# Butt-Hurt Trump Takes to Twitter Again (Part 1) **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [November 19, 2016, 3:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/butt-hurt-trump-takes-to-twitter-again-part-1/772428 "2016-11-19T15:52:34Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 6
**Author:** ![Spice\_Weasel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spice_weasel/32/5435_2.png) [@Spice\_Weasel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spice_Weasel)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2016, 3:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/butt-hurt-trump-takes-to-twitter-again-part-1/772428/101 "2016-11-20T15:22:28Z")
> [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](#): > > None of this is normal, and the very fact that essential elements of this campaign appear to have been pulled from _Arrested Development_ to an astonishing degree almost as if Trump had been on a late-night Netflix binge while putting together his strategy should highlight that. This is the season where America jumps the shark because the plot just gets too ridiculous and convoluted to take seriously. I don’t think anyone will get away with what Trump did again, because he’s probably going to go down as one of the most ineffective and terrible Presidents in U.S. history. The people who voted for him do expect results, and they aren’t going to get anything but more screwed. I expect within a couple years’ time they will turn on him. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2016, 3:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/butt-hurt-trump-takes-to-twitter-again-part-1/772428/102 "2016-11-20T15:31:23Z")
> [@Spice\_Weasel](#): > > This is the season where America jumps the shark because the plot just gets too ridiculous and convoluted to take seriously. > > I don’t think anyone will get away with what Trump did again, because he’s probably going to go down as one of the most ineffective and terrible Presidents in U.S. history. The people who voted for him do expect results, and they aren’t going to get anything but more screwed. I expect within a couple years’ time they will turn on him. I’m thinking not so much this-It seemed to me that a lot of the hubbub wasn’t about specific solutions to specific problems, but about directing rage towards an enemy to hate. Even now that the election is over the only talk I hear on right-wing radio is directed towards what the Democrats are supposedly doing and saying, and there is next to no talk about what is going to happen or how it is going to happen or what the various new appointees may bring to the new administration. They are still attacking as if the election is still ongoing, and I’m wondering if this is a deliberate misdirection. ---
**Author:** ![Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/13edae/32.png) [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stranger_On_A_Train)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2016, 4:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/butt-hurt-trump-takes-to-twitter-again-part-1/772428/103 "2016-11-20T16:06:27Z")
> [@Spice\_Weasel](#): > > I don’t think anyone will get away with what Trump did again, because he’s probably going to go down as one of the most ineffective and terrible Presidents in U.S. history. The people who voted for him do expect results, and they aren’t going to get anything but more screwed. I expect within a couple years’ time they will turn on him. They may turn on Trump the (baby)-man, but he’s demonstrated that it is possible to use outrageous insult as an effective campaign strategy as long as you follow through and don’t act embarassed or apologize. As far as I am aware, he only acknowledged and apologized only for his “lewd comment” on the Access Hollywood tape, [and even that turned into a direct attack on his opponent](https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=pGKglkU_DMs). Formerly, the conventional thinking was that the candidate himself could not go too negative on his opponent lest he be seen as not having anything positive to say, and so highly negative ads and comments were separated as coming from third parties which were independent of the campaign. Trump has shown that it is possible to go full on negative and even bullying, and as long as it is done with sufficient bombast it can be successful. This is a dangerous lesson that will not be soon forgotten. > [@Czarcasm](#): > > I’m thinking not so much this-It seemed to me that a lot of the hubbub wasn’t about specific solutions to specific problems, but about directing rage towards an enemy to hate. Even now that the election is over the only talk I hear on right-wing radio is directed towards what the Democrats are supposedly doing and saying, and there is next to no talk about what is going to happen or how it is going to happen or what the various new appointees may bring to the new administration. They are still attacking as if the election is still ongoing, and I’m wondering if this is a