IS THERE A DOCTOR ON THE PLANE

It's hard to have anything other than mixed feelings about the success of protesters in Chicago and St. Louis in shutting down Trump rallies. In one column we have all the usual arguments about how violence is never the answer, Trump has a right to express himself, etc and etc. In the other, it's refreshing to see that some people correctly perceive that this is something much different than the ordinary Republican presidential campaign.

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This is the coming together of the worst that American society has to offer, of people who think violence literally is the answer to everything and whose conception of ideology and beliefs is to keep current a lengthy list of things they hate.

To watch these protests escalate and grow, though, is to have the increasingly uneasy feeling that none of this will end well, and I don't mean it will end with Trump getting elected. Call me alarmist, but it feels like only a matter of time until someone gets shot.

I have a student who announced in class his intention to go to the anti-Trump rally in Chicago. I told him to be careful, and although the line produced a mild giggle from the class I very much meant it. Trump supporters are people who think George Zimmerman is a hero and who long to someday get their own chance to shoot a black person. How many violent, stupid, blind-with-rage gun enthusiasts can gather in one place to be egged on by their idiot king before a protester shoves one of them who immediately thinks, "This is the big moment I've been waiting for"?

Remember, these are people who believe with all their might that carrying a concealed handgun makes them safe, and that they possess the judgment to know when and how to use it appropriately. These are wannabe vigilantes, every one of them, waiting for an opportunity to make their own Rambo fantasies a reality. When people interrupt Trump during rallies he has the extremely disconcerting habit, as we would expect of someone with a brain the size of a peanut and an aversion to thinking before he says anything, of yelling out nonspecific commands like "Get 'em out of here!" to no one in particular, which makes every individual member of his audience think, "Time for me to be the hero!" in a roomful of people who consider punching a teenage black girl a heroic act.

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A responsible person might tell the crowd to relax because security is going to handle the situation, or direct any comments to the police present. This is why flight attendants get on the intercom when a passenger is sick and say "Excuse me, is there a doctor on this flight?

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" instead of "Oh shit, somebody help this guy!"

None of this is surprising as the culmination of eight long years of "Take America back" rhetoric, the answer to the question "From whom?" remaining unspoken but easy enough to derive by implication – from the blacks, the Latinos, the homos, the bitches, the Jews, the librul media, the unions (???), the ivory tower academics, and everyone and anyone else who aspires to be something other than a meatheaded, bigoted loser pretending that the reason they never accomplished anything with their lives is that racial and cultural Others usurped what was rightfully theirs.
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I'm hardly the first person to suggest that this is not going to end well, but I'll add myself to the chorus nonetheless.
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If you thought Obama derangement was bad, wait until you see the meltdown these people have when Trump gets blown out in November. We'll be living among millions of vigilantes forced to endure yet another humiliation at the hands of people smarter than them, staring at their guns and wondering what else they can do to Take Their Country Back.

69 thoughts on “IS THERE A DOCTOR ON THE PLANE”

  • These people act exactly like lupynching mobs of old, foaming at the mouth, and being fed red meat by their candidate. How do you stop lynching mobs is the would be Commander in Chief keeps repeating missing "the good old days" of violence and offers to pay their legal defense?

    How is that for a "leader"???

  • Trump does seem to be actively trolling for violence – I assume he imagines the results will stay at the manageable end of spectrum that will make useful props, but that may not be the case. I expect him to crater in the general election, but I'd be happier if no one died because a reality show clown decided to hijack the GOP nomination with his Il Douche shtick.

  • HoosierPoli says:

    You want to see shit hit a fan? Wait ten years for self-driving cars to make every trucker in the country unemployed.

  • Fox will be the match that lights the fire.

    Here's what was scary to me when I think about 2016 in light of 2012. As the polls showed Romney losing, there was a cottage industry of people "unskewing" the polls to show an (obviously correct) republican win. From inbred bloggers like Dean Chambers or Erick Erickson all the way up to Karl Rove shocked on live tv that Obama carried Ohio.

    (Remember this Dean Chambers quote? "Nate Silver is a man of very small stature, a thin and effeminate man with a soft-sounding voice that sounds almost exactly like the 'Mr. New Castrati' voice used by Rush Limbaugh on his program. In fact, Silver could easily be the poster child for the New Castrati in both image and sound.")

