“The Democrats have made Trump a sympathetic character”
I want to highlight this comment by “JFM”:
The Democrats have made Trump a sympathetic character.
That sums up something I’ve been thinking for quite some time, and especially since the impeachment hearings began.
Trump has always been a brash guy, a loudmouthed New Yorker, born in privilege (pardon the “woke” word, but it applies here) and wealth, and parlaying that wealth into more wealth by wheeling and dealing and writing books and generally promoting himself. You either liked him or hated him (or like me, were indifferent to him and pretty much ignored him) prior to his running for office.
But one thing you didn’t do is sympathize with him or find him to be some sort of victim. I just don’t think that would have entered anyone’s mind.
And that situation continued for a while after his election. He was definitely one to blow his own horn, and to give as good as he got to his enemies.
But over the years, the actions of the Democrats and what has come to be called the “deep state” have dramatically increased the number of people who feel Trump has gotten a raw deal. They have accomplished what would have been thought nearly impossible, which is to make Trump seem a persecuted person, the victim of unfair and powerful forces out to get him.
I haven’t seen a poll on whether this change of public opinion has really occurred, but it’s what I observe in comments around the blogosphere and elsewhere. And it can’t be good for the Democrats.
That made me remember an old joke…, “Is it paranoid if they really ARE out to get you?”
Firmly agree Neo, but I can only speak for myself about feeling this way.
The other thing about Trump that I’ve learned from his time in office and all the attention: he really cares about Americans and America. Yes, he is a brash self-promoter, and a vicious competitor, but when I look at what he has focused on doing while POTUS I conclude that his expressed love for America is real.
That, along with the completely unfair and relentless attacks from the Left and anti-Trump Right has made me into a full on supporter.
I’ve seen a comment that while Trump is from NY, he’s from Queens. To the denizens of upper crust Manhattan, those from Queens sit in a similar position as flyover country does to DC. That may account for Trump’s willingness to basically flip off the elites.
Wokester/Dem/MSMers have reached a state of hydrophobic psychosis.
I casts my bit for the underdog.
I agree with Steve Walsh, who agrees with Neo.
I have said it before, but will repeat. During the primaries I could not stand Trump. During the general election, he was the better of two distasteful options. Once he started governing, I began to realize that he was better than I had given him credit for being.
Now, I am a full blown supporter. He has shown himself to be remarkably strong in the face of the most despicable campaign I can imagine. His style, will never be my preferred style; but, I also realize that there is a lot more substance than style.
One of the big ways this matters is that most people, not all but most, have some basic level of integrity and decency. They need to be able to look in the mirror and tell themselves they’re doing the right thing for the right reason…and believe it! Now, we can lie to ourselves but most of us need those lies to be plausible.
While the Trump-haters bemoan the unshakable support he gets, they NEVER stop to consider the ever-increasing supply of plausible reasons for that support for which they are responsible. For example, whenever I start to think I should be more concerned about Trump’s morality or character, I immediately remember the “normal” alternative to Trump in 2016 involved making an accused rapist the first First Gentlemen in U.S. history and virtually NONE of the folks now horrified by Trump were bothered by that one damn bit.
Mike
From today’s WSJ editorial, which urges a Senate “trial”:
“Current Senate rules say a trial isn’t triggered until the House appoints impeachment managers who deliver the articles to the Senate. But those rules were written when Senators never anticipated the House would treat impeachment in such a cavalier fashion.”
Well, what provoked those Senators who “never anticipated” to write that rule? For what reasons? There were surely some. Probably they were sound reasons even!
And now the WSJ editors would have the Senate go down the same defining-things-down road that we have seen in the Pelosi House!
Malarky is being dispensed by both sides to the detriment of us all.
What Oldflyer said.
I have literally said, more than once, in face-to-face conversations: “Look, don’t make me defend Donald Trump, OK?” But “necessary” is precisely what it has been. And the consequence has primarily been a radical clarification of the extent to which politics is literally a substitute religion for millions of people. They see the president as a moral leader, and political decisions are interpreted according to the image communicated by the president—for leftists, necessarily morally good from leftist Democrats and morally evil from conservative Republicans and, crucially, divorced from actual outcomes vs. stated intentions in any case. To me, this is the most striking feature of leftist thought: its aggressive first-orderness. But that helps explain its focus on what words people use and the unshakable faith that right laws result in right society. It’s a mental—I can’t bring myself to call it “intellectual”—world in which there are no unintended consequences and no difficult trade-offs. It’s this world, where Elizabeth Warren can blithely dismiss a whole group of economists questioning her tax plan as “just wrong.” Well, why didn’t you just say so? Ditto the Greta Thunberg worship: it’s literally a pagan “wisdom from the mouths of babes” story, with the sacred fool (autism) thrown in just to underscore the point in ink as red as the blood of the millions who have died from not having modern clean water, or the GMO crops of Norman Borlaug to avoid starvation, or who have literally been murdered by their own “scientific socialist” political leadership.
