Tag: Low Information Voters

Closing Thought–26Jul17

In The Land Of “True Believers”!

I have a couple of friends that are supporters of Trump…they are die hard believers.

I ask why and usually get the same answer ….”he has done what he promised on the campaign trail”….

Then I ask what exactly has he done?

The first reaction is….”he beat Clinton”……(really?  A good sled dog would have beaten Clinton)…..

So I got to wondering just what makes one a Trump “true believer”…..and Salon provided me with an answer so I did not have to give myself a migraine trying to understand…..

When Donald Trump gave the commencement address at Liberty University this spring, he told the graduates that “America has always been the land of dreams because America is a nation of true believers.” Trump argued that, in America, “we don’t worship government; we worship God.”

Source: Inside the minds of Trump’s “true believers” – Salon.com

After reading the article I still do not completely understand the blind obedience of his supporters.

Maybe if we can understand why the country is so divided……

In research that should come as no surprise to anyone familiar with the current political climate in the US, a new study discovered that supporters of either candidate in the last Presidential election were more likely to accept new data if it agreed with their desired outcome.

They recruited more than 800 individuals and had each indicate who they wanted to see win the 2016 Presidential election, as well as who they believed would win. Afterwards, each participant was presented with new information that was either consistent or inconsistent with their desired outcome, and again asked which candidate they believed would ultimately win the election.What they found, the authors explained, is that the participants were more likely to update their predictions if the information was consistent with their desired outcome, and were less likely to change their beliefs if the data was inconsistent with their preferred result.

Source: New study discovers why American politics is so divided – Redorbit

It is all so confusing…..

Could it be as simple as American politics is just screwed up?

Off I go……a cold beer and some cheese dip awaits…..have a day and please come back tomorrow…..be well, be safe…..chuq

Voting Against One’s Own Best Interests

There has been a disturbing trend in America….that is voters actually voting against themselves….how very American of them.

Take my state…in 2010 we had a Dem rep in DC…he was pro-life, pro-gun, pro-military, pro seniors…..he voted the way that the conservative majority in my area wanted him to vote…but for all his good deeds for the people of Mississippi he was voted out in favor of a Tea Party douche, Palazzo…..Taylor’s only crime was he was a Dem, a Blue Dog Dem…..in essence the people voted against their own best interests because of rhetoric….the perfect example of what our politics has become….petty and pathetic.

After Taylor’s loss I tried to interview locals to see why he would lose the election to a no nothing loser…..there were lots of reason but most of them made little sense but the one thing that most agreed on was the GOP tied him to Pelosi…..the man was more conservative than some Repubs…so their reasons made little sense to me….

I have tried to understand how people could do this sort of thing to themselves and a good reason escapes me at every turn.

But now the Atlantic has published an attempt to explain the phenom…..

Governing is often a cause-and-effect business. Give workers a tax break on retirement accounts? More people save for life after the working world. Offer a rebate for old cars? Drivers scrap their gas-guzzling Explorers in favor of sensible Corollas, and average fuel efficiency goes up.

It’s easy to sell something to voters when the costs and benefits are immediately obvious. But that’s not how most policies work. Many look downright terrible in the beginning—what, pay more taxes?—and deliver a payout only if people collectively change their future behavior. Take a carbon tax: Industry would pay more to produce energy, making stuff more expensive, but the price pressure might prompt an eventual shift to alternative fuels, which could deliver an overall benefit to society.

Source: Why People Enthusiastically Vote for Counterproductive Policies – The Atlantic

This phenom does not appear to be going anywhere….the American people will continue to vote against their own best interests….

Trump Makes Me Yearn For My Syndicalist Days

It is less than 4 days before America goes to the polls and picks their next president…..and their choices are still a mystery….at least to me.

I have been asking myself that question for over a year.  I have seen people that under normal circumstances are level headed and rational…..and then they hitched their fate to the Trump bandwagon.

It has been a mystery…not even the totally committed supporters have any idea why they are a supporter……..they offer up some diatribe about speaking his mind or having balls or other such simplistic dodges…….

But why?

And it’s not gender, age, income, race or religion.

If I asked you what most defines Donald Trump supporters, what would you say? They’re white? They’re poor? They’re uneducated?

You’d be wrong.

