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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsThe Moment of 'Aha!" Regarding the Blind Love and Loyalty of Trump Supporters
I was googling articles on another subject when I stumbled across someone writing about how Trump supporters twist themselves into all kinds of knots excusing his lies, his behavior and cannot let themselves see him clearly.
A lightbulb went off in my head.
I think I know why Trump supporters are so blindly loyal to him that they would defend him and excuse him if he shot a gun off in the middle of 5th Ave., in NY as he so famously observed.
Most of Trump's supporters are older baby boomer whites. And they are not just working class. Many are Christians, have led their life by the book. Did everything they were expected to do as far as the ideal of white middle class.
But, not just the anger about the way their lives turned out, resentment over the rise of minorities, the fear of the coming minority majority, was the driving forces in attraction to Trump.
Many of them also see Trump as a harkening back to their college age days.
Many baby boomers lived a life of rebellion, anti establishment, FU at authority and turning their backs on the political and society norms of the day.
A sense of freedom, of throwing off the yolk of expectations of their parents and a deep suspicion and hate of the government that lied about Vietnam.
This generation hit their stride, however, not as hippies but, as yuppies during the Reagan age. It was the beginning of the end of their parents era of the New Deal and its dominance over public policy for over 30 years. They hated Jimmie Carter and LBJ as symbols of why they hated government and especially taxes. Taxes were for the shared burden of public policies that did the things that maintained our schools, parks, police but, also made possible the Interstate highways and maintaining them. But, to boomers it was a burden they resented. They did not want to pay for those things and for things that equalized things for African Americans after centuries of keeping them out of the good jobs and middle class.
Reagan and the new conservatives spoke to that resentment. And made greed and money worshiping good. For the first time since the depression it was good to spend on everything, to salivate over material things. And grasping for luxury items and status symbols. Throw off the pinching pennies, being wise with money, save for the things you want and doing without. Let the good times roll, baby.
Trump brought those two eras together and for much of his base, he reminded them of the euphoria of thumbing their noses at authority and government when they were young. His wealth and obscene gaudiness of taste reminded them of the fun and freedom of spend baby spend, Lifestyle of the rich and famous 80s.
The crash and austerity after 2008 brought back memories of their parents lifestyle and moderate living. Trump reminded them of Reagan and the splashiness of the 80s. Trump was a creature of the 80s and epitomized the whole era. His wealth, his showing it off, his splashiness. On top of it, he was a Reality tv star just like Reagan was in the movies and tv early in his life.
Trump reminds them of their glory days and erases the fear of 'their way of life and white dominance' being replaced, like that Obama did with his presence everyday in the White House. Obama was a constant reminder of the rise of minorities and the ebbing of white rule.
underpants
(183,043 posts)Well done.
tazkcmo
(7,306 posts)They're assholes.
Cooley Hurd
(26,877 posts)tazkcmo
(7,306 posts)Glad you took my post as intended. After I posted, it occurred to me my post could be construed as a cut at YOU, not the Shit Gibbon voters. Your post is the meat to my reply and as they say, the devil is in the details!
FiveGoodMen
(20,018 posts)WinkyDink
(51,311 posts)angstlessk
(11,862 posts)world wide wally
(21,762 posts)These were the geeks sitting on the sidelines and just making money or talking about how wonderful the War in Vietnam was.
FakeNoose
(32,917 posts)The hippies were always hippies. The yuppies were always yuppies. You're suggesting that hippies got older and richer and turned into yuppies. However no such thing happened.
I'm the same age as the people you're discussing here and I experienced those times. Nobody I grew up with would have ever voted for Nixon or Reagan, it was our parents and grandparents who voted them into office. In our youth the baby-boomers had remarkably little political power, and that's why we were sent to fight the Vietnam War even though we thought it was immoral.
The only political recourse we had was to strike and protest against the war, but that didn't make us hippies. That made us war protesters, and probably quite a few joined the Democratic Party because of it. What turned the tide on the Vietnam War was the fact that parents started protesting along with their kids (baby-boomers) because they started to get it. The war wasn't going to end just because Nixon was president, just because he said he would end it. Boys came home in boxes and the thing never ended and the Republicans didn't care. It wasn't their kids that were dying.
