# What can truly be done about "Trump supporters" **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [October 12, 2016, 1:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-can-truly-be-done-about-trump-supporters/768328 "2016-10-12T13:43:01Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 6
**Author:** ![Ulfreida](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ulfreida/32/8014_2.png) [@Ulfreida](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ulfreida)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2016, 2:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-can-truly-be-done-about-trump-supporters/768328/102 "2016-10-15T14:53:33Z")
> [@Ulfreida](#): > > Okay, so tell me. If you are, or can easily imagine yourself to be, a trump follower, who has been gifted with the ability to argue your case both with calm rationality and respect for others’ dignity, good faith, and points of view, what would you say? What do you want to see happen in the United States? How _exactly_ do you envision making that happen? Hey, anybody? ---
**Author:** ![Merneith](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/57b2e6/32.png) [@Merneith](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Merneith)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2016, 3:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-can-truly-be-done-about-trump-supporters/768328/103 "2016-10-15T15:24:56Z")
> [@bomberswarm2](#): > > All you’re doing is spewing a bunch of far left catchphrases, assuming you’re right and that everyone else is wrong. Did you ever consider that simply you’re wrong? Of course there’s no point in trying to communicate with you because you’ll clearly never change your view, and nobody will be convinced by your far left anti free speech text walls. Please leave the thread, people will do nothing but ignore you. Oh - so you do want the cites for the behavior of Trump supporters. Sure. No problem. 1. Here’s a recent Boston Globe article talks about conservative Trump supporters’ hoping for bloody revolution. [\*\* Trump says the election is rigged — and his supporters are furious \*\*](http://www.bostonglobe.com/news/politics/2016/10/15/donald-trump-warnings-conspiracy-rig-election-are-stoking-anger-among-his-followers/LcCY6e0QOcfH8VdeK9UdsM/story.html?event=event25) > [@](#): > > And if Trump doesn’t win, some are even openly talking about violent rebellion and assassination, as fantastical and unhinged as that may seem. > > “If she’s in office, I hope we can start a coup. She should be in prison or shot. That’s how I feel about it,” Dan Bowman, a 50-year-old contractor, said of Hillary Clinton, the Democratic nominee. “We’re going to have a revolution and take them out of office if that’s what it takes. There’s going to be a lot of bloodshed. But that’s what it’s going to take. … I would do whatever I can for my country.” > > He then placed a Trump mask on his face and posed for pictures. > > \ > Above all, Trump is now using the prospect of his loss to undermine faith in democratic institutions. > “It’s one big fix,’’ Trump said Friday afternoon in Greensboro, N.C. “This whole election is being rigged.’’ Republican Nominee Donald Trump is actively harming America by undermining our democratic tradition. His conservative supporters are also harming America by looking forward to an opportunity to bust their opponents’ heads. 1. Cite for the Trump Supporters planning to bomb the apartment building in Kansas - > [@NYT article about bomb plot](#): > > Three militia members plotted to detonate a bomb at a housing complex in western Kansas where Somali immigrants lived and worshiped, federal investigators said Friday. > > The men, who were arrested Friday morning on domestic terrorism charges, scouted out the apartments in Garden City, Kan., stockpiled guns and composed a manifesto about their anti-Muslim motives, prosecutors said. > > “Their rhetoric and their speech have revealed a hatred for Muslims, Somalis and immigrants,” an F.B.I. agent wrote in affidavit related to the case. > > Eric Jackson, the special agent in charge of the F.B.I’s Kansas City office, said that agents infiltrated the militia months ago, and that the men planned to wait until the presidential campaign was over before carrying out the plot. > > He did not specify which candidate the militia members were supporting. Sometimes, I find the Times’ circumspection amusing. In this case, the murderous conservatives had Facebook pages where they posted right-wing memes, including their support for Donald, the usual nonsense about Hillary taking their guns, and hatred for Muslims. We all know which Republican Presidential Candidate has been talking about banning Muslims for months now. You can view those memes and facebook posts at the [Heavy.com](http://Heavy.com) - [Curtis Allen, Gavin Wright & Patrick Stein: 5 Fast Facts You Need to Know](http://heavy.com/news/2016/10/curtis-allen-gavin-wright-patrick-stein-facebook-kansas-domestic-terrorism-accused-terrorists-donald-trump-ted-cruz-guns-crusaders-somali-immigrants-refugees/) 