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Why They Hate
I hear this question over and over. What was it about Trump that makes him such a source of anger and indignation? It’s hard to understand the depths of this antipathy. It’s more than anger, more than ire. The Democrats hated Nixon, but he was hardly an inspiring Republican leader and no conservative. They hated him because he defeated them, twice. Remarkable for his lack of charisma, his victories demonstrated a profound rejection of liberalism, of Leftism, and they hated him for it.
Jimmy Carter rode Nixon’s paranoia, Watergate incarnate, into the White House, but Carter’s form of liberalism as a theology of pacifism, redistribution, and retreat failed on all fronts to inspire the electorate. Reagan thumped him after one term.
And of course, the Left hated Reagan for it. Worse yet, Reagan was a cold warrior bent on the defeat of the Soviet Union. He was no Pacifist. And he was a staunch Conservative. His economic policies of low taxation, deregulation, and individual liberty brought decades of economic prosperity. The Soviet Union failed and Reagan won re-election in a landslide. Reagan, despite tepid initial support, even opposition from the moderate (read: liberal) core of the Republican Party, moved the entire party right with the help of William F. Buckley Jr, and National Review.
Where did this lead? To an even hotter hatred on the Left and unending investigations. Reagan’s second term was hijacked. Attempts to taint his legacy were largely ineffective, but they were effective in interrupting his inspired conservative renaissance.
Bush 1 was never a committed conservative and his presidency was no extension of the Reagan Revolution. Instead, it allowed the milquetoast Republican establishment back into the public policy business. The charismatic, centrist Bill Clinton, with the help of third-party kook Ross Perot, the deficit hawk, capitalized on Bush’s failed no new tax pledge and peeled away enough of Reagan’s supporters to launch the glib Clinton to victory. Clinton was clever and never really embraced the Liberal agenda. He rode the remains of the Reagan economic wave, extended by the dot-com boom, to a second victory.
W. Bush squeaked out a narrow victory over Clinton’s doppelganger VP, Al Gore. This was before Gore invented Global Warming. The Democrats hated the younger Bush for this. The country was already fractured at this point, with the coasts and big cities entrenched in liberalism and the rest of the country, conservative. The fact that Gore won the popular vote allowed many on the Left to deny the Bush electoral victory. The hatred for W was palpable and galvanized the Democrats and the Left. 9-11 changed everything and for a brief time, including W’s re-election, the country was unified. But when the war in Afghanistan dragged on and when victory in Iraq proved far simpler than dealing with post-war chaos, W lost support. Hatred of W on the left turned hot, and the press piled on, leading to the elevation of Obama, a virtual unknown, as a Democrat savior.
Obama was clever. He knew where the line on the Left was, and he danced on it. The old Lefties knew he was one of them; in fact, he was further to the left than they were, but for all outward appearances, he was not. He favored traditional marriage. He was biracial and raised by his white family. He was Hawaiian. He was a constitutional scholar.
He conned his way into the White House. Twice. But after eight years of Obama, the country was not thriving. The economy was floundering. The world was suffering from waves of Islamic radicalism. The US was half-involved in wars around the world, leading from behind. China was on the move. North Korea was threatening, as was Iran despite US attempts to buy Iranian contrition with planeloads of cash. Inside the US, old racial grievances were reanimated. Conservatives were crushed, denigrated, and frustrated whenever possible. The country’s Leftward lurch with Obama was hardly inspirational. It was depressing. And yet, the press loved him.
Along came Trump. He entered politics without reservation and with his libidinous, flamboyant past in full view. He always was and remained a public man. He had no real friends in Washington, no favors to be returned, no alliances to be maintained. And he didn’t need money. He was, in a word, inscrutable. And as a result, he was also unpredictable. This bothered many Republicans in Washington. Trump spoke his mind without a filter and sometimes, his words were shocking. This was heresy in Washington circles where there were lines that one dared not cross, but Trump crossed them with impunity. National Review and establishment Republicans were flummoxed. Despite their opposition, Trump won the nomination and won the Presidency. And they never forgave him for it.
But their antipathy for Trump was nothing compared to the ire Trump inspired on the Left. It started with his antipathy for the mainstream press. He called them out for their blatant liberal advocacy, yet another line that could not be crossed, a tendency that could not be outed. And yet, Trump did it. Trump said it. Every day. Over and over. They reacted poorly. Advocacy and anti-Trumpism became their calling, objective reporting be damned. It suffused everything, sports, movies, everything in print and on the air.
