Trump Supporters Aren’t Stupid — This has been going on since Bacon's rebellion in 1676. This is the analysis I have been trying to get white liberals to understand my whole adult life.

One thing that has been interesting to me is people use a rhetoric on other democrats that is similar to what they use on republicans. I just read this comment on facebook:

There is NO logical reason Hillary Clinton should be beating Bernie Sanders by such large margins. I’m left to believe that 1) these voters think they’re getting Bill Clinton, Part 2 or 2) they have fallen prey to the worst of logical fallacies — Hillary is a woman; therefore, she will effect policy and cultural change for both women and minorities.

Here’s the thing, I know plenty of Clinton supporters and they’re not dumb. The Clinton supporters I personally know tend to be male programmers capable of rational thought who have spoken to me at length about the policy differences between Bill and Hillary. The most frequently cited reason I’ve heard for voting for Hillary is that people perceive her to be more electable against a republican candidate. How electable either candidate will be against Trump is unknowable, but to vote based on a best guess given the information you know is not illogical. It is necessary.

If you’re a Sanders supporter and you want to win over Clinton supporters, you’re going to have to address the reasons they’re voting for Clinton. And, if you assume that Clinton supporters are too dumb to know what’s best for them, if you assume you know what they need better than they do, then you are wrong. Your arguments will be patronizing, and you will remain unconvincing.

Which, brings me to how we talk about Trump supporters. While the majority of democrats I know do tend to keep it civil with each other, nearly all of them will rail on “ignorant” republicans who “vote against their own best interests.” Thing is, Trump supporters don’t vote against their best interests, democrats just don’t understand the interest they care about most.

It’s dignity.

One of my favorite stories is Mike DeStefano interview about going on a motorcycle ride with his dying wife. It’s a beautiful, you should read it or listen to it. Anyway, at some point he says:

[Dying] people, they feel “I’m alive.” They pass away at one moment. Until that moment, they are alive, and they want to be loved, and they want to give and share, you know.

Until that moment, they want to give and share. Giving and sharing is as important to life as being loved.



We are depriving the white working classes of their means to give. As we export manufacturing jobs internationally and as we streamline labor with technology, we start moving people to the sidelines. It’s not just that they have less money, it’s that their identity as providers is being threatened. This is why they are often so against welfare. Even if it would fix their financial situation, it would not fix their identity problems. It would hurt their dignity. While the working class is undoubtedly worried about the economy, we already know many will not vote in their economic best interests. They vote for the candidate who promises a return to dignity, and it’s not because they’re dumb. It’s because they care about their dignity more than they care about their finances.



Which, by the way, directly ties in to how they are racist. Not all Trump supporters are necessarily racist, but a fair number of them explicitly are. Normally, when liberals talk about racism, they use “racist” as an end point. “Trump is racist” is, by itself, a reason not to vote for him, and “being racist” is an indicator of a person who is morally deficient.



But, if you don’t take this as an end point — if you instead ask “what do people get out of being racist?” — you’ll start to unravel the emotional motivations behind it. One of the best unpacking of this I have read is Matt Bruenig’s piece Last Place Avoidance and Poor White Racism. To summarize, no one wants to occupy the “last” place in society. No one wants to be the most despised. As long as racism remains intact, poor white people are guaranteed not to be “the worst.” If racism is ever truly dismantled, then poor white people will occupy the lowest rung of society, and the shame of occupying this position is very painful. This shame is so painful, that the people at risk of feeling it will vote on it above all other issues.



Trump Supporters Aren’t Stupid — Medium

Ted Koppel shred Bill O'Reilly for making journalism "irrelevant" when it comes to Donald Trump

Recommended read from Salon.com: Watch Ted Koppel shred Bill O'Reilly for making journalism "irrelevant" when it comes to Donald Trump

"On "The O'Reilly Factor" Wednesday evening, host Bill O'Reilly welcomed former "Nightline" host Ted Koppel onto the show -- but as it turned out, Koppel wasn't interested in playing the role of a polite guest, especially not on the subject of Donald Trump.

"I've interviewed him a number of times," O'Reilly said, and it's "not an easy interview. How would you do it?"

"You and I have talked about this general subject many times over the years," Koppel said. "It’s irrelevant how I would do it."

"You know who made it irrelevant?" he asked. "You did. You have changed the television landscape over the past 20 years. You took it from being objective and dull to subjective and entertaining. And in this current climate, it doesn’t matter what the interviewer asks him -- Mr. Trump is gonna say whatever he wants to say, as outrageous as it may be."

A stunned O'Reilly repeated the question, to which Koppel replied, "the first way you do it is not in the interview — you do it by some reporting. It’s an old-fashioned concept but I think demonstrating who and what Mr. Trump is and what his policies really amount to is something you don’t do in an interview. He doesn’t answer the questions."

Koppel took this as an opportunity to light into Trump's policies -- or lack thereof. "When was the last time you have heard Donald Trump spell out a real policy on anything other than, ‘We’re gonna be the best, we’re gonna be the greatest, I’m gonna negotiate the best deals you’ve ever seen'?"

