# Do Trump followers and Republicans think the country would survive his reelection? **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Tags:** trump\ **Created:** [January 4, 2024, 10:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-trump-followers-and-republicans-think-the-country-would-survive-his-reelection/995612 "2024-01-04T22:22:30Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 9
**Author:** ![EddyTeddyFreddy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eddyteddyfreddy/32/18796_2.png) [@EddyTeddyFreddy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EddyTeddyFreddy)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2024, 11:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-trump-followers-and-republicans-think-the-country-would-survive-his-reelection/995612/161 "2024-01-10T23:16:54Z")
You beat me to it. I was actually listening to _Wait, Wait, Don’t Tell Me!_ when he said it. Freaked the audience, the other panelists, and the host right out. ---
**Author:** ![Culling\_The\_Herd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a3d4f5/32.png) [@Culling\_The\_Herd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Culling_The_Herd)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2024, 12:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-trump-followers-and-republicans-think-the-country-would-survive-his-reelection/995612/162 "2024-01-11T00:29:23Z")
> [@Aeschines](#): > > Inclusion isn’t about making gender and race the “first qualifier.” It’s about making sure that every segment of our multifaceted society is able to participate in the important roles and institutions of society while preventing one group from dominating them. One is the goal or intent; the other is the process. Goals and intentions can be well-meaning, but reasonable intelligent people can take exception to a process that selects (or excludes) a person on the basis of something other than his/her qualifications…without making them idiots or racists or some other pejorative. > [@Aeschines](#): > > I think it goes without saying that people could disagree with Democrats on a wide range of issues, including other Democrats. I’d LIKE to think it goes without saying, but the level of disdain thrown at an entire party and group of people in this thread suggests otherwise. My point all along was that just because people have a drastically different viewpoint on a variety of subjects, that doesn’t make them “idiots, fascists, neo-Nazis, dupes, religious fundamentalist equivalents of the Taliban, racists, bigots, and intolerant.” There are some who fall into each of those categories (on the Right AND the Left (neo-Nazi’s perhaps the exception) but one needn’t use a broadbrush across an entire party and assume 74 million people are comprised of those types. ---
**Author:** ![Aeschines](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aeschines/32/16251_2.png) [@Aeschines](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aeschines)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2024, 12:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-trump-followers-and-republicans-think-the-country-would-survive-his-reelection/995612/163 "2024-01-11T00:41:16Z")
> [@Culling\_The\_Herd](#): > > One is the goal or intent; the other is the process. Goals and intentions can be well-meaning, but reasonable intelligent people can take exception to a process that selects (or excludes) a person on the basis of something other than his/her qualifications…without making them idiots or racists or some other pejorative. I don’t think anyone here has said that anyone who disagrees with the Liberal mainstream on inclusion/affirmative action/etc. is automatically an idiot or racist. See below for more on this point. > [@Aeschines](#): > > I’d LIKE to think it goes without saying, but the level of disdain thrown at an entire party and group of people in this thread suggests otherwise. The people who are getting that “level of disdain” are getting it _for currently supporting Trump_–and they absolutely fucking deserve it. > [@](#): > > My point all along was that just because people have a drastically different viewpoint on a variety of subjects, that doesn’t make them “idiots, fascists, neo-Nazis, dupes, religious fundamentalist equivalents of the Taliban, racists, bigots, and intolerant.” You are either accidentally or purposely equivocating. People are applying those opprobrious epithets to people _for supporting Trump_ and not for having a “drastically different viewpoint.” > [@](#): > > There are some who fall into each of those categories (on the Right AND the Left (neo-Nazi’s perhaps the exception) but one needn’t use a broadbrush across an entire party and assume 74 million people are comprised of those types. First, the GOP is currently owned by Trump, so it deserves the broad brush. Second, I believe the 74 million are the number who voted for Trump in 2020. If that number is still accurate as of January 10, 2024, then so be it: those people have no excuse, and they are either stupid or malicious in some measure. But I believe the number is smaller now. I repeat: there is _no fucking excuse_ for supporting Trump right now. Anyone who does so deserves to be castigated for it. ---
**Author:** ![iiandyiiii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/iiandyiiii/32/7924_2.png) [@iiandyiiii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iiandyiiii)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2024, 12:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-trump-followers-and-republicans-think-the-country-would-survive-his-reelection/995612/164 "2024-01-11T00:43:06Z")
Trump really is different. Not every single one of his supporters are fascist, bigoted, an insurrectionist, or racist, but every single one of them is voting for fascism, bigotry, insurrection, and racism. It’s okay to tell the truth, even about Trump. He really is that bad. He really did try and overturn a lawful election, among many other things. ---
