We don’t all have a lot of opportunities to interact with Trump voters. It seems like most of these encounters are probably us listing facts and being met with a denial of those facts. But the sad reality is that no number of ‘gotcha’ questions or reality bombs are likely to convert someone who made the decision to vote for Trump in November.
But we can still ask a question that will help move the country in a better direction. In these still early stages of his Presidency there is one question that must be asked:
If there comes a time when you think President Trump is doing a bad job as President, will you reconsider the political figures and news sources that convinced you he would do a good job? At a minimum, take note that they got it wrong and might be wrong about other things?
It is virtually impossible to change people’s minds using facts and analysis. Not that we should stop trying. But, at the same time we provide a link to that nytimes story refuting some preposterous claim, we can also try to secure maximum political benefit for when people change of their own accord.
What do we know:
1. Trump is wildly incompetent and unqualified to be President of the United States
2. Trump is personally toxic and shifts blame to those around him
3. It will be very difficult to hide this incompetence as he runs the country into the ground
4. Many people who voted for Trump will come to ‘disapprove’ of the job he is doing as President
We saw that with President Bush — a man who was impressively more prepared to be President than Trump. Ultimately his incompetence caused him to have one of the lowest approval ratings in history. And, the result was a sweeping realization that Republican political figures, news sources and political ideology should not be trusted. Just kidding, instead a chunk of people who voted for Bush simply denied having voted for him. The human mind will fabricate whatever reality it needs to justify our actions.
So while it is politically satisfying to see President Trump’s approval numbers so low (as it provides some hope for our country’s political future even while we are terrified of our country’s present), the terrifying reality is that even if he is impeached in disgrace it likely would do nothing to change the political structure that permitted him to be elected.
The excuses will start rolling out: we couldn’t have known, he fooled everyone, Hillary still would have been worse, some other garbage that makes no sense but absolves them of any critical thinking.
We can head off some of this excuse making by trying to connect, in people’s minds, voting for trump and the right-wing propaganda machine that made that vote seem like a viable option.
This means asking the question above, or some version of it. Lock them in:
If, and I know it’s a big if, but bare with me, if you come to a point that you think Trump is a horrible President, and was a poor choice, will you keep in mind that he was supported by the Republican establishment. That his candidacy was bolstered by Fox News and Drudge Report and other conservative media. That ultimately Ted Cruz, John McCain, Paul Ryan and (fill in local politician) all supported and voted for him?
And you would agree that understanding these issues is these peoples’ jobs? They have their full attention on these issues. They met Trump, they knew him and his policies. You and I have jobs, we work doing (jobs) — so we have to have some trust in these figures for our information. They said that if you’re a republican you should vote for Trump.
So all I’m asking is that if there comes a point when you see President Trump as a poor choice, that you think about the entire political establishment that brought him to this point and told *you* to vote for him. And maybe, just maybe, you question those guys too.
Even reaching 10% of Trump voters would have a lasting impact on the political landscape. We can try to make sure they blame the entire conservative machine for ‘tricking’ them into voting for this buffoon.
There are a lot of fights being fought at the same time. Lives are literally on the line in pushing back against President Trump’s agenda. But if this country is going to recover we will need to push back against the propaganda machine that has been built by the right-wing.
Trump’s overwhelming incompetence is one way to push back against that machine — but only if we start locking that in now.