# Straight, Cisgendered, White Male here and I truly don't understand Alt Right and Trump supporters. **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [November 15, 2019, 6:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/straight-cisgendered-white-male-here-and-i-truly-dont-understand-alt-right-and-trump-supporters/843500 "2019-11-15T18:48:00Z")\ **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:** [November 15, 2019, 6:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/straight-cisgendered-white-male-here-and-i-truly-dont-understand-alt-right-and-trump-supporters/843500/1 "2019-11-15T18:48:00Z")
It’s sad that I have to state that I’m a straight white male before I address my confusion; but are these people anarchist? Are they trolling the world at the expense of our reputation and environment and our civility? Sure, some prominent left leaning pundits, and internet personalities have, in my opinion and admitted bias, look silly in arguing for things like avoiding the term “guys” when addressing people in general, for example. But… I know a lot of progressive, LGBTQ+ folks and progressive women that don’t care about that stuff right now. Actually, it’s not so much that it’s even that silly to me. I NEVER say ‘guys’ unless it’s followed up by ‘gals’ afterwards. It’s just bad timing right now. It’s like… Don’t feed the trolls so you don’t find a list of videos saying how stupid it is on your YouTube feed. Overall I’m progressive. I’ve been upper middle class and poor, so maybe that has something to do with it. But even though I’m poor, I understand that I’m still afforded some privileges, and even more so when I was growing up. Actually, maybe I’ve been a prime candidate for the right-wing movement because I’ve had misfortunes and I’m white. But, I still can’t see it their way. I don’t have kids; Why do I care about the environment? I can’t get laid, for Christ sake, but I still believe in consent and women’s issues. Anyway, I just don’t understand anyone who hasn’t jumped off the Trump bandwagon. And I don’t understand why whites are scared of be “replaced”. I’m scared shitless when a cop pulls me over with his gun five inches from my head - I can’t even imagine being black and in that situation. Sadly, it’s not just males, but females as well… Though I think more women have wised up than men. Why don’t these people understand? Is it that they lack empathy? Or is it me? Am I ignorant? ---
**Author:** ![Slash1972](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slash1972/32/6461_2.png) [@Slash1972](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slash1972)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2019, 6:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/straight-cisgendered-white-male-here-and-i-truly-dont-understand-alt-right-and-trump-supporters/843500/2 "2019-11-15T18:59:52Z")
What’s so hard to understand? “I want lower taxes. Check. I want conservative judges. Check. I want a strong economy. Check. Weak liberals are crying on a daily basis. Check. The world opinion of the US is irrelevant, because we can kick everyone’s ass, and everyone needs our economy and military” It’s not that hard. ---
**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:** [November 15, 2019, 7:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/straight-cisgendered-white-male-here-and-i-truly-dont-understand-alt-right-and-trump-supporters/843500/3 "2019-11-15T19:11:36Z")
> [@Slash1972](#): > > What’s so hard to understand? > > “I want lower taxes. Check. I want conservative judges. Check. I want a strong economy. Check. Weak liberals are crying on a daily basis. Check. The world opinion of the US is irrelevant, because we can kick everyone’s ass, and everyone needs our economy and military” > > It’s not that hard. See… I can’t see us enjoying the same music, movies, books, TV show… All because I think people like that as selfish monsters. How in the world can we enjoy anything similar? ---
**Author:** ![Slash1972](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slash1972/32/6461_2.png) [@Slash1972](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slash1972)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2019, 7:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/straight-cisgendered-white-male-here-and-i-truly-dont-understand-alt-right-and-trump-supporters/843500/4 "2019-11-15T19:15:45Z")
> [@MyFootsZZZ](#): > > See… I can’t see us enjoying the same music, movies, books, TV show… All because I think people like that as selfish monsters. > > How in the world can we enjoy anything similar? Sorry, the “I” in that is a Trump supporter. Not myself. I am curious which of those beliefs makes one a “selfish monster” though. ---
**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:** [November 15, 2019, 7:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/straight-cisgendered-white-male-here-and-i-truly-dont-understand-alt-right-and-trump-supporters/843500/5 "2019-11-15T19:22:52Z")
I didn’t mean to imply that you were implying that it was you. ������ When I hear lower taxes I hear not willing to share. When I hear strong economy I think House of Cards. Crying liberals??? I mean…Republicans cried all through Obama’s candidacy. But Obama at least tried to reach across the aisle. I don’t think Democrats should do that. I don’t think Republicans are willing to do that. I care about what people think of us. I think we overspend on military. ---
