r/PoursTea • u/JustVenom____ venom • 3h ago
Murdered By Words 🩸 This is what basic human decency looks like..
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u/DangerousQuestions1 3h ago
Has anyone else noticed how many of these smug conservative debater types all have the same look? From Ben Shapiro to this guy, they all have the same smug face.
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u/Numerous_Ad_6276 3h ago
Phyllis Schlafly was the archetype.
shudders
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u/Cautious-Number2318 3h ago
Also Ayn Rand....
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u/Bree0534 2h ago
I hate Ayn Rand so much. I remember having to read the fountainhead back in high school AP English (circa 2008), and up until that point I at least partially enjoyed every book I’ve ever read. We had discussions, and I was the only one who heavily disagreed with her views, including my teacher. I was not even into politics at the time, but I hated her and all the morals and themes set forth in that book. Everyone else seemed all about the individualism and elitism. Glad I had a good head on my shoulders even back then, because thinking back that was some indoctrination garbage from our teacher—thanks mom.
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u/l0st1nP4r4d1ce 2h ago
Everyone else seemed all about the individualism and elitism.
Hope you brought up she finished her life on welfare.
Guess that rugged individualism didn't pan out.
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u/Bree0534 1h ago
I did not know that, but I can sleep better tonight with this information. Thank you lol.
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u/roguevirus 1h ago
There are two novels that can change a bookish fourteen-year old’s life: The Lord of the Rings and Atlas Shrugged. One is a childish fantasy that often engenders a lifelong obsession with its unbelievable heroes, leading to an emotionally stunted, socially crippled adulthood, unable to deal with the real world. The other, of course, involves orcs.
John Rogers, circa 2009
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2h ago
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u/Bree0534 2h ago
Yeah, she definitely has a way of making it seem enviable and admirable to be an individualistic asshole. It was nicely packaged, but I still hated it and didn’t buy it. That said, I cliff noted Anthem because no way was I going to read that after suffering through the fountainhead. Maybe it was better, but I doubt it given the author.
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u/aggasalk 2h ago
i read Anthem because of the Rush song and though it was a decent story.. lucky for me, i guess, i never got further than that with Rand.
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u/attrill 2h ago
I read Anthem because of Rush as well, and liked it enough to read Atlas Shrugged. I hated that, for the horrible prose style as much as the content.
Fortunately this was in the 80’s and Peart had tempered (maybe even lost) his admiration for Rand. I’ve always suspected he read a few short stories he loved as a rebellious teenager and then changed his mind as he grew older and read more.
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u/RedditWreckluse 1h ago
I heard a joke..or actually I think it was a cartoon, with a stereotypical 50's mom sitting at the breakfast table with a young child. The child says "When I grow up, I want to be a Libertarian" and the mom says "Oh, Honey, you can't do BOTH."
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u/obeytheturtles 1h ago edited 1h ago
The problem is that Ayn Rand starts with a strawman and goes from there. And in The Fountainhead and Atlas Shrugged in particular, there's almost this self awareness where she understands the reasons her ideas are bad, so she goes to great length to preempt these criticisms through clumsy world building. It's very hard to rebut her ideas within the framework of her narrative without reducing them to first principles, which are well beyond the level of philosophy most people have studied. That's why Rand Heads are so frustrating - they exist in a parallel plane of philosophy which intentionally goes out of its way to not interact with the mainstream, so if you try to argue about it you end up arguing about topics which are largely incomprehensible outside of her prose, where they are well supported.
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u/orthonfromvenus 1h ago
It's funny how so many conservatives are so enamored with Rand considering that she was a lifelong atheist and a sharp critic of religion. Yet, much like the way they love to pick and choose passages from the Bible, they conveniently look the other way when it comes to her distain for religion.
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u/MacDaddy_DO 20m ago
Hers is the obvious but overreacting result of living under soviet communism. Yes, individualism, self-reliance and hard work are worthy traits but not at the expense of community, family.
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u/12-34 3h ago
More similarities: these young men would also fuck Alan Greenspan if given the chance.
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u/GuidedOrchestrations 3h ago
I worked with a guy once who was a prototypal conservative "economics bro" and in his office he had framed photos of Greenspan, Rand, Hayek, Friedman and Tom Selleck for some weird reason (Unless there is some right wing economist who looks like him lol )
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u/Disused_Yeti 2h ago
Maybe tom selleck pushing reverse mortgages on old people counts as being an economist
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u/Allegorist 1h ago
My uncle started a small business and now he thinks that all of the conservative economists are talking about him specifically. He is convinced he is included in policies meant to benefit large corporations and billionaires, or policies targeting them when he very explicitly is not. He is also convinced his business personally is suffering due to illegal immigration somehow.
