I’m not a conservative myself, but I defy any conservative intending to vote for Donald Trump to read this comparison of Washington and Trump, and to honestly tell themselves afterwards that that they believe in America and its ideals.
I’m not a conservative myself, but I defy any conservative intending to vote for Donald Trump to read this comparison of Washington and Trump, and to honestly tell themselves afterwards that that they believe in America and its ideals.
His American dream is to fuck everyone over who isn’t himself. Not even family is safe if it benefits him. I can’t understand how there are still people unable to see this.
I get that some ride in his wake and make a fortune for some time, but he drags everyone into the swamp eventually.
I am genuinely interested in hearing from people who can explain this!
That’s how cults work. Those on the inside are either unable or unwilling to see the reality of things. Those on the outside wonder how they cannot.
Many have isolated themselves (at Trump’s direction) to a media ecosystem where they aren’t being exposed to the truth about him. And when they are, he’s trained them to believe that it’s all lies. They are living in an entirely alternate reality crafted for them by Fox (and other rightwing outlets), Truth Social, and Trump and his congressional cronies.
I have family members who’ve been living in that world for years. Parroting the Fox talking points and praising Trump for what they portray him as. Like cults do, over time these things have become part of their identity…even their faith. It’s not easy to do a 180 on that. To them, it would be unthinkable to ever vote for a Democrat because that would be counter to who they are as a person. It would also be unthinkable to them that a Democrat could ever even be worthy of voting for, given all the things they’ve been “taught” about the Democrats. To them, I’m the crazy one for suggesting things might be different from what they’re hearing. They are trapped in a cult.
All that being said…the longer it goes, I think the scale is shifting from “they haven’t been exposed to the truth” to “willful ignorance of the the truth”. That really wears on my patience for them and I find myself thinking at times that there’s no excuse anymore. But I also have to remind myself how difficult it is to extract someone from a cult. And I remember that I knew these people before Trump…and they are GOOD people with good hearts. But they’ve been fooled so very thoroughly by Trumpism and what it promised them.
I’m angrier at Fox, Newsmax, OAN, and all of the elected officials who’ve propped Trump up and peddled his brand than I am at his supporters who’ve been fooled by them. Without them, Trump is nothing. He could have been a laughing stock that we would have just moved on from if they hadn’t championed him, lied about him and his opponents, sanitized his worst moments, etc.They truly have shaped their viewer’s minds about Trump and about the Democrats. It’s enraging.
What puzzles me is not so much the stuff they refuse to believe as the stuff they acknowledge he said and did, but then try to pretend doesn’t matter.
Yeah, I totally get it. So much mental gymnastics to make it all make sense and essentially to give themselves permission to believe what they want to believe. A lot of them that I interact with don’t seem to think very deeply about it. For some of them, I definitely think that’s intentional because they know if they did, they would have to face some things that they don’t want to. And if they had to change their stance, that would make them an outcast in their social groups and in their families and they’re not willing to do that.
I used to spend so much time trying to talk my parents down from the conspiracy theories they were hearing and repeating. But I just couldn’t keep up with it and the more I tried to discredit it (even with proof), the more it seemed to just push them deeper into it.
My dad continues to make comments suggesting that “the things we’ve been taught” aren’t true…and then goes on about some conspiracy theory. And I just want to say to him, ok…you clearly have this sense that you’re being lied to. But it’s like you will look everywhere for the lies except for where the lies are actually coming from!
This is the worst thing about conspiracy theorists. Like the car industry, for example, really is responsible for killing millions of people, more or less deliberately, and lying about it. But all the conspiracy theorists think more or less the opposite is the case: that there’s this great big anti-car conspiracy out there somewhere.
Now I wonder if this will end like other cults ended. Kool-Aid, FBI and media in helicopters.