Draco Vereen said:
I can't defend the man. He's not a good human being. Its a sad state that he or Hillary was intended to hold our nation's highest office.
My point was, don't condemn those who voted for him as though they explicitly support the rhetoric you posted, or that they are uneducated swine. There is a reason he is now the President Elect, and it isn't because the Majority of Americans can't read and write or are racists. And I know that isn't what you were implying.
This.
It's easy for people, particularly those already pre-disposed to claim victimhood status for themselves, to take this election as a signal that President Trump is going to start issuing hunting licenses for LGBT people, women, Muslims, and Mexicans, because the only way Trump could win is if every single person who voted for him has hatred in their hearts for minorities, women, etc. It simplifies the election in a way that elections cannot be simplified. It's easy and it feels good to say it, because you claim some small section of the moral high ground and make yourself a martyr without having to actually
be martyred.
But more realistically, I think people who aren't engaged in the political process heard a name they'd heard before, listened to the guy tell them he knew how to make their lives better, and was contrasted with Hillary Clinton, who had the baggage of e-mails, Benghazi, the Clinton Foundation, her obvious disdain for the American public, the rule of law, and particularly the working class voters who were flirting with Trump (the basket of deplorables). Let's not act like the voters rejected a shining example of a political paragon for this orange-colored asshat, which is what people do when they boil this decision down to a result of hatred.
In my experience, it's much more effective to motivate voters with self-interest than hatred, and right or wrong, a lot of the white working class voters that usually go Democrat listened to Trump say "We're going to bring your jobs back." I mean, it's nonsense, he can't and won't (and neither could Clinton) but at least he was saying something other than "If you don't want immigrants coming here to compete for your job, you're a disgusting human being and shame on you" -- again, right or wrong. Point is, to pretend the people who supported Trump could only be motivated because they hate gays, Muslims, Mexicans, etc. really ignores a lot of the cultural and economic issues that ACTUALLY motivate people to vote.
Frankly, I think the left is much more to blame for this than the right. We are told every election cycle that the Republicans have nominated Hitler reincarnate, when it isn't true. Eventually, voters get tired of hearing that they have selected the worst person in the world to run and a candidate who will stand up to these forces in the media, academia, and the political class, say what he says (however idiotic) and when he's admonished, double down. It's not hard to see why people who have been told they are evil -- not just
wrong but
evil -- for holding views that until about five years ago were the mainstream would find that kind of thing attractive.
[member="Count Morcus"]
