it is beyond clear that for many americans trump is a blank slate who stands for whatever they personally want - ThreadSky

jamellebouie.net • 8 days ago

it is beyond clear that for many americans trump is a blank slate who stands for whatever they personally want

This is just mindbendingly astonishing to me.

Comments

Oh he's a blank slate alright. Hand him your Nazi topic du jour and he'll sign it. Like an obese orange puppet with Putin and Musk taking turns with him.

vancitymike.com•8 days ago

A crisis of critical thinking.

cynde.bsky.social•8 days ago

That’s how cults work.

gordon-gecko.bsky.social•8 days ago

Trump is a vessel for the agonies and fears of people to whom the government is a powerful beast that he promises to turn onto the people they hate.

mobiustrip24.bsky.social•8 days ago

I mean it’s harder to find a greater failure of media than “people don’t know what the twice impeached insurrectionist who has threatened allies, nonwhites, and our own government will do with his second term, so they just wishcast upon him”

doubtingt.bsky.social•8 days ago

still happening, hasn't diminished at all; when someone has picked ur pocket or convinced u buying those shxtcoins was great investment, ur reluctant to ever admit it

kath55.bsky.social•8 days ago

Hoodwinked. Duped.

vertuba.bsky.social•8 days ago

These people are lying to us or just lying to themselves. I had a friend posting stuff about Gaza nonstop on IG leading up to the election and now it’s memes about how his crypto coins are doing.

jahorton.bsky.social•8 days ago

This is just dumbfounding; when did he ever even hint at possible amnesty, let alone actually say the word?

molicioushat.bsky.social•8 days ago

He's always been good at that as a salesman.

baileygalbreit.bsky.social•8 days ago

In the same way that they simultaneously say, "He tells it like it is," and when he says EXACTLY WHAT HE MEANS but it sounds BAD, they bend over backwards and say, "No, you don't get it, what he REALLY means is..."

clio.bsky.social•8 days ago

Superstition and ignorance are a dangerous combination

oeishik.bsky.social•8 days ago

This is how fake populism draws you in. Once you're in, like a cult, it engulfs you. https://youtube.com/live/9Zk-wacS800?feature=share

blkshrink.bsky.social•7 days ago

I have completely no idea how they misinterpreted deportation of illegals beginning Day 1 and Voldemort’s shrunken hidden self in Steven Miller’s racist policies from the FIRST go around.

You thought they meant the African or what? Please help us understand you all…

jcleone.bsky.social•8 days ago

I will never understand how all of this is centered on Donald fucking Trump. He’s been ubiquitous for fifty years, and manifestly ignorant and ego-centric the entire time. If people are projecting their hopes for the future on anyone, how did they land on Donald fucking Trump?

idontknowmanmaybe.bsky.social•8 days ago

I think a lot of this comes from his worst stuff getting stymied in his first term. He had a normal first term presidency (especially as a Republican post-Taft), in spite of himself. He said and tried a bunch of stuff that either never came to fruition or didn't have a huge, overall impact.

seaglassislandgirl.bsky.social•8 days ago

You can’t see it but i’m slow blinking right now.

reindeer67.bsky.social•8 days ago

It’s not limited to Trump. Fellow Obama canvassers in 2008 frequently wildly misstated his positions privately to me to match their wishes. I’m sure at a macro level this charisma paradox led to frustration and hurt his polls when he only did what he said he’d do.

misshap.bsky.social•8 days ago

Between Trump's rambling, free association speeches, and the media tendency to take the least right wing interpretation of everything he says, it's not that surprising people heard what they wanted to hear. He's like the political equivalent of pareidolia

experimilk.bsky.social•8 days ago

Kinda like, I dunno, a cult leader or religious figure?

eekamouse.bsky.social•8 days ago

No kidding! My husband remembers talking to a hippie-type when Reagan was running. That dude was convinced that Reagan planned to legalize cannabis because he talked about “getting the government off people’s backs.” 🙃

shethmi.bsky.social•8 days ago

He’s a conman

nessa65.bsky.social•7 days ago

Trump signs whatever is put in front of him. He’s a head with a Sharpie. The project 2025 people and musk are governing (in the most undemocratic way). Renew your passports; this country will be an autocracy in another two months.

duckmer.bsky.social•8 days ago

Voted for Trump because I think I heard he promised to make my parents stop yelling

draincleaner475.bsky.social•8 days ago

So your strategy is to make up arguments for both sides? Nobody who supports Trump was hoping he would give amnesty to illegals. You guys are crazy.

bookwom64.bsky.social•8 days ago

That is exactly what I noticed. Whenever a Trumper would be interviewed, they would say things like “biblical principles” and “friend of the working class”. It was obvious that they had no idea who Trump actually was. He was just who they wanted him to be.

azsuzeblue.bsky.social•8 days ago

Trump was reciting Project 2025.

The psychological manipulation conducted through Heritage Foundation wonks is deeply funded by those now being exposed for doing so intending to get its "Project" implemented.

Voila.

coffeyhouse.bsky.social•8 days ago

Yup!My sister said “Trump is for the working class, face it the democrats haven’t cared about you in a long time.” I said “liberalism gave me a place to live when I couldn’t afford anywhere else and Trump has a history of evicting simply cuz he doesn’t like them. What are you talking about?!”

uzmab.bsky.social•8 days ago

One important point in the article is T's ground game outperformed the Dems. If you repeat a message enough you get to write it on the blank slate.

bisshortforbee.bsky.social•8 days ago

I recognize the power, and prevalence, of wishful thinking.

