JANUARY 25, 2020 – Yesterday I heard Adam Schiff’s lucid, eloquent, factual, and stirring argument before the U.S. Senate. I then listened to reports of the minimal effect on Republican senators. Their deafness is linked directly to the decibel level of Trump’s base; their rally cries, amplified by Sean Hannity . . . for which that current day Goebbels is rewarded handsomely with presidential “love” and mounds of lucre. I’ve witnessed enough direct evidence to generalize confidently about Trump’s loud base.
A few examples:
TRUMP SUPPORTER (well-off white guy with medical degree): “Obama was by far the worst president we’ve ever had . . . [Later in conversation] Who was president during World War I?”
ME: “Wilson.”
TRUMP SUPPORTER: “Which one?”
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ME (to 20s-something white guy): “Why should I support Trump in November? Give me your best shot!”
TRUMP SUPPORTER: “Uh, well, he’s trying to make America great again.”
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ME (to wife of a black preacher who supports Trump): “Why does your husband like Trump?”
TRUMP SUPPORTER’S WIFE: “My husband is against gay marriage.”
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ME (to two middle-aged women from affluent suburb): “What’s your main reason for supporting Trump?”
TRUMP SUPPORTER (first looking at her friend, as if for clues): “Well, we don’t actually like him personally, but those Democrats! They’re all so corrupt!”
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ME (to affluent white guy): “What baffles me is how Trump supporters can summarily disregard the outspoken disdain for Trump expressed by an impressive raft of life-long conservative (former) Republicans such as William Cohen, George Will, Steve Schmidt, Michael Steele, . . . George W. Bush [et alia].”
TRUMP SUPPORTER: “Those were just a bunch of do-nothing Republicans.”
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ME (to savvy white guy as at ease with Democrats as with Republicans; who voted for Obama twice, then for Trump and will again): “How in the world can you still support Trump?”
TRUMP SUPPORTER: “The Dow Jones, baby. The Dow Jones!”
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ME (to Bible-thumper, hell-bent (wink and a nod) on banning abortion): “Given all that we’ve seen over the past three years, what keeps you in Trump’s corner?”
TRUMP SUPPORTER: “God sent Trump to work justice.”
____________________
These are only a handful of people. But I have yet to encounter anything more tethered to substance, to compelling evidence or reasoning, than the examples above. I believe it’s no coincidence that each of the foregoing Trump supporters cited FoxNews as his/her trusted news source.
Now, my Trump supporting friends and acquaintances, here’s the ultimate rub: acquit Trump on the second article of impeachment (obstruction of Congress) and you’ll have achieved de facto amendment of the Constitution. You’ll have repealed Article II, Section 4—the impeachment clause—straight out of the law of the land. What then—for you? Just wait until a Bernie Sanders ascends the now monarchical throne, be it in 2020 or by 2024. His views on climate change, distribution of wealth, abortion, and which side of the road you get to drive on will be radically different from yours. And when he doesn’t get his way in Congress, guess what he’ll do? If your imagination is frozen, let me assist: thumb-to-nose—and a helluva lot worse, when with vengefully furrowed brow, he wields an omnipotent sword.
Think twice, my friends. Or more precisely, think.
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© 2020 by Eric Nilsson