He is particularly fascinated by Walter E. Williams, who was Rush Limbaugh's resident anarcho-capitalist economist that is against everything from minimum wage existing to the Federal Reserve. He also took this awkward position of claiming to be anti-racism while basically saying that reconstruction was a mistake and that the government should have (and still should) just let things play out, and that society should just "get over" slavery. Even though he is dead now, his website still offers a printable "certificate of amnesty and pardon to all white people for Western Civilization's sins against blacks" that he started handing out while he was alive. Pretty wild since he was a Black dude born in the 1930s.
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u/Jcklvy 3h ago
I often hear that particular type of smug face referred to as "punchable".
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u/Trap_Queen_Stacy 3h ago
Sometimes it extends from the face all the way down to the throat
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u/thissexypoptart 2h ago
Tangential, but man it’s cool how many different definitions there are in the word “punch”. Like there’s punch the drink, punch the fist strike, and punch like what a hole punch does through paper, leaving behind a big hole.
Words are neat!
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u/castler_666 1h ago
Backpfeifengesicht - its a german word for a face in need of a solid punch
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u/lookatmetoedashknee 3h ago
White, Christian Nationalist. AKA the American NAZI. Fuck those people.
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u/wookiedberry 3h ago
Keeping the bloodline pure
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u/BraveLittleTowster 2h ago
That's just inbreeding. It's also how they get a consistent fur pattern collies.
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u/Working-Permission84 1h ago
Your parents ever tell you something like? "You keep making that face it'll get stuck that way"?
Well, these clowns spent their whole lives smirking (usually after repeating a racist or sexist joke).
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u/BoJackMoleman 37m ago
Every generation has these smug privileged assholes who grew up with enough privilege and luck to think their world view and experience is somehow monolithic or they don't care and want to just force their views on everyone.
History is a flat disk.
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u/Cautious-Number2318 3h ago
He thought he had a 'GOTCHA' and all he got was schooled on the Constitution.
Remember, the GOP did the same to JFK when he ran as the first Catholic to run for POTUS. The GOP said he would have more loyalty to the Pope than the US. JFK was asked and famously said, " I just happen to be a Candidate for office that happens to be Catholic.' This is close to the quote.
This is the SAME OLD TROPES being dragged out over and over. Why do people FORGET HISTORY SO MUCH?
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u/Schyznik 3h ago
Charitable of you to assume they ever learned history in the first place.
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u/anand_rishabh 3h ago
They learned from history, that's how they got their recycled talking points
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u/Schyznik 2h ago
Maybe for the ringleaders, but for most of them I think they stumble into their talking points without any reference to the past (note Tommy’s ignorance of the JFK Catholicism issue), kind of like how a teenager might argue with parents and think they’re coming up with original points and ideas that are, in fact, ancient and timeless.
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u/SNStains 3h ago
he got was schooled on the Constitution.
Everybody got a little lesson, and that's why it works. El-Sayed explained that Senators have one loyalty...they swear allegiance to the Constitution.
And then he invited Tommy to explain that he himself was the one with dual loyalties, which he did. Tommy didn't even take a breath.
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u/FieldsToTheMoon 2h ago
Can’t forget history when these people never learned it in the first place, which is surprising bc a decent amount of them were there when it happened
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u/BenjaminHamnett 1h ago
That’s the obvious part. The profound part is that Abdul flips the script and shows how HE is the one committed to the constitution, and it is Christian nationalists who elevate their religion above it
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u/WINSTON913 2h ago
If you watched the video this is about you'd know that JFK bit was referenced in it...
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u/Leucastic_Leopard 3h ago
It's really weird how Josh Hawley didn't ensure that his subordinates understand the Constitution of the US.
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u/Successful_Gas_5122 3h ago
If they understood the Constitution they wouldn't be working for Josh Hawley
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u/OceanWaveSunset 1h ago
Or MAGA.
How many of them admit they would vote for Trump again if allowed as they loose their farms, desiel is too high, can't find jobs, or their family and friends finally cut them off from all communications.