deliberate misdirection. They are definitely in a [“What do we do now?”](https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=myEpap3TxVs) type situation. Despite the claims that Trump and GOP knew they were going to sweep the election, it’s pretty clear that they were not expecting a clear win and nobody was planning a transition in advance. Now that they are completely in power and the Democrats are essentially powerless, there is no one left to blame. It’s a dangerous position because it was very easy to play the “Blame Obama” game and propose legislation that they knew would not pass a presidential veto, and then they could use that as further evidence that Obama won’t compromise (even though he’s compromised to the point of being a spineless executive just to get anything through Congress). Now there are no more excuses for not pursuing an agenda that many of them do not fully believe in and will not resolve the basic social and economic problems of the nation that had people fearful enough to vote for Trump. There are two possibilities; they either turn on each other, or they turn on ‘liberal America’ (e.g. the protesters, dissenters, progressive causes, et cetera). Either choice is going to be ugly; the latter will be destructive to the fundamentals of liberty and democracy. Stranger ---
**Author:** ![ThelmaLou](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thelmalou/32/390_2.png) [@ThelmaLou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThelmaLou)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2016, 4:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/butt-hurt-trump-takes-to-twitter-again-part-1/772428/104 "2016-11-20T16:09:54Z")
> [@Grrr](#): > > … > > Instead of rolling our sleeves up and really trying to figure out why such a large segment of the population were voting for Trump, which BTW had large segments of both women and Hispanics, we liberals were all too eager to label them all witches in this fucking witch hunt. > > … To paraphrase Eddie Murphy at the end of _Trading Places_, “Why can’t we do both?” > [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](#): > > Well, now we know why print media and the investigative journalism associated with it is dying. Any ideas or arguements that can’t be presented in 140 characters aren’t worthy of consideration. This. > [@](#): > > I don’t think it is “the liberals” who are being hunted. But quite honestly, this shouldn’t be framed as a “liberals versus conservatives” at this point. The people who voted Trump into the primaries didn’t vote for him based upon his conservative values. Donald Trump is not and has never been either a social or fiscal conservative, and he certainly does not reflect the morals and ethics of social conservatives and Evangelicals. He does not advocate a culture of personal responsibility and integrity, and indeed, his history and behavior displays the very antithesis of conservativeism. Trump promoted himself as the barbarian at the gate, the guy who was going to come in with a wrecking ball and tear the system down, “drain the swamp”, and send profesional politicians packing. He was going to bring back jobs, get rid of all of the dangerous illegal immigrants who are roaming the streets in search of daughters to rape, and and ban Muslims so that ISIS in America will stop constantly blowing up our buildings and going on shooting sprees. That all of these statements are factually unsupportable is irrelevant; Trump tapped into a basic fear that our government is not capable of providing physical safety and economic security, from terrorism and immigration to employment and safe drinking water, and he pledged simple if completely unworkable solutions. He’s basically the Joker come to reality, and he even has a similar countenance and manner of speaking. > > The essential point here is that what Trump is doing is going to harm everyone in this country in some way, and wil probably harm some of the very people who voted for him the most. That message needs to be pointed out every time he does something of substantive harm to the nation as a whole or to significant parts of it, and it shouldn’t be diluted by outrage over some shitty thing he says on Twitter at a point that normal people are in bed having nightmares about having elected the Star-Spawn of Cthulhu in a bad combover as president. The focus cannot just be on Trump driving his gilded clown car through the halls of government until he is feted and resigns so he can spend more time sniffling through the dressing rooms of beauty pageant contestants or being the focus of a reality TV show, but also on the bevy of hateful reactionary people he is bringing with him and will remain once he is back grabbing pussy as once more a private citizen. > > There is merit in pointing out that in selecting future candidates and focusing on issues, the Democrats can’t just focus on the wealthy suburban coastline base, and need to pay particular attention to demonstrating that their candidate is not someone who is beholden in any