    Suppose a democrat blows Trump out. If Fox news decides they hate Trump too, fine. But if Fox does what we all know they'll do and unskews the polls of their obvious liberal bias, you'll have these morons with their guns and an opinion reinforced by the talking box that Hillary or Bernie stole the election. Because for the last 6 months Fox will have been blaring that the silent majority is gonna win and the loss will be out of the blue instead of the expected outcome.

  • c u n d gulag says:

    None of this bodes well.

    When in was a kid, I lived through the 60's, with the murders of civil and voting rights activists.

    I lived through those years, when as a politically aware child and young person, first, I watched JFK, then Malcolm X, Martin Luther King Jr., and JFK get assassinated.

    I lived through the early 70's, when that racist scumbag, George Wallace, was shot and disabled.

    I'm 58, and still very politically active.
    But, I'm faded, jaded and wounded – because of my youth…
    And jittery, because I see a lot of similarities between then, and now.

    It won't be long before some jaded ancient white cracker takes a few shots at protesters.
    If you can't out-shout them, white cracker's will shoot protesters. It's the way the Authoritarian followers roll.

    Trump is a demagogue, and a neo-Fascist.

    But the one who really scares me is Teddy Cruz-ader. He's a man whose psychotic father things he's the "Second Coming."
    He's a Christo-Fascist, and he scared the fucking shit our of me!

  • I was wrong about Trump not really wanting to be President. I'd thought he was merely in it for self aggrandizement and boredom relief. He's got the fever now.

    If I were him, I'd have food tasters on staff.

    I do agree with Mr. Gulag above. Cruz is scarier than anything I've ever seen in American politics. Hope Cruz isn't ever VP 'cause accidents are just waiting to happen to the President.

  • The only saving grace is that NOBODY in his own party likes Cruz either.

    Apparently he reminds women of their first husband and men of the asshole middle-manager who's always busting their balls over using too much printer paper.

  • It's tough: On one hand, I would certainly tell my son, or a student, to be careful at a Trump rally. In fact, I'd probably advise them not to go (for all the good that would do).

    On the other, these protesters are goddamn heroes. They've exposed the Trump campaign for what it is. Even Ron Fking Fournier knows the score. (Not that there aren't Both Siderist holdouts, but still, that's a big one.)

  • There's a video making the rounds of President Obama speaking in front of a crowd and being heckled. His response was not to have the crowd assault the hecklers–he listened to them, told them he heard what they were saying, and that what they were complaining about was stuff he was already working to change–so if they wanted to yell at him, they should have done it *last* month. (That brought a laugh from the crowd.) Then he said he'd been respectful and given them their say, but now they needed to be respectful to him and the crowd and let him finish his speech.

    Damn. THIS is the guy we need, and THIS is the way a leader acts.

  • P.S. Ed, man, I gotta say, THANK YOU for such a beautifully written piece today. You've managed to put into graceful words the things I've been thinking but been unable to phrase so well.

  • Ya'll spend way too much time imagining the worst. Like most humans…
    There is a pretty good system in place here in the USA. Give it a chance to work. It will. These dire predictions will be seen as silly….
    As far as 'violence' , it is there every day all around us. Feel free to focus on your scary imaginary scenario, while real such scenarios go on daily for many folks in this country.

  • Sorry to threadjack, but this was too good to keep to myself. I sent the URL to Gin & Tacos to several friends this morning, and here's one pertinent quote I got back. (To be clear; the person who sent this to me is quoting the Senator cited at the end.)

