# I'm SO sick of hearing "Trump voters are not bad people...we need to empathize with them". FUCK THAT **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [October 18, 2016, 4:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-so-sick-of-hearing-trump-voters-are-not-bad-people-we-need-to-empathize-with-them-fuck-that/768921 "2016-10-18T04:00:38Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**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:** [October 18, 2016, 12:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-so-sick-of-hearing-trump-voters-are-not-bad-people-we-need-to-empathize-with-them-fuck-that/768921/21 "2016-10-18T12:07:12Z")
“Calling them names isn’t very helpful.” So. The. Fuck. What. With all that has been exposed about that piece of shit, with everything we know about how he has dealt with people in the past, with all the direct lies he has told and all the people he has insulted, with his vast lack of knowledge about world affairs exposed for the world to see, _with all that has been shown about him to date_-I submit that anyone that supports Trump after all that shouldn’t be helped, because there is no time left to “help” them(whatever that means). It is time to _thwart_ them, to stop them, to expose their excuses to the light of day. It is time to say that they are wrong, that they are dangerous in their beliefs, that they are ignorant in the lack of knowledge in the way government works, that they are…_stupid_ to believe anything that falls out of the mouth of that self-serving toupee with a bad cancerous undergrowth. They are _idiots_ if they believe that he is suddenly trustworthy when he makes offers. They are _fools_ if they think that they are the exception to his life-long rule of “Tell them whatever they want to hear to seal the deal…then fuck 'em”. When you are fighting “deliberate stupid and/or ignorant”, you don’t meet it halfway-that’s a good way to lose some of your own brain cells. ---
**Author:** ![Kobal2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kobal2/32/20_2.png) [@Kobal2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kobal2)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2016, 12:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-so-sick-of-hearing-trump-voters-are-not-bad-people-we-need-to-empathize-with-them-fuck-that/768921/22 "2016-10-18T12:18:34Z")
> [@Flyer](#): > > You seem to be confusing presidents with clergymen. > > We don’t elect presidents to be moral role models. We elect them to run the country. As such, Trump’s personal character is utterly irrelevant. Funny, that didn’t seem to be how conservatives rolled back when Clinton was in office and doiking the interns. It didn’t affect how he ran the country (in fact, he did a pretty great job of it), but boy oh boy was it a moral hazard ! > [@](#): > > By the way – I’m guessing that you think that Martin Luther King is worthy of being memorialized, despite the fact that he was a religious hypocrite and an adulterer. MLK wasn’t elected to any office. And his personal life has fuck all to do with his political action. ---
**Author:** ![Folacin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/folacin/32/3195_2.png) [@Folacin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Folacin)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2016, 12:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-so-sick-of-hearing-trump-voters-are-not-bad-people-we-need-to-empathize-with-them-fuck-that/768921/23 "2016-10-18T12:57:36Z")
> [@Velocity](#): > > So, are they good people or not? On an individual basis, for people they know, yes. But this seems to be an ongoing conservative/Republican theme - many of them are good-hearted people with apparently no imagination of how things are outside their personal experience. It was perhaps best illustrated by Republicans coming to support gay rights/marriage as more of their relatives/friends came out. Suddenly, the injustice had a face. The problem is in introducing every good-hearted conservative to one each of each segment of society that needs help. It’s taking longer than we thought. ---
**Author:** ![El\_Kabong](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/el_kabong/32/496_2.png) [@El\_Kabong](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/El_Kabong)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2016, 1:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-so-sick-of-hearing-trump-voters-are-not-bad-people-we-need-to-empathize-with-them-fuck-that/768921/24 "2016-10-18T13:02:55Z")
> [@up\_the\_junction](#): > > There is almost nothing - nothing - in this world worse than an arrogant, self-invested, chest beating, judgemental liberal cockhead. > > Go ahead feller, support the status quo; actively vote and thereby encourage the holy alliance of the political class, wall street and the 1%, bend over and lube yourself for 4 more years of having the tax system legally raped, stick your head up your own arse at your excessive working hours, minimal employee benefits, the robber baron class. > > Lets all stand back in awe and welcome the new Victorian age of super rich benevolence, lets continue to focus on efficiently taxing low income rather than huge wealth on one can conceivably need in a hundred years. > > Again I say: _None are more hopelessly enslaved than those who falsely believe they are free_ (Goethe) I actually sympathize somewhat with this viewpoint, and have stated previously that I would rather have a Democratic candidate who was less of a vote for the status quo than Mrs. Clinton, but…I’m sorry, I really am, but Donald Trump is simply not the sort of guy who’s going to lead us out of wilderness. He just isn’t. Better luck in 2020. ---
