Do you know any early Trump supporters?
Today commenter “DNW” asked the following question:
Does anyone here actually know, in the sense of knowing the character, the likes and the personality of any Trump first supporters? You know, first name basis ”¦ longtime friend, in-law, cousin or something?
Remember, that is a Trump firster ”¦ someone who preferred him to say, Cruz on some ideological grounds.
I have never met one.
I’ll take that up: yes, I do. But not many.
However, I don’t know all that many people on the right to begin with. Yes, I know all of you, but most of us have never met except in the virtual world. Also, most of the Trump supporters here were not first supporters; they initially preferred other candidates more. But there were a few here who were first-supporters.
In my regular (non-computer) life, the vast majority of people I know are liberals—with a sprinkling of leftists. Most people I know are fairly apolitical fairly moderate garden-variety liberals, both men and women. One of the great tragedies of this election year is (as I see it, anyway) that a great many of them do not like Hillary, and quite a few of them had independently approached me earlier in the primary season to tell me they were thinking of voting for a Republican and asked if I could tell them my opinion of this one or that one. Most often it was Rubio who piqued their interest and whom they professed to liking and perhaps being willing to vote for. Sometimes it was Kasich (never Bush) and sometimes Fiorina or Christie. There may have been others, but those are the ones I remember).
All of these people professed a detestation of Trump and said that if he were the nominee they would be voting for Clinton, whom they disliked. This was one of the reasons I was convinced early in the game that although Trump might be the GOP nominee, he could not win the election, because he was already alienating a lot of Republicans and Independents, as well as these moderate Democrats who might have crossed over for some of the other Republican candidates.
By the way, they disliked Cruz, too, although usually not as much as they disliked Trump.
But I do know some people on the right, and I can think of a couple of them who liked Trump from the start. For two he was their early front-runner, and they both shared the following characteristics: politically active changers, college graduates but self-employed in businesses rather than the professions, intelligent and aware, angry at the Obama administration and at the GOP. I also know two other people for whom Trump was not number one but for whom he was a very well-tolerated number two, and those people were also politically-aware college graduates and changers, both self-employed in creative fields.
Of course, I may just have described the characteristics of the majority of the people on the right whom I know, whether they be Trump-supporters or not: changers, college-educated, self-employed. I know others of that description who do not like Trump, sometimes to the point of refusing to vote for him (one is not a changer but was always a conservative). I also know someone on the right who is not college-educated but I’m not sure whether he’s a Trump-supporter, although I suspect it (he didn’t like Romney for class reasons). He’s quite cynical and somewhat libertarian.
There are other people I know on the right who I thought would be Trump supporters—one in particular who’s a pretty tough and angry guy who has always been a conservative. But it turns out that he can’t stand Trump. So go figure.
And you?
It’s hard to tell what “alienating” actually means. Perhaps, in some cases, it means, “stop proposing things which I don’t like because you’re alienating me” when the person has on intention of supporting or voting for Trump.
Would apply to immigration and several other issues.
Or pressure to change positions based on the asserted alienation of one group or another, with the votes thing implied.
I can’t stand Trump, but he’s got two things going for him in my book: Hillary and the vicious press.
Yes, three, PE PhD Mechanical Engineer; BS Electrical Engineer, BS, and PE BS Mechanical Engineer. All are conservative evangelical Christians, all three loathe HRC. I do not discuss this election with them, long term relationships are more important.
I know a Trump firster and know her well. In fact, I’ve been married to her for nearly three decades. She’s been an enthusiastic Trump supporter from the beginning. By the way, she’s an immigrant.
None among my family, and I have no friends. I try not to talk politics in other venues. The only original supporters I ever encountered were online.
From a family full of conservatives, I know one Trump firster. He is an older person with evangelical leanings who has never been online and appears to get most of his information via Fox and right-leaning commentators on cable. This person is a lifelong conservative and #NeverDemocrat, who would’ve voted for any candidate that emerged as the GOP nominee, but his first pick was Trump.
