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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsHe played me for a fool: Kentucky Trump supporter laments he should have voted for Hillary
Source: Raw Story
http://www.rawstory.com/2017/05/he-played-me-for-a-fool-kentucky-trump-supporter-laments-he-should-have-voted-for-hillary/
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In a heartbreaking interview, one Kentucky voter for President Donald Trump revealed that he believed it when Trump told voters he would fight for them. Now, however, Trump is cutting programs that help people like him survive while jobs are scarce.
Wesley Easterling noted that Trump had a kind of charisma about him, something different. The county he lives in typically goes for Democrats but in 2016 it went for Trump, despite having one of the highest poverty rates in the country.
Easterling is on food stamps and Medicaid and he believed Trump when the then-candidate swore hed never touch Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security. Trump lied and Easterling and his family are fearful theyre going to lose critical benefits they need to stay afloat.
I mean, I felt just like I was just like he played me for a fool, he said with a look of sadness in his eyes. I mean, I kind of took it personal.
...continued at link
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I have a big ole heart, but I'm finding it hard to have empathy for these ppl who didn't think through the consequences of Trump
BootinUp
(46,928 posts)itsrobert
(14,157 posts)Nt
WinkyDink
(51,311 posts)Horse with no Name
(33,956 posts)Excuse me if I don't feel bad for the shitshow your life is going to be.
hamsterjill
(15,214 posts)My sentiments exactly.
My sympathies lie with those who were smart enough to vote for Hillary and will be devastated by Trump's actions, like my own family.
LonePirate
(13,386 posts)Easterling needs to admit he voted for 45 because he is a racist.
onetexan
(12,994 posts)Who got played by the Idiot in Chief.
orleans
(33,987 posts)KingCharlemagne
(7,908 posts)iluvtennis
(19,758 posts)better
(884 posts)that there is a difference between voting for someone because you are a racist and voting for someone because you believed lies that were born of someone else's racism.
There are plenty of people whom I personally know without question not to be racist, but who support Republican candidates simply because they believe lies that they were told in the interest of manipulating them to support the positions of people who actually are racist.
You need not actually be racist to be co-opted by racists.
You need merely be unobservant.
People like this guy are coming to grips with the reality that they have been manipulated by their Party.
We best serve our own interests by fostering their education in reality, not hindering it by assuming facts about them not in evidence.
To call him a fool may be justified by the evidence.
To call him a racist is not.
atreides1
(16,046 posts)How many times do we excuse a fool, before we stop trying???
better
(884 posts)Just said that evidence of being a fool does not prove racism.
Bradical79
(4,490 posts)Not sure why the person you're replying to needs to admit anything. You're talking about a candidate who wore his racism on his sleeves. He had nothing else going for him and he wasn't orchestrating some grand manipulation.
it is a fact that people react to what they perceive to be true, not necessarily what is true, and that is a dynamic which we are going to need to adequately grasp in order to combat the ways in which this fact is exploited by those pulling the strings on the other side of the aisle.
And because we are going to need the cooperation of the vast many who supported Trump not because they actually are racist, but because for any of a number of reasons (none of which are an excuse), they did not recognize the reality all of us on this side readily saw to correct this mess, and we hinder our ultimate goal by condemning those who once were blind but who now see to the same extent we condemn those who supported Trump BECAUSE they saw what we saw, not because they didn't.
Coincidentally, Hillary herself explicitly alluded to this distinction when she talked about the now infamous "basket of deplorables".
