# What would make Trumps base supporters turn on him? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [May 28, 2018, 1:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-make-trumps-base-supporters-turn-on-him/814963 "2018-05-28T13:19:33Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 9
**Author:** ![Ukulele\_Ike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/df788c/32.png) [@Ukulele\_Ike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ukulele_Ike)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2019, 3:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-make-trumps-base-supporters-turn-on-him/814963/161 "2019-05-22T03:04:00Z")
Just check out the comments on the Fox News and Breitbart sites. At least 30% of the people who post there would chop off their own dicks if it would make “librul heads essplode.” ---
**Author:** ![FoieGrasIsEvil](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foiegrasisevil/32/16638_2.png) [@FoieGrasIsEvil](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FoieGrasIsEvil)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2019, 4:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-make-trumps-base-supporters-turn-on-him/814963/162 "2019-05-22T04:45:22Z")
RE: the OP’s question Nothing. The basest of his base are firmly ensconced, and empowered to spew bigoted rhetoric at every turn because he “says what needs to be said/what we’re thinking!” I must humbly defer to this simple one panel cartoon: [https://www.google.com/search?q=i+am+going+to+eat+you+cartoon&rlz=1C1CHBF\_enUS815US815&tbm=isch&source=iu&ictx=1&fir=V67rW8vz9zeBMM%253A%252CkZmK53dn3eyw9M%252C\_&vet=1&usg=AI4\_-kTlJ-4gqaFQ3l4LWytyd24ObcJJew&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjSl7qDqq7iAhWBrFkKHe30BFMQ9QEwAnoECAcQCA#imgrc=V67rW8vz9zeBMM:](https://www.google.com/search?q=i+am+going+to+eat+you+cartoon&rlz=1C1CHBF_enUS815US815&tbm=isch&source=iu&ictx=1&fir=V67rW8vz9zeBMM%253A%252CkZmK53dn3eyw9M%252C_&vet=1&usg=AI4_-kTlJ-4gqaFQ3l4LWytyd24ObcJJew&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjSl7qDqq7iAhWBrFkKHe30BFMQ9QEwAnoECAcQCA#imgrc=V67rW8vz9zeBMM:) ---
**Author:** ![Asuka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dec6dc/32.png) [@Asuka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Asuka)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2019, 5:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-make-trumps-base-supporters-turn-on-him/814963/163 "2019-05-22T05:30:05Z")
You know, I don’t understand people who are surprised Trump’s base will never turn on him. We already seen with George W Bush and Obama that they could do anything and their base wouldn’t really budge. Obama basically sat at an 85% approval rating among Democrats (plus or minus 5 points) for his entire Presidency despite all the major things he did that wound up pissing off people on the left (The NSA stuff was the closest I’ve seen people here almost break from him but they quickly forgave him for it). People in this topic already brought up what would have turned them against Obama at the time but those really seem like post-rationalizations since at the time people here were already making excuses for everything he was doing. If he totally shit the bed and somehow got us into yet another major war I highly doubt most of the people here would have turned on him. We already had a lot of public people from Day 1 of his Presidency who claimed they would never turn on Obama no matter what he did, which is basically what Trump’s base said once he got elected as well. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2019, 5:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-make-trumps-base-supporters-turn-on-him/814963/164 "2019-05-22T05:41:36Z")
> [@Asuka](#): > > We already had a lot of public people from Day 1 of his Presidency who claimed they would never turn on Obama no matter what he did… Like who? ---
**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:** [May 22, 2019, 6:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-make-trumps-base-supporters-turn-on-him/814963/165 "2019-05-22T06:45:27Z")
> [@Asuka](#): > > You know, I don’t understand people who are surprised Trump’s base will never turn on him. We already seen with George W Bush and Obama that they could do anything and their base wouldn’t really budge. Obama basically sat at an 85% approval rating among Democrats (plus or minus 5 points) for his entire Presidency despite all the major things he did that wound up pissing off people on the left (The NSA stuff was the closest I’ve seen people here almost break from him but they quickly forgave him for it). People in this topic already brought up what would have turned them against Obama at the time but those really seem like post-rationalizations since at the time people here were already making excuses for everything he was doing. If he totally shit the bed and somehow got us into yet another major war I highly doubt most of the people here would have turned on him. We already had a lot of public people from Day 1 of his Presidency who claimed they would never turn on Obama no matter what he did, which is basically what Trump’s base said once he got elected as well. If Obama had been a bullshit spewing, pathologically lying, solely self-serving, mentally lazy, and contemptibly vile, two-bit fraud, you might have a point. In such a case, I would have joined the Republicans in calling for impeachment. But that wasn’t the case, so this false equivalency doesn’t fly. This isn’t about policy—or rather, the policy is secondary here. ---
