In his diary For Trump supporters,'the cruelty is the point': Adam Serwer for The Atlantic, Dartagnan wrote:
For some of us with a more cynical bent, the Trump administration has brought out what we always suspected to be the true character of many of our fellow countrymen. It is the same type of character that turned a blind eye towards slavery, the same type of character that ignored, or worse, romanticized, the genocide of Native Americans, and yes, the the same type of character that, on another continent, took mute satisfaction in seeing those railcars transporting “undesirables” to camps somewhere far away to the East.
I would not call it cynical bent, more a realistic bent. For reasons detailed below, I thought the overwhelming majority of conservatives are hypocritical, vile, and stupid for 20 years, but found many Democrats disagreed strongly even on dkos. This is a subject that made me feel like a manic street preacher for many many years. I think that the majority of moderate and liberal Americans have confused the myth of America with the reality of America and until Trump came around, dismissed any signs of the real nature of conservative America as fringe behaviour.
I first confronted conservative America when, while seeking out on-line science forums during my studies, I got to debate creationists 20 years ago. The three traits I mentioned above stood out instantly. The hypocrisy: they were super-focused on the literal truth of the creation story but ignored several Old Testament commandments and everything in the New Testament regarding Christ-like behaviour; they railed against the supposed immorality of secular people, while blaming the victims of their criminal leaders and making up revolting excuses for the horrible genocidal massacres and barbaric rules on women, children & slaves in Old Testament stories; and last but not least, they often times displayed obvious suppressed excitement about the “sins” (especially sexual sins) they rail against. The vileness: the fire-and-brimstone ranting against atheists, scientists, gays, liberals and just about anyone not a WASP man; immediate denials of their own bad behaviour; total insensitivity to people living through or recalling personal tragedies. The stupidity: not just the kindergarden-level scientific illiteracy but the horrible grammar and spelling, the inability to follow the most basic logical arguments, the naive trust in crooked leaders.
It was quite clear to me back then that these people weren’t members of a loud fringe minority, but representative of a large part of the population. First, because it was clear that they all came from communities where everyone thought like them and they had little or no experience talking to normal people. Second, I saw polls that showed 40-45% of the American population fully subscribed to the basic tenets of (Young Earth) creationism. And the majority of those people make up the most ardent part of the conservative base in every political hot-button issue.
I want to extra emphasize the stupidity because in its level and nature, this is a specifically American problem. There is a reason the US originated — and is still the most fertile ground for — con-men like for-profit churches, televangelists, MLM companies, fraudulent telemarketers, self-help gurus and email scammers. The reason is a large population susceptible to their methods, and stupid enough to stick with the con-man even after the first obvious signs of the fraud. (This isn’t simply the sunk cost fallacy, where they think they invested too much to pull out now, but a very stupid sense of pride where admitting a mistake is worse than continuing the mistake.) Conservative US politicians have copied scam artist methods since the 19th century, Trump (who was a total conman as businessman) only showed that the stupid base is so stupid that they fall even for the most obvious third-rate con.
The hypocritical, vile and stupid conservative base mostly shows its true face only when triggered. But it was pretty much on full display for an extended period of time during the Iraq War, when every critic was denigrated and dismissed. Some moderates overlooked that because they themselves were swept up in the post-9/11 wave of patriotism/nationalism. Others thought that they are hearing a loud minority, and were overly optimistic when seeing Bush’s sinking popularity. But even the latter should have been disabused of their delusion when Bush was re-elected in spite of the disastrous war and several corruption and mismanagement scandals.
Then came Obama. I doubt many will like to hear this, but his Hope gave me despair. I think Obama won the nomination and the election because he represented the hope of a majority that the divisions and the depravity of the Bush regime can be put to rest if only the figurehead is replaced, and we can “return” to an era of all Americans working for the good of the country. Which ignored that by then the Republican Party was thoroughly rotten, a gang of cynical and vile and corrupt people 100% complicit in all the crimes of the Bush regime, with no partners for a bipartisan improvement of the country. (Actually I don’t think bipartisanship was ever as positive as some remember it. Some of it was bad deals, getting a million-dollar welfare program for a billion-dollar tax cut. And some of it was support for all the bad stuff, as provided by the Reagan Democrats and later the Blue Dogs.) Even with a chief of staff from the right edge of the Democratic Party (Rahm Emanuel) and a national healthcare plan modelled on the plan of a Republican governor (Mitt Romney), Obama was mercilessly attacked as a left-wing extremist and sabotaged at every turn, while Bush’s recession was blamed on him.
Still, even after Trump’s election, many people told me that the real problem is Trump, and his base shouldn’t be blamed as they were just deceived. Others put their hopes in the Republicans who did not vote for and disliked Trump in the primary, ignoring how quickly and opportunistically conservatives change their opinions. It does not matter that only half of conservatives are enthusiastic about Trump if they support his policies and vote for Republican candidates no matter what. And any Republican politician appearing to stand up to Trump was instantly celebrated as a hero, only to kill those hopes later (think of McCain’s vote for the confirmation of worst Trump nominees, the tax cuts and the Obamacare individual mandate repeal, or Lindsay Graham’s voting record and recent outbursts).
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Hopefully, after the Obamacare repeal fail, Charlottesville, Roy Moore, the children in cages, and now the Kavanaugh confirmation, the majority of liberals and Democrats will finally recognise the conservative base as a much larger problem than Trump, and a much wider group than the MAGA-hat-wearing morons showing up at Trump rallies. One for which the term “Deplorables” is too kind. One that can’t be changed on the short run, only contained by voting in higher numbers. Not just in 2018 and 2020, but for two decades straight. With candidates and policies that can maintain voter enthusiasm. Even if their rage spawns a hundred Tim McVeighs.
