The problem is that it doesn’t really matter what she was actually talking about - it’ll be spun such that it’ll be presented as identical to Romney’s comment. When I heard what she said, all I could think was, “Well, she just lost the election.”
Not for nothing, but the survey quoted at http://www.vox.com/2016/2/24/11105552/trump-supporters-slavery doesn’t actually link Trump supporters with wanting slavery. It is just a breakdown of what percent of respondents felt about each answer and was gathered before the current candidates were even their parties’ nominees.
A total of 13% showed themselves to be racists (unsure that freeing slaves was a good idea), but 39% would vote for the TBD democratic candidate and 46% would vote for the TBD republican candidate. 38% had a favorable view of Clinton and 40% felt favorable about Trump. There is no way to ascertain from the survey what political candidate the 13% supported.
For Rob to say that, “It’s a plain fact that many of Trump’s supporters are racist, sexist and homophobic,” is quite a leap given the ambiguity of the poll cited as evidence. In this instance it looks like Rob just took a stab in the dark and reported his own feelings and weak statistical correlations as undisputed facts.
I’m not a Trump-lover, but I’m not a Hillary lover either - just a dude who likes gadgets and video games. I’m usually content to sit on the sidelines and spectate (and from my observations I realize that my inaugural post will likely be removed for going against the status quo), but I’m getting a little frustrated with the one-sidedness of the coverage.
I hate election years because of what happens to this site. Coverage of new gadgets, games, books, maker events and websites slows down so the contributors can curse out republican candidates - calling them racist even when Jesse Jackson is all over youtube praising this particular…you know what, fuck it. No point in putting much effort in, this is just going to be deleted by a moderator anyway.
I’ll still visit the site, because I love what you do most of the time, but damn you guys can be just as closed minded as the people you attack.
3 Likes
I would consider siccing attack dogs on protesters, imprisoning whistleblowers, etc. as political violence. And that’s not counting routine institutional violence.
Add in that Trump is calling for more violence, supports torture, wants to create a new police force for his deportations, strongly opposes any attempts to restrain existing police violence, etc. …
9 Likes
No, it is not analogous. Trump said “They’re rapists, they’re murderers…and some, I assume, are good people.” He said there definitely exist rapists and murderers, and as an afterthought he added that he “assumes” some are probably good people. He didn’t assert that there are; he shrugged and said “Eh, probably there are some good ones in there too.”
Hillary explicitly said there were two groups of Trump supporters: the alt-right racists and homophobes and bigots, and the people who are so frustrated they just want change. She expressed empathy for the second group. She very carefully drew a solid line between them and the KKK. She did not say “Trump supporters are a basket of deplorables…and some, I assume, are good people.”
Trump was being blatantly racist and fearmongering. Hillary was correctly identifying Trump’s core supporters, though we can quibble about the ratios. Fuck false equivalencies.
21 Likes
calling them racist
It’s probably all the racists making them think that.
1 Like
David Duke is doing his part to help perceptions:
16 Likes
Actually these are the original photos. The ones where the eyes and mouth are in the places you’d expect them to be are the photoshop jobs.
5 Likes
The Republicans have been attacking her for just about a quarter century because they don’t like her husband. This cycle, Bernie’s supporters piled on from the left. It’s pretty much that simple.
Clinton is very popular when she’s in office, and largely unpopular when she’s running for office, which might suggest that she’s better at doing the jobs than she is at being a politician. Weird that that’s exactly what people claim to want and yet when they get it, they whine that she’s (1) not pure enough, or (2) just as big a liar as Donald Trump. It’s… frustrating to watch.
11 Likes
This. By making the comment, she doesn’t stand to gain voters, just alienate any middle ground trump supporters.
Basically, preaching to the choir. Which is fine, once you are in office or have a secure base… (From a strategy perspective)
What “middle ground Trump supporters”? Is there any evidence that such people exist? Most of the evidence I’m aware of suggests that the overwhelming majority of Trump’s support comes from extremist bigots.
The “run to the right” strategy is only compulsory if you assume that Clinton and Trump supporters make up the entirety of the electorate. But they aren’t; Trump and Clinton supporters are outnumbered by folks who oppose both.
Clinton could base her campaign on attempting to attract old-school Republicans who don’t like Trump (i.e. what she’s been doing so far). Or, she could focus her campaign on maximising turnout from the left and the disillusioned (i.e. what Bernie was doing).
The first strategy may win the Presidency, but it won’t take the House. Given that the legislature holds the bulk of American political power, maintaining the political status quo is a Pyrrhic victory at best.
9 Likes
“I apologize. I meant to say you’re all a bunch of degenerates.”
4 Likes
Uh, yeah. Middle ground trump supporters.
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…
3 Likes
Oh please, he has so much respect for the Mexicans. They have good taco salads. The best taco salads.
3 Likes
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.
10 Likes
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.
1 Like
I am experiencing nib’poH… the feeling that I have seen this before
2 Likes
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.”
15 Likes
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?
13 Likes
It’s not an accurate number. It’s more than half. ~70% of Trump supporters still don’t think Obama was born in the US, which is rooted in racism.
8 Likes
