I just did some commutes through the rural midwest on the order of dozens of hours), out of sheer curiosity listening to assorted conservative radio since I had time on my hands.
Maybe the evangelicals won’t ever vote Hillary, but if she doesn’t pissed them off, they may not vote. A few radio hosts were trying to whip up their followers to stomach voting for Trump because of that. The gist of the appeal is, “Trump is not our guy, but if you don’t stand with him, you will stand to lose congressmen who support conservative values”.
Yeah, yeah, “Conservative values” are shit largely…
I suspect that a lot of never-Trump Republicans will be filling in their down ticket ballots and leaving the Presidential slot blank. And that the handful of them willing to vote for Clinton will be assuaging their consciences by maintaining their traditional R vote in the House and Senate.
If you want any political change, you need to take the House. Given the extent of the Republican gerrymander, the only way to do that is to increase Democratic turnout.
I think we’re in pedantry territory on what to call the “maybe Trumps”. For my money, comparing them to other “middle ground voters” is not very productive.
Dennis Skinner, MP, aka “The Beast of Bolsover”, was called upon by the Speaker of the House to retract his statement when he said, “Half the Tory members opposite are crooks.” He withdrew his remark and said, “OK, half the Tory members aren’t crooks.”
This whole “political violence” thing, do you mean things like the woman who attacked two other woman because they were wearing muslim headscarves? Or the attacks on and jeering of those who look Latino?
No, seriously, who has been assaulted for being a Republican voter?
What are you basing this on? He got 3 million less votes than Clinton, so he didn’t even carry the party. Trump wanted to run against Sanders, which should tell you something - he knew about Americans’ inherent distrust of the word “socialism” (despite socialist policies benefitting them) and knew he could beat the “he wants to take your money and give it to the poors” drum that scares middle-america and undecideds. So if you’re going to make the case he’d be faring any better against Trump, you’ve got to make a better case than just declaring it.
All the polls leading up to the end of the primary showed Sanders strong against Trump, and Clinton weak. And thats just how its played out. Clinton has too many hook points that allow Trump and the Republican publicity machine to chip away at her credibility. Sanders had none of these weak points. Everything they would attack him on - He’s a Communist!!! - boiled down to why he had broad support. Trump can’t undermine him by accusing him of being a socialist when we like him because he’s a socialist.
Yeah, Clinton won. She also cheated by colluding with the DNC. So fuck her.
There has clearly been violence on both sides. But as far as I can tell, nobody has to run through a gamut of angry, violent protesters to listen to a HRC speech. To put up a “Trump” sign is to invite vandalism.
There in lies the dangers of an “us vs them” mentality, as well as over generalizations.
I know people who will vote Trump not for him, but against Hillary. Against Democrats. They could have put a literal pile of shit on the ballot and they would still tick R. Doesn’t mean they are necessarily bigots, racists, or xenophobes. A lot of them are scared about certain issues. Personally I am still shocked Trump has the voter support he has. I am convinced anyone but Hillary would have his numbers lower. But their reasons for voting are more complex that just being deplorable people.
But anyway, one needs to use caution not to become what one hates. How many people have Anti-Muslim attitudes because of the actions some small factions? They don’t differentiate between the different sects of Islam, and lump them all together as “deplorable”.
So, don’t use the same sort of reasoning as the very people you find distasteful.