My political rant of the day

i think AM conservative talk radio with no fairness doctrine is more responsible than Tony Soprano and Vito Corleone….

these guys on AM talk can spew any opinion they want without being challenged nor corrected….

In my view, people are attributing far too much to Trump himself, as far as his “base” is concerned. He inherited the vast majority of it, simply by being the GOP standard bearer. The same people who voted for Romney, McCain, Dubya, Bush Sr, etc. etc. voted for Trump. If they’re old enough, the same people who voted for Reagan, Nixon, Goldwater and so on.

There’s no doubt in my mind that if Trump had run as an independent, he would have been crushed by the GOP nominee. If Kasich or Rubio, for instance, had won, they would have had at least as large a group of diehards behind them, if not larger.

Trump, on his own, brings very few new people into the GOP, and he loses more than most would to the Dems.

This is why I think the Dems make a huge mistake if they think the answer is to chase after Trump voters. They’re not going to vote Dem anyway. Smarter way to win in 2020? Go after the people who staid home who lean left. They’re virtually the only ones available in the “undecided” column.

Side note: Jack posted it earlier, but when I saw the article at the NYT, I was livid. Trump was told that it was illegal to just shoot migrants, which he called for. He wanted to do that. So he kept trying to figure out ways to end this manufactured border “crisis” that were legal, and was told, repeatedly, “No, Mr. President,” you can’t do that.” He changed to shooting them in the legs, electrifying the fence, putting flesh-ripping spikes on the top of the wall, adding moats with snakes and alligators in them.

The man is a sadist and a monster.

At this point, going back to the topic above, the main reason why he keeps his base gives support for some recent studies on levels of stubbornness in humans. Those right of center, ideologically, the studies showed, tend to dig in even more when they’re confronted with facts. As in, they cling even harder to their stances, if criticized. Left of center people tend to reassess and give up on older positions, if the facts warrant this.

Obviously, these studies were about aggregate behavior, not individual. Exceptions galore exist and are assumed.

wv wrote:

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Yeah, I think thats true that many were Reps who switched to Obama, but it doesnt really change the issue. They ‘could’ have just stayed the course and voted for Hillary, who was essentially a continuation of Obama.
But they rejected that totally.

Somethin about the Dems just pissed em off, i guess 🙂

….Has any National American Politician ‘ever’ gotten people’s blood up
as much as Donald Trump? Lincoln maybe?

w
v

Just a guess, but I think it’s a good one: Obama is likeable. HRC isn’t. As mentioned before, most voters pick a team and stick with it. Those who don’t, typically vote on the basis of connection with the candidate. HRC was never good at that. She could maintain the Dem lifers, but not expand the tent. Obama could expand it.

As for getting the blood up. Dubya did that for me when he was prez. I had a visceral reaction to just seeing him on the screen, or hearing him. He pizzed me off to no end. Now he seems tame in comparison with Trump.

Another side note: Trump lies more than any previous politician that we know of, and he does so in public. I think this gave him and his admin cover to do all kinds of rotten shit behind the scenes, cuz we thought we’d know all about it, given Trump’s public lying. In recent days, we’ve learned that, for years, Trump, Giuliani, Pompeo, Pence and now Barr, have been busy trying to discredit the Russian interference story, to make HRC and the Dems the villains instead.

Trump has managed, without our knowing it, to get much of the government to work for his personal benefit. Not since Nixon have we seen anything like this, and more will come out in the coming weeks and months.

In short, Trump’s clown show of sorts masks his often successful attempt to manipulate the so-called “deep state” to his own advantage. All too many media types assumed it would be all out in the open, that he was too stupid and too ignorant to hide stuff, that his ego wouldn’t allow the secrecy needed. Looks like we’ve been way wrong for some time now.