[John Isbell]

Max: I agree, the power of the F*** YOU vote should not be underestimated. As the saying goes, they're not the boss of me.
And telling people why they were wrong to vote for Trump is, well, a fool's errand. Though there's definite appeal in explaining to people why their values and judgment are all wrong.

Cheers,
John

[James Brancheau]

John, "a fools errand" I think a cop out. I'm tired of liberals not being violent enough about this. I stopped persuasive avenues as soon as that fuck became president.

[John Riley]

Down here in NC I heard so many people say they "Hell Yeah!" were going to vote for him. It was, of course, a way to piss-off twats like me who had been to college and remembered a little of what I learned.

What was most disturbing though was when I'd talk to a few more and they invariably thought of voting for Trump as a big "F-You" to the nation. They knew he was a crazy choice but did it anyway because "there isn't a damn thing the president or congress does that has any effect on my life." There is such a lack of connection for these people that their government is some foreign body. Of course, they think that fits into a "conservative" pov, but it is actually a shrug of despair. I find it troubling.

[John Isbell]

John: "they invariably thought of voting for Trump as a big "F-You" to the nation."
That sounds about right. It seems increasingly likely he and his campaign committed treason to maneuver him into the Oval Office. And the GOP, elected and voting (in their tens of millions), *just*doesn't*care*.

Cheers,
John

[James Brancheau]

Trump is so toxic that he may singlehandedly dismantle the republican party. Thank Christ. You can't be that dumb and corrupt at the same time. Or maybe you can in America. Make no mistake, this extremism comes from the first African-American being elected president. Pretty ugly.

[Mark McDonnell]

But James, logically millions of previous Obama voters must have voted for Trump. I think they just didn't like Hillary. This could be sexism as much as racism. Or the 'anti-elite/Washington dynasty' vote.*

Either way, it was an idiotic move.

* 'but what do I know?' goes without saying here.

[James Brancheau]

Hillary won the popular vote by very close to 3 million. To me, that's significant. I don't think your conditions are reliable. Clinton's not perfect. Then again, they've been under scrutiny for over 30 years. From an aggressively curious media. How old were you in 1990?

Excuse me, 2 million, I think. But who cares

[James Brancheau]

I don't want hard feelings Mark. But my point is that the Clintons are pretty middle of the road Democrats. Even conservative in many ways. (I voted for Sanders in the primary.) But if the right is willing to go that far against them, I wonder how far we've drifted...

[Mark McDonnell]

I was 18 in 1990.

You may be right, James. It's certainly a weird study in contrast that he should follow Obama. It's the difference in intellect as much as race that's truly shocking.
I also think a lot of people voted for Trump because he was different and 'not a politician'. Because he was a brash reality TV star who 'tells it like it is' and all that bullshit, and a certain strain of idiotic nihilism made them think it would be 'fun' to have him as president. They'd have voted for anyone who had entertained them on television. Because a lot of people are dim-bulbs. And sure, they're probably racist dim-bulbs too.

Believe me, I've no sympathy.

I don't want hard feelings either. I wasn't making a point about the Clintons really, just trying to think how the Trump voter brain might work. Oh, I'd have voted Bernie too.

[James Brancheau]

The fact that 30 some percent of the population support him no matter what confirms that I'll never live in the states again. That's a special kind of stupid, and, you know, someday we all die, and no one needs to deal with this.