1. Cite for armed Donald Trump supporters menacing Democractic political office - [\*\* http://www.newsplex.com/content/news/Legally-armed-protester-hangs-outside-Dittmar-campaign-offices-for-hours-397039141.html \*\*](http://www.newsplex.com/content/news/Legally-armed-protester-hangs-outside-Dittmar-campaign-offices-for-hours-397039141.html) [quote=] Parks stood outside the offices for almost 12 hours. Dittmar volunteers say that the protest was disturbing. “If he wants to support his candidate that’s fine, but don’t come here and stare into the office all day,” said Su Wolff, a Fluvanna County resident and Dittmar volunteer. Parks was eventually joined by another protester, and Wolff said that the most troubling part of the protest was that both of them started to expose their firearms. “He turned sideways to be sure that we would see that he has an open carry gun, which is legal, and is fine, but it’s intimidating,” she said. Parks said that his firearm is legal, and that he had no ill intention by carrying it. [/quote] The disingenuousness of all that’s pissing me off here. He’s just casually making threatening gestures - but of course he’s not ill-intentioned! How dare we suggest that he was being threatening when he threatened people with his gun. Whatever, loser. We all see you. We all see that you’re a coward who needs a gun to stand in a parking lot for twelve hours. 1. Next up! Cite for Trump supporters attacking people: [\*\* Trump Supporter Charged After Threatening Black Woman in Albany, NY \*\*](http://www.theroot.com/articles/news/2016/10/trump-supporter-being-charged-after-threatening-black-woman-in-albany-n-y-cops/) Oh, hey - I found an omnibus thread about recent attacks on women by Trump supporters recently. I’ll just quote a few for illustrative purposes. [\*\* There Have Been at Least 9 Violent Attacks on Women by Trump Supporters \*\*](http://nymag.com/thecut/2016/10/violence-committed-against-women-by-trump-supporters.html) > [@nymag article linked just above](#): > > \*\*College Student Followed and Assaulted by Trump Supporter — October 2016 \*\* > Katie Zurbrick, a senior at Portland State University, told KATU that a stranger approached her with a video camera and asked her if she wanted to be on “Trump TV.” After she declined, he reportedly began to shout expletives and sexual slurs at her, only to grab her phone, attempt to destroy it, and shove her out of the way until she screamed and he ran off. > > \*\*69-Year-Old Woman Punched in the Face at a Rally — September 2016 \*\* > At a rally in Asheville, North Carolina, a 69-year-old protester named Shirley Teter who was hooked up to an oxygen tank says she was punched right in the face by a Trump supporter after she told him that he should learn Russian. “He turned around and just cold-cocked me,” she claimed. > > \*\*Muslim Women Attacked by Someone Trying to Rip Their Head Scarves Off — September 2016 \*\* > Two Muslim women pushing their strollers in Bath Beach, Brooklyn, were attacked by Emirjeta Xhelili, a 32-year-old woman who allegedly yelled, “Get the fuck out of here, get the fuck out of America, bitches,” while punching and kicking them. She also tried to rip their head scarves off. Upon investigating her Facebook and Twitter accounts, it was found that she posted messages like, “America is the ark of Noah. Trump’s gonna win.” I’m bored now but I’m point remains: Donald Trump and his supporters are dangerous idiots who are actively behaving in violent, un-American, ways. They are undermining both public decency and America’s electoral foundations. These are the people that we Liberals are being told that we have to approach with delicacy and tact. This is nonsense. If they are to be approached at all, it should be done with bear spray at the ready. But really - how does one reason with Trump supporters who want violent revolution and domestic terrorism? How does one even start a conversation with a conservative who’s still supporting Trump, despite Trump’s unAmerican and frankly appalling behavior? How can a rational person explain to an irrational fool that no, America’s electoral system should not be discarded for violent revolution? It’s a waste of time trying to have a rational discussion with Trump supporters. Supporting Trump is not a rational thing to do. You can’t reason people out of a position that reason didn’t get them into. Sorry I don’t have any actual answers for you, **Ulfreida**. Confidential to \*\*bomberswarm2 \*\* - everyone here can see that you don’t actually understand the concept of free speech. ---
