# 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:** 8
**Author:** ![HurricaneDitka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/96bed5/32.png) [@HurricaneDitka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HurricaneDitka)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2016, 3:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-can-truly-be-done-about-trump-supporters/768328/142 "2016-10-18T03:05:36Z")
> [@Bryan\_Ekers](#): > > I see it as encouraging violence, as I said. I don’t recall Hillary Clinton saying anything remotely comparable to it. My statement was correct, pending someone finding a relevant Clinton quote. I think you missed the point entirely. Just to recap (and hopefully clarify for you): In post #134 I gave two examples of times Trump has encouraged violence: A) a veiled allusion to “Second Amendment people” (which can certainly be argued both ways, but I concede here for the sake of furthering the discussion) B) “the handful of times he told people to handle disruptive protesters at his events” and then I asked “Did I miss something else?” Your response, in #135 started with “Yes.” Presumably, that was in response to my “Did I miss something else?” question in the preceding post. You then go on to cite one of the times that Trump “told people to handle disruptive protesters at his events”. That’s not something ELSE though. That’s just an example B. It’s something I already acknowledged (which I tried to explain to you in post #136). So what are you bringing up Clinton for? I never claimed Clinton said something comparable. I don’t think anyone has. ---
**Author:** ![crucible](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/5f8ce5/32.png) [@crucible](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/crucible)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2016, 3:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-can-truly-be-done-about-trump-supporters/768328/143 "2016-10-18T03:13:24Z")
> [@YogSothoth](#): > > Gerrymander the GOP just as they’ve done. Get these people out of power. Ensure they have little to no representation. Ignore them. Wait for them to die out. > > Education isn’t going to work. They’re too stupid and resistant to new ideas. Unless we can steal their children away or something crazy like that and educate them and ensure their parents’ ideas die out with them, education is fruitless. > > Catering to them won’t change their minds. They’ll just assume their intransigence is working. How many times has Obama tried to work with the GOP only to be met with obstruction? Now McCain’s talking about blocking Clinton’s SCOTUS nominees no matter what? While McCain is probably not among these people, he caters to them and knows what they want. > > How do you work with bigots, racists, and misogynists? If there is a convincing argument, why hasn’t anyone tried it? Getting someone like Trump to insult their friends, neighbors, and women only gets rid of some of them. Many still support him. Their beliefs stem from some deep, personal defect that we can’t fix. yes, generally speaking, you are not going to educate deplorable out of adults. The education boost needed starts in preschool, integrated preschool, and continues throughout 12 grades with an emphasis on logical thinking and a respect for scientific method. College educated people don’t generally become deplorable. We need to increase the percentage of high school graduates from 83% to close to 100%. We then need to provide a clear, inexpensive path to at least a 2 year degree. ---
**Author:** ![HurricaneDitka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/96bed5/32.png) [@HurricaneDitka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HurricaneDitka)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2016, 3:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-can-truly-be-done-about-trump-supporters/768328/144 "2016-10-18T03:36:53Z")
> [@crucible](#): > > College educated people don’t generally become deplorable. And yet, something like 40% of college-educated people support Trump. Are they not deplorable? And do they represent a failure of higher education? ---
**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 18, 2016, 3:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-can-truly-be-done-about-trump-supporters/768328/145 "2016-10-18T03:40:06Z")
> [@HurricaneDitka](#): > > I think you missed the point entirely. Just to recap (and hopefully clarify for you): Allow me to recap for _you_: Me: “There’s violence to be found on both sides, but only one has a candidate encouraging it.” You: “Was there a Democrat campaign headquarters that got firebombed that I missed?” What follows after that is you citing times when Donald Trump was encouraging violence. I’ll cheerfully admit I misread your reply - it looked to me like you were saying he _wasn’t_ encouraging violence, or at least that he wasn’t _really_ encouraging violence. If that wasn’t your point, then I admit I don’t know what your point is. I’m not sure I do even now. > [@](#): > > So what are you bringing up Clinton for? I never claimed Clinton said something comparable. I don’t think anyone has. I brought up Clinton, implicitly, with the initial comment “There’s violence to be found on both sides, but only one has a candidate encouraging it.” i.e. Clinton was the candidate who was _not_ encouraging violence. That was in response to a comment by TwiSpark. Anyway, Trump has encouraged thuggishness, Clinton has not. Trump is now trying to pre-explain his loss by calling the system rigged. I assume pending-president-elect Clinton has no such qualms about democracy in America. ---
