I was looking through Twitter earlier. A young man, 30ish, was writing that he didn't care what Trump said on tape. He said Trump could have thirty tapes like this and he would stay with Trump. Then, he goes on to explain that Trump was for America first and that was the most important thing for this young man.
Reading this I was somewhat taken back because what Trump did was jeopardize America's strategic interests. If there was ever anything done that put America last, it was waving around classified top secret documents. There is no reasoning with Trump supporters, and similarly, at the moment they are not using their own reasoning for themselves.
5 comments:
From your post: He said Trump could..(do or say virtually anything)....and he would stay with Trump...for America first and that was the most important thing...
...READING THIS I WAS SOMEWHAT TAKEN BACK BECAUSE....(your logic and reason follows)
Sorry, but I don't think you get it. Tr**p doing-saying-being anything means nothing to the faithful. It never has and never will.
It's symbolic. Perhaps even archetypical. He taps into the primal stuff. There's nothing stronger.
So of course there's no 'reasoning', primal both transcends and supersedes reason.
But perhaps 'at the moment' they ARE using their own 'reasoning' for themselves - I think they have for 8 years now.
He's their guy - there is no one else - and that's reason enough.
We may have different ideas about what the word reasoning means. Mark I've been looking at this nonsense since 2015 like everybody else. This is simple 1 + 1 stuff. America first does not equal jeopardize America, it's simple. It may very well be that the attraction is primal and beyond logical, but all I'm saying is there is no logical reasoning involved. We can't cover everything with our words. We tackle bits and pieces and that's as good as it gets for anyone. Everything is incomplete, everything is in flux, and everything is changing constantly, and that's one thing you can take to the bank.
Like you, my mind boggles, my jaw drops, my eyes roll, my head shakes constantly since 2015. We should demand adult behavior, logic, compassion, thoughtfulness - or at least to keep our worst instincts in check. But since the opposite is our current default and showing no sign of abating, the thing that helps me is empathy. I do believe - perhaps naively - we are all 99.9% the same. It so happens that .1% disparity is enough to be devastating. I share your view that 'America first does not equal jeopardize America'. I call it more than our view, but rather our reality. The problem is realities are merely perception and our current clashing realities threaten everything. I believe - perhaps foolishly - that better angels will prevail.
That's probably a good thought to hold, and it's good to want people to not experience suffering, that's the definition of compassion. In one sense we experience two realities, the world as it is, and the world that could be. It's okay to hold both. One thing that is interesting about the young man's comment, that Trump was about America First, is that Trump was about his America first, not my America first and likely not yours either. Trump's America first is authoritarian, trickle up economy, repressing people of color, ending gay rights, removing all kinds of protections, eliminating democracy, ending free elections. We can be empathetic here, but it's not going to stop the tanks from rolling over you or me.
Agreed that empathy won’t protects us from the outside world, but it does enrich our inner world.
Also agree that the young man’s America first is not the same as ours. But I go so far as to say, it’s also not his.
It connects with the Edsall article you posted today from the Times describes the “blue lies theory”. And reinforces my belief that primal needs for safety take precedence over logical reasoning, truth, “reality”, acting for the greater good, and anything else you can think of.
Watch out for tanks.
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