The One Where I Pick on Trump Supporters
They are Gunther and he is a malicious version of Rachel.
I count among my friends quite a few people who support Trump to various degrees. So this is not meant to be as sharp against them as it might seem.
Yet I do want to ask them to choose: Are you complicit or just plain dumb?
PIVOT!
He lacks any true principles. He will change his position because it serves him, and he only holds positions that benefit him. His supporters suffer as he abandons them when they are counting on him coming through.
Gemini gives this partial list:
Key Policy Reversals and Shifts
Abortion: Initially stated women should face “some form of punishment” for abortions if outlawed, then reversed to say only providers should be punished.
Immigration: Shifted from a “total and complete shutdown of Muslims” to a “softening” on immigration policy, including on deporting 11 million people.
Tariffs/Trade: Reversed positions over 28 times regarding China and other trade partners, including extending or pausing tariff implementations.
Foreign Policy/NATO: Changed stances on NATO, Russia, and Syria, moving between adversarial and cooperative tones.
Health Care: Altered positions on the repeal and replacement of Obamacare.
TikTok: Went from advocating for a ban on TikTok during his presidency to opposing a ban in 2024.
It is very important to note that he is not just updating à la the misattributed quote: “When the Facts Change, I Change My Mind. What Do You Do, Sir?” Rather he is changing his mind because the prior position no longer serves his own benefit. And I think he gets a bit of joy knowing he is leaving people holding the bag—just a suspicion.
Implication for his supporters: They are left looking foolish or unprincipled as they get caught defending yesterday’s policy positions (e.g., Epstein, expectations of DOGE, foreign policy, etc.) or called out for no longer supporting something they were once resolute about (e.g., free trade, gun rights, free speech, etc.).
Oh no!
This might come as a shock to supporters, but he lies. It is part of his mastery of propaganda. Yet it goes further.
Some are lies of omission:
Some are lies of commission:
Whether he is claiming to have the biggest inauguration in history or that he has cured crime or that he is ending waste, fraud, and abuse, or that XYZ was so bad when his term started (almost always the good trend he is claiming started under the prior administration) or wasn’t it awful this bad thing that Biden did (many of these things were when Trump was president), what supporters should ask themselves is who is he lying to?
Implication for his supporters: Again they are played the fool.
I KNOW!
He claims to be the smartest guy on everything. He probably believes this to some degree, and he definitely wants his supporters to believe it. Too often the effectively do. They put undo trust in his ability to navigate difficult, complicated issues. The problem should be obvious. No one knows stuff like this in any single domain much less all domains. Assuming someone does and giving them power as a result is a recipe for incredible mistakes.
Implication for his supporters: When anyone claims to know it all and you wholeheartedly align yourself with that person, you call yourself out as gullible and part of the problem when they inevitably fail to live up to that claim.
How you doin’?
Virtually all Trump supporters old enough to have followed politics in the early 1990s were at the time fired up by Bill Clinton’s character issue. His history with women was reason enough for them to disqualify him for office. Fast forward to Joe Biden. There you’ll find Trump supporters pointing out his truly odd behavior smelling young girls’ hair. That’s why Trump gave him the moniker “Creepy Joe”. It stuck because he deserved it. Clinton deserved the objections too. But . . . when it comes to Trump, they turn more than a blind eye. Epstein, the beauty pageants, the “Grab ‘em by the pussy” quote, and so much more:
Implication for his supporters: The obvious charge is hypocrisy. The lingering indictment is that some of them don’t really care about that stuff—they are just using it against their opponents on the left. In those cases they are just like Trump.
No!
Similar to his pivoting, he is the worst enemy his allies could imagine. When he takes up an issue, he poisons it. Immigration, tariffs, pardon power, you name it. His supporters ask him to do something, and then eventually upon seeing how he does it, think and sometimes say, “No! We didn’t mean that.”
Implications for his supporters: They end up being the enablers of the most vile things said and done despite them usually not endorsing those ultimate ends. For those who bite the bullet claiming “Yes, I DID vote for this!” well, I guess own it then.
Oh ... my ... God! meets We were on a break!
Solving problems is antithetical to Trump. He is much more comfortable being in opposition. This is of course a role that has plagued the Republicans for some time—they cannot handle being in power; much better suited as the opposition party. For Trump this is all the more important because as a very savvy politician he realizes this is a much better place to live.
This is exacerbated by the ridiculous exaggeration he brings to every issue—it is always “the best ever” (when it is his) or “the worst ever” (otherwise).
Implications for his supporters: They live in a world of constant disappointment as solving problems is not at all his objective.
Could I BE any more corrupt?
He is an old-fashioned charlatan preying on his supporters. They are the mark. The left is his foil. He is a combination of P. T. Barnum and Charles Ponzi. The corporatism, crypto scams, and selling out are all part of the big plan—make Trump rich, powerful, and everlasting.
Implications for his supporters: Sometimes like with NFTs and crypto, they are the funders for small-scale thievery. Other times like with pay-for-play they are the cheerleaders for fraud, waste, and abuse. These are not mere robberies despite my hope. They represent deep corruption with national security implications.
As I said on X recently:
In that same spirit, here is SNL:
Here's hoping for more the second type.