**Author:** ![sciurophobic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/cab0a1/32.png) [@sciurophobic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sciurophobic)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2016, 4:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-can-truly-be-done-about-trump-supporters/768328/146 "2016-10-18T16:51:58Z")
We need to move into their neighborhoods until they’re less than 50% of the voting population. Then they can harmlessly rant all they want. ---
**Author:** ![JRDelirious](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jrdelirious/32/9531_2.png) [@JRDelirious](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JRDelirious)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2016, 5:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-can-truly-be-done-about-trump-supporters/768328/147 "2016-10-18T17:11:04Z")
> [@HurricaneDitka](#): > > And yet, something like 40% of college-educated people support Trump. Are they not deplorable? And do they represent a failure of higher education? And HE doesn’t miss a chance to tell us he went to a great school. In the end deplorable is as deplorable does. ---
**Author:** ![skdo23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a5b964/32.png) [@skdo23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/skdo23)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2016, 8:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-can-truly-be-done-about-trump-supporters/768328/148 "2016-10-18T20:13:19Z")
[According to CNN](http://www.cnn.com/2016/10/18/opinions/trump-brand-becoming-boring-sable-johnson/index.html), Trump’s novelty (which is likely what’s responsible for his support among non-deplorables) seems to be wearing off. ---
**Author:** ![Qin\_Shi\_Huangdi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/f04885/32.png) [@Qin\_Shi\_Huangdi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qin_Shi_Huangdi)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2016, 4:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-can-truly-be-done-about-trump-supporters/768328/149 "2016-10-19T04:17:12Z")
> [@HurricaneDitka](#): > > And yet, something like 40% of college-educated people support Trump. Are they not deplorable? And do they represent a failure of higher education? This is a very good point. If Trump support was driven primarily by stupidity we should be expecting high rates of black and Hispanic support, especially among those without college and/or HS degrees, yet it’s obvious that Trump is far more successful college educated whites then with non-college blacks and Hispanics. ---
**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 19, 2016, 5:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-can-truly-be-done-about-trump-supporters/768328/150 "2016-10-19T05:04:54Z")
> [@HurricaneDitka](#): > > And yet, something like 40% of college-educated people support Trump. Are they not deplorable? And do they represent a failure of higher education? A college education doesn’t make you immune from xenophobia, racism, or misogyny–or even stupidity, really. Some things higher education can’t “cure.” ---
**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 19, 2016, 6:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-can-truly-be-done-about-trump-supporters/768328/151 "2016-10-19T06:22:03Z")
Indeed. _Educated_ is the opposite of _ignorant_, not _stupid_. ---
**Author:** ![Sputnikkk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Sputnikkk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sputnikkk)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2016, 7:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-can-truly-be-done-about-trump-supporters/768328/152 "2016-10-19T07:56:29Z")
> [@Ulfreida](#): > > My question is, what can possibly be done with such an intractable, impenetrably destructive and self-destructive group of people? Obviously, a very large group now. You can go to a forum like this [https://disqus.com/home/discussion/channel-politicalrhetoricbusters/why\_should\_we\_vote\_hillary\_if\_we\_have\_no\_pussy/](https://disqus.com/home/discussion/channel-politicalrhetoricbusters/why_should_we_vote_hillary_if_we_have_no_pussy/) which is full of people who read Breitbart to get all their political information, and relay it in Memes. Join the forum AND REACH OUT TO A TRUMPSTER AND TRY TO FLIP THEM. Post well written New Yorker, Washington Post articles, or your own opinions, in hopes they will learn to appreciate good writing and journalism and develop a life long love of reading. ---
**Author:** ![Latro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/a87d85/32.png) [@Latro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Latro)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2016, 8:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-can-truly-be-done-about-trump-supporters/768328/153 "2016-10-19T08:20:08Z")
> [@Sputnikkk](#): > > Post well written New Yorker, Washington Post articles, or your own opinions, in hopes they will learn to appreciate good writing and journalism and develop a life long love of reading. Have you got some examples? ---
