My Post Election Experience with a Friend

[Icarus]

So a client of mine, who is actually a doctor, found out I didn't support Trump the other day and he began texting me about his astonishment. He said he couldn't believe a business owner wouldn't support Trump andf told me to vote with my wallet. I told him there are more important things in life than a tax cut. I tried not to get into with him and was successful in that, but he kept sending a slew of long winded texts, one of which was this funny rant about how Biden's tax plan would ruin him:

"Let's say I make $401,000. That's almost $30,000 more in taxes I have to pay. That's the salary of a new young hire secretary. Or money I can't give out for bonuses or profit sharing. Three partners, that's $90,000 difference. That's money we could use to hire a new doctor. As a new doctor loses $$ for the first two years they are hired. Takes them usually around two years to break even."

I never did respond to him, I changed the subject and we started talking about my family's health. Every time I corrected him on a point he'd get more dismissive and aggressive. He told me he knows Obamacare sucks because he's a doctor and his clients tell him their premiums went up because of that. When I provided him with two studies demonstrating that the rate of increased premiums has actually gone down since the ACA passed, he then assured me his personal anecdotes weigh heavier than any aggregate. He then said he's a doctor so he knows more about how the ACA is horrible, etc. I showed him a survey showing that a small majority of doctors actually support Obamacare, and he blew it off as a false survey by "fake doctors."

But this kind of misunderstanding about the Biden Tax plan is pretty common it seems. Trump supporters, even those who have been formally educated, don't seem to understand much of anything when it comes to taxes.

In reality the grand total of his increased tax burden would be $26 if he were to make $401,000. They don't understand that the 2.6% increase only applies to the income earned OVER $400,000.

[Gadianton]

It's amazing to me that most right-wingers are willing to risk a dictatorship on low taxes. I do believe most who voted Trump are in fact, only voting by their wallet, and another slice are generically afraid of 'socialism'. The problem is, there aren't enough of these people to win an election, and so you can't get a generally credible president who keeps taxes low, you have to get one who keeps taxes low on the side as a secondary issue, while the primary issue is becoming a God to a bunch of morons who need something to believe in. So even the 'low-tax' guys need to be all-in on Trump, because Trump's alternative won't be able to get enough votes to win.

[canpakes]

I wonder what his reaction would be if you had given him the correct information. My bet is that he’d just assert otherwise and stay angry.

I can’t get behind the need to dismiss actual facts in order to continue to steep oneself in unnecessary anger.

[Some Schmo]

Ever since my experience with post secondary education, I have been slightly cynical about "professionals." This is not a slight against the importance of education; to the contrary, it's an appeal for more.

I busted my ass to learn the subject of my profession, and it occurred to me toward the end of my first degree that not all degrees are equal. I had plenty of classmates who were getting the exact same degree I was getting who could do a fraction of what I could do. You don't necessarily need competence for a degree. You just have to have enough class credits.

Every time I think of dumb doctors, I remember that experience from my own college days. I will not see a doctor any more without interviewing him briefly first, and I will stop seeing them if I detect the slightest incompetence. I just don't want to waste my time taking counsel from a C+ student.

[Icarus]

It's amazing to me that most right-wingers are willing to risk a dictatorship on low taxes. I do believe most who voted Trump are in fact, only voting by their wallet, and another slice are generically afraid of 'socialism'. The problem is, there aren't enough of these people to win an election, and so you can't get a generally credible president who keeps taxes low, you have to get one who keeps taxes low on the side as a secondary issue, while the primary issue is becoming a God to a bunch of morons who need something to believe in. So even the 'low-tax' guys need to be all-in on Trump, because Trump's alternative won't be able to get enough votes to win.

I said I voted against Trump on moral grounds, and he went ballistic and went off on a rant about Hunter Biden on a board of directors and Kalama Harris wanting 40 week abortions.

It is just astonishing to me that there are legit educated people out there who are really this ignorant on issues that matter. This all started because his wife posted a Tucker Carlson video alleging that dead people voted in Georgia. I responded with a CNN clip that interviewed two of the people who Tucker said was dead. They were alive and well, and Tu8cker just didn't do his homework. He thinks FOX News is awesome no matter what evidence I provide. I even provided a link showing how FOX News argued in court that no one who watched Tucker Carlson should reasonably expect him to be telling the truth!

[Icarus]

I wonder what his reaction would be if you had given him the correct information. My bet is that he’d just assert otherwise and stay angry.

I can’t get behind the need to dismiss actual facts in order to continue to steep oneself in unnecessary anger.

