Trump Supporters Who Go Off The Deep End

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Trump Supporters Who Go Off The Deep End

Post by Raggedyann » 01-15-2021 03:19 PM

I've had it with interviewing Trump supporters who go off the deep end

Opinion by Alisyn Camerota, CNN

Updated 11:39 AM ET, Fri January 15, 2021

(CNN)Perhaps you've seen one of the dozens of voter panels with Trump supporters that I have moderated on "New Day" over the past five years. Maybe you caught the one shortly after Trump's 2016 victory in which I slapped my forehead when a panelist tried to tell me that three million "illegals" cost Trump the popular vote. Or maybe you saw the one where a panelist told me he would believe Donald Trump over Jesus Christ.

Since 2015, I've listened closely to Trump supporters' feelings and motivations. I've drawn insights from every one of my panelists on the appeal of Donald Trump as a disruptor, how they believed he was "a fighter" for them, how they believed his success in business would translate into lifting the US economy. I hoped my voter panels would help our viewers understand all sides. I hoped the panels could model civil discourse and how to hear each other. But a week after the deadly insurrection at the US Capitol, I'm rethinking my position.

The cries from right-wing politicians telling us we need to hear the feelings of Trump supporters are wearing thin, as is the idea that the mob at the Capitol was somehow "silenced" or "censored" for too long. In the hour before the deadly insurrection last Wednesday, President Trump told his supporters, "Make your voices heard." Later, after they'd trashed the seat of American democracy, he told them he loved them and that they were "very special."

So, let us look at some of the "very special" people the President wants all of us to listen to -- like the guy dressed up in the badger pelt, horns and face paint. Authorities say he's a prominent QAnon crackpot and longtime Trump supporter. He was taken into custody on Saturday, charged with violent entry into the Capitol. I'm hard pressed to see what this malign Minotaur has to teach the rest of us.

Or how about the 60-year-old man from Arkansas, kicking his feet up in the office of the Speaker of the House? He left a "nasty note" for Nancy Pelosi and stole some of her mail. I guess he didn't know that's a federal crime. I'm not sure we should take any pointers from him either.

Then there's this guy from Florida who decided to help himself to the Speaker's lectern, smiling for the cameras as he absconded with it. He was arrested on Friday, charged with theft of government property. Before coming to CNN, I spent five years as a crime reporter, and it was an enduring truism that the dumbest criminals took photos of themselves with the stolen stuff.

For the record, I don't think the arsonists and vandals who caused damage in Portland, Oregon and other cities last summer need to be listened to either -- but I don't hear any political leaders saying they should be. In fact, Speaker Pelosi and President-elect Joe Biden have publicly condemned those far-left rioters who wreaked havoc.

The mob that descended on the Capitol had their chance to have a say last Wednesday. Hundreds of journalists with cameras were positioned along the protest route to capture the rioters' feelings and anger. But instead of speaking out peacefully, the crowd turned to violence: They broke windows, scaled walls, carried a Confederate flag into the Capitol Rotunda, defecated in the halls of the Capitol, killed a police officer, savagely beat another one with a pole holding an American flag and crushed yet another officer in a door while he screamed for help.

Of course, the domestic terrorists who stormed the Capitol do not represent all 74 million Trump voters. But you'd be amazed how many Trump supporters still believe the fact-free nonsense the rioters were chanting. According to a Quinnipiac poll, 73% of Republican voters believe there was widespread fraud in the 2020 election, despite dozens of Trump-appointed judges rejecting those specious claims and Republican Secretaries of State investigating and confirming that there were very few incidents of voter fraud.

That's the problem with listening to Trump supporters now versus four years ago. Today, so many more appear to have become openly delusional and untethered from reality. Case in point: A Pew poll finds that roughly 41% of Republicans who have heard of QAnon, a group that peddles the conspiracy theory that a ring of satanic pedophiles have taken over the US government, say QAnon is a good thing for the country. Some pundits say none of this is the fault of the Trump supporters -- that they've been tricked and misled by Donald Trump and his allies. If that's true -- if they are that easily duped and manipulated -- all the more reason to tune them out.

By the way, there are also three networks and dozens of online sites devoted almost exclusively to amplifying President Trump's nonsense.

