In response to criticism of Trump’s flipping America’s support from UKraine to Putin, a person on twitter argued that this is what America voted for when it elected Trump. Indeed, this argument appears in response to pretty much every move Trump, or his work wife Musk, makes, that this is what America voted for.
The problem is that we elected a president, but we never held a referendum on any of the individual positions Trump took during the campaign. Even more to the point, the issue of how any goal would be accomplished was not on the table. Sure, Trump said that he would end the war in Ukraine in 24 hours, or even before he took office, was only taken seriously by the dumbest of his MAGA faithful, but did anyone vote for Trump because he swore to abandon our allies, Ukraine and Europe, in furtherance of his unrequited bromance with Vladimir Putin?
At the time of the election, the two foremost issues motivating voters were the economy (inflation) and the border crisis. Notably, inflation continues to increase and deportations under Trump lag behind Biden and Obama, tough talk aside. And yet here we are, arguing that Trump’s election by less than 50% of the voters can somehow be extrapolated into an electoral mandate for isolationism.
Adding insult to injury, did America vote for Trump to enlist a deeply conflicted Musk and a handful of coders of dubious grasp of how government functions to take a chainsaw to the federal workforce, indiscriminately cutting staff and programs without any consideration of what they’re breaking, whether it’s good or bad for the country, or whether it can be repaired when they come to the realization that they screwed up? Did America vote to kill Alzheimer’s research? Did America vote to get rid of air traffic controllers, particularly the new and younger ones who won’t be the senior and experienced ones ten years from now when their predecessors retire and there is no one to fill their seats?
Why Trump beat Harris, even if only by a hair, is the subject of much debate, particularly on the Democratic side given that it flies in the face of their misbegotten ideological delusion that the real American dream was to go woke and reimagine a nation focused primarily on the desires of its most radical citizens. But Trump did beat Harris, and, as we are wont to say, elections have consequences. But what consequences? Does that mean anything that pops into an old orange noggin at any moment?
Never in the history of America has anyone been so simplistically dedicated to the belief that winning an election meant the president gets to do anything, absolutely anything, because he won and the American people voted for [fill in the blank].
There tend to be two distinct problems with attempting to address Trump initiatives. The first is that supporters embrace flagrant lies and falsehoods much as the woke did when they had the mic, and believe they get to argue their merit based on their fantasy version of reality. The second is arguments premised on Trump’s mandate, even if Trump lacks any grasp of the facts or just dissembles, exaggerates or spews nonsense. Hey, he was elected, elections have consequences, and this is what the people voted for. We may not be able to present a sound or rational argument in support of what Trump does, but at least he wears the mantle of the people’s choice and that’s good enough.
Or is he not Harris, and but for that, he would have gone down in flames again as nobody outside of the MAGA faithful voted for Trump because they believed he was really a stable genius and stood behind anything that popped into his head. America had enough of woke. That is hardly the same as America wants Trump to be its king and isolate us from the rest of the world.
Welcome to the joys of Rhetoric. The era of the Lincoln Douglas Debates, where opponents would honorably speak for hours and actually attempt to rebut their opponents is not here. (If it ever swayed many people in the first place.)
The original hope was that the President would be the Adult in the room, the person who would be rational in the face of problems. About 20 or so of them were the problem instead.
Trump doesn’t act like the adult in the room according to a lot of Americans, but he does seem to own problems and want to fix them. Perfect? No. But the US isn’t responsible for bailing Europe out of the excrement-fest that Ukraine has become. No country in Europe has enough of a functioning army to execute a ground war in Ukraine. The US is not much better. Is is worth ballistic chunks of tungsten or concrete being lobbed at Berlin, London, New York, or Washington? (A redneck would say “Don’t threaten me with a good time”. That’s Rhetoric.)
The Adult in the Room has to understand sunk cost and be willing to say “what can we win now, and is it worth it”. A lot of the people screaming about the Ukraine are people who wouldn’t mind several billion people dying off and reducing the surplus population, so a nuclear war doesn’t bother them. It should bother us.
Hope you didn’t sprain anything falling to your knees and surrendering to Putin. After all, why fight when you can just be a sniveling coward and make excuses for letting invading Putin take whatever he wants.
Dlon’s intervention in federal spending is unsettling. On one hand, I don’t mind drastic efforts to cut federal agency funds. On the other, I’m the trustee for a company that is funded in large part from Medicaid. This company takes care of severely disabled persons. Hundreds of them. The people who work for this company do the work of angels. I’d like to believe Dlon does not intend to deny the medical care these persons desperately need.
I’d be lying if I said I’m not worried. I AM worried yet still hoping for a decent end to this menacing saga. Meanwhile, the CEO is making emergency plans for the day when funding is stopped. Anxiety is high and will not be forgotten no matter the outcome.
Reagan tried to make the country into a Disney movie, but now, it’s a Rodney Dangerfield movie with a Burger King crown.
Well, there are all these also-elected Congress Critters. In more reasonable times, they can exert quite a lot of pressure on a President. Alas, the Republicans abdicated from their responsibilities, and confirmed the most utterly incompetent and misguided appointments, and include too many bad ideas in their legislation.
“did America vote for Trump to enlist a deeply conflicted Musk and a handful of coders of dubious grasp of how government functions to take a chainsaw to the federal workforce”
Yes. I don’t vote, but everyone I know who voted for Trump did so based on his promises to eviscerate the corrupt establishment, and they are all cheering these moves, as am I. I did not believe that Trump would keep any of his promises (besides the ones he made to his donors). I am pleasantly surprised.
Musk isn’t a surprise. Trump campaigned with him, openly accepted money from him, and promised to let him loose on the establishment, Twitter-style. That’s part of the reason why some people voted for him (especially young people who otherwise would not have voted).
[Ed. Note: I’m shocked to learn everyone you know shares your psychotic delusions.]
Of course you’re cheering the mindless and arbitrary evisceration of government because finding actual waste, fraud and abuse would require effort, be very hard and make heads of puny-minded people hurt really badly. You really have no clue what a cartoon character you are. Say hi to Squirrel.
This is Trump 2.0, and yes, America voted him in again with absolutely no excuse that they didn’t know what they voted for. Its not some fluke everyone can ignore. This is modern America. This is not a nightmare, the majority of your contry really wanted him back, louder and brasher and more willfully ignorant than ever. And it’s not like its just Trump either – the voters who put him into office will not get smarter, more discriminating or less deluded the next time, or the time after that.
I know that it is fashionable, among the shrinking cohort of NYT readers and CNN watchers, to think that the rest of us are psychotic or stupid. As the number of people outside the MSM bubble increases, this belief will become increasingly difficult to maintain, and eventually you will look up from the NYT and notice that reality is different from the shadows on the cave wall.
The woke thought they were the majority. The MAGA think they are the majority. You think you are normal. This surprises no one, but it does provide comic relief in these very difficult times.
“Never in the history of America has anyone been so simplistically dedicated to the belief that winning an election meant the president gets to do anything, absolutely anything, because he won and the American people voted for [fill in the blank].”
I think upu have forgotten all those editorials in major outlets after the election of Barack Obama