Our Lack Of Standing
This is a political post. If interested, please scroll down.
I talk with Trump supporters.
And, when I do, I always get the same answers to my question: “Why do you support Trump?”
Consistently though, the answers are the opposite of the truth, and the opposite of reality. For example, I hear this: “I like Trump because he’s made America respected across the globe. We weren’t respected under Obama.”
Oh?
Today, the nonpartisan Pew Research Center released an updated poll:
.
Pew also shows that in every country save two (Russia and Israel), the global standing of America has plummeted under Trump. As it did under George W. Bush. Our standing significantly rose under Obama.
So, when Trump supporters say to me: “I like Trump because he’s made America respected across the globe. We weren’t respected under Obama,” they are simply repeating what Trump says. These supporters never fact-check Trump. Nope.
If Trump says X, his supporters believe X, without question. And, in my experience, nothing I say or show makes the slightest difference.
This scares me.
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I totally agree. I always wondered how a major country like WW2 Germany could be persuaded to participate in things like the holocaust and a brutal world war. And how one person gains such power over an entire people and a country. I am now seeing it first hand. Reality doesn’t matter – it can always be explained away with unchecked lies and fake news. It is extremely scary to think that in our country such a large mass of people could be so easily manipulated.
Agreed, John.
During 2016 I read this:
Trump supporters believe every lie about Hillary…
…while ignoring every truth about Trump.
This is powerful, and still true.
Same here.
The main difference is that back then there were only newspapers and radio that were controlled with propaganda. Now you can easily check facts on the internet. But it doesn’t matter to them. They live in their bubble of lies and feel comfy about it.
I’m French, and every day I’m a little more blown away by what Trump does and say. Every day i think: oh my, he can’t get any stupider / can’t be more a jerk than that, but every time i’m proved wrong just the day after. He never ceases to impress me and to scare me. And so do his supporters. Unbelievable!! I am soooo crossing fingers for y’all in the USA (we’re definitely not into prayers and stuff here in France), so hoping that Biden will stop this madness. There are no words for the level of stupidity here. He would deserve a good backlash from karma, get covid, but not a soft version like the other stupid ones got (Bolsonaro In Brazil and Johnson in UK).
With the Trump supporters I know, facts and truth don’t matter to them in any part of their lives. Evidence doesn’t matter. “Truth” is what they want it to be. This delusion has done untold damage, politically and otherwise.
Agreed, Stephanie.
Every time I talk with a Trump supporter, I have to work hard to keep my mind from melting down. Because, everything they believe is a lie. And they don’t see it.
I recall talking with Republicans in the 1980s. We would not agree, but their views were at least attached to reality.
Not anymore.
Exactly. I left the party and that culture when I saw what was happening. Maybe it was always there and I didn’t see it. It grieves, terrifies, and angers me.
The biggest thing that scares me right now is that Trump is laying the ground work for his supporters to say the election is rigged. He’s putting out the narrative that if he loses, that will be proof that the Dems “stole” the election. It’s another case of his supporters believing everything he says and never fact checking it.
I consider myself a pretty levelheaded person but I’m starting to seriously worry about real violence from his supporters after the election.
Kara, I fully expect real violence from his supporters regarding the election. We’ve already seen ample evidence of how violent Trump supporters are.
Recently, the Department of Homeland Security published a study. Again, this is from the DHS! They stated that most of the violence we’ve all seen these past few months was committed by people on the Right (Trump supporters).
This is why I keep reminding people that these are two distinct groups:
Protestors
Rioters
And the media does a piss-poor job of making this clear.
I feel confident in speaking for pretty much all of Canada when I say we are embarrassed to be America’s neighbour right now. I feel disgusted with Trump and very uneasy about the election. I know it’s fiction, but I just finished watching the show The Handmaid’s Tale (having also read the books) and I can see how this attitude could actually turn into something truly horrific for the majority of Americans. I pray for a victory for Biden.
Karyn, the new Pew poll shows that Canadian confidence in America has hit an all time low, and with only 20% having confidence in Trump.
Agreed about The Handmaid’s Tale. It was published in 1985 and I thought: this could never happen in America.
I no longer feel such confidence.
I haven’t paid any attention to polls since EVERY poll said Hillary would win….
Hi, Sherry,
The polls did not actually say that Hillary would win.
The polls only showed that Hillary had a slight lead over Trump.
And Hillary did, in fact, get more votes than Trump.
Here’s a Rolling Stone article.
