I don't understand the intensity of the hatred for Trump

Politics & Elections
121

But the people I know (welp, some) who voted for him DON’T seem to have that kind of mindset, at all. My 2 mothers, to be a bit more specific. [I’m adopted]

Tl;dr is that the GOP should have seen a steady exodus of more reasonable and moral voters, 7 years on. Yet despite some Dopers saying that they were once conservatives who have moved away from the modern GOP, it is difficult to see that kind of sea change in the various poll numbers. I had assumed that their base was a solid 25-30%, sure. Not the monolithic 45% bloc standing proud as the madly swirling waters utterly fail to erode it significantly. At this point I might suggest that time, and pressure, will eventually do the trick. Except that this planet does NOT have the luxury to wait for these people to unfuck themselves so as to avoid the worst effects of AGW.

122

One thing I think is ironic about Trump is that he’s so genuinely awful in so many different ways that I think criticisms of Trump can come off, to his defenders, as scatterbrained and throw-anything-at-the-wall-and-see-what-sticks.

Like, can’t we liberals make up our minds? Do we hate Trump because of Russia? Or because of racism? Or because of COVID? Or because of January 6? Sounds like we’re just clutching at straws!

Honestly, there are about 5 different entire areas of Trump-awfulness, all of them enormous festering pits with their own sub-areas, any one of which would, in a sane world, be enough to disqualify him from being anywhere near the presidency. But because there are so many, I can imagine it coming off as desperate.

123

Things are messed up enough now (COVID, invasion of Ukraine, climate change etc) that the addition of something Trump-like feels like an existential crisis to me. If he had won in 2020 I can’t even imagine how the west would be impacted by Putin’s invasion and Trump’s actions combined. We are very, very fortunate indeed that Biden won.

124

My response before having read anybody else. Also, my personal opinion.

Hm. Trump as Hitler. [and may I point out that my undergraduate degree was in Political Science … ]

Starting in the later part of 2015, during the run up to the election, My opinion of Trump was based upon coming from a business background in NY state late 70s and onwards. My father was very careful [me being under 21] taking me to Chamber of Commerce meetings, business meetings and other events because it was well known even back then Trump was a predatory and vengeful rapist. And I don’t use rapist lightly, he was known for getting women alone and at minimum “grabbing them by the pussy” and not taking no for an answer. In the business community he was known for screwing over vendors and contractors - many many businesses refused to deal with him unless the money was in an escrow account, or paid up front. That is the baseline. Trump himself is personally scum. Criminal scum. Has been pretty much his entire life. You can go online and discover his personal history of scumminess, it is not particularly hidden.

During the presidency period, all I saw was this country emulating Weimar era Germany - an economy not doing well, much un- and under- employment, housing and food costs rising, more and more bands of bullyboys roaming, causing fights and even small riots, the whole MAGA/America first, an office of propaganda [fox news] our very own hyperpolarization of political parties making it impossible to do anything jointly [that is when Hindenburg gave up, and the conservatives put Hitler in place because they were convinced they could control him] and sliding in a judiciary to make the legal changes the conservatives wanted.

Is any of this sounding at all freaking familiar?

Look at his political campaign, he lied, slandered, outright insulted McCain, countless families of military and military, the whole thing with Hillary [not that I particularly like her, but she would have made a hell of a president but I happen to like Biden.]

I happen to detest what they have done to my families Republican Party [we have been members since the mid 1800s … yes my family have been here for a while] and I will remain registered Republican though I am pretty much the opposite of what they are now, because that way I can vote FUCK NO to any insane thing they come up with that is voted upon in a closed polling. [I voted fuck no to spending $10 000 on a freaking paper shredder for a school that serves a town of 2500 or so people … WTF guys … made me wonder who was going to be getting a pay off on that little purchase.]

125

I enjoyed reading through this thread and I’ve agreed with so many of the other posts. It’s like I’ve been thinking “Yes, and…” so much whenever I read one I feel like I’m at an improv workshop. And I certainly share the distaste about Donald Trump as a private individual that so many have talked about here.

But for me, there’s one great big sum-up, one overriding thing about Trump as president that goes over and above any other detail, or symptom of his disfunction.

The presidency is a big job - certainly since at least Lincoln, it’s been arguably more than one person can handle. Only 43 men held it before Donald Trump. Those 43 men had varying levels of competence at the job - one reason why Lincoln stands out so much is not only the Civil War but because he was sandwiched between Buchanan and Andrew Johnson - but every one of them had a desire to serve the country as best as they could. They all had egos, and ambition, but they recognized that as presidents they would be judged by how they affected the country, and they wanted to improve the country to satisfy that ambition - to recognize that their best legacy as president was a country better and stronger than it was from before they became president.

Donald Trump is all about himself, his petty desires and cravings for acceptance. He won’t sacrifice anything of himself for anything greater or more important than himself because he doesn’t believe there’s anything greater or more important than himself. He has not a shred of real faith or patriotism in his psyche, just performative shams to fool the gullible and send their craved adulation his way. He has no character, never having had to form one, only performance. He has no loyalty to anyone save himself.

If the guy hadn’t decided to become President, I would consider him the object of pity rather than scorn. But by taking his issues into the Oval Office, and co-opting an entire political party to abandon whatever remaining sense of principle it had and dedicate itself to servicing his ego, he became a danger to the key institutions of the United States and the survival of human civilization.

