# A Perfectly Reasonable Amount of Schadenfreude about Things Happening to Trump & His Enablers (Part 1) **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [November 14, 2020, 12:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-perfectly-reasonable-amount-of-schadenfreude-about-things-happening-to-trump-his-enablers-part-1/925537 "2020-11-14T00:09:51Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 121
**Author:** ![Typo\_Negative](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/typo_negative/32/484_2.png) [@Typo\_Negative](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Typo_Negative)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2021, 2:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-perfectly-reasonable-amount-of-schadenfreude-about-things-happening-to-trump-his-enablers-part-1/925537/2405 "2021-08-09T02:08:18Z")
How are the COVID is a hoax crowd handling the cognitive disconnect? Do they think the librul intteligencia are carrying out murders to further their aims?? Have these good Republicans been shuffled underground then replaced by autobots or holograms? And if they they think the gubment is so powerful and so downright crafty AND indiscriminately murderous, why are they not afraid? ---
**Author:** ![bobot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bobot/32/21622_2.png) [@bobot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bobot)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2021, 2:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-perfectly-reasonable-amount-of-schadenfreude-about-things-happening-to-trump-his-enablers-part-1/925537/2406 "2021-08-09T02:25:39Z")
They are afraid, that’s why guns and ammo sales are through the roof. They’re afraid, and very stupid. ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2021, 7:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-perfectly-reasonable-amount-of-schadenfreude-about-things-happening-to-trump-his-enablers-part-1/925537/2407 "2021-08-09T07:52:46Z")
> [@Typo\_Negative](#): > > How are the COVID is a hoax crowd handling the cognitive disconnect? Do they think the librul intteligencia are carrying out murders to further their aims?? Have these good Republicans been shuffled underground then replaced by autobots or holograms? And if they they think the gubment is so powerful and so downright crafty AND indiscriminately murderous, why are they not afraid? Denial, mostly. “It’s not true because I don’t want it to be true” is the prevailing worldview in operation with these folks. ---
**Author:** ![Steve\_MB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/steve_mb/32/5339_2.png) [@Steve\_MB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steve_MB)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2021, 11:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-perfectly-reasonable-amount-of-schadenfreude-about-things-happening-to-trump-his-enablers-part-1/925537/2408 "2021-08-09T11:56:08Z")
Word Salad l’Orange: > Could you imagine if I were president right now and we had this massive attack from the coronavirus - you know, now they like to call it, they have new names and they have other new names - but it’s exactly what we had, we had the same thing. If that were me, they would say ‘what a horrible thing, what a horrible job.’ I don’t ever hear that. And these are numbers in some cases that are equivalent to what it was, but we don’t hear that. ---
**Author:** ![Atamasama](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/atamasama/32/12961_2.png) [@Atamasama](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atamasama)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2021, 1:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-perfectly-reasonable-amount-of-schadenfreude-about-things-happening-to-trump-his-enablers-part-1/925537/2409 "2021-08-09T13:34:50Z")
> [@Steve\_MB](#): > > Word Salad l’Orange How can anyone read that and not question his mental health? That’s not even a snipe at him; he’s not young, regardless of how much bronzer he’s hiding under. ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2021, 1:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-perfectly-reasonable-amount-of-schadenfreude-about-things-happening-to-trump-his-enablers-part-1/925537/2410 "2021-08-09T13:38:12Z")
You left off the bit about how he used to wear an onion on his belt. ---
**Author:** ![Folacin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/folacin/32/3195_2.png) [@Folacin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Folacin)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2021, 1:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-perfectly-reasonable-amount-of-schadenfreude-about-things-happening-to-trump-his-enablers-part-1/925537/2411 "2021-08-09T13:40:44Z")
Attempting to find meaning in the salad - the difference (other than the obvious MSM bias of course), is that Biden is fighting the mess that Trump left behind when Trump failed to take the fairly easy steps early in the process that could have contained things. ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2021, 1:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-perfectly-reasonable-amount-of-schadenfreude-about-things-happening-to-trump-his-enablers-part-1/925537/2412 "2021-08-09T13:47:05Z")