Well I corrected a couple of his initial falsehoods and his responses made me realize it wasn't worth trying to argue with him because he just got more aggressive and even misread one of my comments as an attack on him personally. This is one of those guys who doesn't really care, because his mind is made up, and he interprets all data in a way that supports his presuppositions.

I also noted that those with advanced degree tend to vote Left. He said I was "naïve" to believe that, and when I provided the data proving it, he assured me it was wrong because all of the doctors he knows are Conservatives.

[Some Schmo]

I said I voted against Trump on moral grounds, and he went ballistic and went off on a rant about Hunter Biden on a board of directors and Kalama Harris wanting 40 week abortions.

This is just the weirdest rhetorical strategy ever.

So, if you agree generally that corruption is bad, how does bringing up someone else's corruption excuse your hero's corruption (and this is ignoring the fact that Hunter Biden wasn't running for President)?

I just don't know how to process Trump support without naming stupidity as a central ingredient in the formula.

[Icarus]

I said I voted against Trump on moral grounds, and he went ballistic and went off on a rant about Hunter Biden on a board of directors and Kalama Harris wanting 40 week abortions.

This is just the weirdest rhetorical strategy ever.

So, if you agree generally that corruption is bad, how does bringing up someone else's corruption excuse your hero's corruption (and this is ignoring the fact that Hunter Biden wasn't running for the President)?

I just don't know how to process Trump support without naming stupidity as a central ingredient in the formula.

When I told him it was on moral grounds, he tried to put my reasoning in a pigeonhole created by FOX News. Meaning, in his view, I was just voting on "emotion" and I shouldn't do that. That's what they say to rationalize why it is OK to vote for someone who is morally bankrupt. He said this is why Biden won big among women, because they're emotional. He kept saying vote with your wallet. He thinks people don't like Trump just because of his "mean tweets."

Oh yeah, check this out. I turned it around on him briefly saying this was in my financial interests because, "As you know my wife has health insurance through the ACA exchanges so if Trump manages to kill Obamacare we're screwed because she won't be able to get insurance anywhere with cancer as a preexisting condition."

His response?

"Don't you know Trump signed an executive order protecting those with preexisting conditions? Man I tell ya, no matter what good Trum does you people aren't happy."

I directed him to a dozen different sources indicating that his EO was just a gimmick that had no legal merit and insurers were not legally bound by anything in it.

[Gadianton]

I said I voted against Trump on moral grounds, and he went ballistic and went off on a rant about Hunter Biden on a board of directors and Kalama Harris wanting 40 week abortions.

yeah, my right-wing friend who is vocal but uneducated -- he is a wealth blue-collar trades guy -- is about the same. "Biden is dirty!" Also big on Trump's morals for being pro-life (as if Trump is really pro-life, and this Christian guy who is a sex addict has never lost 1 second of sleep over an abortion, even though he brings up abortion constantly as a last resort). And he was nearly screaming as he explained that this whole thing is a plot for Nancy Pelosi to become president. Biden dies and I can't remember what happens with Kamala. But, on other days he's shaken it off a bit as he's heavily invested in green energy and Chinese tech like Nio, and he wonders if Biden will keep that moving for him. I tell him the truth that it won't matter much and call him a hypocrite.

[Icarus]

I said I voted against Trump on moral grounds, and he went ballistic and went off on a rant about Hunter Biden on a board of directors and Kalama Harris wanting 40 week abortions.

yeah, my right-wing friend who is vocal but uneducated -- he is a wealth blue-collar trades guy -- is about the same. "Biden is dirty!" Also big on Trump's morals for being pro-life (as if Trump is really pro-life, and this Christian guy who is a sex addict has never lost 1 second of sleep over an abortion, even though he brings up abortion constantly as a last resort). And he was nearly screaming as he explained that this whole thing is a plot for Nancy Pelosi to become president. Biden dies and I can't remember what happens with Kamala. But, on other days he's shaken it off a bit as he's heavily invested in green energy and Chinese tech like Nio, and he wonders if Biden will keep that moving for him. I tell him the truth that it won't matter much and call him a hypocrite.

It surprises me how few people understand how a BOD works. When I started my company I was required to have three people on the board. I wasn't even planning to have a board, but it was required. I asked my accountant how do I hire people to be on the board and he said it could be literally anyone that I trust. So I chose my brother and two friends from Church I've known for years. They didn't even know I put their names on it until after the fact. None of these people have any experience in the industry I work in. That's not why they're on a BOD. Companies typically try to lure people with prestige and celebrity to be on their boards for that reason alone.

The smartest thing about this guy seems to be his investment choices. NIO has done extremely well for me this year.