    "We Just Got Trumped !!! Over the last several months as I have watched the negative and distasteful tone of the republican presidential debates and rallies conducted by some of the candidates. I often thought that they were exactly the type of productions that I would have seen if Jerry Springer had produced and directed the events. The only thing that I thought was missing was the spontaneous breakout of a fist fight. Well, my friends last night we got the fist fights. For weeks Donald Trump, during his rallies, has targeted potential protesters or dissenters and he has ordered their removal and incited his supporters to literally participate in the process. We live in a society where there is a constitutionally protected right to free speech. We also live in a society where we are taught to respect the ideas and opinions of those that we might not agree with. This type of mutual respect should be an integral part of our political process. It is wrong, misguided and morally corrupt for any candidate running for president of this country to incite through their acts, directives, statements or omissions their supporters to participate in violent encounters with those who may disagree with them. When Senator John McCain was running for president against Senator Barack Obama he was prompt and quick in correcting a supporter who was making inappropriate remarks against his opponent when the supporter referred to then Senator Obama as an arab terrorist. Likewise Senator Obama was quick to stop anyone who was a part of his organization or his supporters from attacking Governor Sarah Palin's daughter who was pregnant and unmarried. These are the type of political leaders we should embrace regardless of the party they represent. They possess the type of moral character we need in a leader in the United States of America.
    –Sen. Floyd B. McKissick, Jr. "

  • Three points:

    A. Not to blame the media, but I think this is a contributing factor: when boomers were toddlers they were parked in front of the idiot box and have sat there for the last sixty years. At the time, there grandparents predicted that TV would rot their brains, and now their grandchildren get to see that prediction come true.

    2. If Trump gets elected, it's all downhill until Not Sure makes everyone stop using sports drinks on plants.

    D. I suspect that Cruz and Rubio are losing a lot of racist white votes to Trump only for that they are Hispanic.

    Ps. I am starting to feel that I could spend my retirement in a gulag. This is bad.

  • @c u n d gulag: Wow, you saw JFK assassinated twice! How did the MSM keep that extra one a secret all these years?

  • anotherbozo says:

    Two other blogs as good as Ed's, I think: Josh Marshall at Talking Points Memo (which was also put up on HuffPo), "Someone Will Die," and Frank Bruni in Sunday's NYTimes, "Trump's Epic Neediness." What, additionally, this clarifies for me, though it may be academic, is what's wrong with Trump, the particular pathology that drives him and his twisted, vulgar life, brought to a crisis point by the violence at his rallies. Trump ENJOYS PEOPLE FIGHTING OVER HIM, after all. There is clearly just a huge hole where his self-esteem should be, so that he feels more important when he's the cause of fisticuffs, debates, violence. It isn't just about the attention, the focus of the whole world. He wants other people to endanger themselves for him; that's the best sign for him that he's important. The names on the buildings, the media attention, all pale in comparison over someone willing to put his life at risk for you. That's why the "I'd like to punch him in the face" remarks, which any idiot knows is goading, encouraging. We have a very sick person here, on track for the highest office in what's called the Free World.

    Interesting times.

  • that the reason they never accomplished anything with their lives

    or that whatever they do manage to accomplish is held in little regard and they're kept in poverty.

    Someone has to be at the bottom of the pecking order, but (because we're supposedly smarter than chickens, if for nothing else) how to give those someones respect and enable them to be happy in life? (if for nothing else because it will prevent the morlocks from eating us)

    What to do about such fractious people?

    Wait a minute … wait a minute … zombie Karl Marx has put in a request to shoot the person who said, "Religion!"

  • ronzie – yep, that's hilarious all right, c u n d gulag making a typo – JFK instead of RFK. He also forgot to list Jack Ruby assassinating the assassin Oswald, live on camera. But waddya expect from such a geezer, eh?

    And now, back to re-reading today's so completely excellent and awesome essay from Ed.

    And to wondering when and where the next Planned Parenthood clinic staff get murdered. Because, y'know, all those security agents now make it a tad harder to actually commit a political assassination, so let's go murder us some women and doctors.

  • To characterize all Trump supporters as "People…..who long to get their own chance to shoot a black person" is terribly irresponsible. So much so that I do not believe that the author of this piece actually believes it, but has to say such things in order to garner the attention of Trump haters everywhere. Methinks you are better than this, sir.

  • Couple of quick notes here…the St. Louis Trump rally was not shut down at all. There were 4 or 5 interruptions, but that was it.

    I live and work near St. Louis, and as it turns out knew several people (maybe 10) who attended the Trump rally, including close family members (my mother). I suspected they were in Trump's corner but only had that confirmed over lunch yesterday.

