SOUL wrote:I don't care if people have left or right leaning ideals, it just amazes me that Trump can be such a **** human being, spew the most uneducated, false, hateful narratives, show an ineptitude rarely seen at this level of politics, and still have people act like sun shines out of his ass every day and spend hours of their day, every day, defending him. Obama is my favorite president since I was born (1989), and even I disagreed with a decent amount of things he did or didn't do, and I never went out of my way to defend him or his honor (unless somebody was clearly exaggerating or lying about something he did). I'm not doing that for anybody (outside of the sports realm lol) unless it's somebody I know and love personally.
Actually, reflecting on things, it doesn't amaze me. Jim Jones had followers too.
Trump being in power allows people to blame others (migrants, foreigners, PoC, the media) for the things in their life they're unhappy about. It allows people to play the victim and get angry at others rather than take any responsibility and that makes them feel better about their lives.
In my opinion the majority of his hard-line supporters aren't defending him personally or his political achievements so much as they are defending the vile rhetoric he legitimizes, they just do it through the thin veil of political support because actually being racist is illegal. His idiocy and ineptitude aren't relevant to them because they don't actually care about what he achieves politically. In return he gets to abuse the office for his personal gain, so he'll continue to bang the drum because it garners him support and keeps him in the chair.
We're seeing a similar thing in the UK at the moment. Certain far-right individuals are legitimizing racism and xenophobia to achieve their personal goals, and idiot bigots are voting for them under the guises of 'sovereignty' and 'taking back control' when in reality they just don't want non-white faces in their neighborhood. They happily ignore the lies and the law-breaking because it allows them a platform to be racist.
People like Bannon stir the pot on both sides of the Atlantic and advocate racist views citing an uninformed defense of 'free speech' (whilst also using the word 'liberal' as an insult - it's so uninformed it's astounding) - just another thin political veil for legitimizing hate. You won't get a single logical response to any challenge or probe, just ignorance and insults.
What I find truly amazing isn't the vociferousness of the the defense Trump receives, but the volume of people that still exist with clearly prejudicial views in the 21st century.