On 4/30/2020 9:58 AM, Gary wrote:
> I will say one thing. You are certainly steady in your hatred
> of everything Trump.
An anguished question from a Trump supporter: "Why do liberals think
Trump supporters are stupid?"
The serious answer: Here’s what we really think about Trump supporters -
the rich, the poor, the malignant and the innocently well-meaning, the
ones who think and the ones who don't...
That when you saw a man who had owned a fraudulent University, intent on
scamming poor people, you thought "Fine."
That when you saw a man who had made it his business practice to stiff
his creditors, you said, "Okay."
That when you heard him proudly brag about his own history of sexual
abuse, you said, "No problem."
That when he made up stories about seeing Muslim-Americans in the
thousands cheering the destruction of the World Trade Center, you said,
"Not an issue."
That when you saw him brag that he could shoot a man on Fifth Avenue and
you wouldn't care, you chirped, "He sure knows me."
That when you heard him illustrate his own character by telling that
cute story about the elderly guest bleeding on the floor at his country
club, the story about how he turned his back and how it was all an
imposition on him, you said, "That's cool!"
That when you saw him mock the disabled, you thought it was the funniest
thing you ever saw.
That when you heard him brag that he doesn't read books, you said,
"Well, who has time?"
That when the Central Park Five were compensated as innocent men
convicted of a crime they didn't commit, and he angrily said that they
should still be in prison, you said, "That makes sense."
That when you heard him tell his supporters to beat up protesters and
that he would hire attorneys, you thought, "Yes!"
That when you heard him tell one rally to confiscate a man's coat before
throwing him out into the freezing cold, you said, "What a great guy!"
That you have watched the parade of neo-Nazis and white supremacists
with whom he curries favor, while refusing to condemn outright Nazis,
and you have said, "Thumbs up!"
That you hear him unable to talk to foreign dignitaries without
insulting their countries and demanding that they praise his electoral
win, you said, "That's the way I want my President to be."
That you have watched him remove expertise from all layers of government
in favor of people who make money off of eliminating protections in the
industries they're supposed to be regulating and you have said, "What a
genius!"
That you have heard him continue to profit from his businesses, in part
by leveraging his position as President, to the point of overcharging
the Secret Service for space in the properties he owns, and you have
said, "That's smart!"
That you have heard him say that it was difficult to help Puerto Rico
because it was the middle of water and you have said, "That makes
sense."
That you have seen him start fights with every country from Canada to
New Zealand while praising Russia and quote, "falling in love" with the
dictator of North Korea, and you have said, "That's statesmanship!"
That Trump separated children from their families and put them in cages,
managed to lose track of 1500 kids. has opened a tent city incarceration
camp in the desert in Texas - he explains that they’re just “animals” -
and you say, “well, ok then.”
That you saw him brag about dodging the draft, claiming not getting an
STI was his own ‘personal Vietnam’, insult a Gold star family, insult a
War hero and yet still claim to love the military, and you thought,
“most definitely he does.”
That you saw how they had to cover the name of the warship the USS John
McCain when Trump was in Japan and not allow any of her sailors to meet
with him because they knew Trump would be triggered if he saw that name,
and you thought, “that's real maturity right there.”
That you have witnessed all the thousand and one other manifestations of
corruption and low moral character and outright animalistic rudeness and
contempt for you, the working American voter, and you still show up
grinning and wearing your MAGA hats and threatening to beat up anybody
who says otherwise.
What you don't get, Trump supporters in 2019, is that succumbing to
frustration and thinking of you as stupid may be wrong and unhelpful,
but it's also...hear me...charitable.
Because if you're NOT stupid, we must turn to other explanations, and
most of them are less flattering.