General Discussion
Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsDon't call Trump supporters "gullible."
Calling Trump supporters "gullible" just plays directly into Trump's hands. It both makes his supporters feel attacked and buys into the idea that they are innocently believing Trump's lies. Deep down, his supporters psychologically need to have those two things. They need to be "attacked," so they can feel free to "counter-attack." They need people implicitly accepting that they innocently believe the lies they're being told.
They don't really believe the lies for the most part. There's a difference between believing a lie and simply accepting it because you want to accept it. Trump supporters aren't being gullible. They're being deliberately riled and enraged into complicity. They're in a feedback loop where they are deliberately accepting lies and lying to themselves to build up anger for a fight.
To get there, many Trump supporters, probably the majority, have consciences they need silenced. Calling them gullible helps them get that. On the flip side, calling Trump supporters gullible makes those of us who are against Trump feel good. We're angry, and we want to "attack." It's self-defeating, but that's what we feel like doing.
Trumpies need to be ambivalent; we need to be cool, judgmental, and expect the best from them. They are not being themselves. They need to hear their consciences talking to them. They need to feel their fear of ruining everything. That means we need to tell them to stop being so angry for a minute and think. Why are they angry? Maybe it's Iago.
Guy Whitey Corngood
(26,500 posts)BainsBane
(53,031 posts)They are fully complicit in Trump's crimes.
marybourg
(12,620 posts)Maeve
(42,281 posts)SWBTATTReg
(22,112 posts)Clearly fogged in
(1,896 posts)Orangepeel
(13,933 posts)Efilroft Sul
(3,579 posts)They are the enemy within.
gohuskies
(1,156 posts)Essentially willing to turn a blind eye to all the crimes and malfeasance of Dear Leader as long as they can endorse systemic racism, unfettered access to assault weapons and pro-life misogyny. They are not gullible in any way, shape or form. They are showing us who they are.
Meowmee
(5,164 posts)apnu
(8,756 posts)It also plays into the "so much for the tolerant Left" nonsense they spew whenever any of us express frustration with them.
DEbluedude
(816 posts)I call them dumb fucks, idiots, snowflakes, traitors, chickenshits, morons, racists, etc. You know, all in all, Nazis.
Shermann
(7,412 posts)Calling Trump supporters "skeptical" just plays directly into Trump's hands. It both makes his supporters feel pandered to and buys into the idea that they don't have strong faith.
lunasun
(21,646 posts)nuxvomica
(12,422 posts)And the ambivalence fuels their rage. I was arguing with a one of them during a protest a few years ago, a fellow who actually calls himself a "deplorable", cuz, y'know, that trolls the libs. He actually said to me, sotto voce, that there were no "kids in cages", that that was all made up. I knew he didn't believe that but in a face-to-face encounter he couldn't admit that he truly was that deplorable. Very strange encounter.