Changing one’s mind about Trump
I’ve noticed that, in the coverage of the Republican Convention, the MSM seems to paint those who have changed their minds about Trump since 2016 as fickle hypocrites. For example, Trump’s current running mate J. D. Vance was basically a NeverTrumper back then, and the media wants us to remember that and distrust him for it.
On the other hand, one of the themes of the convention has been such mind-changing. That was the point of the speech given by Amber Rose, a model I’d never heard of before but who gave an interesting “changer” speech the other day:
The message is clear: do your own research on Trump and you’ll find that much of what you thought you knew – and hated – about the man is a lie.
It’s a clever approach – although because a mind is a difficult thing to change, it probably won’t work with most people. But it’s intriguing, and I can identify because although I was never a NeverTrumper I was extremely Trump-skeptical during the 2016 campaign. Trump won me over pretty quickly by his performance as president, but that’s because I kept an open mind to begin with.
I’ll admit that to this day I find it confusing that so many evidently intelligent people still believe a huge amount of utterly disprovable nonsense about Trump. I’ve concluded that most of this stuburn ignorance can be explaned by the pernicious effect of simple peer pressure combined with Trump’s personal demeanor, his quirky mannerisms, physical appearance and style (his orange spray tan and yellow almost-bouffant), and other intangibles that just make Trump a guy that certain people just want to hate, or at least they make it very easy to dislike him.
The thing is, I get that to an extent. I generally don’t find Trump’s style that appealing. But I also fully recognize how surprisingly effective he was and can still be at actually getting things done that I personally want done. So just like Neo, and a lot of other people I suspect, I too didn’t like Trump at first, but I quickly got over it.
The people need leadership. And very often, Democrats provide the functional narcissist to do so. And for over fifty years, with the exceptions of McCain and Nixon, Republicans have not.
Could THIS be why the Rs struggle to win a popular majority for President?
objective reality should enter into it, at some point,
I can see how jd might have been skeptical, Trump came from a liberal metropole, associated with Democrats, had expressed strong issues about deindustrialization,
Maybe she’ll change her mind about porn too someday, but she’s already sat her 10-yr-old son down and explained how Mom gets her money and why no one should ever say that’s not a perfectly fine choice.
I’m not sure how thoroughly minds of people in that kind of business are changed, plenty of Trump’s show business associates have turned on him after all, and Stormy Daniels ran for office as a Republican in 2010. The need to draw eyeballs is very high with such people, it’s the nature of their business.
Like most of us, Trump has different personas. His private family and working persona is not seen by those who only see him at public appearances.
His public appearance persona is a combination of alpha male leavened with a touch of humor. For many, it wreaks of too much “toxic masculinity.” It’s off-putting for many, especially limp-wristed libs. His speeches are, okay, but too long for my tastes.
Those that worked with him when he was POTUS described him as thoughtful, curious, and deliberate. He weighs pros and cons and then decides. He’s not an ideologue or partisan hack. His main concern is how does this decision affect the everyday American.
Speaking of which, the speeches by the EDAs have been, IMO, a huge success. These people, especially those who have lost loved ones due to Bidne’s policies, are genuine and tug the heart strings.
I also loved the 98 years young WWII veteran who said he was ready to re-enlist for C-in-C Trump. What a guy!
This has been one of the better conventions I’ve ever watched.
I posted this link in the open thread but am repeating it here since it is so relevant to the topic:
https://www.jns.org/understanding-the-importance-of-j-d-vance/
Not explicitly about “changing” but does a great drill-down into the core substance of Trump/MAGA politics without the distracting fluff of orange hair and mean tweets. Would be an excellent read for someone who has been skittish about Trump but still has an open mind, or at least a brain cell or two at any rate.
amber rose, ok whatever, the mother who cried out over the crimes of alvin bragg, the gold star mothers who were featured the other day, those convince more,
does objective reality, matter or doesn’t it, this crazy world that were forced into,
Trump is the vile usurper who stole from Hillary what was hers by right. How can that be forgiven?
JJ, what’s an EDA?
Re: Change
Three days ago David+Foster quoted and commented:
_______________________________
“I experienced a sudden political transformation because I liked that after he got grazed by a bullet he stood up and pumped his fist” is just another way of saying “I prefer to base my politics on primal animal instinct,” which I’m pretty sure is a non-ideal way to do politics.”