Also, Biden is fighting against Republicans deliberately working to make things worse _right now_ by blocking mask and vaccine initiatives while pushing the “It’s all those infected illegals Biden is letting across the border!” narrative. The Democrats never tried to sandbag Trump’s efforts to combat COVID, mostly because Trump’s efforts to combat COVID were minimal up to the point he couldn’t handwave it away anymore. ---
**Author:** ![tricoteuse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tricoteuse/32/4334_2.png) [@tricoteuse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tricoteuse)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2021, 2:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-perfectly-reasonable-amount-of-schadenfreude-about-things-happening-to-trump-his-enablers-part-1/925537/2413 "2021-08-09T14:19:30Z")
“Ah nevuh met a vahrus yet was eee-mune to a face fulla hot lead…” ---
**Author:** ![Euphonious\_Polemic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/euphonious_polemic/32/3002_2.png) [@Euphonious\_Polemic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Euphonious_Polemic)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2021, 2:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-perfectly-reasonable-amount-of-schadenfreude-about-things-happening-to-trump-his-enablers-part-1/925537/2414 "2021-08-09T14:33:06Z")
I recently posted the new numbers in Florida to a year old Facebook thread, wherein a covidiot was predicting this whole “no worse than the flu” thing would be all over soon. His reply? All the case numbers, hospitalizations and desths are being faked. No explanation how. Just fingers in ears and “la la la it’s not happening “ There is no reaching these people. ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2021, 2:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-perfectly-reasonable-amount-of-schadenfreude-about-things-happening-to-trump-his-enablers-part-1/925537/2415 "2021-08-09T14:35:57Z")
“What I want to be true is true. What I don’t want to be true is not true. Reality conforms to all my petty whims and delusions, and any evidence to the contrary is false by default.” ---
**Author:** ![Buck\_Godot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/buck_godot/32/6573_2.png) [@Buck\_Godot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Buck_Godot)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2021, 2:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-perfectly-reasonable-amount-of-schadenfreude-about-things-happening-to-trump-his-enablers-part-1/925537/2416 "2021-08-09T14:55:07Z")
And they have media outlets that tell them exactly that. If reality doesn’t match your expectations, just flip the channel until you find one that does. ---
**Author:** ![bobot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bobot/32/21622_2.png) [@bobot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bobot)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2021, 3:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-perfectly-reasonable-amount-of-schadenfreude-about-things-happening-to-trump-his-enablers-part-1/925537/2417 "2021-08-09T15:30:09Z")
> [@Euphonious\_Polemic](#): > > All the case numbers, hospitalizations and desths are being faked. That’s Trump’s gift, for lack of a better term, to Republicans. The word “fake”. It Trumps everything, they stupidly believe. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2021, 3:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-perfectly-reasonable-amount-of-schadenfreude-about-things-happening-to-trump-his-enablers-part-1/925537/2418 "2021-08-09T15:51:02Z")
I genuinely think this may be the technique we need to get people vaccinated. Keep on harping on all the deniers dying of COVID. Pay for ads to get them on Facebook. Pay for them on local TV shows. Have the news start with a list of names of people dead. It’s been shown that those who are most resistant respond more to anecdotes than data, so let’s shove these anecdotes in their face. ---
**Author:** ![Euphonious\_Polemic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/euphonious_polemic/32/3002_2.png) [@Euphonious\_Polemic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Euphonious_Polemic)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2021, 4:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-perfectly-reasonable-amount-of-schadenfreude-about-things-happening-to-trump-his-enablers-part-1/925537/2419 "2021-08-09T16:07:58Z")
Not sure if this will work. I’ve seen plenty of stories of folks who had a family member die of covid, struggling for breath, and they STILL say it’s all fake and refuse to get immunized. These people are not tethered to reality anymore… if they ever were. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2021, 4:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-perfectly-reasonable-amount-of-schadenfreude-about-things-happening-to-trump-his-enablers-part-1/925537/2420 "2021-08-09T16:28:13Z")