"I know there are only 60 days left to make our case and don't get complacent, don't see the latest outrageous, offensive, inappropriate comment and think well he's done this time. We are living in a volatile political environment. You know, to just be grossly generalistic, you could put half of Trump's supporters into what I call the basket of deplorables. Right? (Laughter/applause)
The racist, sexist, homophobic, xenophobic, Islamophobic you name it. And unfortunately, there are people like that. And he has lifted them up. He has given voice to their websites that used to only have 11,000 people now have 11 million. He tweets and retweets their offensive hateful mean-spirited rhetoric. Now, some of those folks they are irredeemable, but thankfully they are not America. But the other basket and I know this because I see friends from all over America here I see friends from Florida and Georgia and South Carolina and Texas as well as, you know, New York and California
but that other basket of people are people who feel that the government has let them down, the economy has let them down, nobody cares about them, nobody worries about what happens to their lives and their futures, and they're just desperate for change. It doesn't really even matter where it comes from. They don't buy everything he says, but he seems to hold out some hope that their lives will be different. They won't wake up and see their jobs disappear, lose a kid to heroin, feel like they're in a dead-end. Those are people we have to understand and empathize with as well."
If you won't take it from me, take it from the candidate for whom the majority (myself included) actually voted.
KingCharlemagne
(7,908 posts)attacking Muslims and Latinos (and Blacks, Asians, and Jews), as long as Trump didn't mess with his benefits. If that's not racism, i.e., it's OK to attack Muslims and Latinos but not little old white me, I don't know what is.
Solomon
(12,305 posts)There's always a few in the barrel that just can't help lecturing us on why that quacking webfooted duckbilled thingy is not a duck.
irisblue
(32,829 posts)better
(884 posts)who point out that there are Trump supporters whom we need to understand and empathize with.
65.8 million of us voted for one of them to be our President.
See above.
Quayblue
(1,045 posts)better
(884 posts)I agree that ignoring racism makes one just as complicit in the outcome as does actively condoning it. But it remains true both that to ignore something requires that one first recognize it (to ignore is always active, to be ignorant of at least can be passive), and also that being complicit in the outcome of racism does not necessarily demonstrate racism.
The effect of either is still the perpetuation of racism, but the causes are different.
I am not excusing either ignoring Trump's racism or being ignorant of it, by the way.
I am merely pointing out that there are some whose support for Trump was the product of racism, and some for whom it was not, and that the two groups merit different reactions.
Exactly like Secretary Clinton herself did when she defined who occupies the other "basket".
Quayblue
(1,045 posts)Those weren't dogwhistles this guy was spouting, they were bullhorns. It was okay that he was loudly and openly racist. I can't stand by that.
mercuryblues
(14,491 posts)and ignore, make excuses for trump' racism in order to justify voting for him, does indeed, make one a racist. They saw it and were ok with it.
FakeNoose
(32,356 posts)Come on people, there's no reason to hate these desperate Americans.
Most of them are at the end of their ropes, whether they realize it or not. If the Democratic Party had been reaching out and helping them, they probably wouldn't have voted for the lying snakes.
How will we ever get rid of Trump and McConnell if we turn our backs on these poor people of Kentucky?
gopiscrap
(23,674 posts)otherwise this will happen again
still_one
(91,965 posts)racist, sexist, and a xenophobe, and they still voted for him.
25% of the populace believe the President Obama isn't and American, and is a Muslim. Approximately, the same number that voted for trump.
Elections have consequences.
iluvtennis
(19,758 posts)JustAnotherGen
(31,683 posts)They don't factor into my life at all.
I'm indifferent.
They are all over there with their "I was duped" and I'm all over here with my black woman self married to an immigrant like - Trump isn't going to take away what we've earned to make you happy.
That's not hate - that's self preservation.
Just because they didn't hear the dog whistles doesn't mean I have to pretend I didn't hear them - or the blatant racist nativist sexist discriminatory bullshit coming out of 45's blow hole.
How does the Republican party win affluent blacks - when they turn their back on us because of the . . .
The same way the Democratic Part keeps us. Me before thee because of my loyalty fellow Americans in Kentucky.
kacekwl
(6,994 posts)Lock her up and cheering when people were punched and thrown out of trump rallies. He voted for pain for the others but he would be spared cause he's white and deserves it. Any 6year old could see who trump is , no surprise here .