What I don't get is, WHY HIM? Why jump through hoops to convince yourself that he secretly means the exact opposite of what he's saying, when the opposing candidate actually supports the thing you want?

estherp.bsky.social•8 days ago

Because the opposing candidate was a woman, and a Black woman at that.

bisshortforbee.bsky.social•8 days ago

Yep.

nomoredevil.bsky.social•8 days ago

He’s a Bizarro Obama

sallysue99.bsky.social•8 days ago

We are told the American dream means work hard and be rewarded. Poor white Americans can’t figure out why that doesn’t work for them, so they come up with justifications for their failure (minorities and DEI, illegals, democrats/taxes, welfare etc) and they believe that somehow trump will change it.

sallysue99.bsky.social•8 days ago

… even though he’s just going to make life harder for anyone struggling by taking away affordable healthcare, affordable education, affordable housing/childcare, government assistance, and government jobs.

hkfinan.bsky.social•8 days ago

Would so explain why business owners think he’d be good for their businesses (this is what I’m dealing with via a friend…can not convince her otherwise 🤦🏼‍♀️)

karicort.bsky.social•7 days ago

As an Afro-Latina of Dominican heritage, let me put this clearly: Sexism & racism is rampant. When discussing Harris’ policies w/ Dominicans, they’d state Trump was better bc he didn’t “get on his knees” for his position, asked me what my husband thought instead, or shared colorist/racist comments.

karicort.bsky.social•7 days ago

It was a few- and I’m just fuggin tired of loving my heritage (Black race, with Latino ethnicity) while being told that I’m “not really Black”, as if there’s something negative associated to it.

bunrot.bsky.social•7 days ago

It's funny because Trump is underneath Elon's desk right now.

sunisky17.bsky.social•7 days ago

Agreed.
I'll never back down from saying that sexism, misogyny, and racism are the reasons Hispanic and Arab males voted for tRump and against MVP Harris.

calladin.bsky.social•7 days ago

Dumbassery doesn’t discriminate.

thirty-bob.bsky.social•7 days ago

Absolutely. Even ‘MAGA’ works like that- no one asks which era he thinks was ‘great’, they just insert their own favourite (imaginary) historical period.

yallstopyelling.bsky.social•8 days ago

Trump represents the losers. If you vote for me we will make the winners pay for their competence.

drchnei.bsky.social•8 days ago

Yes. But why? People are tired of being ignored. And everyone has different needs and wants … so it’s literally impossible for one person or entity or thing to satisfy all of the people.

So why did so many feel he was speaking right to them?

thelazarusman.bsky.social•8 days ago

Why don't people listen to what he says and watch what he does?

mdenn.bsky.social•8 days ago

🤦🏻‍♀️

evensong.bsky.social•8 days ago

He’s a Rorschach test.

yet-lotuses-bloom.bsky.social•8 days ago

He's the "Choose your adventure" president.

oggie.bsky.social•8 days ago

I have always been impressed by the fact that two people standing next to each other at the same speech of his can get diametrically opposed meanings, with each certain of ' oh he didn't mean that part'

He always means everything. The things people respond to, he'll act on. No response, joke.

girlfriend.bsky.social•8 days ago

I think that's a really optimistic view of most voters who say stuff like this. My sense is that they just can't parse political positions though lies. Like they're told "limiting immigration means lower prices" and they're like oh okay. I like lower prices. That's how CBS said it works.

lastdaysotheweimar.bsky.social•8 days ago

This is such an absurdly dishonest claim too. Like population growth has slowed dramatically for years, and immigration increased only slightly, so how could this explain much of it at all?

ireneadlercal.bsky.social•8 days ago

In 2016 I was sitting next to a couple on a first date. She was a Cruz supporter; he loved Trump. I’ll never forget his enthusiastic statement that Trump “has literally never made a bad deal.”

drspeer.bsky.social•8 days ago

And the only language he speaks is $$… so interestingly while he stands for nothing… he stands for everything as long as he stands to benefit from it.

If musk was pushing for amnesty… that’s a what we’d be seeing right now.

Trump is incredibly compromised.

muddyamgillmor.bsky.social•8 days ago

Parasocial relationships. They can dream him as a benevolent leader. I cannot.

beachandtreesplz.bsky.social•8 days ago

Shared delusion.

markdavisbrighton.bsky.social•7 days ago

I wonder if this is why he uses such vague language, enabling listeners to insert their own meanings.

ikigaisan.bsky.social•7 days ago

Classic sales trick. Let us never forget that's what he is, sales and marketing. He's been a hawker his entire life.

shannonisblue.bsky.social•7 days ago

This is what happens when he has no platform, and just campaigns based on the values of hate, fear and greed

xinrtj.bsky.social•8 days ago

Yes. This combined w the leopards/faces thing. “He will only hurt other people so I don’t care.”

ericcolumbus.bsky.social•8 days ago

This is how Trump built a coalition that ranged from Arab Americans to Orthodox Jews to Nazis.

uniongal.bsky.social•8 days ago

This reminds me of all the people who said “I read between the lines” cause they thought they understood him while the rest of us didn’t. Reality was they saw him as the vessel for their hopes and dreams?

jakedotworld.bsky.social•8 days ago

The power of being so god damn dumb that you become the avatar for idiots everywhere.

mechwarrior.bsky.social•8 days ago

"As democracy is perfected, the office represents, more and more closely, the inner soul of the people. ...On some great and glorious day the plain folks of the land will reach their heart's desire at last, and the White House will be adorned by a downright moron." - H. L. Mencken

jakedotworld.bsky.social•8 days ago

His perspicacious skewering of evangelicals is laudable.

