Nearly 50% of Donald Trump voters believe Hillary Clinton is involved in pedophilia ring

[portlander23]

Nearly 50% of Donald Trump voters believe Hillary Clinton is involved in pedophilia ring: poll
Chris Sommerfeldt
NY Daily News

The Economist/YouGov poll released Tuesday shows that a staggering 46% of Trump voters believe the so-called “Pizzagate” conspiracy, which began circulating on obscure sites like 4chan and Reddit ahead of Election Day before spurring controversy on Twitter and Facebook.

Concerns over the dangerous impact of fake news were heightened after Edgar Welch, 28, of Salisbury, N.C., stormed into the Italian restaurant at the center of the baseless conspiracy with a loaded assault rifle on Dec. 4 in order to “self-investigative."

Further, the poll showed that 60% of Trump voters believe the President-elect’s false claim that “millions" of people "voted illegally” in this election, while half think it’s “at least probably true” that President Obama was born in Kenya — a claim originated by the notorious “birther” conspiracy, which attempted to delegitimize the first African-American President.

What the hell is wrong with people?

[LonePirate]

1. People only believe what they want to believe, the truth be damned.

The Republican base, as has been proven time and time again, is incredibly stupid and ignorant. Leaders of the party are typically smarter but they are also far more evil as they manipulate their base to accomplish nefarious goals, often at the expense of their base.

[jberryhill]

13. It's not true that people believe what they want to believe

I believe many things which I would prefer not to believe. I believe I will die, for example. I believe everyone else will as well. I believe I will grow old or, if not, meet with a disease or accident which kills me.

I also would like to believe many things which I do not believe. I would like to believe that leprechauns inhabit the woods near my home. However, I am aware that they do not, as much as I would like to believe that.

What beliefs of yours have you "chosen"? Have you decided to believe that 2+2=4? Can you decide not to believe that?

[LonePirate]

16. Repub voters believe Pizzagate and Obama was born in Kenya. They choose to believe those lies.

[jberryhill]

19. No, they simply believe them

Would you consider addressing the question of "What things do you believe because you have "chosen" to believe them?"

Alternatively, might you consider "What things do you believe, which you can 'choose' not to believe?"

Try it as an experiment. Pick something you believe - a relatively innocuous and inconsequential belief - and choose not to believe it. Can you?

Or is it the case that you only believe things which are true, and that therefore everything you believe is true?

If I pay you, can you decide to believe something? I will pay you a million dollars to sincerely believe that there is a little moon-man named "Bob" who lives in an underground fortress on the moon. Now, I have a machine which can determine the sincerity of your belief as a test. Do you think you could sincerely believe that, even if I offered you a million dollars to believe it?

[LonePirate]

29. I think we're debating two different behaviors here.

I provided two examples where Repubs willingly and publicly admit to believing things which are simply not true. You can add climate change and evolution to the list of items where Republican beliefs (in these two cases, abject denial of both) defy facts and reality. I couldn't care less what's in their hearts when their words and actions are consistent and clear.

[Archae]

18. People do believe what they want to believe.

Especially if the promoter sounds charismatic, intelligent, and well-versed in a topic.

Just look at Ken Ham and his creationism.

Jeffrey Smith and his GMO hysterics.

Andrew Wakefield and his anti-vaxx bullshit.

Donald Trump and his groupies.

[jberryhill]

20. No, they believe what they are inclined or predisposed to believe

They may believe things because it comes from someone they trust, but that is also not a choice.

It's not about wanting to believe it at all.

There are people who go to church every Sunday who don't believe a word of what goes on there. They know that lack of sincere belief may have bad consequences for them in the hereafter, so they keep dragging themselves there in the attempt that by feigning belief over a long period of time they might someday come to an actual sincere belief. It doesn't work.

Why not try my thought experiment: Choose to discontinue something you believe. Just try it.

Again, the only response to your inability to do so is to take the position that you only believe things which are correct, and are somehow immune to believing things which are incorrect. That kind of work pays well.

[pnwmom]

2. And yet many here argue that these people willing to believe

such hateful lies aren't deplorable.

[frazzled]

7. And many also argue that

the so-called mainstream media is just as, if not moreso, fake as the kind of fake news that generated the Pizzagate lie. Funny, I never saw anything on the PBS NewsHour about the child prostitution ring run out of a pizza parlor.

False equivalencies are ... false.

[ronnie624]

37. MSM are a little more subtle, but still lying sacks of shit.

Through selective 'reporting', uncritically piping Party, State and Pentagon propaganda along with drawing false equivalence, they promote views that are every bit as much at odds with objective reality.

Remember the hysteria they pushed during the McMartin preschool investigation and trial.

During that time, the Contras were being falsely characterized as "freedom fighters", with virtually no reporting about the mining of the Nicaraguan harbor and the subsequent international court ruling against the US over the incident.

And then there was the blatant, outrageous propaganda that was disseminated to manufacture consent for the invasion of Iraq.

