Theres No Such Thing as a Good Trump Voter

[DemocratSinceBirth]

People voted for a racist who promised racist outcomes. They don’t deserve your empathy.

By Jamelle Bouie


Donald Trump ran a campaign of racist demagoguery against Muslim Americans, Hispanic immigrants, and black protesters. He indulged the worst instincts of the American psyche and winked to the stream of white nationalists and anti-Semites who backed his bid for the White House. Millions of Americans voted for this campaign, thus elevating white nationalism and white reaction to the Oval Office.

Understandably, critics of Trump have used this to condemn Trump voters, tying them to the likely consequences of their vote, blaming them for foisting Donald Trump on the country and the world. To this, there’s been a pushback. “[P]lease understand what is happening here,” writes Michael Lerner in the New York Times in a column titled “Stop Shaming Trump Supporters.” “Many Trump supporters very legitimately feel that it is they who have been facing an unfair reality.” He continues: “The left needs to stop ignoring people’s inner pain and fear. The racism, sexism and xenophobia used by Mr. Trump to advance his candidacy does not reveal an inherent malice in the majority of Americans.”


...

“One can be, indeed one must strive to become, tough and philosophical concerning destruction and death, for this is what most of mankind has been best at since we have heard of man,” wrote James Baldwin in his seminal work, The Fire Next Time. “But it is not permissible that the authors of devastation should also be innocent. It is the innocence which constitutes the crime.” We can hope Trump was bluffing about his promises. If not, then the next four years will be hard for the Americans he plans to target. What we cannot do is pretend this wasn’t a choice, that no one was responsible.


http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/politics/2016/11/there_is_no_such_thing_as_a_good_trump_voter.html

[HassleCat]

1. This is wrong, of course.

Voting is emotionally complex. I doubt half our citizens are bigoted robots.

[KatyMan]

2. Half the people that voted tho

Are. Don't cut them any slack, that's why Dems lose elections.

[pangaia]

3. Perhaps half of trump voters are bigots and the other half are robots....

poorly programmed robots...

[lonestarnot]

4. Blah blah blah. Racist assholes and fucking bots.

[MFM008]

5. no its simple

nothing complex about it.
Obama racism.
white male revenge,
ignorance/stupidity.

[yardwork]

9. Bigoted robots is a good way to describe people who voted for trump.

They may think of themselves as lovely people. They might even be kind and generous to their friends and relatives. However, they voted for a man who mocked disabled people, bragged about sexually assaulting women, called immigrants rapists and murderers, and urged crowds of people to attack journalists. And that's just a small part of what he did in full public view - bragged about doing.

Bigoted robots is kind, imo.

[randr]

12. NO one who voted for him could have not been wittness to his insanity.

[catbyte]

6. Yep. Just like there were no "good Nazis."

[smirkymonkey]

8. K&R

[brooklynite]

10. Empathy isn't the issue; understanding is...

...It's easy to blame all Trump voters as racist, sexist, xenophobic bible-thumpers, because it lets you believe that there was no rational way they could have been dissuaded from voting for Trump. If we want to win back our losses in 2018 and 2020, we have to acknowledge that a significant share of Trump voters were none of those things, and were frustrated by their personal economic situation and their belief that "establishment" politicians from either Party weren't going to make things better.

[Merlot]

13. If they didn't like establishment politicians they could vote green/libertarian

They choose to vote for someone who was endorsed (and did not refute) the KKK. Someone who aligned themselves with the hardcore right wing of the republican party - the establishment politicians.

As for being "frustrated by ther personal economic situation" I'd say a large majority of Americans are in the same situation - but that didn't turn them into bigots.

To put it another way, I always vote democratic, but if a democratic candidate became a climate change denier, I would refuse to vote for them no matter what their other policies. Everyone has to make a choice as to what the line is they won't cross. And for these trump voters, the line wasn't bigotry.

So, I personally, will "acknowledge" that trump voters voted for what the trump campaign stood for.

[mcar]

11. K&R