Neo says:
Huxley said,
Dale B says,
Small, anecdotal sample. Maybe no trend here.
Could be the born as libertarian leaning, scions of old Virginia families will also show up.
My elderly father, who passed away in June, was an early Trump supporter. Conservative non-evangelical, internet-savvy, well educated. His main issues were radical Islam and illegal immigration — if you don’t address those, he said, the other issues won’t matter in a few years. Nobody other than Trump was taking those issues seriously.
Actually, these people mentioned seem to have the kind of positive affection for their conservativism, possessing a kind of cultural ardor, which has almost disappeared.
When you see the faces of the enthusiastic women in the Trump crowds, one senses that they are in fact seized by an ideal that has definite cultural content: not just the legal regime I have been referring to.
Huh …
The bookkeeper for my office is an early Trump supporter. She’s an immigrant and her big issues are (1) uncontrolled, dishonest illegal immigration and (2) the tip-toeing around the threat presented by Islamic jihad.
I cannot recall reading,or hearing, of anyone who was for Trump in the beginning, but changed. There must be some. It will be fascinating down the line to see how many surface with “buyer’s remorse”. I am sure that of the many who supported him out of pure anger and frustration some are already thinking, “is this really the best or only alternative?”. Win or lose there will be others. But, will they admit it?
These are the only ones I know of personally. An old, anti-social subcontractor who seems to take delight in all “end-times” talk, where “unbelievers” get what’s coming to them. My son’s fiancee; a hard-working, fair, honorable person I deeply respect and for whom I am very thankful. Her mother, also is a level-headed, decent person who supported Trump from the beginning. My very conservative Aunt in Florida voted for Trump when the report on Cruz regarding the Ben Carson information surfaced. She was Ben Carson, but ended up voting for Trump.
None, and I live down here in the benighted South!
As thing stand today, I know only one enthusiastic supporter (and donor) and he’s a retired civil engineer who got rich dabbling in small real estate deals on the side. But he was quite late jumping onto the Trump train and it’s a real point of pride for him that he still sports the following bumper stickers on his pickup truck, which he applied at various times during primary season:
Walker, Fiorina, Kasich, Cruz, [Now Trump]
Like me, the vast majority of my friends, family and acquaintances came to Trump only at the end and only in a reluctant, negative sense; i.e., as the only possible way to avoid an HRC presidency. The only people I know who openly admit to supporting Clinton are a few late middle aged secretaries and the Jewish professionals at my office, all the government workers I know (excluding military but including all the public school teachers), a few uber-wealthy matrons with whom I went to high school and and some of the young women my children’s age.
I do know lots of people with post-graduate degrees (except for the MD’s I know, who seem to support Trump) who are doing a whole lot of overly public soliloquizing, navel gazing, virtue-signaling and agonizing about how they can’t stand either candidate, just can’t vote for Trump and don’t know what they’re going to do. God knows what the members of this group will actually do in the voting booth, but I suspect that I’ll never know the truth regardless of the outcome of the election. I personally believe that they’ll say whatever they think they must in order to maintain their perceived status within the social pecking order.
Sarah Palin.
No, I don’t know her personally.
But we all know her character, her likes and her personality.
It might have to do with geography, I live in the Texas Hill Country NW of San Antonio and in our early 70’s my wife and I are the youngest in our Sunday School Class. The rest are older up to 85, lots of retired military officers and their wives including flag rank. There seemed to be an amused appreciation for Trump early on and no one seemed to care for Cruz, our fellow Texan.
I have other friends here in Texas, Oklahoma, Colorado and New Mexico who seem to have no problem getting behind Trump and it seems as if some of the women liked him all along and not just as a second or third choice. This includes one lady in Santa Fe who was thrilled when he announced he was running while the rest of us were more like, “what the hell is going on.”
His nutty talk and being all over the place with his mouth seems to be received with a sense of amusement every time the media goes nuts on him. I understand that he just did a new goober statement this afternoon talking about the 2nd amendment which will be bouncing around for awhile.