way to the very interests which savaged the economy for their own personal gain. They need to appeal to the mass of people who are looking for actual reform without endorsing the angry Hulk-smash mentality. They need to look beyond provincialism and select a candidate not based upon party loyalty and fundraising ability but who appeals to a wider range of people, and certainly someone who doesn’t enter a race with a predictable net negative approval rating. They’ll go in knowing that the right wing smear machine is going to sling manufactured scandal on a daily basis, but they shouldn’t be giving it any credibility by having a history of nontransparency and poor decision making. > > But by the same token, the people who voted for Trump this year need to be reminded that even though they may not be racist, misogynistic, or homophobic themselves, when they hate-voted for a candidate who espoused those values, behaved like an ill-mannered toddler, and surrounded himself with people who were genuinely hateful, the result is what we have now. Not just Donald Trump, the Man-Baby President, but all of the shitty people, corrupt lobbyists, and alt-right radical reactionaries that he is brought with him. They need to be reminded that nearly everything Trump has claimed about himself and his values in this election has been a complete fabrication, and the result is going to be the antithesis of what he has promised. Those points need to be made clear so that enough people are not swayed by bombastic demagogues like Trump that there is anything close to this kind of election again. The next time there is a candidate who threatens to jail his opponent _during a policy debate as if he is some kind of Central African strongman_, the point needs to be made plainly that this is not normal or acceptable behavior from someone seeking public office, because by winning this election using those very tactics Trump has made it the new standard and you can bet that other candidates will ape this behavior in trying to get similar results. > > None of this is normal, and the very fact that essential elements of this campaign appear to have been pulled from _Arrested Development_ to an astonishing degree almost as if Trump had been on a late-night Netflix binge while putting together his strategy should highlight that. > > Stranger Long, well said, and I read every word. ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2016, 5:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/butt-hurt-trump-takes-to-twitter-again-part-1/772428/105 "2016-11-20T17:30:38Z")
> [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](#): > > Well, now we know why print media and the investigative journalism associated with it is dying. Any ideas or arguements that can’t be presented in 140 characters aren’t worthy of consideration. > > I don’t think it is “the liberals” who are being hunted. But quite honestly, this shouldn’t be framed as a “liberals versus conservatives” at this point. The people who voted Trump into the primaries didn’t vote for him based upon his conservative values. Donald Trump is not and has never been either a social or fiscal conservative, and he certainly does not reflect the morals and ethics of social conservatives and Evangelicals. He does not advocate a culture of personal responsibility and integrity, and indeed, his history and behavior displays the very antithesis of conservativeism. Trump promoted himself as the barbarian at the gate, the guy who was going to come in with a wrecking ball and tear the system down, “drain the swamp”, and send profesional politicians packing. He was going to bring back jobs, get rid of all of the dangerous illegal immigrants who are roaming the streets in search of daughters to rape, and and ban Muslims so that ISIS in America will stop constantly blowing up our buildings and going on shooting sprees. That all of these statements are factually unsupportable is irrelevant; Trump tapped into a basic fear that our government is not capable of providing physical safety and economic security, from terrorism and immigration to employment and safe drinking water, and he pledged simple if completely unworkable solutions. He’s basically the Joker come to reality, and he even has a similar countenance and manner of speaking. > > The essential point here is that what Trump is doing is going to harm everyone in this country in some way, and wil probably harm some of the very people who voted for him the most. That message needs to be pointed out every time he does something of substantive harm to the nation as a whole or to significant parts of it, and it shouldn’t be diluted by outrage over some shitty thing he says on Twitter at a point that normal people are in bed having nightmares about having elected the Star-Spawn of Cthulhu in a bad combover as president. The focus cannot just be on Trump driving his gilded clown car through the halls of government until he is feted and resigns so he can spend more time sniffling through the dressing rooms of beauty pageant