I feel as if I have been zapped into some sort of Twilight Zone where people that I have known, liked, and respected for decades have been replaced by clones that look like them, but who are so very different in their beliefs and behaviors. My late maternal grandfather was a registered Republican, but he was also a good, decent, hard-working man who cherished his family and friends, who never passed up a chance to help those less fortunate, or stand up for those who were struggling. He was good friends with several prominent Democrat officials, and supported them whole-heartedly. My father, until 2016, was a life-long Democrat, although his beliefs were ultra conservative; he has embraced Trump to the point that our last conversation (nearly 3 years ago) ended with him condemning me to hell. I know so many others who, like me, have seen their families torn apart by this man and his political machine; I feel like I am living in Germany in the early-mid 1930s. I pray daily for this country, and that the good people who see him as he really is will take a stand against him and vote him out. If/when that happens, there will almost assuredly be trouble; he’s promised that, and it may be the first promise he makes good on. But in the end, it would be better than another four years of him; that would be the worst thing that could happen to our America.
Our experiences are quite similar, Mike, and I completely understand the Twilight Zone feeling. It has permanently changed how I see my parents, and even when our country has (hopefully) moved on and started to heal, I am not sure what will happen with my family.
Hang in there, Allison… we are the better people because we have compassion, decency, kindness, and all of the traits that so many people claim but don’t practice. I am struggling too, but I am also learning to let go…
From the Feminist News on Facebook. This may explain a lot.
Feminist News
Poster based in Mexico · 22h ·
The question was posed, “Why do people continue supporting Trump no matter what he does?” A lady named Bev answered it this way:
“You all don’t get it. I live in Trump country, in the Ozarks in southern Missouri, one of the last places where the KKK still has a relatively strong established presence. They don’t give a shit what he does. He’s just something to rally around and hate liberals, that’s it, period. He absolutely realizes that and plays it up. They love it. He knows they love it.
The fact that people act like it’s anything other than that proves to them that liberals are idiots, all the more reason for high fives all around.
If you keep getting caught up in “why do they not realize this problem” and “how can they still back Trump after this scandal,” then you do not understand what the underlying motivating factor of his support is. It’s fuck liberals, that’s pretty much it.
Have you noticed he can do pretty much anything imaginable, and they’ll explain some way that rationalizes it, and that makes zero logical sense? Because they’re not even keeping track of any coherent narrative, it’s irrelevant. Fuck liberals is the only relevant thing.
Trust me; I know firsthand what I’m talking about.
That’s why they just laugh at it all because you all don’t even realize they truly don’t give a fuck about whatever the conversation is about. It’s just a side mission story that doesn’t matter anyway. That’s all just trivial details – the economy, health care, whatever.
Fuck liberals.
Look at the issue with not wearing the masks. I can tell you what that’s about. It’s about exposing fear. They’re playing chicken with nature, and whoever flinches just moved down their internal pecking order, one step closer to being a liberal.
You’ve got to understand the one core value that they hold above all others is hatred for what they consider weakness because that’s what they believe strength is, hatred of weakness. And I mean passionate, sadistic hatred. And I’m not exaggerating. Believe me. Sadistic, passionate hatred, and that’s what proves they’re strong, their passionate hatred for weakness.
Sometimes they will lump vulnerability in with weakness. They do that because people tend to start humbling themselves when they’re in some compromising or overwhelming circumstance, and to them, that’s an obvious sign of weakness.
Kindness = weakness. Honesty = weakness. Compromise = weakness.
They consider their very existence to be superior in every way to anyone who doesn’t hate weakness as much as they do. They consider liberals to be weak people that are inferior, almost a different species, and the fact that liberals are so weak is why they have to unite in large numbers, which they find disgusting, but it’s that disgust that is a true expression of their natural superiority.
Go ahead and try to have a logical, rational conversation with them. Just keep in mind what I said here and be forewarned.”
Dear Guinean,
I have previously pointed out that Trump supporters are not a monolith in how they think.
Yes, I have encountered exactly as your comment described.
But, many Trump supporters I talk with don’t actually like him. Nonetheless, they will again vote for him for two reasons:
1) They think he’s doing a good job. Of course, what they think is totally unsupported by the facts.
2) While they dislike Trump, they think Democrats are profoundly worse, truly evil even, so that voting for Trump becomes tenable. This is the result of decades of brainwashing by Fox.
In short, all Trump supporters that I have personally talked with are totally detached from reality when it comes to politics. And nothing I can say, or show them, makes any difference.
It’s terrifying because this represents tens of millions of people.