Jordan Klepper heads to South Carolina to ask Nikki Haley supporters what she can do to beat Trump, then hits a Trump rally to ask his supporters why they’ll...
I feel bad for most Trump supporters. Sometimes what got them there was internal maliciousness and a desire for violence and fascism, but I think about 90% of the time it’s just being unable to make sense of the world around them and being victimized by sophisticated propaganda, which is designed to exploit weaknesses in their mental makeup in ways they’re not equipped to resist.
I saw one that was super sad. A Trump-supporting family had the father dependent on Obamacare to keep him alive. They literally couldn’t afford the treatment for his chronic medical condition even to save his life, and without the ACA, his insurance would stop paying for it.
(Bad faith trolls who keep insisting Obama, like Biden, was a terrible corporate deporter in chief who liked destroying the working class who worked tirelessly for more pain for ordinary people, please take note. I remember the pre-ACA situation for working people, what a massive positive difference it made, and how hard he had to fight even to get that fairly corporate friendly version passed.)
Anyway, he was gonna die without ACA, and during the time when Trump was going to repeal it, some TV crew came to their house and interviewed the whole family. They were obviously shocked and scared for what was going to happen to their dad. But they still supported Trump.
The journalist said, but your father’s going to die.
They said yes, we’re very scared, we don’t know what to do.
They said, and Trump is going to do it.
They got reserved about it, and said well I think it’s more complicated than that.
The journalist asked them, but he’s the one pushing this, and it’s exactly what he said he would do when he was campaigning.
They said, but we didn’t think he’d actually do it.
The journalist said, why would you think that?
They said, because it would be such a terrible thing to do, and he’s a good man, so obviously he wasn’t going to do it.
It was like there was some kind of terrible disconnect between this bedrock in their logic (Trump is a good man and we support him) and the clear facts in front of them even with life-and-death consequences for someone they clearly loved, and they couldn’t square it, and they just got confused. The journalist kept trying to get to the bottom of why they still supported him, and all they could really say about it was “he’s a good man” or talking points, and they couldn’t be made to bring it into conjunction with their reality. Even to save their father’s life.
This is incredibly sad, and also illustrates why trying to reach these voters is a lost cause. There’s no new information that can be provided that would change their position. Our education system has failed them (thanks to Conservative policy). Most simply don’t have the tools (or refuse them) to understand they are acting against their own interests to the detriment of those around them. We literally have to improve their lives against their will.
Actually the exact video linked above shows that I think there is some hope for them. There are multiple people who are saying they used to support Trump (one who was at January 6th) and are now ashamed because they know more about what’s what now, and they don’t want to support him.
A lot of people won’t change their beliefs just based on dry simple facts, presented to them one time, that don’t square with anything in their existing worldview, by someone they don’t know, etc etc. A lot of them go by emotion, what resonates with them, what “feels right” or what particular trusted people “around them” (physically or on TV) are saying. That’s not ideal, but it’s also a pretty far distance away from a total lost cause in terms of them turning away from Trump.
Yes it’s common sport to laugh and point at trumpers and Republicans in general. It’s absolute idiocy. But no one is immune from it. For instance most Americans believe China, north Korea, and the Soviet Union are/were communist. It’s what we’re generally taught, indoctrinated with. And absolutely false. Yet many will still struggle with the concept because of bad actors across the spectrum.
It can happen to anyone. But it shouldn’t happen with the frequency it doesn’t to Republicans, that’s for sure.
I feel bad for most Trump supporters. Sometimes what got them there was internal maliciousness and a desire for violence and fascism, but I think about 90% of the time it’s just being unable to make sense of the world around them and being victimized by sophisticated propaganda, which is designed to exploit weaknesses in their mental makeup in ways they’re not equipped to resist.
I saw one that was super sad. A Trump-supporting family had the father dependent on Obamacare to keep him alive. They literally couldn’t afford the treatment for his chronic medical condition even to save his life, and without the ACA, his insurance would stop paying for it.
(Bad faith trolls who keep insisting Obama, like Biden, was a terrible corporate deporter in chief who liked destroying the working class who worked tirelessly for more pain for ordinary people, please take note. I remember the pre-ACA situation for working people, what a massive positive difference it made, and how hard he had to fight even to get that fairly corporate friendly version passed.)
Anyway, he was gonna die without ACA, and during the time when Trump was going to repeal it, some TV crew came to their house and interviewed the whole family. They were obviously shocked and scared for what was going to happen to their dad. But they still supported Trump.
The journalist said, but your father’s going to die.
They said yes, we’re very scared, we don’t know what to do.
They said, and Trump is going to do it.
They got reserved about it, and said well I think it’s more complicated than that.
The journalist asked them, but he’s the one pushing this, and it’s exactly what he said he would do when he was campaigning.
They said, but we didn’t think he’d actually do it.
The journalist said, why would you think that?
They said, because it would be such a terrible thing to do, and he’s a good man, so obviously he wasn’t going to do it.
It was like there was some kind of terrible disconnect between this bedrock in their logic (Trump is a good man and we support him) and the clear facts in front of them even with life-and-death consequences for someone they clearly loved, and they couldn’t square it, and they just got confused. The journalist kept trying to get to the bottom of why they still supported him, and all they could really say about it was “he’s a good man” or talking points, and they couldn’t be made to bring it into conjunction with their reality. Even to save their father’s life.
This is incredibly sad, and also illustrates why trying to reach these voters is a lost cause. There’s no new information that can be provided that would change their position. Our education system has failed them (thanks to Conservative policy). Most simply don’t have the tools (or refuse them) to understand they are acting against their own interests to the detriment of those around them. We literally have to improve their lives against their will.
Actually the exact video linked above shows that I think there is some hope for them. There are multiple people who are saying they used to support Trump (one who was at January 6th) and are now ashamed because they know more about what’s what now, and they don’t want to support him.
A lot of people won’t change their beliefs just based on dry simple facts, presented to them one time, that don’t square with anything in their existing worldview, by someone they don’t know, etc etc. A lot of them go by emotion, what resonates with them, what “feels right” or what particular trusted people “around them” (physically or on TV) are saying. That’s not ideal, but it’s also a pretty far distance away from a total lost cause in terms of them turning away from Trump.
Yes it’s common sport to laugh and point at trumpers and Republicans in general. It’s absolute idiocy. But no one is immune from it. For instance most Americans believe China, north Korea, and the Soviet Union are/were communist. It’s what we’re generally taught, indoctrinated with. And absolutely false. Yet many will still struggle with the concept because of bad actors across the spectrum.
It can happen to anyone. But it shouldn’t happen with the frequency it doesn’t to Republicans, that’s for sure.