I have been in multiple conversations recently both online and face-to-face with Trump supporters. These are people who voted for Trump to become President, and are still supporters of him today, some 16 months and countless headlines later.
What I am amazed about in having these conversations is that some people are completely willing to overlook everything said and done by the President, and point out the few small successes he has had as President as a basis for their support. Some supporters are open and say that they know of the many things he has done and said, don't agree with much of it, but are willing to overlook it all and look toward the positive things he has done. Other supporters I have talked to take on the same mental model of the President and come out denying all accusations against the President, calling it all a deep state conspiracy to destroy his credibility. One of the most common responses I have received when asking people to explain to me how they can still support Trump after everything that has and is still happening, is one of misdirection. Instead of addressing the issues about Trump, they bring up Hillary and Obama, among other things to redirect the conversation to another subject; in some cases as a deflection because they know Trump's actions are hard to defend, but in many cases because that is the approach the Trump organization has brainwashed into the minds of so many people.
I will start with media coverage. Many supporters state they feel Trump is treated very unfairly by the media, or at least most of the media. Some of this feeling comes as a result of the outright attack campaign Trump has had on his self-proclaimed "Fake News" organizations. It seems that any news organization that publishes news about Trump that is less than favorable, even if the news is completely factual, is dubbed Fake News by the President. He uses this outright attack on the media to fuel the fire in his base and to broaden the stroke of his lie campaign; a campaign that Fox News and a couple of other news agencies eats up and stands behind one hundred percent.
Herein lies one of the major problems. There are many people out there who get their news from one source and one source only; never taking the time to investigate the facts of a specific subject. So what they see on Fox, or for that matter Info Wars (an extreme right-wing conspiracy theory driven news agency), is fact to them. Supporters of Trump look at some of the 'entertainment' shows on these channels that try to push narratives that are not grounded in any facts what-so-ever, and take their rhetoric as gospel.
If you really look at the facts over the past two years and you are a reasonable person, there is no reason to stand up and support a person who has lied and told falsehoods as much as the President has (Thousands of times), who has said so many awful things about minorities, who has said so many great things about autocrats and hate groups, who has denigrated a gold star family, who has spoken about John McCain as someone he doesn't respect because he respects people who don't get caught more (referring to John's time as a POW), who put on and continues to put on a campaign of lies in order to attempt to discredit a very solid investigation by the Special Counsel that is slowly edging closer to Trump's front door, who shows no respect for women historically (having said that now famous line about grabbing them by the pu$$y, having all of the reports come out about how he would go backstage and watch women get undressed at his pageants, having many sexual harassment claims against him by numerous women that he vehemently denies, having said horrible things about specific high profile women to include Megyn Kelly, Mika Brzezinski, Elizabeth Warren, and Military Widow Myeshia Johnson, along with many others), having stood behind candidates like Roy Moore, having made hateful comments about immigrants that come from what he referred to as 'Shit Hole' countries, having....well, I could go on and on, but the more I type the more physically and mentally upset I become.
The fact of the matter is simple. This is a President who has no moral compass. He feels he can say and do what he wants to and get away with it. He has verbally admitted to an interviewer that he lies and tries to deface the media in order to be able to discredit them when they publish something bad about him. He isn't doing it because he believes what is being reported isn't true. He is doing it because he knows what's being reported IS true and wants to head the news off at the pass by discrediting the source of the information. It is a tactic he has used for a very, very long time.
The difference today is that he is no longer Donald Trump, business man. He is the President of the United States. Attacking people, lying about everything, ruining foreign relations with countries we have been allies with for decades, and going on a media rampage with his new lawyer and others in order to discredit a perfectly credible Special Counsel should be unacceptable to all, but it isn't, and that scares me.
Just this morning the President Tweeted out about the media, the 'DEMS', and the Special Counsel, trying to make all of them look bad for reasons that are not based in fact at all. The fact the President is allowed to carry himself in the manner ours does perplexes me. Just the other day, in response to the NFL announcing a new policy on protesting of the National Anthem, he spoke saying that those who don't stand shouldn't play the game and maybe shouldn't be in the country. Last I checked the right to protest issues is a Constitutional Right of the citizens of this great country, and for the President to challenge that and poke his beliefs into that matter at all is concerning. As a veteran I want people to stand for the Anthem, but I also understand that it is their right not to. That is a right that millions of people throughout history including myself have fought for, and for the President to make a statement like that is ignorant and Un-American.
What worries me most is that this is becoming the accepted norm in Washington. That's the way the President is and we just have to live with it because he isn't going to change. I refuse to accept that as an option. We need to stand up as a society and let our Senators, Representatives, and the President and his Administration know that the way he acts, the things that he says, and the things that he does on the world scale and here at home matter to all of us. Just as our Representatives and Senators are the voices of their constituents (which are supposed to be all of us), the President is the voice of our country, and all 320,000,000 citizens who live in it. The citizens consist of people from almost every country on Earth who have all worked hard to make this country what it is today. Those citizens deserve leadership that takes them all into consideration, that isn't racist and xenophobic, and that looks out for the best interests of the country as a whole, to include all of the citizens.
This President makes decisions based on what he feels will make him look good. The decision to move the Embassy to Jerusalem for Israel was a selfish one. The President said that it wasn't showing that he was taking a side, but that's exactly what it did. It showed that the President of the United States, and in turn the United States as a Country, stands by Israel. We stood and watched as 50 people died and a couple thousand were injured on the day of the opening of the Embassy. We stood and watched as a decision made by Trump led to greater disputes in a region already consumed by disputes.
If this is the new definition of 'Presidential' in America, I worry for my children and grand children, because this country is going to fall apart and cease to exist as the melting pot of society it was designed to be.