In fact, I’ve found a single statistically significant variable predicts whether a voter supports Trump—and it’s not race, income or education levels: It’s authoritarianism.

That’s right, Trump’s electoral strength—and his staying power—have been buoyed, above all, by Americans with authoritarian inclinations. And because of the prevalence of authoritarians in the American electorate, among Democrats as well as Republicans, it’s very possible that Trump’s fan base will continue to grow.

Source: Donald Trump 2016: The One Weird Trait That Predicts Whether You’re a Trump Supporter – POLITICO Magazine

I am sure this will not be a popular explanation….especially for his most ardent supporters…..but if one takes the time to look at it in a rational manner (yeah that will happen) then it does…..it makes perfect sense…..just listen to the rhetoric coming from the mouths of those ardent supporters.

A few thoughts on nationalistic fervor……

“All of nationalism can be understood as a kind of collective narcissism.”
“I distinguish, between nationalism and patriotism.”
“I don’t believe in nationalism. I think it’s a bunch of slogans. It’s a bunch of poor attempts at creating pride. My problem with nationalism is that it becomes exclusionary. We start to exclude people.”
“Nationalism is power hunger tempered by self-deception.”
Just a few thoughts on nationalism……..

Issues like “if I win then my opponent will be jailed” or “if I lose then it is all rigged and therefore not acceptable”……the cries of many 3rd world dictators……

Is the country ready and willing to give up rights/freedoms for security?

Have we been condition to make this all possible?  If so, by whom?

Globalists?  Now that is a subject for a later day….too intense for this one….an insult that could replace “apologist” or “bleeding heart” even “socialist”……

I am old now but the direction of the country makes me yearn for my Syndicalist days……..

Demographics And The Vote

The election is sliding into the national thought process (finally)……we are bombarded daily with a wealth of polling and each one has little to do with the eventual outcome…..but it helps drive the conversation by the media……but not the people that will have to make a choice.

This time around the cultural wars are playing very small in the campaigns….nationalism is on the rise……so far the only divide that is making sense (at least to me) is the education of the voters……

It has been widely reported that Donald Trump’s strong appeal to elements of the white working class (especially males) endangers Republican support among women, minorities and the more-educated in the current presidential campaign. What has had less attention is that these shifts, if they persist after this election, endanger long-term Republican control of Congress and state legislatures.

The less-educated tend to vote less often: they are less reliable. That’s one of the most fundamental realities of voting behavior, not only in the United States, but across the world wherever free elections are held. Now, it may be that enthusiasm for Trump will elevate turnout among this sector in this election; we will know more about that in the weeks after November 8.

Source: Demography and Doom: Trump’s White Working Class Base – LA Progressive

This brings us to millennials (18-34)…….this demographic is not as predictable as the media would have us believe……

Polls indicate that Donald Trump is going to be crushed by Hillary Clinton this November when it comes to millennials, who could make up the nation’s largest voting bloc. But in reality, the GOP nominee may do much better with young voters than we have been led to believe.

A real-time Electoral College tracking map published by Mic shows Clinton dominating among millennials, with Trump ahead in only five states. Given that there are 69 millennials who are currently eligible to vote, this forecast appears devastating for the GOP.

But there is one critical factor that most of the polls and tracking maps are not taking into account: voter turnout.

In the 2008 and 2012 elections, President Obama mobilized minorities, women, and young people. There was even a record turnout of young voters in 2008, when a large majority of them voted for the then-Illinois senator.

Source: Trump and millennials: He might do better than we think | TheHill

Personally, I think this election will be closer than most anticipate……Trump will most likely lose….but he will fare better than the polls that the media loves to quote….keep in mind how wrong these polls were in 2012…..

Just saying!

How to Lose an Election

I recently wrote a piece about Trump’s continuous accusations that the election is rigged……(but in case you missed my post)…….

Source: “The Election Is Rigged” – In Saner Thought

To me it seems like he has a feeling that he may lose this election and he is searching for anything that will and can be blamed for that loss…..that is anything but him.

