Am I the only one who still finds it astounding that folks like Hicks like Trump? And continue to feel positively about him? Apparently they haven't spoken in 2 years?
She is no angel. She texted Julie Radford, the former chief of staff to Ivanka Trump that “one day ended every future opportunity that doesn’t include speaking engagements at the local proud boys chapter. And all of us that didn’t have jobs lined up will be perpetually unemployed. I’m so mad and upset. We all look like domestic terrorists now. Not being dramatic, but we are all fucked.” In another text, Hicks lamented that Alyssa Farah Griffin, her replacement as White House communications director, who resigned a few weeks after Trump lost in November, “looks like a genius” now.
I don't see her as a domestic terrorist but as an opportunist. She was going to parlay the Trump administration job to higher and higher employment and salaries, and was distressed when January 6th destroyed all of that. Trump surrounded himself with sycophants, but there were a lot of opportunists in the bunch as well.
yes it baffles me how he has loyal followers, how any woman can like him and how otherwise smart people will argue his innocence in all of his indictments because of course he didn't do it. I guess it shouldn't continue to baffle me but it does
I think there are few that "like" him; many of his followers are simply remembering better/safer times and are terrified of what another 4 years of whomever is currently running things will look like.
As to his guilt or innocence: it's weaponizing the legal system against political opponents that worries people, not some process crimes that are (for other people) misdemeanors at most.
Oh and btw, I'm always somewhat bemused by these statements that these are "process crimes that are (for other people) misdemeanors at most". First off, note that this current trial in Manhattan is actually the first off the Trump trials we've seen to involve any level of criminal charges. The others that have actually happened have been civil cases.
But, more to the point, I feel like people who make this argument aren't all that familiar with how the legal system actually treats most "other people" who end up entangled in it. For other rich defendants, perhaps they would be able to get off with minimal punishment or none at all. But for poor defendants, those with mental health and addiction issues or who are homeless and so on, charging to the absolute max is pretty much standard policy at the beginning. That includes tacking on as many enhancements and violations as possible. It's a big part of the reason that such a massive majority of convinctions are obtained through guilty pleas: because taking the risk of trial could cost too much.
Which brings us to the next point: Trump isn't "other people". First off, he has a large audience, and enjoys bragging on the news and social media about many of his illegal activities, thus raising the need for the system to do SOMETHING about even more "minor" offenses, because he's pretty much doing it right in front of their faces and saying it makes him smart and powerful. But also, he never admits anytging. Trump has greatly increased his own problems by refusing to settle, refusing to cooperate, refusing to obey court orders. I just heard someone saying how unfair it was that Trump was treated differently than Biden on classified docs. But there was no mention of the fact that once the docs were known, Biden cooperated with authorities Trump refused to cooperate at all, then cooperated minimally and incompletely, then refused again, then actually knowingly hid docs from his own Lawyers and the authorities, and so on. He obstructed all the way where "other people" usually cooperate.
Exhibit 1 for this right now is the gag order in New York. Trump is no stranger to these things, he's violated them before. This time, he is VERY publicly violating the order over and over. He was warned last week to stop and has continued. The judge has now warned him he may be incarcerated next time-and I'd bet we'll see more violations within days. Whether the order is fair or not, it's hardly unclear, and while it might frustrate Trump to follow it, he is certainly capable of doing so (physically and materially anyway). He just doesn't want to because he doesn't like it. So he won't. He pushes and pushes and gets far more leeway and warnings than the vast majority of defendants would get. When he finally does get thrown in lockup, he will complain about how unfair it all is, and how the only explanation is that this is all political and they are just out to get him. And all along he's using it to raise more money.
Notice how so many of Trump's lawyers, employees, and followers end up losing their money, jobs, careers, and often end up convicted of crimes, yet thus far none of that has happened to Trump himself? (And do note the vast diversity of the entities that have doled out these consequences to these other people; politically, geographically, financially, mission wise, public or private, individuals and groups ) How does that fit with this idea that Trump is being persecuted? Kind of seems like the opposite. Like he gets away with things over and over that other people are punished for. I find it fascinating that so many people are discrediting Michael Cohen as "a convicted felon and liar" as a way of trying to argue that Trump is Innocent. Except that Cohen was convicted for the same thing Trump is on trial for. If Cohen is a criminal so is Trump, and if Trump is Innocent then Cohen was wrongly convicted and incarcerated. You'd think more of those who think Trump is being persecuted would be interested in rectifying such an injustice against Cohen. Instead they use it to smear him and indicate he's not credible at all and is a terrible person. Yet somehow Trump, though he was involved in the exact same scheme, is totally credible and a great person.
I think you're right that not all Trump voters, by any means, like him. Many actually think he's despicable but think he'll protect their interests somehow. But I think there are also many-too many-who not only like him but are actually enamored. The "Christians" who proudly declare their faith and then twist it every which way so that a twice divorced, cheating, serial actual abuser who is proud to admit he cheats and lies in business records and taxes, who demands loyalty but throws anyone no longer useful to him straight under the F train, who openly despise large swathes of humanity for various reasons including ethnic heritage or desperate poverty, and who has single-handedly put small businesses out of business and put numerous individuals in bankruptcy by refusing to pay for services rendered and bankrupting the involved LLCs when they went to court while he skipped away with hundreds of millions of dollars...can somehow come out looking like a paragon of virtue, chosen by God. Those people are the ones who really frighten me, because they will actually participate in their own brainwashing to support a dangerous leader. Voting for selfish interests I understand. But Trump, compared to pretty much any other serious political contender, seems to have an excess of the type of supporters who are devoted and consider every word he utters to be divinely inspired and take them as law immediately.
