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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsAn NYT OpEd that says what I'm thinking.
No, I am not an aged pale male in a diner in NE Ohio either
Source-https://www.nytimes.com/2020/11/19/opinion/trump-supporters.html
Title-Reach Out to Trump Supporters, They Said. I Tried.
I give up.
Wajahat Ali
By Wajahat Ali
Contributing Opinion Writer
Nov. 19, 2020
Long Op Ed, if you are paywalled out, I suggest you empty your cache and/or open an incognito tab to read it.
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/11/19/opinion/trump-supporters.html
snip-"We cannot help people who refuse to help themselves. Trump is an extension of their id, their culture, their values, their greed. He is their defender and savior. He is their blunt instrument. He is their destructive drug of choice.
Dont waste your time reaching out to Trump voters like I did. Instead, invest your time organizing your community, registering new voters and supporting candidates who reflect progressive values that uplift everyone, not just those who wear MAGA hats, in local and state elections. Work also to protect Americans against lies and conspiracy theories churned out by the right wing media and political ecosystem. One step would be to continue pressuring social media giants like Twitter and Facebook to deplatform hatemongers, such as Steve Bannon, and censor disinformation. Its not enough, but its a start.
cilla4progress
(24,585 posts)based on personal experience.
Long overdue!
Blue Owl
(49,902 posts)Polly Hennessey
(6,745 posts)You cannot talk to or reason with Trump supporters. I believe some say it is, spinning your wheels.
Richard58
(239 posts)My brother is a Trump supporter and last week we had an hour long discussion (argument) over the phone about Trump. It was then I realized how far down the Trump rabbit hole he has gone. We couldn't even agree on basic facts! For example, he said Trump was a "brilliant businessman" who was worth 10 billion dollars. I said he only had a couple hundred million in his account and owed 400 million to creditors. My brother said that a lie by the NYT's. I said, no, the NYT's had his tax records and my brother said they made it up! Every bad thing I brought up about Trump was "fake news" according to my brother!
My brother ranted about how the Democrats rigged the election and created "millions of fake ballots" and that in reality Trump had won all 50 States by a landslide. I told him he was delusional. I asked him if that were true then why has EVERY court challenge by the Trump administration been dismissed as having no evidence to back up the claim. He said the Judges were either paid off or threatened by the Deep State! The whole conversation was insane. It was impossible to reason with him. You can't have a conversation with someone who doesn't acknowledge reality. We ended up agreeing to disagree because I was exhausted having to deal with his BS. I said, "Believe what you want. I guess facts don't matter." And I know a lot of Trumpers are like him. We can't reach them. They live in an alternative reality where the Dear Leader is never wrong. I find it maddening and quite sad.
TeamPooka
(24,155 posts)wnylib
(21,146 posts)Instead, ask him why it's so important to him to believe that Trump is a great businessman. Or, why it makes him feel better to think that there is a deep state. Talk about how he feels, not what he thinks or believes.
Let him spew out all the injustices he believes he has experienced. Can't talk rationally with someome who is dominated by strong emotions. He's feeling fear and anger. Trump expresses those things for him. Bring them out for him to face himself so he doesn't need to use Trump as a front.
Roc2020
(1,601 posts)for Trump in 2016 that I would bet my bottom dollar would not do the same in 2020. Yet they did and also thinks the election was stolen from Trump. A real head scratcher I tell ya.
treestar
(82,383 posts)But yeah, they are delusional.
50 Shades Of Blue
(9,768 posts)Should reach out to non-Trumpers!
niyad
(112,424 posts)treestar
(82,383 posts)had any election fraud! I wonder if they would admit that any Democratic House Reps elected in Texas or Florida must be legit wins.
Arkansas Granny
(31,483 posts)turn on him. They are too far gone.
Doodley
(8,976 posts)that Joe Biden is a legitimate president, if we don't want to live in a nation as badly divided as it is now. As for the criminals in and around the presidency, there should be no compromise.
maxsolomon
(32,975 posts)Biden beat Trump by MORE than Reagan beat Carter.
Now, were Republicans as utterly delusional previously? Probably not.
Trueblue Texan
(2,367 posts)...we have done this for years and all it got us was a bunch of research assignments where we brought forward the evidence refuting the lies the right-wingers were spouting. It did no good to provide them with good information, it simply wasted our time, our energy, our lives, our DEMOCRACY. Walk away from them, don't include them in your circle any longer, build a stronger democracy without them. If they want to live in it, good. If they don't at least we won't be helping them tear it down and drain our resources.
lagomorph777
(30,613 posts)Or America won't survive.
