We were having a family chat in the car last night about Donald Trump and the source of his support. And it reminded me of this article that +Stan Pedzick posted:.
http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2015/12/some-men-just-want-to-watch-world-burn.html
It's all anger. It's fury. It's a rage born of fear and perceived powerlessness. It's conviction that they are being lied to and betrayed, that everything they've known is being changed, that the world no longer recognizes them as special and blessed, that the economic downturns are a conspiracy to knock them down and the economic upturns that don't net them any improvements are because it's all beings stolen — by those people. You know. Sure, politicians in general, maybe some wealthy hot shots, but mostly those people. The takers. The moochers. The uppity minorities. The foreigners. The pointy-headed "intellectuals" and the "experts" and the "scientists" and the so-called smart people. The bleeding heart liberals. The enemies who make fun of them.
These people are — have been goaded to be — angry as hell, and they aren't going to take it any more.
And along comes Donald Trump. And he's not a politician. And he has conspicuous wealth. And he doesn't mince words. He doesn't play nice. He isn't politically correct, or polite, or civil. He shouts. He yells. He mocks. He insults. He lumps together Mexican immigrants as rapists and drug dealers, and Muslims as terrorists. He shouts to the world all the ugly things that fear and anger drive one to say, or at least feel. He's "mad as hell, and he isn't going to take it any more" … so vote for him!
And people love him for it. "He isn't lying. He speaks for me. He gets right into my head and he says what I'm thinking! He's speaking our minds!"
Trump doesn't pussy-foot around. There's his opinion, and then there are idiots. He has confidence. He's willing to tell it like it is. And when people criticize him for it, it encourages him all the more. When someone pulls a "At long last, have you no shame?" he doesn't fold like Joe McCarthy. He laughs, and says the other person's stupid.
He plays into every instinct that says that forgiveness, mercy, concern, care, compassion are for chumps. Sure, maybe some weak sisters think that's what Jesus taught, but deep down, Trump supporters are people who want to believe that "Sometimes Jesus is just plain wrong" (http://www.dailykos.com/story/2012/4/25/1086278/–Sometimes-Jesus-Is-Just-Plain-Wrong) — that there is strength and there is weakness, and there is virtue and there is sin, and there's protecting your own, and there's eye-for-an-eye cosmic justice, and Parables like the Prodigal Son or the Laborers in the Vineyard are just wrong because they don't make any sense, because they're unfair, and just what you'd expect some liberal to say, and probably mean something else altogether.
And at that, the problem is not so much Donald Trump, but the folk that are rallying behind him, the fostering of angry populism, bitter resentment, and carefully inculcated terror of change from a half-century of Republican fearmongering (most notably kicked off with the infamous Southern Strategy, but festering well before that). That may not describe all Trump supporters, but it seems to be pretty consistent with the ones I've seen. Even if Trump magically left the race in disgrace tomorrow, these folk would still be around, ready for the next candidate to pick them up. And, sooner or later, if they continue to be whipped up into a frenzy, and don't feel they are getting what they want (which is an impossibility, even if their candidate got in), I worry what their next step, as a movement, will be.
Never underestimate the power of stupid people in large groups. – George Carlin
I've heard two points on Trump that made sense as to why people are gathering around him. 1) He isn't speaking like a robot and 2) political reboot.
1. I think many people are just tired of the lawyer bullshit speak that comes off robot. Just tell us, say what you really mean. Trump has his own style, even if complete nuts, which still gives people a sense of emotion and truth.
2. People honestly think the government needs a reboot. This came from a Reddit thread. Their thought was Trump is the worst person you would ever want leading and if he is in charge the whole system will come to a standstill because he is that terrible. Which would be like rebooting things.
I don't say this because I would ever vote for him but rather pointing out two mindsets of his voters. Right now no one is attempting to reach these voters so naturally Trump gets them.
Ugh, I wish I had answers here.
+Jon Weber So, "He's not a politician and he;ll cause the government to fall apart." That sure sounds like fear and rage to me.
I have to wonder about the latter one, though, because it's one I've not heard anyone actually voice that — I do believe that there may be some folk on the fringe who see it as a feature, not a bug, but I doubt that explains much about Trump's polling.
+Dave Hill for some people I bet there is fear and rage there, though oddly enough the people getting vocal and upset in that Reddit thread were not Trump supporters. Rage makes sense to me though because it takes some kind of emotion to want to collapse a huge system like the US gov.
With number #1 I've always suspected it because since Clinton and Bush #2 voters have said things like, "I'm voting for him cause I could see myself drinking with him." Why would that matter to someone? I don't think it does, I think the plain spoken part does to a degree.
There are all sorts of problems with the US political system, and I think that a lot of it comes down to your ‘Country Creation Myth’ (My argument is that all countries have these, heroic independence, civilising the world, revolution, whatever – the idea of a Creation myth isn’t looking down on the US)
The US myth is brave frontiers men, fleeing persecution, overturning privilege etc. Historians can pick holes in this easily, but with a Creation Myth it isn’t the facts that matter, its what people believe.
Americans (as a generalisation) like to think of themselves as maverick outsiders, they don’t need none of that fancy book learning, not while they have Guns and The Bible. They actively distrust clever people.
See, Dave, you’ll not immune – you think that not knowing the job is no bar to success. You’ve been raised in a system where public jobs are awarded on basis of popularity not competence, because Democracy! You elect judges and police chiefs. Tell me where else, outside the public sector, popularity is a good metric for success?
Clinton – those around him, such as Dick Clarke, were always impressed at how sharp he was. But he put on a folksy everyman air in public. Bush Jr. Look at him, look at Gore. But Gore didn’t ‘connect’ with ordinary people.
A friend of mine reckined Americans haven’t trusted clever people since Watergate.
+Jon Weber That's an interesting consideration. While I can't see having a drink with Trump, that "approachability" factor has become increasingly important in American politics over the last 50-60 years, as television and a celebrity culture have grown, and respect for institutional leaders has shrunk. Trump may be the logical (if horrifying) next extension of that.