Burke: If Trump’s backers are unmoveable, do I stop pushing?
Published 1:30 am Monday, August 26, 2019
By Tom Burke
Herald columnist
Since before his election I’ve been writing about Donald Trump.
I’ve written about his racism, his lies, his incompetence, his laziness, his grifter-filled cabinet, his delusions, his terrible policies, his $1,000-per-U.S.-household tariff wars, his ego and narcissism, his failed tax cut, his sexual predation, his refusal to confront Russia on the 2020 election, his cowardice, and his totalitarian-like actions.
I wrote about him because I thought if his supporters were exposed to what Trump actually says, and does, they would “get” his failure as president.
I was wrong, so I’m gonna stop writing about him.
Why, you ask?
Because it’s finally dawning on me that by continuing their enthusiastic support of Trump his MAGAs really believe what he espouses: his racism; his support of white supremacists; his lies about global warming; his belief 5 million people voted illegally; and that Russia didn’t influence the 2016 election.
By supporting him they clearly believe in his destructive trade wars with China and Europe and Mexico and Canada; his attacks on Congressional oversight; his foul name-calling; his caging children and separating families; his conspiracy theories about Obama, Fox News, and Clinton killing Epstein; his belief Google manipulated 16 million votes; that his handpicked Fed chair is trying to cause a recession; that the media is “fake” and an enemy of the people; that Democrats are “communists and socialists;” his sexual predation; that there’s “No collusion, No obstruction” in the Muller report, and he’s the “King of Israel.”
These aren’t people who simply haven’t seen the light.
These aren’t people who can be educated, if only actual facts were clearly and logically presented.
These aren’t people who understand America is a demographically evolving country and change isn’t a bad thing.
They must be, in fact, racists, like Donald Trump.
They believe in white nationalism, like Donald Trump.
They are greedy, like Donald Trump.
They are too lazy to read, like Donald Trump.
They are ignorant about science, like Donald Trump.
They believe in culture wars, like Donald Trump.
They espouse anti-Semitic tropes claiming Jews who don’t vote for him are either ignorant or disloyal, like Donald Trump.
They are, indeed, just like Donald Trump; and truth, proof, and logic are wasted on them.
And I am afraid for our country.
(On a similarly scary note, a few years back a University of Texas study found 30 percent! of Texans [mostly evangelicals] believed the earth was less than 10,000 years old and man and dinosaurs lived at the same time! Lived together! Apparently thought the Flintstones cartoon was a documentary! It frightened me because they were approving school textbooks and they voted.)
Now there’s usually a bunch of online comments after every piece I write. Same with Sid Schwab.
But it’s mostly the same few Trumpsters saying the same old things: Blah, blah, blah; Trump this, god that; blah, blah, blah; Trump and God this and that; blah, blah, blah; liberals this, socialists that; blah, blah, blah; what about Obama or Clinton; blah, blah, blah.
No matter the evidence, they blame “liberals” or Democrats or journalists, accusing us of hating Trump, instead of realizing we’re just calling out the facts and they are parroting Trump’s proven lies.
I also get emails.
The overwhelming majority are enthusiastically supportive.
I get a few well-reasoned rebuttals, to which I try to respond as they seem intellectually well-intentioned.
But the bulk of the critical emails I get from Trump supporters is pretty simple: usually a four-letter-word then “you,” although I occasionally get a 12-letter word preceded by “you.”
My usual response is, “Thank you for your insightful comment.”
Now a bunch of Trump’s support comes from Christian evangelicals (the Flintstones believers?).
And they support him because they think he’s a modern-day King Cyrus, a 6th century BCE pagan who delivered the Jews, and that Trump will “defend” them as well, and/or;
God made Trump president, not the Electoral College, and/or;
They support his fight to strike down Roe v. Wade and deny a woman’s right to control her own body, and/or;
They like his Supreme Court picks, and/or;
Trump’s tenure is a step toward the End Times when true believers (themselves?) will be taken up to heaven, and the true-believing Christian dead will rise, and the Antichrist will be defeated, and the Jews will renounce Yahweh and embrace Jesus. (Not sure what happens to the earth’s 1.7 billion Muslims, 1.3 billion Catholics, one billion Hindus, or 400 million Buddhists.)
So here’s my promise: I’m going to stop writing about Trump and start writing about other stuff.
At least until Sept. 9 (my next column).
So if Trump can break his promises about background checks, infrastructure, debt and deficits, health care, his wall, steel and coal, or manufacturing, without consequence …
… I can break mine and keep writing about Der Furor. Or not. We’ll see.
Tom Burke’s email address is t.burke.column@gmail.com.