Seem like there are some important socio-psychological, political-psychological, and sexual-psychological issues here, which I linked for discussion:
–David+Foster
https://www.thenewneo.com/2024/07/15/trump-fate-and-his-convention-speech/#comment-2750391
_______________________________
The above bolded IMO is a classic smart-sounding comment which is actually dumb. Condescending too.
If it were about a 16 year-old kid exposed for the first time to a ten-second clip of Hitler rousing the crowd at Nuremberg who then converted to Nazism, the comment would have a point.
But that’s not the situation. The context is missing. The changer has been marinating in the rampant Trump hatred of the past eight years. We don’t know the change journey which may have been building within that person. Seeing Trump emerge bloody, brave and unbowed after almost being assassinated may just have been the final push the changer needed.
Also, I don’t see anything wrong with primal animal instinct being part of our politics. We’re human. That should be part of our response when choosing our top leader. Democrats wouldn’t be in their current situation if they had paid attention to their animal natures when choosing Biden for their top alpha male.
Marissa– EDA = EveryDay American. AKA Normie.
Thanks for answering for me, Another Mike. I’ve been off the keyboard for some time.
Watching this convention and performing honey-dos can be time consuming. 🙂
I just watched Trump’s acceptance speech. Too long, but he showed that there’s nothing wrong with his stamina. No one can doubt what he plans to do if re-elected. He spelled it out in detail.
Kurt Schlichter had a post about Vance that addresses the “changing one’s mind” aspect quite directly.
https://townhall.com/columnists/kurtschlichter/2024/07/18/the-real-reason-trump-chose-jd-vance-n2642068
I thought this was one of the most unusual — and unexpected — responses to the assassination attempt on Trump.
https://notthebee.com/article/kids-in-checks-notes-uganda-are-recreating-the-attempted-hit-on-donald-trump
The kids are kind of cute, but how did they even find out about it?
https://x.com/MarioNawfal/status/1813571297776939305
This is the anime (comic book) version.
https://x.com/123skely/status/1812973449914315233
No bites from the bony-eared assfish here yesterday, and incredibly (!?!), it looks like not much of a ‘Bump for Trump’ after the assassination attempt.
• Too Close to Call
• Trump’s national lead over Biden grows
John Hinderaker of Power Line is probably right that ‘the country is so polarized, and voters are so dug in, that events will not shift the numbers significantly. There aren’t many votes up for grabs, so even something as dramatic as an attempted assassination barely moves the needle.’ He adds that polls “down the road” may show more of an impact.
If Biden steps down—then I also agree with Hinderaker that Kamala Harris’ poor poll numbers of the past will “poll better than Biden.”
Kamala Harris would be getting a fresh start, and a strong force of Powerful & Progressive American woman will be throwing their full support behind her – they’ll be going for a strong vote from women, and probably using abortion as a battering ram against Trump/Vance.
But the bony eared assfisher keeps trolling.
@Karmi:No bites from the bony-eared assfish here yesterday,
No, because you had explicitly declared an intention to troll, not sure what you expected.
incredibly (!?!), it looks like not much of a ‘Bump for Trump’ after the assassination attempt.
Not incredibly to me. I’ve been saying for a week now that none of the drama in the media about Trump or Biden appears to be changing what’s going on in WI, PA, and MI. The “steal” is going on as we speak while we’re distracted by the show.
The machinery that will deliver the election to the Dems does not care if Biden’s name is crossed out and someone else’s written in purple crayon. It does not care that Trump narrowly escaped death. It only cares about harvesting Dem ballots and seeing to it that ballot drop boxes are out in the open, unattended, that people vote with no way to know if their votes are valid or if they are eligible to vote, and that there is no way to correct the count afterward and no court to provide a remedy. That machinery is humming along in the background all this time.
And I’m not seeing much information about what, if anything, is being done to stop it.
Vance was pointing out the obvious in 2016: Trump is (and IMO still is) a NY liberal Democrat. I was wary that he would govern as such. I was pleasantly surprised to be wrong.
I would have thought an excon, would have a certain amount of common sense,
Harris relatable, to whom, yes she is evil and stupid, does it have to be a choice,
but honestly if they are going to steal the election, again, what do you suggest one does, if they want to burn this country to the ground, because that is ultimately the result of that action, bury the last light of liberty in the free world,
no amount of cash to Ukraine will prevent that, in fact it’s very much a modern social credit paradise,