So, spare us, Congressman Jeff Van Drew, who tried to claim on Wednesday that the impeachment hearing was taking "half the country('s)...voice away." And save it, newly-seated Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene, who wore a mask that read "Censored" as she spoke out to tens of millions of Americans. It's simply not true. We heard you all loud and clear, and now a Capitol police officer is dead and our democracy was put in peril.

I'm glad I sought out Trump voters to help me understand their perspective throughout this administration. Their insights informed my reporting every single day. I wish I could say that listening to his die-hard supporters had helped them, but I don't see a lot of healing or catharsis in the Trump crowd. Being heard didn't seem to alleviate the grievances of so many of them, if poll responses are an indication. Rather, many only grew more dug into their faulty beliefs.

Yes, many Trump voters on our panels expressed deep and sincere regret at supporting Trump in 2016. Some of them say they wish they could take back their vote so as to prevent all the division and lying that's come since. But what can we make of Trump's most ardent current supporters? Today I see only more passion for him among this group -- and more rage at Democrats, the press, the so-called "Deep State," Vice President Mike Pence and everyone else who they think has done Donald

So now, at the end of Trump's term and after the deadly Capitol insurrection, I think the time for listening to present-day Trump supporters is over. There is nothing that anyone in this destructive and delusional group can teach the rest of us about being open-minded and tolerant.

Yes, I still believe in civil discourse and hearing all rational sides -- not the crazy, violent side, which is what my CNN colleagues got at the Capitol when their questions were met with threats from the mob last Wednesday. I think at this point the smartest thing the rest of us could do is no longer give warped Trump supporters a platform and no longer lend them our ears. It's time to turn off their microphones.
“For evil to flourish, it only requires good men to do nothing.” Simon Wiesenthal

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Re: Trump Supporters Who Go Off The Deep End

Post by Raggedyann » 01-15-2021 04:01 PM

Franklin Graham Compares 10 Republicans Who Voted to Impeach Trump to Betrayal of Christ
BY JEFFERY MARTIN ON 1/14/21 AT 9:46 PM EST

Evangelist Franklin Graham compared 10 members of the GOP to Judas Iscariot on Thursday after they voted to approve President Donald Trump's second impeachment.

Graham, the head of the non-profit organization Samaritan's Purse, has been a longtime supporter of Trump's presidency. Rifts between the evangelical community and Trump have developed after recent events, including a January riot at the U.S. Capitol. Trump's impeachment in the aftermath of the riot at the U.S. Capitol did not change Graham's support of the president, leading Graham to draw parallels between Trump's impeachment and the betrayal of Jesus Christ as described in the Bible.

"Shame, shame on the ten Republicans who joined with @SpeakerPelosi & the House Democrats in impeaching President Trump yesterday," Graham tweeted. "After all that he has done for our country, you would turn your back & betray him so quickly? What was done yesterday only further divides our nation."

https://www.newsweek.com/franklin-graha ... st-1561809
“For evil to flourish, it only requires good men to do nothing.” Simon Wiesenthal

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Re: Trump Supporters Who Go Off The Deep End

Post by Raggedyann » 01-15-2021 04:11 PM

Trump Supporters' Main Problem Was Never The Economy
The Capitol riot has ended the notion that the president's hardcore base was motivated by economic anxiety. It has always been about race.

One described Trump supporters as people “who feel the rug is being pulled out from under them ― that the benefits they have enjoyed because of their race, their group’s advantages, and their status atop the racial hierarchy are all in jeopardy.”

Trump supporters want to return to a past “when white men saw themselves as the core of America, and minorities and women ‘knew their place,’ ” a sociology professor at New York University told New York Times columnist Thomas Edsall last week.

Indeed, sexism is a core Trumpist value: A study released just this week in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences found that the one key view Trump supporters have in common is not economic dislocation but the idea that men should be the ones in charge. (And not just men think this.)

Political uprisings are often about a disenfranchised group seeking greater rights.

That is not what happened on Jan. 6.

The crowd at the Capitol last week felt under threat, Mutz said, by the changing racial composition of the country and by the fact that their leader would soon be displaced by an administration much more amenable to diversity and inclusion.

In 2018, Mutz published a study in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences that found that in 2016 those who voted for Trump did so because of anxiety over race and social standing, not economic distress. Indeed, many of those voters were doing better economically at the time.

The perception that “pocketbook” issues motivated Trump voters likely comes from the fact that Americans with less education did tend to vote for him in 2016 and 2020, she said. But their motivating factor wasn’t about, say, the rising cost of health insurance. Lower education also correlates with what she calls “group animosity,” fear of the other.

