• dellish@lemmy.world
    302·
    4 days ago

    Perhaps have a look at what he achieved instead of the label he achieved it under. His policies were pretty far removed from what you would expect from a Republican.

      • Uruanna@lemmy.world
        13·
        4 days ago

        He’s a Republican because he fell for the Reagan bling, he’s said multiple times he got in it for him. I think he never really understood what that actually meant, and he did side with leftist ideas more often than against, and he did do a bunch of things that are more leftist than he understands, but he still had some pretty entrenched ideas of what a Republican is that he never managed to question despite having reality shoved in his face, so he’s still a Republican by religion and lack of reckoning of what that really does.

      • Katana314@lemmy.worldEnglish
        63·
        4 days ago

        Imagine this, though: Imagine the above comment was made by a conservative, upset at AOC, a deeply progressive politician, for joining the Democratic Party, a group that supports Israel and tends to work quietly against universal healthcare.

        It’s sometimes poor logic, but people do successfully cherry pick reasons to feel the same about the Democrats - fans of progressives especially.

        • joe@lemmy.worldEnglish
          2·
          3 days ago

          It’s not a very good analogy. AOC has two choices in American politics: Democrat or Republican. She may not be a perfect fit for the Democratic Party, but she’s significantly closer to them than she is to the Republican Party (even before MAGA).

          Schwarzenegger had the same options. He would have fit fine in the Democratic Party, but he, for whatever reason, chose the Republican party; a political party that has been overtly racist for as long as any of us have been alive.

          Maybe he had some good reason to throw his support behind the Republican party pre-MAGA, but it is still a valid criticism that he made that decision.

          Valid, but I have to admit, it’s not a very useful criticism. What’s he going to do; time travel back and prevent himself from making that decision?

          • Katana314@lemmy.worldEnglish
            2·
            3 days ago

            Part of my point is, I think everyone has had “romantic, classical notions” of what their party used to represent, and defer to that notion when considering which party a good person should join.

            For Democrats, that involves protecting minorities, a strong government, etc. For some Republicans, it’s about more state-level government, and strong businesses. The wishful often want to believe it’s just those - that racism isn’t built into that party, only “protecting the border from criminals”.

            And if you look way back in history, there are “hints” to that too - Lincoln freeing the slaves, Reagan welcoming immigration to strengthen the economy. They’re not true anymore, of course, just as the Democratic Party won’t lift a finger for anything that stands against Israel, or could actually pass universal healthcare. But I could imagine an older guy like Arnold remembering that image when he signed up. Maybe to some degree there’s a Code Geass’ Suzaku style of “The only right way is to change them from the inside!” thinking.