– In what the AP calls a “rare moment of humility,” Donald Trump is beginning to signal that he is aware that he could be something other than a winner in November. “We’re having a problem,” he told a gathering of evangelical ministers on Florida on Thursday. “It could cost us the Supreme Court.” Politico reports that Trump complained about the “tremendous problem” he is having winning votes in Utah. He went on to blame evangelicals for Mitt Romney’s loss in 2012. “You did not vote for Romney,” he told the ministers. “Evangelicals, religion, did not get out and vote. And I don’t know why. Whatever the reason, I’m not sure why.” In other developments:

  • Reuters reports that Trump will hold meetings with Republican National Committee officials in Florida on Friday. Officials say it will be a normal meeting, though it comes as Republicans circulate an open letter to the RNC calling for it to spend money on local races instead of Trump because of his “divisiveness, recklessness, incompetence, and record-breaking unpopularity.”
  • The Hill reports that Trump warns he will “stop funding the Republican Party” if it shifts funds from him to candidates in other races. “I’m the one raising the money for them,” he told Fox’s Bill O’Reilly. “In fact, right now I’m in Orlando, I’m going to a fundraiser for the Republican Party. If they want to do that they can save me a lot of time and a lot of energy.”
  • Trump slammed Clinton for her “short-circuiting” brain at a Thursday night rally in Florida, where he got the day of the week wrong at least twice, the Guardian reports. “By the way, is there any place to be that’s better than a Friday night in Florida at a Trump rally?” he asked the crowd. “No place.”
  • The New York Times reports that in a CNBC interview Thursday, Trump said he wouldn’t change his campaigning style, but again acknowledged that he could be the loser this fall. “At the end, it’s either going to work or I’m going to, you know, I’m going to have a very, very nice long vacation,” he said.
  • In a Miami Herald interview Thursday, Trump said he would consider having Americans accused of terror offenses tried in military courts at Guantanamo Bay. “I would say they could be tried there, that would be fine,” said Trump, who went on to say he isn’t a “big believer in man-made climate change,” and he believes US climate policy is making American businesses noncompetitive.
  • Politico polled Republican insiders and found that nearly half of them think the race is over already. “Trump is underperforming so comprehensively across states and demographics it would take video evidence of a smiling Hillary drowning a litter of puppies while terrorists surrounded her with chants of ‘Death to America!'” said a Republican from Iowa. “But in 2016, stranger things have happened.” Democrats were more cautious, with only 28% saying the race is already effectively over.

I will admit that some of those sources are not sources that I trust very much but they had some good thoughts in them…..Trump is becoming his own worse enemy…..

But you make up your own mind…..

Time for the old professor to bow out for the day…..please have a good day and enjoy your weekend….I will be back in full form Monday…until then….peace out!

Feeding The Fire

First the good news….Conrats USA beat North Korea and Mongolia in women’s free-style wrestling to move into the semis….USA will wrestling for the Gold  medal in the 53kg class….GO GIRLS!  Seriously?  BMX cycling….that is about as much a sport as Dressage or Poker…..

Beginning yesterday, 17Aug2016, the news cycle was all about the new guy that Trump has tapped to be his campaign CEO (why does a campaign need a CEO?)……of course the media is all over this analyzing it from every possible angle…..the new guy is a Breibart co-founder (that alone should tell you where this campaign is going)……

Donald Trump has doubled down on Trumpism with the appointment of new campaign CEO Stephen Bannon—and many people, including some who worked with him at Breitbart News, sound pretty worried about where he’s going to take the campaign. One thing is clear: It’s not a move aimed at courting the GOP establishment.

A roundup of coverage:

  • In a lengthy profile of Bannon and Breitbart itself, Vanity Fair’s Ken Stern describes the conservative organization as “Trump before Trump.” He predicts that Bannon’s real goal is “cementing an American nationalist movement,” not securing victory for Trump—and that if the “outraged and xenophobic tone of Breitbart is any guide, we are in for a final three months of the campaign that will put the rest to shame.”
  • “Steve is a fighter. He loves the fight. He loves the scrum,” Andrew Marcus, who directed a documentary on Breitbart, says in a New York Times profile of the 62-year-old former Goldman Sachs banker. Bannon’s past includes a stint in the Navy, a Sarah Palin documentary—and a Seinfeld deal that made him a fortune.
  • Ben Shapiro, who described Breitbart as “Trump’s Pravda” when he quit the organization in March, doesn’t mince his words at the Daily Wire. He calls the “legitimately sinister” Bannon a “vindictive, nasty figure, infamous for verbally abusing supposed friends and threatening enemies”—and a “smarter version of Trump.” He accuses Bannon of, among other things, openly embracing the white supremacist movement.
  • The Daily Beast reports that the “alt right” movement—better known as white supremacists—is rejoicing at the appointment of Bannon.
  • Clinton spokesman Robby Mook slammed the Trump campaign for handing the reins to somebody who “peddles divisive, at times racist, anti-Muslim, anti-Semitic conspiracy theories,” Politico reports. He said the move signals that Trump is about to “double down on his most small, nasty, and divisive instincts.”
  • The Hill spoke to Republicans on Capitol Hill and found that many of them are “apoplectic” at the hire. “Breitbart has no credibility outside of the most extreme conservative wing of our party,” one House member says. “This would seem to signal that Trump is ready to go double-barrel against all of Washington, Republicans and Democrats alike.” GOP strategist John Feehery, however, says that while Breitbart is “nuts,” Bannon is somebody who could bring some “much-needed discipline” to Trump’s campaign.
  • Also not a Bannon fan: Glenn Beck. Bannon is “a horrible, despicable human being” and “quite possibly the most dangerous guy in all of American politics,” he said Wednesday, per RealClearPolitics.

I personally think that this is a bad idea from a political stand…..this will not help him reach out to those people that are still on the fence….that is unless you are one from this demographic or you have a tin foil hat in your closet…..

Call them what you like: conspiracy nuts; tin-foil hat wearers; truthers. However you label them, they’re pretty much in the tank for Donald Trump.

Social media analytics company Demographics Pro scoured social media sites and found that people who spend their time spewing paranoid theories and rants also tend to be Trump supporters. According to the study, which was covered by the Daily Beast, followers of Trump on Twitter are 4.2 times more likely than Hillary Clinton followers to tweet about the New World Order. In addition, almost 40 percent of those tweeting about #NewWorldOrder follow Trump; just 9.3 percent follow Clinton.

Source: Conspiracy Nuts Voting for Trump, Study Finds | Alternet

I do not see this as a winning strategy for someone wanting to be president…..I may be wrong and if I am I still will not apologize…..I like to see a well fought political contest….sad to say this move will mostly likely give Clinton the election….

Why Is He So Damn Popular?

With the rise of Donald Trump I have been asking myself that very question……I mean I am not real clear on his policies other than the wall thing or the Muslim ban or the ban of refugees…..all of which I cannot agree with….but what is his specific economic policy?  And there are similar questions about other important issues…at least in my mind….I am an apologist (so I have been told) but if that means educated and inquisitive then I accept that characterization….

But the question still remains….just why is he so damn popular?

So far the people that support him undying are what I call low information voters….these voters fall for diatribes and slogans that have NOTHING to do with the actual act of governing…..(I could be a lot more cruel but I am trying to keep my cool on this subject)…..

Just who are the people that swear by the Bible that they will vote for Trump?

I found an article that bases the answer on statistics…..

The latest Huffington Post Poll of Polls shows Hillary Clinton leading Donald Trump 47.1 percent to 39.7 percent. Many political observers feel that Trump’s voter “ceiling” is 40 percent of the electorate. Who are these voters?

Two years ago, Pew Research Center released a typology of American politics. The typology distinguished between three classes of voters: the general public, registered voters, and the “politically engaged.” In the category “politically engaged” there were three categories of Republicans: “Steadfast Conservatives: socially conservative populists” at 19 percent; “Business Conservatives: Pro-Wall street, pro-immigrant” at 17 percent; “Young Outsiders: conservative views on government, not on social issues” at 11 percent.

Source: Who Are Trump Voters?

So basically it is the voters that are the most angry at the government and the system that will vote for this person…..no matter what he says or does….they will vote for the man……

Three placards were waved prominently and defiantly in front of the podium before Donald Trump addressed a rally in Des Moines, Iowa, on Friday. “Veterans for Trump.”

They were an indication that, despite what pundits have described as the worst campaign week for any presidential candidate in living memory, the Republican nominee still has a solid core of supporters who either do not know or do not care – even as Republicans in Congress who served in the military struggle with their candidate.

Source: ‘I’m still for him’: Trump fans undaunted by string of campaign blunders | US news | The Guardian

His, Trump’s, rhetoric has got Americans, some Americans, lathered up to the point of anger for the first time……is that what you are thinking?

