# What I don’t understand is why people who aren’t members of the privileged classes support Trump and his agenda **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Tags:** trump\ **Created:** [July 17, 2024, 4:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-i-don-t-understand-is-why-people-who-aren-t-members-of-the-privileged-classes-support-trump-and-his-agenda/1004386 "2024-07-17T16:09:24Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 6
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2024, 1:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-i-don-t-understand-is-why-people-who-aren-t-members-of-the-privileged-classes-support-trump-and-his-agenda/1004386/101 "2024-07-23T01:52:35Z")
> **[I am ging to keep posting this everywhere until everyone gets a chance to see...](https://lakithatolbert.medium.com/i-am-ging-to-keep-posting-this-everywhere-until-everyone-gets-a-chance-to-see-it-and-ill-keep-72b9f0d96d8b)** > > Of Sparrows and Curtain Rods f Sparrows and Curtain Rods “_The salient fact of American politics is that there are fifty to seventy million voters each of whom will volunteer to live, with his family, in a cardboard box under an overpass, and cook sparrows on an old curtain rod, if someone would only guarantee that the black, gay, Hispanic, liberal, whatever, in the next box over doesn’t even have a curtain rod, or a sparrow to put on it.”_ ---
**Author:** ![Manlob](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/96bed5/32.png) [@Manlob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Manlob)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2024, 2:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-i-don-t-understand-is-why-people-who-aren-t-members-of-the-privileged-classes-support-trump-and-his-agenda/1004386/102 "2024-07-23T02:42:15Z")
This thread has a bit too many unkind things being said about people who are not members of the privileged classes. ---
**Author:** ![Odesio](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/odesio/32/20003_2.png) [@Odesio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Odesio)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2024, 2:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-i-don-t-understand-is-why-people-who-aren-t-members-of-the-privileged-classes-support-trump-and-his-agenda/1004386/103 "2024-07-23T02:44:35Z")
> [@Velocity](#): > > So then a guy like Trump comes along and he makes them feel heard. Then these people who were desperate for validation (“the gays get heard, the Muslims get heard, the feminists get heard, but nobody was listening to us”) latch onto him desperately with a feeling of great relief. > [@Maya Angelou](#): > > At the end of the day, people won’t remember what you said or did, they will remember how you made them feel. I’ve been thinking more and more about this quote over the Trump years. ---
**Author:** ![Beckdawrek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beckdawrek/32/3647_2.png) [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2024, 2:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-i-don-t-understand-is-why-people-who-aren-t-members-of-the-privileged-classes-support-trump-and-his-agenda/1004386/104 "2024-07-23T02:53:25Z")
I could tell you 100 reasons why the lower classes like Trump. I hear things. It would probably shock you if I said what my own opinion is. So I won’t say. Someone needs to scream loud and clear, where they would absolutely hear it and understand it: “You are the first in line when he starts clearing out the people he doesn’t think are his people!” ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2024, 2:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-i-don-t-understand-is-why-people-who-aren-t-members-of-the-privileged-classes-support-trump-and-his-agenda/1004386/105 "2024-07-23T02:59:36Z")
> [@Beckdawrek](#): > > “You are the first in line when he starts clearing out the people he doesn’t think are his people!” Yep. > **[Martin Niemöller: "First they came for the Socialists..."](https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/martin-niemoeller-first-they-came-for-the-socialists)** > > Learn about the origins and legacy of Pastor Martin Niemöller's famous postwar words, “First they came for the socialists, and I did not speak out…” > First they came for the socialists, and I did not speak out—because I was not a socialist. > Then they came for the trade unionists, and I did not speak out—because I was not a trade unionist. > Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out—because I was not a Jew. > Then they came for me—and there was no one left to speak for me. > —Martin Niemöller If trump wins- the editorial staff at the NYT are in for a rude surprise. And quite a few others. ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2024, 8:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-i-don-t-understand-is-why-people-who-aren-t-members-of-the-privileged-classes-support-trump-and-his-agenda/1004386/106 "2024-07-23T08:42:44Z")
> [@Manlob](#): > > This thread has a bit too many unkind things being said about people who are not members of the privileged classes. Firstly - much of it is based on actual evidence. Like Clinton’s “deplorables” comment, just because it isn’t kind doesn’t mean it’s wrong. Secondly - you should hear what Trump voters say about people who aren’t them. “Unkind” would be a generous description. ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2024, 9:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-i-don-t-understand-is-why-people-who-aren-t-members-of-the-privileged-classes-support-trump-and-his-agenda/1004386/107 "2024-07-23T09:47:42Z")