You know the old saying: “Whom the gods would destroy, they first make mad.” This is the thing that now persuades me Donald Trump is God’s emissary. And for those who question whether Donald Trump actually believes in God, it isn’t necessary for him to. After all, the Bible tells us that “God used his servant, Nebuchadnezzar…” Friendly reminder: Nebuchadnezzar was the king of Babylon, and didn’t “believe in” the God of the Jews, and later Christians, either. (Side note: I’m convinced this is why the Wachowskis named Morpheus’ ship “The Nebuchadnezzar,” too, especially since Morpheus himself says, at least twice, that it’s not necessary for anyone to believe in The One as he does.)
If one doubts that Trump has America’s best interests at heart, one need only compare his words and actions to those of Barack Hussein et ux. Mrs. Trump has and is playing the correct role of First Wife/Lady—elegantly in the background. Michelle is always demanding more because Black.
Re Bill M’s comment: the attitude the coastal Eloi have toward Trump reminds me of the attitude the aristos display in English novels “Oh, no, we would never associate with them — they’re in trade!“
Actually, I used to feel quite sorry for him when he was married to Ivanka.
The point is missed that, as Trump tweeted, they’re really out to get us; he is merely in the way. Anyone running on and implementing the platform that elected Trump would be equally vilified by the left-wing totalitarians in our society. (TWANLOC, the acronym popularized by the estimable Richard Fernandez.) Think about it a moment. Boris Johnson is the opposite of Trump in many ways, enormously gifted in rhetorical skills, deeply aware of history, erudite and educationally credentialed, yet he has been equally vilified, hated and attacked because he is the avatar of the common man of Britain. He likewise represents traditional British citizens who, like us deplorables, love our countries and cultures, and do not wish to see them overthrown and replaced by others not like us. Those who hate us, hate our avatars.
The active Dems are on Twitter and watch CNN and MSNBC. There are millions of people who are apolitical or independent. They see higher wages. More prosperity and the freedom to buy the lightbulbs they want.
Trump in an Electoral College landslide.
Eleven months away from the election is too soon for confidence or predictions. Sudden death or war could intervene, and such events are always unexpected, the consequences surprising.
It’s never too soon for predictions, but it’s always smart to include some strength about the prediction, tho there is not good language to express that for normal things. I’m up to 80% prediction of Trump 2020 winning, partly because of the unfair attacks against him by the Dems. Yes, HE, Trump, is the “victim” of the crooked cops, the deep state, the elites, and their attacks against American workers.
Most of the elites have been intellectually lazy about their critiques of Trump, they’re about to be challenged quite a bit more in the coming year. And probably laughed at for foolishly believing the lies of the Dem media. Over and over.
for leftists, necessarily morally good from leftist Democrats and morally evil from conservative Republicans and, crucially, divorced from actual outcomes vs. stated intentions in any case.
There has long been the Dem support for “good intentions” over “good results”. But most people prefer good results.
Treating the PC-true believers as an alt-religion without a specific God is a good way to think of them, but it is not how they think of themselves.
It’s unlikely that Trump as victim changes any minds of the PC believers, but does help with the independents and the undecideds — who most often decide the elections.
There is still a huge and growing US budget deficit, with too much gov’t spending. This is a real and increasing risk, but is mitigated by the fact that all other strong economies, the EU / Germany, Japan, China, all have increasing deficits, too. I doubt this bubble will burst before the election, still there might be an economic surprise in October. Like against McCain in 2008.
All he has to do to get folks behind him is to say “I feel sorry for the homeless. I’m going to try to improve their conditions.”
Well, he is addressing the homeless problem, but not quite the way Dnaxy suggests; I’m not sure why that should be the make-or-break issue, however.
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/trump-newsom-california-homeless-crisis-federal-intervention