José Antonio Kast’s victory in Chile’s presidential election has been widely praised by leaders of the global right, with congratulations coming from the US secretary of state Marco Rubio, Hungary’s Viktor Orbán, Italy’s Giorgia Meloni, Argentina’s Javier Milei and X’s Elon Musk.
The son of a Nazi party member, a father of nine and a staunch Catholic known for opposing abortion and same-sex marriage, Kast won 58.16% of the vote in the runoff – more than 2m votes than the leftist Jeannette Jara, a former labour minister under the current president, Gabriel Boric.
Kast is the first post-dictatorship president to openly declare himself an admirer of Augusto Pinochet, under whose regime an estimated 40,000 people were tortured and more than 3,000 killed. Among the many tributes he has paid to Pinochet, Kast said during the 2017 presidential campaign: “If [Pinochet] were alive, he would vote for me.”
How tf do you decide you want to vote for someone that says these things? I'm genuinely at a loss on how to spin this into a positive as just a thought experiment, let alone actually going out and...
“If [Pinochet] were alive, he would vote for me.”
How tf do you decide you want to vote for someone that says these things? I'm genuinely at a loss on how to spin this into a positive as just a thought experiment, let alone actually going out and voting.
I'd presume for the same reason "My election was stolen" and other such elements get voters. If the entire population would've been against right-wing dictators they wouldn't have been able to...
How tf do you decide you want to vote for someone that says these things?
I'd presume for the same reason "My election was stolen" and other such elements get voters.
If the entire population would've been against right-wing dictators they wouldn't have been able to maintain their grasp on power, this we can conclude that they have some basis of support - even if it isn't a democratic majority.
Those people wouldn't have entirely died out from 35 years ago and even for those who did, presumably some passed their positions on...
Add on some "Better dead than red" or its spanish equivalent given the opponent in the second round.
I mean, would I have voted for the son of a Nazi, brother of a military dictator's minister, who seems generally unapologetic and supportive of the latter publicly, obviously not, do I understand people who did, also not. Am I surprised? You guessed it, no.
I think that surprised is also not how I would describe my reaction. One has to take a short glance at history, pick literally any time period, to see that cruelty can garner votes as much as...
I think that surprised is also not how I would describe my reaction. One has to take a short glance at history, pick literally any time period, to see that cruelty can garner votes as much as benevolence can. I suppose the understanding is that this cruelty won't extend to the voters, which if you pick literally any time period in history also shows you that's not true.. but I digress.
What prompted me to write the comment is that I can't find any redeeming quality in that statement alone, and I find it difficult people wouldn't see it for what it is. We see plenty of regular folk go to bat for those types and defend and spin it so it sounds better or to justify it to themselves, but why? It's so clear cut you're probably better off just owning that side of yourself.
It just consistently ends in a leopards ate my face moment and well yeah... It said so right there on the tin: "leopards inside".
He did lose the 2022 election. My husband 92 year old grandfather did make a show to vote in his pajamas, so he can write in no one in spanish since he didn't like either candidate. And believes...
He did lose the 2022 election. My husband 92 year old grandfather did make a show to vote in his pajamas, so he can write in no one in spanish since he didn't like either candidate. And believes that he would go to hell if he voted for Kast.
My understanding from talking with my in laws. Kast won because people are more scaried and scarred by the communist label over right wing label. And they were unhappy with Boric. In the previous round, Jara won the lead, but not the majority. In which case, second round of election is called for just the two leading runners. So all of the right wingers from the previous election coalesce into voting for Kast.
The stereotypical politician is very mealy mouthed and careful and uses complicated phrasing and implication to avoid offending or making strong statements. The stereotypical politician is also...
The stereotypical politician is very mealy mouthed and careful and uses complicated phrasing and implication to avoid offending or making strong statements.
The stereotypical politician is also not thought of very highly. So when you have people like Trump or this guy say crazy stuff and it feels like a breath of fresh air to people.
How tf do you decide you want to vote for someone that says these things? I'm genuinely at a loss on how to spin this into a positive as just a thought experiment, let alone actually going out and voting.
I'd presume for the same reason "My election was stolen" and other such elements get voters.
If the entire population would've been against right-wing dictators they wouldn't have been able to maintain their grasp on power, this we can conclude that they have some basis of support - even if it isn't a democratic majority.
Those people wouldn't have entirely died out from 35 years ago and even for those who did, presumably some passed their positions on...
Add on some "Better dead than red" or its spanish equivalent given the opponent in the second round.
I mean, would I have voted for the son of a Nazi, brother of a military dictator's minister, who seems generally unapologetic and supportive of the latter publicly, obviously not, do I understand people who did, also not. Am I surprised? You guessed it, no.
I think that surprised is also not how I would describe my reaction. One has to take a short glance at history, pick literally any time period, to see that cruelty can garner votes as much as benevolence can. I suppose the understanding is that this cruelty won't extend to the voters, which if you pick literally any time period in history also shows you that's not true.. but I digress.
What prompted me to write the comment is that I can't find any redeeming quality in that statement alone, and I find it difficult people wouldn't see it for what it is. We see plenty of regular folk go to bat for those types and defend and spin it so it sounds better or to justify it to themselves, but why? It's so clear cut you're probably better off just owning that side of yourself.
It just consistently ends in a leopards ate my face moment and well yeah... It said so right there on the tin: "leopards inside".
He did lose the 2022 election. My husband 92 year old grandfather did make a show to vote in his pajamas, so he can write in no one in spanish since he didn't like either candidate. And believes that he would go to hell if he voted for Kast.
My understanding from talking with my in laws. Kast won because people are more scaried and scarred by the communist label over right wing label. And they were unhappy with Boric. In the previous round, Jara won the lead, but not the majority. In which case, second round of election is called for just the two leading runners. So all of the right wingers from the previous election coalesce into voting for Kast.
The stereotypical politician is very mealy mouthed and careful and uses complicated phrasing and implication to avoid offending or making strong statements.
The stereotypical politician is also not thought of very highly. So when you have people like Trump or this guy say crazy stuff and it feels like a breath of fresh air to people.
"I'm going to throw you out of a helicopter if you disagree with me" is not a breath of fresh air, it's a death threat.