Skepticism is best, no matter the source.

[awoke_in_2003]

46. PBS NewsHour...

isn't mainstream media. Cable and network news (in the US) are, and they are mostly full of shit.

[JustAnotherGen]

28. Ture pnwmom - sadly so true

[Turbineguy]

3. The beauty of propaganda.

Once you get there, it takes very little to stay there.

It will take a lot of effort and time. In the mean time, the U.S. could become a failed state.

[TheBlackAdder]

4. They are trying to filter their child internet porn, to make sure it's sourced from Republican sites

[mountain grammy]

5. All future SS.

[Loge23]

6. They can't handle freedom

Freedom is not about having the right to express lunatic theories that arise from one's own deep-seated ignorance and hatred.
I still say that it's ALL of trump voters and ALL of R's that represent the biggest threat to this country that perhaps we have ever seen. I would venture to say that at least 95% of them are among the truly deplorable - an appellation that they now proudly wear.
Many of us look back on the McCarthy era as a ridiculous sideshow that can't happen again. Well it has.
trump will exact his revenge on anyone who has had the nerve to protest his sham election. I strongly suspect that he has already appointed people to shift through tweets, posts, and sites like this one to compile ID's.
Now that in itself may be enough to rid this scum forever, but I fear that his influence and power may be too far embedded within the R party already.
This is about to get very ugly - he may need a wall to keep us in.

...and how about today's latest outrage?
"trump turns on Obama" the headline read on Business Insider, right above the next one that read "WH getting ready to announce its punishment for Russia"

Connection?? Y'think??

The best we can hope for is seeing this piece of human garbage (trump) carted off to prison.

[DanTex]

8. Like Hillary said, half of them are deplorable.

[ProfessorGAC]

23. And They Believe She Said "All Of Them"

Including the half she wasn't talking about.

[Hortensis]

44. Upgraded to depraved. Far beyond just deplorable.

And for each that genuinely believes this stuff, there are more who don't really believe she's in the pedophilia business. It's a position they adopt because they like the idea and it's useful to them. To my mind the latter group are worse than the first.

[unblock]

9. relentless propaganda, and we need to tackle that problem. it dwarfs all others.

i'm tired of the minutiae of woulda, coulda, shoulda; and if only next time we run a better candidate, better message, better organization.

yeah, of course, we always want the best possible candidate, message, organization, etc.

but we're dealing with a propaganda machine that can make millions of people accept completely made-up fictions pretty much at will and pretty much instantaneously.

they got people to believe obama was not constitutionally qualified to be president, yet somehow everyone let it happen. even after seeing his birth certificate, there are millions who still believe he was born in kenya.

they got people to believe hillary must be untrustworthy simply because partisan republicans have been slandering her for years.

they got people to believe that several people who got purple hearts were just liars. some people seriously believe kerry actually shot himself in order to claim hero status.

they got people to believe the man sponsored internet funding and led the effort to get massive amounts of government information onto the web deserved not credit for anything having to do with the internet and was lying to steal credit.


and this one takes the cake: they got millions of people to vote on the basis of which candidate would you rather have a beer with, and then vote for the candidate that doesn't drink alcohol.


none of the rest of it matters until we figure out how to defeat this propaganda machine. until then, they can smear *anyone* with enough slime to bury them.

[spanone]

10. nearly 50% of tump voters are out of their fucking minds

[yardwork]

21. Actually, it has to be nearly 100%. I mean, they voted for Trump.

[uponit7771]

11. These are some of the dumbest muthafuckas I aint never seen

[librechik]

12. what keeps this going? A general hatred of women

Some people think all women are evil in the Biblical sense and in general. It's easier to convince misogynists that one woman can be evil, since they have been taught to regard all women as evil, untrustworthy and worth little more than chattel.

the Trump administration will obviously support this trend. Who needs women to ask for equal pay? Hey, bitch, go find another job. Trump literally said this.

[leftyladyfrommo]

14. And 90% think she is crooked.

They have no idea why she is crooked but she is crooked.

[Cosmocat]

15. RIGHT

because ...

25 years of republicans throwing shit at her day, after day, after day ...

And, somehow, these idiots voted for Donald Trump.

THIS is America, 2016.

[dembotoz]

17. stupid is as stupid does

[Calculating]

22. This are the people we're supposed to 'reach out to'?

They're actually dumber than freakin monkeys.

[Tatiana]

24. You can't reason with this.

Part of turning around this contingent of ignorant people would require us to re-institute the Fairness Doctrine and take out Fox News.

[jalan48]

25. Media brainwashing is a powerful thing.

[radical noodle]

26. We have to start fighting back n/t

[Act_of_Reparation]

27. That sense of shock and surprise that people can be this dumb... that's why we lose elections.

The sooner we stop overestimating the intelligence of the general public, the better off we'll all be.

[redstatebluegirl]

30. Ok, to put this in perspective.

He got 49 percent of the vote, 50 percent is a little less than 25 percent of voters, not Americans, those who chose to vote last time. It is a small but loud minority of this country. I have to think we are allowing them to bully us into submission.

