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Roger Cohen: How Far America Has Fallen
The thing with every shocking revelation about Trump is that it's already baked into his image. I've never met a Trump supporter who did not know exactly who he is.Source: NYT
In a purple state, unlike in Brooklyn, N.Y., or Palo Alto, Calif., these differences press in on each other. Conversations occur that break through ideological lines. Grand Junction, in western Colorado, voted for Trump at the last election. There, I spoke to Robert Babcox, a pastor, who praised the president for sticking to his campaign promises and, for all the bravado, getting the economy revved up.
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Words dont kill, I said. Some things are worse than death, he said. So, I asked, Trumps great? No, the pastor said. He only trusted Trump to a degree. Someone should take away his cellphone, he said. Americans can come together, he said, praising John F. Kennedy. I served in the Navy, he said. I saw so many taken before their time white, black, Hispanic. It all hurt me just the same, and they all bled red, and that lesson stayed with me.
The thing about all the shocking Trump revelations Michael Cohens about violating campaign finance laws by paying hush money to two women in coordination with a candidate for federal office being the latest is that they are already baked into Trumps image. His supporters, and there are tens of millions of them, never had illusions. Ive not met one, Babcox included, who did not have a pretty clear picture of Trump. Theyve known all along that hes a needy narcissist, a womanizer, a lowlife, a liar, a braggart and a generally miserable human being. Thats why the Access Hollywood tape or the I-could-shoot-somebody-on-Fifth-Avenue boast did not kill his candidacy.
Its also why the itch to believe that the moment has come when everything starts to unravel must be viewed warily. Sure, Trump sounds more desperate. But whos the enforcer if Trump has broken the law? Its Congress and until things change there (which could happen in November) or Republicans at last abandon a policy of hold-my-nose opportunism, Trump will ride out the storm.
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/08/24/opinion/trump-colorado-purple-state.html?action=click&module=Opinion&pgtype=Homepage
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Roger Cohen: How Far America Has Fallen (Original Post)
Snellius
Aug 2018
OP
Squinch
(51,004 posts)1. This exactly. No more "searching for what makes them tick."
The deplorable are deplorable. Plain and simple. No mystery to it.
Angry Dragon
(36,693 posts)2. Congress is broken
icaria
(97 posts)4. Yes and the political system is broken
The two party system, the electoral college, gerrymandering, and the frickin Senate (where democracy goes to die).
We're caught in a cycle of dysfunction. One step up, two steps down. How much lower can it go?
Angry Dragon
(36,693 posts)5. it needs to end soon
2naSalit
(86,775 posts)3. I think I'll start calling them evil devil worshippers to their faces now.