Are Trump voters ruining America for all of us?

[Inmate Trump]

https://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/2017/04/27/trump-voters-ruining-america-tom-nichols-column/100926836/

President Trump’s record in his first 100 days, by any standard of presidential first terms, is one of failure. Aside from the successful nomination of the eminently qualified Neil Gorsuch to the Supreme Court, there are almost no accomplishments — and a fair number of mistakes.

The president’s first national security adviser had to quit after a record-setting tenure of only 24 days. The administration’s first major legislative initiative, on health care, crashed and burned in a spectacular political wreck. Foreign policy has lurched from alienating China to relying on China to help us with North Korea. A rain of cruise missiles on a Syrian air base led to a brief moment of hope for those who care about humanitarian intervention (and a moment of despair for Trump’s isolationist base); less than a month later it is all but forgotten by supporters and critics alike because no actual policy emerged from this stunning use of American force.

[balance of quote deleted by Torie as copyright violation]

[Hindsight was 2020]

That was just a depressing read JFC

[Dr. Arch]

That was just a depressing read JFC

[Santander]

Why blame the voters?

[RI]

So much presumption that "gaffes" are worth caring about to begin with.

[Grumpier Than Uncle Joe]

Yes (a ruining horrible deplorable normal)

[yankeesfan]

Why blame the voters?

Because they are ignorant and that is deplorable.

[publicunofficial]

Yes, and not just with their voting record.

[Bismarck]

I don't see how "Trump has done nothing" and "Trump is ruining America" can both be true. He's had very few accomplishments and a few missteps but how have any of your lives been impacted by his presidency? For 99.9 % of people their lives under Trump so far are the same as their lives under Obama.

[Xing]

This part really gets me:

You must be logged in to read this quote.

I've been saying for a while that this "well, if he pisses off those awful lirbuhls/SJW cucks/the big bad establishment, he must be a massive FF" is harmful. While it's understandable to want to see your "enemies" pissed off from time to time, when you believe that anything which pisses them off must be good and become extremely dogmatic about it... Well, the nicest way I can describe that is "extremely irresponsible."

[ProudModerate2]

This part really gets me:

You must be logged in to read this quote.

I've been saying for a while that this "well, if he pisses off those awful lirbuhls/SJW cucks/the big bad establishment, he must be a massive FF" is harmful. While it's understandable to see your "enemies" pissed off from time to time, when you believe that anything which pisses them off must be good and become extremely dogmatic about it... Well, the nicest way I can describe that is "extremely irresponsible."

And then they wonder why some of them are described as "deplorable".

[Dr. Arch]

Why blame the voters?

Those who voted for him put him in that position as a direct consequence of their actions. They should be adults and accept the responsibility of making a horrible choice. This fake undignified thing doesn't fly.

[Sprouts Farmers Market ✘]

Most Trump supporters are ignorant idiots but so were most Bush supporters cheering us on into a quagmire circa 2003.

Thanks Hillary! (and Biden and Edwards and Kerry and Schumer and Reid)

Why blame the voters?

Those who voted for him put him in that position as a direct consequence of their actions. They should be adults and accept the responsibility of making a horrible choice. This fake undignified thing doesn't fly.

And 98% of them or whatever still don't think it's even a remotely horrible choice! Good on them! This is better than anyone could have ever expected.

[Technocracy Timmy]

Eh I figure that a certain percentage of the country will always vote (R) no matter what.

But this western neoliberal Left that sprung up in the 90's by infusing liberal social values with soft-Reagan/soft-Thatcherite economic policies in order to target the upper class professionals who regularly vote and big money donors did create a working class vacuum that's been usurped by populist right wing movements.

So I guess it's just a waiting game to see when the Left can build a credible opposition to this. I don't see that happening until 2022/2024 in the US.

[ProudModerate2]

Eh I figure that a certain percentage of the country will always vote (R) no matter what.

But this western neoliberal Left that sprung up in the 90's by infusing liberal social values with soft-Reagan/soft-Thatcherite economic policies in order to target the upper class professionals who regularly vote and big money donors did create a working class vacuum that's been usurped by populist right wing movements.

So I guess it's just a waiting game to see when the Left can build a credible opposition to this. I don't see that happening until 2022/2024 in the US.

I know that Biden can take trump in 2020.
But will Biden run .... and will the orange-haired clown run again (I say no).

[Kingpoleon]

No. A culture of ignorance and complacency with established leaders is ruining America. The left and right have found their leaders and have found contentment with one or another. Mainstream media and extreme media has indoctrinated the masses. The ones not strictly ideological, like, say, Politico, are full of nonsensical elitism, meaningless cliches, and speculation.

[Associate Justice PiT]

Why blame the voters?

     It's easier to blame other people than to recognize where their own movement has gone wrong and driven millions into his arms.

Eh I figure that a certain percentage of the country will always vote (R) no matter what.

But this western neoliberal Left that sprung up in the 90's by infusing liberal social values with soft-Reagan/soft-Thatcherite economic policies in order to target the upper class professionals who regularly vote and big money donors did create a working class vacuum that's been usurped by populist right wing movements.