**Author:** ![Wesley\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wesley_clark/32/20581_2.png) [@Wesley\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wesley_Clark)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2016, 3:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-can-truly-be-done-about-trump-supporters/768328/104 "2016-10-15T15:48:38Z")
> [@RenaissanceMan203](#): > > It couldn’t possibly be because the OP and fellow travelers treats everyone who isn’t a bobble-headed cheerleader for “progressive” dogma as complete retards, would it? > > The post is so fucking condescending, which is typical of people who think they know what is best for you. If the “progressives” would withdraw their head out of their asses, the might be able to notice that the ambassadors of “the message” are largely part of the communication breakdown. Who the hell wants to put up with talking to someone that acts like that? Obviously a lot of us here have a political bias, as this is a liberal board. But we aren’t talking about ‘everyone who isn’t a progressive’, because only about 15-20% of the public consider themselves progressives, meaning 85% of the public are not. However right wing authoritarians are a serious threat to democracy and order. And they make up about 1/2 to 1/3 of conservative voters. [ol] [li]They live in a delusional bubble free of facts and information[/li][li]They do not respect the civil, political and human rights of their opposition[/li][li]They react to threats with overpowering responses, which can cause instability (Trump’s asking why we don’t use nukes if we have them, etc)[/li][li]They have little respect for concepts like liberal democracy (free elections for example, or representative government)[/li][/ol] Trump’s campaign is one that is motivated by RWA types. His movement is one of people who think stripping away the rights of muslims, blacks (wanting to give police more power to oppress blacks in the ghetto), latinos, women, etc is acceptable. Who think that when they lose the election is it because the election was fraudulent. At the core, RWA types do not respect modern democratic traditions. Normally they aren’t a major issue, but they can cause issues when they come to power and empower groups like Islamic jihadists, military juntas or fascist movements. They are a serious issue that needs to be discussed. These are people who lack respect for basic democratic tenets like representative government and human rights. Libertarians, who I disagree with politically, do not do these things. Libertarians do not live in a fact free bubble, they do not call for the oppression of their political opposition, they do not lack respect for democratic traditions, etc. ---
**Author:** ![asahi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asahi/32/8693_2.png) [@asahi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/asahi)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2016, 4:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-can-truly-be-done-about-trump-supporters/768328/105 "2016-10-15T16:21:46Z")
The only thing we can do about Trump supporters is to wait and let them discredit themselves to the point where they become so toxic that no person would ever want to be associated with them. However, people are going to get hurt in the process. Other than voting against it, I don’t think there is anything we can do except sit back and watch in horror. What must happen is that those who supported and reached out to these voters must be held accountable and voted out of office. ---
**Author:** ![guizot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guizot/32/3636_2.png) [@guizot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/guizot)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2016, 4:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-can-truly-be-done-about-trump-supporters/768328/106 "2016-10-15T16:45:27Z")
> [@up\_the\_junction](#): > > Trump is meaningless as an individual but what he represents has already won - no one can think the GOP will ever be the same after this debacle. Don’t get your hopes up. The GOP will eventually get back to its usual self. All Trump did was fulfill a personal vendetta for being publicly mocked at the White House Correspondents’ dinner in 2011. (If he’s such an outsider, what was he doing there?) He just took advantage of the political climate. Really, he’s no outsider upsetting the system. In fact, he’s the _ **ultimate bullshitting politician** _ who will say anything to get a vote, with no intention of helping any of his supporters. He pulled off the biggest con job in the country’s history. And now he has a goldmine of a mailing list of dupes to scam–people who will buy any crap whatsoever. ---
