"I can't Hate Donald Trump"
 

An interesting take on Trumps supporters at Slate.

A timely anecdote:

In my daughter's "share and tell" time in class, the girl right before her shared that no one should vote for Donald Trump. This caused my daughter to share that the other day, we drove by a homeless man with a sign reading, "Give me $1 or I'm voting for Trump." Everyone else in the class yelled, "NOooooo!"

So rest assured, he has absolutely none of the hippie-school-second-grader vote.


But back to the thread topic... what ethnicity are these "metropolitan whites," if not significantly Scots-Irish? Is the argument that they're all German/French/Italian?

He says the Republicans supporting Trump come from lower socio-economic counties than Republicans supporting other candidates, and have a higher percentage of Scots-Irish voters. The Scots-Irish in urban areas have a different life experience, higher education and higher income, so lumping them all together as white doesn't explain the split. In fact white is meaningless as a demographic.

I come from a part of the Nation where whites are working class Republicans and blacks are welfare class Democrats. My area is strongly invested in Trump. I admit this worries me because people are voting based upon sound bites and knee jerk reactions.

The idea of Donald Trump at the head of the world's most powerful fiscal-military machine is fucking terrifying.

I totally agree with you.

Pussies.

My only glimmer of saving grace in this bizzaro event , is that he's not a really a Republican, that's just a tactical flag of convenience, if he got in he wouldn't be beholden to the old GOP conservative tea partiers in the way the next two or three possible candidates would.

^^ :D

What Beest said.

That's true, however he would be like Putin, rich, famous, gigantic ego, and lots of deadly toys.

He's got the whole world in his hands,
he's got the whole wild world in his hands
He's got the whole wild world in his hands,
he's got the whole world in his hands

He's got the little bitty baby in his hands,
he's got the little bitty baby in his hands
He's got the little bitty baby in his hands,
he's got the whole world in his hands
He's got the whole world in his hands...

Trump defined who believe what Rush Limbaugh, Laura Schlessinger, and Ann Coulter have told them what to believe.

Everybody have a cup of chamomile tea and relax. Trump has this.

I saw a lot of movies as a kid about America being anti-fascist, looks like I needed a better filter.

Didn't go well the last time.

The only thing more terrifying than Trump as president would be Hillary as president.

You find her more frightening?

I don't think Hillary would push the button, but I can picture Trump doing it.

She's manipulative and secretive and all that stuff, but Trump is an impulsive loose cannon.

I don't get why people find Hilary so scary. I don't think she has displayed any more or less of the qualities and/or flaws than the presidents you've already had.

I do think the fact she is female is a factor. I don't mean that you are sexist for finding her scary - I do however think the particular aspects of her character that are deemed frightening would be less frightening in a guy. Those character traits and ways of dealing are too out of kilter with our unconscious expectations of what a woman is.

When I look at the stuff some presidents and top tier male politicians have got up to without that in any way frightening off the voters and compare it to Hilary's record, I am slightly baffled by the rap she gets.

First of all, Trump would never push the button; it doesn't make business sense and he's enough of a business man to know how to force things to change through economic policies. He is a classic trash talker, a gar mouth.

If he is elected it will be more of the same crazy trainwreck it has always been with trump. I actually think the country's financial situation will improve because Trump's reputation is more important to him than wealth, per se. Bush, on the other hand had a track record of taking over businesses and then sucking all the cash out of them and leaving them bankrupt. He didn't care about his reputation, it was all about the cash grab and all flat out lying was the norm.

Trump's big feather in his cap would be making the US financially sound, not out of any altruistic principal but so he could claim bragging rights. And can you deny that bragging is one of his top, if not the top, activities of his?

Hilary, on the other hand is a habitual liar, Wall Street is her BFF, and is just another politcal corporate tool. I, personally, couldn't give a fuck about what sex she is and it's precisely that "she has displayed more or less of the qualities and/or flaws than the presidents [we]'ve already had" that makes me terrified. Our country cannot withstand another term of American politics, I mean corporate pandering. The country is being bled dry and really our only hope would be Bernie or Trump for two very different reasons and admittedly, very different outcomes, neither of which I see as pandering to corpocracy.

Ok. I can see that makes sense.

Though as toher being a habitual liar - Trump seems to have that same quality. And he seems as happy to brag without having earned bragging rights as he is with having earned them. Some of his business ventures have been great successes. Some have been collossal failures of judgement losing himself and others vast sums of money.

Best hope his presidency catches him when he is making good investment decisions, rather than those that have left the people who trusted him bankrupt.

