How Half Of America Lost Its F**king Mind

[Saunders]

I'm going to explain the Donald Trump phenomenon in three movies. And then some text.

There's this universal shorthand that epic adventure movies use to tell the good guys from the bad. The good guys are simple folk from the countryside ...

... while the bad guys are decadent a$$hole$ who live in the city and wear stupid clothes:

In Star Wars, Luke is a farm boy ...

... while the bad guys live in a shiny space station:

In Braveheart, the main character (Dennis Braveheart) is a simple farmer ...

... and the dastardly Prince Shithead lives in a luxurious castle and wears fancy, foppish clothes:

The theme expresses itself in several ways -- primitive vs. advanced, tough vs. delicate, masculine vs. feminine, poor vs. rich, pure vs. decadent, traditional vs. weird. All of it is code for rural vs. urban. That tense divide between the two doesn't exist because of these movies, obviously. These movies used it as shorthand because the divide already existed.

We country folk are programmed to hate the prissy elites. That brings us to Trump.

http://www.cracked.com/blog/6-reasons-trumps-rise-that-no-one-talks-about/

 

[BigRedBuster]

I would correct one thing.

 

Over half has lost their F***ing mind.

[knapplc]

That's a really interesting read.

 

But it badly glosses over the reality of what Trump is. "Brick through the window" of the "elite" is fun to write, and painting all small-town Americans as aggrieved Luke Skywalker heroes is appealing to those rural folks who want to be justified in their beliefs, but the problem with this entire article is that it paints Trump as The Solution.

 

Trump is hardly the only Republican running on a platform appealing to the people he's talking about here. There were less objectionable candidates like Kasich, Rubio - hell, even Ted Cruz is less objectionable (marginally). It wasn't "Trump or Hillary," it was literally:

 

Trump

Perry

Cruz

Bush

Carson

Christie

Paul

Huckabee

 

All of whom, in some form or fashion, promised that "brick through the window." The downtrodden small-towners of America could very easily have chosen someone less misogynistic (Perry) or someone less vulgar (Huckabee) or someone less polarizing (Bush) or someone less ignorant (Paul).

 

The fact that they actively chose this person speaks less of their plight and more of their biases. The distinguishing factor between Trump and the Republican field is Trump's willingness to dive head first into the barrel of sh#t at the bottom of the American psyche.

 

One cannot simply say, "Rural America is downtrodden, therefore: Trump."

 

That's not why he's where he is today. And Trump is not, in any way, the result of Urban America's elitism.

[zoogs]

Optimates vs Populares

[Count 'Bility]

As a Trump guy that is becoming more and more conflicted as the election nears, i didnt get it from this as painting Trump as the solution. yeah, we trump ppl paint him as such, but this write up is more about explaining why it's felt that way. i thought it was real interesting. It does explain exactly why Trump folks want Trump so bad. Same here. Looking past all the bs to what he appears to stand for. not a career politician. Already has all the money so he really cant be bought off. Brute honesty of what's on his mind and so on and so on. He would be the ultimate shock to a system that folks are tired of.

[BigRedBuster]

Last time I checked, Trump wasn't holding rallies in small towns. Just looking at his schedule, it's major cities in areas like Florida and Ohio.

 

These people who support him are coming out of the woodwork in big cities.

[BigRedBuster]

As a Trump guy that is becoming more and more conflicted as the election nears, i didnt get it from this as painting Trump as the solution. yeah, we trump ppl paint him as such, but this write up is more about explaining why it's felt that way. i thought it was real interesting. It does explain exactly why Trump folks want Trump so bad. Same here. Looking past all the bs to what he appears to stand for. not a career politician. Already has all the money so he really cant be bought off. Brute honesty of what's on his mind and so on and so on. He would be the ultimate shock to a system that folks are tired of.

I wish the bolded were actually true.

[Count 'Bility]

 

As a Trump guy that is becoming more and more conflicted as the election nears, i didnt get it from this as painting Trump as the solution. yeah, we trump ppl paint him as such, but this write up is more about explaining why it's felt that way. i thought it was real interesting. It does explain exactly why Trump folks want Trump so bad. Same here. Looking past all the bs to what he appears to stand for. not a career politician. Already has all the money so he really cant be bought off. Brute honesty of what's on his mind and so on and so on. He would be the ultimate shock to a system that folks are tired of.

I wish the bolded were actually true.

 

not literally brute honesty. But the idea of saying whats on your mind and not worrying about who you offend. i know he's misled on facts. but the fact he says whatever he wants without worrying about who's feelings he hurts, well, that's appealing to some folks.

[BigRedBuster]

 

 

As a Trump guy that is becoming more and more conflicted as the election nears, i didnt get it from this as painting Trump as the solution. yeah, we trump ppl paint him as such, but this write up is more about explaining why it's felt that way. i thought it was real interesting. It does explain exactly why Trump folks want Trump so bad. Same here. Looking past all the bs to what he appears to stand for. not a career politician. Already has all the money so he really cant be bought off. Brute honesty of what's on his mind and so on and so on. He would be the ultimate shock to a system that folks are tired of.

I wish the bolded were actually true.

 

not literally brute honesty. But the idea of saying whats on your mind and not worrying about who you offend. i know he's misled on facts. but the fact he says whatever he wants without worrying about who's feelings he hurts, well, that's appealing to some folks.

