I have been carefully reading, listening to, and watching some people who are supportive of Trump. I am doing this to try to understand their support, since I am not supportive of Trump. I want to understand because my lived experience tells me that understanding often leads to authentic engagement and to positive social change. I want authentic engagement and positive social change because when I am in the midst of those things I experience my own humanity and connection to our shared humanity. I like my humanity. (True, I *wish* I were a Vulcan, but that is a different thread.) I like your humanity, our humanity. I am concerned about the always-and-ongoing erosion of humanity. I think the always-and-ongoing erosion of humanity is egregious in and of itself and also that it helps fuel the destruction of Earth. (Even if I *were* Vulcan, I would have no home planet to which to return, so self interest would still dictate investment in countering things leading to Earth’s destruction.)
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The people I am mentioning here –the Trump supporters I have been carefully reading, listening to, and watching– are not the Trump supporters who are excitedly and actively sharing his racist, misogynistic, xenophobic, etc. rhetoric in their writing and talking. (I am paying close attention to those Trump supporters too, but right now I am not talking about them.) The people I am talking about *here* are either not mentioning that part of his rhetoric at all or are downplaying it by characterizing it as just performance, not policy. Yes, I know, that characterization itself is a whole other (related) mess. *However,* I am not going to critique that specific characterization in this moment because right now I am writing about what I have noticed when I am paying close attention to what these particular supporters are writing and saying about why they like Trump.
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Here is what I notice. Some Trump supporters like him because they are getting the impression from him that he *does not hide anything from them*.
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They are getting the impression from him that he does not hide anything from them. When some Trump supporters say, “He tells it like it is,” or “He isn’t a politician,” or “He doesn’t sugar coat it,” or “He doesn’t tell you what he thinks you want to hear,” or “He’s honest,” or “He’s his own man,” I think they are often invoking their belief that *as a rule* their elected representatives, when interacting with the voters/citizens, are first and foremost actors; these supporters think Trump can serve as an exception to that rule. I think they are invoking their belief that their “elected representatives” are such in name only and that, rather, they are the moving parts of a system designed, powered, and perpetuated by forces wholly unknown to and unaccountable to the voters/citizens they “represent.” These supporters think Trump will absolutely care not for this unaccountable system and that he will wield the power of his Presidency outside of it, if need be, maintaining accountability directly with the voters/citizens.
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Since, as laid out in my very first paragraph, I am working to understand these particular Trump voters, these seeming invocations of their beliefs of *what is* matter very much to me. They matter at least as much, if not more than, what they think Trump might do in the future as President. Why? Because it is my observation that when people are making, in the present, a decision which will affect the(ir) future, they almost always express greater certainty about *what is,* i.e. the present, than about *what may be,* i.e. the future (or even *what has been,* i.e. the past, for that matter). The reasoning process includes both, of course, but I observe that most of us believe ourselves to know much more about what currently *is* than what *will be* and so we use our relative certainty about the present to make a decision that, we extrapolate with great hope, will result in the future we desire. So, in my effort to understand these particular supporters of Trump, one main area of focus for me is what they experience as the current realities of government/politics as outlined in the preceding paragraph.
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So then, when these particular supporters of Trump –and remember, these aren’t the ones who are excitedly, actively, and openly sharing the racism, misogyny, xenophobia, etc. (again, not getting into here what’s happening for them behind closed doors or internally in that regard) –say, “He tells it like it is,” I understand that statement to often be their call-out of their current “elected representatives” as just physical manifestations of sleight-of-hand in that system designed, powered, and perpetuated by forces wholly unknown to and unaccountable to the voters/citizens they “represent.”
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So, what’s my point? Why have I spent time and energy trying to understand these particular supporters of Trump? Why focus on this, a particular inference that they like him because they are getting the impression from him that he does not hide anything from them?
.
The people I am mentioning here –the Trump supporters I have been carefully reading, listening to, and watching– are not the Trump supporters who are excitedly and actively sharing his racist, misogynistic, xenophobic, etc. rhetoric in their writing and talking. (I am paying close attention to those Trump supporters too, but right now I am not talking about them.) The people I am talking about *here* are either not mentioning that part of his rhetoric at all or are downplaying it by characterizing it as just performance, not policy. Yes, I know, that characterization itself is a whole other (related) mess. *However,* I am not going to critique that specific characterization in this moment because right now I am writing about what I have noticed when I am paying close attention to what these particular supporters are writing and saying about why they like Trump.
.
Here is what I notice. Some Trump supporters like him because they are getting the impression from him that he *does not hide anything from them*.
.
