Trump Will Probably Lose 2020

[_Gunnar]

Trump should win. This does not feel inevitable because the fact that he's an unfathomably corrupt moron filled with malice does have some impact on public opinion.

It is both tragic and frightening that "the fact that he's an unfathomably corrupt moron filled with malice" is not having much more impact on public opinion than it does. This is made more perplexing and frightening by the number of his base supporters who seem to acknowledge Trump's dishonesty and immorality, yet state unequivocally that they are bound and determined to vote for him anyway! I suspect that this is at least partly driven by extreme religious fundamentalists who may regard Trump as the anti-Christ that apocalyptic prophecies predict must appear before the triumphal second coming of Christ, and thus view the Trump phenomenon, as horrible as it is, as a hopeful sign that they may not have much longer to wait.

[_Some Schmo]

It is both tragic and frightening that "the fact that he's an unfathomably corrupt moron filled with malice" is not having much more impact on public opinion than it does. This is made more perplexing and frightening by the number of his base supporters who seem to acknowledge Trump's dishonesty and immorality, yet state unequivocally that they are bound and determined to vote for him anyway! I suspect that this is at least partly driven by extreme religious fundamentalists who may regard Trump as the anti-Christ that apocalyptic prophecies predict must appear before the triumphal second coming of Christ, and thus view the Trump phenomenon, as horrible as it is, as a hopeful sign that they may not have much longer to wait.

Religion poisons everything.

[_EAllusion]

It is both tragic and frightening that "the fact that he's an unfathomably corrupt moron filled with malice" is not having much more impact on public opinion than it does. This is made more perplexing and frightening by the number of his base supporters who seem to acknowledge Trump's dishonesty and immorality, yet state unequivocally that they are bound and determined to vote for him anyway! I suspect that this is at least partly driven by extreme religious fundamentalists who may regard Trump as the anti-Christ that apocalyptic prophecies predict must appear before the triumphal second coming of Christ, and thus view the Trump phenomenon, as horrible as it is, as a hopeful sign that they may not have much longer to wait.

Religion poisons everything.

The reverse is probably happening here. The modern religious right developed around the political mobilization of segregationists and eventually coalesced around issues like abortion that evangelicals didn't even particularly care about until the effort to mobile them as a political force. The politics is leading the religion rather than the other way around.

Trump is antithetical to what evangelicals purport to believe in so many key ways that he is a living test case of their hypocrisy. What he's illustrating is how people's political views affect what their religious beliefs are rather than their religious beliefs just guiding their political choices.

One of the main rationales for the separation of church in state was the belief that government involvement in religion corrupts religion. As a corollary, politics is a corrupting force on religion.

[_Some Schmo]

One of the main rationales for the separation of church in state was the belief that government involvement in religion corrupts religion. As a corollary, politics is a corrupting force on religion.

It's gotten to the point on the right in this country where it is difficult to distinguish between politics and religion. They treat their politics as though it was a religion, or at the very least, and extension of their religion.

To me, it's all part of the idea that reality is up for grabs for some people, limited only by their imagination.

[_MeDotOrg]

The successful candidacy of Donald Trump and his subsequent rebuilding of the Republican party has been a tectonic event in American politics. It has forced me to re-evaluate and recalculate my understanding of this country. Previously, I thought democratic and egalitarian ideals were the ascendant values of this country. All men are created equal, was a four-word summary. If you look at the history of this country through those four words, you can see evolution and progress throughout our history.

But there has always been an countervailing force. Whites have primacy. It was even codified in the Constitution in the three-fifths of a human being compromise. A country which began with a proclamation "All men are created equal" would become a country where every 7th American was owned by another American.

The logos of our country is all men are created equal. The mythos of our country is Whites have primacy.

Did the civil war finally settle the question? No. The Jim Crow system of justice ensured that the savage treatment of African Americans did not end with slavery. Jim Crow was a system that rewarded a white aristocracy with power in exchange for cruelty and oppression. The sense of White entitlement was enshrined as a part of Southern culture.

Nowhere do you see this more than in the Southern effort to hold on to Generals of the Civil War. Tennessee recently celebrated Nathan Bedford Forrest. Forrest was a military leader of unquestioned brilliance at tactical adaptation in the heat of battle. He was also a slave owner, massacred prisoners of war, and was the first Grand Dragon of the Klan.

So in the year 2019 the state of Tennessee commemorates a traitor, war criminal, and leader of an American terrorist organization.

The President's rally yesterday was in Greenville, North Carolina, a city that is 38% African American. The audience was a virtual sea of white faces. SEND HER BACK! SEND HER BACK!, the crowd roared, while Trump preened like Mussolini.

Carl Jung said Adolf Hitler succeeded because he successfully tapped into the collective unconscious of the German people. The idea of the Volk, where assimilation equals annihilation, is very powerful. And as the white position of ascendancy in this country has diminished, the belief among many whites is that they are losing 'their' country.

Trump has tapped into that feeling and wrapped himself in the flag as the last bastion against the foreign hordes and their fellow travellers among the Liberal Elite. Many wonder why so many of Trump's statements are fact-free. For his followers, MYTHOS Trump's LOGOS. Trump operates on a very unconscious, intuitive level. Trump's statements resonate with the values of the American Mythos.

When you listen to Trump with your ears attuned to the American Mythos, you can hear the power of his message.

[_Gunnar]

The successful candidacy of Donald Trump and his subsequent rebuilding of the Republican party has been a tectonic event in American politics. It has forced me to re-evaluate and recalculate my understanding of this country. Previously, I thought democratic and egalitarian ideals were the ascendant values of this country. All men are created equal, was a four-word summary. If you look at the history of this country through those four words, you can see evolution and progress throughout our history.

But there has always been an countervailing force. Whites have primacy. It was even codified in the Constitution in the three-fifths of a human being compromise. A country which began with a proclamation "All men are created equal" would become a country where every 7th American was owned by another American.

The logos of our country is all men are created equal. The mythos of our country is Whites have primacy.

I fully understand what you are getting at. Like you, I thought democratic and egalitarian ideals were ascendant values of this country. The election of our first black President reinforced that thought in my mind and filled me with a sense of pride that that ascendancy would likely continue in my beloved country. Then along comes Trump and the success of his deliberate race baiting and xenophobic appeal, showing that bigotry is as yet an uneradicated, festering sore in our country. I feel like crying at the realization of, as you said:

Trump has tapped into that feeling and wrapped himself in the flag as the last bastion against the foreign hordes and their fellow travelers among the Liberal Elite. Many wonder why so many of Trump's statements are fact-free. For his followers, MYTHOS Trump's LOGOS. Trump operates on a very unconscious, intuitive level. Trump's statements resonate with the values of the American Mythos.

When you listen to Trump with your ears attuned to the American Mythos, you can hear the power of his message.

I fervently hope that next year's general election will begin to turn that around.

[_Gunnar]

I like the following positive comment about Trump I saw today on U tube.

Quy Le
4 hours ago (edited)

He's stimulating American industry. Someone has to produce the millions of buses that Trump needs to throw his supporters under.

[_ajax18]

Slavery doesn't exist but we still practice something very similar with Latino immigrants. It's really not that different nor will the results be in subsequent generations.

[_Res Ipsa]

Slavery doesn't exist but we still practice something very similar with Latino immigrants. It's really not that different nor will the results be in subsequent generations.

Do tell.

[_EAllusion]

Apologists for the slavery in the South used to argue that the North employed "wage slavery" which was essentially the same thing, only the slave-owners gave their slaves more security.