of thing behind in junior high.
The followers, I can understand - they are what they are. But I see something far more nefarious at work here. These are jackals - here to rip and tear. It isn't about truth and vetting. It's about bloody destruction. As with this OP: Countered and perfectly proven false (not just false, but an outright lie) on the first page, and that should be the end of it. But it won't be. Even though it is absolutely false, it will be thrown at the wall anyway, again, and again, trying to get it to stick. In the aggregate, it becomes a cackling cacophony, rolled out at the highest decibel. Loud, obnoxious, and confusing... which I think is the end game.
It offends me how blatant the slander is - I don't need to slander Trump - He falls by his own weight.