georgiabluedevil.bsky.social•8 days ago

If you will literally say one thing on Monday, the opposite on Tuesday, a muddle of the two things on Wednesday, commit an outrage on Thursday to distract, and then move onto something else on Friday, by Saturday, you can be everything to everyone who isn't actually paying attention.

benjamincpritchard.bsky.social•8 days ago

It's impressive in a depressing way

riwoche.bsky.social•8 days ago

"Trump is a blank slate who stands for whatever they personally want" and prior to the election he resembled Santa Claus who would magically deliver all their items on their child-like gift lists. In reality, Trump governs as Shiva the Destroyer.

plentynuff.bsky.social•8 days ago

This has been my observation of Trump voters in my life; no connection between their notions of him and anything he actually says/does.

Besides his personal attributes, it seems like a disconnect between political theatre and real-life consequences is a required background condition for this.

nathkovich.bsky.social•8 days ago

They all were hoping he’d hurt someone else and they’d reap the benefit. When different Latino groups say they thought he was only going to deport a specific class, that’s what they’re saying. The same can be said for every other group that supported Trump.

seentoomuch.bsky.social•8 days ago

There was a Trump voter who when one of his policies effected her personally in 2017 said "He's not hurting the people he's supposed to hurt." (I think it was the tarrif that led to retaliation by China on farm exports that hurt midwest farms)

It was the most honest moment from a Trump voter ever.

nathkovich.bsky.social•8 days ago

I thought that was from a 2019 NYT story about a small rural town in Florida where Trump’s incompetence has shutdown the biggest employer, the federal pen.

It’s a telling quote.

seentoomuch.bsky.social•8 days ago

Could be. I've forgotten the exact incident because there were so many.

jlivc927.bsky.social•8 days ago

I remember that! (I just don’t remember where precisely I read it🤦‍♀️.) But that is one of the variables that the media is often wary to report. It’s easy to talk about “economic anxiety” or euphemisms like “DEI” or “CRT.” The fact is that T is all about hurting the “right” people.

seentoomuch.bsky.social•8 days ago

It ties into @www.bugbeardispatch.com 's work on the myth of Christian goodness. We just can't admit that these (usually) white Christians could possibly be bad people with bad desires. So excuses must be made for their motives.

jlivc927.bsky.social•8 days ago

I will start following her. Thanks for the tip! It’s like when @drmoore.bsky.social wrote about pastors being approached by parishioners upset by the “left wing propaganda” they heard from the Sermon on the Mount.

seentoomuch.bsky.social•8 days ago

I highly recommend The Flytrap, which is a feminist blog she and several others write on. Well worth the subscription.

brianandrewmarek.bsky.social•8 days ago

That seems to be the prevailing thought process of MAGAmerica and the reason why I'm not too sympathetic - even when shit backfires on them, they never seem to learn the most important conclusion they could take from it: DON'T BE AN ASSHOLE and DON'T WISH HURT ON PEOPLE WHO AREN'T HURTING YOU.

adev808.bsky.social•8 days ago

https://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/trump-voter-hes-not-hurting-the-people-he-needs-be-hurting-msna1181316

flypusher713.bsky.social•8 days ago

It is beyond clear to me that Trump is a selfish, narcissistic sociopath who doesn’t care about anything other than Trump.

mnadelhaft.bsky.social•8 days ago

In John Smith's prescient graphic novel "New Statesmen," when a fascist superhero runs for president, the FBI says "he's selling a hole big enough for everyone to put everything they want into it."

gilliesracer.bsky.social•8 days ago

Yup!

vajrak.bsky.social•8 days ago

Lots of fantasies projected onto that blank slate.

tchallaforever.bsky.social•8 days ago

“Make America Great Again” is a vague & meaningless catchphrase upon which the rubes can project any delusions they like.
It’s not that Democrats have bad messaging.
It’s that voters are dumb.

scrodqueen.bsky.social•8 days ago

Yes! This explains so much. I know someone who voted for trump because she thought he was going to legalize Marijuana.

wordsmith610.bsky.social•8 days ago

There’s a psychological theory that regardless of what someone says, people will hear what they want to hear which I think also bolsters the theory that reality is highly subjective. I realize this seems completely delusional but at least half of the US currently lives in this headspace. 🤷🏻‍♀️

ignatzfattis.bsky.social•8 days ago

Highly interesting/enlightening/entertaining to find tidbits like this

Accounts of Trump followers with ABSOLUTELY NO IDEA of the true evil nature of the man they devoted their lives/incomes/etc to

I am sure there must millions of cases like this. Will provide decades of highly interesting reading

ignatzfattis.bsky.social•8 days ago

Over the next 20-30 years we sure will be learning a lot about what mad assumptions were going on in their heads during this time

strongforu.bsky.social•7 days ago

There are no excuses. People need to read. The info on Stephen Miller, J.D. Vance, Project 2025, and the Heritage Foundation were all readily available online. A few minutes of research prior to voting was all it took.

sidster12345.bsky.social•7 days ago

Most Americans, at least half of the country have a sixth grade level literacy level or lower they cannot read Republicans have destroyed the education of this country

wienerking.bsky.social•8 days ago

There's no magical messaging or special phrase that breaks through to them because they're living in their own reality.

