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Donald Trump, the road that might not lead to the White House!

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That healthcare plan is just standard GOPism, he is already tacking to the centre for the general election.
 
Typical sneering liberal bullshit to frame this as an intellectual & moral failure of the individual rather than a failure of the state.

I see no reason to let anyone off the hook. Yes, it's a failure of the political system to provide candidates that are acceptable to the populace. It's evidence of a political system that's been hijacked by oligarchs. It's also a failure on the part of the people too. If you don't demand better candidates, if you equate bombast with leadership, if you let candidates not only get away with fact-free rhetoric but lap it up, if you ignore what the politicians are doing except for that short period before presidential elections, then maybe you get the politicians you deserve.
 
Do only stupid people elect poor leaders?
Your point's a good one but I think something is going on in the case of Trump which makes this question of 'the stupid vote' more interesting:
It seems he actively encourages people to see him as an ignorant man, a stupid but honest type. Ignorance as a virtue.
See how he used the words "i don't know anything about that' about 7 times in a row when avoiding the question of why he was't going to step away from the support of white supremacists the other day.

I have an aunty lives in Florida who will vote Trump and when I asked her about it she said 'well at least you can trust him he's not going to fool you with long words and he's not part of the establishment etc'. I mean maybe the appeal to the stupid / advertising your ignorance as a USP is a powerful tactic and shouldn't be ignored.
 
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Your point's a good & important one but I think that something is going on in the case of Trump which makes this question of 'the stupid vote' more interesting:
It seems he actively encourages people to see him as an ignorant man, a stupid but honest type. Ignorance as a virtue.
See how he used the words "i don't know anything about that' about 7 times in a row when avoiding the question of why he was't going to step away from the support of white supremacists the other day.
I'm not sure about that. See the clip in the John Oliver segment above where he goes on about having a great education and having "all the best words". I think the whole "i don't know anything about that" is just him not caring if he appears stupid. He's one of those people who will simply say whatever serves him best at the time, regardless of any relation it has with fact. He rarely gets into analysis based on fact, just "that's stupid", "he's an idiot", "they're wrong", "I love this", "I'm really popular", "they're after your bread". That's all he needs, apparently.

I have an aunty lives in Florida who will vote Trump and when I asked her about it she said 'well at least you can trust him he's not going to fool you with long words and he's not part of the establishment etc'. I mean maybe the appeal to the stupid / advertising your ignorance as a USP is a powerful tactic and shouldn't be ignored.
That is a different thing. It's not affecting ignorance or stupidity, in the eyes of supporters it's being "plain spoken".
 
Both posts above assume stupidity in trump voters and past *paste list here* victories and talk about how he/they related to a critical mass of stupid voters. I don't think that was killer b's point.
 
Your point's a good one but I think something is going on in the case of Trump which makes this question of 'the stupid vote' more interesting:
It seems he actively encourages people to see him as an ignorant man, a stupid but honest type. Ignorance as a virtue.
See how he used the words "i don't know anything about that' about 7 times in a row when avoiding the question of why he was't going to step away from the support of white supremacists the other day.

If anything Trump's rhetoric conforms to the same 'these people believe in the opposite of me because they are stupid' except in reverse. The establishment are the idiots, his supporters are the smart ones.

I wonder why that might appeal to people who are marginalised and told that they are stupid by the establishment and their media...
 
I think killer b's point was that it's not good enough to blame the individual voters (people like my stupid aunty in Florida), that there are much bigger reasons for the rise of charismatic leaders like Trump now and always - and I get that and agree completely.
My suggestion was just that maybe a big part of his appeal in this present moment is that he presents himself as a 'straight talkin' non-elite uneducated and therefore not complicit in the system type outsider? I wonder if this is connected with the way in which so many people are drawn to internet conspiracy theories etc.
 
I think killer b's point was that it's not good enough to blame the individual voters (people like my stupid aunty in Florida), that there are much bigger reasons for the rise of charismatic leaders like Trump now and always - and I get that and agree completely.
My suggestion was just that maybe a big part of his appeal in this present moment is exactly that he presents himself as a 'straight talkin' non-elite uneducated and therefore not complicit in the system type outsider? I see this as connected with the sorts of people who are drawn to internet conspiracy theories etc.

He doesn't present himself as uneducated.
 
I think killer b's point was that it's not good enough to blame the individual voters (people like my stupid aunty in Florida), that there are much bigger reasons for the rise of charismatic leaders like Trump now and always - and I get that and agree completely.
My suggestion was just that maybe a big part of his appeal in this present moment is that he presents himself as a 'straight talkin' non-elite uneducated and therefore not complicit in the system type outsider? I see this as connected with the sorts of people who are drawn to internet conspiracy theories etc.
His point was that they are not stupid and to treat them as such is feeding trump.
 
Both posts above assume stupidity in trump voters and past *paste list here* victories and talk about how he/they related to a critical mass of stupid voters. I don't think that was killer b's point.
I'm not necessarily assuming stupidity in Trump voters, was more just observing Drumpf's (that's right, I'm sticking with it :p) tactics. I really haven't been paying attention beyond a few soundbites here and there, but the impression I get is that Drumpf and his supporters aren't interested in intellectual analysis, more (for lack of better phrases) 'gut feeling and common sense'. It's not that they're stupid, just it's not the way the ingest their politics.

Fuck it, that barely makes sense, I'm supposed to be working...
 
Angry and vengeful, they are voting for him to fuck with the system and spite the people who have shit on them all their lives
Ok, that's much more humane than calling them stupid and surely true for the most part.
Still, she's probably not typical at all but; my Trump-voting aunty she has not been shat on, she's fine, she's financially secure and just a zionist anti-muslim anti-intellectual xenophobic loon.
Very nice lady in all other respects. her neighbours in the Florida retirement home are all similarly placed and all will vote like her far as I can tell.
 
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