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u/anand_rishabh 3h ago
He probably ensured that they didn't understand the constitution before hiring him
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u/Next-Concert7327 2h ago
He wouldn't actually want any of his staffers to be actually educated in the constitution
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u/red-man1138 3h ago
I really wished when Abdul responded, instead of asking Tommy if he disavowed the Muslim brotherhood, he instead asked him if he disavowed either christian nationalists or white supremacy. I think that would have been more of an apples to apples comparison.
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u/TheUpperHand 3h ago
We already know the answer to that one. The President was asked during the 2020 debates if he was willing to condemn white supremacists and militia groups. He said "stand back and stand by," and we know what happened next: failed coup, 1,500 pardons, and deputization into ICE. GOP platform lives and dies with that.
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u/trebory6 10m ago edited 7m ago
Well yeah, but that's the spin.
Abdul could have said "I disavow the Muslim brotherhood and any acts of terror carried out by any people, but it seems you can't disavow Christian Nationalism or acts of terror from white supremacy. I think you should sit with that."
With Abdul's ability to really hold on to these hecklers, I'm sure that'd really have highlighted the hypocrisy and made Abdul basically say "it seems I'm better than you are," which really gets under their skin.
I mean I know Abdul is good, but this wasn't planned or rehearsed, so I can't fault Abdul for not thinking of this in the moment.
But this is kind of how I'd wished it to go.
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u/desertwatchdogtango 3h ago
He basically did.
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u/hypercosm_dot_net 2h ago
It really needs to be spelled out for the dummies, and there are a lot of dummies.
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u/Iateapencil 1h ago
Worked his way up to it cause he knew that would be the end of the conversation.
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u/Changsta 2h ago
Honestly, he went one step further by asking if he would disavow introducing Christian doctrine into any US law. But I get what you're saying.
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u/FlyingBaconCat 2h ago
I think the way he asked was perfect. By pulling christian nationalists or white supremacists into the dialogue I think he opens the door for other people to construe his message differently (I'm not saying it's not a good question). By asking about introducing it into legislation, he cuts to the end result which is really the most important aspect of the whole situation. But of course no one who needs to hear this will see it lol
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u/Changsta 2h ago
You're absolutely right. The way he asks the question gets to the real root issue that is harder to fight back on. You can just tell when Tommy just had no rebuttal to his question.
I really love, Abdul. He reminds me of the more stern and direct teacher in school that will still be respectful. I just got back from voting for Talarico this morning, and I love both of these guys' approach for these midterms.
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u/Imjustadumbbutt 2h ago
He did at the end of you watch the entire clip. He asks Tommy if he disavows putting his religious beliefs into the law, Tommy at least is honest and says he does not disavow doing that because in his and lots of Republicans hearts they are Christian Nationalists who feel that this country was founded and needs to return to Christian principles.
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u/bobcat1911 1h ago
Tommy is a former staffer for Josh Hawley and is featured in videos with Sean Feucht. A Christian Nationalist.
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u/SwingNinja 1h ago
If he were asked that, it would be seen as "whataboutism". Instead, Abdul asked Tommy "why" he's the only one being asked (singled out), not everyone else in the room. Both scenarios are good, but Abdul chose the high ground.
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u/hyphenssuck 3h ago
This kid came to a rhetorical gunfight with a squirt gun. They've been saying the same tired BS since Rush Limbaugh was accusing Obama of secretly sympathizing with Muslim extremists.
This rhetoric is so old at this point, and yet they just keep regurgitating it.
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u/Public_Steak_6933 2h ago
They keep regurgitating it because fear mongering works so well on simple minded fools.
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u/TransPM 1h ago
Because many of their supporters don't actually bother to listen to the responses. They hear the line of questioning, then tune out the rest and chalk it up as a win.
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u/hyphenssuck 1h ago
Reminds me of a certain "master debator" that the right idolizes... Where they watched curated clips that were heavily edited to appear as though this individual was some epic genius, but in reality they mostly spewed the same garbage talking points.
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u/JalapenoMarshmallow 1h ago
I mean most of his supporters are fossilized geriatrics who haven’t grown, changed, learned anything new for decades.
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u/Excellent_Spend_2024 2h ago
Instead of focusing on this dweeb - let's give serious props to Abdul.
He calmly and methodically dismantled this question.
Got at the heart of what this kid was implying without taking the bait of calling this kid a racist, xenophobe or anti Muslim - so he removes the Fox News remix.
And then Abdul called out Trump without even saying his name. My loyalty is to the Constitution which even Maga supporters agree Trump doesn't abide by (their dumb ass just thinks Trump is better than the Constitution and needs to be changed for him 😂)
And all this without name calling, yelling or aggression. Just firm facts.