contestants or being the focus of a reality TV show, but also on the bevy of hateful reactionary people he is bringing with him and will remain once he is back grabbing pussy as once more a private citizen. > > There is merit in pointing out that in selecting future candidates and focusing on issues, the Democrats can’t just focus on the wealthy suburban coastline base, and need to pay particular attention to demonstrating that their candidate is not someone who is beholden in any way to the very interests which savaged the economy for their own personal gain. They need to appeal to the mass of people who are looking for actual reform without endorsing the angry Hulk-smash mentality. They need to look beyond provincialism and select a candidate not based upon party loyalty and fundraising ability but who appeals to a wider range of people, and certainly someone who doesn’t enter a race with a predictable net negative approval rating. They’ll go in knowing that the right wing smear machine is going to sling manufactured scandal on a daily basis, but they shouldn’t be giving it any credibility by having a history of nontransparency and poor decision making. > > But by the same token, the people who voted for Trump this year need to be reminded that even though they may not be racist, misogynistic, or homophobic themselves, when they hate-voted for a candidate who espoused those values, behaved like an ill-mannered toddler, and surrounded himself with people who were genuinely hateful, the result is what we have now. Not just Donald Trump, the Man-Baby President, but all of the shitty people, corrupt lobbyists, and alt-right radical reactionaries that he is brought with him. They need to be reminded that nearly everything Trump has claimed about himself and his values in this election has been a complete fabrication, and the result is going to be the antithesis of what he has promised. Those points need to be made clear so that enough people are not swayed by bombastic demagogues like Trump that there is anything close to this kind of election again. The next time there is a candidate who threatens to jail his opponent _during a policy debate as if he is some kind of Central African strongman_, the point needs to be made plainly that this is not normal or acceptable behavior from someone seeking public office, because by winning this election using those very tactics Trump has made it the new standard and you can bet that other candidates will ape this behavior in trying to get similar results. > > None of this is normal, and the very fact that essential elements of this campaign appear to have been pulled from _Arrested Development_ to an astonishing degree almost as if Trump had been on a late-night Netflix binge while putting together his strategy should highlight that. > > Stranger Actually, I lied. I do read your posts. But I disagree that we don’t need a Trump Twitter thread. Having one does not mean we’re not focusing on the other stuff. And it certainly does not mean we’re glorifying what he says. That’s a big :rolleyes:. > [@Spice\_Weasel](#): > > I don’t think anyone will get away with what Trump did again, because he’s probably going to go down as one of the most ineffective and terrible Presidents in U.S. history. One fear is that he’s going to be “effective” – very, very effective indeed – especially with a Republican Congress. ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2016, 5:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/butt-hurt-trump-takes-to-twitter-again-part-1/772428/106 "2016-11-20T17:48:57Z")
New tweet! This morning. Another demand for an apology from the _Hamilton_ cast. In it, he says he’s been told the play “is highly overrated.” Myself, I’ve heard it’s a fantastic, very patriotic play. ---
**Author:** ![octopus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/octopus/32/3716_2.png) [@octopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/octopus)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2016, 5:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/butt-hurt-trump-takes-to-twitter-again-part-1/772428/107 "2016-11-20T17:54:33Z")
> [@Budget\_Player\_Cadet](#): > > The irony of this coming from you is sickening. No, I’m sorry, Mr. Republican Troll Who Never Posts Anything Actually Worth Reading, you don’t get to lecture us on our _tone_ when talking about people who eagerly voted for the clueless, experience-free candidate white nationalists were hailing as the second coming and minorities were constantly restating their terror of. You don’t get to pretend to take the fucking high ground. That’s _bullshit_. Drunky is correct though. The tone from the left is a shrill annoyance. ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2016, 5:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/butt-hurt-trump-takes-to-twitter-again-part-1/772428/108 "2016-11-20T17:55:38Z")
I hope you are annoyed as hell for the next four years. ---