It's why I didn't buy "weird" was some genius strategy. They've got their imaginary Trump that they've projected their hopes and dreams and on, good luck arguing against that.

wienerking.bsky.social•8 days ago

Even when the reality of his presidency settles in and they get hurt they may still cling to their fantasy Trump because people are deeply averse to the feeling of being wrong.

rotanen.bsky.social•8 days ago

Why would anyone choose that blithering oaf to project their values onto?

pnichols.bsky.social•8 days ago

Just like Brexit in UK

jeffersonscott.bsky.social•8 days ago

There are many groups that back Trump that surprised the hell out of me. I believe there was even a Palestinian group and many immigrant groups that backed Trump.

Pretty crazy!

bluedotinmi.bsky.social•8 days ago

Reality TV & The Secret have brought us here. I’m sorry not even Oprah’s hands are clean 😂

Trump’s magical thinking with no explanation of how it will happen is what people are looking for!

lromeranth.bsky.social•8 days ago

It is fandom as politics, people write fan-fiction about Trump

drchrisdeutsch.bsky.social•8 days ago

Absolutely!

bigx.bsky.social•8 days ago

It was the Dominicans who ran the Spanish inquisition,are these the same guys?

hawthorne00.bsky.social•8 days ago

Ha! (Just in case this wasn't a joke, no.)

bigx.bsky.social•8 days ago

But you never expect the spanish inquisition.

only23togo.bsky.social•8 days ago

You'd have to have something of a blank mind to fall for Trump's lies. I wish nothing but the worst for him and his supporters .

flentrop.bsky.social•8 days ago

That's one way of looking at it

hurricanexyz.bsky.social•8 days ago

It's so weird!!

samulmschneider.bsky.social•8 days ago

it's particularly weird because he's the opposite of a blank slate - decades of celebrity have colored in almost all the possible things we might want to know about who he is, what he wants. what he tends to do.

hurricanexyz.bsky.social•8 days ago

Right, hence the flavor of like, willful self-delusion??

foghorn453.bsky.social•8 days ago

There was a similar dynamic at play when David Duke ran for governor of Louisiana - opponents would read sections of Duke's speeches and people in focus groups would start rationalizing why Duke was correct, etc.

hurricanexyz.bsky.social•8 days ago

We can have a little white supremacy, as a treat

charleskinbote.bsky.social•8 days ago

IIRC he won a much larger share of the vote than anyone should be comfortable with

cshannonpdx.bsky.social•7 days ago

Additionally weird because he also was a President before where he said he was going to do a lot of things that he never did: infrastructure week, build a wall and make Mexico pay for it, release his taxes, etc.

hurricanexyz.bsky.social•7 days ago

I mean I think this contributes to it

mrclfn.bsky.social•8 days ago

He's also just full of BS. He said everything that could be said, much of it contradictory. I think that helps people rationalize it. At some point he has said something they agree with. Nevermind the other things he's said and done that contradict it.

sburr741600.bsky.social•8 days ago

And some Russians. And some Saudis. And some Israelis. And some South Africans…
And some…
And some…

It’s an all you can eat buffet at Mar a Lago.

mirrorplane.bsky.social•8 days ago

I wish I could explain Rump devotee's as just short a few bricks... But now I realize people just look to confirmation signals to whatever they hope for. Reality based or desperate hope based.

seamus8.bsky.social•8 days ago

He's the outrageous stand up comedian who you think is merrily joking, or you take him absolutely seriously - saying what you think, or you think he is dangerously unhinged.

lxtruong.bsky.social•8 days ago

When everyone knows that you lie all the time, people can choose to believe that everything is a lie and what they personally want is the truth.

sugargayisber.bsky.social•8 days ago

Musk has the nuclear codes = Checkmate.

We'll never wrestle controls back from him.

He has: tunnels, satellites, Trump, Putin, rockets, shitty cars and trucks, a shitload of kids and must be making more this very second, dozens of body guards, and all of our social security funds and information

sanchezroger.bsky.social•8 days ago

Huh.

princeofnice.bsky.social•8 days ago

It’s almost as if they have amnesia about the past, and now cannot hear the words that actually come from his mouth.

agspiritnsoul.bsky.social•8 days ago

In other words, “ignorance is bliss until…(fill in the blank)”…🤔🤷🏽‍♂️🤦🏽‍♂️🤯

lauracstruve.com•8 days ago

So how do we fight this? You can’t reason with them, you can’t argue with them, they accept no facts—what can we do?

codemonkey23.bsky.social•8 days ago

Which to me indicates that the only way the "good guys" (fwiw) get back in charge is to endlessly pursue the same strategy, which I don't think they will, so it'll be fascism for breakfast, fascism for lunch, fascism for dinner. :-/

cdrak0715.bsky.social•8 days ago

That's insane. Not only is he lying to them, they're lying to themselves.

resistancefighters.bsky.social•8 days ago

That is by design. His opinion sways to whatever he thinks his constituents want to hear. It’s why his speeches are nothing but word-salad. It’s why he has been fighting so hard to send immigrants to concentration camps, yet he and fElon are suddenly saying they personally need people on H-1B visas.

triplozero.bsky.social•8 days ago

The essence of a good con man.

professoryemiadams.bsky.social•8 days ago

this is far beyond being propagandized. This is willful, spiteful refusal to engage with reality at a basic level. They might as well be insane.

polittlecat.bsky.social•8 days ago

what I just said
https://bsky.app/profile/polittlecat.bsky.social/post/3li5x37fm7k2s

diabolical.bsky.social•8 days ago

True for Obama as well. Turns out when nobody is happy about the state of the country, the promise of CHANGE overawes all.