Now that I have crawled out of the darkness after 2 months of mourning, I intend to call them on it. May they threaten violence, yes, some have, but I really don't think they will do anything it would require them getting out of their parent's basement and put on some clothes to go outside with normal people. They would have to turn off Fox for a few minutes, who knows what would happen without the Fox brainwashing them 24/7. They can't get away from their comfort zone.

The majority of America do not think like this, the MSM want us to think so because it makes for good copy. If we stop watching the MSM, let their sponsors know that people who buy things are paying attention we might do some good. If we hear this type of thing from someone, call them on it.

We can no longer be silent about things that matter. Amazing what a couple of days back on DU can do for a person .

[stevenleser]

47. Trump got 46% not 49%. Hillary got 48% and 55% of eligible voters turned out.

I agree with the rest of what you wrote.

[ffr]

31. Until Conservative is turned into a bad word, instead of a proud affiliation, expect it to get worse

RW TV and radio gives them a platform to feel proud of. These people didn't come to their own conclusions. Absolutely not. They were told what to believe.

Now, you could try to sway them, educate them, teach them critical thinking, but you'll fail so long as they have M$M telling them otherwise. Instead, take their money. Hurt them in their pocketbooks for their stupidity. A fool and their money are soon parted.

[maxrandb]

34. Right! They're like rabid fans of a sports team

Just look at my avatar to know I understand.

The Browns didn't lost 14 games this year...they were cheated out of them by the refs. You know they have a "Browns bias".

My one hope is that their conservative label will be tied around the neck of the orange shitgibbon as he fucks this country up "bigly".

My guess, however, is that somehow when Donny "Short Fingers" fails, hate-radio will explain that he was just a "liberal".

It's what they did with Bush. If you listened to hate-radio or Faux News, you would learn that the reason Bush drove the economy to the brink of depression was because "he wasn't conservative" enough. Hell, even John Boehner was "not conservative enough".

Fuck, when John Boehner is "not conservative enough" for you, you've not only gone through the Looking Glass, you've shattered it and are using the broken shards to slit your wrists.

[ffr]

41. You are spot on. Megan Kelley. RW darling until recently.

All the RW'ers here have turned on her with venomous spite.

Queue the RW M$M labeling Drumpf a RINO in 3 - 2 - 1.

[maxrandb]

32. I'm sorry...we're supposed to "reach out" to these nuts??

[Renew Deal]

33. 100% of Trump voters voted for Trump

That tells you everything you need to know

[SidDithers]

35. They were all over Pizzagate at the Jackass Deplorables site...

So it wasn't just Trump voters who bought into the bullshit.

Well, maybe I'm wrong in saying the Jackasses weren't Trump voters.

Sid

[geek tragedy]

38. they're more Putin loyalists who will support whomever Vladdy decrees to be his favorite nt

[stevenleser]

48. Skinner should never allow folks from there back here. If you tolerated the kind of stuff that went

on there you don't belong here IMNSHO.

[SidDithers]

50. Couldn't agree more, Steven..

Merry Merry, Happy Happy and all that to you and yours.



Sid

[Solly Mack]

36. Sad sacks.

[MFM008]

39. Like we didn't know already

They were morons.

[Initech]

40. Yet another reason to utterly despise Julian Assange.

Just like the bullshit Clinton Cash conspiracy theory, Pizzagate has its' roots in Wikileaks garbage. Bullshit peddlers like Alex Jones and Rush Limbaugh love Wikileaks, and it's pretty evident that Assange is a Trump supporter. The sooner Assange gets locked up, the better.

[karynnj]

42. I HATE Assange, but you really can not blame Wilileaks for the insane Pizzagate

I know they based it on some emails, but there was NOTHING the least bit logical or reasonable in jumping from emails on pizza to the idea that it was special secret code words.

What seems clear from Assange's interview was that he hated HRC -- rather than he likes Trump.

[Vinca]

43. Sadly, it shows just how ignorant people in this country have become.

It's such a crazy story, anyone with a half dozen brain cells would immediately ignore it because it's ridiculous.

[gulliver]

45. They don't really believe it for the most part.

They are just lying about Clinton, because they hate her. It's called calumny.

[Generator]

49. Same people worried that white people will be a miniority

It's not a problem to me. But lack of education in stupid white people certainly is.

[LonePirate]

52. I think that is the driving motivator of the anti-choice crowd along with sexism.

[rumdude]

51. This is the shit that scares me more than anything else

How easy it is to manipulate them. They, the Trump voters, can seemingly be led to believe almost any wild and crazy thing. The fact that Trump went on Alex Jones and praised Jones is just mind-boggling. Jones thinks Sandy Hook was a government plot!

[BigDemVoter]

53. All this does is convince me yet again a thousandth time

that ANY poor rube who calls himself a Republican is an idiot beyond redemption.