So have I. But I don’t think that negates my suggestion. There are some people who are that devoted, but there are many who aren’t. Plus, well, if someone close to you dies, I know from experience that you can kinda push that out of your mind. The point of having it be a bombardment of ads is that this means they can’t push it out of their minds. Plus there’s just the mere exposure effect. The more often a person are exposed to an idea, the more it seems correct. I actually would say that’s what the anti-vax crowd is exploiting. There’s a reason why people are becoming more extreme. A lot of people just started vaccine hesitant, but mere exposure got them to believe without evidence. I’m already seeing a lot of people getting scared enough to get the vaccine now that COVID is rising again. So it’s clear that there were a lot of people who were not diehards. Plus I remember the ad campaigns in the past that used dying people to motivate, and I think it’s weird that this isn’t being used now. It shouldn’t just be news organizations putting this out there, as the people who need to hear it avoid those news outlets. But none of them avoid Facebook, and most still watch traditional TV. ---
**Author:** ![Sunny\_Daze](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunny_daze/32/438_2.png) [@Sunny\_Daze](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunny_Daze)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2021, 6:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-perfectly-reasonable-amount-of-schadenfreude-about-things-happening-to-trump-his-enablers-part-1/925537/2421 "2021-08-09T18:44:02Z")
> [@Gyrate](#): > > “What I want to be true is true. What I don’t want to be true is not true. Reality conforms to all my petty whims and delusions, and any evidence to the contrary is false by default.” Exactly. “I reject your reality and substitute my own.” > [@Buck\_Godot](#): > > And they have media outlets that tell them exactly that. If reality doesn’t match your expectations, just flip the channel until you find one that does. Fox News dipped its toes into truth-telling, decided it was too cold, and has taken a complete u-turn back into loony land. @BigT I don’t disagree that it might help with some segments of the population. I also think that we need to focus on community leaders to reach people who are genuinely scared and distrustful. I’m speaking of people who do believe in COVID but have reason to worry about the government and medical care. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2021, 7:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-perfectly-reasonable-amount-of-schadenfreude-about-things-happening-to-trump-his-enablers-part-1/925537/2422 "2021-08-09T19:06:49Z")
I’d like to see a short, punchy TV ad of actual heartland pro-Trump folks who barely survived COVID, or who had family members die of it, imploring people to get vaccinated. (There must be three or four of them out there, at least, who’d be willing to appear in such an ad). The ad should include a screencap of the Fox News story about Trump and Melania both getting vaccinated. That just might be the only thing that gets through to these idjits. ---
**Author:** ![Senegoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senegoid/32/6606_2.png) [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2021, 7:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-perfectly-reasonable-amount-of-schadenfreude-about-things-happening-to-trump-his-enablers-part-1/925537/2423 "2021-08-09T19:24:10Z")
So, Hitler proved, and Trump re-proved, that if you tell a lie often enough, people will believe it. So, if we tell the truth often enough, will people – _any_ people? – come to believe it? I have a neighbor who suggests that we should have those refrigerator trucks full of corpses stacked like cordwood, with toe-tags on each, on display in every supermarket and shopping mall parking lot. Barbra Streisand has recently suggested that the Trump and Biden vote totals should be displayed and announced at the start of EVERY news broadcast, EVERY day, until people begin to believe it. > **[Barbra Streisand Says 1 Thing Should Be Shown On TV Every Day To Debunk Trump](https://www.huffpost.com/entry/barbra-streisand-donald-trump-tv_n_610e316ce4b05f81570a7f83)** > > Trump's presidency was a "disaster" and "four years in a black hole," said the music icon. ---
**Author:** ![Great\_Antibob](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e47c2d/32.png) [@Great\_Antibob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Great_Antibob)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2021, 7:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-perfectly-reasonable-amount-of-schadenfreude-about-things-happening-to-trump-his-enablers-part-1/925537/2424 "2021-08-09T19:24:39Z")
> [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](#): > > I’d like to see a short, punchy TV ad of actual heartland pro-Trump folks who barely survived COVID, or who had family members die of it, imploring people to get vaccinated. Crisis actors, the lot of them. And/or race traitors. There’s nothing that can’t be explained. Epistemic closure the whole way around. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-perfectly-reasonable-amount-of-schadenfreude-about-things-happening-to-trump-his-enablers-part-1/925537.md?page=120) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-perfectly-reasonable-amount-of-schadenfreude-about-things-happening-to-trump-his-enablers-part-1/925537.md?page=122)