Both seem bent on continuing the neo-con foreign policy which is brutalizing the mid-east and pushing us into a hot conflict with Russia.

That sounds like Trump.

Has he made any great business decisions since the 80s, other than "The Apprentice"? And how involved is he with the actual business side of making that show?

Wow. That 'sucking all the cash out' and 'leaving them bankrupt' is Trump's history. How did his history suddenly change?

George Jr and Trump are both Ivy League business school graduates embedded with the same concept of business: make profits at the expense of the product and counter-parties.

I thought Trump just lost investor money by making mistakes as opposed to stripping all the assets, lining his and his cronies pockets and then shuttering the place.

It always seemed like Trump tried to recover from his failures as opposed to Bush who seemed to count failures as success.

In any case, he's not my first choice for president. I don't think he even makes the top 100 list of my preferred presidents, but then neither does Hilary.

Sanders would have been a better candidate. Clinton's only fresh from a demographic perspective, her politics and tactics aren't. Sanders seems to have an actual set of belliefs and some genuinely new ideas and approaches.

Socialism/communism is not new at all.

Neither has worked anywhere they have been tried.

Trump demonstrates a tremendous negotiation skill. That is his asset. His ego and need to enrich himself (in money, power, publicity, etc) at expense of others is a severe weakness.

In a TV show called "Good Wife", an Illinois Governor runs for president. In Iowa, his rallies are poorly attended. However a one man band, with customized and creative songs signing praises of that Governor, keeps appearing. Professional campaign managers are appalled - keep trying to distance themselves from this one man band.

In a Caucus, if a candidate's corner does not have enough supporters, then he is eliminated. The Governor is short supporters. That one man band appears causing many to move to the Governor's corner. He could not be a better campaign promoter.

Why did professional campaign managers not see it? Same applies to what Trump is doing. Professionals would never attempt what Trump has done for the same reason professionals would distance themselves from that one man band. What works is not necessary understood in all environment. This environment is chock full of hate and disgust when the facts do not justify it. That creates volatility.

When so many foolishly believe ISIS is a greater personal threat than a car crash, then logic and experience no longer applies. Many in history prospered in such conditions such as Joseph McCarthy and Hugo Chavez.

Trump demonstrates another assent. He is made of teflon.

YES YES YES!!! That vile woman has no interest in anyone or anything other than her own power.

To some perhaps, but to the vast majority its her lack of character and her repeated bullshit from the time of white water to the present. She hasn't made a good decision since saying yes to Bill. Without him and his name she would be NOTHING.

here here ...

Won't someone please think about the First Spouse we'll have to look at for the next 4-8 years!

Attachment 55489Attachment 55490

People keep listing reasons to dislike Hillary, where Trump is even more so.

Come on, how is this relevant to our current presidential election cycle? Serious, honest question.

Um, third spouse for Trump.

You might have noticed that we have a true blue, dyed-in-the-wool socialist running for President. And you will have a tough time convincing me that the Democratic party is not already there with the GOPe flirting with them from outside the window.

Oh, who's a "true blue, dyed-in-the-wool socialist"? Can't be Clinton, Wall Street/Big Banks don't pay socialists to give speeches. Must be Bernie. So Bernie's a "true blue, dyed-in-the-wool socialist"? No wonder the 1% hate him, he might delay their march to 1890.

Sheesh, she doesn't hate Donald Trump in a thread titled "I can't Hate Donald Trump" that you started. Then, just because she says something about somebody else, you're all "Oh, who's a..., Can't be..., Must be..., So..., and No wonder...

Fussy...fussy...fussy! :p:

Hopefully "will be", not "would have been".
Supporting the middle class is NOT socialism. You've drunk the Kool Aid, Pam.

Whether or not you agree with Sanders or believe that he's more moderate in reality, it is a fact that Bernie himself says that he is an avowed socialist. Those are his own words.

I've heard him refer to himself as a "democratic socialist." I don't recall ever hearing him say he was a plain old "socialist." Not saying he hasn't, just that I've never seen it.

I think in the pigeonholes of a lot of people's minds, the word "socialist" fits in the same slot as "communist" or "marxist." And "democratic socialist" gets shorted to just "socialist" and dumped in there as well. I see a need for education on the meaning of the different words. But these are somewhat complicated ideas that take more explaining than can fit on a captioned facebook picture. I'm not volunteering to do the explaining, because I don't know the subject well enough to teach it. And as a rule, people resent being lectured.

