Last try. Mild apologies for posting the same thing multiple times; I'm very much hoping one will show up and explain things to me.
Trump Supporters: Tell me why. Without referencing Hillary Clinton. Consider this a 101 course.
This is not an argument thread. This is a listening thread. I'll try to restate what I hear in my own words so that I can understand. If I get that wrong (and I probably will!), do let me know.
Some ground rules:
1. First and foremost, be civil. I'm the arbiter, and will delete without warning and ban if necessary.
2. If you're not a Trump supporter, feel free to sub. And then listen.
3. If you are a Trump support, tell me why and do so without referencing Clinton or Obama. Preferably without referencing any democrat.
Good example:
Supporter: Trump is great because he'll be strong against the ruskies!
Me: I hear you saying that Trump will stand against Russia in a pro-US fashion. Do I hear you right?
Bad example:
Supporter: Trump is great because Obama and Hillary sold us out to the Kremlin!
Me: You mentioned both Obama and Hillary. Please restate without mentioning either.
Ugly Example:
Person A: You should die. You hate America.
Me: BANNED!
I reserve full rights to delete or close this thread at any time, for any or no reason. And to ban anyone who doesn't follow these rules. This post is public public, shareable to any and sundry.
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I'd like to hear this discussion.
ReplyDelete(listening)
ReplyDeleteYou and me both, Robert Bohl . This worked beautifully on the HRC side. I'll talk in a post later about why that might be.
ReplyDelete(still listening)
ReplyDeleteI am not a Trump supporter. However, as a writer/editor in the Legal & Policy Review Unit of the Office of the Federal Register (which conducts the Electoral College), I've fielded several phone calls already from Trump supporters who want to know how the system works. So here are the observations I've made on Trump supporters, based on my interactions with them in these phone calls:
ReplyDelete1. They are extremely frustrated with the federal government, and believe putting a non-politician in office is the answer.
2. They know very little about government at lower/local levels, and often have never even participated in local elections.
3. They have an extreme distrust of HRC, so much so that they are willing to listen to literally anybody who isn't her. Where this distrusts comes from, I have not been able to decipher.
4. They are scared, stressed out, and angry, and many of the people in their localities feel the same way, and (see point 1, above), blame the government for their feelings.
So putting all that together, my general answer to your question "why Trump?" is "People are scared, they don't trust the government, and at this point are so desperate for change that they'll back anyone who can bring something new to the table." Even if that "something new" is racism, fascism, and all the other awful "-isms" that Trump has demonstrated being.
The "solution" to this problem, in my opinion (and I've told these callers in our conversations) is to participate in the democratic process on every level. It's not enough to only care every four years about who's President; get out there and vote for your court judges, your city Comptroller, your Congressmen, your Senators. We don't need less politicians; we need more people to care about the politicians we currently have.
Thanks, Edd Gibbs !
ReplyDeleteThese aren't your opinions, so before I ask some follow ups, I'm gonna ask: Are you comfortable with follow up and clarification questions?
Ask whatever you'd like, William Nichols.
ReplyDeleteCool. And I know you're a fed on top of it not being your position, so if there's anything where you feel that you ought not answer, I'll for sure understand.
ReplyDeleteI hear you saying that the Trump-identified supporters you've spoken to distrust the federal government, and believe anyone at all from outside the government is better than anyone inside the government. Do I hear you right?
I hear you saying they blame the federal government for feeling of anxiety and sadness, and a feeling of a loss of control. Do I hear you right?
I hear you also saying that they don't know how the political process works, and don't vote in local elections. Do I hear that correctly?
I just went to reddit's The Donald page, trying to find something -- some reason for support that is neither anti obama or anti clinton.
ReplyDeleteI found one: anti will smith.
I don't understand, and feel like a shower.
You hear all of that correctly, sir. This is pure conjecture, but it seems like many of the Trump supporters I've talked to are well-aware that Trump is out of control, but their resentment and distrust of the government is just that great.
ReplyDeleteEdd Gibbs Fascinating.
ReplyDeleteWhat do they think the government has done that is so wrong? Is this a reaction to jobs disappearing, with maybe a blame on the TPP, NAFTA, and currency manipulation?
International trade is definitely a recurrent theme; specifically, the amount of money/aid/attention we give other countries and "ignore" our own.
ReplyDeleteThe broader theme, though, is fear. It's almost as if some group of elites created a culture of fear and it's now come back to bite them...
I have no idea what it means that the only person who can tell me the views of Trump supports is a fed whose job is communicating how elections work.
ReplyDeleteI do not understand this at all.
I bet you'd have a bigger response on Facebook.
ReplyDeleteI am not on the facebooks dot com, Robert Bohl .
ReplyDeleteQuora?
ReplyDeleteRobert Bohl Top answer from Quoro is: The protection of Social Security.
ReplyDeleteHuh. It can't be that simple. Can it?
So a little off topic, but the WSJ has a really interesting article this morning on the correlation between geographical areas hardest hit by trade with China and trump supporters.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.wsj.com/articles/how-the-china-shock-deep-and-swift-spurred-the-rise-of-trump-1470929543
But this almost throw away statement is my favorite: "What happened with Chinese imports is an example of how much of the conventional wisdom about economics that held sway in the late 1990s, including the role of trade, technology and central banking, has since slowly unraveled."
.
ReplyDelete