Trump sure does know how to keep himself on the front pages and on the news every day so maybe in the end this will work in his favor. Once more I think geography has a lot to do with liking and disliking both candidates and as in the past it will come down to the swing states.
I also wonder if a lot of that funny stuff that has happened with polls this past year is happening now. As an old conservative guy I never discuss my voting preferences with anyone I don’t know.
The next few months will be fun for me. I like the end of baseball season, college football, hunting season and every four years watching us elect the goober of our choice.
I know some extremely enthusiastic Trump supporters who were probably early ones, but I don’t know for sure because I wasn’t paying attention to Trump until a bit less than a year ago, and never discussed it with them. They are either evangelical Christians–which I do not get at all–or not particularly religious working-class sorts.
I was not an early Trump supporter, but when the Republican field was large, I had a discussion with a CA Dem friend. it turned out that if she wanted a candidate who was not beholden to special interests, who loved the little guy and wanted to save American jobs, she would have to vote for Trump. Inconceivable at the time. Haven’t asked her who she favors now. I have African-American grandchildren and so am aware that illegal immigrants have hurt the black community. It is a shame that black people still think that the Dems have their best interests at heart and that the politically correct jargon automatically translates into good results. Actually calling someone a racist is a disgustingly easy form of self-congratulation justifying possible injury to others. I am the only conservative in my family. Anyone. who accidentally says anything in agreement with me looks terribly shocked and contaminated. Lol.
I was not a “firster”…as in from day one. I preferred Cruz mostly because I am from Texas and that whole “he’s my senator” thing was running strong. But after the first two debates; I was there.
For me…it was easily “he’s the best of a bad lot” forced choice. But…Trump seems to instinctively know how to thwart conventional political wisdom, and that conventional wisdom has screwed the US and the world over and over again in the last 8 years & well back at various times into my 50+ year living memory.
I have no idea if he’ll “Make America Great” again. But I’ll bet my vote that he will do better than any of the other also-rans could do or better than any nameless imaginary preferred allegedly viable other candidate I keep hearing about.
Hate me if you must. But I’d gladly hold the Bible come January 2017 when President Trump takes office.
I posted the below as a response to DNW’s question in the long “…media shill” topic:
===================
DNW: Yep. A co-worker, then friend, I’ve known since the 70s. We were both ex-hippies who loved music. He was a big Frank Zappa fan. He came from a Russian working-class family. He turned conservative years earlier than I did. He listened to Howard Stern then shifted to Michael Savage. He attended Tea Party rallies. He was disgusted with the Democrats, then with the GOP leadership for not doing enough to stop the Obama agenda.
My friend speaks bluntly and harshly at times, so he appreciated Trump’s harsh bluntness particularly on immigration and Muslims. He likes Trump’s brashness, emphasis on America First, and his ability to disrupt PCness. He said I didn’t like Trump because I wasn’t “hard-core” enough.
For several years now we’ve had weekly phone chats about politics, music and life. Our talks became more antagonistic on the subject of Trump to the point of yelling at each other. Finally I asked not to talk about Trump. He reluctantly agreed. he said if we weren’t going to talk about Trump, we shouldn’t talk about politics either. I said OK. We talked some more about non-politics then hung up.
When I called the next week at the usual time, he didn’t answer the phone. I sent him a music DVD I had promised. I never heard from him and I stopped initiating contact.
I live in Texas. I am familiar-friendly with 20 or more early Trump supporters. They are vastly self-sufficient persons who have excellent self discipline, and who swim in the free market as entrepreneurs, salespersons, and plumber/electrician type skilled labor. They are fed up with government which hinders the free market. They have no patience with political correctness which they instinctively deduce as falsehood and foolishness. They either believe in Trump’s competence, or they are desperately hoping that he will do some of what he promises, as they realize the nation is in a desperate moment which a routine big government politician will only make worse.