**Author:** ![Budget\_Player\_Cadet](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/budget_player_cadet/32/205_2.png) [@Budget\_Player\_Cadet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Budget_Player_Cadet)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2016, 10:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-can-truly-be-done-about-trump-supporters/768328/154 "2016-10-19T10:13:07Z")
> [@Sputnikkk](#): > > You can go to a forum like this [https://disqus.com/home/discussion/channel-politicalrhetoricbusters/why\_should\_we\_vote\_hillary\_if\_we\_have\_no\_pussy/](https://disqus.com/home/discussion/channel-politicalrhetoricbusters/why_should_we_vote_hillary_if_we_have_no_pussy/) which is full of people who read Breitbart to get all their political information, and relay it in Memes. Join the forum AND REACH OUT TO A TRUMPSTER AND TRY TO FLIP THEM. Post well written New Yorker, Washington Post articles, or your own opinions, in hopes they will learn to appreciate good writing and journalism and develop a life long love of reading. And while you’re at it, consider trying to convince the “illiterate” demographic with a sternly-worded letter. ---
**Author:** ![crucible](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/5f8ce5/32.png) [@crucible](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/crucible)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2016, 11:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-can-truly-be-done-about-trump-supporters/768328/155 "2016-10-19T11:06:13Z")
> [@HurricaneDitka](#): > > And yet, something like 40% of college-educated people support Trump. Are they not deplorable? And do they represent a failure of higher education? Being a Trump supporter is not the same as being a ‘deplorable’. College educated people are simply less subject to racial or sexual bias, in general, than the ‘underclass’ of ‘deplorables’ that HRC validly called out as being the type of people who are prone to become supporters of simple solutions, blaming their problems on immigrants, minorities and eggheads. Those college educated Trump supporters don’t go around with shirts “grab me here, Donald”, an arrow pointing to their crotch. They don’t chant “lock her up”, or threaten assassination and other forms of revolution if HRC is elected. Some college educated people certainly remain bigoted and socially conservative, but more than likely, such supporters that Trump has with a college education are making a calculated guess that the country needs a degree of tension to get Washington to get off its collective ass and do something constructive. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2016, 1:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-can-truly-be-done-about-trump-supporters/768328/156 "2016-10-19T13:52:16Z")
> [@crucible](#): > > Being a Trump supporter is not the same as being a ‘deplorable’. College educated people are simply less subject to racial or sexual bias, in general, than the ‘underclass’ of ‘deplorables’ that HRC validly called out as being the type of people who are prone to become supporters of simple solutions, blaming their problems on immigrants, minorities and eggheads. > > Those college educated Trump supporters don’t go around with shirts “grab me here, Donald”, an arrow pointing to their crotch. They don’t chant “lock her up”, or threaten assassination and other forms of revolution if HRC is elected. Some college educated people certainly remain bigoted and socially conservative, but more than likely, such supporters that Trump has with a college education are making a calculated guess that the country needs a degree of tension to get Washington to get off its collective ass and do something constructive. You have a cite for all that, right? ---
**Author:** ![Navy\_draftee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ec9cab/32.png) [@Navy\_draftee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Navy_draftee)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2016, 2:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-can-truly-be-done-about-trump-supporters/768328/157 "2016-10-19T14:10:26Z")
> [@Ulfreida](#): > > This isn’t about the elections. I used ‘Trump supporters’ as a shorthand for the white, male-dominated, anti-education, anti-elite, nativist, anti-science, angry, racist, misogynist heart of what I consider to one of the most intractable problems with the United States. And not only the US, apparently. > > They are not “conservative”, in any useful sense of that word. They are not motivated much by religious or moral ideals, unlike evangelicals. They are not particularly motivated by traditionally conservative fiscal ideas either; although they hate paying taxes it appears that is simply part of their general hatred of government. Which seems to me to be more about “foreign elites” telling them what to do. To them, the world outside of their cohort is foreign, not understandable, and their enemy. > > They are extremely reminiscent of David Fischer’s Borderers – glorifying violence and defiance, suspicious of ‘outsiders’, extreme gender roles, tribal, disliked and despised by all the other American cultures, culturally incapable of making into the middle class by any means other than blue collar or agricultural work. > > My question is, what can possibly be done with such an intractable, impenetrably destructive and self-destructive group of people? Obviously, a very large group now. > > Seriously, I have no clue. Those factory and mining jobs aren’t coming back, much less those sharecropper and plantation overseer jobs. We do not have another Australia so that’s out. > > I don’t mean to create another let’s-bash-the-troglodytes thread. I am hoping for positive suggestions. Don’t worry about "Trump supporters " They are law abiding, tax paying citizens. I am more concerned about the hate group B lack Lives Matter who are neither of those two ( law abiding and tax paying ) ---
