On her show Full Frontal, Samantha Bee talks with a diverse group of supporters of Donald Trump as to why they support him despite his xenophobia, racism, and advocacy of violence.
I have got to hand it to Bee. Listening to the rationalizations of this group would have driven me up the wall and I would have started yelling. But she manages to keep it all together. That’s professionalism.
In addition, Bee takes a look at Ted Cruz’s life and her review prompts the incredulous question: This is the guy Republicans plan to get behind if their campaign to get rid of Trump succeeds?
Mano,
I’ve watched this three times now and I honestly can’t tell if the Trumpists are real or part of the joke.
That’s scary.
Jeff
I wouldn’t call those articulate people intelligent -- intelligence involves being informed and those young people seemed too naive to be credited with it.
Indeed.
Jesus Christ On A Pogostick.
At first I suspected that the gay black student must be the same one I heard on This American Life, Alex Chalgren. But I’m not sure. How many gay black student Trump supporters are there?
Horrifying.
Their response to the racism was interesting. It didn’t really seem like they were defending him (although they did defend him despicably against Muslims). It’s more that they didn’t want to hear it. Perhaps they were swayed by all the whining about political correctness.
Good All-American God-Fearing Patriots every one of them.
If this is the kind of people your nation is pumping out, you guys are just so completely fucked…
Sorry eh?
janiceintoronto @6
We had better get to work on that wall on the 49th parallel eh.
Their reasoning, complete with non-logical and circular explanations, and a look in their eyes like they are in a logically inconsistent dream, with a touch of “help me”, tells me what I need to know. Trump has tapped into their emotional needs and desires, areas which they don’t really have any control over. They know it feels good to be told that it isn’t their fault, that it is the others who screwed everything up, that they need not worry themselves about the messy details of a complicated world and a wildly divergent array of humanity, that what they need is a strong daddy figure to come in and make things right by force of will and determination.
It is the siren song of authoritarianism and fascism.
Its spell is not based on logic or reason and neither logic nor reason can break it. Its spell is based on primitive human needs to belong, to feel part of a group and to feel validated by that group. It is rooted in the need to know where one stands in a society and what is valued by that society. To know how to act and what is expected of you.
I’ve a friend who enjoys BSDM. He claims that the never feels so free as when he is under the direction of his mistress. In that space there is never any need to worry or think about anything but whatever task he is given. In that space he is in a perpetual and forever now in which he is totally committed to that one thing. He claims it is very zen. Calming. Relaxing. After a session he is relaxed, focused and ready to take on the world. Authoritarianism can be like that.
They are smart kids. Lashed to the mast until the feelings pass they will be fine. But obviously they are not thinking clearly right now. That confused look is a good sign. They deep down know something is wrong but they just can’t face the fact that their intellects could be hijacked by a logic of authoritarianism delivered by a willful charismatic figure.
The young adults on the show got to be actors. Right. Right?