Deplorables vs. Crazy

Politics & Elections
#1

Trump just claimed that everyone willing to vote for democrats in the upcoming election is crazy.

Remember that whole “basket of deplorables” thing?

In the fall of 2016, Hillary Clinton, asked at a fundraiser how she explained the political appeal of Donald Trump, said that “to just be grossly generalistic, you could put half of Trump’s supporters into what I call the basket of deplorables. Right? The racist, sexist, homophobic, xenophobic, Islamophobic — you name it.”

The rest, she allowed, were fundamentally good people, pushed by circumstance into embracing Trump, and she was hoping to win them over.

Insulting rank-and-file Republicans (even if it was only about half of them) was treated as a huge national scandal. Republican Party politicians and conservative pundits harped on the line, providing a point of party unity at a time when many party and movement stalwarts were reluctant to actually praise Trump. The mainstream press covered the controversy intensively, and left-of-center pundits weighed in with a range of takes, including one from yours truly, which concluded that Clinton really had messed up by violating “the norm against attacking the other party’s constituents” rather than its politicians.

This past Friday, meanwhile, President Trump said that 100 percent of people planning to vote Democratic in the upcoming midterms — a majority of the electorate, in other words — are “crazy.” Nobody cared and almost nobody even noticed.

Hmm. Weird, right? It’s almost as if the complaints about being called “deplorable” were entirely partisan bullshit. :rolleyes:

#2

E-xactly. I noticed.

#3

Nobody cared or cares and nobody noticed because this is what the 44,876,327,195,562,874,268 batshit/insulting/lie that Trump has farted out of his mouth since 2015 and it got lost in all the other garbage. You don’t seem to get that people have actual lives and jobs where apparently unlike you they don’t have the time or inclination to watch EVERY SINGLE SECOND of EVERY SINGLE Trump appearance on TV be it Fox and Friends or whatever.

And they also don’t have the time or inclination for the reasons mentioned earlier to throw a spazz over EVERY SINGLE TWEET Trump makes.

There are people at the Washington Post and Comedy Central and Media Matters and Samantha Bee’s show and other places who get paid something close to if not more than living wages to to watch and listen and read and file away all that stuff.

But why should I as a life long liberal and Democrat get all bent out of shape over this specific thing that Trump said? Am I supposed to be shocked, SHOCKED!!! at this? Am I supposed to get the vapors and clutch a kerchief to my breast?

This is what Trump does.

And you got suckered into getting all frothing at the mouth level outraged for what I’m guessing is about the 39 billionth time over something Trump tweeted or said.

Which is pathetic, because posting about on a message board isn’t gonna do jack shit to get him out of office.

#4

Pick one – either:

(a) Everything the President of the United States says is important, because it matters in swaying broad public opinion and public policy, or

(b) Nothing the president now says can be considered important any more, or even credibly regarded as true, because it’s all been total bullshit.

If (a), the statement he made deserves comment.

If (b), that fact deserves comment.

But the truth is that (a) and (b) are both true simultaneously, which is a national tragedy that calls for major changes in the next elections. “Nobody cares” is precisely the kind of apathy that led to this situation.

#5

If they know he says a lot of horrible things of the same level as this one, then it doesn’t really matter if they know about this particular one, now does it? They still should be just as upset as they were with Clinton’s comment.

If you are a liberal who hates Trump, then why are you upset at a post calling out the conservatives who claimed they were upset by Clinton’s comment, but are okay with Trump’s?

And you do realize you responded on a message board, too, right?

#6

I’m not just talking about the average man on the street. I’m also talking about the media. Hillary calling some half of Trump supporters “deplorables” was widely considered one of the most important gaffes of the election. It got massive media play, countless thinkpieces, and dominated multiple news cycles. The (allegedly “liberal”) media chose to cover this, to treat it as a big deal. When Trump turns around and literally calls 100% of democratic voters “crazy”, this does not produce the same kind of furor. It doesn’t dominate multiple news cycles. There’s a difference here.

Were you bothered by Hillary’s “basket of deplorables” comment? If not, at least you’re being consistent. Which is more than we can say about the media. There is a huge double standard here in the public discourse, where the slightest left-wing gaffes get transformed into national news cycles, and republicans can get away with massive crimes without anyone batting an eye. That’s fucked up.

#7

It’s okay when Republicans do it.

#8

This.

But to be more specific, it’s okay when white men say that about the Democrats because the Democratic party relies on a more diverse coalition of voters to gain control of the government. When a white progressive female or a black male says that about mostly white voters, we have a problem, because white voters are an overwhelming majority of the voting population. If you insult them, you have a problem.

This underscores how easy it is for polarizing politicians like Donald Trump to use the language of bias to engender feelings of bias on one hand, and perceived victimization on the other. “Your America is changing. People like you are getting dislodged; “others” are now trying to push you aside. And now you’ve got this elitist bitch trying to invalidate your feelings. Vote for me and I’ll put this bitch in her place.”

Even before Hillary’s ‘deplorables’ comment, remember how aggrieved white conservatives were when Obama said “If I had a son, he would look like Trayvon Martin”? Remember how the United States of Fox reacted to that?