The Democrats’ initial hatred of Trump was reflexive. He, like Reagan, proved that Leftism was antithetical to an American constitutional republic. And, like W, he failed to garner a majority of the popular vote. The pre-election antipathy was different. Trump was a phenomenon, much like Obama was when he ran his first presidential primary campaign. Hillary had been stung before. She and the Democrat party knew the threat that Trump might represent. They had to marshal whatever forces necessary to neutralize him, the Never Trumpers, the Press, their fellow Leftists. Obama had to protect his legacy. Hillary had to secure hers. Both failed
It’s taken them more than four years to get their revenge and they’re not done.
I sense, however, a change in the tone of the war on Trump. He’s been defeated, so why press on so vehemently? I didn’t understand this tack until I saw the Democrat leadership’s reaction to the so-called Capitol insurrection. They hid in closets, under desks. The Democrats showed their true colors and feelings. Yes, they still hate him, but it’s more than that. They are afraid. They fear Trump and his supporters. Perhaps they fear them because of what Durham may divulge. Perhaps they fear them because of the continued calls for investigation of election fraud and changes in election accountability. Perhaps they fear them because his supporters have not abandoned Donald Trump. Perhaps…
Biden is 78. Trump will be 78 at the end of Biden’s first term.
Time flies when you’re having fun; ask Obama.
Democrats: afraid; very afraid.
Published in General
The DNC and their allies in the media gave Trump the full-Alinsky #13 – Pick the Target, Freeze it, Personalize it and Polarize it. It is of the same pattern that Hitler did to the Jews. The thing that is so shocking is that they cowed half of the GOP, and all of the DOJ/FBI, into believing their lies too. I guess the government employees worried about their jobs at least had an excuse for their mindlessness. Orange Man Bad!
Bush will be 78? Do you mean Trump will be 78?
I think there are a lot of people who want to hate someone…and/or some group of someones…and are happy to have a convenient and safe (for them) target identified.
Three times.
Hate is the habit of fear and anger. Anger is the state that arises from unresolved cognitive dissonance, when reality contradicts one’s belief. Fear is simpler; it’s just the be-away-from tropism that all life exhibits. Its complement is love, the be-with tropism.
They’ve feared reality so long it’s become a habit, because they have to turn from it to support their belief. PDT gave them a concrete focus, and an amplifying lens, for their anger and fear.
Thanks for that. Yikes!
Oh, yeah. Visions of zombies voting in Chicago…
Because the people who broke into the Capitol were looking for Democrats and Mike Pence? Lauren Boebert could assume she’d be fine if they found her (assuming they recognised her), AOC and Pelosi not so much.
When “they” is The Swamp and coastal elites, they hate Trump because he represents the deplorables that voted for him. When “they” is the Karen of Suburbia, she hates Trump, because the media told her to and they appealed to her vanity to make it cool to hate Trump.
I should be plainer. They hate him because they’re afraid of him because he is a threat to them. DJT’s existence threatens them both directly and symbolically. Directly, because they’ve been living by lies and theft, and anyone who isn’t equally compromised is automatically a threat. They fear his symbol because DJT did real things in the real world, manipulated companies if not actual bricks, made and lost real money based on things he did. Tell a weakling of the left by his absence of skin in the game.
Part of the rage, I think, derives from the “oopsie” moment when the mainstream media realized Trump had been elected President, and they were much to blame!
After all, it was they, the elite media and its minions, who’d provided gratis millions of dollars’ worth of airtime and publicity to Trump’s candidacy. They’d covered (and mostly ridiculed) his every utterance and appearance during the long primary season while he vanquished nearly a score of traditional GOPers. And their pet HRC was so obviously a shoo-in that . . . “oopsie!!”
“Where the people fear the government, there is tyranny. Where the government fears the people, there is liberty.”
(Some say Jefferson said the, others say de Tocqueville. I have no idea who said it.)
One big factor: Trump hasn’t shown much respect for media, for long-time politicians, and for academic intellectuals.
Of course, many of them *richly deserve* disrespect…but there are few things that people will forgive less than being treated with contempt.
I argue with myself about whether Trump could have been slightly more polite to the above categories and still accomplished what needed to be done…
The Left hates Trump because he was in the way of their war against the Deplorables. The GOPe hates Trump because he was in the way of their betrayal of the Deplorables. Both hate him for exposing what they are, and they both believe that they can regain their lost credibility by silencing both him and the Deplorables.