Anti-immigrant rage? Warnings that the America we know and love is dying? We’ve seen this before………

On a stormy Monday afternoon in the spring of 1844, a stout, well-built, 35-year-old Philadelphia newspaper editor ascended a makeshift podium assembled from a stack of packing boxes. Surrounded by some three thousand of his fervent supporters — butchers, grocers, carpenters and craftsman, many armed for this occasion — Lewis Charles Levin had come to the main market in Philly’s heavily Irish-Catholic neighborhood of Kensington. He was there to rail against the rising tide of Catholic immigrants taking jobs from proud Pennsylvania-born Protestants, and the resulting “consequence upon American liberty” he vowed would surely come of admitting even more foreigners.

Unsurprisingly, Kensington’s Irish residents did not take kindly to Levin’s provocation and within minutes he had more to dodge than the water pouring down from the heavens. Vegetables were hurled his way, followed by bricks and stones. Levin’s livid supporters responded in kind, sending the Irish streaming into the streets, guns soon blazing on both sides. By the time they were run out of the neighborhood later that week, Levin’s acolytes had set fire to some thirty homes throughout the neighborhood, even burning two Catholic churches to the ground. At least seven people were killed, with dozens injured on both sides.

Source: Meet the Donald Trump of the 1840s: Lewis Charles Levin rode the wave of righteous anger – Salon.com

I know that some of my more Right leaning nose pickers do not appreciate a history lesson….but tough it out…….ya see this yutz is NOTHING new.

 

In Defense Of “The Donald” (Not Likely)!

Some of my readers may think that I spend all my time watching and analyzing what is happening in the Middle East…..but they would be mistaken…..for you see I can multi-task and I can watch the American political climate at the same time…..sorry to burst anyone’s bubble…….

I have watched the rise of Trump from the day he announced his candidacy…..it has been an interesting ride….but the best ride are those people that support him…..I wish I could get excited about him as some of the people I see…..I like the idea of an outsider….but not one that spend all his time talking in riddles and about himself…..

Most of them, Trump supporters,  say they are worried about the direction of this country…..that is a deception……most are just disgruntled party supporters….whichever party that may be…..but we get the same reaction….they want change….which is the biggest joke there is in American politics.  It is a slogan!  No matter which party utters it…..it is not only a lie……. but a goddamn lie!

These people, the voters,  are lying to themselves…..there is NO change coming!  Since you may support Trump I will repeat that….THERE IS NO CHANGE COMING!

Why?  You will get at best reform…..the only way you will get change is to replace the entire system beginning with the Congress and which of you has that kind of BALLS?

That’s what I thought.

Of course the people that support Trump take every opportunity to point out that whatever they say may be seen as racism…..then maybe if they would not use derogatory terms like “swarm”, “horde” and “pack” when referring to refugees then others would not be suspect.  Just a thought.

Trump is NO way capable of leading an entire country….his handling of a racist tirade by a member of his veterans audience……

More trouble in camp Trump? After a debate performance seen as less-than-stellar, Trump’s failure to correct a man’s public assertion that President Obama is a non-American Muslim continues to resonate. Amid the backlash from both fellow Republicans and Democrats, Trump skipped a major forum for GOP candidates last night by excusing himself from the Heritage Action Presidential Forum. His campaign explained that it was because of a “significant business transaction” that required his attention, but not everyone was buying it. The Hill calls his absence “significant” given the stature of the event. Here’s a sample of some of the criticism he’s getting, via the Hill, Politico and the New York Times:

  • Bobby Jindal: After expressing mock sympathy that Trump canceled, he added, “Filing for bankruptcy again? Perhaps 5th time is the charm…”
  • Jeb Bush: “By the way, he’s an American, he’s a Christian,” he said of Obama during a speech. “His problem isn’t that he was born here or what his religion is.”
  • White House: “I don’t think anybody who’s been paying attention to Republican politics is at all surprised. … The people who hold these offensive views are part of Mr. Trump’s base.”
  • Bernie Sanders: “I think it’s a disgrace. … I thought we were beyond that.”
  • Lindsey Graham: “At the end of the day, this is a defining moment for Mr. Trump. The man in the audience who asked that question needs to be put in his place.”

