Reasons People Vote Trump

[Res Ipsa]

I think that, if there were an easy or obvious solution, there would be lots of folks using it. Refraining from making the problem worse would be a good start. From there, try stuff.

You're confusing me with someone who doesn't mind spinning wheels.

LOL!

[Xenophon]

I'd like to know how we put our heads together and reason with unreasonable people (who are resistant to compromise and don't trust anyone who doesn't share their lies).

In my personal experience there has only been one methodology that seems to work. Focusing on being a fellow human and friend first. We've discussed his efforts probably a thousand times on this site, but I do my best to channel my inner Daryl Davis*. By forming connections with others we can create a lot of dissonance between previously held misconceptions about a group of folks and what they experience in their interactions with you.

A couple of the problems with this method, 1) I've no idea how to scale it up. How do you take a time-invested human connection and export it to a wider audience? I certainly don't have any answers there. 2) I've only been able to do anything remotely like this with people I feel some genuine connection with, which means I have to often accept I'm not the person to break down barriers with the vast majority of people. I've made a few references to the former marine that lives behind me and his journey from die-hard MAGA to a gentleman abstaining from this years presidential election. Not expecting him to ever vote Democrat but he has at least stopped demonizing large swaths of people and has come around on a lot of his thinking. He is an interesting sort when I could get him off politics, so it was much easier to build a connection first and then engage on political topics MUCH, MUCH later down the line. 2b?) I've also been very unsuccessful when I start with the goal of trying to shift someone's opinion, it kind of needs to flow organically from the relationship (I think this is the part where Davis will always be the king).

I keep hoping one of these days Ajax will find his Davis, but who knows if that will ever happen and I've definitely accepted that it can't be me.

*Upon re-reading this before posting I realized I might have been implying I was anywhere near Davis's level of engagement and that certainly isn't the case. He just serves as the gold-standard for me as I hopelessly fumble at trying to make my little sphere a little bit better.

[I Have Questions]

I can think of a few reasons:

1. They want lower taxes
2. They are Christian nationalists
3. They are happy about the overturning of Roe v. Wade
4. They are frightened by the "Woke Mob"
5. They hate Democrats
6. They mistake Donald Trump for a patriotic man because he humped an American flag
7. They have authoritarian tendencies and think we need a strong leader
8. They are isolationists and believe that the world will be OK without American interventions
9. They are tired of "the establishment"
10. Watching the "right" media has sanitized Trump for them and they don't believe accurate reports of what he has actually said and done

11. A Trump presidency helps them feel justified in their own prejudices, phobias, ‘isms, and bigotries

[Some Schmo]

In my personal experience there has only been one methodology that seems to work. Focusing on being a fellow human and friend first.

Good post, Xen.

This is similar to what I've heard from people who have successfully extracted someone from a cult. The only way to do it is through love.

I will just say, when I'm talking to people I know or suspect are Trump supporters (and I care about them in some way) I don't hammer them with facts or condemnation. I generally just ask questions and respond honestly to their answers. For example, I was talking with a friend and said something about politicians not caring about their constituents, and he said, "Well, one of our nominees clearly cares more about us than the other." (This was back when we still thought it was Biden vs Trump).

I said, with surprise, "You mean Trump?"

He said, "Of course."

I said, "Wow, I don't know about that, man. I read the most recent indictment and the evidence and arguments seem pretty strong to me. I'm not sure he cares about America as much as his own power." (This was Jack Smith's case about Jan 6, iteration #1). Of course, in my mind I'm screaming, "Are you damned insane? He doesn't even care about his kids, let alone everyone else's!"

He had nothing to say to my comment and the conversation went elsewhere. Did I move him in any way? Perhaps at the margins of his intellectual life, but I highly doubt I convinced him not to vote for Trump.

When I talked to the woman (a long time friend of my wife's) about Kamala and she went off on a rant (her biggest objection seeming to be Kamala's laugh), I talked about Trump's recent visit to Arlington Cemetery and his disrespect for military service. I wasn't upset; I just reported what I'd read about it. She was completely unmoved.

Maybe neither person would be moved by anything I have to say because we aren't tight enough for my words to penetrate. But there's a bigger part of me that suspects that it has more to do with repetition. They've heard the same crap repeated so much, they now believe it, and one instance from a friend of countervailing evidence is nowhere near enough to sway them, no matter how much love and respect I extend to them.

But, as I admitted up stream, I am a pessimist about human nature, and I think that's because I'm realistic. I also think it has something to do with participating in mopologetic threads so much, I know people value their irrational thoughts over being proven wrong.

[Some Schmo]

I will just say, when I'm talking to people I know or suspect are Trump supporters (and I care about them in some way) I don't hammer them with facts or condemnation. I generally just ask questions and respond honestly to their answers.

I ended up not making the point I wanted to here, which is that the way I talk about Trump supporters here is not the same way I talk to them in real life (the same can't really be said about religion, but that's another story). I feel comfortable talking that way here because I know the audience is tiny, and I'm not really worried about trying to convince anyone here of anything.

This is my ranting space.

[Dr. Shades]

People vote for Trump for the same reason people cheer for their favorite football team.

[honorentheos]

People vote for Trump for the same reason people cheer for their favorite football team.

They like watching overpaid men with brain damage pretending to be loyal to their tribe?

[Some Schmo]

People vote for Trump for the same reason people cheer for their favorite football team.

So long as the team is comprised of OJ Simpsons.

[Dr. Shades]

People vote for Trump for the same reason people cheer for their favorite football team.

They like watching overpaid men with brain damage pretending to be loyal to their tribe?

Exactly.

[dantana]

They like watching overpaid men with brain damage pretending to be loyal to their tribe?

Exactly.

Perfect.