Majority of GOPers agree with TRUMP: Obama is an ISIS sympathizer

[Fuzzy Bear]

What a disgrace. The level of hatred for this president is unpresented. So sad.

I will agree that this is true, and that it is, indeed, racism that drives this.  We really have gotten to the place where many conservatives believe in Alex Jones-ian alternative universes.

Something happened to me yesterday that really shook me.  I was in church (an extremely conservative denomination, to be sure) and I was talking to a friend (whom I think highly of), who, quite casually, began talking how Obama and "the Government" are buying up closed Walmart stores and converting them into "concentration camps".  He stated that folks meet high resistance when they poke around at these "facilities".  In the midst of our conversation, another friend (whom I also think highly of) heard what he was talking about and calmly agreed.  

Neither one of these guys are idiots.  One is a native Southerner, but the other is a New Jersey native, so this is not a regional thing.  I'm sure they both believe Obama's a Muslim; that seems to be a rather tame belief nowadays, compared to things like this.  But the degree to which folks are willing to believe in alternate universes uncritically, without any kind of examination for factuality, is getting frightening.  Liberals do a degree of this as well, but, honestly, they've got nothing on these folks.  

So I confess my dilemma on Trump.  On a checklist of issues (trade, interventionism, entangling alliances, immigration) I agree with him, moreso than with any other candidate of either party.  On the other hand, Trump's contribution to the "birther" movement has never been a strong point with me, and at some point, I'd like the candidate of my choice to stop going over the top with rhetoric.  I believe that Donald Trump is a rational man, and I believe that he does what he does to maintain support; if he had run a "normal" campaign, he'd have been lost in the crowd.  But I'd like a modicum of wonkishness and "Presidentiality" in my chosen candidate, and while I'd vote for Trump today if the election were now, I wouldn't ask anyone else to at this point.

[Fuzzy Bear]

Obama doesn't "sympathize" with the terrorist, but he is rhetorically soft on those Muslims that do.  

I recognize that Obama "grew up Muslim" to a point; he was raised in an Islamic culture while in Indonesia, and he has Muslim family and friends.  I don't believe he is a Muslim.  I believe he's a loosely affiliated ecumenical Christian (who needs some serious time in Sunday School, IMO).  I do believe that he has some personal issue with calling out Radical Islamic Jihadist Terrorists by name.  Why this is the case is baffling.  Perhaps there is some strategic aspect to it.  More than likely, I believe that he does not want to offend Muslims, and, specifically, Muslims around the world that he may be acquainted with personally.  I can understand this to a point.  I do believe, however, that such considerations are secondary to reassuring Americans that he really is on their side.  It's not fair that there is this alternative universe where folks choose their facts as well as their opinions, but it's a condition of the time.  Obama's response to the times ought to be to reassure Americans who doubt before avoiding offending foreigners.

[Fuzzy Bear]

What a disgrace. The level of hatred for this president is unpresented. So sad.

I will agree that this is true, and that it is, indeed, racism that drives this.  We really have gotten to the place where many conservatives believe in Alex Jones-ian alternative universes.

Something happened to me yesterday that really shook me.  I was in church (an extremely conservative denomination, to be sure) and I was talking to a friend (whom I think highly of), who, quite casually, began talking how Obama and "the Government" are buying up closed Walmart stores and converting them into "concentration camps".  He stated that folks meet high resistance when they poke around at these "facilities".  In the midst of our conversation, another friend (whom I also think highly of) heard what he was talking about and calmly agreed.  

Neither one of these guys are idiots.  One is a native Southerner, but the other is a New Jersey native, so this is not a regional thing.  I'm sure they both believe Obama's a Muslim; that seems to be a rather tame belief nowadays, compared to things like this.  But the degree to which folks are willing to believe in alternate universes uncritically, without any kind of examination for factuality, is getting frightening.  Liberals do a degree of this as well, but, honestly, they've got nothing on these folks.  

So I confess my dilemma on Trump.  On a checklist of issues (trade, interventionism, entangling alliances, immigration) I agree with him, moreso than with any other candidate of either party.  On the other hand, Trump's contribution to the "birther" movement has never been a strong point with me, and at some point, I'd like the candidate of my choice to stop going over the top with rhetoric.  I believe that Donald Trump is a rational man, and I believe that he does what he does to maintain support; if he had run a "normal" campaign, he'd have been lost in the crowd.  But I'd like a modicum of wonkishness and "Presidentiality" in my chosen candidate, and while I'd vote for Trump today if the election were now, I wouldn't ask anyone else to at this point.

