# Did you know in 2016 how bad Trump really is? **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Created:** [October 19, 2020, 7:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-know-in-2016-how-bad-trump-really-is/923346 "2020-10-19T19:15:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 14
**Author:** ![AK84](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/85e7bf/32.png) [@AK84](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AK84)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2021, 3:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-know-in-2016-how-bad-trump-really-is/923346/261 "2021-07-25T15:35:37Z")
> [@eschereal](#): > > I was pretty horrified by the election of Reagan and deeply dismayed by W, but CFSG’s election left me at “oh, come on, seriously?” So, the next Republican President will make Trump look sane. Like how he made W look good. Who do you think? My money is on the Chewbacca bikini wearing Shahman from Jan 6th. ---
**Author:** ![Cervaise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cervaise/32/16693_2.png) [@Cervaise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cervaise)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2021, 4:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-know-in-2016-how-bad-trump-really-is/923346/262 "2021-07-25T16:24:23Z")
> [@ShadowFacts](#): > > Once we saw how the Access Hollywood tape did not sink his campaign as it should have, we realized something insane was going on with the electorate. Yeah, my wife and I had already been talking about the possibility of moving, prior to the election, because we were horrified by the stories our older daughter (then in kindergarten) would tell about the teacher leading the class in “hide and be quiet” games. It was the fact that the country would voluntarily elect _that man_ on top of our dismay at the sullen acceptance of gun violence that told us things were seriously broken for the foreseeable future. ---
**Author:** ![Odesio](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/odesio/32/20003_2.png) [@Odesio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Odesio)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2021, 4:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-know-in-2016-how-bad-trump-really-is/923346/263 "2021-07-25T16:31:23Z")
> [@Tired\_and\_Cranky](#): > > I responded with an off-the-cuff but I think pretty accurate assessment (spoilered below) of how bad I thought Trump would be. I for one, think I knew what we were getting into. Did you know how bad Trump would be? I knew Trump would be bad enough that I could not hold my nose and vote for him so I voted for Hillary Clinton instead. I had voted Republican in every election since 1996 and in 2015 I would have laughed at the suggestion that I’d ever vote for Hillary but in 2016 there I was voting to put her into office. But, no, even though I couldn’t vote for him in good conscience I did not realize just how bad Trump would be. ---
**Author:** ![Odesio](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/odesio/32/20003_2.png) [@Odesio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Odesio)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2021, 4:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-know-in-2016-how-bad-trump-really-is/923346/264 "2021-07-25T16:33:53Z")
> [@Aspenglow](#): > > I wouldn’t say I underestimated how bad Trump is. But I had no idea how rotten to the core the Republican party had become, or how readily he would be welcomed as the conduit to fulfill their efforts to do away with democracy. You bring up a valid point. I didn’t realize how rotten to the core the Republican party had become either. I didn’t realize just how rotten they were until January 6, 2021 when I decided to break away from them. ---
**Author:** ![Sherrerd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sherrerd/32/8_2.png) [@Sherrerd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sherrerd)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2021, 12:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-know-in-2016-how-bad-trump-really-is/923346/265 "2021-07-26T00:40:41Z")
> [@AK84](#): > > So, the next Republican President will make Trump look sane. Like how he made W look good. > Who do you think? My money is on the Chewbacca bikini wearing Shahman from Jan 6th. Well, maybe. Voters DO like to be entertained. But if I were betting actual money, I’d bet on a “plausible” authoritarian like Ron DeSantis or Josh Hawley—who will get votes from the less-informed-centrist people who aren’t paying all that much attention, and who just want their taxes lowered (which RDS and JH would certainly promise) and their inner-city youth kept in line (ditto). I don’t think it will be a huckster/entertainment-biz person; I think Trump actually did wear out the low-information centrists. They don’t want a repetition of those years. ---
**Author:** ![Barkis\_is\_Willin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a183cd/32.png) [@Barkis\_is\_Willin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Barkis_is_Willin)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2021, 4:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-know-in-2016-how-bad-trump-really-is/923346/266 "2021-07-26T16:04:48Z")
I knew Trump was bad. But I remember thinking the sane part of the GOP will keep him in check. So, I guess I severely underestimated his influence. ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2021, 4:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-know-in-2016-how-bad-trump-really-is/923346/267 "2021-07-26T16:19:25Z")
> [@Barkis\_is\_Willin](#): > > I knew Trump was bad. But I remember thinking the sane part of the GOP will keep him in check. So, I guess I severely underestimated his influence. - No, you overestimated the existence of the sane part of the GOP. ---
**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:** [July 26, 2021, 5:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-know-in-2016-how-bad-trump-really-is/923346/268 "2021-07-26T17:10:29Z")
> [@running\_coach](#): > > No, you overestimated the existence of the sane part of the GOP. Same. Alas. ---
**Author:** ![Barkis\_is\_Willin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a183cd/32.png) [@Barkis\_is\_Willin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Barkis_is_Willin)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2021, 7:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-know-in-2016-how-bad-trump-really-is/923346/269 "2021-07-26T19:19:34Z")
> [@running\_coach](#): > > No, you overestimated the existence of the sane part of the GOP. That’s probably true. I thought there would be a lot more Mitt Romneys than Lindsay Grahams. ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2021, 7:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-know-in-2016-how-bad-trump-really-is/923346/270 "2021-07-26T19:21:32Z")
> [@Barkis\_is\_Willin](#): > > > [@running\_coach](#): > > > > No, you overestimated the existence of the sane part of the GOP. > > That’s probably true. I thought there would be a lot more Mitt Romneys than Lindsay Grahams. - Don’t forget Ol’ Mitt went groveling for the Sec.Of State job. ---