**Author:** ![octopus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/octopus/32/3716_2.png) [@octopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/octopus)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2016, 6:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/butt-hurt-trump-takes-to-twitter-again-part-1/772428/109 "2016-11-20T18:03:50Z")
> [@Siam\_Sam](#): > > I hope you are annoyed as hell for the next four years. I’m still shaking my head at this election. I remember reading posts from some liberal fools on this very board wishing for Trump in the general. Some changed parties to vote for Trump in the primaries. Well the jokes on them. Do they regret that? I didn’t vote for Trump. Anyways, yeah I’ll be annoyed. Some. Stranger has had some good posts in this thread but I think he misses the real solution. It’s not the candidate that needs fixing. It’s the electorate. We live in a country where people can graduate high school and even college functionally illiterate and innumerate. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2016, 6:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/butt-hurt-trump-takes-to-twitter-again-part-1/772428/110 "2016-11-20T18:37:56Z")
Speculative what-if: During one of the debates, Clinton turns toward Trump, stares at him in open contempt and says: “We were friends back in New York, when did you turn into such a damn fool?” ---
**Author:** ![Spice\_Weasel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spice_weasel/32/5435_2.png) [@Spice\_Weasel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spice_Weasel)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2016, 6:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/butt-hurt-trump-takes-to-twitter-again-part-1/772428/111 "2016-11-20T18:56:42Z")
> [@octopus](#): > > We live in a country where people can graduate high school and even college functionally illiterate and innumerate. I don’t think the issue is literacy, but a lack of critical thinking. It’s mindblowing to me how little people actually seem to care about evaluating the evidence for any claim. I saw an anti-vax Facebook post recently that proudly proclaimed, ‘‘_I don’t care if it’s true, I will never get my children vaccinated!_’’ Wha…? 😕 How is it even possible not to care if something’s true? ---
**Author:** ![Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/13edae/32.png) [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stranger_On_A_Train)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2016, 7:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/butt-hurt-trump-takes-to-twitter-again-part-1/772428/112 "2016-11-20T19:10:26Z")
> [@Siam\_Sam](#): > > Actually, I lied. I do read your posts. But I disagree that we don’t need a Trump Twitter thread. Having one does not mean we’re not focusing on the other stuff. And it certainly does not mean we’re glorifying what he says. That’s a big :rolleyes:. Trump is going to be tweeting stream-of-consciousness horseshit on a daily basis from now until he leaves the Oval Office. None if it is going to be in any way meaningful or convince anyone that they made the wrong decision in voting for him or that he’s not fit to be president because that train left the station long ago. Look, it’s not as if your thread on a random message board is going to make any difference to the public at large, and if you want to enjoy some recreational outrage then that’s your privilege. But understand that mocking Trump for the stupid things he says makes him look disarmingly clownish to those who already dislike him and just reinforces the belief that he’s being constantly attacked by those who follow him, undermining the actually disingeneous, dishonest, and dangerous things he says and does. And it’s hard not to make fun of him, in part because he’s already a walking cartoon character, and because he is so tempermentally thin skinned that he feels the need to respond to every single insult, which is even funnier. But now that so many (myself included) discounted his potential to tap into voter frustration and dismissed the actual danger that he posed, it’s time to stop making distracting fun of the infantile things he squirts out on social media and start highlighting all of the actually threatening things he and the people who he has surrounded himself with are doing. > [@octopus](#): > > Stranger has had some good posts in this thread but I think he misses the real solution. It’s not the candidate that needs fixing. It’s the electorate. We live in a country where people can graduate high school and even college functionally illiterate and innumerate. You can blame the voters all you like, and frankly I think there is a substantial portion of the electorate across lines that has not educated themselves, but quite frankly the Democratic party did a disservice by selecting a candidate for party loyalty rather than wide appeal, and there remains the larger issue that the reinforcement of the notion that you have to vote either one of the two choices results in other parties being marginalized and fronted by useless candidates which further diminishes their message. That the Democrats had to strategize against Sanders to prevent him from hijacking their party (and they rightfully should, given that Sanders was just as much of a demolisher for them as Trump was to the GOP, would have been an even weaker candidate than Clinton, and has now [conditionally given his approval to Trump](http://www.npr.org/2016/11/17/502437435/sanders-trump-will-have-an-ally-with-me-if-he-stands-up-to-corporate-america)) just shows how narrow the appeal of their selected candidate was and how much of the country they are essentially ignoring. Stranger ---