I see Trump as a con man through and through. They see him (or hope) as a lovable rogue who will make things better via decent sensibility about what ought happen in America (as opposed to the absolute foolishness which they have watched going on for years)
I have one friend who never said flat-out that he was a Trump supporter, but spoke highly of several of Trump’s positions. He’s always been concerned about immigration, particularly as it relates to terrorism. Although he’s also been concerned about immigration related to crime stats. He also doesn’t like Indians. Or blacks – he definitely thinks that blacks are inferior to whites.
Exposed to a spectrum of folks. Surprisingly, in my circles, the trump supporters from last summer are more entrepreneurial, or white collar, or professional. They are in a minority. They are exclusively white, Christian, and boomer plus in age, while the rest of the folks are mixed in age, race, religion, skills/education.
Haven’t taken a measure since the GOP convention to see where those early trump supporters stand, but can say that their arguments don’t nearly go as far as some we read here.
Also, they may have preferred trump last summer, but they were not opposed to someone else, like Cruz, btw.
Noticing the prevalence of immigrants among Trump Firsters, obviously waiting in line for years to get a green card, then to get citizenship, and hearing Hillary talk about a path to citizenship for illegals would make one really, really pissed off. Come to think of it, being really, really pissed off describes a lot of the motivation (on both sides) of this election cycle.
I know one fairly well. He’s a retired USAF colonel, PhD., smart guy. He was on the Trump bandwagon from the very beginning and was not easy to talk with because he was totally intolerant of anyone on either side who opposed Trump. We still talk, but not politics very much.
Another unforced error by Trump re the Second Amendment and Hillary. Libs loving it. Fits right into the mentally unstable and dangerous narrative.
The few early Trump supporters I know jumped on the Trump train after he promised to build a wall along the Mexican border. Whether or not he actually will or can build a wall, for example, doesn’t seem that important to them. They just like that he said it. I think they want to be pissed off and entertained. Angertained.
Five bucks says he didn’t remember what the Second Amendment was when he said it.
Amy. WRT the wall. Even if he does not intend to build it, or finds it impossible, it can be taken as evidence of his attitude toward the issue. One way or another, he will, they think, do the right thing.
My cousin isn’t exactly a Trump Firster, but Trump has been his favorite candidate by far because he found Trump’s scorched earth responses to political correctness vastly amusing.
He can’t argue for Trump’s sincerity but he believes Trump would do a lot of the right things were he elected.
However, my cousin was counting on the much-vauntedTrumpian pivot
…However, my cousin was counting on the much-vaunted Trumpian pivot to materialize.
He has been brought down pretty hard with Trump’s unforced error of attacking the Muslim parents at the DNC. He is now somewhat depressed about Trump’s candidacy.
The vast majority of voters are not particularly well-informed on the issues. We all know that. They “like” or “don’t like”, much as they would an actress in a movie. I’ll betcha not one in a thousand knows of Trump’s SCOTUS list, for example. They have been fed sound bites for a generation, and think that’s all there is.
None of my friends (all conservatives, us dogs run together) were for Trump at first. But we are all for Trump now, because he is the one-and-only anti-Hillary.
I haven’t had time to read the comments. I do want to answer the question posed.
Tow men that I went to high school with, who I know as well as I know anyone (71 year friendship), were both Trump supporters almost from the beginning. One is college educated, both were self-employed businessmen. I think they gravitated toward Trump as kind of a kindred soul. Both have lived lives of decency and hard work and neither one is at all like Trump personally. Neither is particularly politically minded. That is, they don’t follow politics avidly. But like 80% of the country they know things are not going well and are looking for someone to shake things up. They see Trump as the man to do it.
The other men that I know who were on the Trump band wagon from the get go are former Navy squadron mates that I’m still in touch with. 12 men in all. All of them were enlisted in the Navy and aren’t college educated. They were, with one exception, men who worked in the trades after they left the Navy – all blue collar types. The one exception is a man who is a Native American from a tribe that struck it rich. He is the equivalent of a trust fund baby, with plenty of money who lives the life of a playboy. (Well, not so much these days. He’s in his seventies now.) Most of these men are reasonably well informed about politics and are in touch with the plight of the blue collar workers who are supporting Trump. None of them are dummies. Our Navy years were times when we depended on one another to get things right. They are stout-hearted men that I trusted my life to and I don’t ignore their opinions even though we disagree about Trump.