rebelagainsthate.com•8 days ago

Working to make a new, much worse thing than Stockholm Syndrome.

ilmarinen7.bsky.social•8 days ago

"Scottsdale Syndrome"

bizthenavigator.bsky.social•8 days ago

People just made up whatever they wanted while ignoring what he was saying and doing, and now they're astonished. They're the definition of stupid.

etxgov.bsky.social•8 days ago

It is the craziest thing about the Trump phenomenon to me.

rickywlmsbong.bsky.social•8 days ago

the blank slate thing is true of all presidents to some degree i think but have never seen the projection be so flatly contradicted by the actual pitch

insavga.bsky.social•8 days ago

I've read articles by various people involved in messaging, from phone canvassers to focus groups, and one consistent theme is that they couldn't get ANYTHING negative to stick to Trump, no matter how accurate or prominently it was reported at the time. How do you solve that? It's like a superpower.

etxgov.bsky.social•8 days ago

It's the darndest thing.

And I think it's because in some cases, they already have accepted Trump is a terrible person.

So nothing new can change that.

slurmslurper.bsky.social•8 days ago

This meme come to
life

mike.puterbaugh.net•8 days ago

For a man WHO WAS ALREADY PRESIDENT. He was not an empty vessel this time around!

dougstevelass.bsky.social•8 days ago

“He’s stupid just like me so we’re on the same side!!!!”

jjurasin.bsky.social•7 days ago

Surprisly i can found logic in this.

After Trump seal border and deport what he wsnt to fepirt its posible that rest managf to legalise their status.

joimonki.bsky.social•7 days ago

🙄 It will take awhile before he deports as many as Biden did in just the last year.
700,000 migrants removed or returned in 2024.
The border was never open. That was Republican propaganda.
https://www.cbp.gov/newsroom/national-media-release/cbp-releases-december-2024-monthly-update

sunisky17.bsky.social•7 days ago

And tRump and RePugs killed the border bill. The media failed to use that border bill as a noun, a verb, and an adjective when polling and reporting on who is better on border security.
#MediaComplicit

jjurasin.bsky.social•7 days ago

Illegal immigration at the U.S. southern border has dropped by 90% since the new administration took office, according to data released on Friday.

sunisky17.bsky.social•7 days ago

Faux News

jjurasin.bsky.social•7 days ago

it was on cbs ...so maybe. But if its true...

jjurasin.bsky.social•7 days ago

And they should. Dems birders bills was just OR move so they can win election and after that continue to bring in miliins of future voters as its clear that average americans will not vote for them.

sunisky17.bsky.social•7 days ago

It was a Republican Bill.

pmarl.bsky.social•8 days ago

There was an ocean of misinformation circulating in Spanish language Whatsapp chats, plus right wing media has Spanish outlets now

ghg1.bsky.social•8 days ago

Must be more disturbing seeing what actually appears from Trump than looking in a mirror after a hangover.

beckjoneshere.bsky.social•8 days ago

Venezuelans in Florida seemed to think the same.

vheart2.bsky.social•7 days ago

Reality testing: the narcissist's favorite failing.
It's not true that a lie said often enough becomes true--
people just accept the lie as if it is.
A lie is always a lie. Facts are not negotiable. We do need oxygen and water to live. Will maga believe DT if he says they don't need those?

nathanfrommi.bsky.social•8 days ago

We really are the dumbest voters...

jensequitur.bsky.social•8 days ago

The conversation in the office yesterday was about how Trump is going to get contraception assistance covered by healthcare insurance... meanwhile DOGE is dismantling America.

sjoyner1965.bsky.social•8 days ago

One of my students has uncles who are undocumented and they support him and told her, “he wouldn’t do that to us.” She said “When ICE asks for your papers, they’re not going to care that you like him.” It’s a strangeeee personality cult he has.

vertuba.bsky.social•8 days ago

Miami has so many of these people. Their hopes that Trump will whack the people they hate outweighs their fears (or arrogance) that he won’t whack them.

sjoyner1965.bsky.social•7 days ago

Unfortunately, they’re not Cuban-American; They’re Honduran-American, and live in NC. I remember telling this student: “Latinos didn’t vote for Trump, Cuban-Americans did” (this is based on polls) and she was like “of COURSE.”

hellolaurel.bsky.social•8 days ago

I guess the good news for them is there won’t be any trans folk in their bathrooms at Gitmo

sjoyner1965.bsky.social•7 days ago

I won’t joke about their deportation, but you made a good point: I believe many people voted on culture war issues over their own material conditions.

hellolaurel.bsky.social•7 days ago

Yeah I wasn’t joking, I meant that their bigotry transcended all logic.

kysakunatsume.bsky.social•8 days ago

My wife’s uncles are like that. Someday they will make our eyes roll over so much that we will end with 360° vision.

bertrand-mowbry.bsky.social•8 days ago

They deserve to laughed and pointed at as theyre dragged away

sjoyner1965.bsky.social•7 days ago

I don’t think anyone deserves to be deported, but these men genuinely make me want to sit down and interview them to try to determine what their headspace is like.

bertrand-mowbry.bsky.social•7 days ago

The ones who voted for Trump *absolutely* deserve it. Whats more is that they should be permanently banned from ever entering the United States.

miriparhelion.bsky.social•5 days ago

None of the undocumented immigrants voted for him, they can't vote.

bertrand-mowbry.bsky.social•5 days ago

Plenty of citizens of hispanic/Caribbean heritage did. They thought they were special and to be spared from the slaughter of their families.

