Jan 26Liked by Jamie Paul, Alexander von Sternberg
There's just no explaining Trump as far as I can tell. Just imagine a world where George W cheated on Laura with a porn star and his lawyer went to prison for paying her off. Imagine GW on the cover of Playboy or Laura nude on the cover of GQ magazine. The Bible he was sworn in on would have burst into flames. But somehow my extremely Christian mother looks at him and says "that's the voice of the moral majority." She's not even a passive supporter; she actually attended a rally.
I'm fine with a fair bit of nudity and I'm generally a sex-positive person, but I'm also not an evangelical trying wage a war against "degeneracy". I can respect someone who has consistent, sincerely held beliefs even if I disagree with them. But Trump is a shining example that many on the right simply don't have the courage of their convictions.
The inconsistency there I think reveals something about the motive of the typical Trump voter: it’s not about the man, but rather what he is supposedly positioned AGAINST. That is all that matters to the people who support him. I think they tend to give him a free pass on those things because that hypocrisy is nothing compared to the moral hypocrisy espoused by progressives on things. While I think they are morally lazy to stop with Trump instead of pursuing something more meaningful and effective, I completely understand where they’re coming from. Every time I see someone on Twitter or Reddit simply writing Trump supporters off as evil in one way or another, I just shake my head at the shortsightedness. Most people want something for their support; the fact that Trump can offer them emotional relief while the Democrats/progressive establishment can only wag their fingers at them shows how easy it could be to win them back.
I'm hardly a Biden fanboy. He is the political equivalent of unflavored yogurt. It's bland and it's nobody's favorite but it pairs well and won't upset your stomach. I would much rather see someone like our own governor Andy Beshear on the ticket. He's young, basically scandal free, and has shown he can lead as a blue head of a deeply red state. He doesn't come with the baggage of things like heading the war on drugs, and I don't wonder whether he'll suddenly die stepping out of the shower.
I voted for Biden because I chose the bland option rather than be someone who has food allergies but decides to roll the dice and order shellfish smothered in peanuts and bees. I don't think less of principled conservatives, but I do think a bit less of someone who is an enthusiastic Trump supporter. There's just 1,000 things there that should be categorically disqualifying. I do think the left is much better at criticizing Biden, while anyone on the right who criticizes Trump ends up like Liz Cheney and is promptly shown the door.
Which is so weird, right? I worked in a Hassidic community in Louisville for a while. I never took them for a "you get a one porn-star pass" type of people.
Political partisanship has reached such a fever pitch that people no longer simply have double standards, they have full-on blinders to anything wrong with their side. Case in point: my parents could name you every blunder or faux pas the Democrats have committed, real or imagined, going back 20 years. Yet they do not even know who Majorie Taylor Green is. The name is unknown to them. Four out of five factual things Republicans are widely criticized for are things they've never heard of. People are seriously siloed.
There's just no explaining Trump as far as I can tell. Just imagine a world where George W cheated on Laura with a porn star and his lawyer went to prison for paying her off. Imagine GW on the cover of Playboy or Laura nude on the cover of GQ magazine. The Bible he was sworn in on would have burst into flames. But somehow my extremely Christian mother looks at him and says "that's the voice of the moral majority." She's not even a passive supporter; she actually attended a rally.
I'm fine with a fair bit of nudity and I'm generally a sex-positive person, but I'm also not an evangelical trying wage a war against "degeneracy". I can respect someone who has consistent, sincerely held beliefs even if I disagree with them. But Trump is a shining example that many on the right simply don't have the courage of their convictions.
The inconsistency there I think reveals something about the motive of the typical Trump voter: it’s not about the man, but rather what he is supposedly positioned AGAINST. That is all that matters to the people who support him. I think they tend to give him a free pass on those things because that hypocrisy is nothing compared to the moral hypocrisy espoused by progressives on things. While I think they are morally lazy to stop with Trump instead of pursuing something more meaningful and effective, I completely understand where they’re coming from. Every time I see someone on Twitter or Reddit simply writing Trump supporters off as evil in one way or another, I just shake my head at the shortsightedness. Most people want something for their support; the fact that Trump can offer them emotional relief while the Democrats/progressive establishment can only wag their fingers at them shows how easy it could be to win them back.
I'm hardly a Biden fanboy. He is the political equivalent of unflavored yogurt. It's bland and it's nobody's favorite but it pairs well and won't upset your stomach. I would much rather see someone like our own governor Andy Beshear on the ticket. He's young, basically scandal free, and has shown he can lead as a blue head of a deeply red state. He doesn't come with the baggage of things like heading the war on drugs, and I don't wonder whether he'll suddenly die stepping out of the shower.
I voted for Biden because I chose the bland option rather than be someone who has food allergies but decides to roll the dice and order shellfish smothered in peanuts and bees. I don't think less of principled conservatives, but I do think a bit less of someone who is an enthusiastic Trump supporter. There's just 1,000 things there that should be categorically disqualifying. I do think the left is much better at criticizing Biden, while anyone on the right who criticizes Trump ends up like Liz Cheney and is promptly shown the door.
My Hasidic Jewish parents are much the same. It's almost as if religious beliefs are no guarantor of honesty, decency, or consistency...
Which is so weird, right? I worked in a Hassidic community in Louisville for a while. I never took them for a "you get a one porn-star pass" type of people.
Political partisanship has reached such a fever pitch that people no longer simply have double standards, they have full-on blinders to anything wrong with their side. Case in point: my parents could name you every blunder or faux pas the Democrats have committed, real or imagined, going back 20 years. Yet they do not even know who Majorie Taylor Green is. The name is unknown to them. Four out of five factual things Republicans are widely criticized for are things they've never heard of. People are seriously siloed.