    I am not a Trump supporter in any way. I feel he is pretty much an idiot who just may destroy the republican party.

    So my point…when you say the following…

    "Remember, these are people who believe with all their might that carrying a concealed handgun makes them safe, and that they possess the judgment to know when and how to use it appropriately. These are wannabe vigilantes, every one of them, waiting for an opportunity to make their own Rambo fantasies a reality."

    10 out of 10 people I know who went to that rally do not fit your description…at all. On ANY level, whatsoever. No guns, ever. My mom doesn't even own a gun. She would strike you as the nicest person you ever met.

    So, just so you know, you are full of shit.

  • "My mom's a nice lady. Therefore, no Trump supporter can possibly be a racist, gun-toting asshole."

    Not sure I agree 100 percent with your police work there, Dookie.

  • @TAGinMO

    My point is that Ed’s ascertain that 100% of Trump supporters are wannabe vigilantes, among several other such accusations, is demonstrably false. I never stated nor hinted that a Trump supporter can't be a racist, and would never state such nonsense (and that goes for supporters of Clinton, Sanders, Rubio…you name it).

    The leap you took to twist my statement is illogical at best, but we all know where your really coming from…don't we?

  • @OtherAndrew

    Imputing? Interesting (mis)use of the word.

    May I suggest a quick Google search for logical reasoning (and the definition of impute).

  • Well then, tell us, Dookie, why your nice relatives chose to go to a Trump rally.
    Did they vehemently disapprove of Trump's inciting followers to rough up protester?
    Did they tsk tsk over such rowdiness?
    Did they secretly kinda admire the wannabe bullies in the crowd?

    What about Trump so appeals to them that they're willing to ignore his nastier aspects? Inquiring minds have been wondering for 80 years now why nice Germans and Italians attended fascist rallies. So, tell us.

  • @Mo

    I really have no clue. It doesn't make sense to me. I spoke to my mother about this for an hour yesterday but it did not shed any light.

    What I heard was because he is an outsider he will shake things up. Sounds counter intuitive to me. To me it seems whatever problem you have with gov now will only become worse with someone like Trump.

    I think it's for the same reason people are attracted to Sanders. They both talk of outlandish utopic (depending on how you look at it of course) policies that are impossible to make law and make little sense anyway.

  • Things definitely won't end well for a simple reason. If Trump loses the primary somehow, his followers will cry conspiracy. If he loses the election, same thing. The most fanatical among his supporters will convince themselves in their echo chambers that their hero only lost because of an evil plot by the Jews or whatever. Expect more politically motivated shooting sprees and domestic terrorism akin to what happened in the wake of Obama's first election.

  • Anonymous Prof says:

    @Skipper- thanks for the link. It's hard to know how seriously to take the Lions Guard- terrifying milestone, or another yawp from the 101st Fighting Keyboards?

  • Tnx, Dookie. Over an hour, huh? That doesn't sound good – if someone had a clear fix on just what issues they have a beef with, they'd have listed them right out. But if you merely favor someone because you like their vibe … some deeper unspeakable fears might be at play.

    For example, "I know —— have suffered atrocious persecution, but the only —— people I've ever met, I really don't like. But I'm not —–ist, really I'm not." Consciously.

    Perhaps digging a little deeper into just what things need shaking up might produce some answers?
    Asking just what, exactly, needs to be made better?

  • I'm not disagreeing with you in general, but I just want to point out that the "take America back" rhetoric is occurring on the left as well. There the targets are the rich, corporations, and (in a more subtle way) Christianity, at least of the evangelical kind.

    "Us versus them" rhetoric is generally a bad thing anywhere, and it's all over this election. Bernie Sanders is not as alarming as Trump, but his rhetoric is still rather alarming.

  • We have all probably heard about all we can stand about how loss aversion trumps risk-taking for a possible gain. Couple that with the stuff about authoritarianism – loss of a feeling of control, of being empowered – and maybe that gives some insight into folks like Dookie's mom.

    Republican women are notorious for turning into aparatchiks after marriage, and they have partners in crime worldwide. Women who buy into and then enforce social conventions. From old Catholic ladies picketing outside abortion clinics, to Afghani women wrestling down an unmarried daughter pregnant from an illicit love affair and aborting the fetus. Two completely different attitudes to abortion, but both drenched with authoritarianism.

