# .....In (reluctant) defense of the 3-time Trump voter **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Tags:** trump\ **Created:** [March 17, 2026, 3:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-reluctant-defense-of-the-3-time-trump-voter/1028524 "2026-03-17T15:21:29Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![MyFootsZZZ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/myfootszzz/32/12580_2.png) [@MyFootsZZZ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MyFootsZZZ)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2026, 3:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-reluctant-defense-of-the-3-time-trump-voter/1028524/1 "2026-03-17T15:21:29Z")
I’m making this thread because I like to see things from angles that don’t always feel emotionally gratifying, despite being totally seriously pissed off. MAGA’s often, uneducated (discouraged from higher ed) and have (in my opinion) a rightful skepticism of institutional power, but DUMB means to address such situations. I don’t eat nearly as much meat as I once did, but when I do, I don’t really want to consider what went into that carnivorous experience. You have to desensitize the things that make existence much more difficult, yet acknowledgement can be important. I want this to stay on topic, but I believe that the Democrats, for once, flagrantly and openly disregard a certain type of people, which I believe turned many people away. Not to say that it wasn’t something that would’ve played out immensely better had they voted for Democrats. 🤷🏼‍♂️ Plus; Boomer life expectancy + lead exposure, or something. Thoughts? ---
**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:** [March 17, 2026, 3:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-reluctant-defense-of-the-3-time-trump-voter/1028524/2 "2026-03-17T15:25:52Z")
> [@MyFootsZZZ](#): > > I want this to stay on topic, but I believe that the Democrats, for once, flagrantly and openly disregard a certain type of people, which I believe turned many people away. Which “certain type of people”, exactly? ---
**Author:** ![MyFootsZZZ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/myfootszzz/32/12580_2.png) [@MyFootsZZZ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MyFootsZZZ)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2026, 3:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-reluctant-defense-of-the-3-time-trump-voter/1028524/3 "2026-03-17T15:26:22Z")
Innocent, (if I have to make the distinction) Palestinians. ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2026, 3:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-reluctant-defense-of-the-3-time-trump-voter/1028524/4 "2026-03-17T15:27:26Z")
> [@MyFootsZZZ](#): > > I want this to stay on topic, but I believe that the Democrats, for once, flagrantly and openly disregard a certain type of people, which I believe turned many people away. “Certain type of people”? The difficulty of coming up with a name for them that isn’t an insult demonstrates the issue. The Democrats can’t pander to horrible people without _being_ horrible, by definition. ---
**Author:** ![Dorjan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dorjan/32/12440_2.png) [@Dorjan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dorjan)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2026, 3:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-reluctant-defense-of-the-3-time-trump-voter/1028524/5 "2026-03-17T15:28:41Z")
As the kids these days like to say - “You finna get dragged”. There’s no defense for a 3-time Trump voter. How should Democrats regard a person who is either a bigot, misogynist, fanatical evangelist, terminally ignorant, or any/all of the above? ---
**Author:** ![MyFootsZZZ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/myfootszzz/32/12580_2.png) [@MyFootsZZZ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MyFootsZZZ)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2026, 3:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-reluctant-defense-of-the-3-time-trump-voter/1028524/6 "2026-03-17T15:28:53Z")
> [@Der\_Trihs](#): > > “Certain type of people”? I get your claim, but I was vague because I wanted to express that it could be any type of person. ---
**Author:** ![MyFootsZZZ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/myfootszzz/32/12580_2.png) [@MyFootsZZZ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MyFootsZZZ)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2026, 3:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-reluctant-defense-of-the-3-time-trump-voter/1028524/7 "2026-03-17T15:31:13Z")
If you’re taught to hate, some people can’t break from that, seemingly. I’m certainly not trying to excuse it, and I believe in punishment and repercussions. I’d like to make known that I have a learning disability and have to edit and re edit my posts, often. I seemed to have left out an entire paragraph about Determinism. ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2026, 3:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-reluctant-defense-of-the-3-time-trump-voter/1028524/8 "2026-03-17T15:33:42Z")