**Author:** ![eschereal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eschereal/32/18939_2.png) [@eschereal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eschereal)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2021, 8:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-know-in-2016-how-bad-trump-really-is/923346/271 "2021-07-26T20:59:56Z")
> [@Barkis\_is\_Willin](#): > > I remember thinking the sane part of the GOP will keep him in check I find this baffling. Since '95 we have been seeing the teeming roil of R-thropods climbing all over each other to challenge for the utter bottom. It has never shown any signs of not getting steadily worse. To think that it could somehow become not the decaying shitfest is the kind of magical thinking that leads to Bundyism-type derangements. ---
**Author:** ![asahi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asahi/32/8693_2.png) [@asahi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/asahi)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2021, 11:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-know-in-2016-how-bad-trump-really-is/923346/272 "2021-07-26T23:40:22Z")
This ^ And through things like gerrymandering and creating customized voting districts that are hyper-partisan, they are creating a feedback loop. They are pushing out the moderates completely. The combination of hyper-partisan voting districts in their favor in tandem with new voting and certification rules gives Republicans a very clear structural advantage, and it’s a higher bar for Democrats to get over. This is leading to an increasingly obvious minority majority regime. But the next time it holds the power of both the presidency and the congress, the hyper-partisan majority is going to demand political extremism, and they will use their power to completely neuter their opposition. ---
**Author:** ![Eva\_Luna](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/e495f1/32.png) [@Eva\_Luna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eva_Luna)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2021, 12:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-know-in-2016-how-bad-trump-really-is/923346/273 "2021-07-27T00:03:17Z")
I absolutely knew how bad he would TRY to be. But I was flabbergasted at how many people supported his agenda and how quickly he managed to start implementing it, particularly in the immigration arena. It may take most of Biden’s term to fix the clusterfucks that alone created, let alone make any actual progress. Never in my worst nightmares did I think that that within a week of inauguration, I would be protesting at O’Hare Airport for U.S. permanent residents to be allowed to return home. ---
**Author:** ![eschereal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eschereal/32/18939_2.png) [@eschereal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eschereal)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2021, 12:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-know-in-2016-how-bad-trump-really-is/923346/274 "2021-07-27T00:08:12Z")
What is truly disturbing is a poll I saw last fall where respondents expressed a feeling that the Rs do a better job with the economy. I mean, that is worryingly fucked up, that their bullshit factory is so overpowering that they have convinced people of this. ---
**Author:** ![Kimstu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecd19e/32.png) [@Kimstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimstu)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2021, 1:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-know-in-2016-how-bad-trump-really-is/923346/275 "2021-07-27T01:35:08Z")
> [@eschereal](#): > > What is truly disturbing is a poll I saw last fall where respondents expressed a feeling that the Rs do a better job with the economy. I think at this point this is just traditional Republican folklore that hangs on in some circles as conventional wisdom. The Republicans spent several decades post-LBJ pushing the message that they were the party of fiscal responsibility (read: stop spending on all this stuff for the poors), and the fiscal recklessness of the Reagan, Bushes and Trump regimes hasn’t erased that from the public consciousness. ---
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2021, 1:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-know-in-2016-how-bad-trump-really-is/923346/276 "2021-07-27T01:48:12Z")
A great political satire said “the less you plan to do about something, the more you must talk about it.” Republicans have been proving that for forty years. ---
**Author:** ![eschereal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eschereal/32/18939_2.png) [@eschereal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eschereal)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2021, 3:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-know-in-2016-how-bad-trump-really-is/923346/277 "2021-07-27T03:07:23Z")
Really, they are the Goebbls Party: just keep repeating the bullshit until people take it as fact. ---
**Author:** ![FlikTheBlue](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fliktheblue/32/10972_2.png) [@FlikTheBlue](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FlikTheBlue)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2021, 12:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-know-in-2016-how-bad-trump-really-is/923346/278 "2021-07-27T12:02:35Z")
I had a good idea of how bad Trump himself was. What I didn’t realize at the time was just how bad his supporters would get. Yes, the implication is that they weren’t as bad at the time, and that Trump made them (and continues to make them) worse. ---
**Author:** ![Jasmine](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jasmine/32/2964_2.png) [@Jasmine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jasmine)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2021, 12:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-know-in-2016-how-bad-trump-really-is/923346/279 "2021-07-27T12:07:46Z")
Yes, I saw him for exactly who he has turned out to be. I have a very strong knowledge of history and of the demon dictators, kings, and emperors who have populated it over time. He matches the profile perfectly. He is a megalomaniacal narcissistic sociopath and a master manipulator of people. He is the perfect storm. ---
**Author:** ![Saintly\_Loser](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saintly_loser/32/4045_2.png) [@Saintly\_Loser](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saintly_Loser)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2021, 7:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-know-in-2016-how-bad-trump-really-is/923346/280 "2021-07-27T19:43:41Z")
> [@Fiddle\_Peghead](#): > > Queens is terrific. I recently moved to Inwood, but really wanted to be in Sunnyside. The right apartment never came along. I grew up in Jackson Heights, then lived in Sunnyside, then a bit later in Astoria. I’d move to any of them from my current Brooklyn Heights home in a heartbeat. School districts are a huge factor for me, though, whole 'nother story. Oh, and us outer borough people thought that Trump was pretty much a buffoon. I’m one of those idiots who was (a) suprised as hell that he won the election and (b) thought the Republican Party would keep him in line. I have never been so wrong about anything in my life. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-know-in-2016-how-bad-trump-really-is/923346.md?page=13) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-know-in-2016-how-bad-trump-really-is/923346.md?page=15)