#9

nm

#10

I feel compelled to say that the point Hillary was making is that when you are attempting to talk to a Trump supporter it is NOT helpful to lump them into a basket of deplorables, even though you might be tempted to do so, because that would shut down the discussion. Quoting her out of context and saying she thinks all Trump supporters are deplorable is completely opposite what she was saying at the time.

to paraphrase…
VOTER: I don’t see how I could possibly have a civil conversation with a Trump supporter, let alone convince them to change their vote.
HILLARY: You’ll have a better chance at a civil conversation if you don’t assume that the person you’re talking to is deplorable.
NEWS MEDIA: Hillary says Republicans are deplorable!
DONALD: Anyone who votes for a Democrat is crazy.
NEWS MEDIA: Donald is just being Donald.

#11

Its for the same reason dog bites isn’t a story but man bites dog is.

Trump insulting huge swaths of people just isn’t news. His base is steeped in tribalism, we are right and good they are wrong and evil end of discussion. So Liberals may seethe, but Republicans will rejoice in his actions.
For liberals, on the other hand, the first reaction to conflict is to try to look at both sides of the issue. Everyone is good in his or her own way, or if they are bad there is a reason behind it. If we can find that then perhaps we can reach a middle ground that meets everyone’s needs. So when Hillary said this, as well as angering the conservatives, it was against what people had come to expect. It angered conservatives, but also left many liberals uncomfortable.

Now this go to liberal attitude is changing somewhat as Liberals realize that when it comes to white supremacists and opponents who only listen to alternative facts, it is not possible to come to reasoned consensus. But it is still evident in the way in which the liberal establishment approached its loss. The narrative was we should have reached out and better understood the white working class. If we had only pandered to their feelings of frustration instead of pursuing a civil rights agenda maybe we could have won them over. This is not the way conservatives have met their losses in the past, which is just to be more fervent a ruthless in their tactics.

The same thing is at work with regards to the “Liberal Mobs”. A bunch of frat boys getting together to beat up Homo’s, or spray paint swastikas on the local synagogue, is business as usual. But if a white boy gets beat up by an antifa, that’s news.

#12

I was bothered by the “basket of deplorables” comment but not so much for its core message as the inelegant way it was worded. Trump is a demagogue and demagogues thrive on appealing to people’s irrational fears, base prejudices, and other negative aspects of the human psyche. Hillary was right to call Trump out on that but made the mistake of implying that anybody who let these fears and prejudices cross his or her mind was beyond redemption. (Also, the term “basket of deplorables” is a clumsy phrase that keeps rattling in your mind ten minutes after you hear it.) Obama or somebody the late Mario Cuomo would’ve been able to convey this message far more effectively and without inadvertently alienating a significant block of undecided voters.

#13

The deplorables comment WAS a HUGE political gaffe. You do not bad-mouth the other guy’s supporters when you are ostensibly still trying to win all the votes you can. This is covered on Day One of Politics 101. Was it true? Of course. YOU DO NOT SAY IT.

Trump is not trying to win over anybody, he is just trying to hold onto every deplorable he can. The deplorables are addicts, and that is why Trump has, and will continue to, get worse every single day.

Trump cannot credibly issue calls for unity or condemn political violence; he openly, daily, issues divisive cherry bombs and has repeatedly both condoned and incited violence.

If it wasn’t for the fact that everyone lives in their phones now and thinks that their own tweeting means something, I’d say he has brought the country to its weakest point since the civil war. There were periods in the 60’s that were worse than now. But we are getting close. He has built a mountain of kindling, soaked it with gasoline, and is playing with matches.

#14

Clinton called half of Trump’s supporters deplorable. Trump called all of Trump’s supporters evil.

She wasn’t talking about the people who let these fears and prejudices cross their minds. The deplorables are the people who voted for Trump because he’s a racist, sexist, bigoted asshole, and because they considered being bigoted more important than anything else.

#15

The term crazy can have a variety of meanings. In this case, the God Emperor Trump is merely saying that people who vote Democrat are making a poor choice.

On the other hand, when Hillary uses the term “deplorable” she is speaking directly to the character of the people who support the Republicans. She isn’t merely saying that they are misguided or ill informed. Hillary is stating that they are bad people driven by hate and evil.

#16

And she has been proven right, time after time after time.

#17

I agree with the OP that there’s a double standard, especially considering that Clinton only labeled half of Trump’s supporters as deplorable, whereas Trump labeled all.

But as someone else pointed out, how much outrage can you expect when Trump has said 1,000 things more eyebrow-raising?

#18

Interesting that you would say that.

Here’s the quote:

She specifically said that the deplorable ones are the racist, sexist, homophobic, xenophobic, Islamophobic. Then you say that that is the character of the people who support republicans? She only claimed half of Trump supporters, then even backed that off. You are claiming that it is not only not half, but it is not only Trump supporters who have this character?

You must think very, very poorly of the republican party to claim that is the character of the people who support Republicans.

#19

You realize the gaffe concept as gone by the wayside in the era of Trump. One of the few benefits of his presence in politics.

#20

Meanwhile another crazy has shot up a synagogue. Pretty sure he won’t turn out to be a Democrat.