2024.10.05 Trumping Thought: Candidate Of The Hatefully Stupid
A nihilistic commentary I've seen a few times describes the evolution of the Republican party as naturally leveraging hatred and fear, and fostering that by undermining reason.
So that when Trump snuck up behind the Grand Old Party, in a way that they openly mocked and disregarded, they were woefully unprepared for just how successful they had been at stoking the fires of fear and hatred. Moreover, they did not really believe how hungry stupid and uneducated people were for somebody they could feel represented by.
Tangent: the Tea Party movement should have been a warning sign. Alas.
The highly polarized political situation in the US is capable of turning anyone into an emotion-motivated supporter of the party they identify with. But, with candor, this excuse only covers so much.
After all this time, including all Trump's rollicking efforts at unabashed self-aggrandizing striving for dictatorship, and listening to the words the candidates actually say, a few things are clear.
- Trump voters are fear-driven, or willing to be complicit in letting fear drive the electorate.
- Trump voters are hate-filled, or perfectly fine with hate being instilled as a functional law of the land.
- Trump voters are stupid, including both those incapable of understanding how bad Trump's ideas are, and those foolish enough to think that those bad ideas will work out well for them.