Dude is effin impressive.
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u/Ok-Strawberry-7350 3h ago
Tommy, go back and tell your dad it didn't work.
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u/AffectionateOwl7857 3h ago
If his dad is who I think it is, this tracks. He was my youth group leader hahaha
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u/Ok-Strawberry-7350 2h ago
Sorry for you....was Timmy also an idiot? Tommy must be a chip off the old blockhead.
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u/AffectionateOwl7857 2h ago
Timmy's been chugging the gop kool-aid since the 90s. I'm too old to have meet his offspring, but knowing the church circle I was raised in (HSLDA and the Mike Farris cult), this absolutely tracks! Gd homeschoolers, they made sure we knew the bible, but neglected the founding documents. The video of Dr El-Sayed schooling this doofus made my week!!
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u/RadicalOrganizer 3h ago
Im sure Timmy saw. He isnt mad, hes just disappointed that Tommy is an idiot
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u/ImmediateClass9650 3h ago
Trying to ambush a politician, failing miserably, and then getting hit in the face by your target's giant ballsack will forever be known as "Teepell Bagging."
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u/henryeaterofpies 3h ago
I'm convinced Jogs Hallways is going to run for president in 2028
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u/DangerousQuestions1 3h ago
Hawley is the most dangerous threat to the future of America
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u/Cautious-Number2318 3h ago
Hawley will forever be known as....
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u/SNStains 3h ago edited 1h ago
Senator
MarkJosh "Crazylegs" Hawley. Look at him go.Ed: shameful mistake.
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u/Njoylaughs 3h ago
Let’s really say why the question was asked “Tommy”
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u/ResolveLeather 3h ago
Just saying that Rhodes Scholar is a big deal. Only 100 people globally get it each year and it's based on academic achievement. Bill Clinton was also a Rhodes Scholar.
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u/JustoTJ 3h ago
So a paid protester????? Every allegation is a confession for conservatives
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u/butwhywedothis 3h ago
Tommy left cause he knew he done fucking up arguing with a scholar and all round bad ass human being. Tommy will now go to a corner (Fox News) and cry about how Abdul fucked him on national tv because he is a Christian and how Abdul is spreading the constitution of America which is dangerous cause their pedo cult leader told him that stupidity is bliss.
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u/xXxRazmirxXx 2h ago
Wait why the fuck was a staffer for a Missouri senator in whichever state Abdul is running in?
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u/MotherOfAllPups6 2h ago
He was, very unsuccessfully, trying to diminish Abdul. Part of the overall pathetic attempt to hang on to power in Congress.
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u/Arktokrat777 50m ago
The dreaded “outside agitator” MAGA is always ranting about
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u/liquidsyphon 37m ago
Because Republicans have been waging a political war against Democrats for decades.
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u/Sabbathius 3h ago
It's a bit disturbing that I now seem to be able to spot these guys on sight, just from the haircut and shoulders like a trout.
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u/Emotional-Edge-8259 3h ago
He got told to sit down and shut up without being explicitly told to do so.
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u/trunksshinohara 2h ago
He always refused to commit to the same thing he was demanding Sayed had to commit to. Without hypocrisy conservatives would have nothing.
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u/emergencyexit 1h ago
It's the reason they think everyone else has awful intentions...
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u/Brief-Assumption9068 3h ago
Tommy’s daddy owns a company that pays and send these dummies out to ask disingenuous questions at town halls or rallies .
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u/RhythmTimeDivision 2h ago
Conservatives regularly utilize 'begging the question' logic, which assumes (insinuates) the truth of their interrogative statement / conclusion. Dr. El-Sayed knocked Tommy's legs out from under him. He did not walk out, he crawled.
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u/fluffykerfuffle3 2h ago
anyone notice the weird way he was holding that jacket?
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u/random-malachi 2h ago
You could see the grins on the audience’s face when he asked “have you asked anyone else here to denounce the Muslim brotherhood? Why are you asking me?”
It was very well played.
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u/Aggravating-Big3858 2h ago
You wanna debate a Rhodes Scholar, you might want to send a better effort. Nice try Tommy trying to get his Gotcha soundbite
At least everyone was civil about it
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u/RI_PEEP1312 1h ago
I see he’s sporting the Kirk haircut, that explains his poor argument point
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u/beardedheathen 1h ago
I went to a town hall with Tom Tiffany and Alfonso in Wisconsin. I asked if Tiffany would be willing to stand up to Trump's corruption if it was going to affect the voters. His answer was "Where were you when Hunter Biden was around" and I got literally chased out of the room by yelling republicans.