On a totally different note, maybe you can clear something up for me: how is it that people who say they are concerned about a political figure being indicated by a half dozen different grand juries of his peers in multiple different jurisdictions, are not at least equally concerned about a former President and current presidential candidate who instructed his lawyer to argue to the Supreme Court that he shouldn't be prosecuted simply by virtue of having been President once, even if as President he orders the military to execute his political rival? One who explicitly stated in writing that military leaders who are "disloyal" to him (nevermind that their oath is actually to the Constitution and not the individual leader) should be executed? How can you and the Fox News talking heads actually say, with a straight face, that it's "weaponization of the judiciary" for Trump to be prosecuted in front of a jury of citizens for crimes he was indicted by a different jury of citizens, but then turn right around and say that because Trump is being persecuted more than anyone ever, OF COURSE it's absolutely important that he be supported in immediately creating direct Presidential control over the entire federal judicial and law enforcement system, immediately followed by commencing a massive federal criminal crackdown on a long list of his own political enemies? A list so long that pretty much the ONLY thing they have in common is that Trump believes they've somehow crossed him and tried to stop him from a goal, whether that goal was wise or legal or not.
I'm genuinely curious how you think about that contradiction. Do you just not believe he'll do it? Have you read Project 2025? Do you think it's actually the right thing from a legal standpoint for Jack Smith, Juan Merchan, Mark Milley, Mike Pence, Jeff Flake, Nancy Pelosi, the Obamas, Mitch McConnel and on and on to all be immediately prosecuted for treason and other capital crimes? I'd like to understand how those who would characterize themselves as holding their noses to vote for Trump think about this.
Economic and moral "Stockholm Syndrome." Once you've given in and accepted the money and the status, rationalizing doing so becomes an all-too-common phenomenon. Some people in Trump's administration did it by saying they were trying to be the adults in the room. Some in Congress and the courts did it by saying that Trump is the surest way for conservatives to take over the country. Some in the church did it for the "sake of the unborn." Be that as it may, they are all hostages who are now sympathetic to their captor.
But the disconnect for most of his base, who are not benefitting from him directly (except that it's ok to act like and say the things he says) remains astounding to me.
I know some of these folks. They are decent people, usually kind, they aren't shooting puppies or cheating on spouses, but they remain firmly behind him. They aren't even that hateful of Biden. A few really want to "own" the libs, but not the majority of them.
I guess I just don't comprehend what they see, unless they are as fearful of being a minority as he paints them.
It's quite interesting, actually, if scary. A poll just came out that found that the less people actually knew about what Trump has said and done and about the actual policies he is supporting or not, the more likely they were to support him. Go figure. So as long as people are only getting their news through the MAGA echo chamber, or not paying attention to current events at all, he's going to have much more support than he would otherwise.
I think the proliferation of blogs, podcasts and social media also plays a role. What's passing for news can be 98% opinion, especially in podcasts, and people don't even seem to realize it. No one bothers to actually check primary sources or verify it when their favorite podcaster says "Joe Biden is planning to take away your gas stove" or whatever. They take what some rando online says as fact.
So true. And Fox "News"? It's really should be called 'Fox Only Half the News'. I've been shocked that people who rely on that station have no idea about incredible things like the Georgia pressure campaign, the Charlottesville kkkmarch through a college campus, Helsinki. It's a problem! Special place in hell for Murdoch.
I'm especially alarmed by how slanted their perceptions of the Israel-Gaza issue (and of the general nature of protests against it as well as the actual concerns of people who don't support it but aren't protesting publicly), and of these legal cases and investigations against Trump. They know about it, but in a VERY slanted way.
This isn't original to me, but I think it makes sense: Dumpy followers want him to remain in power because he gives them permission to think and say crazy and abhorrent things. In the circles I'm in, something like that would be preceded by "This isn't PC to say, but it's true..." That our country is being overrun by MS-13 gang members. That BLM protesters burned down buildings and rioted but weren't jailed like Jan 6th protesters who didn't do anything wrong. That Dems are trying to replace White voters with Brown-skinned people.
Normally (8 years ago?) society didn't give people permission to say that stuff out loud, but now it's fine. And it's Dumpy who made it okay.
I think that to begin with a high percentage of them are low information voters. There's probably a subclass that we could label "disinformation voters." They have neither knowledge nor interest regarding Donald Trump's activities prior to "The Apprentice," and marinate in the Fox News crockpot for their current viewpoint.
I think many of these people, at least in my experience here in Georgia, are consumed by more darkness than you may realize. They seem kind on the outside, but many are troubled souls. It may be an opioid or alcohol problem, or a life of neglect when they were growing up, or it may just be that everything feels taken away from them as rural communities get eaten alive by agribusiness and the near impossibility of starting and maintaining a viable business in late stage capitalist America.
