Gullible Trumpettes

Online, I have been discussing with numerous trumpettes the benefits or otherwise of electing the orange buffoon to the presidency. In doing so, I stumbled on a facebook page where they asked people to describe Obama’s presidency. And I replied:

Infinitely better than George W. Bush, but that wouldn’t be difficult, as ‘W’ was as thick as a brick. Obama’s presidency will be seen as a respectable interlude between that of a vegetable and that of a lying, illiterate buffoon. [I then attempted to demonstrate their gullibility with the three stages of the wall:] ‘We are going to build a wall, and Mexico is going to pay for it’ to ‘Part of it will be a fence’ to ‘We will have to pay for it’.

Some of the replies received included:

‘What is sad is that there were two options and Trump still wasn’t the worst one’

‘Nowhere near as good as Bush.’

‘Bush didn’t hate America, Obama does.’

I replied to these with:

I am sure Bush didn’t hate America; he was just an idiot. Anyone who can say that the French do not have a word for ‘entrepreneur’, has a severely limited intellect. That is the sort of knowledge you pick up just by reading newspapers, books and watching the news. I presume you also believe that Obama is a Kenyan Muslim.

More replies then came:

‘Your problem is reading fake news, (sic) The democrats have shown their true colors, hate, lies, corruption, are you afraid that you will have to go back to work. Or are you afraid that you are actually going to like what Trump does. Anyways (sic), the Republicans won and Trump will make America Great Again, if you do not like it why not move’ [most of these people seemed to not understand that I was from Australia]

‘Seems you were willing to have a POTUS in the form of a corrupt criminal who had built and run a crime syndicate, who endangered the security of the USA, who violated the constitution which she swore to uphold and protect, a woman who couldn’t open her mouth without telling a lie, one that blushes every time she tells the truth…Is that your moral code?’

‘And Obama, who can’t even tell the truth about his place of birth, who caused America to be more divided than ever, who acted like a dictator, who wasted $80 million or more of taxpayers (sic) money on his holidays, who got backing from the commie criminal Soros etc etc etc, (sic) what’s better about that you Libtard??’

‘Whats (sic) funny is your (sic) not even an American so what the hell do you know and if you want to come after this Marine then bring it I’ll be glad to school you on a few things’

‘You don’t get to have an opinion when it comes to America’

I replied with:

Of course I can [have an opinion]! Your constitution is what underpins the rise of western democracies, so the fact that it could be traduced by the orange buffoon, concerns us all. The US is in a very dangerous place at present, as it will be overtaken by China as the largest superpower, first economically, then militarily. What it does and how it reacts will be exceptionally important. Given that you have elected as president, a man like Trump, who clearly has narcissistic personality disorder, and is a pathological liar, who because of these psychological problems can never admit he is wrong, or that he has ever contradicted himself, or that he has ever lied, does not bode well. Good luck, you will need it!

More replies then followed:

‘Maye (sic) killery (sic) will help pay for it out of her Clinton crime foundation’

‘your (sic) stupid’

[Someone of a more sensible bent then quoted Robert Heinlein] “Never attempt to teach a pig to sing; it wastes your time and annoys the pig”

I explained to the Heinlein fan:

I have an ulterior motive. I am trying to understand how people could be duped by Trump. I think I am beginning to understand why, based on this, er, ‘discussion’

Then more replies came:

‘You mean cnn will tell me the truth about my country?Wow,how (sic) about that.So (sic) killery is the honest one after all and nobama (sic) is for America.Glad (sic) such and intellectual such as yourself could point this out and all the time too I have misinterpreted the Gospel of Jesus instead of the Gospel of socialist liberals.God (sic) bless the USA and thank God in Jesus name Trump (sic) will make America Great again.’

This comes from a Facebook page that is for supporters of Sarah Palin, so it is probably from the shallow end of the Republican gene pool.

While not really on display here, but certainly elsewhere, the virulent hatred of Barack Obama, and especially his wife Michelle, was staggering to me. I think much of it gets back to the fact that the Obamas are successful, well educated, erudite, literate, personable, untarnished by scandal, and perhaps worst of all, black. I do not think it is simple racism, because I am sure some of the trumpettes work with black people and treat them like everybody else. It is just that the Obamas’ success is an affront to them, because they are envious of it, and because the Obamas’ skin colour just makes that envy harder to take.

This sort of gullibility, where people like these trumpettes will believe anything, even though it is demonstrably false, is exceedingly dangerous for a democracy. If enough people believe this sort of garbage, then Trump will have enough support to carry on. I do not think that will happen, as he is too erratic to steer a rational course. Many people, even some of those that voted for him, are starting to realise that he is a moron with the personality and self-control of a toddler. They are also starting to realise that most of what he promised were lies, and he has simply become the Trojan horse for the worst depredations of the Republicans, as they slowly screw the poor and middle classes even more, while Trump will be left only with the blame. When the Republicans have finished with him, he will be declared incapable or impeached.