Is that intense enough for you?

126

And on the COVID issue, Trump actively work to make the situation far worse than it needed to be. If, during the pandemic, he had done nothing, far fewer people would have died. And I suspect that that would have also affected the rest of the world as well, since I have no doubt that he inspired and enabled narrow-minded, ignorant, anti-science fools globally.

127

Nm Post sent prematurely

128

My wife’s grandmother is 100 years old. She lived through WWII and remembers Hitler. She has called Trump “little Hitler” for years.

I trust her judgement.

129

When thinking back on the Trump presidency I recall two events that really drove home to me that Trump was not like any other president.

The first event was when Trump threatened to cut off federal aid to help with California’s forest fires, because their governor was a Democrat. With previous Republican presidents, while I might have strongly disagreed with their policies I assumed that they were still doing what they (mistakenly) thought would be best for the country. With this it became clear that Trump didn’t give a flip about the country, and would gladly sacrifice the well being of constituents in order to make a spiteful jab at a political opponent.

The second event was in October 2019. After leaving the Kurds out to dry Trump tried to mitigate the situation by tweeting a threat to Turkey.

OK so this post was bad enough, But what really drove home the situation we were in was when, Pompeo his Secretary of state was asked about what precisely Trump had meant by that tweet, Pompeo replied, “You’ll have to ask the president.”

That was when I realized that as far as foreign policy goes there was no plan. The secretary of state has no idea what the US’s position on Turkey is, and isn’t even going to bother to ask. Its all dependent on the random whims of a narcissistic autocrat with the attention span of a five year old.

But for the real reason I hate Trump…

This in my opinion is the most hazardous thing Trump has done, worse than his handling of Covid or the promotion of the January 6th attacks, because they are the basis for those things. By embracing conspiracy theories and encouraging the members of voters of his party to do likewise he has made basic facts partisan. This not only sews division but makes reconciliation impossible. How do you change their mind if all evidence you present is instantly dismissed as fake news. How do can you hope to reach a compromise someone who believes you sacrifice babies to feast on their adrenal excretions.

Most of the blame for this actually lands on the right wing media, and their cult like isolation of saying that everyone but us is lying to you, but Trump was the one who showed there really was not bottom. There was no need to simply spin facts in your favor when you can make them up out of whole cloth. As long as you told people lies they wanted to believe you could get them to ignore obvious reality.

130

I loathe Trump for all the reasons that others have posted, but most of all, that his election in 2016 served to elevate right-wing nutjobbery in other western nations, Australia included. Mostly though, I blame Murdoch…without whom Trump and the various other shitstain leaders would never have had a platform and thus so many acolytes. I truly hope the world can recover from this and that the racist, homophobic, misogynistic rednecks (of all classes) go back to hiding under their rocks, never again to feel ennobled to spew their bile. Hitler? Never compared them, but now you mention it…

131

Totally agree he is a con man. His fundraising pitches continue to be full of lies about how he personally cares about the contributor, honing in on cognitive weaknesses of people in early stages of dementia.

Do I hate him? I hope not. I hope not to hate anyone. But I do dislike him.

132

I voted for Bob Dole in 1996 because Clinton lied under oath. If lying about one thing made me switch my vote imagine what thirty thousand lies in four years by Trump made me feel about him. I would have stood in line ten hours in a freezing rain to vote against him in 2020.

133

Housebroken pets, only…wait, can you housebreak invertebrates?

Dan

134

Even though I already piled on here a bit about DJT’s perfidy, there’s one sense in which I don’t understand the hatred for Trump.

Before the internet, hardly anyone would admit to hate. Maybe we oldsters were twentieth century hypocrites, but it was the kind of arguably good hypocrisy where vice honors virtue. Admitting that you hate Trump – and I don’t admit it – seems to me an admission that your feelings are beyond reason.

135

I think you need to make a distinction between hate and despite.

For my own part, I don’t “hate” the man, but I do despise him.

136

It’s because he’s fat, and loud, and lazy, and shits on everything, and doesn’t leave when he’s supposed to.

Whoops, sorry. That was supposed to go in the Canada Goose hate thread.

137

Hell, here’s a cold open from Saturday Night Live from the early 90s with Phil Hartman and Jan Hooks that shows him that way.

138

I don’t equate “hate” with having feelings beyond reason. There are legitimate reasons to hate Trump. Many of them.

139

If you go to a school and, as the dean shows you around, he makes a joke about fondling the kids then you don’t want your kid at that school and you REALLY need to get that guy removed from the school.

Likewise with Trump. Whether he actually fondles the kids or not, if someone jokes about doing deals with foreign countries to win the job then, right there, you don’t want him. The job is to work for us. If that’s not what we’re getting then he’s not a viable option.

If you then, further, note that there’s two dozen people around him who were arrested by his own appointees, for a varying array of corruption, that he tried to boost Republicans during the midterms by advance the idea that asylum seekers were sneaking in terrorists across the border, and then tried to win the election by trying to get state congresses to dump their electors and override the vote of the people, etc.

You’re not just talking a joke about fondling kids. The man did it on camera, in front of everyone. It’s fucking creepy that so much of the country is willing to ignore what right there in front of their eyes.

It makes you wonder if the Emperor’s New Suit was based on a real story and when will our little boy come visit to wake everyone up?

140

I think it’s clear that in the relationship between McConnell and Trump, it wasn’t Trump holding the leash.