Question.
Why do you think I haven’t been listening?
I have been listening. I spent the better part of a year on a forum which, while reasonably bipartisan, held a ton of Trump supporters. I had a close friend who ran a skype group I am no longer a part of who supported Trump. My grandmother supports Trump.
I have gone out of my way to interact with people who think Trump was a good choice and try to suss out why. You know what I heard most commonly? Something along the lines of “Clinton is a felon”. Sometimes of the “she murdered 4 people in Benghazi” flavor, sometimes of the “Clinton body count” flavor, sometimes of the “she sold our secrets to China” variety. Occasionally I heard “Trump will make America great again”, followed by crickets when I asked for details. Often, it’s just outright racism. The honest, sad truth is that most of these people were conned.
Have you ever listened to talk radio? Ever spent time listening to Hannity or Limbaugh’s insane bloviations? 13 million fucking people listen to Rush Limbaugh each week. 13. Million. How do you reach someone who hears that disgusting moron talk about how awful it is that everything hinges on consent these days and thinks, “Yeah, that sounds about right”?
These are people whose view of reality has been utterly warped by a steady stream of right-wing propaganda and fearmongering. The fact that it’s “different from my reality” doesn’t make it a fantasy; the fact that it’s a reality in which Donald Trump is a solid pick for President of the United States of America makes it a fantasy. Please stop making excuses.