kfpm.bsky.social•8 days ago

Astonishing

markvdhmusic.bsky.social•7 days ago

And whoever they are mad at because they can’t take personal responsibility for anything. It’s everyone else’s fault all the time.

jlivc927.bsky.social•8 days ago

It is truly confounding.

liberalthinker20.bsky.social•8 days ago

In your head rent free.
It’s amazing how much you hate America

hans-offen.bsky.social•8 days ago

"the leapords will never eat MY face"

hrryan.bsky.social•8 days ago

This is so weird to me. I guess they might view him as an all-powerful father figure who will solve all their problems and protect them from danger, while smiting their enemies. They project all their dreams of such a figure onto him: "He loves us! He loves America!" etc.

ojoscielosytierra.bsky.social•8 days ago

This level of dissonance is astounding to me; it’s like believing that the boy who says he hates you secretly loves you

georgiabluedevil.bsky.social•8 days ago

Hmmm. Astute. I think people have complex means by which they protect their self-image/self-esteem. These means can be helpful and may be harmless. Telling yourself that you are the exception is one of those means.

bobbylewis.bsky.social•8 days ago

they elected the wallet inspector president

kevinmcnamee.bsky.social•8 days ago

Even Homer figured it out after the fact.

wewenugu.bsky.social•8 days ago

Magical thinking. America is doomed by the vast numbers of fucking idiots who populate it. And the monsters entitled to reive this vast economy for their own personal gain.

polittlecat.bsky.social•8 days ago

Alot of denial coupled with magical thinking.

wewenugu.bsky.social•7 days ago

To a Murikan, critical thought is satanic communism. Whole swathes of the country abjure it doctrinally. Mormons (nicest of dumfux) r warned not 2study rhetoric in college. Talibangelicals jus ten’ Bybul Kolej 2 lurn how 2 preech salvayshun. Poors caint go 2 hi skool!

chitraraj.bsky.social•8 days ago

Cults have no logic.
His constant lying makes people numb.
Reality show effects.
Constant though insane rallies.

bittersweetbunny24.bsky.social•8 days ago

Yes this is exactly what I see over and over. They were all willing to let other people suffer though.

pelledge.bsky.social•8 days ago

And it's largely because the media did such a poor job of covering him.

bsorohan.bsky.social•8 days ago

Cult. No other word for it.

kamauatl.bsky.social•8 days ago

Hate to break it to the Dominicans, but they’re not considered part of the “model minority” groups. Rather, they’re considered people of Trump’s list of shithole countries.

Any people of color who somehow believe they’re special in the eyes of MAGA deserve exactly what they’re going to get.

gnomeandfairy.bsky.social•8 days ago

As real as Santa…

rjripley.bsky.social•8 days ago

I think we’re in the phase of history where voters have to learn the hard way.

paulmarko.bsky.social•7 days ago

Politi-speak is ambiguous by design.

thomas-warning1.bsky.social•8 days ago

He’s blank alright.

abuasher.bsky.social•8 days ago

I think what people realized is that trumps eating character means he’s lying, yes, but only 90% of the time. Hillary and Kamala were lying 100% of the time. The working people I know through my union got all their hope into that 10%.

thecorcrowman.bsky.social•7 days ago

Yeah, no. It's the other way around.

carlita1964.bsky.social•8 days ago

NOOOOOOOOOO SYMPATHY!!!!

geneahern.bsky.social•8 days ago

The very definition of a cult leader

girlmathur.bsky.social•8 days ago

Whatever they need to tell themselves so they don’t have to vote for a woman

tofusurprise.bsky.social•8 days ago

It's clear that many Americans are blank slates. Heads full of nothing.

hantbone.bsky.social•8 days ago

How does one campaign to this?

jlg13.bsky.social•8 days ago

Billboards? You have to go around Fox to get the truth in front of those who avoid ethical media

hantbone.bsky.social•7 days ago

This info was out there. They didn’t want to hear it.

jlg13.bsky.social•7 days ago

That doesn’t mean they won’t hear it now or in a few months when it’s clear that the price of eggs is sky high, that inflation is going up, that measles is spreading, and grandma has been evicted from her nursing home when Medicaid is cut

tired203.bsky.social•8 days ago

Wow. He showed no indication of wanting to make them legal. What a funny thing to think. Through all the talk of deportations, but ya know they special.

bumper-21956.bsky.social•8 days ago

That’s Orange face’s gift to all deception beyond belief !!!

actnsang192.bsky.social•8 days ago

📌

remotelyinterested.bsky.social•7 days ago

Trump is a Rorschach test for shitty people

skepticalbrotha.bsky.social•7 days ago

I think folks are just delusional.

mseyfang.bsky.social•7 days ago

Very. How does one go from the mass deportation Trump promised to thinking he really will do a mass amnesty? It's bizarre.

reliablenarrator.bsky.social•8 days ago

Trump never would have risen to power without that. There aren't enough die hard redhats to carry the day. He needed the woefully deluded to wreak havoc.

thomas26july.bsky.social•8 days ago

Sure wish we had an opposition party who'd try to define him as something, anything, other than "not normal" bc that seems to be what ppl like about him

elpresident.bsky.social•8 days ago

It’s also clear that this shit happens when the media keeps insisting that he’s not saying what he’s saying.

liberalkmd.bsky.social•8 days ago

Exactly! The media continues to let him off the hook so ppl still have no clear idea of what’s happening

jeffg127.bsky.social•8 days ago

This! His double talk combined with every media company twisting the vague words around to their own meaning… instead of fucking pressing him with real questions! He doesn’t have the intelligence to do the job so everyone’s gotta make excuses for his entitled ass.