KingCharlemagne
(7,908 posts)cyndensco
(1,697 posts)I bet he sees them as lazy do-nothings scamming the system. He, on the other hand, is a patriotic American down on his luck because the world is changing around him and he is simply struggling to support his family.
No sympathy.
ginnyinWI
(17,276 posts)It's his fault, not his victims' fault. He is a master con artist and the average person was his prey. Hopefully they have learned something.
KingCharlemagne
(7,908 posts)nini
(16,670 posts)I am so sick of hearing that crap. What party has fought for every one of those benefits that man is worried about losing? They're brainwashed by the right wing religious freaks and fox news. They dont listen to dems because they think the bay jeebus will get mad.
Unfortunately they're going to have to suffer like they will to be snapped back into reality. They've ignored our warnings and now have to suffer the consequences - Unfortunately they're taking the rest of us down with them.
WinkyDink
(51,311 posts)mountain grammy
(26,571 posts)But only a couple were conned..they're poor, not stupid.
I just helped a friend with her tax return. She made $21,000 last year..paid $1205 in income tax..paid a $580 fine for not having insurance for 9 months, now has a subsidized policy and is thrilled to have it..refund covered most of fine, she had the rest saved..I honestly don't know how folks survive. Of course, she despises trump. Poor not stupid.
iluvtennis
(19,758 posts)...for her health insurance.
yardwork
(61,418 posts)I would guess that your friend's income is relatively low because she is doing something she loves that doesn't pay well, or she is dealing with issues beyond her control. Either way, she's handling her life.
I think that many people are not handling their lives well at all, and/or are overwhelmed with caregiving others. Those folks fell for the easy lies that burbled from Trump. They're looking for a quick fix.
mountain grammy
(26,571 posts)But an amazing woman..
JI7
(89,182 posts)when Trump was attacking women and minorities . how they feel about the muslim ban and deportations.
were they ok with him going after others ? did they think he would help them by going after others ?
JustAnotherGen
(31,683 posts)That there are people like me who believe that about them. They don't have to like it - but they have to accept it.
hatrack
(59,442 posts)Damned if I know how anybody can fall for a clown con like Trump, but this guy did - like many others.
But he manned up and admitted it. That's the starting point, and more than most of those who voted for President Shitstain have done to date.
Heartstrings
(7,349 posts)Mz Pip
(27,404 posts)Some people have to learn the hard way. Not a lot of sympathy for this guy. He got what he wanted.
sharedvalues
(6,916 posts)Right wing propanganda taught him to hate Hillary and Democrats.
The first step is to stop Fox and Sinclair and conservative hate radio.
Thrill
(19,178 posts)Doreen
(11,686 posts)on what they are saying or research on them in particular and then vote for them you have no place complaining what you did to an entire country because it was your choice to remain uneducated about who you voted into office.
iluvtennis
(19,758 posts)JustAnotherGen
(31,683 posts)Judi Lynn
(160,219 posts)Get your white sheet, stuff them all in there, and take them on down to the KKK pawn shop. That will tide you over for a day, maybe.
He played you for a fool? You ARE a fool.
Trump is "charismatic?" Really? He's grotesque.
iluvtennis
(19,758 posts)KingCharlemagne
(7,908 posts)born every minute."
Jake Stern
(3,145 posts)This guy has been on teevee for years being a soulless wealthy asshole and yet people with more greed than brain matter paid big $$$ to attend his fraudulent university.
Why were they pitied but many, as you say, find it "hard to have empathy" for a guy who not only 'fessed up to voting for the Orange Con but actually showed contrition?
sharedvalues
(6,916 posts)We should embrace people like this who are waking up.
The true causes of our problems are the GOP donor crazies that fund and run right wing media.
We're only going to fix our problems if we can embrace people like this and make the country more unified.
manicraven
(901 posts)Many of you sound like cruel Deplorables! People watching Fox were presented a better version of tRump. Many were desperate, even some who voted for President Obama. Yeah, it's frustrating because we're in a huge mess, but if tRump voters regret their decision and bravely admit that fact, let's not knock them in the teeth with our own anger and hostility. For the tRump diehards, I agree that there's no hope for them, but where's a bit of understanding for those who admit their mistake?