**Author:** ![Pantastic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3bc359/32.png) [@Pantastic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pantastic)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2019, 7:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/straight-cisgendered-white-male-here-and-i-truly-dont-understand-alt-right-and-trump-supporters/843500/6 "2019-11-15T19:39:44Z")
I’m going to disagree with the ‘civility’ bit - conservatives have consistently been opposed to actual civility, that’s really a dog whistle for something like ‘speak with deference to and of your betters’. Insulting, assaulting, torturing, and killing people who were less of rich, white, christian, straight, males than you were was actively encouraged and not even considered noteworthy. Here’s an example of what traditionalists consider ‘civil’ behavior that had it’s anniversary yesterday [Ruby Bridges | National Women's History Museum](https://www.womenshistory.org/education-resources/biographies/ruby-bridges) : > [@](#): > > Ruby and her mother were escorted by four federal marshals to the school every day that year. She walked past crowds screaming vicious slurs at her. Undeterred, she later said she only became frightened when she saw a woman holding a black baby doll in a coffin. She spent her first day in the principal’s office due to the chaos created as angry white parents pulled their children from school. Ardent segregationists withdrew their children permanently. Barbara Henry, a white Boston native, was the only teacher willing to accept Ruby, and all year, she was a class of one. Ruby ate lunch alone and sometimes played with her teacher at recess, but she never missed a day of school that year. > > While some families supported her bravery—and some northerners sent money to aid her family—others protested throughout the city. The Bridges family suffered for their courage: Abon lost his job, and grocery stores refused to sell to Lucille. Her share-cropping grandparents were evicted from the farm where they had lived for a quarter-century. ---
**Author:** ![QuickSilver](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quicksilver/32/7832_2.png) [@QuickSilver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/QuickSilver)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2019, 7:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/straight-cisgendered-white-male-here-and-i-truly-dont-understand-alt-right-and-trump-supporters/843500/7 "2019-11-15T19:41:38Z")
> [@MyFootsZZZ](#): > > See… I can’t see us enjoying the same music, movies, books, TV show… All because I think people like that as selfish monsters. > > How in the world can we enjoy anything similar? Well, we enjoy breathing the same air. Chances are, you’ve inhaled the same air molecules that have been exhaled by a Trump voter. Sat in the same theater chair. Ordered the same menu item at the same restaurant… …I’m not helping, am I? ---
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2019, 8:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/straight-cisgendered-white-male-here-and-i-truly-dont-understand-alt-right-and-trump-supporters/843500/8 "2019-11-15T20:10:44Z")
When the government is running deficits, tax cuts aren’t really tax cuts. Esp. when distributed so unfairly. Any money the non-super rich have gotten will be paid back with interest later. Plus unless the super rich suddenly realize having a functional government and economy will make them even richer, we’ll be stuck paying for their tax cuts as well. (Of course the truly selfish are those who think they’ll be dead then and their kids will have to pay for it.) There is no such thing as a free lunch. I have no idea why people don’t get this. The US has a remarkably low tax rate. (And things like infrastructure and infant mortality reflect that.) I have no idea why anyone thinks the _faux_ tax cuts of the last 20 years are a good idea. The pure personal “I want it now” greed of so many people is disgusting. ---
**Author:** ![Icarus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/icarus/32/72_2.png) [@Icarus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Icarus)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2019, 11:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/straight-cisgendered-white-male-here-and-i-truly-dont-understand-alt-right-and-trump-supporters/843500/9 "2019-11-15T23:12:07Z")
I am convinced that for a large percentage of them, the actual policies are truly irrelevant. They are not operating out of any recognizable political principles (they may say they are, but they very readily went in the opposite direction of many traditional principles once their leader told them to.) The number one most potent motivator is to feel they are better than someone else, and most disturbingly that that someone else is harmed - even if they themselves are harmed in the process. Kinda sick, honestly. ---
**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:** [November 15, 2019, 11:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/straight-cisgendered-white-male-here-and-i-truly-dont-understand-alt-right-and-trump-supporters/843500/10 "2019-11-15T23:29:26Z")
> [@Icarus](#): > > I am convinced that for a large percentage of them, the actual policies are truly irrelevant. They are not operating out of any recognizable political principles (they may say they are, but they very readily went in the opposite direction of many traditional principles once their leader told them to.) The number one most potent motivator is to feel they are better than someone else, and most disturbingly that that someone else is harmed - even if they themselves are harmed in the process. Kinda sick, honestly. This is what I’m saying. ---