    So maybe the right question to ask Mom is not what she wants to be made better, but what she feels she's lost that a shakeup in Washington would fix … somehow.

  • OtherAndrew says:

    @Dookie:

    "represent (something, especially something undesirable) as being done, caused, or possessed by someone; attribute."

    You attributed the claim of 100% of Ed, quite unilaterally.

  • The new thing in the media is "white resentment" – that these white folks definitely aren't "racist" – they don't say the n-word, burn crosses or wear hoods – but they believe that people of color are lazy and are stealing all of the good food stamp and welfare $$. So they had to invent a term to separate them from the KKK, etc. https://www.google.com/search?q="white+resentment" – but let's be honest – these folks are RACIST. They are. Including totally non-racist Trump Supporting Moms from St Louis.

  • Just the other day my neighbor shared with me how he was robbed at gunpoint whilst at a dollar store in the inner city..

    He then shared how he was immediately encouraged by his friends to start carrying a gun and he should have shot that kid dead.

    He instead lost $100.

    And I reminded him that $100 is a small price to pay to not be haunted for the rest of one's life by by the image of blowing out another human beings brains.

    He agreed.

  • On the national news right now; Sarah Palin braying her racist, ignorant screech at a cheering Trump crowd. Trump's minions adore that kind of talk.

  • @jharp
    I can only imagine the paperwork, basic attorney fees, court appearance, time off from work, etc for a justifiable homicide. That's even before you start a lifetime of guilt.

  • Anonymous Prof says:

    @OtherAndrew:

    You said of Dookie: "You attributed the claim of 100% of Ed, quite unilaterally."

    Let's look at what Ed actually said, to prompt Dookie's interpretation:

    "Trump supporters are people who think George Zimmerman is a hero and who long to someday get their own chance to shoot a black person."

    Dookie pointed out that he did not believe this to be an accurate portrayal of the Trump supporters whom he knows personally.

    Meanwhile, TAGinMO not only put words in Dookie's mouth, he outright *fabricated a quote* to do so.

    But not a peep out of you.

    Why? I've said it a thousand times before. Because you people aren't really liberals- you're tribalists, just like the Trump supporters are. TAGinMO is part of your tribe, so he can do no wrong. Dookie is a member of the other tribe, so he can do no right.

  • Trump is basically the Southern Strategy unmasked. Since we all know what can't be said, those N words and all the rest of the forbidden ones, what we have is a master Scammer, Trump, doing the best he can with the Win at all Costs strategy.

    we have been destroyed as a Society for years since JFK et al, guns, have been used to silence those who dare speak Truths or Change. and with Rush and Fox and the NYT/Wash Post all pushing their We know better lies, what is left for those who get screwed by the Rich and Powerfull.

    Divide and conquer, never trust a Liberal, they're all Commies and all that wonderful
    BS lies, lies and more lies, all actions that have led us to where a Great Scammer/Trump is speaking what the now poor and left behind Whites have been feeling since all that GREED and Profits before People sold America out, aka Jobs that have a future, took the America we saw on TV in the 60's 70's and sold American and our JOBS to China Mexico and anywhere but home and particularly Flyover Country.

    Cause Flyover Country is all that counts in America. The Liberals have been silenced/sold out by their own Vichy Democrats who want and luxuriate in the Profits over People, aka Obama, Clinton, Pelosi, Feinstein, Biden Schumer, et al..and all the rest of the D persuasion.

    to watch the anger Trump uncovers spurt all over the place reminds me of movies i've seen or books i 've read about Weimar Germany. and there is no going back. absolutely Frightening, coming to a neighborhood near you.

    that is the scary part. there is no going back. we are so divided and so untrustful of the Other, we have crossed the Rubicon. my R siblings can't grasp anything but the R's line that has been fed to them for the last 40 years. St. Reagan did his magic, just like Thatcher did in England. Aka, There is no such thing as Society, only Government and Individuals. or a return to Feudalism.

    we are so screwed. and full of guns and nuts who use guns to prove their POWER.

    never attribute to ignorance what fear can destroy. and we Americans are good at destroying almost everything we touch, feel, meet or want.

    just watching this escalation of Tribal intolerance, oh my, what we are in for!. and i too saw all those people get killed, especially the 4 Dead in OHIO. parents killing their own children, just to shut them up. and it worked.