**Author:** ![TwiSpark](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/77aa72/32.png) [@TwiSpark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TwiSpark)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2016, 7:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-can-truly-be-done-about-trump-supporters/768328/107 "2016-10-15T19:11:04Z")
> [@Merneith](#): > > I’m not really qualified to have an informed discussion about how things should go down in other countries. I apologize. This is a thread about Trump Supporters. I couldn’t begin to say how other people should deal with their people. That’s fine, you could certainly argue that I’m straying offtopic but in my eyes there are a lot of parallels between Trump’s campaign and what was Brexit’s, which is why I’m throwing my own 2p in from across the pond, and as far as I’ve read the immigration issue is oft mentioned there as well. Neither side is absolutely pure and innocent, I think that’s my main point on everything else. We have a few actual violent racists here yes, but I wouldn’t say everyone on the Brexit side (many of whom were friends and colleagues) were people who want to hurt {in our case generally Polish people and Muslims, even though most of the Muslims originate from outside of the EU, but there’s no accounting for the intelligence of a racist}. Just as I wouldn’t say it’s wise or correct to tar all Trump supporters with the same brush. The Cracked article that is doing the rounds suggests several other motivations that don’t involve being hate-filled raging demons who don’t like Mexicans. ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2016, 12:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-can-truly-be-done-about-trump-supporters/768328/108 "2016-10-16T00:41:36Z")
I’m worried. As someone living in Tennessee, I’m nervous. Some of the locals are becoming rather serious about post-election violence. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2016, 2:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-can-truly-be-done-about-trump-supporters/768328/109 "2016-10-16T02:55:15Z")
> [@Farin](#): > > You say this like Obama and Bush haven’t spent 16 years stretching what the Executive branch can do with little challenge from the Legislative or Judicial branches. Well, not just Obama and Bush - a lot of presidents have pushed those limits. The check is a _strong_ congress, not a petulant one. > [@](#): > > A modern president can (and does!) use the presidency to set all sorts of regulations in the Bureaucracy, which is power explicitly given up by the Legislature, which can and do have an economic impact. If a president were to make a substantive change to these regulations, they could have a significant economic impact on the country. > > As an example, whether you agree with the policies or not, the Clean Power Plan will cause significant economic change. “Cancelling” that set of regulations would change the economics of power production. Well, right now the judiciary is chewing on that one, and if the legislature has abdicated its responsibilities, of _course_ the president will take advantage. The current popular myth among Trump supporters is that he’s a man who can get things done but _won’t_ screw over everybody else. I’m not sure how they can cling to this except though extremely wishful thinking. ---
**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:** [October 16, 2016, 3:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-can-truly-be-done-about-trump-supporters/768328/110 "2016-10-16T03:25:15Z")
> **[Taking Trump voters’ concerns seriously means listening to what they’re...](https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2016/10/15/13286498/donald-trump-voters-race-economic-anxiety)** > > It’s about race, culture, and identity — not economics. Vox: Trump supporters aren’t the ones suffering from economic trends. They’re pretty well off and the thing is, they’re pretty much supporting Trump because they’re racists. > [@](#): > > I can remember literally no one in 2012 dwelling on the importance of taking the concerns of Mitt Romney voters seriously, even though they made up a considerably larger share of the population than Trump supporters. No one talks about taking the interests of Hillary Clinton supporters, a still larger group, seriously. > > But Trump supporters, a smaller group backing a considerably more loathsome agenda, have received an unprecedented outpouring of sympathy, undertaken as a sort of passive-aggressive snipe at unnamed other commentators and politicians perceived to not be taking their concerns seriously. > > … > > A major study from Gallup’s Jonathan Rothwell confirmed this. Trump support was correlated with higher, not lower, income, both among the population as a whole and among white people. Trump supporters were less likely to be unemployed or to have dropped out of the labor force. Areas with more manufacturing, or higher exposure to imports from China, were less likely to think favorably of Trump. > > … > > The message this research sends is very, very clear. There is a segment of the Republican Party that is opposed to racial equality. It has increased in numbers in reaction to the election of a black president. The result was that an anti–racial equality candidate won the Republican nomination. > > Given that the US is one recession away from a Republican winning the presidency, this is a concerning development. ---