I agree with Graham on this……it is pathetic pandering….and funny how those sunshine supporters are silent on this…..and another indication of cowardice.  But I know he is a birther and it is still part of who he is……

Speaking of veterans…..Trump did a fund raiser for a veterans group, Vets for a Strong America, with claims of 100’s of thousand’s of vets…..when the group is basically one group with $30 in the bank……

The event was sponsored by a group called Veterans for a Strong America. It’s a PAC, a political action committee, and a PAC, like all others, that’s tax exempt. But the founder of Veterans for a Strong America apparently forgot to tell the Trump campaign the group’s tax exempt status was revoked by the IRS last May.

The event was as powerful as the guns he stood under. Donald Trump, Tuesday night, on deck of the decommissioned battleship USS Iowa, there to pick up the endorsement of a group touting in its news release as having more than half a million supporters across the U.S.

“An endorsement from your group, with so many veterans, hundreds of thousands of veterans. I really appreciate that, Joe.”

But the group does not have a good track record of disclosing where its money goes. A quick check with the IRS finds the Veterans for a Strong America actually lost its tax exempt status last May for failing to file required reports. Here’s the document from the IRS, which shows that the group is appealing.

Another prime example of the trashiness of Trump’s supporters.  Not one of the so-called supporters have condemned this act against veterans and to them veterans are a prop….ONLY.  They like the rest of the country have NO true support for the veterans…..only when it is convenient……

Now the conclusion…..supporters are giddy over a person that has not given one idea for a solution other than a wall…..as if the wall will solve all our problems…..least not we forget that Trump is very good a tooting his own horn….if that is what it takes to be prez then by all means vote for him and with a little luck he will become president and then the whiners will truly have something to whine about….

Please vote for Donald Trump…..it will be the best thing that ever happen to politics in America!  The voter will awaken to see just how fucking stupid they have been for the last 50 years.

Let the Age Of Realization Begin!

Elections In Name Only

You know I have been analysis for about 40 years and at one point I had high hopes for this country……different people of varying ideologies would run for office and the people would show some genuine concern for the fellow Americans…..they would listen and then decide who was best for the country and vote for that person…….but the 90’s brought my optimism to an end.

To be truthful….I have become disheartened with the whole system……the country is NO longer the most important thing……instead the voter picks an issue and everything they do revolves around that issue……no longer is the subject of politics anything but the selfish ramblings of ego-centric individuals…..no longer is society and its people important but rather some emotional dribble that does not move this country forward…..

As much as I am disappointed in my fellow Americans….I still drag myself up and look everyday for that ray of hope…..so far that ray is hidden from view by the personalities that lie and cheat to gain a seat at the table of power….

And that table of power is the government…….no longer is there a grand scheme for moving us forward….but rather individual ego trips…..say the most outrageous things and you are assured massive coverage……that is NOT the way to move a country forward…..but it is a great plan to move the individual forward….and there is the problem.

These individualistic ego trips have turn the country from a majority rule to one of plurality….no longer is there a two party system….more like a 3 party system……at least in the House…and the Senate is not far behind……..“On paper, the GOP currently has 245 members, but when 50 feel they can walk away from their leadership on any given day, it’s really a plurality, not a majority,” Politico notes.

“The House, then, is not controlled by one party but better understood as a playing field for at least three: the party on the right, the dominant Republican core in the center, and the left represented by the Democrats. The challenge is to build alliances among these three to get to the 218 votes needed to move legislation. This coalition approach may seem a blow to Republican pride but it could also be liberating for John Boehner since it brings him back to the role he often forgets: Speaker of the House.”

I have heard some people voice optimism in the 2016 elections…..that we can find our way out of this minefield that is slowly choking the life out of our system…….BOLLOCKS!

2016 will be the same game…..theatrics, hysterics, lies, misinformation and more insulting rhetoric…….in other words…..same song, different year.

Nothing we do in 2016 will change anything…..that will happen when someone wakes up to the games and the disrespect for the American people….and that cannot happen as long as the voter enables the morons to run and win.

Red states suffered higher rate of federal budget cuts between 2009-2013: report

Red state voters loathe the president and anything Democratic…….they vote for people that promise to slice federal spending and will be a better day for everyone…..

The problem is in their haste to send mental midgets to DC they are systematically screwing themselves……does that speak to civic illiteracy?

 

Red states suffered higher rate of federal budget cuts between 2009-2013: report.