None of this has anything to do with Donald Trump because Trump was a rich-kid draft dodger. He never protested the war and he didn't give a shit since he didn't have to fight it. Let other kids die in Vietnam, it didn't matter to him. He had money to make and money is the only thing that mattered to him. (Then and now.)
Very few people that I personally know who are near to my age (I'm 66) voted for Trump. I don't see this as a generational acceptance for someone who would have been rejected by a different generation. I see it as Americans who were already racist but ashamed to openly admit their racism, suddenly saw a way to vote for a racist man who spoke their racist thoughts openly. It's unfortunate that so many people in the USA are closet racists, but apparently they are or they were last year.
The other thing that I see is that Putin and his Russian buddies have hacked our voting machines and turned our elections to benefit themselves, and we're too stupid to see it or stop him from doing it. THAT needs to be changed immediately. After we've fixed that problem we can go to work immediately on the other things.
lunatica
(53,410 posts)lunatica
(53,410 posts)Rebelliousness first came with Rock & Roll. Our parents hated it and were very suspicious and afraid of it because it was blatantly about sex. You can see it in movies like Grease.
In the sixties the rebellion became real because we were fighting in Viet Nam. The thing that the Millenials and everyone else who came after the Boomers don't know anything about is what it's like when every able bodied 19 year old man is drafted to go to a war. Vietnam was on the other side of the world and no one knew why we were there. We were told it was to stop the spread of Communism, but we started to wise up about it. We knew the war wasn't about protecting our country. It was about what politicians wanted. It was about our own spreading Imperialism. The backlash was we became the peace movement and in our naivete and illusions we turned to drugs and sex and peace and love. We didn't want war and it made no sense to us and we knew we were fodder for obscure and nefarious politicians to throw around. No one had invaded us. No one attacked us or our interests.
We all watched our brothers and boyfriends and friends get inducted into the service and go to fight a war that just didn't make any sense at all. This divided the boomers into who we are now. The liberals versus the Trump lovers. Guess who had it better all along. It was the Boomers who went to college and acquired careers. Trump's followers are not known for their higher education, their liberalism or anything much that's positive. For all their lives they've hated the other, whether it was the other colors, the other foreigners, or other religions being followed.
In my experience the Trump loving people have always been here. Always. I remember them when I was a child and a teenager and an adult and all through my life. They were mostly in the closet racists and misogynists and zenophobics and spoke in whispers behind their hands to each other about the others in derogatory and horrible ways. Many times I and others like me were mistaken for them because of being white and their generation. The only difference between Trump's followers now and those who came before was that they've emerged into the daylight with their hatred and resentment. It just seems that this is a new thing. It's not.
FakeNoose
(32,917 posts)Very insightful.
I think we posted at the same time, saying roughly the same thing.
Fantastic Anarchist
(7,309 posts)I'm a Gen-Xer and I see some like me, some boomers, and some millennials of all stripes. The one thing trump supporters have in common is their misguided and/or their faux libertarian views.
They are not the original libertarians of the Left borne in European socialist thought, which stressed cooperation over competition (but still distrusted government). They are part of the reactionary Right and claim to hate government, but really don't. They love government that protects and benefits them only. They are not very bright, have little impulse-control, and are quite primitive.
They are charlatans just like their commander-in-thief.
hvn_nbr_2
(6,492 posts)Response to lovemydogs (Original post)
WhiskeyGrinder This message was self-deleted by its author.
Vinca
(50,334 posts)Lots of younger people voted for him, too. Yesterday, while over in Vermont, I followed a beaten up Tennessee Lexus with a Trump/Pence sticker. It stood out because you rarely see Trump anything around here. As I drove past them I glanced over and they looked like a couple of early 30's meth heads.
procon
(15,805 posts)I don't think Trump's base can be conveniently pigeoned holed into such a convenient box. There is a huge, long list of sub-groups that find a common affinity for whatever demented mishmash Trump is serving up at any given hour. Boomers are a large and diverse group, but they are merely one, minor category of Trump voters.
I suspect that more Boomers are here in DU, and many more of us voted for Hillary and Bernie, not Trump.