> [@MyFootsZZZ](#): > > I get your claim, but I was vague because I wanted to express that it could be any type of person. My issue is that the great majority of people who the Democrats have been neglecting seem to fall under the categories of “bigots”, “lunatics”, and “fools”. Often all three at once. The “deporables”, as Hillary called them. I doubt the Democrats could have appealed to them, nor should they have, nor would it have been a “win” if they actually succeeded . Turning into your enemy isn’t a victory, it’s them winning _faster._ ---
**Author:** ![MyFootsZZZ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/myfootszzz/32/12580_2.png) [@MyFootsZZZ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MyFootsZZZ)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2026, 3:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-reluctant-defense-of-the-3-time-trump-voter/1028524/9 "2026-03-17T15:36:12Z")
I hear you there. It’s horseshit we are where we are and disappointing…. and a lot of peeps who have privileges I have should listen and stfu more often than not. imho. ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2026, 3:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-reluctant-defense-of-the-3-time-trump-voter/1028524/10 "2026-03-17T15:39:50Z")
The only three-time Trump voter I have any sympathy for is a blue-collar worker stuck in a shrinking industry and desperately hoping that Trump’s empty promises will somehow bring everything back to when their fathers got them their first job at the factory. Even in that group, they should being paying attention to the many Democratic state legislators and Congresspeople who are trying to work for them but getting stymied by MAGA obstructionism. ---
**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:** [March 17, 2026, 3:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-reluctant-defense-of-the-3-time-trump-voter/1028524/11 "2026-03-17T15:42:05Z")
> [@MyFootsZZZ](#): > > Innocent, (if I have to make the distinction) Palestinians. I agree that the Democratic Party at best afraid of - and at worst in thrall to - the pro-Israel lobby (of which AIPAC is the most familiar avatar but not the only form), and as such shied away from expressing overt support for Palestinians at the last election and beyond. But it’s the further-left that this drove away, not “Trump voters” and certainly not “3-time Trump voters”, who are far more likely to be in the “kill them all” camp. This is no defense of recurring Trump voters at all. If anything, it was a tepid attempt by the Democrats to pander to them despite there being no chance in hell of Trump voters being swayed by it, while actual left-wing voters were actively turned off by it. So my thoughts are that this argument is a “swing and a miss”. As for the other folks who seem to have interpreted your post as suggesting that the Democrats should have appealed more to the “deplorables” - again, there’s no chance in hell a significant percentage of that demographic would vote Democratic and certainly not with a non-white woman at the helm. So - again - this isn’t remotely a defense of Trump voters. I could understand the people who voted for him the first time, but anyone still supporting him the third time around either wholly approves of what he is or is completely disconnected from reality. > [@Kent\_Clark](#): > > The only three-time Trump voter I have any sympathy for is a blue-collar worker stuck in a shrinking industry and desperately hoping that Trump’s empty promises will somehow bring everything back to when their fathers got them their first job at the factory. Except that everything Trump did in his first term hurt this cohort, while breaking all his promises to “bring back jobs”. Fool me once etc. ---
**Author:** ![MyFootsZZZ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/myfootszzz/32/12580_2.png) [@MyFootsZZZ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MyFootsZZZ)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2026, 3:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-reluctant-defense-of-the-3-time-trump-voter/1028524/12 "2026-03-17T15:42:57Z")
My Deterministic Paragraph deleted before my meat eating paragraph; > I mean, as far as I can see, things seem ‘determined’ anyway, so it’s difficult to ‘blame’ anyone for anything. Anger makes sense to some degree, ‘frustration’ is inevitable. Not to mention that these people are in a cult. They’ve literally been indicated to be hateful and act in ways people f’n hate. They’re often uneducated and have (in my opinion) a rightful skepticism of institutional power, but DUMB means to address such situations. ---
**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:** [March 17, 2026, 3:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-reluctant-defense-of-the-3-time-trump-voter/1028524/13 "2026-03-17T15:44:13Z")
Yes, this is the “completely disconnected from reality” group I referred to. I may pity them, but I do not absolve them. ---