**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 19, 2016, 2:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-can-truly-be-done-about-trump-supporters/768328/158 "2016-10-19T14:35:07Z")
> [@Navy\_draftee](#): > > Don’t worry about "Trump supporters " > > They are law abiding, tax paying citizens. > > I am more concerned about the hate group B lack Lives Matter who are neither of those two ( law abiding and tax paying ) Start your own thread, then. ---
**Author:** ![Sterling\_Archer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f1d935/32.png) [@Sterling\_Archer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sterling_Archer)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2016, 3:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-can-truly-be-done-about-trump-supporters/768328/159 "2016-10-19T15:03:34Z")
As long as Trump supporting types are less than 40% of the population, they are helping the country. They are assuring that the Republicans can’t nominate a reasonable candidate to promote their platform: the pro-military, anti-gay, pro-wall-st, anti-poor, anti-any-race-besides-white, anti-any-religion-besides-Christian platform. Trump is exactly the candidate the democrats should want to represent the GOP. He exposes the ugliness of his own supporters. I look at GOP leaders like Paul Ryan and John Kasich, and without a doubt they are better people than Trump. They would make better leaders. But they would also take our country backwards in policy, in my opinion. The rural, Trump loving, education hating, racists are currently the Democrats’ best hope to stay in power. ---
**Author:** ![Sterling\_Archer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f1d935/32.png) [@Sterling\_Archer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sterling_Archer)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2016, 3:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-can-truly-be-done-about-trump-supporters/768328/160 "2016-10-19T15:16:42Z")
> [@Sputnikkk](#): > > You can go to a forum like this [https://disqus.com/home/discussion/channel-politicalrhetoricbusters/why\_should\_we\_vote\_hillary\_if\_we\_have\_no\_pussy/](https://disqus.com/home/discussion/channel-politicalrhetoricbusters/why_should_we_vote_hillary_if_we_have_no_pussy/) which is full of people who read Breitbart to get all their political information, and relay it in Memes. Join the forum AND REACH OUT TO A TRUMPSTER AND TRY TO FLIP THEM. Post well written New Yorker, Washington Post articles, or your own opinions, in hopes they will learn to appreciate good writing and journalism and develop a life long love of reading. That won’t work. Well written articles? You’re talking about people who think a giant wall built on our border is a good idea. You need to speak their language. Memes. Humor. The stuff about Trump wanting to give millions in tax breaks to the rich should be effective, but you need to put it in even simpler terms. What these people respond to is the blame game. Trump has given them targets to blame for their dissatisfaction with their economic struggles: it’s the illegal immigrants, or it’s the Washington elites who let jobs go overseas. The way to respond to this is not to try to defend against this charge with an eloquently worded essay, outlining the 7 reasons Trump is wrong. If democrats truly want to flip these people, they need to play the blame game. Blame the executives who pad their profits by moving jobs overseas. Blame the Republicans for squashing government jobs through shutdowns and stopping infrastructure repair bills. Blame them for preventing new investments in wind and solar power, which could give rural people lots and lots of jobs. ---
**Author:** ![quimper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/7c8e57/32.png) [@quimper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/quimper)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2016, 3:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-can-truly-be-done-about-trump-supporters/768328/161 "2016-10-19T15:52:44Z")
> [@Sterling\_Archer](#): > > As long as Trump supporting types are less than 40% of the population, they are helping the country. They are assuring that the Republicans can’t nominate a reasonable candidate to promote their platform: the pro-military, anti-gay, pro-wall-st, anti-poor, anti-any-race-besides-white, anti-any-religion-besides-Christian platform. Trump is exactly the candidate the democrats should want to represent the GOP. He exposes the ugliness of his own supporters. > > I look at GOP leaders like Paul Ryan and John Kasich, and without a doubt they are better people than Trump. They would make better leaders. But they would also take our country backwards in policy, in my opinion. The rural, Trump loving, education hating, racists are currently the Democrats’ best hope to stay in power. This is pretty much the strategy outlined in one of the wikileaked Podesta emails. The problem is that winning the presidency won’t be enough. Large swathes of the country are slipping towards ungovernability. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-can-truly-be-done-about-trump-supporters/768328.md?page=7) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-can-truly-be-done-about-trump-supporters/768328.md?page=9)