Glamrock
(11,781 posts)and I get your point. However, I see it as "Hey man, you made that bed, no lay in it." I'm sorry but if this country is ever to move forward, people are going to have to feel the consequences of their votes.....
KingCharlemagne
(7,908 posts)white privilege. He would have been just fine with Trump, so long as Trump attacked only Muslims and Latinos. So fuck him.
gopiscrap
(23,674 posts)shit that they are. I pray they live a life of misery
sharedvalues
(6,916 posts)I think that the hate engendered against Obama and Hillary and Democrats by right wing media is the biggest problem.
yardwork
(61,418 posts)The media misrepresented Hillary and the Democratic platform. I did my own research and realized that she had a well-thought out platform that offered real economic hope for poor states.
KingCharlemagne
(7,908 posts)agenda with a fascist Congress, but a couple of my friends who are Hillary fans convinced me she had a real knack (never mentioned by the MSM) for reaching across the aisle to get things done.
yardwork
(61,418 posts)Every time I tried, I was drowned out by posters who are now revealed to be Russian bots or dupes of Russian bots.
KingCharlemagne
(7,908 posts)the same misgivings -- maybe even more pronounced -- about his ability to govern with a fascist Congress. Unless Sanders was prepared to rule by emergency decree, i.e., extra-constitutionally, there was no way, for example, that his 'free college for all' proposal was going anywhere anytime soon.
FakeNoose
(32,356 posts)Poor people in Kentucky have no way to travel out to eastern cities like New York.
The Dems have to go to the fly-over states too, and Hillary skipped a lot of them.
I'm not saying that she lost them, she just never tried to get any of them. Even Obama went to those Red states when he campaigned and the efforts did help. He was able to convince some people and get votes. Better yet, he got good press for it even when he lost the state.
Those goes beyond presidential campaigns though. The poor people of Kentucky need long-term help and nobody is giving it. If the Democrats can organize and help them with re-education, social programs and relocation programs then why would they have any reason to vote for the GOP? What is Kentucky doing for its own poor people?
PoindexterOglethorpe
(25,750 posts)to ask questions or research anything to find out stuff.
I run across this all the time, not only on the interwebs but in ordinary life. Even people who ought to know better, who are reasonably intelligent and well educated. They just accept whatever some authority tells them.
The problem goes back to schools and churches. Both of them teach people to accept whatever they are told. Not to question anything. To believe. Believe. Believe. Churches are generally worse than schools, but both are at fault.
And then people leave school and get a job, and on the job they're told to follow orders, do the work, don't question the bosses.
It's a self-perpetuating cycle. This is also why the things we call conspiracy theory are so popular. Those "theories" masquerade as questioning authority, but they do no such thing. They feed a lot of untruths, ill-thought-out questions with dubious answers, and seem to offer a relief from the conventional wisdom. But those who buy into such conspiracy theories are as bereft of independent thinking as anyone deep in the grips of a cult.
And so, the Trump supporters. They thought they were exercising some sort of independent thought. They bought the various lies about Hillary Clinton. Or they were already pre-disposed to not vote for a women, especially not for her. (And anyone here who doesn't understand the baggage she brought into the election, and why she was a genuinely bad choice is likewise not thinking very hard, but I digress.) Or they were Democrats who thought they'd show their independence by voting for some third party candidate. Those third party voters really didn't think it through. And the defiant voters who went to the Trump camp truly deserve whatever happens. Alas, the rest of us don't.
Just to offer a small fact here: At it's peak, coal employed a bit under 900,000 people. And that was in the early 1920's. Currently Solar and wind employ around 500,000 people, while coal employs a bit over 100,000 people. So all the promises in the world to bring back jobs in coal mines are total bullshit, and people depending on those jobs ought to do a bit of independent research. But no, people would rather believe lying promises than find out how things really work. And so, all the Trump voters. They deserve what they get, and it's a goddam shame the rest of us have to suffer along with them.