**Author:** ![Ulfreida](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ulfreida/32/8014_2.png) [@Ulfreida](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ulfreida)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2016, 4:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-can-truly-be-done-about-trump-supporters/768328/111 "2016-10-16T04:01:41Z")
> [@Acsenray](#): > > [Taking Trump voters’ concerns seriously means listening to what they’re actually saying | Vox](http://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2016/10/15/13286498/donald-trump-voters-race-economic-anxiety) > > Vox: Trump supporters aren’t the ones suffering from economic trends. They’re pretty well off and the thing is, they’re pretty much supporting Trump because they’re racists. According to [this NYT study last March](http://www.nytimes.com/2016/03/13/upshot/the-geography-of-trumpism.html), the highest correlations are 1.lack of a high school diploma 2. self description of race as “American” 3. lives in a trailer park The next two highest are an ‘old economy’ job and having voted for George Wallace. Having a job is a negative correlation. Now, you can drop out of high school for noble reasons but one of the less noble and more common reasons is that you are not intelligent enough to grasp either the concepts or the consequences. I’m going to imagine that well-off Trump voters might be either racists or anti-abortion voters clinging desperately to the slimmest of hopes. ---
**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 16, 2016, 5:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-can-truly-be-done-about-trump-supporters/768328/112 "2016-10-16T05:42:29Z")
> [@Qin\_Shi\_Huangdi](#): > > The postindustrial new economy will be a big dichotomy between highly paying professional positions and low-wage service jobs. The trick is to unionize the jobs in the latter category and (probably through State mechanism) provide them with the sort of benefits and security afforded by midcentury factory jobs. A form of cultural renewal is needed to reduce social atomization, encourage family formation, instill community/national pride, and so forth but that’s more difficult through the mechanism of the State. > > If there was a new Terror or Great Purge in America, it will be directed against the upper middle-class suburbanites of the Wall Street-Washington-Silicon Valley-Hollywood axis whose selfishness and hedonism have destroyed the Republic’s implicit social contract. The sons of Appalachia and Detroit will march side by side in this holy endeavour and will have no need of fancy French geegaws like the guillotine, instead taking advantage of their God-given Second Amendment rights. I like the first quoted paragraph … though any solution is easier said than done. But I clicked reply because of the second paragraph! Nice prose! … but it’s hard for me to conceive what sort of Revolution is likely in America. The French revolt in 1789 occurred when people were starving and suppressed by foreign mercenary soldiers. America’s recent revolt was led by millionaire cattle rustlers who wanted to continue to rob the public. Trumpists are well-off suburbanites subconsciously vexed by their own lifestyle choices. The idea that Trumpists and white Appalachianites will join hands with the ghetto thugs of Detroit strikes me as absurd — racism is a guiding principle of white American rage. ---
**Author:** ![up\_the\_junction](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/f1d935/32.png) [@up\_the\_junction](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/up_the_junction)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2016, 11:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-can-truly-be-done-about-trump-supporters/768328/113 "2016-10-16T11:15:19Z")
> [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](#): > > I’m worried. > As someone living in Tennessee, I’m nervous. > > Some of the locals are becoming rather serious about post-election violence. Lets hope they start getting some proper representation because an awful lot of people would be rather pissed off by now, what with living in a notional democracy an’ all. btw, life expectancy in Tennessee is shit: > **[List of U.S. states and territories by life expectancy](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_U.S._states_by_life_expectancy)** > > This article presents a list of United States states and territories sorted by their life expectancy at birth, sex, race, and in the past. The data in the 2018 column is taken from work funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation for the 50 states and the District of Columbia; from the World Bank for Guam, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands; and from the CIA World Factbook for American Samoa and the Northern Mariana Islands. Data in the 2010 columns comes from Health Data. > Overall, life... ---
