Deplorable

Pundits on the left and right have been clutching their pearls over Hillary Clinton’s remark that roughly half of Trump’s supporters belong in a “basket of deplorables.”

Supporters worry about the political fallout ( given the media’s tendency to hold Clinton to a far higher standard than Trump, from whom they expect outrageous insults), while Clinton opponents claim to be “shocked, shocked” at the political incorrectness of it all. (Ignore those pictures of Trump supporters wearing tee-shirts saying things like “Trump the bitch” and  the videos from his rallies where supporters liberally used the “n word.” Ignore, too, the calls to “jail her” at the Republican convention. Unlike those appealing political messages, calling any voters “deplorable” is simply unforgivable.)

“Politically correct” or not, the statement was objectively inarguable. (Perhaps the percentage was off; I personally would have placed it above 50%.) A few “factoids”

Much like Trump’s alleged opposition to the Iraq War, this not an impossible claim to investigate. We know, for instance, some nearly 60 percent of Trump’s supporters hold “unfavorable views” of Islam, and 76 percent support a ban on Muslims entering the United States. We know that some 40 percent of Trump’s supporters believe blacks are more violent, more criminal, lazier, and ruder than whites. Two-thirds of Trump’s supporters believe the first black president in this country’s history is not American. These claim are not ancillary to Donald Trump’s candidacy, they are a driving force behind it.

Then there was the survey that found twenty percent of Trump supporters agreeing with the statement that Lincoln was wrong to have freed the slaves.

And there was this screenshot of Trump voters in the South Carolina primary…

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And then there are his fans in the Klan and assorted hate groups, and the White Supremacists who claim he is channeling their message….

Even if a given Trump voter isn’t actively or overtly invested in these attitudes, Charles Blow’s observation in the New York Times is on point:

Donald Trump is a deplorable candidate — to put it charitably — and anyone who helps him advance his racial, religious and ethnic bigotry is part of that bigotry. Period. Anyone who elevates a sexist is part of that sexism. The same goes for xenophobia. You can’t conveniently separate yourself from the detestable part of him because you sense in him the promise of cultural or economic advantage. That hair cannot be split.

As I have previously blogged, I’m hard-pressed to identify any Trump supporters who don’t belong in the “deplorables” basket…

62 Comments

  1. Aging grl
    Bigot def:
    a person who is intolerant toward those holding different opinions.

    When you call every Trump supporter deplorable, without understanding their reasoning, but simply because they have a different opininon than you, you are a bigot. There is no other conclusion.

    Why do Read this and comment occasionally? Because it is good to understand how and why people with different points of view think.

    It helps one keep an open mind. It sharpens one’s skills. It may change my mind or reinforce my beliefs.

    But simply dismissing people with a different point of view as deplorable, makes one a bigot.

  2. Those are all copyrighters trying to meet the same shift deadlines at work, talking to each other in front of crowds themselves. When my sister was a copy editor for an LA Daily, whatever went on telephones or air and so on was ALWAYS copied without attribution, like pundits is anyone major in any school catalogs sold to any buyers at all. One time I heard her story headline on an NPR show on radio in Arizona before she got home from work the day all the staffs were called in for the Simpson jurors’ decision, but it was a false alarm. So THAT was the lead story — like all of the stories every day that are sourced back and forth to USA writers, or artists of their own signatures.

  3. This nation was founded on the premise that is consisted of people who were part of a “civil society”. Within that context, calling the supporters of a candidate for office “deplorable” is, in fact, placing everyone in today’s society into different categories, or baskets. This action is not democratic, nor is it consistent with a republican form of government, nor is it consistent with the concept of civil discourse. This term is used by a candidate, who, in my opinion, has no business running for the office of President of the United States. There are many reasons for this opinion, too numerous to discuss here. But the fact that this person has been given a pass all these months and not held accountable for any of her past actions, which are facts, is most deplorable.

  4. Received this E-mail at 11:49 A.M. today:

    Hey Deplorable voter! Join us this week in Jacksonville

    I’m “Deplorable” and I Vote [This was picture of a new Republican Party button]

    Join us every day

    At a glance events

    Daily walks and call centers open every day 9:00 A.M. to Dusk

    Just an example of the “calendar of events”

    Sunday, September 28th
    Governor Mike Pence in Jacksonville
    The next Vice President of the United States, Governor Mike Pence along with his family,
    will join with his family, will join First Baptist Church [second or third largest in the U.S.] for worship on Sunday morning, at 124 West Ashley Street, Jacksonville, FL 32202
    Arrive by 9:00 for security. Worship at 10:30

    (Does anyone believe that Hillary Clinton isn’t in a free fall? If I’m mistaken, please enlighten me. I’m serious.)

  5. My gosh a second mistake: It’s tomorrow the 18th not the “28th.” The Trump forces are starting an all out attack now, not later. We’re going to be facing a political Pearl Harbor. Hopefully, we will be able to re-group.

    As I have said many times before Jacksonville is the SPEARHEAD of The Movement.

  6. What better time to commence their attack than on Constitution Day. Remember the attack on the Israelis on Yom Kippur? It’s a good way of making your point. “Hats off to them.” Very creative.

  7. Received another E-mail with the same message at 2:34 P.M. It looks like they will be “pinning buttons” instead of bombs, at least for now. The Japanese also hit Pearl Harbor in “two waves.”

    Soon after Pearl Harbor, my grandfather was in the Coast Guard stationed in Jacksonville and was on patrol when the German U-Boat unloaded the saboteurs at Ponte Vedra Beach. I was very close to my maternal grandfather. My fond memories of WW II are slowly coming back.

    For months, I’ve been talking about the use of a Nazi Playbook. I guess now we need to consider the Japanese Playbook for Pearl Harbor. Also, need to check out the Japanese plans for the invasion of Wake Island again.

  8. According to Reuters today, Trump is now leading Clinton by 50 to 46 in Florida, a key state. A significant shift has happened in the last two weeks.

    Better wake-up folks!

  9. https://medium.com/@nntaleb/the-intellectual-yet-idiot-13211e2d0577#.xwccikau4

    An excerpt:

    The IYI pathologizes others for doing things he doesn’t understand without ever realizing it is his understanding that may be limited. He thinks people should act according to their best interests and he knows their interests, particularly if they are “red necks” or English non-crisp-vowel class who voted for Brexit. When Plebeians do something that makes sense to them, but not to him, the IYI uses the term “uneducated”. What we generally call participation in the political process, he calls by two distinct designations: “democracy” when it fits the IYI, and “populism” when the plebeians dare voting in a way that contradicts his preferences. While rich people believe in one tax dollar one vote, more humanistic ones in one man one vote, Monsanto in one lobbyist one vote, the IYI believes in one Ivy League degree one-vote, with some equivalence for foreign elite schools, and PhDs as these are needed in the club.

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