i hesitate to say it was manufactured, the reddit account getting exposed from years ago makes him seem more genuine to me. I suppose you could say it's part of some grander plan from an intelligence agency but I try to steer away from that level of conspiratorial thinking.

i just think he probably has a lot of cognitive dissonance that he refuses to confront, he has always been a very weird/dumb guy, dude got himself kicked out of a gw bush rally for sneaking in an antiwar sign and shouting during it as an ~18 yo but then he joins the military a year or 2 later? i really dont understand how that can happen but then again the machinations of the mind of my fellow amerikkkans are nearly an enigma to me anyways

fwiw I think the only way for him to truly show he's changed would to be to publicly denounce the US military in a way that would seriously damage his chances of winning the election, because i can squint and see the argument that he's "hiding his power level" but i dont think you get to do that after serving as an imperial death squad goon

[–] GrouchyGrouse@hexbear.net 5 points 3 days ago

Yeah that’s the conspiracy thread I’m hesitant to tug but with no proof just a vibe it feels like the security state dabbling in left populism to get ahead of whatever chaos happens next