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The Disunited States of Trump (Trump Thread #104)

988 replies

TheNorthWestPawsage · 02/09/2020 14:25

Trump used manipulation and race-baiting four years ago. He’s at it again. We are weary and worried but we shall persist.

Cartoon by Chris Riddell.

Previous thread:
www.mumsnet.com/Talk/am_i_being_unreasonable/3983600-Less-than-100-days-and-counting-Trump-thread-103?msgid=99566209#99566209

The Disunited States of Trump (Trump Thread #104)
OP posts:
Thread gallery
26
Roussette · 22/09/2020 21:52

Wishing

Your first three paras have summed it up.

Scary.

And on the first of the debates....

NEW: Chris Wallace, moderator of the first presidential debate, has selected topics for the 9/29 debate – The Trump and Biden Records, The Supreme Court, Covid-19, The Economy, Race and Violence in our Cities, The Integrity of the Election

TheNorthWestPawsage · 22/09/2020 22:15

As was commented on upthread - this is the attitude of most Trump supporters.

Trump is trailing in the polls, but his voters still love his chances
www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2020/09/22/trump-is-trailing-polls-his-voters-still-love-his-chances/

Not all the Trump-Pence campaign signs dotting the landscape carry familiar slogans like “Make America Great Again,” “Keep America Great” or “Promises Kept.” An increasing number cut right to the chase, declaring, in the kind of off-color language often employed by the president himself, “Trump 2020: No more bull----.”


The exact nature of the b.s. in question no doubt differs in the mind of each voter. It might boil down to annoyance over political correctness run amok, or disrespect shown to “flag and country” by athletes and others kneeling during the national anthem, or protests in cities that often morphed into violence and destruction, or freedom-crushing restrictions masquerading as coronavirus mandates or, most recently, the notion that Trump should ignore his duty to nominate a justice to fill a Supreme Court vacancy.


For others, “b.s.” might simply reflect the inordinate amount of attention devoted to feelings and emotions, as opposed to tangible actions and accomplishments. That Democratic nominee Joe Biden is a more empathetic character than Trump is a stipulated fact, apparently important to many pundits and reporters but irrelevant to the average Trump supporter.


Trump voters long ago tuned out conventional wisdom from mainstream media voices. From the start, the daily drumbeat of negativity about this president quickly reached, to them, comical proportions. They are not surprised that, as the home stretch of the 2020 election arrives, there is a full-blown avalanche of anti-Trump books and revelations bolstered by wall-to-wall media coverage, perfectly timed for maximum Trump-bashing impact.


Trump famously said he could shoot someone and not lose support, which was not true when he said it, but might be now. If it transpired tomorrow, the reporting on it would blend into the woodwork of every Trump story over the past four years that was recklessly overhyped, of which there were far too many. If those journalists who have let Trump get under their skin were honest, they would admit democracy has been ill-served as a result of their own blindness toward their duty to be fair and detached, even in covering those they despise and who despise them.




Still, despite preposterously negative press coverage and subsequent bad poll numbers, it’s interesting to hear, in casual conversation, the degree to which Trump’s supporters share a serene assurance that their man will be reelected. “I don’t believe the polls,” one longtime GOP activist told me last week. “It’s going to be just like four years ago.”


Trump voters have no doubt that they are again being underappreciated in the media and underrepresented in surveys. But another reason is their confidence that every last Trump supporter in America will vote, come hell, high water or covid-19.


Among the easiest jobs in the political world must be serving as Get-Out-the-Vote (GOTV) director for the Trump campaign. In most cases, GOTV directors — be they Republican or Democrat — spend fitful days and nights devising sophisticated ways to drive every last sympathetic voter to the polls. Trump voters need no artificial stimulation.


Take the recent “rolling rallies,” impressive collections of Trump voters taking to the nation’s highways to fly their flags for the president. The events are publicized mostly on social media and by word of mouth. This month, more than 6,000 people signed up to participate in a motorcade celebrating Trump that circled Cincinnati’s I-275 beltway for as far as the eye could see. Rally participant Judie Howard explained her dedication in terms of what she owed Trump. “He was chosen by God for us,” she said, adding that riding in the rally is “the least we can do.” Similar rallies have been held across the nation. It’s hard to imagine Biden inspiring comparable levels of grass-roots enthusiasm.




But while passion is important — and Trump’s supporters are arguably more zealous than those of any candidate in modern history — it doesn’t guarantee that when the votes are tabulated, the president’s legions won’t be outnumbered by a combination of Democrats, Never-Trump Republicans and independents who desperately want anyone but Trump in the Oval Office. While Biden doesn’t personally generate much passion, he will benefit from Trump haters everywhere, who collectively are a fervent lot.


For Trump voters, though, a Biden victory is inconceivable. Trump is the only plain talker preventing political correctness from overwhelming their lives; the bulwark against old-fashioned, flag-saluting patriotism vanishing into history; the firewall against Big Brother imposing overly restrictive mandates on healthy Americans in the name of safety and security.


In short, Trump is the only thing standing between them and a bleak future of entrenched, irreversible, institutional b.s. It’s all the motivation they need.