**Author:** ![ASL\_v2.0](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asl_v2.0/32/3525_2.png) [@ASL\_v2.0](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ASL_v2.0)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2019, 11:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/straight-cisgendered-white-male-here-and-i-truly-dont-understand-alt-right-and-trump-supporters/843500/11 "2019-11-15T23:37:58Z")
> [@MyFootsZZZ](#): > > … > When I hear lower taxes I hear not willing to share. > … When I hear “not willing to share” I hear “feels that they have a right to keep what they’ve earned.” When I hear someone who isn’t in grade school criticize a grown ask (sp) adult for being “not willing to share,” I think that the criticizer needs to grow up and get their own stuff by working harder if need be. BUT. When I hear “lower taxes” I don’t hear what you hear. I hear “doesn’t understand how expensive essential services like education and the maintenance of public infrastructure are, and/or doesn’t realize just how many of the nice things they have are thanks in large part to those publicly funded roads and schools and police and so on, that all of these things either promote industry or underpin it, and that things could be even better if we had a more comprehensive social safety net with things like universal healthcare and the like.” Which is why I’m a liberal at heart, but not a bleeding heart. ---
**Author:** ![Dallas\_Jones](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dallas_jones/32/3277_2.png) [@Dallas\_Jones](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dallas_Jones)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2019, 11:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/straight-cisgendered-white-male-here-and-i-truly-dont-understand-alt-right-and-trump-supporters/843500/12 "2019-11-15T23:47:12Z")
> [@Slash1972](#): > > What’s so hard to understand? > > “I want lower taxes. Check. I want conservative judges. Check. I want a strong economy. Check. Weak liberals are crying on a daily basis. Check. The world opinion of the US is irrelevant, because we can kick everyone’s ass, and everyone needs our economy and military” > > It’s not that hard. Truer words have not yet been written. ---
**Author:** ![Procrustus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/procrustus/32/2994_2.png) [@Procrustus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Procrustus)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2019, 12:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/straight-cisgendered-white-male-here-and-i-truly-dont-understand-alt-right-and-trump-supporters/843500/13 "2019-11-16T00:07:37Z")
> [@Slash1972](#): > > What’s so hard to understand? > > “I want lower taxes. Check. I want conservative judges. Check. I want a strong economy. Check. Weak liberals are crying on a daily basis. Check. The world opinion of the US is irrelevant, because we can kick everyone’s ass, and everyone needs our economy and military” > > It’s not that hard. Other than the part about making liberals cry, I still don’t get how wanting those things makes it worth supporting such a complete ass. If Trump put good people on the bench, implemented a rational environmental policy and successfully fought terrorism, I still wouldn’t support him. Some things are more important than getting your policies enacted. Decency and competence, for example. So, it comes back to liberal tears. ---
**Author:** ![ZurBob](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/71e660/32.png) [@ZurBob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZurBob)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2019, 12:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/straight-cisgendered-white-male-here-and-i-truly-dont-understand-alt-right-and-trump-supporters/843500/14 "2019-11-16T00:13:24Z")
> [@Slash1972](#): > > What’s so hard to understand? > > "I want lower taxes. Check. I want conservative judges. Check. I want a strong economy. Check. Weak liberals are crying on a daily basis. Check. **The world opinion of the US is irrelevant, because we can kick everyone’s ass, and everyone needs our economy and military"** > > It’s not that hard. > [@Dallas\_Jones](#): > > Truer words have not yet been written. Bolding/underlining mine. I recall such sentiment from historical readings circa 1930-1940. ---
**Author:** ![Pantastic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3bc359/32.png) [@Pantastic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pantastic)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2019, 12:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/straight-cisgendered-white-male-here-and-i-truly-dont-understand-alt-right-and-trump-supporters/843500/15 "2019-11-16T00:15:51Z")
> [@ASL\_v2.0](#): > > When I hear “not willing to share” I hear “feels that they have a right to keep what they’ve earned.” When I hear someone who isn’t in grade school criticize a grown ask (sp) adult for being “not willing to share,” I think that the criticizer needs to grow up and get their own stuff by working harder if need be. But Billionaires don’t earn their billions, at all. They use inherited money, lobbyists, financial chicanery, and other people’s labor to make their money, it’s not like they actually did a billion dollars worth of useful things. To put the ‘work harder’ nonsense into perspective, if you worked hard and got a job making $200,000 per year, it would take you 5000 years to earn a billion dollars. It’s clear that’s got nothing to do with actual hard work, and everything to do with exploiting systems and people to concentrate absurd amounts of wealth. The real-world meaning of your beliefs is that diabetics should continue to die because they’re not ‘working harder’ to keep up with the entirely profit-driven massively increasing costs of insulin. Apparently to people who think like you, it’s more important that some rich asshole living off inherited money get his fourth yacht than that some kid barely out of high school working multiple jobs have any real chance to survive an easily treated illness : [The price of insulin is killing Americans - Focus](https://www.france24.com/en/20190402-focus-united-states-price-insulin-killing-americans-diabetics-us-health-medicine-pharma) ---