The 2020 election offered another forceful debunking of the myth of the impoverished Trump voter. The majority of Americans making less than $50,000 a year voted for Democrat Joe Biden, according to exit poll data from December. Those earning more than $100,000 leaned toward Trump.

A majority of white voters chose Trump.

Perhaps bafflingly, these voters said the economy was their top issue. That’s partly because most Americans won’t tell you that they voted for someone because they’re worried that white people are losing their place in the country.

“No one is going to tell a pollster they voted for racism or that they would characterize it that way,” Angela Hanks, the deputy executive director at Groundwork Collaborative, a progressive economic group, told HuffPost in November for a story exploring how Trump voters claim the economy was their priority – at a time when it was clear that the economy was tanking because of the out-of-control pandemic.

It’s also because economic anxiety is inexorably tied with racial anxiety, said William Darity Jr., an economist at Duke University who studies the interplay between the two.

It’s not that Trump rioters have actually fallen behind economically; it’s that they’re worried about the prospect of Black folks doing better. It’s the same kind of anxiety that fueled the backlash to affirmative action decades ago.

“This is a group of people who perceive their relative status is endangered,” Darity said. He and others have pointed out that this is hardly new: White Americans rioted during Reconstruction, outraged over the idea that Black people were not slaves anymore and actually had some rights. That violence ushered in nearly a century of repression.

“There is a straight line from the violence that took down the Reconstruction era movement to the invasion of the Capitol last week,” Darity said.

https://www.huffingtonpost.ca/entry/tru ... ri18n=true
“For evil to flourish, it only requires good men to do nothing.” Simon Wiesenthal

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Re: Trump Supporters Who Go Off The Deep End

Post by Raggedyann » 01-15-2021 06:11 PM

MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell brings notes to White House that suggest calling for ‘martial law if necessary’

Lindell’s notes were captured by Washington Post photographer, Jabin Botsford from a distance and half the page was not visible as it was folded lengthwise in left hand, which was also holding his cell phone. But when zoomed in on, several halves of paragraphs of the briefing are legible.

The title of his notes, in all capital letters, includes the words “TAKEN IMMEDIATELY TO SAVE THE … THE CONSTITUTION”

After a call for what looks to be appointing a new member his national security team, Lindell talks about researching election security and the nearby military base at “Fort Mead [sic].”

In the next paragraph, his visible notes begin with what could be “Insurrection” followed by “Act now as a result of the assault on the…” and then picks up in the next line with what appears to be “marital” and then “law if necessary upon the first hint of any.”

A standalone sentence, that was hand redacted in black pen, comes next, followed by another paragraph with a list of names including Trump legal advocate of bonkers “Kraken” fame Sidney Powell and then, in the next line, another apparent personnel recommendation: “move Kash Patel to CIA Acting.” Patel is a Trump loyalist who was unexpectedly installed as chief of staff to the new acting Defense Secretary two months ago.

Lindell continues on with an apparent claim of “Foreign Interference in the election” that would “Trigger” some response. He then seems to offer Trump advice, saying “Make clear this is China/Iran…” It’s unclear based on the photograph exactly what the full note is saying there, but the Trump administration’s own cybersecurity agency has completely shot down claims of electronic interference or hacking of the 2020 election, citing 59 experts calling the theories “unsubstantiated” or “incoherent.”

Lindell has been one of the most outspoken and delusional supporters of Trump’s election fraud conspiracy theories, even going so far as to guarantee “100 percent” that Trump will be president for the “next four years.”

And if he was actually counseling Trump to use the military to overturn the election in a last-minute coup, it wouldn’t be out of character for him. Back in late December, after all 50 states had certified Joe Biden’s Electoral College win, Lindell tweeted — and then quickly deleted — a post calling on Trump to lock down swing state election systems and “please impose martial law in these 7 states and get the machines/ballots.”

https://www.mediaite.com/news/mypillow- ... necessary/
“For evil to flourish, it only requires good men to do nothing.” Simon Wiesenthal

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Re: Trump Supporters Who Go Off The Deep End

Post by kbot » 01-15-2021 06:39 PM

So RA, we've moved from The Joint Chiefs to............ the My Pillow Guy.

Shows perspective..........

