2020 Election

[Dill]

(07-29-2020, 06:01 PM)hollodero Wrote: Hm. There are those that just want conservative judges, fear socialism or an abolishment of amendment number two, have a strong stance on abortion, [...], and finally, sure, white racists.
Trump.

You left out the millions of Endtimers, who don't give a fig for domestic or foreign policy. Trump is putting God's plan into motion.  And the millions who follow conspiracies like Qanon, though maybe fear of socialism falls in with that group too.

(07-29-2020, 06:01 PM)hollodero Wrote: And then there are those you describe. I am aware of them, but while some sure genuinely adore Trump, I feel these posiitions also often initially stem from disliking liberals rather then from enthusiasm for Trump. Of course in confrontation these positions are adapted (and maybe forcefully believed) to counter, similar to what the GOP members in Congress do, who allegedly (and I believe that) privately sing a whole different tune about Trump than publicly. But I guess many at least to some extent are aware of the unspeakable disaster you and I deem Trump to be. Even on the more extreme platforms there's more hatred than enthusiasm. So I think "hating"/disliking liberals is maybe by far the biggest portion of the 40%, not so much people being gullible or cult followers.
Just now I notice how "hatred" with an empty space in the middle turns into "hat red", and hence I now also explained MAGA hats.

The first bolded is kind of an understatement. As I have argued before, the fringe right has migrated into the mainstream, the center of American politics, thanks in part to the internet and cable news access, which give anyone who appears there the same apparent authority as heavily vetted news sources. What that means is that the political judgment of millions has been broken, leaving them unable to see how an unstable and ignorant president might damage everyone's interests, not just liberals'. Maybe a better way to put it is that they are finally unable, on their own, to recognize "unstable and ignorant" in any leader's behavior and policy decisions, and so rely on (for them) authoritative sources to guide them.*

The second bolded also helps explain why people who claim NOT to support Trump nevertheless run the most consistent interference for him. They do see some problem with Trump; but he is still not worse than Hillary, or worse than "the Democrats."

(07-29-2020, 06:01 PM)hollodero Wrote: As for the Democrats being unpalatable, I can see why someone would feel that way and I sure feel the party is severely flawed on many fronts. I do have a harder time understanding how a platform sporting Trump and Trump sycophants, which describes the GOP almost as a whole these days, can be seen as less or at most just equally impalatable from a neutral standpoint. I back up this stance by saying oh my god it's Trump.

You are right to have a "hard time" understanding this.

The choice between Trump and Biden cannot be seen as "equally impalatable" from some imagined neutral standpoint. It's only from a standpoint strongly invested in right wing politics that Hillary and Biden appear "just as bad" and the choice becomes difficult, and people are ready to make compromises with their supposedly deepest held values.  Those compromises generate the endless false equivalence, contradiction, and whataboutism we get from Trump surrogates.

*All Trump supporters aren't thus mystified. I think many in the 1% certainly recognize, in a completely rational way, how Trump policies benefit them financially, though not good for the country as a whole.