Except the fact is that these people _have_ been relentless pandered to for longer than we’ve been alive, by Republican and Democrat alike. When they say they “aren’t listened to”, what they _mean_ is that _people other than them_ are allowed to speak their opinions and make decision. What they want is a world where everyone else is either silently submissive to them, or dead. [They want a “Day of the Rope”.](https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/12/books/turner-diaries-white-supremacists.html) ---
**Author:** ![Irishman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/b487fb/32.png) [@Irishman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Irishman)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2024, 2:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-i-don-t-understand-is-why-people-who-aren-t-members-of-the-privileged-classes-support-trump-and-his-agenda/1004386/108 "2024-07-23T14:09:45Z")
Some of it is a perception problem. They start from a privileged situation where only their voices are heard, and there is a Monoculture. Couple that with the typical experience that however things are when a person starts paying attention, that’s what they perceive as normal, and the way things have always been. So along some changes that allow others outside the monoculture to have a voice, and the perception is that suddenly the white opinions don’t matter, that white voices and white needs are being overlooked, that whites have become less important than others. A chance to participate is perceived as “they’re taking over the world!” ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2024, 2:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-i-don-t-understand-is-why-people-who-aren-t-members-of-the-privileged-classes-support-trump-and-his-agenda/1004386/109 "2024-07-23T14:27:09Z")
You can explain to sheep a million times how the mutton and wool industry works but they will remain convinced the shepherd is only selflessly looking out for their best interests. ---
**Author:** ![ratatoskK](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ratatoskk/32/2987_2.png) [@ratatoskK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ratatoskK)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2024, 2:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-i-don-t-understand-is-why-people-who-aren-t-members-of-the-privileged-classes-support-trump-and-his-agenda/1004386/110 "2024-07-23T14:31:49Z")
The rich ruling class want low (or no) taxes and fewer (or no) regulations on their businesses. Trump gives that to them. It’s pretty simple, follow the money. ETA\_ oops! I misread the title. The rich are setting factions of the working class against each other. Propaganda, fear, hatred. ---
**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:** [July 23, 2024, 2:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-i-don-t-understand-is-why-people-who-aren-t-members-of-the-privileged-classes-support-trump-and-his-agenda/1004386/111 "2024-07-23T14:43:09Z")
Looking at the Trump supporters in the lower tiers of my own community, by and large I don’t see the extreme hate angle as something uniform. More of a twisted sense of “fairness” in the sense of yeah, the system is screwing me over, and if it can’t lift ME up then I want it to screw _everyone_ over just as much, and I want _them_ to have to just _shut the f— up_ and eat their shit sandwich just as I have to eat mine. (notice it’s somehow “baked in” that there’s nothing you can do to select a different sandwich for everyone) And of course there’s the misguided zero-sum notion, that if there’s any sort of consideration for any other groups or identities, that means taking away from _ME_ from what little I do have. Like was mentioned before, > [@Irishman](#): > > A chance to participate is perceived as “they’re taking over the world!” Another of the common “hooks” that the ultrapopulists use to grab onto the less privileged is the mythical concept of "Hard Work™ " . As in, the less privileged get flattered by being told _they_ are the _Real, Hard-Working Americans_. Inserted into this, of course, is not just antagonism towards “welfare moochers” _but **also** _ towards _intellectual_ pursuits, a somewhat traditional American contempt for "too much _book_ learnin’ " . Now, the people involved may have noticed that all the Hard Work™ is not getting them much, but they will then be told it’s because we are being forced to _divert the benefits to someone else less deserving_. Trump’s _personality_ traits will not upset this demographic too much, since they are accustomed to dealing with the concept of the Asshole Boss you just have to live with. The actual policies that are being proposed behind his candidacy, well, they comprehend them about as much as _ **he** _ comprehends them. > [@Odesio](#): > > > [@](#): > > > > Maya Angelou: > > > > At the end of the day, people won’t remember what you said or did, they will remember how you made them feel. Quite so. Even near contemporaneously to it, people were not thinking of Reagan in terms of a recession with double-digit unemployment, Iran-Contra, fired Air Controllers, busted budgets, SDF boondoggles, cabinet sleaze factor, etc., they just dwelled on “It’s Morning in America”, “Shining city on a hill”, and “Tear down this wall”. Emotional highs so you can feel it was all for the sake of something loftier, and it’s all that counts. 40 years later the bar has been lowered to just _allowing you to vent primal rage and who t.f. cares about lofty ideals._ That may be the greatest damage of the past decade. ---
