Adam Serwer: The Trump-Trumpist Divide

[Nevilledog]

https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2024/11/trump-promises-popularity/680730/

No paywall link

https://www.smry.ai/proxy?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theatlantic.com%2Fpolitics%2Farchive%2F2024%2F11%2Ftrump-promises-popularity%2F680730%2F


Members of Donald Trump’s inner circle understandably wish to interpret the election results as a mandate for the most extreme right-wing policies, which include conducting mass deportations and crushing their political enemies.

But how many Trump supporters think that’s what they voted for?

Many seem not to—persisting in their denial of not only Trump’s negative qualities and the extremism of his advisers, but the idea that he would implement policies they disagreed with. There were the day laborers who seemed to think that mass deportations would happen only to people they—as opposed to someone like the Trump adviser Stephen Miller—deemed criminals. There was the restaurant owner and former asylum seeker who told CNN that deporting law-abiding workers “wouldn’t be fair,” and that Trump would not “throw [them] away; they don’t kick out, they don’t deport people that are family-oriented.” There are the pro-choice Trump voters who don’t believe that he will impose dramatic federal restrictions on abortion; the voters who support the Affordable Care Act but pulled the lever for the party that intends to repeal it.

This denial suggests that voting for Trump was not an endorsement of those things but a rebuke of an incumbent party for what voters saw as a lackluster economy. The consistent theme here is that Trump advisers have a very clear authoritarian and discriminatory agenda, one that many Trump voters don’t believe exists or, to the extent it does, will not harm them. That is remarkable, delusional, and frightening. But it is not a mandate.

During the last weeks of the campaign, when I was traveling in the South speaking with Trump voters, I encountered a tendency to deny easily verifiable negative facts about Trump. For example, one Trump voter I spoke with asked me why Democrats were “calling Trump Hitler.” The reason was that one of Trump’s former chiefs of staff, the retired Marine general John Kelly, had relayed the story about Trump wanting “the kind of generals that Hitler had,” and saying that “Hitler did some good things.”

*snip*

[Fiendish Thingy]

1. The bigger question is: how will they respond when Trump does what their denial insists he won't do?

Will they see the light and support democrats?

I’m not talking about his base, who want and expect him to keep his extreme policy promises, I’m talking those folks described in the excerpts above- the “leopards wouldn’t dare eat my face” crowd.

[enough]

2. Reap the whirlwind.

[nature-lover]

3. Their news media only covered his lies for four years and they were believers.

They will deny the new reality as long as they can.

[Bread and Circuses]

4. The Felon voters are in denial

I keep reading that the Felon voters were upset with the economy. They’re lying , they don’t want to admit there is something they want to emulate in the Felon.
Perhaps they hate women, are violent, or are bullies. Many are angry and refuse to inform themselves. It’s easier to complain about the cost of eggs or gas.

I have an answer for them. Become Vegan, don’t drive - ride a bike or take public transportation. If you must drive , pay an electric car. And don’t complain about price of electric cars.

Just stop complaining about your own decisions. Make a budget and stick to it. That’s what I’ve done my entire life. No credit card debt. Yes, I do know disabled and very low income folks and they receive support from the County. I gladly pay taxes to help the needy.

They lie to themselves and we suffer for that.

The economy is booming. Inflation is OK.

Corporate greed and misdirection is another problem.