I am still in touch with five officers I served with. All college educated, they are a lot like me. They didn’t like Trump and still don’t, but see him as the only alternative now.
I hope this sheds some light on those who were Trump supporters right out of the gate. I know some of them and understand where they are coming from.
I’m in the arts, and everyone I know is on the left, sometimes hard left. I’ve said now and then that I don’t like either candidate and just don’t like politicians — and this has seemed to be enough for most, with the exception of one woman who seems to have really turned on me because I’m not gung-ho pro-Hillary like she is.
We never discussed any of this, but I guess she sensed some portion of my attitude. She’s been gratuitously unpleasant, which takes on a little extra something insofar as I did her a huge, gratuitous favor some years back, which she could not and never has in any way paid back. She writes books which nobody reads that always, in every case get glowing reviews. She wasted an entire novel attacking GWB.
Sorry I used “gratuitous” twice. Bad writing.
I know two: my brother and my father – both well-educated entrepreneurial types.
We are able to talk politics with ease, so there was never any acrimony, even when I kept encouraging them to support Cruz.
The bottom line for them is the straight-talk and the anger. Since Trump gives the impression of calling a spade a spade, it naturally leads to the belief that he is equipped to deal with the properly identified problems. To the Trump Firsters, everyone else is just mealy-mouthed and contaminated by politics.
There’s a kind of Obama-effect going on as well. They all know Trump says crazy stuff – it’s undeniable – but they feel sure that they know where his True Mind is on the issues, so they’re able to imaginatively construct an ideologically consistent, agenda-driven candidate behind the veil of smears. All they take to be nonsense of flippancy is filtered out as noise.
They hear: immigration, America First, anti-Islam, righteous fury at PC and thought-policing – but mostly the last item.
In a sense, they are people who have learned the lesson of Breitbart too well – politics being downstream from culture. Trump is most definitely a Culture candidate for the Trump Firsters I know.
I know this because when I would ask, “But Cruz IS actually all those things Trumpians PRETEND Trump is, and he is even more loathed by all the right people than Trump is – so what on earth are you doing voting against him?” – when I’d ask this, I would get this glazed-eye look like I was boring them to tears. Trump’s image, his mode, his presentation, trumped all. At this point in time, Reagan could have been running against Trump and they’d have still supported DJT.
Anyway, that’s my two pennies.
Yes, my mother. August 2015 had a conversation. She was on board. Spears my aunt and all of my cousins.
We are a family of well-educated, logic-driven, practical people. We have medical doctors in my family, engineers, and one cousin is married to an immigrant, oh, and veterans.
Also, reconnected with old friend in February or March of this year. She was also long-time Trump supporter with a political science degree!
My SO is, and is blue collar.
My step father (blue collar) liked him initially, dislikes him now. My mother, retired, pink collar, disliked him immediately. Both will probably hold their noses and vote for him.
One retired woman – I know her from my Bible group. Haven’t talked to her in a couple of months. Most of my Bible group is liberal.
2 educated white collar professional women I worked with – 1 Japanese, one Hawaiian. I never got into why, but I think the Islamic issue is big.
I don’t hate him, and will probably vote for him. Better than HRC and her ilk, IMO. I’m white collar professional.
2 guys I work with currently – white collar professionals, both will probably vote for him, but aren’t that thrilled with him.
huxley:
That’s interesting about your cousin’s recent disillusionment with Trump. I wonder if many people share that feeling with him.
Amy: “Angertained.”
That’s just brilliant
Kolnai sums it up in my opinion. In a word–irrational.
I know that many comments have described people who are well educated and rational –in most respects.