**Author:** ![Manlob](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/96bed5/32.png) [@Manlob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Manlob)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2024, 2:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-i-don-t-understand-is-why-people-who-aren-t-members-of-the-privileged-classes-support-trump-and-his-agenda/1004386/112 "2024-07-23T14:50:47Z")
Those who are not privileged might feel that everyone should be treated equally, and vote based on that rather than selfishly voting special treatment for themselves. > [@Gyrate](#): > > Firstly - much of it is based on actual evidence. Like Clinton’s “deplorables” comment, just because it isn’t kind doesn’t mean it’s wrong. > > Secondly - you should hear what Trump voters say about people who aren’t them. “Unkind” would be a generous description. Racist xenophobes are going to gravitate toward a candidate who supports border security. Looters and smash and grabbers will prefer a candidate who is soft on crime. It is bigotry to lump all people who vote the same into the same basket, as if their beliefs match those of everyone who votes the same. Not everyone interprets Trump’s remarks, such as “Dictator for a Day,” the same way. Democrats built their campaign around it and how it means Trump is plotting to end democracy. Trump supporters think it means he will get down to business on Day 1. “Dictator for a Day” is much like “Fine People on Both Sides” was in the 2020 election. ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2024, 2:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-i-don-t-understand-is-why-people-who-aren-t-members-of-the-privileged-classes-support-trump-and-his-agenda/1004386/113 "2024-07-23T14:57:12Z")
> [@Manlob](#): > > Not everyone interprets Trump’s remarks, such as “Dictator for a Day,” the same way. Democrats built their campaign around it and how it means Trump is plotting to end democracy. Trump supporters think it means he will get down to business on Day 1. That would mean a lot more coming from someone who didn’t try to do just that. He said he would do it. He tried to do it. What else is there to prove? ---
**Author:** ![Velocity](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/velocity/32/18006_2.png) [@Velocity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Velocity)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2024, 3:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-i-don-t-understand-is-why-people-who-aren-t-members-of-the-privileged-classes-support-trump-and-his-agenda/1004386/114 "2024-07-23T15:01:46Z")
> [@Der\_Trihs](#): > > Except the fact is that these people _have_ been relentless pandered to for longer than we’ve been alive, by Republican and Democrat alike. When they say they “aren’t listened to”, what they _mean_ is that _people other than them_ are allowed to speak their opinions and make decision. What they want is a world where everyone else is either silently submissive to them, or dead. [They want a “Day of the Rope”.](https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/12/books/turner-diaries-white-supremacists.html) Maybe, but - again, when it’s time to vote, it doesn’t matter whether a perception is accurate or not. All that matters is whether it **exists**. ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2024, 3:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-i-don-t-understand-is-why-people-who-aren-t-members-of-the-privileged-classes-support-trump-and-his-agenda/1004386/115 "2024-07-23T15:06:14Z")
> [@Manlob](#): > > Those who are not privileged might feel that everyone should be treated equally, and vote based on that rather than selfishly voting special treatment for themselves. Then why do they vote for a candidate that openly promises special treatment for themselves? > [@Manlob](#): > > Racist xenophobes are going to gravitate toward a candidate who supports border security. Then why don’t they support Biden, who has been far stronger on border security than Trump ever was? > [@Manlob](#): > > Looters and smash and grabbers will prefer a candidate who is soft on crime Like Trump? > [@Manlob](#): > > It is bigotry to lump all people who vote the same into the same basket, as if their beliefs match those of everyone who votes the same. So when you mentioned people who “selfishly vote special treatment for themselves”, who did you have in mind? > [@Manlob](#): > > Not everyone interprets Trump’s remarks, such as “Dictator for a Day,” the same way. Democrats built their campaign around it and how it means Trump is plotting to end democracy. Maybe it’s because the Republicans have openly stated on multiple occasions that they want to end democracy in America. > **[MAGA Republican Pledges “End of Democracy” to Rabid Cheers at CPAC](https://newrepublic.com/post/179247/jack-posobiec-democracy-cpac-2024)** > > Republicans