**Author:** ![Culling\_The\_Herd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a3d4f5/32.png) [@Culling\_The\_Herd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Culling_The_Herd)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2024, 12:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-trump-followers-and-republicans-think-the-country-would-survive-his-reelection/995612/165 "2024-01-11T00:43:18Z")
> [@Aeschines](#): > > You seem to think that this fact, if we suppose it to be a fact, resulted in some sort of injustice. I disagree with that, since it would be unacceptable for the court to consist only of white men or only men or a figure approaching that. You may have missed it when I wrote “I’m not saying the best candidate wasn’t in the end a woman or a black woman”. What I’m saying is statistics and logic argue against it. If I’m searching for the best, say, ping pong player in the nation, and I limit my search to, say, Nebraska or even New York, I MIGHT find the best in the smaller pool but it’s unlikely. I don’t think that statement outlandish. ---
**Author:** ![Aeschines](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aeschines/32/16251_2.png) [@Aeschines](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aeschines)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2024, 12:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-trump-followers-and-republicans-think-the-country-would-survive-his-reelection/995612/166 "2024-01-11T00:47:23Z")
> [@Culling\_The\_Herd](#): > > You may have missed it when I wrote “I’m not saying the best candidate wasn’t in the end a woman or a black woman”. Fine, but this point is then undercut by the following: > [@](#): > > What I’m saying is statistics and logic argue against it. Right, so it was _probably_ unjust? I’m saying, no, it definitely was _not_ unjust, since the goals of selecting a Supreme Court justice include more than simply finding the most qualifiedest, bestest, most ultimate human to fill that role. > [@](#): > > If I’m searching for the best, say, ping pong player in the nation, and I limit my search to, say, Nebraska or even New York, I MIGHT find the best in the smaller pool but it’s unlikely. I don’t think that statement outlandish. It’s not outlandish, merely irrelevant, since your thinking on the matter, IMO, is simply incorrect. ---
**Author:** ![Stratocaster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stratocaster/32/16393_2.png) [@Stratocaster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stratocaster)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2024, 1:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-trump-followers-and-republicans-think-the-country-would-survive-his-reelection/995612/167 "2024-01-11T01:03:40Z")
Funny how in the good old days, the best qualified candidate was always a white guy. ---
**Author:** ![JRDelirious](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jrdelirious/32/9531_2.png) [@JRDelirious](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JRDelirious)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2024, 1:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-trump-followers-and-republicans-think-the-country-would-survive-his-reelection/995612/168 "2024-01-11T01:07:58Z")
And nobody asked to see his transcripts from 20 years before. ---
**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:** [January 11, 2024, 1:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-trump-followers-and-republicans-think-the-country-would-survive-his-reelection/995612/169 "2024-01-11T01:10:27Z")
> [@Culling\_The\_Herd](#): > > I was asked to list an example of a Democrat’s action that rational intelligent people might disagree with. Then try doing it. ---
**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:** [January 11, 2024, 1:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-trump-followers-and-republicans-think-the-country-would-survive-his-reelection/995612/170 "2024-01-11T01:17:52Z")
> [@Culling\_The\_Herd](#): > > I’d LIKE to think it goes without saying, but the level of disdain thrown at an entire party and group of people in this thread suggests otherwise. Yeah, the few people that post here are _much_ more influential than hate-filled red-capped MAGATS at Trump rallies and those powerful Congresscritters that kiss his orange rump to get their votes. Thank you _ever_ so much for pointing out the real problem with politics today. ---
**Author:** ![Culling\_The\_Herd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a3d4f5/32.png) [@Culling\_The\_Herd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Culling_The_Herd)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2024, 1:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-trump-followers-and-republicans-think-the-country-would-survive-his-reelection/995612/171 "2024-01-11T01:48:22Z")
> [@Aeschines](#): > > The people who are getting that “level of disdain” are getting it _for **currently supporting Trump** _–and they absolutely fucking deserve it. > [@Aeschines](#): > > I believe the 74 million are the number who voted for Trump **in 2020**. If that number is still accurate as of January 10, 2024, then so be it: **those people have no excuse, and they are either stupid or malicious in some measure.** Your disdain goes back four years, and I’ll say yet again, you’ve chosen to malign 74 million people as stupid or malicious. I think there’s more nuance there, as I’ve said. ---
**Author:** ![Aeschines](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aeschines/32/16251_2.png) [@Aeschines](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aeschines)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2024, 1:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-trump-followers-and-republicans-think-the-country-would-survive-his-reelection/995612/172 "2024-01-11T01:56:37Z")
> [@Culling\_The\_Herd](#): > > Your disdain goes back four years, and I’ll say yet again, you’ve chosen to malign 74 million people as stupid or malicious. I think there’s more nuance there, as I’ve said. This is a non sequitur and a dodge. Whether it’s 30 million or 74 million or 300 million who support Trump _now_, they currently deserve that disdain. My opinion of people who voted for Trump in 2020 is different and significantly less harsh than my opinion of people who are supporting him now (not that it really matters much). Nuance? Sure, I think a neonazi who wants Trump to fire up gas chambers is different and much worse than a stupid person who watches a lot of Fox News and thinks January 6 was staged by the FBI and just wants Trump to be a normal president. The first is malicious and stupid, and the second is just stupid. ---