**Author:** ![ThelmaLou](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thelmalou/32/390_2.png) [@ThelmaLou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThelmaLou)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2016, 7:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/butt-hurt-trump-takes-to-twitter-again-part-1/772428/113 "2016-11-20T19:11:18Z")
> [@Spice\_Weasel](#): > > I don’t think the issue is literacy, but a lack of critical thinking. It’s mindblowing to me how little people actually seem to care about evaluating the evidence for any claim. I saw an anti-vax Facebook post recently that proudly proclaimed, ‘‘_I don’t care if it’s true, I will never get my children vaccinated!_’’ > > Wha…? 😕 How is it even possible not to care if something’s true? Facts, who needs facts?? I agree that the lack of critical thinking is fundamental, but that builds on illiteracy and makes people read a few headlines and tweets and go from there because they don’t have the skill or interest in investigating further. What are we doing here?? We should be NaNo-ing! :eek: ---
**Author:** ![Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/13edae/32.png) [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stranger_On_A_Train)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2016, 7:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/butt-hurt-trump-takes-to-twitter-again-part-1/772428/114 "2016-11-20T19:24:59Z")
> [@Bryan\_Ekers](#): > > Speculative what-if: During one of the debates, Clinton turns toward Trump, stares at him in open contempt and says: “We were friends back in New York, when did you turn into such a damn fool?” They were never ‘friends’; the Clinton’s courted Trump for campaign contributions and Clinton Foundation donations, and would be taken by Trump supporters as just evidence that the Clintons are disingenuous and that Trump is smart enough to trick them. > [@Spice\_Weasel](#): > > Wha…? 😕 How is it even possible not to care if something’s true? Because people are rationalizing animals, and will agree with claims that correspond to their belief system even if it is demonstrably untrue and counterfactual. Stranger ---
**Author:** ![octopus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/octopus/32/3716_2.png) [@octopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/octopus)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2016, 7:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/butt-hurt-trump-takes-to-twitter-again-part-1/772428/115 "2016-11-20T19:41:01Z")
> [@Spice\_Weasel](#): > > I don’t think the issue is literacy, but a lack of critical thinking. It’s mindblowing to me how little people actually seem to care about evaluating the evidence for any claim. I saw an anti-vax Facebook post recently that proudly proclaimed, ‘‘_I don’t care if it’s true, I will never get my children vaccinated!_’’ > > Wha…? 😕 How is it even possible not to care if something’s true? How do you explain religion? But yes critical thinking is definitely lacking. ---
**Author:** ![Spice\_Weasel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spice_weasel/32/5435_2.png) [@Spice\_Weasel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spice_Weasel)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2016, 7:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/butt-hurt-trump-takes-to-twitter-again-part-1/772428/116 "2016-11-20T19:55:43Z")
> [@ThelmaLou](#): > > What are we doing here?? We should be NaNo-ing! :eek: Yeah, I crashed and burned on the new novel this month. I’m back to revising the old one. Since I write year-round anyway it’s probably softened the blow of failure. [QUOTE=Stranger] Because people are rationalizing animals, and will agree with claims that correspond to their belief system even if it is demonstrably untrue and counterfactual. [/QUOTE] I know this. I acknowledge that, being a human animal, I must also do this. But some of us who know actually bother to try compensating for our blind spots. We actually seek out dissent and try to learn new things. I really fail to understand why that’s not a universal ideal. I was expressing something like that to my FIL and he laughed at me. He basically said most people aren’t smart enough to weigh the evidence. I don’t like the snobbish attitude that the uneducated masses are idiots, but my resistance to that trope has been increasingly challenged this year because it seems like more and more people are going out of their way not to be educated. And some of these people _really_ ought to know better. (I had a friend turn this around on me by pointing out I was avoiding education about the fact that most people don’t care about facts. Sigh.) ---