:beaker:
There you go man, keep as cool as you can. Face piles and piles of trials with smiles. It riles them to believe that you perceive the web they weave. And keep on thinking free. (Moody Blues)

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Re: Trump Supporters Who Go Off The Deep End

Post by Raggedyann » 01-15-2021 07:26 PM

kbot wrote: 01-15-2021 06:39 PM So RA, we've moved from The Joint Chiefs to............ the My Pillow Guy.

Shows perspective..........

:beaker:
Good thing Trump has never listened to anybody! :mrgreen:
“For evil to flourish, it only requires good men to do nothing.” Simon Wiesenthal

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Re: Trump Supporters Who Go Off The Deep End

Post by Raggedyann » 01-15-2021 07:46 PM

Feeling Betrayed, Far-Right Extremists Have A New Message For Trump: 'Get Out Of Our Way'
As Trump backs down from his “Stop the Steal” hoax, the supporters he radicalized are vowing to carry on the fight without him. For months, President Donald Trump’s message to his supporters was clear:The election was being stolen from him, and they needed to fight to take it back.

So on Jan. 6, during a Trump-promoted rally to “Stop the Steal,” thousands laid siege to the U.S. Capitol in a stunning attempt to do just that. The fallout of their failed insurrection, which resulted in five deaths, was swift: Trump was deplatformed from nearly every major social network and, on Wednesday, impeached for a historic second time.

When he emerged on camera a short while later, tail tucked between his legs, to condemn the rioters whom he himself had incited, and to call for a peaceful transfer of power to President-elect Joe Biden, his base felt betrayed.

“So he basically just sold out the patriots who got rounded up for him,” one person wrote in a 15,000-member pro-Trump Telegram group. “Just wow.”

In online havens for MAGA extremists, including Gab, CloutHub, MeWe, Telegram and far-right message boards such as 8kun, the tone toward Trump is shifting. HuffPost reviewed thousands of messages across these platforms and found that a growing minority of the president’s once-devout backers are now denouncing him and rejecting his recent pleas for peace. Some have called for his arrest or execution, labeling him a “traitor” and a “coward.” Alarmingly, many of those who are irate about Biden’s supposed electoral theft are still plotting to forcibly prevent him from taking office — with or without Trump’s help.

“We don’t follow you,” another Telegram user wrote, addressing Trump, after the president put out his video urging calm and order. “Be quiet and get out of our way.”

It has become apparent that now — after his mass radicalization campaign of voter-fraud disinformation and conspiracy-mongering — even Trump can’t stop the dangerous delusion he’s instilled across the country, or the next wave of violence it may soon bring.

TELEGRAM
In online fringe communities, some far-right Trump supporters are plotting to keep him in power by any means necessary.

Federal authorities are urgently warning of armed protests being planned in all 50 state capitals in the days leading up to Biden’s inauguration. Politically motivated extremists “will very likely pose the greatest domestic terrorism threats in 2021,” according to a new joint intelligence bulletin from the FBI, Department of Homeland Security and National Counterterrorism Center. The document, first obtained by Yahoo News, attributes this threat to “false narratives” that Biden’s victory “was illegitimate, or fraudulent,” and the subsequent belief that the election results “should be contested or unrecognized.”

Ahead of last week’s riots, Trump supporters openly planned their attack on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and other mainstream platforms, where they shared materials including flyers titled “Operation Occupy the Capitol.” These sites have since cracked down aggressively on such behavior, causing extremists to migrate to lesser-known corners of the internet to plan their next move.

While this has hindered their ability to spread propaganda and enlist new recruits, their new social channels are subject to less scrutiny and have already exploded in reach.CloutHub, MeWe and Telegram shot to the top of the charts of popular free apps on the App Store and Google PlayStorein the wake of the siege. Gab has also reported a massive surge in new users, with about 10,000 people signing up every hour.

In these spaces, HuffPost has observed calls to “burn down” the Capitol, launch “an armed revolt,” “pop some libtards” and “TAKE THIS COUNTRY BACK WHATEVER IT TAKES!!” Some posts are more specific:“Civil War is here. Group up locally. Take out the News stations,” one person declared. “LET’S HANG THEM ALL,” another implored. “LET’S FINISH THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY.”