at CPAC 2024 are openly vowing to take down democracy. > **[The WA GOP put it in writing that they’re not into democracy](https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/politics/the-wa-gop-put-it-in-writing-that-theyre-not-into-democracy/)** > > Some Republicans have been defensive that the party has a strong anti-democratic bent. But the state GOP convention embraced it, writes columnist Danny Westneat. And because they have an [extensive actual plan to do so](https://www.project2025.org/). And because Trump and his circle tried in multiple ways to overturn legal elections in 2020, including use of a violent mob of his followers. Given all that, this interpretation… > [@Manlob](#): > > Trump supporters think it means he will get down to business on Day 1. …is completely unwarranted. Unless by “business” you mean “destroying democracy”. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2024, 7:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-i-don-t-understand-is-why-people-who-aren-t-members-of-the-privileged-classes-support-trump-and-his-agenda/1004386/116 "2024-07-23T19:35:41Z")
> [@Manlob](#): > > This thread has a bit too many unkind things being said about people who are not members of the privileged classes. Where? It has unkind comments about bigots and stupid people who buy the Impossible RW Populist promises. > [@Manlob](#): > > Looters and smash and grabbers will prefer a candidate who is soft on crime. Good thing there are none- well except trump, who is soft on certain kinds of crime committed by his party and himself. And the “Looters and smash and grabbers” voting block is so tiny as to be invisible. But the racist voting block is larger than many of us think. > [@Gyrate](#): > > Then why don’t they support Biden, who has been far stronger on border security than Trump ever was? Exactly. ---
**Author:** ![Beckdawrek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beckdawrek/32/3647_2.png) [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2024, 7:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-i-don-t-understand-is-why-people-who-aren-t-members-of-the-privileged-classes-support-trump-and-his-agenda/1004386/117 "2024-07-23T19:50:12Z")
I certainly hope you hear his words. He’s a convicted criminal. Has probably been a criminal his whole adult life. Stepped on and over anyone he could to feed his ego and fat face. He is all about himself and getting what _He_ wants. He doesn’t care for anyone else. He’s as clear a narcissist as there ever was. Any one is extremely foolish and can only read the big block MAGA on hats and shirts and not real information on the man. Now, after the attempt on his life he has the sympathy of these idiots. He’s a shameful excuse for a human being. And, full of crap. Do Not Believe A Word He Says! ---
**Author:** ![El\_DeLuxo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/el_deluxo/32/9043_2.png) [@El\_DeLuxo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/El_DeLuxo)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2024, 7:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-i-don-t-understand-is-why-people-who-aren-t-members-of-the-privileged-classes-support-trump-and-his-agenda/1004386/118 "2024-07-23T19:56:37Z")
> [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > She got all kinds of shit for saying it, but Hillary Clinton wasn’t wrong in describing half of Trump’s supporters as a “basket of deplorables” (“racist, sexist, homophobic, xenophobic, Islamophobic”). She might not have been incorrect by your lights, but she shouldn’t have said that because she has no right to make that judgment . A wealthy Caucasian woman, of the elites and the upper end of American politics, looking down on “the lower classes” and characterizing them as a basket of deplorables is a dead giveaway of how the speaker herself, and the “upper tier” of American society in general, tend to view poorer Americans… ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2024, 7:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-i-don-t-understand-is-why-people-who-aren-t-members-of-the-privileged-classes-support-trump-and-his-agenda/1004386/119 "2024-07-23T19:56:38Z")
During the Republican convention, they tried to push the idea of “Grandpa Trump”. Maybe I’m wrong, but I don’t see him as having a loving relationship with his grandchildren, or even his children when they were young. ---
**Author:** ![Stratocaster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stratocaster/32/16393_2.png) [@Stratocaster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stratocaster)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2024, 8:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-i-don-t-understand-is-why-people-who-aren-t-members-of-the-privileged-classes-support-trump-and-his-agenda/1004386/120 "2024-07-23T20:00:16Z")
I agree it was foolish politically to say it out loud, but she wasn’t denigrating anyone for their economic status. It was for their hateful beliefs. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-i-don-t-understand-is-why-people-who-aren-t-members-of-the-privileged-classes-support-trump-and-his-agenda/1004386.md?page=5) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-i-don-t-understand-is-why-people-who-aren-t-members-of-the-privileged-classes-support-trump-and-his-agenda/1004386.md?page=7)