I believe taking up this topic is a good sign for readers. No one should be “frightened” out of voting for their party’s candidate by propaganda from the other side. This election is Goldwater II for the Democrats. The establishment is now on board with that – anything to protect their turf. Don’t believe me? Why just this evening they caught Trump telling those horrible gun right supporters to shoot her if she won and came after their guns. Oh, it was only a PC thought control dog whistle, but …hey, confirmation bias will eventually get us there.
kolnai Says: “…they feel sure that they know where his True Mind is on the issues, so they’re able to imaginatively construct an ideologically consistent, agenda-driven candidate behind the veil of smears.”
Is describing this process as “imaginative” appropriate? Ask yourself: Are the people whom I am accusing of doing this vis-a-vis Trump “imaginative” in that way in other aspects of their lives? Or quite the opposite?
If you are at a fashion show and you overhear another observer say: “Nice, but the in-seam is too thick.” and you agree and recognize a fellow seamstress who also has a keen eye, is that “imaginative”?
I’ve always loved that he skewers the media and is antagonistic toward the tyrannical poison of PC doublespeak. I think he was right to illustrate immigration and terrorism.
…but I’ve never wanted to vote for him. I just liked that he was getting key ideas out there and screwing with journalists. I may yet vote for him, but it’s only a vote against HRC, not for Trump.
I don’t know anyone personally who had him as first pick at any time other than when the only other option was HRC.
I don’t know any original Trump supporters. I was a Cruz supporter, now Trump. Must not let Hillary be president. I’m a Jew, a Democrat, and a classic liberal. Same for my wife but she was a Catholic. She worked in Hillary’s national campaign HQ in 2008 and I donated to Hillary’s campaign back then. Due to things that happened that year, we switched our support to McCain. As we anticipated, our country has fared poorly under Obama and Hillary was a disaster as SoS.
Trump is not a politician, though he plays one on TV. He’s an inexperienced neophyte, a newbie, but isn’t that what lots of folks want? Aren’t we tired of slick politicians who lie their way into office using Alinsky’s rules? Can’t we stop being the sheep who ignore the wolf in sheep’s clothing? Sure, Trump does some really stupid things but at least he’s learning. He isn’t a malicious, corrupt ideologue.
Yes. I know more than one.
This post has elicited some fascinating comments; very insightful ones. Particularly Ron, who notes that, in the end, isn’t Trump “what lots of folks want?” I was a journalist in Washington for over 35 years and an accredited White House correspondent all those years. I attended almost all the political conventions. I saw, and in many cases knew, the Presidents and politicians of ever stripe up close. (I semi-retired and left Washington 15 years ago and now live in the little southwestern Pennsylvania town where I was born and raised.)
I have always been a conservative and nominal Republican. I virtually ignored Trump’s entry into the race, thinking it a crazy and passing thing. The first serious pro-Trump talk I heard (as opposed to mere anti-Hillary stuff) was among my fellow firefighters. A lot of it was visceral, inchoate, but I could see an overarching sense among all these guys that they felt disenfranchised and ignored by politicians. Me? I was not initially for Trump, but I delighted in the disruption and particularly in the fact that he did not give a s**t about the thinly disguised Democrat pundits and “journalists” and what they thought. In coming weeks I will endure a lot of wincing and a lot of heartburn because of Trump, but I will vote for him. The biggest reason? He is what he is. Of all the Presidents I covered Reagan (the actor!) was the most genuine person. Trump is a lot like that. Like him or not he is authentically Donald Trump and can be nothing else. Even when he tries to be “more couth,” more “Presidential,” it doesn’t work. He’s that damned Donald. The Devil I know. I’m willing to give him a chance — especially instead of a shameless liar who knows better than me how I should live. All Presidential candidates are by definition ambitious but Hillary gives even ambition a bad name.
and while you muse over dumb stuff that really doesnt have the bearing you think it does… (given history, and other players in the world) the left hand your NOT paying attention to, nor will pay attention to until things get hot, and you wonder, how did it start (it started years ago)?