**Author:** ![msmith537](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d9b06d/32.png) [@msmith537](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/msmith537)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2016, 12:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-can-truly-be-done-about-trump-supporters/768328/114 "2016-10-16T12:05:45Z")
I know plenty of Trump supporters who aren’t backwoods hillbillies. Although interestingly enough, pretty much all of them are jerks. They were jerks when I knew them in high school and college and they are presumably still jerks now that they support Trump. ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2016, 12:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-can-truly-be-done-about-trump-supporters/768328/115 "2016-10-16T12:40:45Z")
> [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](#): > > I’m worried. > As someone living in Tennessee, I’m nervous. > > Some of the locals are becoming rather serious about post-election violence. > [@up\_the\_junction](#): > > Lets hope they start getting some proper representation because an awful lot of people would be rather pissed off by now, what with living in a notional democracy an’ all. > > btw, life expectancy in Tennessee is shit: > [List of U.S. states and territories by life expectancy - Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_U.S._states_by_life_expectancy) How is that anything more than an irrelevant exercise in smugness? The risk of post election violence is real. ---
**Author:** ![Wesley\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wesley_clark/32/20581_2.png) [@Wesley\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wesley_Clark)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2016, 1:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-can-truly-be-done-about-trump-supporters/768328/116 "2016-10-16T13:31:33Z")
> [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](#): > > I’m worried. > As someone living in Tennessee, I’m nervous. > > Some of the locals are becoming rather serious about post-election violence. Yeah, there is no telling. If the election doesn’t give them the results they want some may become violent. I’m not sure how that will end up, or what acts of violence they will commit. ---
**Author:** ![Merneith](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/57b2e6/32.png) [@Merneith](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Merneith)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2016, 1:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-can-truly-be-done-about-trump-supporters/768328/117 "2016-10-16T13:47:21Z")
> [@TwiSpark](#): > > That’s fine, you could certainly argue that I’m straying offtopic but in my eyes there are a lot of parallels between Trump’s campaign and what was Brexit’s, which is why I’m throwing my own 2p in from across the pond, and as far as I’ve read the immigration issue is oft mentioned there as well. I’m not saying that you’re off topic. I’m saying that, as a Brit, you might not be familiar enough with goes on at Donald Trump rallies. > [@TwiSpark](#): > > Neither side is absolutely pure and innocent, I think that’s my main point on everything else. This “Both sides are equally as bad” false equivalency is part of why Republicans are in this mess. It’s a way of deflecting criticism so that they can avoid admitting talking about their problems. Even if it’s true, that Democrats are also in thrall to a hate-filled rage demon (and it’s not true) - saying that everyone is to blame is not addressing the issue. > [@TwiSpark](#): > > Just as I wouldn’t say it’s wise or correct to tar all Trump supporters with the same brush. > > The Cracked article that is doing the rounds suggests several other motivations that don’t involve being hate-filled raging demons who don’t like Mexicans. Lots of people suggest lots of things. I, otoh, am simply posting the words and deeds of Trump followers. If their own words and deeds reflect poorly on them, well, that’s their own fault. For example - here is an article from the New York Times, last August, with an uncensored sample of what goes on at Trump rallies - [http://www.nytimes.com/2016/08/04/us/politics/donald-trump-supporters.html](http://www.nytimes.com/2016/08/04/us/politics/donald-trump-supporters.html) > [@NYT article](#): > > _“Kill her.”_ > > _“Trump that bitch!”_ > > _“Build a wall — kill them all.”_ > > New York Times reporters have spent over a year covering Donald J. Trump’s rallies, witnessing so many provocations and heated confrontations at them that the cumulative effect can be numbing: A sharp sting that quickly dulls from repetition. > > But what struck us was the frequency with which some Trump supporters use coarse, vitriolic, even violent language — in the epithets they shout and chant, the signs they carry, the T-shirts they wear — a pattern not seen in connection with any other recent political candidate, in any party. > > Not everyone attending a Trump rally behaves this way. In fact, many are polite and well mannered. But while protesters are often shouted down, crowds seldom express disapproval of the crude slogans and angry