The Trump Presidency

[Frogacuda]

So I was in line to vote early today behind a Jewish guy wearing a yarmulke and his young daughter. One of the election volunteers, an old white guy, says to his daughter "So who are you going to vote for? Your dad's probably going to vote for a bunch of doofuses hahaha."

This fuckin' country, man.

Sad thing is, the old white guy and the orthodox Jewish guy were probably going to vote for the same person, if statistics are to be believed.

It's mind boggling to negotiate the Orthodox community in the Trump era. The mental gymnastics they'll to do minimize shit like the Pittsburgh shooting ("They did gay marriages there, this is God's wrath") to outright anti-Semetic conspiracy theories ("George Soros staged Charlettesville.") will make your head spin. Essentially all because they see Trump as the bigger defender of Israel/enemy of Muslims, and everything else they have to justify in their head to make it fit.

[kedawa]

You certainly can't expect reasoned thought from cult members.

[NeoZeedeater]

Fuck the naysayers, you need to get you some chicken and biscuits, stat.

I'm definitely going to try it.

Sad thing is, the old white guy and the orthodox Jewish guy were probably going to vote for the same person, if statistics are to be believed.

It's mind boggling to negotiate the Orthodox community in the Trump era. The mental gymnastics they'll to do minimize shit like the Pittsburgh shooting ("They did gay marriages there, this is God's wrath") to outright anti-Semetic conspiracy theories ("George Soros staged Charlettesville.") will make your head spin. Essentially all because they see Trump as the bigger defender of Israel/enemy of Muslims, and everything else they have to justify in their head to make it fit.

I hear similar stuff about Hindus being fans of Trump because he's anti-Muslim as if he's going to give a shit about other brown people, let alone tell them apart. People are stupid.

[Bacon McShig]

I feel like I've heard dozens of thinkpieces in the last year involving Hispanics that were big Trump supporters because of his hardline views on immigration, only for their wife/kids/themselves to get pinched by ICE raids. And some don't even turn on him then.

"Oh, he's not talking about me" and "I like his tough talk but he's not really gonna do it" are constant refrains among minority Trumpers, it's mad. Spoiler alert: He was and he is. If at any point you hope someone is just joking about their campaign promises, mmmaybe don't vote for them?

[Frogacuda]

There's a misconception among many Trump supporters that his hardline stance on illegal immigration is about rule of law rather than a broader position on non-white immigrants in general, and that it won't affect legal immigrants. Most Trump supporters will say things like "They should just come here legally," which suggest a complete misunderstanding of the realities of immigration that predicate illegal entry in the first place. It's not uncommon to hear this said by those immigrants privileged enough to come here legally, in fact.

The fact is, if we had fairer and more permissive legal immigration policy, the focus on security and enforcement wouldn't be so controversial. But Trump is going after illegals while also cracking down on legal immigration and asylum. It isn't about making people follow the rules, or getting rid of criminals, it's about stopping the browning of America, and nothing more noble than that.

[Satsuki]

Wwwwww hey just be careful there guys, wearing a yarmulke definitely does not indicate someone is orthodox Jewish. Most Orthodox Jews (men) wear the hats and have the curly hair, conservative and reform (scary names but less rigid than orthodox) are the ones who wear the yarmulke out. I would venture to say that a majority of reform and conservative are liberals with some exceptions obviously.

[Some Stupid Japanese Name]

Clinton said he was going to make America great again in his candidacy announcement speech.

Were liberals yelling "America's always been great!" back then too?

[Satsuki]

Probably not bc ppl weren’t woke back then /s

[Frogacuda]

Wwwwww hey just be careful there guys, wearing a yarmulke definitely does not indicate someone is orthodox Jewish. Most Orthodox Jews (men) wear the hats and have the curly hair, conservative and reform (scary names but less rigid than orthodox) are the ones who wear the yarmulke out. I would venture to say that a majority of reform and conservative are liberals with some exceptions obviously.

There's a distinction between the Charedi/Ultra Orthox (black hats) and modern orthodox, but they are all still Orthodox.

Conservative and reform Jews wear the yarmulke to shul/temple but few if any wear it day to day. Those are more the modern orthodox (the sorts that keep shabbos, keep kosher, and fellow the letter of the law, but not necessarily all the broadly interpreted traditional teachings of the talmud).

[Bacon McShig]

Clinton said he was going to make America great again in his candidacy announcement speech.

Were liberals yelling "America's always been great!" back then too?

I'd imagine most liberals yelling "America's always been great!" are doing so to mock the GOP's inconsistency on the matter. Republicans have constantly invoked "this is the greatest country on the face of the earth, love it or leave it!" at any criticism, but then then the main caveat of their new savior's catchphrase is that it's, in fact, not great? Can't have it both ways.

Besides, context is key. Clinton was entering office on the heels of a very unpopular war, cold war mentalities, and Reaganomics. Trump was entering office on a healthily rebounding economy and generally strengthened international relations. Reading between the lines, the invocation from Clinton was "we need to get this country on a more positive track than we've been on", while Trump's was pretty nakedly "The brown people are taking over, secure the homeland!"