**Author:** ![FoieGrasIsEvil](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foiegrasisevil/32/16638_2.png) [@FoieGrasIsEvil](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FoieGrasIsEvil)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2019, 7:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-make-trumps-base-supporters-turn-on-him/814963/166 "2019-05-22T07:00:33Z")
> [@guizot](#): > > If Obama had been a bullshit spewing, pathologically lying, solely self-serving, mentally lazy, and contemptibly vile, two-bit fraud, you might have a point. In such a case, I would have joined the Republicans in calling for impeachment. This is a good post… ---
**Author:** ![Spoons](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spoons/32/3141_2.png) [@Spoons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoons)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2019, 7:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-make-trumps-base-supporters-turn-on-him/814963/167 "2019-05-22T07:14:04Z")
I think that Mr. Trump will always have a core base for whom he can do no wrong. If he shot somebody on 5th Avenue in New York, then his base will say that that person obviously needed shooting. If traditional, long-term, trade partners have tariffs applied against them by Mr. Trump, then obviously they’ve been taking advantage of the US for years, and need to be taught a lesson. If refugees are applying for perfectly legal asylum to the US under international treaties to which the US is a signatory, then they are illegals who only want to vote (illegally, of course) Democrat. That’s Mr. Trump’s base. I see this in another board I follow, but rarely post to; and when I do, it’s mostly to correct the incorrect assumptions that “Canadians are subjects of the Queen” and “Canadians are socialists who have no freedom.” I stay out of the discussions where “Trump is putting the lib’ruls in their place,” and “Kavanaugh will teach those Dim-o-crats a lesson,” and “Massive Trump rally attended by thousands in Pennsylvania while Biden only got a couple of dozen at his rally.” Trump supporters live in a bubble, surrounded by other Trump supporters, none of whom ever engage outside that bubble, so they are not exposed to other points of view, it seems to me. Nobody can convince these people that Mr. Trump is nothing less than the second coming of Christ. So–don’t bother trying to convince them. Instead, work on the waffling, on-the-edge Republicans, who could hold their nose and vote Democrat to stop Mr. Trump from destroying their party; the Independents, who could vote Democrat; and the mainstream Democrats; all of whom combined, could defeat Mr. Trump in 2020. ---
**Author:** ![Dereknocue67](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/6de8d8/32.png) [@Dereknocue67](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dereknocue67)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2019, 7:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-make-trumps-base-supporters-turn-on-him/814963/168 "2019-05-22T07:53:11Z")
I would think that if whatever God his supporters believe in were to appear and smite him during one of his rallies, that might cause several to at least raise an eyebrow. A few minutes would pass until they resumed chanting, “Lock her up!” ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2019, 10:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-make-trumps-base-supporters-turn-on-him/814963/169 "2019-05-22T10:29:09Z")
> [@guizot](#): > > If Obama had been a bullshit spewing, pathologically lying, solely self-serving, mentally lazy, and contemptibly vile, two-bit fraud, you might have a point. In such a case, I would have joined the Republicans in calling for impeachment. > > But that wasn’t the case, so this false equivalency doesn’t fly. This isn’t about policy—or rather, the policy is secondary here. I’m not sure that it is. Take the very hypothetical that just now bumped this thread for fresh discussion: say we get evidence that Trump — who, near as I can tell, has been changing the judicial landscape on abortion — paid for several abortions. What does that _mean,_ if you’re against abortion and voted for him instead of Hillary Clinton? I don’t think you say, _“oh, gosh, I voted for the wrong one; after all, abortion is so big a deal to me that I’d rather she was nominating judges!”_ Because, well, as a mere policy question that’d make no sense; you either recoil from what he’s done and vote for one set of sweeping legal ramifications, or you shrug at what he’s done while you vote for the _other_ set of sweeping legal ramifications — and, to the extent that we’re talking about policy in terms of Sweeping Legal Ramifications, you say something about how policy isn’t secondary here as you vote accordingly, right? And, likewise: say the 2020 debates pit Trump against a Democrat who (a) neither personally got, nor paid for, any abortions; and who (b) declares, loudly and often and honestly, that they’ll apply a Roe litmus test on judges while making a big deal about keeping abortion legal and well-funded and thus and such. If abortion is your priority, do you scorn Trump’s personal history to vote for that Democrat? Or do you shrug at Trump’s personal history and say, _“I think he’ll be better on abortion policy, so why switch to supporting someone I think will be worse on abortion policy? Aren’t the big-picture ramifications more important, rather than being secondary?”_ ---
