What the president of Y Combinator learned from interviewing 100 Trump supporters

It worked with they did it. But somehow it won’t work if Democrats use it?

It doesn’t work when anybody does it.

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I have yet to hear anyone say they’re sorry. Or even that they regret voting for trump.

There’s a few who weren’t actually supporters, but voted against hillary that I know. They don’t apologize because they were never “for trump”.

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I have yet to hear anyone say they’re sorry.

The article mentioned at least one person who did say that.

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As a small observation, the say it like it is gaslighting seems to be fine for TGOP folks, but when the other side says it like it is, it’s a bad thing, fuck that shit, very tired of the double standard of the TGOP. I for one won’t play that game any longer.

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“I might have made a mistake”

Isn’t an apology. It’s side-stepping.

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Okay, here’s what I just learned;

  1. The people who are anti-abortion will always be anti-abortion and don’t care about anything else. This is fundementally at odds with my point of view, which not only thinks that abortion rights are important, but also that there are a lot of other things in this country that are just as important and that need to be considered when deciding who represents me and my vision for this country. I will never agree with those who oppose abortion, and I will never respect their myopic vision of what our leadership should be.

  2. It’s easy to say “America First” but not easy to say what that actually means. To me, it means having a strong economy, having a strong social safety net, and having a strong position abroad both diplomatically and militarily. And it means cultivating our bonds with other countries and promoting American values of freedom, democracy, and respect for the rule of law and human rights. So “America First” means being a strong global citizen, helping our friends and extending the freedoms we enjoy to others around the world.

  3. I believe that immigration is an important component of our history and our future. I think we need to be more accepting of those who respect our values and who seek a life in the United States. I think we need to fulfill our moral and legal obligations to accept refugees and asylum seekers from all countries, and that not only can we afford to do so, but that it ultimately it makes our country stronger in every way.

  4. I believe that “our culture” is a dog whistle for white culture, and I believe that America is not about white culture but about a culture of people seeking greater freedom and opportunity. And in many ways, I think immigrants often represent that culture better than people who were born here. Our culture is a melting pot with one constant; the constitution.

  5. There are always going to be people who fall for the deceptions of the right wing misinformation machine - those who believe the countless lies that were told about Hillary for the last 30 years. I cannot argue with them any more than I can convince a person who is anti-abortion that it’s not the only issue they should be concerned about, or that it’s the wrong position. It is a waste of time to engage these people.

If “beating Trump” means giving up any of those principles, then I have no interest in working with Republicans, Trump supporters, or anyone else.

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Yeah, no. If they’re Trump supporters, are driven by motives to limit abortion rights, demonize immigrants, and obsessed with “culture” (which is synonymous with “white culture”), then they can just fuck right off. No Dem. can court the anti-choice racists anyway. Dems outnumber Republicans by a good 30%. The Dems need a candidate that can drive heavy turnout all over the US, not advice from people bigoted and stupid enough to vote for Trump.

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I’m all for giving Trump supporters another chance if they say they’re sorry, they made a mistake and cease to support him. However I am not about to pretend I’m OK with their ongoing support for a fascist.

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Ah, but “listen to them” really means “agree with them and/or don’t question any policies they support”. It doesn’t mean listen at all.

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I’m all for giving Trump supporters another chance if they say they’re sorry, they made a mistake and cease to support him. However I am not about to pretend I’m OK with their ongoing support for a fascist.

Fair enough.

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I really hope that the next Democratic candidate makes a real effort to address the economic concerns of the kinds of middle Americans who voted for Trump. (And has real policy to match.) I don’t want these people to suffer, unlike conservatives, whose whole purpose these days is to do whatever they can to punish liberals, even if it fucks them over, too. But I’m never going to forgive the fuckers who voted for Trump.

Are they sorry that the fascist demagogue they voted for turned out to be lying to them, and is a crazy person who doesn’t have their economic well-being in mind? That’s not being sorry.
I’m hearing from a whole lot of conservatives who see politics as a zero-sum game, a tribal conflict where victory means getting to deny people on “the other side” their desires - and rights - and to punish them. These aren’t people who want to work together, as the last 8 years proved. They’re unwilling to compromise or meet anyone half way, but insist the “other side” do so (and liberals have been trying to understand and work with conservatives). This is because they’re entitled white people who are angry because they think non-white people are getting things in life that are rightfully theirs - welfare, jobs, whatever; these are would-be theocrats who think the only way they have to practice their religion is to deny others their rights. To reiterate: fuck them.

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Yeah, here’s the thing, I remember this:

And I remember the response it got, the pure hatred because she had dared call some supporters racist, just because some were saying racist things and cheering racist policies.

This is the between-the-lines from these fair-sounding responses. They apparently mean stop calling out any racism, stop being outraged about what happens to anyone but them. Join them in pretending the world has no white privilege, there are no violent attacks coming from the right, the KKK are not there cheering at these rallies. Abandon all ideals but theirs, and yeah, they might consider us on the same side, maybe.

I stand by what I said before on this: this movement keeps making itself so horrible that it can’t be treated with anything but contempt or at least patronization, and then tries to blame people who won’t treat it with enough respect. It’s a deliberately impossible standard that doesn’t actually give us anyway to improve things, just serves as an excuse to hold the left at fault.

If they believed in the things were ostensibly asking for, they had enough people willing to offer it. This is just insisting on a pass for bigotry. To hell with it.

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Jesus Fuck - it’s not like you need a fucking opportunity to admit when you fucked up - it’s on the person who fucked up to summon the moral strength to admit they fucked up, not the people they hosed. Are they wanting some left-wing created safe spaces for disillusioned Trump voters? Trying to pretend you’re a victim after you’ve fucked up and refusing to do anything about it while blaming others for your refusal - that’s what makes you a bad person.

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And it sure would be easier to accept their apologies if this weren’t a decades-long pattern of voting for bastards with policies that have damaged the country. E.g., Mitch McConnell’s been in office how long? They haven’t learned from any of their mistakes, and we all are paying the price.

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BTW: March 8th is A DAY WITHOUT WOMEN General Strike!

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Or if they actually apologized. Ever.

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Fair enough. But if you don’t want Trump to win a second term, it’s important to understand how his supporters think. Otherwise we are screwed.

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“Party of personal responsibility.”

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Exactly. And perhaps learned from their mistakes.

Holding breath now. 1…2…3…4…

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His supporters are a gullible, misinformed, extremist minority. Many will also be highly disillusioned by 2020 and less excited to get to the polls after those jobs never appear and the economy’s faltering from the GOP’s most destructive policies on steroids. The Dems need to win Dems and get them to turn out, not court Trump voters and alienate the majority of their voters.

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