Why Trump Supporters Believe He Is Not Corrupt

[ashling]

https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2018/08/what-trumps-supporters-think-of-corruption/568147/?utm_source=fbb

What the president’s supporters fear most isn’t the corruption of American law, but the corruption of America’s traditional identity.


Why Trump Supporters Believe He Is Not Corrupt
What the president’s supporters fear most isn’t the corruption of American law, but the corruption of America’s traditional identity.



The swamp isn’t easy to drain.

The answer may lie in how Trump and his supporters define corruption. In a forthcoming book titled How Fascism Works, the Yale philosophy professor Jason Stanley makes an intriguing claim. “Corruption, to the fascist politician,” he suggests, “is really about the corruption of purity rather than of the law. Officially, the fascist politician’s denunciations of corruption sound like a denunciation of political corruption. But such talk is intended to evoke corruption in the sense of the usurpation of the traditional order.”

[Wounded Bear]

1. Interesting read, and a lot of truth in there...

It's not about corrupution of law or finances. It's about corruption of blood.

[Bernardo de La Paz]

2. "usurpation of traditional order": They frequently called Obama the Kenyan USURPER. . . . nt

[Squinch]

3. We bend over backwards to give them excuses. We have to stop. Truth is

they KNOW he's corrupt. They aren't thinking about the finer points of the definition of the word.

Their hypocritical selves don't care. He legitimized their sexism and racism and that is what they want from him. He tells them their hatred is ok. It's that simple.

I suppose in a sense that is what they're saying, but we shouldn't couch it.

[haele]

9. Basically, Trump supporters have no problems with criminal activity that benefits them.

This is a problem as old as human civilization. That is why there is always huge difference between Rule of Law and Rule of Mob.

That's one of the reasons most cultures have never been able to support a pure egalitarian democracy, no matter how much people strive for it; the Mob becomes the weakness of Democracy - and then, a populist "strong leader" arrives to establish the latest "new order" to enforce a comforting hierarchy amongst those who might care about the world around them, and control the rest of the masses who don't care so long as there's someone lower then them in the hierarchy they can kick, a roof over their heads and there's access to food and alcohol to numb any other pain, fear, or resentment they might be feeling over the way things are going.

Haele

[lagomorph777]

11. Saying they don't think he's corrupt is like saying Trump doesn't think Putin installed him.

Both things are false; those are the lies they tell to justify themselves.

The Deplorables are Despicable and Disposable.

[ashling]

21. I am certainly not trying to "give them excuses."

[Squinch]

22. I didn't mean to suggest you were. I know you wouldn't. But the

author is going down that old path of, "what can they REALLY be thinking?" We know they ask the question because they KNOW what the trumpers are thinking but they can't let themselves believe so many can be that awful. But of course they are.

[marylandblue]

4. Reminds me of the rogue general in Dr. Strangelove

Who was concerned about the purity of our precious bodily fluids.

[oswaldactedalone]

17. From the New Yorker - 1-17-14

"Half a century after Kubrick’s mad general, Jack D. Ripper, launched a nuclear strike on the Soviets to defend the purity of “our precious bodily fluids” from Communist subversion, we now know that American officers did indeed have the ability to start a Third World War on their own. And despite the introduction of rigorous safeguards in the years since then, the risk of an accidental or unauthorized nuclear detonation hasn’t been completely eliminated."

Loved that film. First time I ever gave thought to the idea that adults couldn't come together and find the right solution to a problem. Kind of scary to realize as a young teen-ager.

[Saboburns]

5. Because they're feeble-minded shitheads

There, I shortened it up a bit for you.

[fleur-de-lisa]

6. So, racism?

[louis-t]

7. I see them now, glued to Fox..

They turn it up a little louder, hoping, waiting for some kind of answer that justifies their hatred. Any minute, their hero will be proved correct and he will be exonerated. He was right all along, they will say. Looking for evidence that Hillary is responsible, Obama is responsible, his racial purity tests will be verified. Immigrants ARE rapists and murderers. He IS being harassed by his enemies. It's all political, they're angry because he is so successful, so brilliant. We were NOT wrong to elect him, he's the greatest thing that ever happened to us, just ask him.

[2naSalit]

12. +1

[oswaldactedalone]

18. Great posts

Love the Thug moral compass. Definitely on point(s).

[2naSalit]

20. Thanks, I "lifted" it from somewhere

months ago, maybe even last year. You can use it if you like, it isn't mine, I just think it's appropriate until we have a different admin in the White House.

[The Genealogist]

8. I think the author got it right

What do they fear, loathe because they want homogenaity on their terms?

Skin that isn't white
Genitals that aren't male
Sexual orientation that isn't heterosexual
Language that isn't English
Religion that isn't christian

Bottom line is, rank and file Republicans want a country that looks like a 50s sitcom. They want a restoration of a past that in which exclusively straight, white, Christian, English speaking macho men had complete control and RULED the country with an iron fist. The leaders of the party want power and money and exploit the Looney rank and file to get it.

[Solly Mack]

10. A longer way of saying Trump supporters are bigots. They're misogynists and racists.

And that they act out when they feel threatened - challenges to how they think, what they believe, how they think life should be and what their role/status is in it.

They best understand a world in which they are on top through a guarded system of racism and sexism.

[2naSalit]

13. I thought that was rather concise...

the list is so long that this is the short version of it.

[Solly Mack]

14. I could have used the terms of detachment - established hierarchies, traditional norms/identities

but that allows people wiggle room to remove themselves from the equation. Words become filters through which people can remove themselves from the ugly of racism and sexism.

To detach from the reality of both and "discuss" in academic terms (so to speak) in a way that all too often reserves judgment - when both racism and sexism should be judged for what they are and the damage both cause and have caused. After all, both racism and sexism are destructive judgments against people that have brought and continue to bring harm - how can those who embrace both not be judged for it?

And it also gives racists and sexists cover - they are only trying to preserve traditional America...not being racists or sexists. Intended as cover or not, racists/sexists take advantage of the cover presented.

With that traditional America being their ideal America.

Uh...and Thanks!

Sorry! Got carried away.

[2naSalit]

19. I hear you!

Sounds like me sometimes!

[duforsure]

15. He's made them feel like they're victims

And have been victimized by the government, but he has all the answers cause he was victimized too, creating a bond with his followers. He lies to them with just little ones then expands and makes them bigger and more to his liking, or the opposite of the truth. then he pounds into them how they've been hurt, like him , and they shouldn't take it anymore, but he can save them. Good con men always make the claims they alone can save them from everything. Trump is the political version of Bernie Maddoff only absolutely no morals or ethics or anything. This guy could do anything without guilt , or remorse. trump's a monster.

[JDC]

16. And here I just thought they were stupid.

The more ya know I guess.