Over-simplified slogans seem to resonate, and I think "Bernie wants to send my kids to college while [insert opponent here] wants to send them to war." is a decent one.

"I don't think that means what you think it means", would be appropriate in this election. I think a certain label means X, you think a certain label means Y, neither of us knows what a candidate thinks it means. :(

This drives me round the bend. The idea that Bernie Sanders is somehow on the same political page as the old soviet union is just crazy.

Sure, but is the solution for him to be a representative for "see, 'socialism' isn't a bad word," or "no no no, I'm nothing like you're thinking, I'm this other term over here."

And in case anyone hasn't yet seen John Oliver's recent take on it:

Yeah but (Rule #1, Always precede with a yeah but) Oliver is a ferriner, he doesn't understand American values, nor the shorthand we use to miscommunicate. ;)

Who says Trump doesn't have foreign affairs experience.

What is "the middle class"? I think I saw a show about it on the History Channel.

I love you guys but seriously, you need to get out more. You are clearly out of touch with the US population. You know that whole 1% wealthy thing where they have all the money? Well there is something similar called intelligence inequality (not education but intelligence) where 1% of the population had all the intelligence, Dwellars are highly represented in that group, So stop trying to ascribe qualities like the ability to think to the intellectual hoi polloi. They aren't equipped to do the things you want them to.

You may think I am joking. I am not. Most people are fucking stupid, ignorant, or uneducated. Often all three.

One need only view the number of millenniums who smoke cigarettes. Then deny they were easily brainwashed.

http://www.thedailybeast.com/article...rotesters.html

link to story with accounts and videos of assaults by supporters of trump.

another recent story with video shows a black man being escorted up the stairs by several men in uniforms, they appear to be sheriff deputies, and the man being escorted is sucker punched with an elbow to the eye by willie nelson's ugly stunt double, McGraw, who was quoted as saying he deserved to be killed, we don't know who he is, the next time we see him he might be a terrorist.

footfootfoot, you have thoroughly harshed my mellow today.

I don't challenge one word of your post, but, fuck. Thanks a lot buddy.

Some people advise that there is an EQ, Emotional Quotient which is capacity of individuals to recognize their own, and other people's emotions, to discriminate between different feelings and label them appropriately, and to use emotional information to guide thinking and behavior

I am of strictly average EQ, I like to imagine, and I'm sure we dwellars fall across the range of it

I imagine being more emotionally connected would allow us to better see who can be trusted and who is a dangerous liar or narcissist; and it would not surprise me to find that EQ makes for a better predictor of successful Presidencies than IQ

Now, I have to get back to perusing the forums. And I was up viewing threads until pretty late last night. But I want to say one thing to the Cellar dwellars. I want you to listen to me. I'm going to say this again: Just because sometimes "I'm with stupid -->" does not mean I've had sexual relations with stupid, I never indicated to anybody that I'm fucking stupid, not a single time; never. These allegations are false. And I need to go back to posting replies for Cellar dwellars. Thank you.

I used to think the vast majority of Americans were reasonable rational people.
Sure, we had wackos and racists but they were a small minority.
The things I'd see in the TV man on the street bits, and on the internet, were a cull of a lot of material.
But shit like this really embarrasses me because now I think it's representative of way too many people...

Then again, sexobon, you're not most people.
;)

Brilliant!

I work with a kid with severe anxiety and a learning disability. This week we had to talk about Drumpf, because thanks 'Merica. It was a good exercise for him/us to consider whether a nutjob as President has any actual effect on his/our life. We interact with and are effected by the people closest to us in far more profound ways. To have a President this coarse who apparently hates large sections of humanity would be a national embarrassment and will probably kill a lot of foreigners but the effect on his/our life/lives will be minimal unless Drumpf's supporters start rounding people up... which of course he has promised to do.

I doubt things will be much different from this if Strumpf wins.

(follow thread @ link)

How did Monica Lewinsky get into this thread?

It's important to remember, then, that the President of the United States is not the head of very much at all.

(a list of why that is, has been edited out here, for the sanity of the reader)

And no matter who is elected, there is always a tremendous amount of power within the people themselves, which is hard to see sometimes. President Anyone with only 30% support of the people is close to entirely powerless.

True.

He could still do an awful lot of damage, though.

He is selling fear of the present and the dream of a golden past, and he is giving permission to say the unsayable , no matter how damaging to individuals and communities. He is ramping up the hate-mongering and normalising physical aggressiveness.

So they tell me. I don't follow it all that much. I see the headlines, but I don't always trust them.