outbursts by Mr. Trump’s supporters. Indeed, these displays have become inextricably bound with the Trump show itself — as much as the snaking entrance lines and the calls to “build a wall” along the border with Mexico. They highlight the two most important points: 1. This behavior is not normal at any other political rally 2. Even the polite people in the crowd are comfortable with the violent display If the well-behaved Trump supporters want to argue that they shouldn’t be tarred with the brush of the hate-filled, then they need to take some concrete steps to separate themselves. If anything, behavior from the Trump fans has gotten worse in the last few months since it’s become clearer that he’s losing. Trump himself hints at assassination and anti-semitism. Just a few days ago, one of Trump’s supporters at the Republican Convention tweeted calling for pitchforks and torches against our corrupt government - > At this point, the onus is on the Trump supporters and their apologists to provide actual evidence that Trump followers are against the violent rhetoric coming from their candidate and his surrogates. The onus here is to provide evidence that Trump supporters reject violence. Good luck with that. ---
**Author:** ![Ulfreida](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ulfreida/32/8014_2.png) [@Ulfreida](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ulfreida)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2016, 2:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-can-truly-be-done-about-trump-supporters/768328/118 "2016-10-16T14:03:01Z")
What about all the shamefully decaying infrastructure the US has? What would happen if there was a big infusion of government cash into rebuilding bridges, roads, sewers? What if there was a WPA type program providing the able-bodied with respectable non-professional work repairing and upgrading parks, schools, public places? Would that improve our political life? ---
**Author:** ![crucible](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/5f8ce5/32.png) [@crucible](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/crucible)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2016, 2:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-can-truly-be-done-about-trump-supporters/768328/119 "2016-10-16T14:44:43Z")
I"ve been saying, long time, that the extreme polarization of our parties in the US is leading us into armed conflict, again. Suggestions: effective immediately, news organizations should carefully select the coverage of those candidates who call for extreme measures to regain their “America”. The effect of repeated lies and slurs on any given group of the electorate is sure to arouse a significant percentage of well intentioned, but weak-minded people. Limit the propoganda by not having a policy, as a news organization, of featuring the oddball, the extremist, the iconoclast speakers and candidates. Not restricting their freedom of speech, rather, don’t feature it constantly. Second, remember that most Trump supporters think of themselves as hyper-patriotic. They think of themselves as the keepers of the flame of liberty. Opponents of the iconoclastic candidates must refute their claims constantly by holding up their version of patriotism as the finest example, Third, the root of stupidity is lack of education. Schools in many parts of our country, especially those where states tend to be red and Trump is most popular, are underfunded and are influenced overmuch by conservatives who are mired in bullshit beliefs concerning science in particular. If kids aren’t taught to respect our institutions and to look to science to improve our lives, what you see today is what you get. Hamm comes to mind. ---
**Author:** ![up\_the\_junction](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/f1d935/32.png) [@up\_the\_junction](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/up_the_junction)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2016, 7:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-can-truly-be-done-about-trump-supporters/768328/120 "2016-10-16T19:56:22Z")
Right, thank goodness for the balanced, intellectual approach of the GOP’s strongest supporter, Fox News. ---
**Author:** ![TwiSpark](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/77aa72/32.png) [@TwiSpark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TwiSpark)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2016, 8:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-can-truly-be-done-about-trump-supporters/768328/121 "2016-10-16T20:13:13Z")
So, the other side are not violent? [http://www.charlotteobserver.com/news/politics-government/article108627627.html](http://www.charlotteobserver.com/news/politics-government/article108627627.html) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-can-truly-be-done-about-trump-supporters/768328.md?page=5) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-can-truly-be-done-about-trump-supporters/768328.md?page=7)