**Author:** ![Two\_Many\_Cats](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8dc957/32.png) [@Two\_Many\_Cats](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Two_Many_Cats)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2016, 1:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-so-sick-of-hearing-trump-voters-are-not-bad-people-we-need-to-empathize-with-them-fuck-that/768921/25 "2016-10-18T13:15:27Z")
> [@Maastricht](#): > > [Vox had an interesting think piece on exactly this question](http://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2016/10/15/13286498/donald-trump-voters-race-economic-anxiety). Research shows that Trump resonates with voters for one reason, and one reason only: racism. Not because they’re economically left behind. I think there’s a bit more to it than that. And I think that article dismisses economics a little too easily. [There’s a lot of truth in this Cracked article, and it’s more entertaining than Vox too.](http://www.cracked.com/blog/6-reasons-trumps-rise-that-no-one-talks-about/) ---
**Author:** ![MindsEye\_Watering](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mindseye_watering/32/3619_2.png) [@MindsEye\_Watering](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MindsEye_Watering)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2016, 1:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-so-sick-of-hearing-trump-voters-are-not-bad-people-we-need-to-empathize-with-them-fuck-that/768921/26 "2016-10-18T13:40:19Z")
> [@Merneith](#): > > That’s why we’re in this mess: because the stupid people have their own television network. They have an entire media _industry_ (not just one TV network) that is intent on convincing them that “It’s okay to be stupid”, “It’s okay to be racist”, and “There’s nothing wrong with being afraid - your fears are justified.” ---
**Author:** ![BubbaDog](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bubbadog/32/333_2.png) [@BubbaDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BubbaDog)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2016, 1:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-so-sick-of-hearing-trump-voters-are-not-bad-people-we-need-to-empathize-with-them-fuck-that/768921/27 "2016-10-18T13:46:29Z")
I’m not ready to call them bad or good but they are most definitely gullible. They are, without a doubt, tired of the way those that govern are running the country. What they seem to sorely miss though is the understanding that there is absolutely no correlation between the ability to criticize the government and the ability to lead it and fix it. ---
**Author:** ![Shodan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Shodan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shodan)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2016, 1:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-so-sick-of-hearing-trump-voters-are-not-bad-people-we-need-to-empathize-with-them-fuck-that/768921/28 "2016-10-18T13:47:01Z")
Knock yourself out. When you stop being decent to Trump supporters, how will we be able to tell? Regards, Shodan ---
**Author:** ![septimus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/septimus/32/410_2.png) [@septimus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/septimus)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2016, 1:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-so-sick-of-hearing-trump-voters-are-not-bad-people-we-need-to-empathize-with-them-fuck-that/768921/29 "2016-10-18T13:55:32Z")
If only non-Hispanic whites were allowed to vote, _ **Trump would win this election in the biggest landslide since 1984.** _ If only men were allowed to vote, then (even with Hispanic and black men strongly opposed) _ **Trump would win this election in the biggest landslide since 1984.** _ Only about 5% of registered Republican will vote for Hillary. Some will vote for Johnson, some will stay home, but more than 80% of Republicans who do vote will vote for Trump. Some of them will vote for Trump regretfully, unwilling to help the witch who eats babies for breakfast and murdered Elvis Presley become President. (These psychotic souls can almost be forgiven.) But many Republicans will vote for Trump brainlessly and with great glee. The word “Republican” must become a mark of shame for generations to come. Nobody with an ® should be treated as intelligent, nor as having human values deserving any respect. Throughout the rest of the world it will be the word “American” that loses value. We will be justifiably treated with contempt that we allowed such a man to come so close to the Oval Office. ---
**Author:** ![Ravenman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ravenman/32/2929_2.png) [@Ravenman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ravenman)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2016, 1:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-so-sick-of-hearing-trump-voters-are-not-bad-people-we-need-to-empathize-with-them-fuck-that/768921/30 "2016-10-18T13:57:54Z")
> [@SlackerInc](#): > > I’m talking about moderate to liberal commentators, who would never dream of voting for Trump themselves and generally consider him loathsome. In fact, a companion argument is that we should blame Trump, not his supporters, for this horrendously hateful campaign. Who, specifically, is saying this? I watch the news very closely, and I simply have not noticed liberal commentators saying “we need to empathize with the basket of deplorables.” ---