USSR2: Putin addresses All-Russia People’s Front in Stavropol on Jan. 25, 2016, criticizes Lenin’s legacy, but unwittingly (or not) confirms Anatoliy Golitsyn’s thesis that Soviets would feign their demise, rebuild worldwide communist federation after period of dormancy: “You know that I, like millions of Soviet citizens, over 20 million, was a member of the Communist Party of the USSR and not only was I a member of the party but I worked for almost 20 years for an organization called the Committee for State Security [KGB]. I was not, as you know, a party member by necessity. I liked Communist and socialist ideas very much and I like them still”
Emboldened by Russia’s economic downturn, official (i.e., United Russia) corruption, surge in popular support for Communist Party of Russian Federation (from 15 to 21%), 23-year-old neo-Komsomol chief Vladimir Obukhovsky gloats ahead of Sept. Duma vote: “Communism is the sole system under which our country had it all. Today’s authorities have destroyed everything that was built up by the Soviets. Sooner or later, BY WHATEVER MEANS, the Communist Party will come to power again”
they never really left…
Guns Of August: Fears Of Full-Scale War Return As Casualties Mount In Ukraine – Wednesday, August 10, 2016
Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty
[edited for length by n-n]
A cousin of mine who is evangelical, owns her own business (moved it from California due to overwhelming tax burden) rabid Sarah Palin fan. She believes that Trump’s children trump Trump’s verbal gaffs.
miklos000rosza – Using the word “gratuitous” once is ok, but using it twice is just, I don’t know, what’s the word for it…
Lots of you seem to know reluctant, Trump-as-not-Hillary supporters and a few “Trump firsters”. Does anyone know any of Eric’s heralded alt-right, Alinsky-loving tear-it-all-down activists who sabotaged all the others, especially Cruz, with their Machiavellian tactics to give us the liberal buffoon?
I’d love to hear one gloating about how they did it so we could learn how to fight more effectively against enemies like them hiding on the right as well as compete with the Marxists.
Here I am, a Trump supporter from the beginning. I’m educated, worked self employed and in a financial professional firm. A California native who will move out of state to Nevada when we retire, (an action I could have never have dreamed of in the past) I loath the Democrats, and what they have done to this once great state of California. Illegal aliens, illegal aliens did I mention illegal aliens? The destruction in our schools, housing, health care is criminal, and we have experienced it first hand. Islam, and the un vetting of Muslims into our country, and the violence it has brought. My hatred of Obama, and what he has done to our country. Hillary, a morally corrupt, bankrupt individual..by the way anyone who supports her shows their character, or lack of. I’m half Mexican, and firmly set in the one percent. My husband is highly educated, and a strong Trump supporter, he’s just more quiet than I am. I liked Cruz till Trump came along, and dropped him because he wasn’t “talking” like Trump. Call me what you like a Trumpet, Trumpbat, whatever, its either Trump or Hillary, and there is no way, nor reason I would vote for that vile woman.
I can’t say, but then, I don’t care when someone started liking Trump.
Most of my family has been pro Trump from the beginning. We are of meager origin, hard working people from WV, blue collar – except me and my cousin. We both live in NC and were able to attain college degrees. (I have a PhD in chemistry.) Although I voted for Cruz in the primary, I totally understand my family’s frustration. We don’t like Obamacare, forcing cultural/social ideology on us and the schools, leaders who don’t love America and it’s people, the embarrassing status we now have on the world stage as wimps (not doing anything substantial to take out ISIS), us middle income folks paying endlessly for people who don’t work hard like we do, the lefty media making a mockery of ‘journalism’ such that no one really knows the truth or what is going on, media/political snobs who think people from certain geographical areas and/or without professional degrees are stupid… the list goes on. And, most West Virginians don’t take too kindly to threats to gun ownership. My family truly believes HRC will be the end of the US as we know and love it. The only person that has any real hope of getting us out of this direction is a non politician. The best politician in the world would not last doing what needs to be done. These are the thoughts coming from my neck of the woods.
I am not an intellectual with eloquent writing skills (obviously!) but I love this blog – thank you Neo and all other participants!