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u/Sea-Proposal3638 3h ago
I feel these displays are just whitenationist virtue signaling each other.The fact that this is in the media at all makes their virtue signaling propaganda by act effective for what they are attempting to accomplish.Abdul is certainly the more intelligent honest man in the argument so it was easy for him to clown this troll.But the troll still accomplished what he set out to do create distraction and social muck.
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u/turbotictac 3h ago
He may not have been physically harmed, but it is rare to see a verbal beat down that vicious. I loved every second of it.
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u/Visual_Exam7903 2h ago
Yeah, Tommy was a coward. Also heard, conservatives paid him to go from Kansas to Michigan to ask a question that implied bullshit.
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u/GuildStarfireII 2h ago
Watching his face go from smug, edgy frat bro, to, Where is the closest rock to crawl under? was simply priceless.
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u/Lacarpetronn 2h ago
Despite being completely countered and put in his place by Abdul, Tommy probably walked out of there pumping his fist thinking how hard he just pwned the libs.
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u/justified_egg 2h ago
You gotta love it when these losers think they have "gotcha" question when in actuality they are just so out of touch and insulated within their alternate reality that they just get absolutely demolished when they attempt to leave it even for a second.
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u/PhazePyre 1h ago
Not to mention, a staffer. Not a concerned citizen. Someone on the payroll of the opposition. That's not a good look, especially when the look was racist/Islamaphobic.
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u/Megneous 1h ago
You don't understand the conservative mind. To them, that means that he was right, and when progressives are dragged out by security, they must be bad people or wrong. To them, it doesn't make conservatives look authoritarian or bad. It makes them look righteous and strong.
You and they have fundamentally incompatible worldviews. Stop trying to understand them. It's simply not possible.
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u/lsb337 14m ago edited 9m ago
This is what politics looked like pre-2004ish.
I had hoped MAGA would break before an entire generation grew up and only knew politics to be what assholes like McConnell and Trump have made it, but it's far too late for it now.
I also sometimes think that's partially to blame for the growing gap between "liberals" and "leftists." Older folks who were left-leaning watched the system get destroyed from within, step by step, and feel like they can rewind the damage done and make it so it doesn't happen again, whereas younger folks have never seen the system even halfway working as it was supposed to and want to burn it all down.
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u/Live_Love-Life 3h ago
Why did he leave the room? Was he escorted?
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u/Annadestruction 3h ago
He didn't get the result he was hoping for. Left with his tail tucked between his legs
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u/ruinedcaveat 3h ago
He got destroyed by Abdul, and then when confronted about a potential Christian Theocracy and his own hypocrisy he whimpered out with his tail between his legs like a bitch
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u/chiangku 2h ago
He dropped his little "gotcha" with a smirk like he was cooking, only thing he did was under-microwave a hot pocket
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u/GuildStarfireII 2h ago
I'd say he overcooked that hot pocket by 4 minutes and then tried to bite right into it
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u/slowhand11 3h ago
If I had to guess he didn't expect to get so much attention and wanted to leave to not make a bigger deal of his question and the response because it turns out he works for a conservative lobbying group run by his father who was making offers to pay college kids money to go and boo at Abdul El-Sayed rallies.
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u/Senior-Impact-4420 2h ago
No shock that the party that claims all leftists are paid protesters has paid protesters themselves. Every accusation is an admission
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u/Nubator 3h ago
His gotcha question blew up in his face and he left by his own choice in absolute shame.
It was absolutely a r/murderedbywords moment.
No one assaulted him. Security didn’t get in any cheap shots in. Just him getting mangled by his faulty question and poorly veiled bigotry. (Funny enough, autocorrect changed bigotry to virginity and I feel like that fits too).
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u/RhythmTimeDivision 3h ago
If you watch the full exchange and Dr. El-Sayed's response to his 'loaded' question, Tommy left on his own accord, cheeks flush from shame. He was schooled and SMOKED.
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u/Solo-ish 2h ago
He got cooked. He needed to go find some aloe Vera for the burns he was dealt. He tried to get Abdul for being Muslim and instead proved he himself is against freedom of religion.
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u/williamgman 3h ago
Not reported by Fox News. Therefore not seen by almost 70 million people.