**Author:** ![Tired\_and\_Cranky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/a87d85/32.png) [@Tired\_and\_Cranky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tired_and_Cranky)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2019, 12:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-make-trumps-base-supporters-turn-on-him/814963/170 "2019-05-22T12:08:59Z")
Answering the OP: Trump’s base would abandon him if he were to rescind income tax exemptions for churches, raise capital gains and estate taxes to fund reparations for descendants of former slaves while simultaneously announcing amnesty for any undocumented immigrants who present themselves to ICE during the remainder of his term. He wouldn’t even have to touch gun control. ---
**Author:** ![BwanaBob](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bwanabob/32/2985_2.png) [@BwanaBob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BwanaBob)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2019, 12:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-make-trumps-base-supporters-turn-on-him/814963/171 "2019-05-22T12:25:04Z")
There’s nothing worse or more dangerous than a simple/foolish person who thinks he knows something. The answer to the OP is “nothing”. ---
**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:** [May 22, 2019, 7:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-make-trumps-base-supporters-turn-on-him/814963/172 "2019-05-22T19:36:57Z")
> [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](#): > > . . . you either recoil from what he’s done and vote for one set of sweeping legal ramifications, or you shrug at what he’s done while you vote for the _other_ set of sweeping legal ramifications — and, to the extent that we’re talking about policy in terms of Sweeping Legal Ramifications, you say something about how policy isn’t secondary here as you vote accordingly, right? No. You just support another candidate. (Anti-abortion candidates are a dime a dozen.) ---
**Author:** ![Buck\_Godot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/buck_godot/32/6573_2.png) [@Buck\_Godot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Buck_Godot)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2019, 8:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-make-trumps-base-supporters-turn-on-him/814963/173 "2019-05-22T20:18:28Z")
> [@ThelmaLou](#): > > Something I read today made me want to ask this question, so I hunted down this old thread to ask it: > > Would thump’s evangelical supporters turn on him/dump him if positive proof came to light that he had paid for several abortions for his various lady friends? > > By “positive proof” I don’t mean articles in WaPo or the New York Times (i.e. fake news), but video testimony from doctors, nurses, the women themselves, invoices, canceled checks, credit card receipts, etc. Yes, people would question the validity of the evidence, but for the sake of argument, let’s say that the evidence is watertight and the evangelicals actually DO believe it. > > My question is, would that certain knowledge of his paying for abortions, cause them to turn against him, or would they make excuses, consider him excused from their beliefs, say stuff (again) like “God uses evil men to accomplish His own ends,” etc.? > > Would this be a case of “shooting someone on 5th Ave” and it would be okay with them? Most likely Trump will simply deny the whole thing and assume that his flock will believe him over the lying media, but even if somehow he was forced to acknowledge this I doubt that it would change anything in a significant way. It is already public knowledge for those who care to see it that prior to 2016 Trump was pro-choice. It is also clear for those who care to see it that Trump is a walking disaster area as for as matching the Christian ethical ideal. But the christian right has come to accept this, with claims that he is[king Cyrus](https://www.vox.com/identities/2018/3/5/16796892/trump-cyrus-christian-right-bible-cbn-evangelical-propaganda). At worst all he would have to do was say that these actions were in the past but now he’s seen the light as evidenced by his Supreme Court picks. ---
**Author:** ![Horatius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/horatius/32/3572_2.png) [@Horatius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatius)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2019, 10:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-make-trumps-base-supporters-turn-on-him/814963/174 "2019-05-22T22:00:38Z")
> [@Buck\_Godot](#): > > Most likely Trump will simply deny the whole thing and assume that his flock will believe him over the lying media, but even if somehow he was forced to acknowledge this I doubt that it would change anything in a significant way. Even if they believed it, they’d still support him. After all, we already have examples of religious and/or conservative leaders who were caught red-handed engaging in activities they publicly denounced as immoral, who were completely forgiven by their supporters. Hell, they even have a catch phrase for it: [“Christians aren’t perfect, just forgiven”](https://www.google.com/search?q=%22Christians+aren%27t+perfect,+just+forgiven%22&tbm=isch&source=univ&client=firefox-b-d&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjl5JupkbDiAhUtw1kKHdFQDh8QsAR6BAgHEAE&biw=1344&bih=783&dpr=1.2). This is already built in to their system. ---
