Trump supporter says the silent part out loud: Trump should be hurting people Trump supporters hate, not them

[bshole]

Do you all remember how we were told (unsurprisingly from other Trumpanzees and a small portion of ‘bleeding heart’ libs here) that Trumpanzees were suffering from “economic anxiety,” that they were just misunderstood, upstanding Christians and that Trump was going to be a great guy if we gave him enough time? Laughable.

I don’t want to seem like I’m gloating, but I’ll repeat what I said years ago: his policies don’t stand up to even the least bit of scrutiny, his base is mostly made up of unhinged, uneducated xenophobes and bigots (whilst the rest are 1%ers purely driven to vote for him for their own interests) and you cannot possibly have a rationale for voting for Trump over Hilary unless you are naive and fall to being easily duped by snake oil salesmen.

I’m still waiting to be proven wrong now that those talking points have faded into obscurity.

Trumps support has stayed steady at 40% throughout his presidency. Do you really believe that the 40% of Americans who don't share your political ideology are stupid, evil or insane? I certainly do not. I have met many kind, decent and productive conservatives, libertarians, liberals and moderates in my lifetime. I have also met many absolutely awful people in each of those categories. Some of the best people I have met did not care much about politics at all.

I would recommend you read The Hidden Tribes report which I found extremely relevant and enlightening on the growing partisan divide (also look into Pr Haidt's work). We all live in our own bubbles, I believe we make a mistake when we assign bad/evil motives to those in different bubbles and attack them rather than engaging and refuting their ideas. The reason I believe this is that history seems to indicate when people are attacked instead of ideas, those with power tend to win rather than good ideas. I concede that I am shaky on this conviction due to the fact that Hitler was beaten by power and not good ideas. On my side of the argument, China turned from communism to capitalism due to ideas rather than power.

From Hidden Tribes:

Our research concludes that we have become a set of tribes, with different codes, values, and even facts. In our public debates, it seems that we no longer just disagree. We reject each other’s premises and doubt each other’s motives. We question each other’s character. We block our ears to diverse perspectives. At home, polarization is souring personal relationships, ruining Thanksgiving dinners, and driving families apart.

We are experiencing these divisions in our workplaces, neighborhood groups, even our places of worship. In the media, pundits score points, mock opponents, and talk over each other. On the Internet, social media has become a hotbed of outrage, takedowns, and cruelty—often targeting total strangers.

But this can change. A majority of Americans, whom we’ve called the "Exhausted Majority," are fed up by America’s polarization. They know we have more in common than that which divides us: our belief in freedom, equality, and the pursuit of the American dream. They share a deep sense of gratitude that they are citizens of the United States. They want to move past our differences.

Turning the tide of tribalism is possible―but it won’t be easy. Americans have real differences and real disagreements with each other. We must be able to listen to each other to understand those differences and find common ground. That’s the focus of the Hidden Tribes project: to understand better what is pulling us apart, and find what can bring us back together.

https://hiddentribes.us/

Honest question. Do you think America should try to stay together or should it be split? Are the stories that we tell ourselves and the history/symbols that we revere so different now that we cannot unite as a single country anymore? If you believe that we should split, what does that do to the argument that diversity is our strength? Haidt's research indicates that diversity can and often does lead to social discord (sometimes violent) unless strong symbols/ideas are instantiated under which the entire population can unite.

There is an argument to be made that America's best years are in the past. The middle class became a minority for the first time in my lifetime in 2014, our gdp to debt ratio is nearing WWII levels, scientific innovation is being ceded to Asia at an alarming rate, manufacturing power no longer resides in America, suicide rates are skyrocketing to uncharted levels among young people especially girls, crony global capitalism has replaced the free market, life expectancy has fallen for the first time in decades, if unchecked medical care will become too expensive for the middle class in a few decades, it is undisputed that the next generation of children will do less well than my generation, home ownership is falling among the younger generation as is the ability to start families. In just about every meaningful category, America's future looks far far more bleak than its past. This portends a future where those living under the poverty level will continue to grow as a percentage of the total population. I believe most people would concede these threats to the American people, it would be great if we could agree on how to solve them. If these problems are insoluble by any method, then I suppose it doesn't matter much and we are just fucked.