The Left and the GOP establishment hate Trump because he is an outsider, and not part of the DC political world. He threatened their comfy existence and revolving door to and from the press and lobbying world. The so-called “press” hates Trump because they didn’t “make” him, so they couldn’t break him. He owes them nothing, and he fought back against their constant opposition and slander for nearly five years. That is why we Trump supporters love him so much. He is and was on our side and defended us against the onslaught of leftist tyranny. And we have few defenders now.
Let’s clarify that an as yet undetermined number of those who broke into the Capitol were looking for those who were prepared to accept the results of the election. Let’s also clarify that an as yet undetermined number were just hanging out. While Boebert would presumably have been OK provided she had ID, I’ve seen nothing to indicate that this was solely a Democrat hunting expedition.
The entire scenario of who was after who and the degree to which there were serious threats will hopefully be clarified to a greater extent down the line.
The hatred for Trump from the left is unprecedented. The degree to which Trump baited the left in speeches and tweets is also unprecedented, although it’s possible that it did not add much to the hate, which may already have been maxed out.
Did Trump’s plans, policies and/or actions threaten the income and status and continuing status security of certain groups of people in a way that Regan’s didn’t ?
Doubtful considering the performance of the market. More like his policies threatened the ideology of those unable to accept that there is a contrary view.
Did Regan threaten the continuing security of people involved in public education the way Trump did ?
That I don’t remember. But considering his interaction with the air traffic controllers, I don’t think he was overly impressed with occupations dominated by a union.
As the great W. C. Fields once said, “I never hold a grudge. It’s just not who I am. As soon as I get even with the son-of-a-[redacted], I forget all about it.”
https://pjmedia.com/news-and-politics/rick-moran/2021/01/24/trump-drafting-enemies-list-of-republicans-to-challenge-in-primaries-n1408023
Reported in other forums as well.
Sure, but this is about the perceptions of the lawmakers at that moment.
Point taken. But at some point, I’d like to subject their perceptions to a reasonableness standard.
Then there’s China, and the number of elected people we seem to have who either have investments in companies in that country or close relatives who have business involvements in that country. It’s understandable if they were willing to do anything (subtly, underhandedly) to help get rid of a President who was making a problem for them.
I don’t think the Left hated Trump just because he defeated Hillary. Yes, taking power away from the Elites made them very angry as they thought they and only they should rule. But as Trump himself has said, the people they really hate are we the Deplorables. We are the ones that won’t bow down to their Superiority.
I used to think among the Elites that many of them had been bullied as kids for being nerdy, bookish or simply not one of cool kids etc. and as a result of that bullying or simply the lack of popularity is why they hate so many people. I felt they had a need to get back at all those popular people that didn’t include them in the popular kids”club”.
But now I think the hatred goes far deeper than that. I tend to think that much of the Democrat/’Progressive Elite do not really believe in God, even though some are tacitly identified as Christian or Jew.
I think the idea of submitting to a Supreme Being ( a god) is the heart of the problem. The Elite I think in their own minds believe they are the Supreme Being of their lives and without question the center of their Universe. They also think as this Supreme Being that they are distinctly better than this rabble they consider Deplorable. Submitting to something else like God is unthinkable to them and being forced to recognize this something is far more powerful than they makes them really white hot angry. But here we are , God loving individuals, who keep on reminding the Progressive Elite that there really is a God, that they are not really Supreme Beings or that they are not destined to rule unquestionably because of their Supreme Being status and worse of all that there are rules ( aka morals) to live by that they should follow. This perception by us that they are not really the Supreme Being they think are, nor are they so Superior to us that they should naturally rule us and worse yet, the idea that there are morals to live by and constrain their actions infuriates them no end to the point that they psychically want harm done to us. We are not giving them to rightful due and their rightful destiny to rule, so we must be attacked mercilessly and harshly humbled.
Trump also threatened the international status quo. China was heavily threatened and they have a lot of influence on American politicians and culture. I have no doubt the helped stoke the hate with their political payoffs, corporate/finance influence, and social media manipulation.
In the months since the election who had been getting threats?
Officials who said the results were sound (and who intended to certify) or those who said the results were not sound (and who intended to not certify)?
That’s the meaningful division here rather than political party. And to be honest, I’d say the former had reasonable fears when they heard the Capitol had been breached.