OP posts:
Lweji · 22/09/2020 22:58

I don't know about shooting someone, but he can certainly golf a lot more than Obama.

www.businessinsider.com/trump-golfed-25-times-covid-19-spread-killed-over-200000-2020-9

lionheart · 22/09/2020 23:42

RBG. How far women have come, how far they have to go ...

www.motherjones.com/recharge/2020/09/your-remembrances-of-rbg-are-powerfully-insightful-heres-a-sample-keep-them-coming/?utm_source=twitter&utm_campaign=naytev&utm_medium=social

'I was born in 1949 and RBG changed my life. Before she helped change the laws dealing with women’s rights, I couldn’t get a credit card in my name. In the want ads, jobs for men were listed separately from jobs for women & I wasn’t allowed to apply for any job listed for men. The laws were crazy & discriminated against women in many ways. Ruth changed that & I will be eternally grateful.'

AcrossthePond55 · 23/09/2020 01:02

Almost forgot!

It's still Tuesday here and 42 days until the election, 120 until the inauguration.

Lweji · 23/09/2020 07:50

Another Republican dissident.
I suspect her husband, former Republican Presidential candidate, would have too.

www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/sep/22/cindy-mccain-rebukes-trump-and-publicly-endorses-joe-biden

Roussette · 23/09/2020 08:09

That must've taken a lot for Cindy McCain to endorse Biden.

@realDonaldTrump
Our GREAT RALLY tonight in Pennsylvania. Tremendous energy! #MAGA

Shocking. Trumpy is just ignorning covid now. Here's a pic of his superspreader event....

The Disunited States of Trump (Trump Thread #104)
BruceAndNosh · 23/09/2020 08:20

[quote lionheart]Voter suppression in Florida:

www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-news/florida-gop-takes-voter-suppression-to-a-brazen-new-extreme-184830/[/quote]
That article is dated 2012.
However I suspect the journalist could cut and paste and re date it as 2020

BruceAndNosh · 23/09/2020 08:22

@Roussette

That must've taken a lot for Cindy McCain to endorse Biden.

@realDonaldTrump
Our GREAT RALLY tonight in Pennsylvania. Tremendous energy! #MAGA

Shocking. Trumpy is just ignorning covid now. Here's a pic of his superspreader event....

As somebody suggested upthread, Trump demands these rallies but doesn't go down into the crowds and shake hands...
Lweji · 23/09/2020 09:30

Unless Cindy was a closet Democrat. Grin

Meanwhile, Fauci says Trump can't possibly have any idea how soon to expect a vaccine because nobody in the administration will have even seen the data.

www.businessinsider.com/anthony-fauci-coronavirus-vaccine-data-trump-administration-2020-9

Roussette · 23/09/2020 09:47

Another nail in the coffin for Fauci saying that then...

lionheart · 23/09/2020 09:58

Pinch of salt of course:

projects.economist.com/us-2020-forecast/president?utm_campaign=us2020-forecast&utm_medium=social-organic&utm_source=twitter

'Right now, our model thinks Joe Biden is very likely to beat Donald Trump in the electoral college.'

PerkingFaintly · 23/09/2020 10:34

I'm stunned at Cindy McCain.

AskingQuestionsAllTheTime · 23/09/2020 10:57

Polls said Hillary would win. It makes sense to ignore the polls and keep on striving, even if they make us feel better at the time; they might be wrong now too. And even if they are right, unless the landslide is so large even Trump cannot pretend he can't see it, there is still need for those who want to prevent Trump from destroying America for once and all to keep going.

(I do love seeing polls that put him in the cellar, even so. Are there any that have Trump in the lead, now?)

If I lived in the States I would at this point put all the money I could spare onto a win for Trump at the longest odds I could find, so that if he did win I'd have enough money to drink myself into oblivion for four years or possibly emigrate.

PerkingFaintly · 23/09/2020 11:24

Trump campaign will be working very hard at voter suppression now.

Little messages of last minute doubt.

Lots of "hills to die on" offered to principled voters, urging them to hurl away their suffrage for a warm glow of virtue about their particular issue.

There will be issues blow up from obscurity to become the Most Important Thing Ever... for one week only. I'm tempted to open a book on what the Issues might be, except the one thing you can foresee is that there will be things you can't foresee. For a campaign unbridled by truth or morality, imagination is their only limit.

And the cruder, old-skool stuff of closing polling stations and removing voters from the roll for creative reasons.

Roussette · 23/09/2020 11:31

If I lived in the States I would at this point put all the money I could spare onto a win for Trump at the longest odds I could find, so that if he did win I'd have enough money to drink myself into oblivion for four years or possibly emigrate

Love this, oh yes!

lionheart · 23/09/2020 11:36

Asking that's an excellent plan.

Polls are also a tool for voter suppression.

Butterer · 23/09/2020 11:42

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

lionheart · 23/09/2020 11:45

www.businessinsider.com/trump-redefines-success-after-covid-19-deaths-surpass-200000-2020-9?r=US&IR=T

In March:

'"You're talking about 2.2 million deaths," Trump said. "So if we can hold that down, as we're saying, to 100,000, it's a horrible number, maybe even less, but to 100,000, so we have between 100 [thousand] and 200,000, we altogether have done a very good job."

By his own standard, Trump has failed. '

BruceAndNosh · 23/09/2020 16:22

I just had a look at the Official Trump merchandise site.
Loads of MAGA hats, and they've already got a "FILL THAT SEAT" t shirt.

And not a single mask