These aren't people who can or will start blogs or become influencers. These are people who are often trying to do things like build a small business or restaurant and are getting buried in doing so.
Democrats could go a long way toward gaining back some of these people by appealing to, not just workers and laborers, but small businesses, too. Offer plans to help jumpstart small businesses without holding them hostage to government-backed loans. Push out a few grant programs. Treat rural America like the socioeconomic mess it has become. The advantage to such programs is that it could be used in broken urban areas, too.
If I was a hot shot Democrat, I'd say to these people, "We are the party of small business," and develop some ideas that prove this to be so (these ideas don't have to be the one I suggested). Dems need to think out of the box a bit more. Get creative. There's still time, but there's a reason that 40% of Americans are flirting with a crook.
Thank you for your accounts of these people. They are suffering and I am distressed by that.
But isn't it true that Biden has invested in rural America with the bipartisan Infrastructure and CHIPS bills he signed? Wasn't he thinking outside of the box then? Wasn't he working against late stage capitalist America then? Why does he get no credit for this in red states?
IMO, that tells me it's really about culture, not economics. They hate the Left. That's why they're flirting with a crook, no?
Legitimate points, to be sure. I think part of the problem is that the benefits of Biden's programs are only beginning to manifest themselves, and just barely. Hopefully these benefits will become more obvious during Biden's second term.
I also don't want to discount the first part of my statement. There is a malaise throughout rural America highlighted by rampant drug use and alcoholism. Throw in the effects of the 24/7 propaganda machine that is Fox News, and it's a real mess.
No need to stop with "the Jews" - - They won't stop their destructive rampage until they silence ANYONE who speaks up against the Project 2025 / Heritage Foundation / tRump agenda!
I think Hillary put it best. It was kind of questionable at the time, for lack of a better word, but she nailed it by titling these sniveling, traitorious cowards as "a basket of deplorables".
Not anything over-the-top, cuss -related verbiage. Just short and sweet fire.
I hear what you're saying. 2016 should have never been a close race.
With that being said, after reading and listening to various sources, I still believe that the after 5pm release of election info from networks to RNC/Putin's ears, the steal was on.
Plus, I think the polling was so skewed in Hillary's favor, that it didn't have her electorate in crisis mode like being way behind in the polls would have done.
Sometimes? If you're a Democratic politician running for elected office and you need at least 4 pts in the popular vote to win the EC, it definitely doesn't help to offend the swing voters in the swing states where your election will be decided.
It was political malpractice for her to voice that publicly.
Blanche Axton: In agreement with you, I have to ask: "Are Trump-Cultists the true followers of James Warren Jones and 'The Peoples Temple Agricultural Project'?! What does ORANGE-BOTTOMFEEDER put in THEIR Kool-Aid??!!"
Blanche Axton: Many are Fundamentalists who believe in an exclusive cult, where everyone else (the VAST majority of people— billions) will end in HELL. So, they HAVE to follow Trump, because he SAYS he is for the Bible — he‘ll sell you one to help defray his legal costs— and he SAYS he is against abortion. So the Fundamentalists just HAVE to follow the ORANGE-BOTTOMFEEDER.
I guess if you are a white, rich male or a reasonably attractive female he can hit on, he can be agreeable. I imagine most people are looking to get something from him.
Sorry for piggybacking here but I have a question that would like others opinions.
Metaphorically, imagine an ostrich with its head in the sand. Now imagine that there is danger to the other ostriches and that this ostrich helped create this danger. Doesn’t this ostrich have a moral responsibility to pull his head out of the sand and warn the other ostriches.
Elements of Danger:
1. Who appointed the current Yahoo who is chief Justice of SCROTUS? George W
2. Who appointed the justice who is obviously corrupt? W’s dad
3. Who started a bogus war with phoney information? George W
4. Who helped corrupt SCROTUS by stopping an election count? George W
5. Who helped add to power of corrupt billionaire with bid tax cuts? George W
Who has their head in the sand pretending to be an artist? George W
Where is this coward when the nation is under attack by the great cloaca
With all I've read about cult culture, the treatment of young, beautiful women, stories from the MeToo movement, I'm not at all astounded. Read, for instance, Brook Shields on her treatment as a child actor; young women reporters at Alternet ("Five Women" from This American Life - https://www.thisamericanlife.org/640/transcript); the testimony of Stormy Daniels. I think Hicks is slowly coming to terms about her experiences in predatory environments, beginning far before her recruitment by Ivanka. For her sake, I certainly hope so.
You are definitely not the only one. That idiots, flagrant racists, sexists, xenophobes, and homophobes like Trump doesn't surprise me. But when it's someone smart? Clearly with some common sense? That just boggles the mind.
Thank you, Marsha, for sharing this astute observation of tRump's corruption, not just of his loyal cronies, but of the entire system - Supreme Court & other judges, members of congress, loyal MAGA supporters, etc. etc. Reading this article took my breath away in fear of this level of corruption that may end Democracy as we know it.
Add to that…he’s ruining our lives and our country. Will we ever overcome the hatred, division, disrespect, racism, etc that he has provoked in this country?