KingCharlemagne
(7,908 posts)anti-intellectualism, set in motion by Reagan back in 1980, but present in American life since Colonial days. Lest I sound like an elitist snob, intellectuals brought us such beauties as Vietnam. So maybe a certain degree of skepticism about intellectualism is warranted. But the sneer at anyone who asks a question about the official story has a long and storied tradition in American cultural life. Trump personifies that sneer and makes it manifest.
Sincere hat tip!
Response to KingCharlemagne (Reply #78)
crosinski This message was self-deleted by its author.
PoindexterOglethorpe
(25,750 posts)Plus fix one or two small grammar/usage errors.
ms liberty
(8,479 posts)Response to iluvtennis (Original post)
Post removed
JI7
(89,182 posts)just fucked up. especially since he is admitting he was wrong and saying he would not do the same thing again .
gopiscrap
(23,674 posts)racist fuck that sold his country down the river..I hope he suffers painfully and in solitude for his fucked up decision
QC
(26,371 posts)KingCharlemagne
(7,908 posts)hoped they suffered. He probably cheered when protesters were beaten up. So it's not fucked up to hope for some instant motherfucking karma for this POS.
JNelson6563
(28,151 posts)Fuck this guy.
Kittycow
(2,396 posts)He said all the hateful things out loud. Over and over again.
JNelson6563
(28,151 posts)Sad.
Beartracks
(12,761 posts)Last edited Sat May 27, 2017, 03:15 AM - Edit history (1)
And when those people are not as well-educated or well-informed, it is ever so much easier for them to be played as fools -- which is why Republicans hate public education, critical thinking, and honest journalism.
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stopbush
(24,378 posts)illegals, libruls and "others" who weren't "real Americans."
Their hatred of others was just as powerful an enticement as the hope that they would be better off under the con man.
Shitheads.
JCanete
(5,272 posts)other people and suffering he never rightly considered. It isn't uncommon for people to lack empathy for those they don't understand, and frankly, you can read the evidence of that right here in this thread. It usually takes something impactful in a person's own bubble to change that state. In some ways the disillusionment Trump is fostering in some of his voters is an opportunity that should be used to nudge these people in the right direction.
Justice
(7,182 posts)Admits a fool - hopefully won't be just about him
Miles Archer
(18,837 posts)Trump told you exactly who he was, and you decided to believe something else, even though it came from the same guy who told you he liked to grab pussy because he could get away with it, and stiffing contractors is the BEST (second only to bankruptcies and letting someone else pick up your tab).
I posted one of these "how could I be so stupid" threads myself yesterday, and all I can say is "prepare for more just like this, or worse."
Right now, the stories are simply "I was SO stupid, he LIED." But when people actually start getting sick and die, I'm wondering if the people who voted for Trump will revolt in the streets or step up to Greg Gianforte and beg "PLEASE, sir...may I have ANOTHER?"
Blue_Roses
(12,894 posts)nt
femmedem
(8,188 posts)if they read some of the attitudes expressed in this thread?
To say it's his bed, he should lie in it, to have no empathy is exactly the kind of hard heartedness I abhor in Republicans. It reminds me of Republicans saying people should rot in jail for making bad decisions about drug use or about not having been able to get a job with a living wage.
People make mistakes. Sometimes those mistakes are serious. Democrats--hell, humans--are better when they forgive.
JNelson6563
(28,151 posts)First we need to get through a great deal of drama where the fools who continue to support Trump will be fighting justice every step of the way. I say let the awakened come to their senses, lick their own wounds and then get the fuck up and join the effort to help clean up this mess that they helped to create.
Then maybe they will get something more than disdain from me.