They are getting the impression from him that he does not hide anything from them. When some Trump supporters say, “He tells it like it is,” or “He isn’t a politician,” or “He doesn’t sugar coat it,” or “He doesn’t tell you what he thinks you want to hear,” or “He’s honest,” or “He’s his own man,” I think they are often invoking their belief that *as a rule* their elected representatives, when interacting with the voters/citizens, are first and foremost actors; these supporters think Trump can serve as an exception to that rule. I think they are invoking their belief that their “elected representatives” are such in name only and that, rather, they are the moving parts of a system designed, powered, and perpetuated by forces wholly unknown to and unaccountable to the voters/citizens they “represent.” These supporters think Trump will absolutely care not for this unaccountable system and that he will wield the power of his Presidency outside of it, if need be, maintaining accountability directly with the voters/citizens.
.
Since, as laid out in my very first paragraph, I am working to understand these particular Trump voters, these seeming invocations of their beliefs of *what is* matter very much to me. They matter at least as much, if not more than, what they think Trump might do in the future as President. Why? Because it is my observation that when people are making, in the present, a decision which will affect the(ir) future, they almost always express greater certainty about *what is,* i.e. the present, than about *what may be,* i.e. the future (or even *what has been,* i.e. the past, for that matter). The reasoning process includes both, of course, but I observe that most of us believe ourselves to know much more about what currently *is* than what *will be* and so we use our relative certainty about the present to make a decision that, we extrapolate with great hope, will result in the future we desire. So, in my effort to understand these particular supporters of Trump, one main area of focus for me is what they experience as the current realities of government/politics as outlined in the preceding paragraph.
.
So then, when these particular supporters of Trump –and remember, these aren’t the ones who are excitedly, actively, and openly sharing the racism, misogyny, xenophobia, etc. (again, not getting into here what’s happening for them behind closed doors or internally in that regard) –say, “He tells it like it is,” I understand that statement to often be their call-out of their current “elected representatives” as just physical manifestations of sleight-of-hand in that system designed, powered, and perpetuated by forces wholly unknown to and unaccountable to the voters/citizens they “represent.”
.
So, what’s my point? Why have I spent time and energy trying to understand these particular supporters of Trump? Why focus on this, a particular inference that they like him because they are getting the impression from him that he does not hide anything from them?
Here’s why. How deeply must these particular people feel that they are disregarded and disenfranchised because of their elected representatives hiding things from them if they are willing to brush aside, or at least diminish, almost everything else about Trump and support him anyway because they believe that he will not hide anything from them? How deeply must these particular people feel that their elected representatives are accountable to nothing but a self-serving mechanism if they are willing to elect Trump to the Presidency not *despite* the fact that he is inexperienced in governance but perhaps *because* his inexperience is a defiant and noble choice that could translate to him operating outside of government, replacing it with something directly accountable to them?
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I wonder if, in the context of their overwhelming disillusionment with the sleight-of-hand crowd, people are so in need of actual honesty and accompanying accountability that they are grasping at anything dressed up to look remotely like it. When, for example, these particular supporters of Trump say, “He tells it like it is,” are they really making a declaration that he has done solid research and put forth a particular reasoned position or are they just relieved that he is unapologetic and apparently uninterested in hiding things from them? I think it’s the later. If they are feeling screwed over because they think those in power are hiding things from them, people will look for someone who isn’t hiding things from them. If you’re feeling screwed over enough, perhaps the lying doesn’t even matter to you anymore, as long as the lying isn’t hidden. If people believe there is an absence of actual honesty and accompanying accountability, perhaps they will take unapologetic arrogance as a substitute.
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This is where I feel that connection to our shared humanity. When I read that last sentence of the above paragraph, I feel the truth of that in my chest. I am transported to a multiplicity of singular moments in my life. For example, on most any particular day in question, I would rather work the line next to a blowhard transphobe (and there have been plenty) than be sideswiped by hearing a buddy co-worker’s “tranny” joke, made at my expense but never intended for my ears. Now if I imagine that every single day on every single line I have ever worked I was repeatedly subjected to overhearing such jokes and that the co-worker buddies who made the jokes then tried to cover their tracks, deny, rationalize, distance, etc., basically do all the things that run counter to taking accountability; well, eventually, I might believe that co-workers who said they were my buddies were bound to be hiding things from me. That blowhard transphobe would start to *look like* a known quantity, at least. Would he be? Probably not. Still, he might seem like one.
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All of this is to say that carefully reading, listening to, and watching these specific supporters of Trump has brought me back around to something I had already been wondering.