thewettanktops.bsky.social•8 days ago

"Take Trump seriously but not literally" - The stupidest people on planet earth

jeffg127.bsky.social•8 days ago

100%

imdoctorremulak.bsky.social•8 days ago

Excuse me, Jeff. That is called The Weave, SIR.

ebharchetype.bsky.social•8 days ago

Which leads to the next, “wait, what?!" moment of: why would you want to support someone that you have decided is going to lie about what they are going to do? Why would you want to willingly give power to someone you believe shouldn’t be taken at their word?

paganoutlaw.bsky.social•8 days ago

ConOld Plump does not know anything, and is always on the wrong side of everything, been that way since the 50's when he first started abusing small animals

interruptingsea.bsky.social•8 days ago

And that many Americans, or soon to be Americans, have comprehension issues.

jjj8819.bsky.social•8 days ago

https://petebuttigieg.bsky.social Please start a class action suit against Trump/Musk as Raskin described on Sunday. Millions are waiting for a leader and event that will bring us together in force.This would generate huge energy and could be a beginning of the end - our SOLIDARITY! Be our Lech Walesa!

sardonicsardine.bsky.social•8 days ago

To be fair, Obama was that too. Nobody gives a rat’s ass about policy, nobody knows what’s achievable, and a bunch of uneducated rubes will fall for anything.

schrodingerszombie.bsky.social•8 days ago

How many Trump supporters does it take to change a light bulb?
None, they just sit in the dark until Dear Leader tells them he fixed it. Then they notice it's still dark and blame Biden for DEI light bulbs.

mrf123450.bsky.social•8 days ago

They're not Americans though.

pucashare.bsky.social•7 days ago

HOW.

poopooturnip.bsky.social•8 days ago

That's Democratic politicians, too. Only way to participate in that fantasy

beomoose.bsky.social•8 days ago

Stems from legacy media bending over backwards to sanewash, normalize, and generally sand down everything about him

uksista66.bsky.social•8 days ago

To read that into it, given all his other statements, and context, is sad. That’s all I can muster.

stevec125.bsky.social•8 days ago

100%. He lies all the time which allows people to pick and choose what they think his policies are.

towhatend.bsky.social•8 days ago

Trump says everything while saying nothing at all. Everyone can interpret his words to fit their needs. The work of a lifetime conman.

mikesortarocks.bsky.social•8 days ago

He really is a vessel of grievances that cannot be reconciled into a coherent idea.

lucilleiii.bsky.social•8 days ago

this is a perfect description

doctorofgonzo.bsky.social•8 days ago

There is an obscure area of study called “Semiotics” that explains this.

Basically a group of people attribute meaning an a particular way that is shared and then communicated between them in that specific context.

redbeez.bsky.social•8 days ago

beachandtreesplz.bsky.social•8 days ago

💯 what we have.

fuguest8.bsky.social•8 days ago

It’s even more deluded than the intense “Barack Obama is Your New Bicycle" stanning of ’08-'09.

bobchipman.bsky.social•8 days ago

I keep being surprised BY how many people are surprised/confused by things like this; then I remember that A LOT of people still haven't accepted that a plurality of the population is, simply, too STUPID to even qualify as functionally human in the modern sense.

kernunno.bsky.social•8 days ago

Cool the liberals are doing fascism!

cwlawrence.bsky.social•8 days ago

You sure said it, account that’s less than a month old with almost 1,500 comments where you’re clearly just trying to argue with people

kernunno.bsky.social•7 days ago

I am only arguing because you are dehumanizing people.

cwlawrence.bsky.social•7 days ago

I think you’re arguing because you’re a useless shit

kernunno.bsky.social•7 days ago

Yes, you would. Liberals aren't the sort of people who are capable of taking criticism from the left. You shut down and find any thought terminating cliche you can to ignore the leftist.

eliazar-meru.bsky.social•8 days ago

The one and only thing I care to say about my godawful former job is, absolutely *nothing of what's transpired in the past 10-12 years surprises me in the slightest.

dmiyasaki.bsky.social•8 days ago

Hadn't heard it framed that way before, and it reminds me that that's exactly how many framed Obama's popularity, especially liberals describing his support from young people and the further left (which in retrospect did explain their disappointment with him).

badjohnbrown.bsky.social•7 days ago

Trump has always had a way of speaking where so much of what he says is open to interpretation. Many people end up hearing what they expect or want to hear.

jeffpeff.bsky.social•8 days ago

Trump has always been a Rorschach test. It’s a singular phenomenon in American society, and it’s fascinating(ly terrible).

itsmikeschwartz.bsky.social•8 days ago

I wonder if that applies to his detractors as well to some degree.

The ambiguity of his communication leaves everyone to translate into whatever more exact message we think we hear.