This was no lamb-to-slaughter mistake, this was clear courting of racism and hatred. Were they duped? Oh yeah. Innocent? NOT BY ANY STRETCH OF THE IMAGINATION. He threw them red meat marinated in hatred and they screamed for more. You want to sing around the campfire with 'em? Go ahead. That does not make you more enlightened or in any way superior to those of us who see it differently. I would go so far as to say rather the opposite. The word enabler comes to mind.
femmedem
(8,188 posts)Why would someone join us in cleaning anything up if the people he's joining have a "fuck you" attitude?
I've strategized and put many hours into more than a few political campaigns, and a big part of my current job is community organizing. I never once reached out to anyone by saying, "Hey Jackass, come and join us when you've suffered enough."
Yeah, some people were happy to be duped because of racism. And sometimes when I'm out canvassing, I realize quickly that I'll never reach this person, and I politely extricate myself from the interaction asap. But there's no reason to make that assumption about every Trump voter who now regrets their vote.
SticksnStones
(2,108 posts)And completely ignore the big picture of just how micro targeted these kinds of voters were, with a constant flow of anti Hillary venom.
There was an extraordinary mind game at work in the election. The likes of which we are slowly coming to understand.
If we can't find a way to incorporate that and not vilify those duped voters who are finally waking the hell up then WE become part of the problem not voices echoing solutions.
sharedvalues
(6,916 posts)People like this were lied to by Rupert Murdoch and his right wing GOP donor allies who fund and run the right wing propanganda media.
Our blame should fall on right wing media.
NurseJackie
(42,862 posts)samnsara
(17,570 posts)...the other half wants to invite him over to our side....
sharedvalues
(6,916 posts)Blame the people that lied to him - Murdoch, Bannon, Mercer, CEO of iHeartRadio, Ailes, Koch.
This is an information war and our side is losing.
Vogon_Glory
(9,086 posts)Don't ever vote on the campaign promises alone. Always, ALWAYS check a candidate's background and his or her history before you vote for him or her.
Is he honest? Is he truthful? If he's a businessman, well does he do by his partners and his customers? Does he give good service or does he cheat and cut corners?
Does he really know what he's talking about? If he doesn't, is he willing to learn?
How well does he handle pressure? Can he stay cool or does he panic or blow his top when the heat's on?
All of these things can be found out with a little digging. You don't have to be a rocket scientist or even a college grad to find out.
Oh, and Wesley , "liberals" don't hate you. In fact, a lot of the white ones think you're every bit as smart as they are. They do think you'd use your brains when you make a major decision, which you didn't when you voted for Donnie.
Oh, and Wesley, when your great-grandfather said "don't take any wooden nickels", that guy Donald and his line of Bull was the sort of fellow he was talking about
Paladin
(28,204 posts)I don't want the Democratic Party devoting much time, energy or money to chasing after trump's Angry White Male base. We can win without those people. Let the newly enlightened ones come back to us; as to the rest---fuck 'em.
dalton99a
(81,073 posts)LonePirate
(13,386 posts)Response to Paladin (Reply #55)
Name removed Message auto-removed
Paladin
(28,204 posts)The kind of ideological splintering you're talking about contributed to putting trump and his goons in power. A "real lefty party" sounds attractive, but I don't want such aspirations to bring about the destruction of this country. Face it---we're at Germany 1936 right now. Immediate, effective, united action is called for, not the stupid intra-party squabbling we saw so much of on this site during 2016.
Cary
(11,746 posts)I have had enough of the "both sides do it' bullshit. Liberals need to leave KKKarl Rove's dirty work to KKKarl Rove.
Swagman
(1,934 posts)very difficult to have sympathy for him when there are so many millions more we should sympathize with who did not support the racist con-man Trump.
But no reason why the Democrats should not get very smart and harness this buyer's regret
Freethinker65
(9,934 posts)Go out and convince neighbors, friends, family members, and other locals to actually listen to both sides and not be manipulated by fear next time they vote.
KingCharlemagne
(7,908 posts)Trump didn't mess with his benefits. (He's probably still just fine about Trump beating on Latinos and Muslims.)
