so much for draining the swamp

[Dill]

(11-12-2016, 03:20 PM)samhain Wrote: I also think he and Obama may end up being better buddies than anyone could ever imagine.  People hated Bill Clinton and George W Bush, but the level of antipathy toward Trump and Obama is on a whole different level.  There may be no other person for him to talk to that will understand the kind of seething hatred he will face on a daily basis for the next 4 years. 

Don't count on this.  Obama will not enjoy a beer on a relaxing afternoon with the racist who questioned his legitimacy and then proceeded to undo his most important policy achievements. Add to this Trump has become a social pariah of sorts because of the public racism and sexism. Only people expecting direct gains from his office or obligated to for official reasons will be publicly socializing with him.

Both presidents are indeed hated, but for such different reasons. Obama is a black American with a Muslim name, and a practitioner of constitutional law who takes the side of the poor and the middle class against the rich--i.e., what passes for a "socialist" in the US--the perfect storm for a right wing hate fest, which works largely by innuendo and free association rather than logic and factual evidence.  Early on he fell into the sights of the Right Wing Noise Machine which has targeted the Clinton's since the 80s with a series of faux scandals.  Despite that, he brought us out of a recession and reestablished US credibility abroad, and leaves with one of the most scandal-free administrations in history.

Trump, on the other hand, is a white male with an Anglo name and a history of racist business practices, who knows little of the Constitution or government, and whose political rhetoric targets minorities and encourages violence. He is the beneficiary of the Right Wing Noise Machine, which, along with Putin, essentially gave him this election by destroying just enough credibility in the more qualified candidate. His election campaign was week after week of chaos and scandal. Expect more of the same until he resigns or is impeached.

Both men will no doubt continue to be hated--Trump even more than now, Obama much less as it becomes clear how competent he actually was. But the hatred each experiences is so qualitatively different, proceeding from such diametrically opposed sets of values and constituencies, that neither will experience it as a "shared" quality.