**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:** [January 11, 2024, 1:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-trump-followers-and-republicans-think-the-country-would-survive-his-reelection/995612/173 "2024-01-11T01:57:55Z")
> [@Broomstick](#): > > Many _Republicans_ consider it demonizing. Do try to keep up. Just as the term “neocon” is often a pejorative among the left even though it’s not usually one among the right. ---
**Author:** ![Culling\_The\_Herd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a3d4f5/32.png) [@Culling\_The\_Herd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Culling_The_Herd)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2024, 1:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-trump-followers-and-republicans-think-the-country-would-survive-his-reelection/995612/174 "2024-01-11T01:58:27Z")
> [@Aeschines](#): > > What I’m saying is statistics and logic argue against it. Poor chose of words…what I should have said is “statistics and logic argue against that methodology.” ---
**Author:** ![Aeschines](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aeschines/32/16251_2.png) [@Aeschines](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aeschines)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2024, 1:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-trump-followers-and-republicans-think-the-country-would-survive-his-reelection/995612/175 "2024-01-11T01:58:49Z")
> [@Culling\_The\_Herd](#): > > Your disdain goes back four years… Also, it goes back to 2015. No one ever should have supported him at all, but those who continue to support him are especially culpable, as the damage he’s caused has accumulated significantly over time. ---
**Author:** ![Aeschines](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aeschines/32/16251_2.png) [@Aeschines](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aeschines)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2024, 2:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-trump-followers-and-republicans-think-the-country-would-survive-his-reelection/995612/176 "2024-01-11T02:00:29Z")
> [@Culling\_The\_Herd](#): > > Poor chose of words…what I should have said is “statistics and logic argue against that methodology.” Wrong either way! ---
**Author:** ![Culling\_The\_Herd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a3d4f5/32.png) [@Culling\_The\_Herd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Culling_The_Herd)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2024, 2:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-trump-followers-and-republicans-think-the-country-would-survive-his-reelection/995612/177 "2024-01-11T02:04:51Z")
> [@Aeschines](#): > > Wrong either way! You can express an opinion, but when you don’t recognize statistical probability and numbers…well, that reminds me of a certain Presidential candidate who also refused to trust the numbers. ---
**Author:** ![Aeschines](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aeschines/32/16251_2.png) [@Aeschines](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aeschines)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2024, 2:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-trump-followers-and-republicans-think-the-country-would-survive-his-reelection/995612/178 "2024-01-11T02:06:33Z")
> [@Culling\_The\_Herd](#): > > You can express an opinion, but when you don’t recognize statistical probability and numbers…well, that reminds me of a certain Presidential candidate who also refused to trust the numbers. You are not a paragon of reading comprehension in this thread. I said that finding the absolutest most ultimatest justice was not the sole goal of the selection process. I did not argue with you about statistics. ---
**Author:** ![iiandyiiii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/iiandyiiii/32/7924_2.png) [@iiandyiiii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iiandyiiii)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2024, 2:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-trump-followers-and-republicans-think-the-country-would-survive-his-reelection/995612/179 "2024-01-11T02:07:56Z")
There are no numbers that tell you who’s the best candidate for VP or SCOTUS. These are public political positions, and like it or not, perception from the public is part of that. That’s why representation can well be part of someone’s qualification. ---
**Author:** ![SunUp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ea5d25/32.png) [@SunUp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SunUp)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2024, 2:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-trump-followers-and-republicans-think-the-country-would-survive-his-reelection/995612/180 "2024-01-11T02:08:50Z")
> [@Culling\_The\_Herd](#): > > If I’m searching for the best, say, ping pong player in the nation, and I limit my search to, say, Nebraska or even New York, I MIGHT find the best in the smaller pool but it’s unlikely. This assumes that there is a way to evaluate prospective Supreme Court justices as simple as that to evaluate ping pong players. I don’t think that’s true. What do you consider important attributes for a Supreme Court justice? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-trump-followers-and-republicans-think-the-country-would-survive-his-reelection/995612.md?page=8) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-trump-followers-and-republicans-think-the-country-would-survive-his-reelection/995612.md?page=10)