Trump supporters don’t care about facts, policy ideas, or plans. Reading through a number of posts and associated comments about the first presidential debate, I came to a couple of conclusions. Conclusions that I had already held. 1. Hillary supporters aren’t going to be swayed by anything Donald Trump says or does. 2. Donald Trump supporters aren’t going to be swayed by anything Hillary says or does.
Trumpeters saw his performance the other night and cheered him on. He did everything they wanted him to do. He interrupted Clinton, he shouted over her, he avoided answering questions, and answers he did provide held no substance at all. He sniffled and chugged water, which if Hillary did either of those she would immediately be disqualified from the election. He was loud, argumentative, and spit out words that sound good but say nothing. “Jobs, jobs are terrible. I’ve been everywhere, total devastation. It’s awful.” *name check rust-belt states* “How do we fix it?” “We stop the companies from leaving.” Oh. Ok then.
Interacting with Trump supporters has told me that they are not going to the polls in November to make an informed decision. They’re going to make an emotional choice. They hate Hillary. They hate her because she’s a woman, because she’s white, because she’s wealthy, because she’s intelligent, because she’s stupid, because she makes mistakes, because she thinks she’s perfect, because she has secrets, because she’s done shady things in the past, because people have died under her leadership, because the Clinton Foundation purportedly gives only 10% to charity for every dollar taken in. Her husband’s infidelities are her fault.
Yesterday I listened to Rep. Chris Collins R-NY tell MSNBC that it might not be a bad idea for Trump to go after Hillary about her treatment of women. I wish I could find the transcript of that interview, because I almost swerved off the road listening to it. He said because of how vicious she was toward the women Bill cheated with, there may be a question as to how Hillary treats women. There’s a difference, according to Collins, between savagely attacking the women Bill preyed upon and standing silent next to her husband and saying “I forgive you”.
Then there’s the name calling. I’m not talking about labeling someone based on the evaluation of their actions or words, I’m talking about petty name calling like “libtard”, or “KILLary”, or equally as immature, you know the type. And like it or not, this type of voter will constitute about 40 million votes on November 8th. I engage with them semi-often on social media. It drives my wife nuts. “Brian, you’re not going to change their minds, and you’ll just end up frustrated” True on both accounts. But I don’t engage with the goal of changing their minds. “You can’t reason someone out of a position they didn’t reason themselves into.” Many people say there’s no point in talking politics online or anywhere else. I disagree.
Read this from Tuesday as post-debate buzz was just getting off the ground on social media. Don’t forget the MSNBC gem at the end. And remember, 40+ million emotional votes on November 8th. The Republican Party of 2016.
https://youtu.be/V2ojOvJD6vc?t=2m23s