**Author:** ![kanicbird](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/5f8ce5/32.png) [@kanicbird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kanicbird)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2019, 12:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/straight-cisgendered-white-male-here-and-i-truly-dont-understand-alt-right-and-trump-supporters/843500/16 "2019-11-16T00:18:20Z")
> [@Slash1972](#): > > What’s so hard to understand? > > “I want lower taxes. Check. I want conservative judges. Check. I want a strong economy. Check. Weak liberals are crying on a daily basis. Check. The world opinion of the US is irrelevant, because we can kick everyone’s ass, and everyone needs our economy and military” > > It’s not that hard. It’s that last one that I think defines Trump’s supporters. It’s that last one, that defines Trump supporters. they like to see ‘liberals are crying on a daily basis’, and will to play a game of chicken with the US and the world to get their thrills. They assume that the US will rebound from Trump’s destruction of human rights and they will make out just fine, and they love to see liberals cry over the suffering Trump has caused. But it is a game of chicken, if they hold on too long we have another Hitler and we will have to be rescued just like the good people of Germany needed, and for some it took about 50 years for them to gain their freedom back. ---
**Author:** ![ASL\_v2.0](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asl_v2.0/32/3525_2.png) [@ASL\_v2.0](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ASL_v2.0)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2019, 12:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/straight-cisgendered-white-male-here-and-i-truly-dont-understand-alt-right-and-trump-supporters/843500/17 "2019-11-16T00:27:20Z")
> [@Pantastic](#): > > But Billionaires don’t earn their billions, at all. They use inherited money, lobbyists, financial chicanery, and other people’s labor to make their money, it’s not like they actually did a billion dollars worth of useful things. To put the ‘work harder’ nonsense into perspective, if you worked hard and got a job making $200,000 per year, it would take you 5000 years to earn a billion dollars. It’s clear that’s got nothing to do with actual hard work, and everything to do with exploiting systems and people to concentrate absurd amounts of wealth. > > The real-world meaning of your beliefs is that diabetics should continue to die because they’re not ‘working harder’ to keep up with the entirely profit-driven massively increasing costs of insulin. Apparently to people who think like you, it’s more important that some rich asshole living off inherited money get his fourth yacht than that some kid barely out of high school working multiple jobs have any real chance to survive an easily treated illness : [The price of insulin is killing Americans - Focus](https://www.france24.com/en/20190402-focus-united-states-price-insulin-killing-americans-diabetics-us-health-medicine-pharma) Why did you only quote, and respond to, the first half of my post? ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2019, 12:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/straight-cisgendered-white-male-here-and-i-truly-dont-understand-alt-right-and-trump-supporters/843500/18 "2019-11-16T00:33:26Z")
Republicans want to hurt Democrats, and don’t care that doing so means hurting everyone. Democrats want to help everyone, and don’t care that doing so means helping Republicans. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2019, 12:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/straight-cisgendered-white-male-here-and-i-truly-dont-understand-alt-right-and-trump-supporters/843500/19 "2019-11-16T00:37:59Z")
This has nothing to do with policies, especially fiscal and taxation policies. They have no idea what policies are being pursued and whom they benefit. They have no idea what a qualified judiciary is or who is being appointed and why. The right’s support is purely based on identity politics and aggressive posturing. ---
**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:** [November 16, 2019, 12:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/straight-cisgendered-white-male-here-and-i-truly-dont-understand-alt-right-and-trump-supporters/843500/20 "2019-11-16T00:39:16Z")
> [@ASL\_v2.0](#): > > When I hear “not willing to share” I hear “feels that they have a right to keep what they’ve earned.” When I hear someone who isn’t in grade school criticize a grown ask (sp) adult for being “not willing to share,” I think that the criticizer needs to grow up and get their own stuff by working harder if need be. > > BUT. > > When I hear “lower taxes” I don’t hear what you hear. I hear “doesn’t understand how expensive essential services like education and the maintenance of public infrastructure are, and/or doesn’t realize just how many of the nice things they have are thanks in large part to those publicly funded roads and schools and police and so on, that all of these things either promote industry or underpin it, and that things could be even better if we had a more comprehensive social safety net with things like universal healthcare and the like.” > > Which is why I’m a liberal at heart, but not a bleeding heart. I agree… When I said that, I meant the very rich. But my heart may be ‘bleeding’ just a little. It’s not a gusher. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/straight-cisgendered-white-male-here-and-i-truly-dont-understand-alt-right-and-trump-supporters/843500.md?page=2)