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2019, 12:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-make-trumps-base-supporters-turn-on-him/814963/175 "2019-05-23T00:32:18Z")
> [@Horatius](#): > > Hell, they even have a catch phrase for it: [“Christians aren’t perfect, just forgiven”](https://www.google.com/search?q=%22Christians+aren%27t+perfect,+just+forgiven%22&tbm=isch&source=univ&client=firefox-b-d&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjl5JupkbDiAhUtw1kKHdFQDh8QsAR6BAgHEAE&biw=1344&bih=783&dpr=1.2). This is already built in to their system. Except Christian’s must ask for forgiveness, [something Trump admits he has never done](https://www.cnn.com/2015/07/18/politics/trump-has-never-sought-forgiveness/index.html). ---
**Author:** ![QuickSilver](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quicksilver/32/7832_2.png) [@QuickSilver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/QuickSilver)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2019, 12:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-make-trumps-base-supporters-turn-on-him/814963/176 "2019-05-23T00:44:22Z")
> [@ThelmaLou](#): > > They don’t have a watercooler here; it’s a kool-aid dispenser. > > \*\*Tariffs Trim a Factory’s Profit, but Loyalty to Trump Endures \*\* > [https://nyti.ms/2OcGMFM](https://nyti.ms/2OcGMFM) > _\_ But don’t we dare call them stupid. ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2019, 4:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-make-trumps-base-supporters-turn-on-him/814963/177 "2019-05-23T04:57:48Z")
> [@Ukulele\_Ike](#): > > Just check out the comments on the Fox News and Breitbart sites. At least 30% of the people who post there would chop off their own dicks if it would make “librul heads essplode.” Dear Fox and Breitbart fans: I hereby promise to make my head essplode if you chop off your dicks. ---
**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:** [May 23, 2019, 5:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-make-trumps-base-supporters-turn-on-him/814963/178 "2019-05-23T05:56:56Z")
> [@ThelmaLou](#): > > Something I read today made me want to ask this question, so I hunted down this old thread to ask it: > > Would thump’s evangelical supporters turn on him/dump him if positive proof came to light that he had paid for several abortions for his various lady friends? They wouldn’t care. The only purpose of the so-called anti-abortion movement is abusing women, and he has plenty of _other_ ways to abuse those women. At most they’ll just assume he increased the frequency of their rapes & beatings to compensate. Such people are always quite willing to coerce women they consider their property into abortions when a pregnancy is inconvenient to them. Principle has nothing to do with anything they do, only selfishness and malice. > [@Asuka](#): > > We already had a lot of public people from Day 1 of his Presidency who claimed they would never turn on Obama no matter what he did, which is basically what Trump’s base said once he got elected as well. That’s not true at all; plenty of people turned on him literally on Day One, when he had a homophobic preacher administer his oath of office. ---
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2019, 12:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-make-trumps-base-supporters-turn-on-him/814963/179 "2019-05-23T12:45:59Z")
> [@ThelmaLou](#): > > Something I read today made me want to ask this question, so I hunted down this old thread to ask it: > > Would thump’s evangelical supporters turn on him/dump him if positive proof came to light that he had paid for several abortions for his various lady friends? They would just invoke the [Cyrus the Great](https://www.vox.com/identities/2018/3/5/16796892/trump-cyrus-christian-right-bible-cbn-evangelical-propaganda) ploy again. Look, they already know that Trump is an immoral, lying, jerk. He’s a “non-believer” in practice? So was Cyrus. But Cyrus was nice to the Jews, so that makes him a good person. Ergo, Trump is a good person. (Hold on a second, my brain is spinning just writing that down. No, don’t try to follow its logic. There isn’t any.) ---
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2019, 12:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-make-trumps-base-supporters-turn-on-him/814963/180 "2019-05-23T12:54:32Z")
Sorry for the X-Post with the Clusterfuck thread, but this also should be said here: > [@](#): > > Again, arguments about “Trump’s base” are completely missing the point as the “base” is literally defined as _people who still support Trump_: > > On Monday, I support Trump. I’m part of his “base”. > > Tuesday, something happens. Whatever, doesn’t matter. I no longer support him. > > Wednesday, Asahi comes to the SDMB and says “We can’t do shit as long as his base supports him.” I come back with “I supported him Monday, but now I don’t.” > > Question: Am I part of the base on Wednesday? > > Question: If so, is this not indicative of his base shrinking? > > Question: If not, isn’t arguments appealing to/about “the base” literally self-defeating? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-make-trumps-base-supporters-turn-on-him/814963.md?page=8) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-make-trumps-base-supporters-turn-on-him/814963.md?page=10)