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this post was submitted on 04 Jun 2024
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I have no credibility or relevant qualifications. I'm just some random moron on the internet, but here's my opinion:
His base has been manipulated. They have a sunken cost. Each time something new and horrible comes out about Donald Trump, they have to either be OK with it or come to terms with the idea that they may have been wrong about him this whole time. They'll react emotionally to this dilemma as if being wrong in this case would constitute a personal attack on their character.
With every new lie he tells or every new horrible thing he does, his supporters are forced to embrace it. And it just compounds. If they question him now, that would mean they'd have to question the hundreds of other things about him they've accepted.
So if he says "the sky is green" then they have to accept it as fact. Because if they question it, then they have to question if he told the truth about getting a fair trial, and then they have to question if he actually tried to cover up sleeping with a porn star, then they have to question if he slept with a porn star, etc etc all the way back for at least a decade. It's much easier just to accept the latest small lie than question everything you've believed for so long.
No, if he says "The sky is green," they don't believe him. They turn to watch your face as you meltdown over it. Nobody cares if he slept with a porn star and fudged some paperwork, they just care that it makes you spin out into this kind of nonsense.
I think that might be true for a portion of his supporters, but there are definitely a religious group of them that take his word 100%.
There are mean trolls who want to win the libs for sure, but there are also some really stupid motherfuckers out there.
God damn. I HOPE you're wrong. As that would imply that roughly 48% of america is voting because of this refusal to admit to themselves that they were wrong.
Hell, I KNOW I'm wrong a lot. There's no reason to say "oh, maybe I shouldn't have done that." And then fix your mistakes. There's even times I'm right 100% through an event, and then contexts change, and you have to admit the way you did it was actually wrong for reasons that hadn't happened yet in that moment.
We used to LOVE trump in 2004. Long before he was a politician. We loved him because he was easy to laugh at, and immitate in a mocking manner. But, now I know that watching clips of him on tv, only gave him ratings, kept him with a weekly paycheck for doing nothing. I now know if he went bankrupt in the 2000s, he wouldn't have had the standing or money to run a campaign in 2016.
So, oops. I was wrong for that. Difference is, we loved him like a clown. These people today love him like a savior. Which I do not understand.
It's very simple. For the last 30 years, liberals have become more and more self-righteous, arrogant, and idiotic in the policies they pursue. You've all lost any ability to argue and defend your positions, relying on cheap tactics like name-calling to mock, deride and dismiss the right without actually defending your increasingly insane positions. You're all so far up your asses, so bigoted and condescending, that it has become impossible to have any sort of political dialogue.
They hate you, they can't reason with you, they can't even get you talk to them without calling them fascists and bigots, all while you ignore the harm your own policies are causing. Donald Trump is your punishment. The people don't love him a savior, they love him because he's a giant middle finger in your face, and it makes you throw a temper tantrum.
And which policies might those be? The policies that stop ICE from seperating families at the border? Trying to end the acts of throwing them in large metal boxes with no water, some dying, in 110 degree heat?
Or are you thinking of other policies?
Are those Democrat policies? Is that what you mean to suggest?
Yes, I was thinking about Democrat policies. And while it's true that separating families at the border is a policy that began under Obama, I think it's largely thought of as a Trump policy.
I meant policies like using mass immigration as a stop-gap measure to deal with the negative population growth caused by liberal anti-family values and embracing globalism to the detriment of American workers (which the right is also guilty of, but Trump is as much a thumb in the eye of the Republican establishment as he is the Democratic establishment).
I honestly can't tell if you're trolling, or just really fucking oblivious.
No, his base hasn't been manipulated. They like Trump for one reason and one reason only: He makes you gnash your teeth. Trump is their revenge on you for being such self-righteous arrogant dicks and cheating in the political process. The only way Trump could lose luster in their eyes is if you guys all stopped freaking out about Trump, which won't happen.
Do you care to elaborate on how Trump is revenge? I am honestly interested in your opinion.
I think these "self-righteous arrogant dick" people are a very small minority of Democrat voters, just as any unflattering stereotype of Republican voters is only an accurate representation of the most unpleasant members of that group.
I think part of the appeal of Donald Trump seems to have something to do with the fact that he is (or at least has been, or projects the appearance of being) rich and powerful, and then is just blatantly honest about the level of corruption and hypocrisy that the rich and powerful get away with. I think people like that honesty. Nobody wants to live in a rigged system.
However, (and I think this is the part where you'll get frustrated with me) he seems to be highly and openly corrupt. I think he wants to make corruption and abuse of power seem normal so that when he does it, he can act like it isn't a big deal.
It's a big deal.
Starting in the 1960s, this country entered into a "culture war" that is, in many ways, similar to the Protestant Reformation of the 16th century. On one side, you have the postmodern liberal/left, which is motivated primarily by critical theory originating in post-Marxist philosophical movements. On the other side, you have modernist and traditonalist right (i.e. libertarians/neocons and the Christian right (I would be part the later group)). The right has been losing the culture war badly since the 1980s and the left has near total cultural dominance now, and has begun the process of destroying the modernist/traditionalist right through the school systems and its control of media. This has made the right feel utterly powerless and humiliated by the left, and has left them questioning whether the Republicans were ever actually representing them or were just stooges for the postmodern left the whole time.
Donald Trump is the epitome of everything the postmodern left hates. He's crude, belligerent, brashly honest about things you're not supposed to be honest about, but essentially a congenital liar in all other regards. He's sexist, he's borderline racist, he's anti-intellectual, and he's a rich, powerful straight white man who makes absolutely no apologies for it and is absolutely swimming in unearned privilege.
That's why the right supports him. The right isn't even allowed to question the left's agenda, it's dogma. They're not allowed to participate in politics and culture anymore, they're only recognized as the "bad guys," the "enemy." They feel like the only thing they can do is put a thumb in the left's eye and make them hurt. So that's why they are in love with Trump, and not a more sensible candidate like DeSantis. Because Donald Trump's mere existence makes the left gnash their teeth.
That's certainly part of it. They do think everyone is as corrupt as Trump, but only Trump is willing to admit it.
I totally agree. The man is beyond corrupt. I genuinely believe your average family dog has a better understanding of morality than Donald Trump, who may possibly be the most venal, corrupt person to ever hold the office of President. It's either him or Jackson. As I believe I said earlier, I'm not a Trump supporter. I'm a socially conservative Catholic who is moderate to liberal on economic issues, so naturally I'm very much opposed to the Democrats, but Trump doesn't really hold any appeal to me (except insomuch as his election might bring Project 2025 to fruition). I'm also Gen X, so I've known who Trump was for 30+ years and absolutely cannot take him seriously. But I totally get why the conservative base -- which is mostly made up of unideological reactionaries -- has embraced him.
Thank you for this great response. I'm genuinely interested in your perspective.
When you say that the right is losing the culture war, are you referring to things like the rights of women, minority groups, gay/whatever people, separation of church and state, and environmental protectionism, or am I misunderstanding?
Why does the right feel powerless and humiliated?