Trump is such a charged situation. For so many people he represents the epitome of everything wrong in the country, and not in the usual “we have a different ideology” way, but in a plainly moral way. And that’s because the guy is living, breathing scum, an example of a bigoted rich old white guy so perfect as to be a parody of itself. The truth is, the bigotry is right there for anyone looking. And for many that makes him completely unredeemable. And for others it doesn’t change a thing for them (and then of course there’s those who like it). Now obviously you have a right not to mind the man’s bigotry. But for many people they just cannot understand how anyone could brush that aside, especially when that bigotry and ignorance can directly affect them. I’m certainly one to preach tolerance, so I understand Trump supporters who overlooked the troubling aspects. But I also sympathize with those who could not. To dismiss those who are so passionately against him is just as bad to dismiss those who are rationally for him. Both have a perspective and a reason for what many on either side may consider to be their extreme opinions.
I would agree with this, except for classifying Trump as scum. I don’t think it’s helpful to vilify anyone, even terrible people like Hitler, since even villains think that they are basically good people.
I don’t think anyone views Trump as a particularly moral person. The fact that the Left constantly harps on this aspect misses the point that people voted for Trump despite his moral failings, and to some extent, because of them. Not because these people are racist, but because they saw in Trump someone who didn’t apologize, who said what he wanted. This is the exact opposite of the value-signaling that the Left engages in, and in the view of the Right, it weakens us all.
The fact that Trump can say things not based in fact and get away with it is far more powerful and important than if he were to say measured, reasonable things like Obama. The Left has claimed for decades that the Right is living in a world divorced from factual, scientific reality, and so people on the Right may often feel threatened when they attempt to profess their religious/economic/political beliefs. For them, our PC, scientifically minded culture is not liberating, it is oppressive. The Left has the academic and scientific resources to amass a great deal of evidence in favor of their beliefs, and the Right has mostly been relegated to talk radio and extreme Libertarian theory. How could there be a vigorous discourse in our society when the odds are so uneven? I do not mean to imply that the beliefs of the left are better than those of the Right, just that the Left tends toward academia.
To bring it back to Trump, his wanton disregard for facts has quickly leveled the playing field of discourse in this country, much like the A-bomb leveled Hiroshima. This is partly the fault of the Left for not recognizing that they were ever more communicating with themselves and leaving half of the country out, and partly the fault of the Right for insulating themselves in their own bubble. Communication is hard, and it’s far easier to retreat to echo chambers. I hope that we as a nation begin to recognize that we need to build a broad knowledge of facts instead of calling everything fake news, and recognizing that Trump’s solution is ultimately destructive. Merriam Webster says it best, when describing the word ‘trumpery’: worthless nonsense.