We have to hack into their infobubble. Use Cambridge Analytica style tactics to shove crafted messages in their faces on facebook. Twiddle the tweets they see on twitter.
cynical_idealist
(357 posts)We need a huge team of democratic reality hackers to reshape the mindscape for a more positive future.
handmade34
(22,755 posts)"...they can reach out to me. They know where to find me. ...Ahead of them."
warmfeet
(3,321 posts)I will not be reaching out to any tRump supporters. Every single one I know is batshit insane. Thankfully, not a single one of them are family or friends. Well, of course they are not friends - should go without saying.
Bernardo de La Paz
(48,773 posts)ismnotwasm
(41,916 posts)panfluteman
(2,054 posts)Was my favorite line from the article. Well, there are - you just don't hear about them, listening to all that hateful anti-Muslim rhetoric.
cp
(6,536 posts)As with alcohol, you didn't cause it, you can't control it, and you can't cure it.
Accept what you cannot change (Trumpers' worship of Trump) and change what you can.
Also, wisdom to know the difference.
I want to work to help people with food and housing. We have a lot of work to do, together.
mwooldri
(10,291 posts)"Truth Decay".
I honestly feel America has a bad case of truth Decay - especially in those who support Trump and especially those hooked by "Q". When a BBC journalist asked a number of Trump Q supporters who were protesting in Atlanta whether they believed in the Q nonsense the answer was quite revealing. Also that Q-Anon congresscritter who got selected in GA - BBC asked for an interview and answer was "No Foreign Press".
Some Trumpists are way too far gone - the truth decay is too bad. Like a diseased tooth, you'd pull it out, same way with these guys - let them be as they're not worth reaching out to. Other Trumpists may be worth saving. However I don't know what the equivalent of a "root canal" would be here and how to administer it.
Hekate
(90,189 posts)Or, you can just watch The Queens Gambit on Netflix while downing your favorite pint of ice cream and call it a day.
Just as in 2016, I dont need Trump supporters to be humiliated to feel great again. I want them to have health insurance, decent-paying jobs and security for their family. I do not want them to suffer, but I also refuse to spend any more time trying to understand and help the architects of my oppression.
I will move forward along with the majority who want progress, equality and justice for all Americans. If Trump supporters decide they want the same, they can always reach out to me. They know where to find me. Ahead of them.
Hermit-The-Prog
(33,021 posts)Deplorables can't seem to look beyond the messages of sociopathic billionaires -- both GOP-grown and Russian.
NoRoadUntravelled
(2,626 posts)I feel like I have beat my head against the proverbial wall since 2015 and what I've learned is this;
You can only beat your head against a wall so many times before your skull turns to mush. It's not worth it.
Escurumbele
(3,340 posts)Bannon should be in jail, what is going on? Does he still have a platform?
Ford_Prefect
(7,817 posts)Roc2020
(1,601 posts)with a true believer. Most of Trump supporters are true believers. It's about seeing their beliefs and philosophy in Trump. It was never about policy.
Lonestarblue
(9,874 posts)The Georgia Secretary of State is one of the few who seems to have some integrity. Instead of spending our time trying to win over Republicans, we need to spend our time on winning elections in the future. Republicans won far too many races this year, and they will gerrymander the hell out of states they control next year. Heres a reminder of how Republicans have screwed us all out over.
https://www.wbur.org/hereandnow/2016/07/19/gerrymandering-republicans-redmap
Joinfortmill
(14,229 posts)world wide wally
(21,718 posts)Face it, MAGAts and Republicans.
You are all a bunch of chicken shit cowards who are too afraid to stand up to Trump .... Even for your own country.
Fuck the Constitution... WE NEED Trump to be our President whether he wins or loses election or surely we will die.
Let me ask you something: Exactly WTF does he do for you to help you along in your daily life that you simply can't get by without him?
You twist yourselves into pretzels trying to justify the shit he does, and now you've gotten to the point where you want to eliminate our right to vote for our President just to appease this wimp who has never had dirty hands in his life because he has never worked a day in his life.
Fuck off.
hadEnuf
(2,149 posts)We need a denazification of the country similar to Germany's after WWII.
calimary
(80,693 posts)Last edited Thu Nov 19, 2020, 07:58 PM - Edit history (1)
EXACTLY how I'm feeling.
You TRY.
You try to set an example.
You reach out - as they're NOT doing (um, what's wrong with THEM reaching out? After all, WE're the ones who WON!!!)
And if they don't come? If they don't want to play? If they STILL don't want to play? Fuck 'em.
I'm sick of it, too. Trying to be nice. When they're kicking us in the teeth, they've BEEN kicking us in the teeth, and they're trying to KEEP kicking us in the teeth even after our election win tied their feet together? And we still have to be nice? FUCK THAT!
coolhandlulu
(148 posts)NT