I have been trying to avoid current events, and especially Trump events in my reading lately, focusing on more 30,000-ft and long-term analysis. Really, it's what we all should be doing most of the time. While there are actions with long-term consequences happening in real time before our eyes - SCOTUS nominees and decisions come to mind - most of what we are getting exercised about now will recede. Trends in technology, demography, and philosophy will have greater importance, while we were chasing squirrels.
I find I cannot easily get away. I keep coming back to the Tim Tebow Effect, but let me tie it directly to Trump. We have a large number of Trump haters, The Resistance*, who believe that no one is listening to them when they tell us how terrible Trump is and how can we not see it; we have another large number of Trump supporters who believe that no one is listening to them, because things are going great yet he is still criticised. There are conservatives who disapprove of Trump who believe they are not being listened to. There are liberals who believe they can work with anyone and strike bargains who believe they are not being listened to. My own group is "there's plenty to dislike about Trump without having to make stuff up, but the more you make stuff up the more I am determined to discredit everything you say." I feel like no one is listening to that POV.
Except that's pretty much the view of National Review Online, which is still a major player among conservatives. Plenty of folks at other sites I frequent would say the same. So I really don't need to pound the table insisting that everyone just listen to my few simple sentences about Trump.
*Every time I see someone referring to themselves that way it irritates me. Wearing the clothing of the actually brave, with no courage of their own, like children dressing up.
Amen, brother.
ReplyDeleteI gave up on NRO when they went NEVER TRUMP. Pro-Hillary (it's either/or, NRO!), effectively turned me off, Off, OFF. (!!!!!11111!!!!!!)
ReplyDeleteI am enjoying the battle enormously. I would enjoy it more if the top 50 people in the FBI and DOJ and NSA were promptly fired and then investigated by outside agencies. Meanwhile, I enjoy watching Trump live rent free in the heads of people who know only mindless hatred (left and right). I simply look at accomplishments and pay absolutely no attention whatsoever to what anybody says about the man. What has he accomplished? I'm satisfied to date. Mind you, my campaign sign in my yard back then was SMOD and in tiny letters under that it said, ....or Trump. Mind you, here in Shaker Heights my campaign sign was a 3"x 5" index card propped up on one of those little metal stakes one uses to hold up tall but weak in the stem flowers. Anyone could stop and read it since it was by the sidewalk. Every other campaign sign in this town was for that arch criminal and fiend Clinton.*
ReplyDelete*just speaking as a former Top Secret Custodian and Communication Security Manager for 30 years who is very familiar with the law on espionage and classified material handling .
I've just blocked the feed of a neighbor who lost what little control she had left and starting posting things every few hours beginning with statements like, "I'm going to summarize this linked article for you TrumpTards, because none of you apparently can read." The thrust of most of her recent posts has been, "Why can't you see he's Satan?" All I'm really getting from her efforts is the determination not to waste another minute of my life reading her views on anything. If her aim was to bring to my attention legitimate flaws in our President's behavior that I might somehow have remained blind to, she missed her chance.
ReplyDeleteThe Nike thing blew up more loudly than I would have expected. There's been a steady stream of Trump nonsense on Facebook in my little county, but suddenly it was every 30 minutes, and really unhinged. Did this boycott sting more than most? I don't really see why this was such a flashpoint. It's not news that boycotts work both ways, but somehow this one garnered more attention. A Nike PR machine perhaps? I really don't know. I assume that FB onslaughts are at least somewhat organized, but there's a lot of grassroots passion as well.