Trump has a blind and obedient following among two groups: racial bigots and anti-abortionists.
I have seen and heard this from my own fellow "Christians," including, I regret to acknowledge, ordained ministers and pastors. These people have been so captured by their personal convictions that they are no longer capable of reasoned evaluation.
* "Every black, brown or off-white undocumented person is a criminal by virtue of being undocumented - send them back to where they come from!"
Have you ever seen an Irish , British or French "illegal" tackled by ICE and thrown on a plane to Libya?
* "Hillary and Harris and Walz and all the Democrats want to kill every unborn infant, but Trump put pro-life people on the Supreme Court."
But once the children are born, send them back to the homelands of their off-color parents.
These "good people" refuse to acknowledge the lies perpetrated by Trump and his cronies
Vice President Vance boasted of the fiction he generated about the legal Haitians in Springfield, Ohio. "But they practice Voodoo ... and those Muslims dress funny ... and you know those Jews."
I used to think the people who were captured by these bigotries were relatively rare, but beginning in 2015 I began to see that they are many, and they are not, as some folks bigoted in another way will claim, segregated by geography.
These people refuse to see, or if they see, refuse to credit any criticism of their hero, simply because they perceive it as criticism of themselves.
Trump supporters vary. Some are in the cult and accept no possible criticism. Others are more lukewarm and can be reasoned with. At least that is my experience.
All traditional conservatives need is for Democrats to nominate normies for a couple of cycles. But I fear the same Democrats who are rejoicing over Trump hitting the campaign trail for the mid-terms will prevent that.
"Some analysts think that Trump supporters—a significant percentage of them—never hear anything negative about their man." Au contraire, mon frere. They hear EVERYTHING negative about their man. And it feeds their fire.
Thank you--this offers a way to mitigate apathy. So do profound effects of present decisions on *people folks actually know.* If a friend or family member is losing a business because of tariffs, that resonates. Same with health care. Same with lost jobs.
The character of our representatives is important. And people need to learn that what happens nationally really does affect individual lives.
I've sometimes thought that extremism now (from whichever party) is a boil that needed to be lanced, so the infection can clear; people will hopefully realize that politics isn't a race for clicks.
Trump has a blind and obedient following among two groups: racial bigots and anti-abortionists.
I have seen and heard this from my own fellow "Christians," including, I regret to acknowledge, ordained ministers and pastors. These people have been so captured by their personal convictions that they are no longer capable of reasoned evaluation.
* "Every black, brown or off-white undocumented person is a criminal by virtue of being undocumented - send them back to where they come from!"
Have you ever seen an Irish , British or French "illegal" tackled by ICE and thrown on a plane to Libya?
* "Hillary and Harris and Walz and all the Democrats want to kill every unborn infant, but Trump put pro-life people on the Supreme Court."
But once the children are born, send them back to the homelands of their off-color parents.
These "good people" refuse to acknowledge the lies perpetrated by Trump and his cronies
Vice President Vance boasted of the fiction he generated about the legal Haitians in Springfield, Ohio. "But they practice Voodoo ... and those Muslims dress funny ... and you know those Jews."
I used to think the people who were captured by these bigotries were relatively rare, but beginning in 2015 I began to see that they are many, and they are not, as some folks bigoted in another way will claim, segregated by geography.
These people refuse to see, or if they see, refuse to credit any criticism of their hero, simply because they perceive it as criticism of themselves.
"E pluribus, pluribus," I'm afraid.
Trump supporters vary. Some are in the cult and accept no possible criticism. Others are more lukewarm and can be reasoned with. At least that is my experience.
All traditional conservatives need is for Democrats to nominate normies for a couple of cycles. But I fear the same Democrats who are rejoicing over Trump hitting the campaign trail for the mid-terms will prevent that.
"Some analysts think that Trump supporters—a significant percentage of them—never hear anything negative about their man." Au contraire, mon frere. They hear EVERYTHING negative about their man. And it feeds their fire.
Thank you--this offers a way to mitigate apathy. So do profound effects of present decisions on *people folks actually know.* If a friend or family member is losing a business because of tariffs, that resonates. Same with health care. Same with lost jobs.
The character of our representatives is important. And people need to learn that what happens nationally really does affect individual lives.
I've sometimes thought that extremism now (from whichever party) is a boil that needed to be lanced, so the infection can clear; people will hopefully realize that politics isn't a race for clicks.
From personal experience, I can confirm that Trump supporters DO hear negative things about him - they just refuse to believe them.