MAY 16, 2019 – We who despise the president struggle to answer this: “Who in the world are the people who continue to support him?”
Joining now thousands of other armchair pundits, diviners, and opinion purveyors, I proclaim the answer!
(Drum roll . . .)
The president’s supporters fall into one of four groups:
- ANTI-TAX, ANTI-REGULATION, PORTFOLIO PERFORMANCE. This group draws a straight line from (A) tax cuts; and (B) deregulation; TO (C) torrid equity markets (and their personal portfolios). However tenuous or non-existent the evidence of a causal relationship between (A)/(B) and (C) matters not. What matters to this first group is what they believe supports their bottom line. For these people, the bad and the ugly sides of the president are a thousand spikes in a bed of nails. This is a political paradox: many voters will tolerate numberless outrages* sooner than they will allow a handful of easily recited flaws**, just as a person can more easily lie down on a whole bed of nails than on a bed of four nails.
*RussianmeddlinginourelectionsobstructionofjusticemepotismdisregardforruleoflawdisrespectforfreepressrefusaltodisclosefinancialinformationbecauseitrevealsmagnitudeoffinancialfailureandrelianceonfinancingfromforeignsourcesnamelyRussianandSaudiwithundueinfluenceonAmericanforeignpolicynointerestindevelopingcogentpolicyobsessionwithtariffswithoutunderstandinghowtheyworkplaystobasenointerestinunifyingcountrylackofintellectorlackofmanagementskillmysogynistsleazyconfusessycophancyforloyaltylackoleadershipskillspathologicalliarrsociopathicbehaviorsmakesstuffup.
**Bill; Email; Foundation; Benghazi.
2. ANTI-ABORTIONISTS. These are the one-issue Christians, so driven by narrow religious dogma they see God in the devil. Therefore, a pact with the devil that delivers on their perception of God’s single most important directive is the work of God. Wrap that around your head, and you’ll have your Taliban costume all set for next Halloween. When it comes to religious Kool-Aid, reason isn’t antidotal.
3. HATERS. These people drink from a poisonous well. In the president they find tolerance of their intolerance. This group’s bark is bigger than its ballot, but note to self: that’s what was said of the Nazis in the late 1920s.
4. THE IMPATIENT. This crowd dominates. Its members are older, whiter, and more non-urban than the president’s detractors. Their prime news source: Fox. These folks include the educated as well as the less well-educated; the prosperous and the less prosperous. Their central traits are a combination of (a) fear of change and susceptibility to fear-mongering; (b) belief that but for “professional politicians,” government would “solve” their problems; and (c) belief that big problems can be fixed with a big hammer, as long as the hammer hits someone’s head—and why not try something outrageous, since old saws aren’t cut out to hit nails? The people in this group are not by definition “stupid” or “ignorant.” They simply have a psychological disposition that draws them to a guy wielding a sledge hammer with a loose hammerhead! These people are . . . impatient; psychologically, they can’t stand an answer that starts with, “It’s complicated.”
I’m not personally acquainted with anyone in Groups 2 or 3, but I know lots of folks in Groups 1 and 4. My hope is that my friends and acquaintances in the latter two will come to their senses before one of two things blows us up: tariffs or war with Iran.
Saving the environment for future humanity? That, apparently, will have to wait.
© 2019 Eric Nilsson
