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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsHas Trump Overestimated the Cruelty of His Own Supporters?
http://prospect.org/article/has-trump-overestimated-cruelty-his-own-supportersHas Trump Overestimated the Cruelty of His Own Supporters?
Paul Waldman
June 17, 2018
After his family separation policy ignited a conservative backlash, Trump tried to pin the new initiative on Democrats.
snip//
When the president says "I hate the children being taken away," he's lying, just as surely as he's lying about this all being the fault of the Democrats. If he were telling the truth, he'd do something about it. But this is the path he chose, precisely because he saw traumatizing children and parents as an effective tool to deter immigration.
While most of us would not characterize Donald Trump as a particularly smart man, he has long possessed a kind of dark genius for locating and exploiting what is worst in people. As a businessman he harnessed people's greed and envy to enrich himself, while as a politician he cultivated resentment, hatred, and fear. Few people realized that those malevolent forces could be so powerful they would overcome any hesitation voters might have about electing such an obviously corrupt con artist to the most powerful position on earth, but about that at least, he was right.
Yet today he's testing the limits of the voters and Republican politicians who helped him become president. How much hypocrisy will the "family values" party tolerate? How much cruelty can they stomach? Do they really see immigrants, even children, as subhuman?
The reaction to this ongoing controversy suggests that as a group, conservatives may not be quite as sadistic as the president hoped they would be. It's hard to find more than a few Republicans not in Trump's direct employ who are willing to publicly defend this policy, even if most of them respond in that tone we've gotten used to, the one that says, "I'm deeply uncomfortable with this, but please don't ask me if I'm going to do anything about it."
If nothing else, supporting the president for the last couple of years has not left them without a few remaining ounces of shame. Imagine what would happen if they actually stood up to him.
DemocratSinceBirth
(99,710 posts)randr
(12,412 posts)The only thing Trump has under-estimated was the backlash from the public and the media... His only strategy is to keep it together and ride out the storm long enough for us to 'normalize' it like we've done everything else...
At least until the next big thing comes along...
Guy Whitey Corngood
(26,501 posts)hatrack
(59,587 posts)Next question?
edhopper
(33,587 posts)but we have to stop worrying about reaching his idiot supporters.
There aren't enough of them for him to win. We should look at those who were blind enough to vote for him, but didn't stop to look at what he would do.
Volaris
(10,272 posts)My gut tells me they might care if those were white kids, but even that seems dependant on the circumstances. His supporters don't seem to give a fuck if white kids get shot for going to school soooo...yeah.
Nope not even close. If anything, he's underestimated the levels of cruelty and hate they are capable of.
Gothmog
(145,321 posts)They are happy with torturing children
Johonny
(20,851 posts)His base is lock solid disgusting people
Freethinker65
(10,024 posts)RKP5637
(67,111 posts)DemocratSinceBirth
(99,710 posts)Marcuse
(7,488 posts)heaven05
(18,124 posts)woe. MAGA amerikkka, same as old time wild west, early slavery, genocidal ameriKKKa, segregationist ameriKKKa. A few bright, hopeful spots, some dreams dying with fatal doses of lead or are respected ex-POTUS'S. Millennia-old trees are dying off, recently. They feel and are nourished by this small finite ball of dirt.
https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2018/06/baobab-trees-dying-climate-change/562499/
We are hurting ourselves and our planet.
jberryhill
(62,444 posts)Trump supporters want to know why they aren't being executed.
heaven05
(18,124 posts)DFW
(54,405 posts)There will be the odd Republican here and there who discovers a conscience lurking where one was not suspected. However, by and large, I think most of them are perfectly happy. I've seen a few blog posts. Monotonously parroting "they broke the law," so they deserve whatever fate Sessions and Miller can dream up for them, blah, blah.
Gothmog
(145,321 posts)SamKnause
(13,108 posts)BannonsLiver
(16,396 posts)They are beside themselves with joy and celebration of children in cages.
Gothmog
(145,321 posts)COLGATE4
(14,732 posts)I put on a wet suit and went sewer diving over to Jim Bob's "site" to see what the great thinkers had to say about this. Here are some unedited samples. These people have gone way past any bottom known to any person with even a marginally functioning moral compass. Fair warning - you will need to take a shower after reading these gems!
To: ChicagoConservative27
Mass media is the propaganda wing of communism for the world. They will print and say anything to make it happen. We need a law that says if any news organization prints a politically false statement the owner gets the death penalty. Opinion stated as opinion will be exempt. How ever items reported or inferred to be the truth are w hat this law is for.
13 posted on 6/19/2018, 9:29:07 AM by
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To: ChicagoConservative27
In every conversation about it with liberals I lead with if I believed the picture of that little kid in a cage was real Id be pissed too. Now the picture has an explanation which is a nice addition to the conversation. Then I channel my inner numbers USA and ask how many more third world citizens live in fear and poverty and how do you think we can help them all. That leads to help them there. If we havent reached reality by now they are no longer my friends. I will not let my friends compare me to Hitler and they should already know I care about my fellow man.
14 posted on 6/19/2018, 9:29:37 AM by ( I always smile when my competition doubles down on stupid.)
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To: ProtectOurFreedom
I didnt get that far. Im gonna ####ing throw up.
YOUR FRIEND WANTS BABIES ABORTED, THREAD POSTER. HE WANTS THE COUNTRY OVERRUN BY ILLEGALS THAT WILL NOT THINK TWICE ABOUT RAPING AND KILLING YOUR DAUGHTERS/WIFE/GIRLFRIEND/FIANCE/NIECE.
HED TAKE YOUR GUNS BY GUNPOINT, IRONICALLY.
But by all means, dont lose that friend.
15 posted on 6/19/2018, 9:32:29 AM by (The Left should know if Trump is kicked out of office, it is WAR!)
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To: ChicagoConservative27
If he is going to the Hitler card, especially so soon, then he is not smart and has already lost the argument and is not susceptible to logic or reason. He is either crazy or dumb.
16 posted on 6/19/2018, 9:35:48 AM by
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To: ChicagoConservative27
I guess if I were born poor but wanted a better life I could break into some rich persons home and they would have to feed me and provide shelter while some judge somewhere decided if I was going to be kicked out.
17 posted on 6/19/2018, 9:36:34 AM by (BUILD KATE'S WALL!)
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To: ChicagoConservative27
I'm a pretty smart guy, but there was a time when I voted 'rat and frankly, didn't know jack $hit. I believed all the leftist mantras - "republicans only care about the wealthy", "republicans are racist", "republicans want old people to eat dog food", etc. I voted for Clinton in '92, but by '94, I was a full-fledged republican. The difference is that I educated myself in those two years. If your friend does not do likewise, he will continue to be clueless.
18 posted on 6/19/2018, 9:36:40 AM by (Time to get the US out of the UN and the UN out of the US!)
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To: lgjhn23
Its eventually gonna come to a full boiling point where were no longer going to be able to coexist with these insane, violent tyrants. For our own survival, Its gonna be ugly and bloody. They have started it, not us. We have very right to defend ourselves from em. And defend ourselves, we will.
Sad, but true.
area51
(11,910 posts)that if they get "We need a law that says if any news organization prints a politically false statement the owner gets the death penalty.", Faux "news" will lose their owner to the death penalty.
COLGATE4
(14,732 posts)that "law" since it would rid us of Fux News!