2016 Postmortem
Related: About this forumThe reasons why Trump has his appeal.
Why Trump has such appeal for so many, even with all his scandals, is no mystery.
Trump didn't happen in a vacuum. He is the result of a Republican base that over the last several decades, starting very much with Nixon's "Southern Strategy", has turned fundamentalist and inward clinging to racism, fear of changing demographics, and fear of changing traditional power structures in our society. The Republican base is made up very much of the "angry white male" (and in many instances the "angry white female" as well, though less so than the men) who feel their grip on traditional power structures is being taken from them. They once dominated and had the dominant culture. With decades now of right wing talk radio and Fox News, a huge right wing propaganda media presence has been set up to capitalize on and fuel this anger and resentment. In addition, right wing corporatists like the Kochs, the gun companies backed by the NRA, etc. have fed this hate and fear and its media machine with big money and big propaganda. This media feeds them sheer lies and hate talk which fuels their fear in a big way. Listen to the Trump voters' rhetoric. They talk about the world as they know it ending, about fear of having their guns taken away, about fear of having life as they know it taken away. The whole Tea Party movement was born of this fear and anger, as was the birther movement, both centrally rooted in right wing racism.
Trump folks are SCARED, ANGRY, and TOXIC. They feel that the traditional white and white-male dominated society they have always known is going away, and they are shitting their collective pants over it. THEIR WAY OF THINKING LOVES THE "STRONG MALE LEADER" figure. And Trump came into the R primary having studied FOX News and right wing radio, and he built his messaging on it. So they have responded very strongly. He has played right to it.
It is also true that many resent having lost factory jobs. But this goes deeper than that. It is mainly about the racial and demographics changes which have filled them with such fear, and so they have bought into messaging for decades which fuels that fear.
So this is why so many will still vote for Trump and why they won't listen to anything else. They are radical, toxic, filled with fear, filled with misinformation that they WANT to believe, and have established an ignorance-based, hate-based worldview that is simply can not be penetrated. Luckily, the sane among us outnumber them, and we must VOTE in this election and EVERY election.
= new reply since forum marked as read
Highlight:
NoneDon't highlight anything
5 newestHighlight 5 most recent replies
tblue37
(65,341 posts)
kimbutgar
(21,141 posts)
TonyPDX
(962 posts)We are entering another period of social conflict despite victories in November. We'll survive.
RBInMaine
(13,570 posts)than acceptance and welcome. I almost feel sorry for them.
Wounded Bear
(58,653 posts)RBInMaine
(13,570 posts)Wounded Bear
(58,653 posts)Conservatives tend to be more sensitive to authoritarianism in general. And they support strong armed police tactics, etc.
Kind of funny, but their idea of "freedom" seems to be living under a "benign" autocrat. It's actually very European, like a search for an aristocracy to handle government affairs. They're apparently willing to accept any manner of personal mal-feasance in their leaders but not, of course, from what they think of as "our" leaders and candidates. There is very little self awareness there.
Dangerrus
(22 posts)Sychophants love a boss. Bosses can say anything and everyone lets them get away with it. He lost the first debate as his tie was light blue. Sign of weakness. He tried the red power tie but that was not royal enough. Next debate, he will wear purple. So sad that it makes difference.
RBInMaine
(13,570 posts)Dangerrus
(22 posts)In high-stakes politics and business, there are only two colors of ties: red and blue. Oh, sure, you might spot purple or yellow now and then, but those are clear statements of aloofness, be they calculated or careless....
Red and blue are also thought by psychologists to improve brain performance and receptivity to advertising. The 2009 study in Science supports this idea. It also suggests nuances that world leaders and presidential candidates might want to know about, assuming one buys into the notion that presidential messages and speeches are essentially a form of advertising.
http://www.livescience.com/3281-red-blue-necktie-colors-matter.html
------------------
And Clinton? She managed to pull off a devastating move that fell somewhere between a withering “Is that what you’re going to wear?” from your mother, and a mean girl in high school fashion-shaming a frenemy.
She sucked the power right out of that red tie. And then she wore a red suit.
http://qz.com/793074/did-hillary-clinton-psych-donald-trump-out-of-wearing-his-red-power-tie-by-predicting-he-would-to-zach-galifianakis-on-between-two-ferns/
-----------------------------
The subconcious does play an important role in politics. Any words coming out of a politicians mouth are mere gravy on the "feelings" the viewer has already formed by the impressions given.
thucythucy
(8,050 posts)to which they want to return, most of these folks were castaways and marginal as well. They were as uneducated, and to a great extent as unable to climb out of their circumstances as they are now. It might be that white privilege helped them to some extent, but by and large many of these folks would have still been unable to improve their lives--the white male elite made sure of that.
Since Bob Dylan just won the Nobel, I'm reminded of his song "Only a Pawn in Their Game"--how politicians and elites manipulated poor whites into seeing people of color as the enemy, when in fact their true enemy were those doing the manipulating.
The song is as true now as it was in 1963.