More...
https://www.huffingtonpost.ca/entry/tru ... ri18n=true
“For evil to flourish, it only requires good men to do nothing.” Simon Wiesenthal

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Re: Trump Supporters Who Go Off The Deep End

Post by kbot » 01-17-2021 08:23 PM

Oh yeah, this is gonna get even better. Trump gave these people a heightened national presence (thanks Trump!!!), and now countries from Russia to China, North Korea and Iran are watching Nice work Trump,,,,,,
There you go man, keep as cool as you can. Face piles and piles of trials with smiles. It riles them to believe that you perceive the web they weave. And keep on thinking free. (Moody Blues)

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Re: Trump Supporters Who Go Off The Deep End

Post by Doka » 01-17-2021 09:40 PM

kbot wrote: 01-17-2021 08:23 PM Oh yeah, this is gonna get even better. Trump gave these people a heightened national presence (thanks Trump!!!), and now countries from Russia to China, North Korea and Iran are watching Nice work Trump,,,,,,
You have got to be kidding! Where you asleep, during the Obama Admistration? These Countries where is best buds, Trump has nothing to do with this. They have been waiting for Obama to come back, so he can take their money and sell what's left of what used to be America, this time he will succeed, nothing is new, you wanted wars, this Is what You voted for. Speaking of Obama, Administration, China Joe hired each and every one back. China Joe, who has alzheimer's, ain't going to last, much longer as President, he is just being used just as you are, you two make a great couple, China Joe, can't remember either.
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Re: Trump Supporters Who Go Off The Deep End

Post by Raggedyann » 01-18-2021 01:43 AM

All the nations you mention played Trump for a fool and all of us with brains were appalled at Trump's stupidity. Just as I am appalled by yours.
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Re: Trump Supporters Who Go Off The Deep End

Post by kbot » 01-18-2021 06:33 AM

Doka wrote: 01-17-2021 09:40 PM
kbot wrote: 01-17-2021 08:23 PM Oh yeah, this is gonna get even better. Trump gave these people a heightened national presence (thanks Trump!!!), and now countries from Russia to China, North Korea and Iran are watching Nice work Trump,,,,,,
You have got to be kidding! Where you asleep, during the Obama Admistration? These Countries where is best buds, Trump has nothing to do with this. They have been waiting for Obama to come back, so he can take their money and sell what's left of what used to be America, this time he will succeed, nothing is new, you wanted wars, this Is what You voted for. Speaking of Obama, Administration, China Joe hired each and every one back. China Joe, who has alzheimer's, ain't going to last, much longer as President, he is just being used just as you are, you two make a great couple, China Joe, can't remember either.
Riiiight.........

Say, DOKA, how's Trump's work on COVID going????


The US has 'screaming level' of Covid-19 transmission, expert says, as country adds nearly 4 million cases this month

(CNN)Just a little more than halfway into January, the US has added a staggering 3.9 million new Covid-19 cases and more than 51,000 virus-related deaths.

The country's total Covid-19 death toll is now rapidly approaching 400,000 -- that's more than the number of Americans who died in World War I, Vietnam War and the Korean War combined and nearly as many Americans who died in World War II.

And it's by far higher than any other country's Covid-19 death toll.
https://www.cnn.com/2021/01/18/health/u ... index.html

I guess that when you're fomenting insurrection, you can't be bothered in saving lives.......
There you go man, keep as cool as you can. Face piles and piles of trials with smiles. It riles them to believe that you perceive the web they weave. And keep on thinking free. (Moody Blues)

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Re: Trump Supporters Who Go Off The Deep End

Post by Doka » 01-19-2021 10:15 AM

You are a little Confused there Kbot...........We are just trying to keep what we "have" You and China Joe want it all removed, those that Love their Country and their families are fighting what you " Insurrectionists "want to take away. By the way, the DC Democrats are the ones that called in the Millitary in huge numbers,to keep them safe, wonder what actions THEY will be doing to incite, that Huge Need For Their Protection? You seem to have no concept about what you stand for, "Life Saving" is just NOT on your list, no matter much you "Wish" it so. :!:

It very confusing for the rest of us, to watch so many, "Declare War" on Themselves!

Kbot Quote:

I guess that when you're fomenting insurrection, you can't be bothered in saving lives.......
insurrection

n.
The act or an instance of open revolt against civil authority or a constituted government.
n.
A rising up; uprising.
n.
The act of rising against civil authority or governmental restraint; specifically, the armed resistance of a number of persons to the power of the state; incipient or limited rebellion.
KARMA RULES

Those Who Can Make You Believe Absurdities, Can Make You Commit Atrocities': Voltaire

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