DUNK
What I am amazed about in having these conversations is that some people are completely willing to overlook everything said and done by the President, and point out the few small successes he has had as President as a basis for their support. Some supporters are open and say that they know of the many things he has done and said, don't agree with much of it, but are willing to overlook it all and look toward the positive things he has done. Other supporters I have talked to take on the same mental model of the President and come out denying all accusations against the President, calling it all a deep state conspiracy to destroy his credibility. One of the most common responses I have received when asking people to explain to me how they can still support Trump after everything that has and is still happening, is one of misdirection. Instead of addressing the issues about Trump, they bring up Hillary and Obama, among other things to redirect the conversation to another subject; in some cases as a deflection because they know Trump's actions are hard to defend, but in many cases because that is the approach the Trump organization has brainwashed into the minds of so many people.
I will start with media coverage. Many supporters state they feel Trump is treated very unfairly by the media, or at least most of the media. Some of this feeling comes as a result of the outright attack campaign Trump has had on his self-proclaimed "Fake News" organizations. It seems that any news organization that publishes news about Trump that is less than favorable, even if the news is completely factual, is dubbed Fake News by the President. He uses this outright attack on the media to fuel the fire in his base and to broaden the stroke of his lie campaign; a campaign that Fox News and a couple of other news agencies eats up and stands behind one hundred percent.
Herein lies one of the major problems. There are many people out there who get their news from one source and one source only; never taking the time to investigate the facts of a specific subject. So what they see on Fox, or for that matter Info Wars (an extreme right-wing conspiracy theory driven news agency), is fact to them. Supporters of Trump look at some of the 'entertainment' shows on these channels that try to push narratives that are not grounded in any facts what-so-ever, and take their rhetoric as gospel.
If you really look at the facts over the past two years and you are a reasonable person, there is no reason to stand up and support a person who has lied and told falsehoods as much as the President has (Thousands of times), who has said so many awful things about minorities, who has said so many great things about autocrats and hate groups, who has denigrated a gold star family, who has spoken about John McCain as someone he doesn't respect because he respects people who don't get caught more (referring to John's time as a POW), who put on and continues to put on a campaign of lies in order to attempt to discredit a very solid investigation by the Special Counsel that is slowly edging closer to Trump's front door, who shows no respect for women historically (having said that now famous line about grabbing them by the pu$$y, having all of the reports come out about how he would go backstage and watch women get undressed at his pageants, having many sexual harassment claims against him by numerous women that he vehemently denies, having said horrible things about specific high profile women to include Megyn Kelly, Mika Brzezinski, Elizabeth Warren, and Military Widow Myeshia Johnson, along with many others), having stood behind candidates like Roy Moore, having made hateful comments about immigrants that come from what he referred to as 'Shit Hole' countries, having....well, I could go on and on, but the more I type the more physically and mentally upset I become.
The fact of the matter is simple. This is a President who has no moral compass. He feels he can say and do what he wants to and get away with it. He has verbally admitted to an interviewer that he lies and tries to deface the media in order to be able to discredit them when they publish something bad about him. He isn't doing it because he believes what is being reported isn't true. He is doing it because he knows what's being reported IS true and wants to head the news off at the pass by discrediting the source of the information. It is a tactic he has used for a very, very long time.
The difference today is that he is no longer Donald Trump, business man. He is the President of the United States. Attacking people, lying about everything, ruining foreign relations with countries we have been allies with for decades, and going on a media rampage with his new lawyer and others in order to discredit a perfectly credible Special Counsel should be unacceptable to all, but it isn't, and that scares me.
Just this morning the President Tweeted out about the media, the 'DEMS', and the Special Counsel, trying to make all of them look bad for reasons that are not based in fact at all. The fact the President is allowed to carry himself in the manner ours does perplexes me. Just the other day, in response to the NFL announcing a new policy on protesting of the National Anthem, he spoke saying that those who don't stand shouldn't play the game and maybe shouldn't be in the country. Last I checked the right to protest issues is a Constitutional Right of the citizens of this great country, and for the President to challenge that and poke his beliefs into that matter at all is concerning. As a veteran I want people to stand for the Anthem, but I also understand that it is their right not to. That is a right that millions of people throughout history including myself have fought for, and for the President to make a statement like that is ignorant and Un-American.
What worries me most is that this is becoming the accepted norm in Washington. That's the way the President is and we just have to live with it because he isn't going to change. I refuse to accept that as an option. We need to stand up as a society and let our Senators, Representatives, and the President and his Administration know that the way he acts, the things that he says, and the things that he does on the world scale and here at home matter to all of us. Just as our Representatives and Senators are the voices of their constituents (which are supposed to be all of us), the President is the voice of our country, and all 320,000,000 citizens who live in it. The citizens consist of people from almost every country on Earth who have all worked hard to make this country what it is today. Those citizens deserve leadership that takes them all into consideration, that isn't racist and xenophobic, and that looks out for the best interests of the country as a whole, to include all of the citizens.
This President makes decisions based on what he feels will make him look good. The decision to move the Embassy to Jerusalem for Israel was a selfish one. The President said that it wasn't showing that he was taking a side, but that's exactly what it did. It showed that the President of the United States, and in turn the United States as a Country, stands by Israel. We stood and watched as 50 people died and a couple thousand were injured on the day of the opening of the Embassy. We stood and watched as a decision made by Trump led to greater disputes in a region already consumed by disputes.
If this is the new definition of 'Presidential' in America, I worry for my children and grand children, because this country is going to fall apart and cease to exist as the melting pot of society it was designed to be.
DUNK
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