Have we done this?
I can’t, for the life of me, understand why someone would want Trump as president.
The man is a dangerous, childish buffoon. My cite? Pretty much everything he’s ever said.
I really don’t like the Clintons, either. But, unfortunately, Hillary is the only adult in the room.
We sorta did it here. Sorta.
I’m not a Trump supporter, but I think many people want Trump to become president for the same reason they want a ship named “Boaty McBoatFace” and a new soft drink named “Hitler Did Nothing Wrong.”
They want to see America squirm when someone or something that is, obviously, unacceptable, is nonetheless, put into power “according to the rules.” They want to see tens of millions of Americans squirm, “But he’s unfit for the presidency!”… “…too bad, according to the Electoral College, he ***is ***president, haha, deal with that!”
It’s spiteful entertainment. It’s as if a high school were to put into place a policy saying that a valedictorian is allowed to talk about any topic at commencement - thinking that he or she will talk about something bland like motivation, success, a thank-you to teachers, etc. - but instead delivers a horrifying pro-Nazi, pro-Hitler, pro-Holocaust speech - and says, "Hey, the ***rules ***say I can talk about whatever I want, so you can’t stop me; it’s in the rules!"
The entertainment factor is undeniable. Say what you want about Trump, but having the Donald as president would most certainly not be…boring. And here in America we have generations raised on reality TV, raised on instant gratification, raised on entertainment. Hillary would bore them to death. They want an interesting, awful candidate over a bland, typical one.
Exactly. That’s why I thought folks were playing with fire enabling The Donald during the primaries. Be careful what you wish for. Even as a joke.
Basically they’re just stupid: stupid because this entertains them, or stupid because they believe his bullshit, or stupid because they’re racially nationalistic. The meme that he represents a class of people who are economically hurting is way overblown.
They’re just stupid–but because it’s politically incorrect to say this about his supporters, you won’t hear it in the press.
Yes, Donald Trump, who has been constantly bitching about political correctness, has actually been milking political correctness to his own benefit.
I have relatives in the upper plains states who tell me, “our Indians are like your n**gers out East”. This is their normal thought.
Otherwise, these are regular people.
It’s just that they don’t recognize their prejudice. And, they’re sure that Hillary is “crooked”, and Trump will fix all their problems. Even if they can’t articulate any of his policies that would do this.
Not surprising, since Trump, himself, seems to not have any policies worked out. Just xenophobia and worse.
Exactly! As of this moment, I have finally gotten tired after months of generously, open-mindedly, benefit-of-the-doubtedly, even sympathetically attributing Trump support to socioeconomic factors. Trump supporters are puerile idiots, period. How ironic that so many of them deride “political correctness,” and supposedly favor take-off-the-gloves, tell-it-like-it-is directness over coddling, permissive empathy, when THEY have benefited enormously from exactly the latter, for too long.
Am I really saying that something like 40% of the adult population of the US are truly morons? I can’t believe it, but yes. Facts are facts. No more mister nice guy.
The kicker for me hearing last night that a poll found that only 30% of Americans think Trump is “fit to be president,” yet around 48% are planning to vote for him.
So, give or take for polling details blah blah blah, that’s 18% right there – millions of people! – about whom we should be amazed they remember to breathe in and out, day after day.
As I see it - and I’m not an American citizen so have no vote - they don’t particularly want Trump because he’s Trump but because he’s a protest vote against The System which has failed them so badly. They see both the Republicans and the Democrats as part of the problem. They particularly see the liberal city elites - and that includes most Dopers - as the problem. People working in their nice shiny offices, people working in Washington, far removed from the ‘real world’. They see idiots wanting ‘safe spaces’. They don’t care if it doesn’t turn out well; as they see it, they have nothing to lose.
It’s like the Brexit vote. The Remainers were so busy decrying the Leavers as racists they never addressed the fact that the Leavers don’t want no immigration but rather control of immigration. Consider also the wild statements about the dire effects of a Leave vote - not actual leaving but just the vote. Not one has come true.
If Trump wins it will be because you liberal American elites are so busy pushing your own agendas you fail to appreciate their issues or even acknowledge that they have issues.
Reminds me of the quote often attributed to Pauline Kael: ~“I don’t know how Nixon won; nobody I know voted for him.”
Which itself is missing context which makes it less silly than it sounds, ironically…
Quartz, Brexit is parallel in many ways – good point. Including, mistaken ideas about what “winning” might actually “accomplish”! In part because it was never part of the Schengen zone, the UK’s leaving the EU won’t have a huge effect on its immigration policy, anyway. (Marginally, regarding distribution of refugees, okay fine). And so on.
I disagree with some of your post, though. Brexit has had (and will have) bad consequences for the UK, but not catastrophic. That’s true.
Trump as president for the next four years? Much closer to catastrophic. Trust me on this.
Feel free to supply the context, as you see it.
Schengen is about immigration inspections, not immigration policy. EU countries, whether in Schengen or not, are required to accept unlimited immigration from other EU countries. (Why people were upset about this, whether it reasonable for them to feel that way, and whether the UK be able to get a good deal without accepting freedom of movement are other issues, of course.)
True. There are two distinct flavors of immigration that many Leave-voters were worried about. For brevity, we can call them “Syrians” and “Poles.” The imagined and real effects of leaving the EU vary; but my larger point was that many Leavers assumed the UK has less control over its own immigration (in policy and in practice) than it actually has.
…which brings us back to the subject of this thread. Similarly, many Trump supporters are apparently unaware that the Obama administration, since it started over seven years ago, has significantly ramped up deportations due to immigration violations, and increased “border security” in other ways. And much more of a “wall” wouldn’t make sense, cost-benefit-wise. And so on.
But, it’ll will be yuge! Like Trump’s hands! And Mexico will pay for it!
Who believes this shit? That’s what I want to know.
Yes. we have done this.
However, there is still room in The BBQ Pit for this thread.
[ /Moderating ]
Yeah. It’s funny, because we want to believe that Trump “protest-against-the-system” voting is a genuine plea by socioeconomically vulnerable less-educated white folks to be taken seriously – but we CAN’T take you seriously BECAUSE you will vote for this buffoon.
How’s this sound, less-educated white guys? I promise to take your concerns seriously. Really. I will do what I can to help you get through these difficult times. Just don’t f#%ing vote for Trump.*
Fair enough on the move.
Oh. Then let me rephrase that: Just don’t fucking vote for Trump.