 

But, it's not what you want in a true leader. Words mean something and when you just off handedly offend people constantly....well....that doesn't work. Sure, that may be what you WANT to say, but many times it's best left un said.

 

This is perfectly what so many people got caught up in with him and totally lost site that being a true leader requires restraint, dignity, respect for others, humbleness, thoughtfulness, caring...all tied up with strength and knowledge of the situation...etc. Trump doesn't hold ANY of those traits.

 

I honestly do feel sorry for so many people that were totally buffaloed by this guy. It really is sad for everyone involved (except Trump).

 

The bolded part in your post is very important. He is NOT an honest person in anything he does.

[BigRedBuster]

Here's the deal. Trump lost this election. He has absolutely no chance of winning. Any form of actual conservative movement lost a long time ago when conservatives thought they needed to go off and give legitimacy to lala land wacko "conservatism". (that really isn't what conservative is)

 

There is nothing that can be done now in this election for President.

 

What I WISH would happen is a voter revolt on the conservative side. I wish they would turn out in masses to vote for everything on the ballot (local, state, initiatives...etc) but in mass just leave the President blank. No...don't vote for Hillary. She is pathetic in her own right and doesn't deserve our support.

BUT, we need to be sending a message to anyone and everyone that has anything to do with bringing this pathetic human being this far in this election and that INCLUDES the voters in the early primaries along with the pathetic conservative media that has done their part to get us here.

 

Maybe then people will start realizing what is really important in all of this and a realistic, honest and thoughtful conservative movement can be started again.

[Dbqgolfer]

Here's the deal. Trump lost this election. He has absolutely no chance of winning. Any form of actual conservative movement lost a long time ago when conservatives thought they needed to go off and give legitimacy to lala land wacko "conservatism". (that really isn't what conservative is)

 

There is nothing that can be done now in this election for President.

 

What I WISH would happen is a voter revolt on the conservative side. I wish they would turn out in masses to vote for everything on the ballot (local, state, initiatives...etc) but in mass just leave the President blank. No...don't vote for Hillary. She is pathetic in her own right and doesn't deserve our support.

 

BUT, we need to be sending a message to anyone and everyone that has anything to do with bringing this pathetic human being this far in this election and that INCLUDES the voters in the early primaries along with the pathetic conservative media that has done their part to get us here.

 

Maybe then people will start realizing what is really important in all of this and a realistic, honest and thoughtful conservative movement can be started again.

Don't leave it blank; vote for some other third party candidate. If the conservatives who dislike Trump leave the presidential line blank; Hillary wins 55-45. If you vote for any third party, Hillary wins 40-30 (other 30 split among third party candidates.). Much more of a damning result for the election. I know my numbers are not totally accurate, but you get the point.

[Lil' Red]

As a Trump guy that is becoming more and more conflicted as the election nears, i didnt get it from this as painting Trump as the solution. yeah, we trump ppl paint him as such, but this write up is more about explaining why it's felt that way. i thought it was real interesting. It does explain exactly why Trump folks want Trump so bad. Same here. Looking past all the bs to what he appears to stand for. not a career politician. Already has all the money so he really cant be bought off. Brute honesty of what's on his mind and so on and so on. He would be the ultimate shock to a system that folks are tired of.

I don't think you can simply dismiss racism, xenophobia, and misogyny as "bs".

 

Also, what does he stand for? He has taken many different positions on virtually every issue.

[HuskerNation1]

Last time I checked, Trump wasn't holding rallies in small towns. Just looking at his schedule, it's major cities in areas like Florida and Ohio.

 

These people who support him are coming out of the woodwork in big cities.

 

Just this weekend he is in Portsmouth, NH (population 21,000) and Bangor, ME (population 32,000). He's doing a mix of larger and smaller towns to be honest.

[HuskerNation1]

As a Trump guy that is becoming more and more conflicted as the election nears, i didnt get it from this as painting Trump as the solution. yeah, we trump ppl paint him as such, but this write up is more about explaining why it's felt that way. i thought it was real interesting. It does explain exactly why Trump folks want Trump so bad. Same here. Looking past all the bs to what he appears to stand for. not a career politician. Already has all the money so he really cant be bought off. Brute honesty of what's on his mind and so on and so on. He would be the ultimate shock to a system that folks are tired of.

 

You are right about that. There are plenty of Trump bashers on here, but the more the media are colluding to help Hillary, the more people are starting to question the entire political/media system at work. You will find many of the same people that felt Bill Clinton got too much flack in the 1990s as the ones who are bashing Trump non-stop. It's the ultimate double standard.

[Guy Chamberlin]

The system is broken. The most expensive Presidential election in history has given us its most unpalatable product.

 

The two-party system officially sucks. Zero sum politics screw everyone.

 

Donald Trump didn't blow up the Republican Party, 8 years of petty obstructionism did that.

 

Hillary's deepest, darkest secret is that she plans to govern as what we used to call a moderate Republican (like Obama has) Democrats could have been disappointed, Republicans could have been relieved, but we stuck with our narratives. You could run a hypocrisy clinic for years on the Bush/Obama comparisons.

 

What a perfect time for the perfect third party candidate. After being really intrigued by a single Gary Johnson video, I find out he's pretty much nuts.

 

Take the entire mess of a political/media system and it provides not the slightest excuse for Donald Trump and the disturbing number of people who will vote for him.