The old criminal is above all things a con man which means his one standout talent is knowing who the marks are, AKA who's corruptible. Not all of us are corruptible. Not even the majority of us. Certainly Lindsey Graham was. See "The Corruption of Lindsey Graham" (https://specialto.thebulwark.com/p/the-corruption-of-lindsey-graham
For we who are pro-democracy (AKA anti-Trump), Suzanne, these are our fellow Americans.
People have wondered why these people still like trump, going so far as to say they still support him (see Bill Barr). In most cases they are looking for power, power in a trump dictatorship - the power to cruelly enforce the will of the minority. You need only look at the people Hitler brought to power, most of them were failures/thugs before attaching themselves to him.
(Yes, it’s baffling that many voters didn’t already know and believe this, but that’s where things stood at the time.)
I maintain this is going to be Trump’s secret weapon in this trial: He’s been such a thorough, open, disgusting pig for so long now that it’s going to be hard for jurors to go back eight years and imagine a time when he was desperate to cover these stories up because they could have hurt him.
The Manhattan trial rests on motive and intent, and every witness appearing so far underlines the prosecution's case for a GUILTY verdict. tRump was worried about the effect of sex revelations on his campaign, and he approved payoffs to quash those revelations, end of.
Rebecca Roiphe, a former assistant district attorney in the Manhattan District Attorney’s office, wrote in the NY Times on April 29: “Mr. Trump is accused of creating 11 false invoices, 12 false ledger entries and 11 false checks and check stubs, with the intent to violate federal election laws, state election laws or state tax laws.”
The trial testimony explains the paperwork and boldfaces the intent. The documents neither lie nor cry on the stand.
The very attractive, Ms, hicks, learned early how to “go along to get along” and parlay her looks into her ambitious dreams. TFG as a “father figure—aka dirty old man” was willing to feed her ambition. Now she is dating the head of Goldman Sachs, I hear?! Oh well, Donald, you were losing your cachet anyway…. The tears are all about saying “I’m really a good person, even though I’m putting you under the bus, dear ‘daddy’”. I don’t buy it. Sometimes, one’s beauty is a real problem in one’s ethical standards. And Goldman Sachs awaits…
People like her in Trump’s orbit are the WORST. She does or should know better, know right from wrong, good from evil. Her “boyfriend” Corey L. Is just a run of the mill sleaze like so many in Trump world. They are everywhere, but Hicks and her ilk disgust me the most. In the words of Lawrence O’Donnell, “why didn’t she quit?” I ask myself that every day about literally hundreds of these supposedly “normal” humans. I am SICK of all these morally bankrupt people, I truly am. They deserve ZERO sympathy.
Am I the only one who still finds it astounding that folks like Hicks like Trump? And continue to feel positively about him? Apparently they haven't spoken in 2 years?
I'm always brought up short by this.
She is no angel. She texted Julie Radford, the former chief of staff to Ivanka Trump that “one day ended every future opportunity that doesn’t include speaking engagements at the local proud boys chapter. And all of us that didn’t have jobs lined up will be perpetually unemployed. I’m so mad and upset. We all look like domestic terrorists now. Not being dramatic, but we are all fucked.” In another text, Hicks lamented that Alyssa Farah Griffin, her replacement as White House communications director, who resigned a few weeks after Trump lost in November, “looks like a genius” now.
Thanks for this reminder. What in the world was-and is-this young woman thinking?? She’s right…she’s a domestic terrorist. Unbelievable.
I don't see her as a domestic terrorist but as an opportunist. She was going to parlay the Trump administration job to higher and higher employment and salaries, and was distressed when January 6th destroyed all of that. Trump surrounded himself with sycophants, but there were a lot of opportunists in the bunch as well.
Those tears belong to a crocodile. Eye candy, that's all she was.
Agree. 🙄
yes it baffles me how he has loyal followers, how any woman can like him and how otherwise smart people will argue his innocence in all of his indictments because of course he didn't do it. I guess it shouldn't continue to baffle me but it does
I think there are few that "like" him; many of his followers are simply remembering better/safer times and are terrified of what another 4 years of whomever is currently running things will look like.
As to his guilt or innocence: it's weaponizing the legal system against political opponents that worries people, not some process crimes that are (for other people) misdemeanors at most.
Oh and btw, I'm always somewhat bemused by these statements that these are "process crimes that are (for other people) misdemeanors at most". First off, note that this current trial in Manhattan is actually the first off the Trump trials we've seen to involve any level of criminal charges. The others that have actually happened have been civil cases.
But, more to the point, I feel like people who make this argument aren't all that familiar with how the legal system actually treats most "other people" who end up entangled in it. For other rich defendants, perhaps they would be able to get off with minimal punishment or none at all. But for poor defendants, those with mental health and addiction issues or who are homeless and so on, charging to the absolute max is pretty much standard policy at the beginning. That includes tacking on as many enhancements and violations as possible. It's a big part of the reason that such a massive majority of convinctions are obtained through guilty pleas: because taking the risk of trial could cost too much.