Fuck this racist POS. He deserves to suffer long and horribly.
RKP5637
(67,032 posts)TrishaJ
(797 posts)was the BULLSHIT. I have no sympathy for anyone who was "played for a fool."
WellDarn
(255 posts)The attack on West Virginia miners, also relevant here:
It's not just Trump, other politicians, union bosses, friends, neighbors, teachers and preachers and not just the Republican ones have told coal miners and their families that their jobs were being lost due primarily to government regulation for at least two decades. It has even been argued here that one of the primary perpetrators of that lie should be allowed to continue in office for the good of the rest of us.
Why is it surprising that they rejected the one person who told them the truth?
Why do stories like this deteriorate into attacks on the victims even more so than on the liars?
KingCharlemagne
(7,908 posts)ck4829
(34,977 posts)How many immigrants has he spoken to?
When someone says gay and/or transgendered people are "deviant", does he speak up in disagreement?
When people who look like him and believe like him are in his company and they call minorities lazy but that they earned their government assistance, does he stand up and call that wrong?
If these are non-zero numbers, then welcome aboard.
If it's zero though, then no. No place for you. Your Trumpgrets are not genuine. No mercy.
C_U_L8R
(44,897 posts)Why don't you go get all your friends to shut off their rightwing media and get a brain.
Adrahil
(13,340 posts)They act like there was no evidence that Trump is a lying, con man muthafucker. ANYONE who looks at that man honestly knows he's a liar and cheat thT give a shit about no one but himself...
edhopper
(33,208 posts)now all of us have to suffer because of you and people like you.
You lived through Bush nearly destroying the country and learned nothing.
Let's see if you use your brains in the next election. Not holding my breath.
Sunlei
(22,651 posts)crosinski
(403 posts)Sunlei
(22,651 posts)Homeless if he doesn't have enough family members, to afford rent & household expenses. He probably won't even vote.
Different Drummer
(7,532 posts)nancy1942
(635 posts)Pure evil; sorry I can't really feel sorry for the morons who believed this freak.
crosinski
(403 posts)People used to know what Democrat's stood for. If you were poor, you circled that D when you voted because you knew who was on your side. So emotional thinkers like this voter weren't swayed so easily by 'charismatic' candidates.
Thanks to rightwing radio, we've lost that edge. That was its goal. I mean, possible racism aside, this guy on Medicaid didn't know that Democrats were his best bet for a future! We've got a lot of work to do to if we want people to automatically know who we are.
FakeNoose
(32,356 posts)I was just reading Matt Taibbi's regular column in Rolling Stone and he's saying the same thing.
Link: http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/features/taibbi-the-democrats-need-a-new-message-w484569
SNIP
Barack Obama ... continually insisted that the Democrats needed to find a way to reach lost voters. Even in the infamous "guns and religion" episode, this was so. Obama then was talking about the challenge the Democrats faced in finding ways to reconnect with people who felt ignored and had fled to "antipathy toward people who aren't like them" as a consequence.
Even as he himself was the subject of vicious and racist rhetoric, Obama stumped in the reddest of red districts. In his post-mortem on the Trump-Clinton race, he made a point of mentioning this that in Iowa he had gone to every small town and fish fry and VFW hall, and "there were some counties where I might have lost, but maybe I lost by 20 points instead of 50 points."
Most people took his comments to be a dig at Clinton's strategic shortcomings she didn't campaign much in many of the key states she lost but it was actually more profound than that. Obama was trying to point out that people respond when you demonstrate that you don't believe they're unredeemable.
You can't just dismiss people as lost, even bad or misguided people. Unless every great thinker from Christ to Tolstoy to Gandhi to Dr. King is wrong, it's especially those people you have to keep believing in, and trying to reach.
The Democrats have forgotten this. While it may not be the case with Quist, who seems to have run a decent campaign, the Democrats in general have lost the ability (and the inclination) to reach out to the entire population.