**Author:** ![watchwolf49](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e9c0ed/32.png) [@watchwolf49](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/watchwolf49)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2016, 1:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-so-sick-of-hearing-trump-voters-are-not-bad-people-we-need-to-empathize-with-them-fuck-that/768921/31 "2016-10-18T13:59:58Z")
Well, we can start with the “anybody but Hillary” crowd … only a fool of a coal miner would vote for someone who promises to get them laid-off by closing the mine they work at. Not everyone has been prospering during the recent economic recovery. A vote for Hillary is a vote for the _status quo_. If the _status quo_ isn’t working for someone, they’d be foolish to vote for Hillary. I don’t think it’s ignorant to believe Federal Government is too big. With The Donald as President, there’s a much greater chance the whole of the Federal Government will come crashing down. It’s 3,000 miles from my house to Washington DC, majorities in both Houses of Congress are totally clueless as to the issues we face here on a daily basis. Y’all want to ship Wyoming coal to China, y’all can ship it through fucking Texas for all I care. What is ignorant is just now learning how deep sexism runs in this country … ---
**Author:** ![Richard\_Parker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/35a633/32.png) [@Richard\_Parker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Richard_Parker)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2016, 2:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-so-sick-of-hearing-trump-voters-are-not-bad-people-we-need-to-empathize-with-them-fuck-that/768921/32 "2016-10-18T14:01:58Z")
> [@Ravenman](#): > > Who, specifically, is saying this? I watch the news very closely, and I simply have not noticed liberal commentators saying “we need to empathize with the basket of deplorables.” I’ll volunteer. I’m a liberal. I can empathize with murderers and terrorists. So I think I can manage to empathize with that crazy uncle at Thanksgiving who insists that Mexicans are infiltrating North Carolina to steal our jobs and votes. Empathy doesn’t demand that you think someone’s actions are good or that their intentions are noble. It demands that you acknowledge that people are more than the one little piece you’re currently examining–more than the worst thing they’ve ever done. It demands that you acknowledge that people make choices, but those choices are influenced by their circumstances and their culture and history. And it demands that you recognize that the human experience is vast and complicated, and you only understand a small piece of it. In my view, that kind of empathy is one of the things that distinguishes typical Trump voters from typical Clinton voters. YMMV. ---
**Author:** ![somepumpkin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/7feea3/32.png) [@somepumpkin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/somepumpkin)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2016, 2:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-so-sick-of-hearing-trump-voters-are-not-bad-people-we-need-to-empathize-with-them-fuck-that/768921/33 "2016-10-18T14:02:40Z")
> [@SlackerInc](#): > > I’m talking about moderate to liberal commentators, who would never dream of voting for Trump themselves and generally consider him loathsome. In fact, a companion argument is that we should blame Trump, not his supporters, for this horrendously hateful campaign. If anything, I would say it’s almost exactly the opposite. > \ Pandering is the act of expressing one’s views in accordance with the likes of a group to which one is attempting to appeal. \<– from WikiP. The people to blame are the whores who run the media. Every inch of this thing has been fueled by them. At this point, they have no choice except to keep feeding it. ---
**Author:** ![Maastricht](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a88e57/32.png) [@Maastricht](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maastricht)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2016, 2:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-so-sick-of-hearing-trump-voters-are-not-bad-people-we-need-to-empathize-with-them-fuck-that/768921/34 "2016-10-18T14:03:34Z")
> [@Two\_Many\_Cats](#): > > [There’s a lot of truth in this Cracked article, and it’s more entertaining than Vox too.](http://www.cracked.com/blog/6-reasons-trumps-rise-that-no-one-talks-about/) The Vox article does not dismiss “being economically left behind by globalism” easily; it cites a lot of solid research that proves that racism is a more important factor. I had read the Cracked article too, even thought about linking to it in my post. IMHO, it fits and supports what is said in the Vox article. The Cracked article pictures Trump voters in rural area’s, who are not explicitly racist against their black or brown neighbours who are similar to them; but they are hugely racist against black or brown people they don’t know and who they picture as living in the Big Bad City or the Big Bad Abroad. ---
**Author:** ![marshmallow](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/df705f/32.png) [@marshmallow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/marshmallow)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2016, 2:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-so-sick-of-hearing-trump-voters-are-not-bad-people-we-need-to-empathize-with-them-fuck-that/768921/35 "2016-10-18T14:06:23Z")
The useful thing about democracy is you can blame your misfortunes on your neighbors and countrymen, instead of a faraway king or council of cardinals. It’s a tricky position. On the one hand, Trump is a cartoon of the capitalist he-man. On the other hand, it’s hard to take the moral high ground when you support someone who bombs thousands of people and pushes for Middle Eastern interventions to benefit the class that capitalist he-man represents. But that’s what a “good person” must conclude, as the OP says. Better to vote for the candidate who may start WWIII instead of the Russian puppet. One can see why countries are so eager to adopt this wonderful system of ours. The rural/urban narrative has been in place since widespread industrialization started and cities were painted as decadent slums full of dirty immigrants and dangerous ideas like socialism and evolution. It’s not an accident that the former Confederacy is deep red. A Trump like phenomenon had been predicted by the likes of Chomsky, Chris Hedges, and Chalmers Johnson. It didn’t exactly come out of nowhere. The American left abandoned labor long ago and barely pretends to be anything but a corporate party. Republicans at least pretend to care. Those people will find answers somewhere, even if they’re terrible answers from talk radio, fundamentalist Christianity, or Info Wars. Alex Jones ranting about globalists being a demonic force seeking to destroy America is more credible to them than Democrats saying coal miners and factory workers are going to retrain to be solar panel installers. ---