Which brings us to the next point: Trump isn't "other people". First off, he has a large audience, and enjoys bragging on the news and social media about many of his illegal activities, thus raising the need for the system to do SOMETHING about even more "minor" offenses, because he's pretty much doing it right in front of their faces and saying it makes him smart and powerful. But also, he never admits anytging. Trump has greatly increased his own problems by refusing to settle, refusing to cooperate, refusing to obey court orders. I just heard someone saying how unfair it was that Trump was treated differently than Biden on classified docs. But there was no mention of the fact that once the docs were known, Biden cooperated with authorities Trump refused to cooperate at all, then cooperated minimally and incompletely, then refused again, then actually knowingly hid docs from his own Lawyers and the authorities, and so on. He obstructed all the way where "other people" usually cooperate.
Exhibit 1 for this right now is the gag order in New York. Trump is no stranger to these things, he's violated them before. This time, he is VERY publicly violating the order over and over. He was warned last week to stop and has continued. The judge has now warned him he may be incarcerated next time-and I'd bet we'll see more violations within days. Whether the order is fair or not, it's hardly unclear, and while it might frustrate Trump to follow it, he is certainly capable of doing so (physically and materially anyway). He just doesn't want to because he doesn't like it. So he won't. He pushes and pushes and gets far more leeway and warnings than the vast majority of defendants would get. When he finally does get thrown in lockup, he will complain about how unfair it all is, and how the only explanation is that this is all political and they are just out to get him. And all along he's using it to raise more money.
Notice how so many of Trump's lawyers, employees, and followers end up losing their money, jobs, careers, and often end up convicted of crimes, yet thus far none of that has happened to Trump himself? (And do note the vast diversity of the entities that have doled out these consequences to these other people; politically, geographically, financially, mission wise, public or private, individuals and groups ) How does that fit with this idea that Trump is being persecuted? Kind of seems like the opposite. Like he gets away with things over and over that other people are punished for. I find it fascinating that so many people are discrediting Michael Cohen as "a convicted felon and liar" as a way of trying to argue that Trump is Innocent. Except that Cohen was convicted for the same thing Trump is on trial for. If Cohen is a criminal so is Trump, and if Trump is Innocent then Cohen was wrongly convicted and incarcerated. You'd think more of those who think Trump is being persecuted would be interested in rectifying such an injustice against Cohen. Instead they use it to smear him and indicate he's not credible at all and is a terrible person. Yet somehow Trump, though he was involved in the exact same scheme, is totally credible and a great person.
I think you're right that not all Trump voters, by any means, like him. Many actually think he's despicable but think he'll protect their interests somehow. But I think there are also many-too many-who not only like him but are actually enamored. The "Christians" who proudly declare their faith and then twist it every which way so that a twice divorced, cheating, serial actual abuser who is proud to admit he cheats and lies in business records and taxes, who demands loyalty but throws anyone no longer useful to him straight under the F train, who openly despise large swathes of humanity for various reasons including ethnic heritage or desperate poverty, and who has single-handedly put small businesses out of business and put numerous individuals in bankruptcy by refusing to pay for services rendered and bankrupting the involved LLCs when they went to court while he skipped away with hundreds of millions of dollars...can somehow come out looking like a paragon of virtue, chosen by God. Those people are the ones who really frighten me, because they will actually participate in their own brainwashing to support a dangerous leader. Voting for selfish interests I understand. But Trump, compared to pretty much any other serious political contender, seems to have an excess of the type of supporters who are devoted and consider every word he utters to be divinely inspired and take them as law immediately.
On a totally different note, maybe you can clear something up for me: how is it that people who say they are concerned about a political figure being indicated by a half dozen different grand juries of his peers in multiple different jurisdictions, are not at least equally concerned about a former President and current presidential candidate who instructed his lawyer to argue to the Supreme Court that he shouldn't be prosecuted simply by virtue of having been President once, even if as President he orders the military to execute his political rival? One who explicitly stated in writing that military leaders who are "disloyal" to him (nevermind that their oath is actually to the Constitution and not the individual leader) should be executed? How can you and the Fox News talking heads actually say, with a straight face, that it's "weaponization of the judiciary" for Trump to be prosecuted in front of a jury of citizens for crimes he was indicted by a different jury of citizens, but then turn right around and say that because Trump is being persecuted more than anyone ever, OF COURSE it's absolutely important that he be supported in immediately creating direct Presidential control over the entire federal judicial and law enforcement system, immediately followed by commencing a massive federal criminal crackdown on a long list of his own political enemies? A list so long that pretty much the ONLY thing they have in common is that Trump believes they've somehow crossed him and tried to stop him from a goal, whether that goal was wise or legal or not.
I'm genuinely curious how you think about that contradiction. Do you just not believe he'll do it? Have you read Project 2025? Do you think it's actually the right thing from a legal standpoint for Jack Smith, Juan Merchan, Mark Milley, Mike Pence, Jeff Flake, Nancy Pelosi, the Obamas, Mitch McConnel and on and on to all be immediately prosecuted for treason and other capital crimes? I'd like to understand how those who would characterize themselves as holding their noses to vote for Trump think about this.
They really need to get to Jack Black's findings.