SNIP
(More at the jump)
Matt Taibbi is one of my favorite columnists. My point is that we're not getting anywhere by framing "us vs. them" arguments. If the Democratic Party is to win, we win one vote at a time and it's hard work to get every vote. Barack Obama still has some very good ideas and he's a great leader who teaches by example.
crosinski
(403 posts)And thanks for the link too. I like Matt Taibbi and haven't read that column yet.
Thing is, I really want to jump on the poor guy too, but I'm old enough to remember when Democrats were who you voted for if you were poor, sick, out of work, or needed help, and who you voted for if you wanted to lend a hand, help others, and share the bounty. Republicans were who you voted for if you were rich. It was as simple as that.
We'll never have that good simple message back again, but we can surely do better. This poor guy on welfare didn't realize that republicans were going to cut him off first chance they got! I think we are at least guilty of being complacent about our message.
ellie
(6,928 posts)and all who voted for Trump.
Different Drummer
(7,532 posts)Can someone please explain to me why this so often happens?! Do a lot of people truly not think beyond flag/guns/Bible?!
hrmjustin
(71,265 posts)I feel sympathy but the man is an idiot and deserves our scorn.
taught_me_patience
(5,477 posts)It's a big step to admit you're wrong. I applaud the guys am slightly dismayed at the responses in this thread.
OrwellwasRight
(5,170 posts)Changing future behavior is. I know these stories make people feel good and able to say "see I told you so," but they do not spell a different outcome in the future. That takes action, not the smugness that being right provides.
NastyRiffraff
(12,448 posts)Not only for you, but for the rest of the country, including people who you believed would be the only ones affected by Dump's VERY CLEAR, OFTEN REPEATED racism. You didn't think he meant YOU, did you? Only those icky Muslims, Blacks, Hispanics. Not YOU, a White Man.
The Orange Menace played you for a fool because you LISTENED to a man who proudly screamed his bigotry. You listened because you thought he'd never, ever meant you. You are, after all, a White Man and you only wanted to "make America Great Again" for yourself and other White Men. So now you're scared. So am I because PEOPLE LIKE YOU voted for a monster.
TalenaGor
(1,103 posts)So others feel like it's ok to come out against Trump now.....
LenaBaby61
(6,965 posts)For folks like him, but haven't for a long while ....
Because I'm too busy worrying about MYSELF and about others who were intelligent enough to know what was going on for most of our lives and who voted accordingly in our own best interests. Choices have consequences.
Sorry Wesley Easterling's of the world. You and people like you all made your own beds, and have to sleep in them with your RACIST-IN-CHIEF
WinkyDink
(51,311 posts)JHB
(37,132 posts)...or, more properly stated, that he allowed to play him ("party of personal responsibility" and all that).
How many horseshit claims about both Clinton's and Obama did he just swallow whole? You don't have to love them or even like them to know there were people who made their living throwing turdballs at them in the hopes some flecks of them would stick to show how dirty they were. The stuff that didn't stick piled up at their feet, steaming ever more as the pile rose, and then the Professional Pitchers of the Turdballs League would point with alarm at that fogbank of steam and warn "where there's smoke...".
He's only the latest guy to play you, pal, but the only reason it didn't seem obvious is because you've let lots of other people hook into your pet peeves and drag you farther than you've thought.
CrispyQ
(36,231 posts)That he was a lying, cheating asshole of the highest order, was there for anyone to see.
tazkcmo
(7,286 posts)he is.
riversedge
(69,727 posts)GoCubsGo
(32,061 posts)He played 62,984,824 other people for fools, as well. Well, maybe not quite that many, when you consider at least some of those people voted for hm because they admire his assholishness.
Boomerproud
(7,889 posts)I work 60 hours a week from August through November and 40 hours the rest of the time. "Heartbreaking"? Really"? I jumped off the empathy wagon regarding people like Easterling and he was never on it.
NCTraveler
(30,481 posts)We are working to protect your concerns. We need help in fighting the evil that you so recently supported.