Trump, where do you stand on him now?

[Dill]

(11-19-2020, 11:50 PM)Sociopathicsteelerfan Wrote: Quote:Perhaps the ground of this normalizing behavior is that the people who don't support Trump also don't think he has done much damage at all to the U.S. government and its individual institutions from the military  to the CDC to the post office to the State Department. Nor has he done much damage to civil discourse; Dems are "just as bad."   From that perspective, Trump critics who insist the damage be publicly recognized are just acting out hyperbole, or "hypocrisy"--whattabout the Clintons?  From their perspective they are fair and balanced, standing in the middle. Both sides do it, whatever "it" is. And that definitely helps one side.

Again, absolutism, allowing for no distinctions in the middle.  One could vote for Trump because they think Biden will implement policies making the populace solely dependent on the government.  One could vote for Trump because they dislike Biden's extreme stance on the 2nd amendment.  In short there are numerous reasons to vote for Trump over Biden over solid policy disagreements.  One can vote for Trump while holding their nose because the tend to agree with more of his positions than Biden, but not really support him beyond that.  You don't allow for this as you, by your own admission, see people who vote for Trump as credulous rubes.  Which brings me to my last point, there are people who vote for Trump because they dislike people like you and want to thumb their nose at you.  In short, you perpetuate what you claim to despise, but I'm sure you don't "see that" either.

Two quick points in response to this:

1. I have never "admitted" that Trump voters are "credulous rubes." 

2. In passage below, from a response to B-zona on another thread, I think I covered most or all of the motives of Trump voters you say I don't recognize above, including the people who "dislike [me] and want to thumb their nose at [me] and people who "hold their nose." Almost as if you were paraphrasing me above. 

 "I agree that Trump's base should not be regarded as monolithic. I've said before that it is somewhat motley, including Evangelicals whose one priority is ending abortion and protecting Israel, 4chan trolls who just like to see liberal heads explode when government is broken, out of work miners/union labor who desperately want to believe their jobs will come back, and establishment Republicans who are embarrassed by Trump, but see party goals met in tax cuts, deregulation of environmental protections, and the record number of judicial appointments, so they exchange temporary shame for what they think will be long-term gain--like Gloria Steinem supporting Bill Clinton."

In any case, the paragraph you quote does not refer to Trump voters/supporters. The paragraph ONLY refers to a fraction of people who don't support/vote for Trump, but who normalize his behavior by criticizing those who criticize that behavior.  So I am indeed "allowing for distinctions" and remarking on a very odd "middle"--a group which "normalizes" Trump by casting his critics as the problem. This doesn't mean that Trump critics can't be wrong sometimes. It means that the degree to which they are right about an unfit president is not recognized. 

And that could very well be because of the way some construe and prioritize their 2nd Amendment rights in a way that dismisses or minimizes autocratic leadership and breaking government. They don't see the latter as a serious problem in a Trump second term, so long as the "extremists" can't take their guns.