"There is no substance in any of that," he concluded, "and nobody among his followers seems to care about that."

Recommended read from Salon.com: Blowing up the GOP to stop Trump: Republicans exploring plots to sabotage him at convention that could leave party in ruins

Recommended read from Salon.com: Blowing up the GOP to stop Trump: Republicans exploring plots to sabotage him at convention that could leave party in ruins

"Every time Trump dog-whistles to his nativist base, as he did recently with his refusal to disavow David Duke, establishment conservatives cringe. His willingness to pander in this way has earned him the loyalty of proud bigots everywhere, but it will explode in his – and the party's face – in a general election. I suspect Trump knows this, but what matters a little collateral damage to an arsonist like him?

It's not just traditional Republicans that Trump has alienated. As the The New York Times notes, it's “mainstream Christian activists, who view his angry outlook as antithetical to their faith; centrists, who see him as the most divisive politician in a generation; and national security experts, who have recoiled from his praise for autocrats like Vladimir Putin.”

The question, though, is what to do about it? A third-party candidate, which was likely a last resort, has emerged as a real possibility. William Kristol, editor of the conservative Weekly Standard, has already stated his intention to put forward an “independent Republican” if Trump is indeed the nominee. “That ticket would simply be a one-time, emergency adjustment to the unfortunate circumstance (if it happens) of a Trump nomination,” Kristol wrote. It “would support other Republicans running for Congress and other offices, and would allow voters to correct the temporary mistake (if they make it) of nominating Trump.”

Donald Trump's Super Tuesday Speech (Jimmy Fallon)

Could Donald Trump Win the General Election? - The New Yorker

Could Donald Trump Win the General Election? - The New Yorker

"In conversation, Teixeira began by reviewing some figures that he and his colleagues have put together. Between 1976 and 2012, the percentage of white voters in the U.S. electorate declined from eighty-nine per cent to seventy-four per cent. In 2016, that number is likely to fall another two per cent, Teixeira said. That means the minority vote will rise from twenty-six per cent to twenty-eight per cent. About half of that increase reflects the growing Hispanic population; the other half is accounted for by rising numbers of Asians and peoples of other ethnicities.

Despite his occasional protestations to the contrary, Trump would be relying heavily on white voters in a general election. Since they still represent close to three-quarters of the electorate, it appears to be mathematically possible for him to win a majority. Potentially, he could win by increasing turnout in predominantly white areas, winning over Reagan Democrats, and bringing in enough new voters to overcome the unfavorable demographic trends facing the G.O.P. Arguing along these lines, some analysts have raised the possibility that Trump could sweep the Rust Belt states of Michigan, Ohio, and Pennsylvania, and also flip a Democratic state in the Upper Midwest, either Wisconsin or Minnesota or both. A Trump rampage across the Rust Belt would transform the electoral map—it could even allow him to reach two hundred and seventy votes in the Electoral College without carrying Florida, which is usually a pivotal state. “Don’t laugh,” Zach Carter and Ryan Grim, of the Huffington Post, wrote last month. “Donald Trump could actually win this thing.”

NYTimes: Anti-Trump Republicans Call for a Third-Party Option

NYTimes: Anti-Trump Republicans Call for a Third-Party Option

"Mr. Trump has alienated voters from several wings of the party: mainstream Christian activists, who view his angry outlook as antithetical to their faith; centrists, who see him as the most divisive politician in a generation; and national security experts, who have recoiled from his praise for autocrats like President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia and believe he should not control nuclear weapons."

NYTimes: Mitt Romney and John McCain Denounce Donald Trump as a Danger to Democracy

NYTimes: Mitt Romney and John McCain Denounce Donald Trump as a Danger to Democracy

"In an extraordinary public rebuke of Donald J. Trump’s campaign, Mitt Romney and John McCain, the last two Republican presidential nominees, denounced Mr. Trump in forceful terms on Thursday and warned that his election could put the United States and even its democratic political system in peril."

Louis Farrakhan praises Donald Trump - POLITICO - Farrakhan and Trump, Birds of a Feather...

Farrakhan and Trump, Birds of a Feather...

Farrakhan is and always has been an oversized, antisemitic leader of a Muslim group which at one times ran more businesses than any other Black group in the country. Trump and Farrakhan have much in common. They are both entertainers. Farrakhan started out as a Calypso singer, Trump has been a reality TV star, both are tribalistic, both seek self aggrandizement. Both motivate their followers by stirring up hate of the "other". No wonder Farrakhan sees himself and his close to megalomaniac dreams reflected in Donald Trump.

Louis Farrakhan praises Donald Trump - POLITICO

KING: Not long before someone gets killed at Trump rally - NY Daily News

On Monday, 30 black students attending a Donald Trump rally at Valdosta State University in rural Georgia were forcefully ejected — simply for being black.



On Tuesday, in Louisville, Ky., what happened to young black protesters at another Trump rally wasn’t just racist — it appears to be outright criminal.





KING: Not long before someone gets killed at Trump rally - NY Daily News