**Author:** ![Ravenman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ravenman/32/2929_2.png) [@Ravenman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ravenman)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2016, 2:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-so-sick-of-hearing-trump-voters-are-not-bad-people-we-need-to-empathize-with-them-fuck-that/768921/36 "2016-10-18T14:26:36Z")
> [@Richard\_Parker](#): > > I’ll volunteer. Thanks – I have no doubt that there are ordinary Joes out there who vote Democratic who have the Howard Dean-sort of view, “Those guys in pickup trucks ought to be voting for universal health care.” But the OP specifically described commentators, as in journalists, opinion makers, talking heads, etc. If your local pastor says we shouldn’t judge Trump supporters harshly, that’s totally plausible to me. But who are these commentators urging understanding? Paul Begala? Van Jones? Amy Goodman? That doesn’t ring true at all to me. ---
**Author:** ![MindsEye\_Watering](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mindseye_watering/32/3619_2.png) [@MindsEye\_Watering](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MindsEye_Watering)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2016, 2:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-so-sick-of-hearing-trump-voters-are-not-bad-people-we-need-to-empathize-with-them-fuck-that/768921/37 "2016-10-18T14:27:13Z")
> [@somepumpkin](#): > > The people to blame are the whores who run the media. Every inch of this thing has been fueled by them. At this point, they have no choice except to keep feeding it. This. There’s a LOT of gold in that “basket of deplorables.” ---
**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:** [October 18, 2016, 2:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-so-sick-of-hearing-trump-voters-are-not-bad-people-we-need-to-empathize-with-them-fuck-that/768921/38 "2016-10-18T14:28:09Z")
The problem isn’t the positions he has(as silly as they are)-the problem is that we don’t know what his actual positions _are_. He has spent his entire life telling people what they want to hear, then after the deal is sealed he takes the money and screws his “partners”. He thinks the truth is whatever spews out of his mouth-his tweet about how agents of Clinton were behind the firebombing of the Republican office because he was winning in that state is the most recent case of an obvious blatant falsehood. Forget that Democrats don’t like his policies. _Why the holy fuck do any of you Trumpettes trust the bastard?_ ---
**Author:** ![Richard\_Parker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/35a633/32.png) [@Richard\_Parker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Richard_Parker)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2016, 2:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-so-sick-of-hearing-trump-voters-are-not-bad-people-we-need-to-empathize-with-them-fuck-that/768921/39 "2016-10-18T14:28:35Z")
> [@Ravenman](#): > > Thanks – I have no doubt that there are ordinary Joes out there who vote Democratic who have the Howard Dean-sort of view, “Those guys in pickup trucks ought to be voting for universal health care.” > > But the OP specifically described commentators, as in journalists, opinion makers, talking heads, etc. If your local pastor says we shouldn’t judge Trump supporters harshly, that’s totally plausible to me. But who are these commentators urging understanding? Paul Begala? Van Jones? Amy Goodman? That doesn’t ring true at all to me. Well, does Hillary count? After all, the basket of deplorables comment was about half of Trump’s support. She went on to empathize with the other half. Or are you limiting your argument to only a subset of Trump supporters? ---
**Author:** ![Malthus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/85f322/32.png) [@Malthus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malthus)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2016, 2:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-so-sick-of-hearing-trump-voters-are-not-bad-people-we-need-to-empathize-with-them-fuck-that/768921/40 "2016-10-18T14:28:53Z")
The “we should understand their concerns and empathize with them even though we disagree with them totally” meme is totally understandable. The alternative is accepting that (at the least!) nearly half the country’s population consists of loathsome racists. You guys have to live with these people after the election, no matter who wins. It makes sense to reach for a narrative that allows you to not simply hate them. The fear is that such narratives are built on wishful thinking. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-so-sick-of-hearing-trump-voters-are-not-bad-people-we-need-to-empathize-with-them-fuck-that/768921.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-so-sick-of-hearing-trump-voters-are-not-bad-people-we-need-to-empathize-with-them-fuck-that/768921.md?page=3)