Wow.
You have some very strange people who attend your church.
Did he say what these Walmart-converted-concentration-camps were for ?
Are they supposedly in operation now, meaning that they are operating and holding people in them today ?
Who is the Gov/Obama putting in these camps (who is targeted) ?

What a very, very strange story.
Something like this would make my head spin for days.

The guy said he got this information "on the internet".  I would never access such a site; who knows what viruses my computer would acquire if I did.  But I'm sure this stuff is out there.

[Fuzzy Bear]

Obama doesn't "sympathize" with the terrorist, but he is rhetorically soft on those Muslims that do.  

I recognize that Obama "grew up Muslim" to a point; he was raised in an Islamic culture while in Indonesia, and he has Muslim family and friends.  I don't believe he is a Muslim.  I believe he's a loosely affiliated ecumenical Christian (who needs some serious time in Sunday School, IMO).  I do believe that he has some personal issue with calling out Radical Islamic Jihadist Terrorists by name.  Why this is the case is baffling.  Perhaps there is some strategic aspect to it.  More than likely, I believe that he does not want to offend Muslims, and, specifically, Muslims around the world that he may be acquainted with personally.  I can understand this to a point.  I do believe, however, that such considerations are secondary to reassuring Americans that he really is on their side.  It's not fair that there is this alternative universe where folks choose their facts as well as their opinions, but it's a condition of the time.  Obama's response to the times ought to be to reassure Americans who doubt before avoiding offending foreigners.

FB, it is much much more a point, which he has made clear many times, of not making this a "War against Islam" and thus making anti-Americanism a greater recruitment tool for ISIS. It's hardly accurate to associate Islam with ISIS anymore than it would be to associate Christianity with the KKK.

The "Radical Islamic Terrorism" catchphrase may play well to the American electorate as meaning "We mean only "radical terrorists" and of course realize that not many/most/all Muslims (depending on which Republican is saying it) support such atrocities." However, the vast majority of the Muslim world wouldn't hear the nuance vs. an attack on Islam in general.

And let's be frank: Whether taking quotes from FB's church members, the posts of many on this board, and the unfiltered thoughts of many politicians like Trump caught on camera demonstrate in their minds this really IS to large degree a war on what they view as a false religion.

There are a lot of false religions (in the eyes of Christians) that Christians do not view themselves as being "at war with".  Hinduism would be an example of a false religion in the eyes of a Christian that Christians do not view themselves as being at war with. 

Islam is different, in that (A) Jihadist violence has been committed in the name of Islam, and (B) the actions are those of folks who are acting in accordance with the Quran.  There are many who have committed violence in the name of Christianity, but these are apostates; their actions are clearly not justified in Scripture.  Whether violent Jihadists are Islamic Zealots or Islamic Apostates is a legitimate question, but there is certainly evidence to suggest that the Quran sanctions Jihadist violence.  I will agree that this is not most individual Muslims in the world, but the Muslim world is what it is, and its treatment of women, religious minorities, and unbelievers is what it is as well, and what it is is something other than a liberal concept of tolerance.

The standard of Christian conduct is laid out in the New Testament.  "Insofar as it is possible within you, live peaceably with all men."  It is possible for Christians to live peaceably with most Muslims, and most Muslims in America.  That fact does not change the fact that there comes a day when it is NOT possible, insofar as it is possible with individual Christians, to live peaceably with radical Jihadists.  9/11/01 was such a day.  I understand that much of the Muslim world may not accept the nuances that differentiate your Muslim cardiologist or merchant with an al-Queda operative or an ISIS cell member.  Given our experiences in the West, however, I don't think it's too much to ask Muslims to understand the nuances here.

[Fuzzy Bear]

I will agree that this is true, and that it is, indeed, racism that drives this.  We really have gotten to the place where many conservatives believe in Alex Jones-ian alternative universes.

Politicians on both sides of the aisle really need to start sticking up for each other when it comes to these batsh**t crazy conspiracies and insults. Partisanship is getting insanely bad in this country and it's really not healthy for the general well-being of our society. It's one thing to disagree on policy and perhaps some behavior, but to allow these conspiracy theories to proliferate, or worse, even encouraging it is just downright disrespectful and counterproductive. Say what you will about Obama, but he's not a bad president overall and he doesn't deserve this.

Simply put, politicians, imo, have a responsibility to stamp out this bs when it pops up. We need to have some decency, if nothing else

I'll agree to the highlighted parts.

It's not impossible that I'll somehow end up voting for Hillary.  Nothing, however, will make me think she's anything but a piece of crap.