Economic and moral "Stockholm Syndrome." Once you've given in and accepted the money and the status, rationalizing doing so becomes an all-too-common phenomenon. Some people in Trump's administration did it by saying they were trying to be the adults in the room. Some in Congress and the courts did it by saying that Trump is the surest way for conservatives to take over the country. Some in the church did it for the "sake of the unborn." Be that as it may, they are all hostages who are now sympathetic to their captor.
But the disconnect for most of his base, who are not benefitting from him directly (except that it's ok to act like and say the things he says) remains astounding to me.
I know some of these folks. They are decent people, usually kind, they aren't shooting puppies or cheating on spouses, but they remain firmly behind him. They aren't even that hateful of Biden. A few really want to "own" the libs, but not the majority of them.
I guess I just don't comprehend what they see, unless they are as fearful of being a minority as he paints them.
I think literal decades of listening to the right wing radio/television has their brains on a narrow path.
It's quite interesting, actually, if scary. A poll just came out that found that the less people actually knew about what Trump has said and done and about the actual policies he is supporting or not, the more likely they were to support him. Go figure. So as long as people are only getting their news through the MAGA echo chamber, or not paying attention to current events at all, he's going to have much more support than he would otherwise.
I think the proliferation of blogs, podcasts and social media also plays a role. What's passing for news can be 98% opinion, especially in podcasts, and people don't even seem to realize it. No one bothers to actually check primary sources or verify it when their favorite podcaster says "Joe Biden is planning to take away your gas stove" or whatever. They take what some rando online says as fact.
So true. And Fox "News"? It's really should be called 'Fox Only Half the News'. I've been shocked that people who rely on that station have no idea about incredible things like the Georgia pressure campaign, the Charlottesville kkkmarch through a college campus, Helsinki. It's a problem! Special place in hell for Murdoch.
I'm especially alarmed by how slanted their perceptions of the Israel-Gaza issue (and of the general nature of protests against it as well as the actual concerns of people who don't support it but aren't protesting publicly), and of these legal cases and investigations against Trump. They know about it, but in a VERY slanted way.
This isn't original to me, but I think it makes sense: Dumpy followers want him to remain in power because he gives them permission to think and say crazy and abhorrent things. In the circles I'm in, something like that would be preceded by "This isn't PC to say, but it's true..." That our country is being overrun by MS-13 gang members. That BLM protesters burned down buildings and rioted but weren't jailed like Jan 6th protesters who didn't do anything wrong. That Dems are trying to replace White voters with Brown-skinned people.
Normally (8 years ago?) society didn't give people permission to say that stuff out loud, but now it's fine. And it's Dumpy who made it okay.
Agree, but don't forget the fact that he did it continuously with his thumbs on Twitter.
I think that to begin with a high percentage of them are low information voters. There's probably a subclass that we could label "disinformation voters." They have neither knowledge nor interest regarding Donald Trump's activities prior to "The Apprentice," and marinate in the Fox News crockpot for their current viewpoint.
I think many of these people, at least in my experience here in Georgia, are consumed by more darkness than you may realize. They seem kind on the outside, but many are troubled souls. It may be an opioid or alcohol problem, or a life of neglect when they were growing up, or it may just be that everything feels taken away from them as rural communities get eaten alive by agribusiness and the near impossibility of starting and maintaining a viable business in late stage capitalist America.
These aren't people who can or will start blogs or become influencers. These are people who are often trying to do things like build a small business or restaurant and are getting buried in doing so.
Democrats could go a long way toward gaining back some of these people by appealing to, not just workers and laborers, but small businesses, too. Offer plans to help jumpstart small businesses without holding them hostage to government-backed loans. Push out a few grant programs. Treat rural America like the socioeconomic mess it has become. The advantage to such programs is that it could be used in broken urban areas, too.
If I was a hot shot Democrat, I'd say to these people, "We are the party of small business," and develop some ideas that prove this to be so (these ideas don't have to be the one I suggested). Dems need to think out of the box a bit more. Get creative. There's still time, but there's a reason that 40% of Americans are flirting with a crook.
Thank you for your accounts of these people. They are suffering and I am distressed by that.
But isn't it true that Biden has invested in rural America with the bipartisan Infrastructure and CHIPS bills he signed? Wasn't he thinking outside of the box then? Wasn't he working against late stage capitalist America then? Why does he get no credit for this in red states?
IMO, that tells me it's really about culture, not economics. They hate the Left. That's why they're flirting with a crook, no?
Legitimate points, to be sure. I think part of the problem is that the benefits of Biden's programs are only beginning to manifest themselves, and just barely. Hopefully these benefits will become more obvious during Biden's second term.
I also don't want to discount the first part of my statement. There is a malaise throughout rural America highlighted by rampant drug use and alcoholism. Throw in the effects of the 24/7 propaganda machine that is Fox News, and it's a real mess.
When they've jailed all the black folks and deported all the brown folks and their lives still stuck; Who are they going to blame then?
Of course there's always the Jews
No need to stop with "the Jews" - - They won't stop their destructive rampage until they silence ANYONE who speaks up against the Project 2025 / Heritage Foundation / tRump agenda!
We saw it happen in Europe in the 1930's!
It's the Same game plan here!
He disrupts the lives of every one he comes in contact with, and with everything he involves himself in.