**Author:** ![MyFootsZZZ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/myfootszzz/32/12580_2.png) [@MyFootsZZZ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MyFootsZZZ)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2026, 3:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-reluctant-defense-of-the-3-time-trump-voter/1028524/14 "2026-03-17T15:47:11Z")
For what it’s worth, I don’t mind excuses to feel pissed, but I’m trying to be as understanding (not excusing) as humanly possible. “I don’t blame people for their mistakes, but I do ask that they pay for them" - sort of thread. (I like that saying, but made a thread about how I found it confusing when used in ‘Jurassic Park’. [Why did John Hammond say this to Dennis Nedry in Jurassic Park?](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-john-hammond-say-this-to-dennis-nedry-in-jurassic-park/1003365) ). ---
**Author:** ![Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/q.q.switcheroo/32/5713_2.png) [@Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.Q.Switcheroo)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2026, 3:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-reluctant-defense-of-the-3-time-trump-voter/1028524/15 "2026-03-17T15:55:34Z")
> [@Gyrate](#): > > > [@MyFootsZZZ](#): > > > > I want this to stay on topic, but I believe that the Democrats, for once, flagrantly and openly disregard a certain type of people, which I believe turned many people away. > > Which “certain type of people”, exactly? Simple farmers. People of the land. The common clay of the new West. ---
**Author:** ![Great\_Antibob](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e47c2d/32.png) [@Great\_Antibob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Great_Antibob)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2026, 3:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-reluctant-defense-of-the-3-time-trump-voter/1028524/16 "2026-03-17T15:57:40Z")
One can empathize with another person without excusing or defending their actions. This thread is about doing the latter by conflating it with the former, and it appears there aren’t many other people who are on board with that. ---
**Author:** ![MyFootsZZZ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/myfootszzz/32/12580_2.png) [@MyFootsZZZ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MyFootsZZZ)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2026, 3:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-reluctant-defense-of-the-3-time-trump-voter/1028524/17 "2026-03-17T15:59:13Z")
Makes sense… I apologize for not being more concise. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2026, 4:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-reluctant-defense-of-the-3-time-trump-voter/1028524/18 "2026-03-17T16:01:30Z")
> [@Dorjan](#): > > There’s no defense for a 3-time Trump voter. How should Democrats regard a person who is either a bigot, misogynist, fanatical evangelist, terminally ignorant, or any/all of the above? I can’t blame someone for being terminally ignorant. That seems to me to be an act of genetics for which they cannot be responsible. Surely they can be made to understand in a manner that is not demeaning or insulting to them. Political satire or more plainly, lies, such as a series of altered photographs of the birthday parade, can do nothing but further alienate the three time voters. ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2026, 4:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-reluctant-defense-of-the-3-time-trump-voter/1028524/19 "2026-03-17T16:03:24Z")
> [@Great\_Antibob](#): > > One can empathize with another person without excusing or defending their actions. I feel no obligation to “empathize” with people who want to hurt me. Or worse. And bending over backwards to appeal to these people is a major reason why the US is in its present disastrous position in the first place. It doesn’t make things _better_ to try to appeal to such people, ever. ---
**Author:** ![MyFootsZZZ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/myfootszzz/32/12580_2.png) [@MyFootsZZZ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MyFootsZZZ)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2026, 4:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-reluctant-defense-of-the-3-time-trump-voter/1028524/20 "2026-03-17T16:05:24Z")
> [@Der\_Trihs](#): > > And bending over backwards to appeal to these people is a major reason why the US is in its present disastrous position in the first place. It doesn’t make things _better_ to try to appeal to such people, ever. You’re right… I suppose I’m trying to objectively (as best as I can) understand, not excuse. I mean Human Psychology. Algorithms. Fear. Religion. The system has to change, seemingly. IMO. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-reluctant-defense-of-the-3-time-trump-voter/1028524.md?page=2)