  • schmitt trigger says:

    Have just read the Matt Taibbi piece on Rolling Stone: President Trump, seriously.

    Quote;
    "King Trump. Brace Yourselves, America. It's really happening."

  • millions of vigilantes forced to endure yet another humiliation at the hands of people smarter than them, staring at their guns and wondering what else they can do to Take Their Country Back.

    Even their Republican puppet masters hate them:

    “The truth about these dysfunctional, downscale communities is that they deserve to die. Economically, they are negative assets. Morally, they are indefensible,” the conservative writer says. “The white American under-class is in thrall to a vicious, selfish culture whose main products are misery and used heroin needles. Donald Trump’s speeches make them feel good. So does OxyContin. What they need isn’t analgesics, literal or political. They need real opportunity, which means that they need real change, which means that they need U-Haul. If you want to live, get out of Garbutt [a blue-collar town in New York].”

    Why am I reminded of The Grapes of Wrath? A mystery.

  • @Dookie — "the nicest person you've ever met". As long as your definition of nice includes supporting deeply racist and misogynistic presidential candidates who encourage his supporters to assault black protestors, she's super sweet!

    But really, as @AnonymousProf says, we're just being totes tribal about Dookie's mom not liking black people…

  • Anonymous Prof says:

    Jesus Christ, you people are hopeless. Don't you see that you are just proving me right?

    Ed made a sweeping generalization about "Trump supporters."

    Dookie objected to the characterization, saying it didn't fit his mother.

    Then, how do you people respond? You fabricate quotes that Dookie never said. You falsely claim that Ed never made the sweeping claim that he really made.

    When I call you people to account for it, how do you defend yourselves?

    Earl is the only one who has put up any kind of real response at all, and his defense is just to say that Trump is racist. So, you know, Trump is racist, so I guess that means it's ok to lie to win arguments.

    You know what conservatives say when they look at you smug, self-satisfied people? they think, "If Trump is so bad, why do they have to lie to win arguments about him?"

  • @Anonymous Prof:

    Jesus H. Christ. Again with the accusation that I "fabricate[d] quotes" (now, mysteriously, plural). As was obvious to everyone else, and frankly was surely obvious to you, my response to Dookie was a "shorter"-style rephrasing of what he took several paragraphs to say. But you and you alone decided to criticize my comment based solely on pedantic literalism and condescension without addressing the substance at all.

    Again, you seem fun.

  • Anonymous Prof says:

    @TAGinMO:

    "quotes" was an error on my part. You only fabricated one quote.

    As for being pedantic, well… why are you using quotation marks, and then claiming it wasn't a quote?

    As for your "rephrasing" of Dookie, it was clearly inaccurate.

    And as for the claim that I and I "alone" criticized your comment- Dookie already took you to task for your mischaracterization.

    Why the fuck do I even bother? It's like when you people make fun of Muslims, as a way of pretending to be pro-Muslim. All that matters is supporting your team, and fuck everyone else.

  • I don't think "pedantic" means what you think it means.

    Or should I have said "what 'you people' think it means"?

    We're done here.

  • @Earl

    The only thing you know about my mother is that she went to a Trump rally. Pretty much everything else you have assumed about her is 100% dead fucking wrong. EVERYTHING. The notion that she doesn't like black people is so unbelievably laughable that I just don't even know how to respond. You simply have no idea what you are talking about (not that that will stop you of course). Any of the facts about her would have no affect on you, because it doesn't fit the narrative and would require you to get off your intellectually lazy ass and think for a change.

    But hey, judging people based on very little is easy…so easy. Saves you the trouble of actually thinking about anything…I get it.

  • Your extreme unreasonable prejudice is showing again.

    Whatever else they are, the stats show the CCW permit holders (as a group) are solid, non-criminal citizens.

    I have no idea what biases or prejudices they hold as a group, but they are even less likely than LEOs to be guilty of a gun crime.