Sadly, I’m not astounded. I would be happier if I were astounded meaning this behavior occurred with much less frequency.
I think Hillary put it best. It was kind of questionable at the time, for lack of a better word, but she nailed it by titling these sniveling, traitorious cowards as "a basket of deplorables".
Not anything over-the-top, cuss -related verbiage. Just short and sweet fire.
And yet, the moment I heard her say it, I knew the pooch was screwed. Sometimes it just doesn’t help to say what you’re thinking.
I hear what you're saying. 2016 should have never been a close race.
With that being said, after reading and listening to various sources, I still believe that the after 5pm release of election info from networks to RNC/Putin's ears, the steal was on.
Plus, I think the polling was so skewed in Hillary's favor, that it didn't have her electorate in crisis mode like being way behind in the polls would have done.
Sometimes? If you're a Democratic politician running for elected office and you need at least 4 pts in the popular vote to win the EC, it definitely doesn't help to offend the swing voters in the swing states where your election will be decided.
It was political malpractice for her to voice that publicly.
Blanche Axton: In agreement with you, I have to ask: "Are Trump-Cultists the true followers of James Warren Jones and 'The Peoples Temple Agricultural Project'?! What does ORANGE-BOTTOMFEEDER put in THEIR Kool-Aid??!!"
Right? And I keep hearing people say that one on one, he's quite "charismatic".....really? How is that possible?
Blanche Axton: Many are Fundamentalists who believe in an exclusive cult, where everyone else (the VAST majority of people— billions) will end in HELL. So, they HAVE to follow Trump, because he SAYS he is for the Bible — he‘ll sell you one to help defray his legal costs— and he SAYS he is against abortion. So the Fundamentalists just HAVE to follow the ORANGE-BOTTOMFEEDER.
Oh my!
I guess if you are a white, rich male or a reasonably attractive female he can hit on, he can be agreeable. I imagine most people are looking to get something from him.
EWWW. It would have to be the money, because his physical appearance is abhorrent.
Sorry for piggybacking here but I have a question that would like others opinions.
Metaphorically, imagine an ostrich with its head in the sand. Now imagine that there is danger to the other ostriches and that this ostrich helped create this danger. Doesn’t this ostrich have a moral responsibility to pull his head out of the sand and warn the other ostriches.
Elements of Danger:
1. Who appointed the current Yahoo who is chief Justice of SCROTUS? George W
2. Who appointed the justice who is obviously corrupt? W’s dad
3. Who started a bogus war with phoney information? George W
4. Who helped corrupt SCROTUS by stopping an election count? George W
5. Who helped add to power of corrupt billionaire with bid tax cuts? George W
Who has their head in the sand pretending to be an artist? George W
Where is this coward when the nation is under attack by the great cloaca
With all I've read about cult culture, the treatment of young, beautiful women, stories from the MeToo movement, I'm not at all astounded. Read, for instance, Brook Shields on her treatment as a child actor; young women reporters at Alternet ("Five Women" from This American Life - https://www.thisamericanlife.org/640/transcript); the testimony of Stormy Daniels. I think Hicks is slowly coming to terms about her experiences in predatory environments, beginning far before her recruitment by Ivanka. For her sake, I certainly hope so.
You are definitely not the only one. That idiots, flagrant racists, sexists, xenophobes, and homophobes like Trump doesn't surprise me. But when it's someone smart? Clearly with some common sense? That just boggles the mind.
Not at all. It's baffling🥴
The old criminal has one standout talent, and that's corrupting people. He's ruined so many lives. Wish we'd never heard his name.
Corrupting is the word for Trump - Trump is not just a clown but a master of corruption
https://www.pressreader.com/usa/los-angeles-times/20240427/281698324813965?fbclid=IwZXh0bgNhZW0CMTEAAR07e5nuq75z34cWyNmvtSox2CVBmxE3N7JDtlGQgG2PYqvUYa0vyEb58UM_aem_Ae7wA9zmxBlAFroeKRIkPgJXSH4AhgdP-i27Gt4yZ-0QlLGHMuhh1co-D9SAV0yAxugdlqBJqxhNCN22FcoJB1QJ
Thank you, Marsha, for sharing this astute observation of tRump's corruption, not just of his loyal cronies, but of the entire system - Supreme Court & other judges, members of congress, loyal MAGA supporters, etc. etc. Reading this article took my breath away in fear of this level of corruption that may end Democracy as we know it.
Great article! Thanks for sharing.
Exactly.
Add to that…he’s ruining our lives and our country. Will we ever overcome the hatred, division, disrespect, racism, etc that he has provoked in this country?
Not in our lifetimes, I'm pretty sure.
The old criminal is above all things a con man which means his one standout talent is knowing who the marks are, AKA who's corruptible. Not all of us are corruptible. Not even the majority of us. Certainly Lindsey Graham was. See "The Corruption of Lindsey Graham" (https://specialto.thebulwark.com/p/the-corruption-of-lindsey-graham
For we who are pro-democracy (AKA anti-Trump), Suzanne, these are our fellow Americans.
Well said. I couldn't agree more enthusiastically.
I look forward to Donald Trump finally becoming a man of conviction.