**Author:** ![crowmanyclouds](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crowmanyclouds/32/19884_2.png) [@crowmanyclouds](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/crowmanyclouds)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2016, 8:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/butt-hurt-trump-takes-to-twitter-again-part-1/772428/117 "2016-11-20T20:19:32Z")
“Hamilton was totally overrated, Burr was a better lawyer, a better actor, and a better shot … and he did it all while confined to a wheelchair!” CMC fnord! ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2016, 8:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/butt-hurt-trump-takes-to-twitter-again-part-1/772428/118 "2016-11-20T20:31:12Z")
> [@Spice\_Weasel](#): > > I don’t think the issue is literacy, but a lack of critical thinking. It’s mindblowing to me how little people actually seem to care about evaluating the evidence for any claim. I saw an anti-vax Facebook post recently that proudly proclaimed, ‘‘_I don’t care if it’s true, I will never get my children vaccinated!_’’ > > Wha…? 😕 How is it even possible not to care if something’s true? Because America is a deeply religious country, and that attitude is a _necessity_ for taking religion seriously in the modern work. People complain about him but Richard Dawkins had a point when he said that one of the reasons religion is inherently destructive is because the habits of thought needed to support it cause bad judgement everywhere else too. A society that admires faith is _by definition_ a society that admires not caring if something is true. That person on Facebook \*has faith \*that vaccines cause autism, and she’s almost certainly been raised her whole life to think of faith as good. For that matter, much the same way so many of Trump’s followers _have faith_ that he’s going to do whatever they fantasize that he’s going to do. Despite the lack of any evidence whatsoever. ---
**Author:** ![Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/13edae/32.png) [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stranger_On_A_Train)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2016, 10:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/butt-hurt-trump-takes-to-twitter-again-part-1/772428/119 "2016-11-20T22:02:22Z")
[Here](http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-38045852) is an illustration of why the media should ignore Trump’s inane tweeting and focus on reporting actual scandals. A day after Trump settled the fraud suit against Trump University for $25M (the actual amount that students were defrauded is estimated to be upwards of $40M) the media gets distracted by his response to VP-Elect Pence getting lectured by the cast of _Hamilton_. To put this into context, just the value of his settlement is about two orders of magnitude greater than the $300k loan that was the centerpiece of the Clinton Whitewater scandal, and makes Nixon’s questionable use of his political fund seem about as unethical as failing to cover one’s mouth when coughing. In other words, Trump will be entering the White House with more scandal than any president in living memory and having all but admitted to participating in fraud. This is the man that is now entrusted with making policy decisions and statements that can cause markets to rise and fall on a single unmeasured speech or ill-thought action, and Trump seems constitutionally incapable of consideration in either word or deed. If I thought Trump was actually clever I’d suspect he did it deliberately, but this is more likely just a fortuitous turn of events combined with a media that just can’t get enough of that lovable joker who is going to star in the mid-season replacement combination sitcom/reality show “Mr. Trump Goes To Washington”. “Oh, what is The Donald up to now? That wacky Donald! Isn’t he hilarious? Maybe Tim Allen can play him in the film adaptation!” This is not normal. Stranger ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2016, 10:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/butt-hurt-trump-takes-to-twitter-again-part-1/772428/120 "2016-11-20T22:04:55Z")
> [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](#): > > They were never ‘friends’; the Clinton’s courted Trump for campaign contributions and Clinton Foundation donations, and would be taken by Trump supporters as just evidence that the Clintons are disingenuous and that Trump is smart enough to trick them. That part of the sentence wasn’t what I was expecting to be the point of contention but thanks. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/butt-hurt-trump-takes-to-twitter-again-part-1/772428.md?page=5) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/butt-hurt-trump-takes-to-twitter-again-part-1/772428.md?page=7)