I usually assume that he's lying, he acts out of malice, and he has no compunction about either.

silversufer25.bsky.social•8 days ago

Dominicans are very strong in their convictions. Dunning-Kruger, until the reality sets in. Then they get super emotional about it!! I’m watching it in manhattan!! Families torn apart, and now ICE has carte blank in the five burrows! Adams get out of jail free card has to cost someone something??

framboyan.bsky.social•7 days ago

Trump-like political figures are a dime a dozen in the D.R. we eat it up everytime.

silversufer25.bsky.social•7 days ago

Can you please send a very hungry Dominican person!! Right away!!!

c0c0d.bsky.social•8 days ago

Yes! So does that make Trump the Stephanie Meyer (twilight author) of presidents?

urgent-penguin.bsky.social•8 days ago

Quantum Trump. You can know his position or his direction but not both and when you try to pin down one the other one changes.

iscalala.bsky.social•8 days ago

And he both means what he says and "no, that's not what he really means" at the same time.

jaramil4.bsky.social•8 days ago

I don’t get this. It’s not like he was president 20 years ago.

johnbrownsbody.bsky.social•8 days ago

https://bsky.app/profile/kevinbaker.bsky.social/post/3li5ppgb4lc25

johnbrownsbody.bsky.social•8 days ago

yes, its because he projects that he stands for something other than the status quo. it stands to reason that desperate people might pin their hopes on Trump, especially when the alternative party aggressively backs the status quo.

constancethebadger.bsky.social•8 days ago

As Maya Angelou once said, when people tell them who they are, stuck your fingers in your ears and go to your happy place.

eileenmont.bsky.social•7 days ago

Christ on a cracker!

justmelmg.bsky.social•8 days ago

Con men are good at fooling people. It’s no different than a snake oil salesman from long ago…. They all thought it would help their ailments without applying logic that it wasn’t possible. Magical thinking of the masses. It’s a cult.

wolfwraithpress.bsky.social•8 days ago

I believe a baseline reverence for capital has hijacked a lot of people's critical thinking skills. Late stage capitalism is wrapping back around to feudalism.

A serf mentality that positions the rich as unapproachable demigods, like learned helplessness.

abrxs.bsky.social•8 days ago

Jon Stewart once did an insightful bit on the appeal of Trump. Trump makes so many different claims that it allows people to pick and choose the ones that match their biases. So they fabricate this completely fictional version of Trump that appeals to them personally.

plsbehonest.bsky.social•7 days ago

https://www.tiktok.com/t/ZT2D2orbC/

theultrasecret.bsky.social•8 days ago

Trump activates a large portion of the public's primal in-group/out-group instincts, and he's always in your in-group. This generates all sorts of incoherence.

oblio.bsky.social•8 days ago

“Everything Donald Trump says is gospel. There are alway four different versions.”
- Emo Philips

stholeary.bsky.social•8 days ago

Worst part, they did so again. I wrote this on his first Inauguration day: "People didn’t vote for Donald Trump. People voted for their ideal vision of Donald Trump."
https://stholeary.blogspot.com/2017/01/confronting-malleability-of-donald-trump.html

raltieri.bsky.social•8 days ago

The benefit of lying every time you open your mouth to “win” individual interactions. I’ve been saying it, he comes across to casual observers as authentic because he’s not polished. But that just makes him blunt. It’s a category error and the media still cannot reckon with it.

freyagraceeee.bsky.social•8 days ago

https://bsky.app/profile/freyagraceeee.bsky.social/post/3li5rfaj3lk2g

aseaborne.bsky.social•8 days ago

And that voting really isn't or wasn't that big of a deal for them because nothing happened last time. They believed the lie that both the right and the far left parrot that both parties are the same. And THAT needs to be vociferously shot down every time someone says it.

msanders02.bsky.social•8 days ago

This is the power of his non-stop spouting of ridiculous nonsense. It's like a verbal Rorschach test - none of it makes sense so you can interpret it however you want

andersonic1970.bsky.social•8 days ago

Since he has no beliefs or knowledge, never tells the truth, and just says whatever spills out of his mouth, Trump is well suited for projection.

A long fall from John McCain correcting his supporters that Obama is a decent man qualified to be president. But the GOP voter base was always like this.

unclesamson.bsky.social•8 days ago

Why is it that MAGA only sees Trump's actions that reinforce what they want while ignoring all his actions that personally hurt them?

kimoco.bsky.social•8 days ago

That explains a lot, but I still think MAGA is truly cult like.

thispaulhere.bsky.social•8 days ago

Sorry to say I think Jesus probably is, too.

insortediaboli.bsky.social•8 days ago

An avatar for any insane scheme you can think of, a being of pure shapelessness

richjvann.bsky.social•8 days ago

Magic thinking. They want it so it must be true. No one who was ever cheated by a con artist realized they were being conned. Watching the commercials during Fox News is very telling - all scam products. Make Americans Gullible Airheads

teucrian.bsky.social•8 days ago

Trump’s likability, which is more attributable to friendly media outlets and decades in the public eye as a celebrity than any personal characteristic he has, creates dissonance in people. One just assumes that the guy you like also likes you!

newsenjoyer.bsky.social•8 days ago

This is his greatest power and the most frustrating thing about those who can see through him.

joulesbyrne.bsky.social•8 days ago

"I'm going to put you out of your misery."

"Hooray. He's going to increase our happiness."

markslater74.bsky.social•8 days ago

I'm not sure how you get from knowing you can't rely on anything he says to thinking that means he might in fact do just what you want.

mlbarlow.bsky.social•8 days ago

It is beyond clear that many Americans believe the reality-TV Trump of The Apprentice is the real Trump. If NBC had released outtakes in 2016, we might have avoided all this.

ninotchka9.bsky.social•8 days ago

How much of this phenomenon is curated media messaging, as in Cambridge Analytica? They’re seeing different information than we are.

tacticalmoonpie.bsky.social•8 days ago

Just like Jesus.

unawarewolf.bsky.social•8 days ago

In 1988, Graydon Carter called him a "short-fingered vulgarian." His popularity comes from his simplemindedness, perfect for political manipulation. To his ignorant followers, he’s a regular guy who made it big and shares their hatred. A media creation, his branding as fake as his perpetual tan.

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