I don't think people have calmed from what I read in the news, but my news is curated, as is everyone's, and some of my sites are going to be focused on the worst examples of people being outraged at Trump. (A few of my sites mention politics very little or not at all.) I won't likely notice any change there.
But I was at work last week, back among my liberals. I am always wary that I will encounter a situation where I will have to make an effort to not be irritated, and choose whether I should say something in pushback or let it ride. I was also at a work Christmas party with a similar crowd. It's a small sample size, but I think the tone was different. There was Trump criticism, usually sly, but it was humorous. Punchlines without full jokes attached. "Well, I'll bet they're wondering the same thing in the White House this week!" The references to fake news were not political, but an appropriation of the current popular term as a general equivalent to something that turned out not to be true. One was a weather prediction that didn't pan out, for example. People laughed.
Angrier, tight-lipped, or fearful comments were absent, where they had been numerous before. There was still disdain for Trump, and according to the usual stereotype that he is boorish, stupid, corrupt, criminal - but it was lighter. Well, it's a small sample size, but I would like to think that however much they don't like him they are dimly seeing that the worst predictions have not come true. If he is reelected, I think these folks will be disappointed but less enraged, less certain we are about to have a land war in Asia or that they are going to lose their jobs for saying the wrong things.
That would hardly be a bad thing, even if they would never vote for him and might still send money to any of his opponents. Making fun of the president is an American tradition which combines elements of health and sickness.
It might just be because it's Christmas. It might be because he has been impeached and they think maybe they will be seeing his destruction soon. Or at least, that he got some sort of "stain" or comeuppance and they are satisfied. The pathological ones are not sated, but inflamed by the taste of blood, but perhaps those are only the ones who are skilled at getting themselves into the news. It might be because few can sustain outrage for very long, though they might remain at a simmer only to become reactivated this summer and autumn.
I would be interested if any of you are seeing something similar. Or not.
I think impeachment has changed the tone though for a different reason. I remember early on the uncertainty of the GOPe and the Republican rank and file about Trump producing speculation among liberals/moderate Republicans I know that he'd be isolated to the point of being primaried out of the 2020 election. The defense he got from the House Republicans, and Cocaine Mitch, and the rallies held as the Democrats were voting to impeach have, I think, disabused people of that notion. I've seen more and more references to 'Trump has taken over the Republican Party'. The target is now shifting from head on against Trump to his supporters. The thrust of Mayor Pete's "Mary and Joseph were migrants, and Jesus was their anchor baby" Christmas Day tweet was shaming Trump supporters. "I'm in the way" is going to take on more importance in 2020.
ReplyDeleteWe've been out to several parties and I'm seeing what you saw. In those that once hated and despised the disdain is still there but the visceral hate seems to have waned. It could be that there is nobody to leap in and agree with the unhappy speaker where in the old days a roomful would chime in with similar unpleasantness. It might slowly be working its sly way through their minds that perhaps he is all things they despise but otherwise things seem to be going very well or well enough.
ReplyDeleteI haven't seen enough to say one way or the other, but possibly the impeachment was enough to save face with a "victory."
ReplyDelete". The thrust of Mayor Pete's "Mary and Joseph were migrants, and Jesus was their anchor baby" Christmas Day tweet was shaming Trump supporters." Except, of course, that there was no such thing as an "anchor baby" back then.
ReplyDeleteI'm thinking back to President Obama's re-election. I felt sure for a long time that people were seeing through him and would demand a change. I was rather bitterly unhappy at how untrue that turned out to be. Now, I didn't start posting pictures of someone holding his bleeding decapitated head, so people around me who weren't accustomed to discussing politics may have thought I was calmer and more resigned to him because I'd had a chance to see that my worst fears weren't coming true. In fact, many of my worst fears had been surpassed, and I was as angry at voters as at his administration.
ReplyDelete