I’ve really never met another conservative, much less a Trump supporter. They might exist where I live and work, but it’s much too dangerous to one’s job and health to admit such a heresy. Four years ago, I saw a “Romney” sticker on a car in my apartment’s parking lot. The next day, all of that car’s windows were shattered and the the upholstery inside was slashed to ribbons.
In every presidential election for the rest of our lives, the Republican candidate is going to be relentlessly called “evil”, “racist”, “unhinged”, “dangerous”, and “violent”. One or more pundits will compare the candidate to Hitler in joking-but-not-really-joking sort of way. They’ll claim that the Republican wants to re-legalize slavery. They did it to McCain, and they even did it to the harmless white-bread Romney.
The one thing I’ll say about Trump is that if you come in knowing that the candidate is going to get smeared in all the above ways no matter what he says and how conciliatory and apologetic he is, why not support a candidate who will actually dare to voice concern about Truths That Must Not be Uttered?
Roger Simon supported Trump from the beginning of his campaign. Spengler from the moment his first choice – Ted Cruz – left the contest.
A common theme for supporters here is that Trump vigorously expressed his opinions, and other candidates didn’t. He fought.
I’ve seen that desire isn’t nearly enough to defeat the establishment. You have to have a certain skill set and knowledge base, and IMO Trump doesn’t.
I expect he’ll lose but even if he somehow wins, the best-case scenario I see is him being run circles around by the establishment (you don’t actually think the establishment will ever agree to border enforcement, do you?). 4 completely wasted years, with the added indignity of being mocked for fecklessness the whole time.
Talk is cheap.
I know four people who voted for Trump in the primary – I was a Cruz supporter. My friends are all college-educated, 60 to 80 years old, professionals (retired teacher, retired engineer, retired military/teacher, self-employed fire sprinkler system designer).
They voted for Trump because they were frustrated with the current administration, the economy and liked Trump’s message during the primaries. They are all concerned about his gaffes and how the media really seizes on them. They will still vote for him vs Hillary since they are concerned for their children & grandchildren.
I did ask a couple of them about answering pollsters. They would either refuse to reply to them or lie about their candidate of choice. I suspect that there is a “silent majority” that might make the election interesting.
” I suspect that there is a “silent majority” that might make the election interesting.” – Liz
Sorry. Heard that sentiment before, most especially in 2012 election.
Unless we have some specific objective measurement that says otherwise, the average of the polls is about the best snapshot of what people are thinking right now that we will have. They may be a bit wrong, but I doubt that the 7+ point gap that trump is running behind clinton in the RCP avg is far off.
I have some female friends, in the deep south, three of whom were early Trump supporters — the appeal from what they told me was, “we need a business man who can create jobs.”
I have one friend (woman in her 30’s, Master’s degree, works in healthcare). I asked her why she liked him, and she gave two reasons: she thought she was the only one in the group of candidates who had a chance of winning against HRC, and she had read The Art of The Deal and based on it, she thought he was a savvy businessman.
I know a few. All of them I deem Faux “Right” Kremlin Quislings. I think I understand how they got there. Early in the WoT Russia was touted as some sort of ally in the fight. This in spite of the ominous 16-JUL-01 SCO formation declaration. In any case, the reputed alliance and the shameful “I looked into his eyes” turned a certain cadre of Rightists and Faux “Rightists” into a flock of Quislings. I used to get into it with them on Free Republic, in response to which they would tell me “the cold war is over” blah, blah, blah. This cadre still exists.
Another factor has been infiltration and influence ops into the Western White Nationalist / Neo Nazi constellation. In terms of true shame, allowing such domestic enemies into the Big Tent is up there. Who ever thought the Anti Western fiends would gear their convergence efforts toward the Right and National Socialists? Earlier in my life I did not consider it, but over the past 10 years I have become far more aware. Suvarov / Rezun was spot on with his “Icebreaker” which depicted Soviet convergence operations with the German Nazis.
In any case, this is an unmitigated disaster and may lead us to become a Russian satellite state.