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If Trump and Clinton are the only two remaining candidates for President, it seems to me that someone inside the Clinton campaign should be saying by now (should have said long ago), “Madam Secretary, you need to make yourself the *candidate of accountability*. You have the connections, the political savvy, the access to infrastructure, and the money to leverage. Why play defense or offense with Trump? It’s not a game. Have a desire to be unapologetically accountable. Name your mistakes in service: decisions you’ve made, statements you’ve made, policies you’ve supported, stances you’ve taken, perspectives you dismissed, perspectives you should not have incorporated, etc. People are talking about these things about you already. They don’t perceive *you* to be talking about them, but they do perceive you (like “all politicians”) to be hiding from them. Tell people how you were and were not accountable for those mistakes. Make a plan to be accountable now. Is there an enormous pressure on you to be perfect, more perfect, as a female candidate for President? Absolutely. Don’t play that game; you can’t win it anyway. Change it. Offer accountability as an antidote to perfectionist culture, to hiding, to the offense/defense framing. Be something other than Not-Trump.”
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The thing about an approach like that, though, is it is only applicable if the candidate *wants* to be accountable in those ways; wants to build/strengthen the relationships that make that sort of leadership possible; wants to really internalize that so many people think of their “elected representatives” as moving parts of a system designed, powered, and perpetuated by forces wholly unknown to and unaccountable to the voters/citizens they “represent;” and wants to engage that belief rather than argue “against it.” Does Clinton want those things? I have no idea. I am pretty sure that most of these specific Trump supporters I have been following don’t think she does. I am pretty sure that some of the Democrats, Independents, etc. not currently planning on voting for Clinton don’t think she wants those things either.
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I wonder what might happen if she did want them and she said so. Unapologetic accountability – it could be a thing.
.
I wonder if, in the context of their overwhelming disillusionment with the sleight-of-hand crowd, people are so in need of actual honesty and accompanying accountability that they are grasping at anything dressed up to look remotely like it. When, for example, these particular supporters of Trump say, “He tells it like it is,” are they really making a declaration that he has done solid research and put forth a particular reasoned position or are they just relieved that he is unapologetic and apparently uninterested in hiding things from them? I think it’s the later. If they are feeling screwed over because they think those in power are hiding things from them, people will look for someone who isn’t hiding things from them. If you’re feeling screwed over enough, perhaps the lying doesn’t even matter to you anymore, as long as the lying isn’t hidden. If people believe there is an absence of actual honesty and accompanying accountability, perhaps they will take unapologetic arrogance as a substitute.
.
This is where I feel that connection to our shared humanity. When I read that last sentence of the above paragraph, I feel the truth of that in my chest. I am transported to a multiplicity of singular moments in my life. For example, on most any particular day in question, I would rather work the line next to a blowhard transphobe (and there have been plenty) than be sideswiped by hearing a buddy co-worker’s “tranny” joke, made at my expense but never intended for my ears. Now if I imagine that every single day on every single line I have ever worked I was repeatedly subjected to overhearing such jokes and that the co-worker buddies who made the jokes then tried to cover their tracks, deny, rationalize, distance, etc., basically do all the things that run counter to taking accountability; well, eventually, I might believe that co-workers who said they were my buddies were bound to be hiding things from me. That blowhard transphobe would start to *look like* a known quantity, at least. Would he be? Probably not. Still, he might seem like one.
.
All of this is to say that carefully reading, listening to, and watching these specific supporters of Trump has brought me back around to something I had already been wondering.
.
If Trump and Clinton are the only two remaining candidates for President, it seems to me that someone inside the Clinton campaign should be saying by now (should have said long ago), “Madam Secretary, you need to make yourself the *candidate of accountability*. You have the connections, the political savvy, the access to infrastructure, and the money to leverage. Why play defense or offense with Trump? It’s not a game. Have a desire to be unapologetically accountable. Name your mistakes in service: decisions you’ve made, statements you’ve made, policies you’ve supported, stances you’ve taken, perspectives you dismissed, perspectives you should not have incorporated, etc. People are talking about these things about you already. They don’t perceive *you* to be talking about them, but they do perceive you (like “all politicians”) to be hiding from them. Tell people how you were and were not accountable for those mistakes. Make a plan to be accountable now. Is there an enormous pressure on you to be perfect, more perfect, as a female candidate for President? Absolutely. Don’t play that game; you can’t win it anyway. Change it. Offer accountability as an antidote to perfectionist culture, to hiding, to the offense/defense framing. Be something other than Not-Trump.”
.
The thing about an approach like that, though, is it is only applicable if the candidate *wants* to be accountable in those ways; wants to build/strengthen the relationships that make that sort of leadership possible; wants to really internalize that so many people think of their “elected representatives” as moving parts of a system designed, powered, and perpetuated by forces wholly unknown to and unaccountable to the voters/citizens they “represent;” and wants to engage that belief rather than argue “against it.” Does Clinton want those things? I have no idea. I am pretty sure that most of these specific Trump supporters I have been following don’t think she does. I am pretty sure that some of the Democrats, Independents, etc. not currently planning on voting for Clinton don’t think she wants those things either.
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I wonder what might happen if she did want them and she said so. Unapologetic accountability – it could be a thing.
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