    And, for the record, I'm not now a permit holder nor have I ever been.

    //bb

  • Dookie, I'm still interested in your mom, who, if she's like my relatives, is a decent and kindly person. And yet my relatives tend to roll Republican. Mainly, as far as I can tell, because they think the Republican party gives them respect for who they are. Republicans go to church.

    The hateful spew from Kevin Williamson telling white detritus to just pack up the U-haul and get the hell outta Dodge pretty much rips the mask off just what Republican plutocrats think of their voting masses.

    So if you lean Republican, but it's become obvious that your party leadership views you with contempt, but you just cannot bring yourself to vote Democratic because "it just feels dirty," Trump is pretty much your man.

    To an outside viewer, the self-deceit is frightful to behold – how can people swallow such swill?

    So I still want to know more about your mom's interest in Trump.

  • If any of my relatives were supporting Trump, I would be horrified. I can't imagine a reason that they could give me that would justify their support. Same goes for Cruz.

  • I love trolls. I particularly like trolls who say things like this:

    It's like when you people make fun of Muslims, as a way of pretending to be pro-Muslim. All that matters is supporting your team, and fuck everyone else.

    "You people." Comedy gold, man, comedy gold.

  • And meanwhile, I can't figure out when this thread has made fun of Muslims as a gesture of tolerance.
    @Dookie, are you effing serious? I can certainly believe that there are objectively moderate people supporting Trump b/c they can't ALL be cranks, but you've anonymously said your mother is the sweetest person we'd ever meet then gotten all annoyed that no one took your word, and still can't provide even anecdotal support for your characterization. You need not doxx her to make your point, but just assuring us "take my word for it" is pretty silly. Particularly since if more serves you've trolled the shit out of this thread before.
    I am with Mo in wanting to hear more but not if the "more" is just complaining that we don't all believe you just because.

  • Greg – I think it started to blow when racism got mentioned. You know the drill:
    Racism is Bad
    Me and my family are Good People
    Therefore we cannot be racists, because that is Bad.

    Many of us haven't gotten the message from that little psych test that betrays unconscious racism, the kind that generates underlying anxiety, not a full-goose resolution to go out in a white sheet and burn a cross on a neighbor's lawn. We're all racists, just because the way our brains work. Some of us – lookin' epecially hard at you, Republicans – are in denial about that.

    The little Fig. 16 graph in the Matt Yglesias piece today pretty much tells the story about who's feeling picked on for being "unjustly" accused of racism:

    Most Republicans don't think white racism is a problem

  • Bingo. My 60-something, St. Louis-raised, WASP mother tells a story about how twenty years ago, she called a black male coworker "boy" while "just joking around."

    I've within the last few years heard her say things like "come over and sit at the table like white people."

    Dare discuss that casual racism with her, even in the above context that everyone is racist, including me? She deny that she "has a racist bone in [her] body," and accuse you of lying and attacking her.

    She is not alone. I'd say that half of her extended Midwestern family acts the same. "Hey, I hired a once unlike that shop across the street! I'm no racist!"

    No nuance. No ability to see even the above level of contradiction, let alone more latent racism like complaining that black people are daring to commit property crime to get attention for hundreds of extralegal state homicides or believing that "obamaphones" are some extravagant handout to secure black votes.

  • "Remember, these are people who believe with all their might that carrying a concealed handgun makes them safe, and that they possess the judgment to know when and how to use it appropriately…"

    Here in Tennessee one of our idiot House Republicans sponsored a bill to allow students and staff to keep handguns in their cars on campus. Her reasoning? Kent State, specifically that an incident like that "doesn't go unanswered."

    KENT STATE. You know, when the NATIONAL GUARD fired on students? She thinks the students should have fired back? Now THAT would have been interesting.

    It takes a special kind of stupid to be a Republican these days.

    https://southernbeale.wordpress.com/2016/03/14/tn-rep-wants-students-armed-so-they-can-shoot-at-natl-guard/

  • @Dookie:
    "I really have no clue. It doesn't make sense to me. I spoke to my mother about this for an hour yesterday but it did not shed any light."

    Do you have a flashlight, Dookie? Shine it into the base of your mother's skull. If you see the light then, you have your answer.

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