So I guess it's just a waiting game to see when the Left can build a credible opposition to this. I don't see that happening until 2022/2024 in the US.

I know that Biden can take trump in 2020.
But will Biden run .... and will the orange-haired clown run again (I say no).

     You missed his point. Trump is easy to assail on any number of issues and far from the strongest candidate to have ever run for President. The Democrats could beat him in 2020 without doing anything to respond to the fundamental disquiet that elected President Trump in the first place. Without correcting the problem that Timmy identifies, it is likely inevitable that something like this will happen again.

[Lincoln Republican]

No

[Virginiá]

    It's easier to blame other people than to recognize where their own movement has gone wrong and driven millions into his arms.

It doesn't seem fair to absolve the voters of any culpability if Trump and his brain trust do indeed end up screwing up this country, whether it is selfishly driving up the debt massively for younger generations to deal with, or starting a conflict overseas, or even just bringing a ton of shame and embarrassment to this country, which he already seems to be doing by just being himself on the world stage. I say this in part because the warning signs were all there before the election. It was obvious what kind of man Trump was and continues to be. It's not like all his shortcomings were a secret only recently revealed.

To quote the article:

You must be logged in to read this quote.

This goes beyond Democrats having an unconvincing message. Trump supporters are giving him a pass on what seems like almost everything and completely ignoring his numerous conflicts of interest and ridiculous behavior. Let's not even talk about the huge levels of double standards here. Many of same things Obama & Clinton were lambasted for are readily being accepted/forgiven by Trump supporters, or being called fake news.

No one forced them to vote for Trump. They could have not voted or voted for Johnson. If Trump does long-term harm to this country, his voters have to own up to that as well.

[pbrower2a]

Turning only three percent of Trump votes would be enough to 'turn' three states that made a difference between as split government and an excuse for the executive despotism that Donald Trump exemplifies. As an even swing that means that Trump loses Michigan, Wisconsin, and Pennsylvania at the least -- or maybe trade Florida or North Carolina for Wisconsin if Scott Walker should be able to suppress enough D votes as a good little Gauleiter.   

Are Trump voters suckers for punishment?

...and let's not forget about the Johnson and Stein voters.

There's another possibility: Donald Trump isn't a model of a Christian gentleman... maybe he could face some fundamentalist-Christian challenge that takes away some of his 2016 voters. In such a case that splits the white vote in states like Georgia, Missouri, Mississippi, and Texas...   

[Associate Justice PiT]

    It's easier to blame other people than to recognize where their own movement has gone wrong and driven millions into his arms.

It doesn't seem fair to absolve the voters of any culpability if Trump and his brain trust do indeed end up screwing up this country, whether it is selfishly driving up the debt massively for younger generations to deal with, or starting a conflict overseas, or even just bringing a ton of shame and embarrassment to this country, which he already seems to be doing by just being himself on the world stage. I say this in part because the warning signs were all there before the election. It was obvious what kind of man Trump was and continues to be. It's not like all his shortcomings were a secret only recently revealed.

To quote the article:

You must be logged in to read this quote.

This goes beyond Democrats having an unconvincing message. Trump supporters are giving him a pass on what seems like almost everything and completely ignoring his numerous conflicts of interest and ridiculous behavior. Let's not even talk about the huge levels of double standards here. Many of same things Obama & Clinton were lambasted for are readily being accepted/forgiven by Trump supporters, or being called fake news.

No one forced them to vote for Trump. They could have not voted or voted for Johnson. If Trump does long-term harm to this country, his voters have to own up to that as well.

     And people voted for Trump despite these shortcomings, for reasons that articles like this serve to reinforce. It's easy to paint the issues in a way to make it look like it is no big deal, but there were other issues on the table that Democrats simply refused to acknowledge. Michael Moore had it right: Trump was a grenade that people who were angry with the status quo could throw.

     I am probably not the best to talk about people giving him a pass, since I try to criticize him when I think he messes up and defend him if I think he is getting undeserved criticism. With that said, I could easily flip your point around and comment that Trump is getting pilloried for many of the same things that Obama did without incident. I suspect that much of what you're identifying is partisanship at work, and partisan myopia is nothing new.

[publicunofficial]

The average Trump voter is a 67 year old man who watches O'Reilly every day, resents the world for changing without his permission, and doesn't understand why his kids don't like talking to him. They are the worst.

[Hammy]

Why blame the voters?

Honestly when it comes down to it, with any lousy politician (regardless of which party) the voters hold most of the blame for putting them there in the first place.

[ProudModerate2]

Turning only three percent of Trump votes would be enough to 'turn' three states that made a difference ...

It's much less than 3%.
I think the number that has been flying around, is that if 77,000 voters (combined) in those 3 crucial states would have flipped, we would not have this 3-ring circus of a (supposed) executive branch.
Can someone confirm this, as I am not exactly sure.

[Grumpier Than Uncle Joe]

The average Trump voter is a 67 year old man who watches O'Reilly every day, resents the world for changing without his permission, and doesn't understand why his kids don't like talking to him. They are the worst.

Lots of white wimin too, bro.