But How Can People Still Support Trump?

From my point of view and much of the sentiment I’ve seen expressed among many friends online, the Trump presidency so far has been nothing but a big hot mess. He’s appointed terribly inept people to his cabinet. People who are the antithesis of what that role is supposed to do. He’s had numerous scandals. He’s got these ties to Russia which are only snowballing in potential impact. The list goes on and on.

It’s so bad that the big takeaway from his speech to Congress was that he didn’t royally screw it up. He read the teleprompter and didn’t start ranting about random things. He hasn’t Tweeted anything wildly alarming in the last 24 hours!

It would seem like if any other president in the past were doing even a quarter of the things Trump has done in 40 days in office, they would have just thrown in the towel and quit.

The question I’ve heard a number of people bring up is simple: how in the world can people still like him? Sure, he’s got a disapproval rating around 55%. But how is it that 45% of people still think he’s swell?

In my opinion, the answer is pretty straightforward. I’m going to assume most people asking this were Obama supporters, so I’ll address them directly. Think for a moment about all the negative things that were said about Obama over the years. Think of the allegations, from Benghazi to trampling on the Constitution to bowing to other heads of state. Think about what a big deal Fox News made about all those things.

Now think about what sort of an impact those things made on you. Were you upset about them at all? Or did you just shake your head and dismiss them as overblown accusations that didn’t really amount to much? Were they just the right wing media doing their thing, playing to their base?

I’m imagining that for many of you, you didn’t think twice about them. But realize that for a good portion of the country, those things were a big deal. A very big deal. And for years, that group of people was told by the group that’s currently upset that the fears they had were unfounded. That they were making too big of a deal about it.

So is it any wonder that now the situations are reversed, that it’s playing out in a similar fashion?

Trump supporters call the stories that deride or criticize him “fake news.” And while the term might be loaded, how is it any different from how liberals treated Fox News during Obama? If a story came out on Fox News, it was dismissed as being “on Fox News.” Same process at work. Just a different f-word.

This post isn’t about whether the stories about Obama or Trump ever had any merit. It’s seeking to explain how a group of people can look at what one side views as overwhelming evidence that the President is corrupt or inept, and then ignore it. Both sides have accused the other of doing it now. My hope is that at some point, this partisan politics completely breaks down as citizens stop choosing Red or Blue and start pushing for sanity.

Too bad that hasn’t happened yet . . .