Riddle Me This, Trump Supporters
Here are a few quotes from (((J_Enigma32))), which turned up on a recent thread, that deserve some thought:
So then, riddle me this: under what circumstances would it be okay, by your measure, to criticize Trump? What criticisms of Trump can you think of - surely the man isn't perfect, and you have disagreements over him. What does a legitimate criticism of Trump look like to you? Give me an example.
And:
I know P223 [Person223, a regular Trump support who comments here] is willing to throw themselves on any grenade in the name of dear leader, but one thing I never heard them do that I always hear left-wingers do is criticize the president. Liberals were almost always criticizing Obama. I was very sharply critical of Obama. But I've never heard any any of Trump's cult criticize him, or even acknowledge there might be an instance where criticism is warranted while at the same time, they're always the first in line to forgive every mistake he makes and brush it off. If there is a proper way to criticize dear leader, surely they know what it looks like, right? Now is their chance to demonstrate that and put to bed accusations of them being a thrall to Donald Trump, but I'm not holding my breath.
This is spot on. I remember Andy Schueler, who used to contribute to this blog, railing against Obama (even though he was a liberal supporter of him in a broader sense) on account of his poor record regarding drones and drone strikes (a record now surpassed by Trump - see, for example, "Under Donald Trump, drone strikes far exceed Obama’s numbers").
Obama was for many liberals all too centrist, and attracted a lot of criticism from the left. Other than people like John Ziegler, Trump is immune to criticism from his own cultists. The question is, given that he probably could shoot someone on 5th Avenue and still receive the same votes, what would Trump have to do for a supporter of his to actually criticise him? I have seen Trump make absolute howler after absolute howler that would have sunk any other president in another era, but we live in different times of open lying.
Heck, it gets down to ridiculous statements: Trump announced yesterday that nobody knew more about South Korea than him and then announced it had a population of 38 million. Way, way off (10 million in metropolitan Seoul, 25 million of you include the wider area). Many people have pointed out that the Wikipedia page notes an elevation of 38m. It is thought that either a bad Wikipedia scan produced this erroneous claim.
We effectively have a scenario where he can say anything and he is not called out on it in public. Or, if he is, he simply denies basic facts, and gets away with it.
Take yesterday's press conference when he was called out on statements he had previously made - on vide, on record - totally factual. He denied them (particularly to Yamiche Alcindor) either as "I didn't say that" or as "fake news" (like when he denied an entire Sun interview as fake news). This is lying. That simple. He was openly lying. Maybe he is so deluded that he actually thinks he couldn't have said these things because he can't compute that he would in any way be wrong. I don't know what is more worrying...
This is merely the veneer stuff; the catastrophic inactivity and poor leadership has been evident below this shady exterior and is manifesting itself in making the US look like it will be the most severe epicentre of Coronavirus in the world.
I have watched every White House press conference for the last week, and watching the way Trump's brain and speech works - if I were American, I'd be worried. You'd hope the people behind him were really strong and carrying him, but they appear to be, by and large, obsequious yes-men.
I'm sure we'll have the usual suspects here, defending Trump to the hilt.
The cognitive dissonance is strong, methinks.
In other news, Trump's polling has taken a dip compared to others that have previously shown a Trump bump - he has slipped to a 44% approval of his handling. Politico give an analysis here of a number of dipping polls. I only include this as some of his supporters here have lauded the bump.
My prediction: as problems worsen in the US, and as Trump will come under greater pressure and will feel worse about his initial responses, he and his administration will lay more and more blame on China. Though there may well be good reason to lay some blame on Chinese activity regarding their openness and reporting, this is opportunism to deflect and scapegoat. Mark my words.
(And today's press conference deflected by banging on about the war on drugs. Go figure.)
Stay in touch! Like A Tippling Philosopher on Facebook:
A Tippling Philosopher
You can also buy me a cuppa. Please... It justifies me continuing to do this!