A handsome guy at a bar once told me he’d just been let out of prison, and I said to him that I usually like a man with convictions, but…
Nice! Sorta takes a little of the shine off the handsome, don't it?
I love that. Well done.
People have wondered why these people still like trump, going so far as to say they still support him (see Bill Barr). In most cases they are looking for power, power in a trump dictatorship - the power to cruelly enforce the will of the minority. You need only look at the people Hitler brought to power, most of them were failures/thugs before attaching themselves to him.
Miss Hicks' Masquerade
Behold, the cunning whirl of Washington's wind,
Hope Hicks, in designer cloaks, heels that grind
The shards of glass ceilings—they serve her stride,
As she blazes trails for her own sake, not to bide.
She danced through the dirge of political campaigns,
No moral compass in these hallowed terrains.
From tweets to the teetering feats of high stakes,
Hicks, a neophyte, steams suits and partakes.
In memoirs and whispers of hallowed hall lore,
They spoke of her tasks, surreal and sore:
"Get the machine!" a command she'd heed,
Pressing out wrinkles for her own need.
Near power's pulsing heart, in a closet's embrace,
She fielded calls—"Hopey! Join this race!"
Yet, as the White House's whispers grew loud,
She dodged accusations, her head still unbowed.
Crafting defenses for men of "integrity,"
While charged with abuse, she steered their trajectory.
Through testimonies long and trials of fire,
She stood tall, a survivor, a skilled liar.
With the stage set in Lafayette's shadowed square,
She nodded, the air filled with gas and despair.
A photo op's cost, a nation's unrest,
Hope's choices, her crisis, a self-serving test.
Post-election, she lingered where others had fled,
Holding the line where dread futures were bred.
Subpoenas and inquiries, a House's sharp query,
Hicks, once again, on a path self-serving and dreary.
They say she's a master, a crisis-clad muse,
Who wiped away tears, controlled the fuse
Of a story explosive, on the stand, in the heat—
She stood for herself, a self-preserving feat.
In the cyclone of power, where truth spins and bends,
Hope Hicks plays her part for her own selfish ends.
A witness, a cipher, a soldier in heels,
Whose tale twirls the line between ordeals and deals.
_________
Explore more tales and highjinks on my Substack, She Who Stirs the Storm, @gloriahortonyoung
Gloria Horton-Young (She who STIRS the storm . . .) -- I always wonder at your daily outpouring of truth and beauty in words.
I humbly acknowledge: You have a profound gift that I love daily to partake in.
Thank you, Armand!
Spot on! 👏🏼
(Yes, it’s baffling that many voters didn’t already know and believe this, but that’s where things stood at the time.)
I maintain this is going to be Trump’s secret weapon in this trial: He’s been such a thorough, open, disgusting pig for so long now that it’s going to be hard for jurors to go back eight years and imagine a time when he was desperate to cover these stories up because they could have hurt him.
Interesting point.
I wish I were joking.
If at first you don't succeed, cry, cry, and cry again.
Brilliant.
TY Jay for a well-reasoned and unique analysis. This is why I read your post daily.
The Manhattan trial rests on motive and intent, and every witness appearing so far underlines the prosecution's case for a GUILTY verdict. tRump was worried about the effect of sex revelations on his campaign, and he approved payoffs to quash those revelations, end of.
So far, it’s straightforward
What a scummy, scummy bunch. Beyond disgust and anger (fear), I find myself nauseous almost daily.
If naked ambition had a pretty face
It does! It does!
CASE IN A NUTSHELL
Rebecca Roiphe, a former assistant district attorney in the Manhattan District Attorney’s office, wrote in the NY Times on April 29: “Mr. Trump is accused of creating 11 false invoices, 12 false ledger entries and 11 false checks and check stubs, with the intent to violate federal election laws, state election laws or state tax laws.”
The trial testimony explains the paperwork and boldfaces the intent. The documents neither lie nor cry on the stand.
The very attractive, Ms, hicks, learned early how to “go along to get along” and parlay her looks into her ambitious dreams. TFG as a “father figure—aka dirty old man” was willing to feed her ambition. Now she is dating the head of Goldman Sachs, I hear?! Oh well, Donald, you were losing your cachet anyway…. The tears are all about saying “I’m really a good person, even though I’m putting you under the bus, dear ‘daddy’”. I don’t buy it. Sometimes, one’s beauty is a real problem in one’s ethical standards. And Goldman Sachs awaits…
People like her in Trump’s orbit are the WORST. She does or should know better, know right from wrong, good from evil. Her “boyfriend” Corey L. Is just a run of the mill sleaze like so many in Trump world. They are everywhere, but Hicks and her ilk disgust me the most. In the words of Lawrence O’Donnell, “why didn’t she quit?” I ask myself that every day about literally hundreds of these supposedly “normal” humans. I am SICK of all these morally bankrupt people, I truly am. They deserve ZERO sympathy.
Wait - I thought Noem was Corey L's girlfriend.
Crocodile tears.
Hope helped sink Trump, and McConney is now in the process of ripping down the sails so that the SS Predator never sails again.
It’s fascinating
Looking forward to your next rundown, because trying to follow it all just turns me into a blithering idiot.
It’s an opera.
I have a suggestion for who should walk the plank.