"Most Trump supporters believe Trump's assertions of widespread fraud due to procedural changes, widespread mail in ballots, and deficient voting machines. It's all possible and should be examined. I would also say Trump supporters can't understand how Biden could have won. I certainly don't."
A Medford, Oregon Trump supporter.
Today's blog post is a first person comment by a reader who thought I failed to understand people like him, and that I failed to appreciate that Trump was right to be contesting an election that was maybe--probably--stolen from him. The Guest Post author is a professional man in his seventies, from the Medford, Oregon area, a public-spirited person who serves on local nonprofit boards, and in the past served on national advisory boards in his profession. He still chooses to work, so asked to be anonymous.
Some of my readers will find it hard to believe there are people who see the world so differently than do they. He is one of tens of millions of voters like him. They cut your hair, repair your teeth, review your taxes, approve your mortgage, fix your furnace. They are all around you.
Notice what is unsaid in his Guest Post. The author leaves unmentioned behaviors that seem central to how Democrats view Trump, the authoritarian populist demagogue con man. The Guest Post says nothing about Trump's character and temperament. Nothing about his intentional divisiveness. Nothing about his name calling, his tweets, his narcissism, the chaos of his staffing, his politicization of the Justice Department, his flagrant misstatements. He says nothing about COVID.
He sees Trump as an embattled victim of Democrats and the media.
The author lives in an area with a slight Republican edge, reflected in the county vote on state contests for Treasurer and Attorney General--contests in which there was almost no campaigning or visible issues. Voters voted their Party. The Republican candidates won 50-43 and 51-47, respectively. The Presidential contest was almost dead even locally, with Trump ahead 50-47. This result reflects the general pattern nationwide, including the swing states that are under suspicion and contention now, where Trump ran close to, but slightly behind, the general Republican partisan vote. Trump had a unique weakness compared to other Republicans. Many Trump supporters simply did not see or believe Biden's support nor Trump's vulnerabilities. How could Biden possibly have won? There simply must have been fraud.
Let's hear from him.
"Trump won. Of course I like Trump. Trump was doing a great job."
A suspicious election.
This election was so close in some states. Poll and postal workers have made serious allegations of wrongdoing by the managers and vote counters. These allegations need to be understood, investigated and answered. We need an official and acceptable answer as to what constitutes a legal vote and whether or not only legal votes were counted. Maybe our voting system of internal controls is weak and not effective in making sure the results are not tainted.
In our electoral environment it appears that a little bit of fraud goes a long way in achieving the few votes necessary to win. Therefore, it is necessary to determine with the highest possible level of confidence that final results are acceptable.
I guess Trump supporters did not think Biden was a serious candidate. After all, Biden did not appear to be "all there" by the way he campaigned by not campaigning.
Trump's strong campaign.
Trump drew thousands to Trump Rallies who came to hear him explain why he was running for re-election, what he had accomplished during his first term, how he tried to make life better for every American, how the Democrats had thrown every obstacle they could to prevent him from succeeding as President, and how he overcame it all. Trump endured spying on his 2016 campaign, the Dirt Dossier, the impeachment, the leaks to the press, the Mueller Probe, the vicious attacks on his nominees for executive and judicial appointments. Trump suffered from the way the Democrats and their media consorts maligned the Trump Presidency, his family, his friends, his Administration, and his "deplorable" supporters in the face of all the positive changes that had been realized. Trump did a lot of good, including judicial appointments, the removal of unrealistic regulations that held back American economic progress, policy changes from immigration to our role in the world. Because of the Trump Rallies ordinary Americans were inspired that the country was heading in the right direction under the leadership of President Trump. Trump was doing a great job.
Dangerous Democrats
My Republican friends are afraid of the Democrats. Republicans asked why the Democrats did not all condemn the riots, destruction and looting going on during 2020. Hearing no reasonable response from the Democrats, Republicans could only conclude that Democrats condoned the riots, destruction and looting. That conclusion made Republicans fearful that the riots would move from the cities to local neighborhoods and ordinary Republicans would be the next victims.
Democratic obstruction
Republicans, who feel they are reasonable folks, could not understand why the Democrats were acting so unreasonably with respect to Trump and his vision for a great America. In their heart-of-hearts they hoped voting Democrats would come to their senses and see how their leaders and activists were not acting in the best interest of all Americans and vote for Trump and not for Biden. By joining Republicans in voting for Trump all voters would reject the craziness that the Democrat leaders and activists brought to our lives over the last four years.
Biden, the Trojan Horse
Trump supporters did not believe Biden was a serious candidate. He seemed to be the Democrat candidate that could be packaged as the most middle-of-the-road Democrat leader who, by not saying much about what he would do as president, could get the most votes. At the same time he would be the transition leader from the 20th Century Democrat Party to the 21st Progressive Democrat Party.
Republicans are fearful that the new Progressive Democrat Party is out to bring down our Constitution and replace it with "woke" values that change on a whim and in doing so destroy our nation.
My sources of information
I find it hard to summarize what I have heard folks say in conversation and what I deduce from reading and hearing on the news. It all blends together but seems to point in the same direction. The world of Republicans and Democrats is changing and not for the better.
As to news sources, I watch Fox news regularly. I watch our local Channel 5 news most everyday, I sometimes read the Mail Tribune, I read the online news reports from several sources and I read In These Times a very liberal and progressive monthly news magazine. I sometimes watch BBC news, too."
Guest Post by Anonymous
"Trump won. Of course I like Trump. Trump was doing a great job."
A suspicious election.
This election was so close in some states. Poll and postal workers have made serious allegations of wrongdoing by the managers and vote counters. These allegations need to be understood, investigated and answered. We need an official and acceptable answer as to what constitutes a legal vote and whether or not only legal votes were counted. Maybe our voting system of internal controls is weak and not effective in making sure the results are not tainted.
In our electoral environment it appears that a little bit of fraud goes a long way in achieving the few votes necessary to win. Therefore, it is necessary to determine with the highest possible level of confidence that final results are acceptable.
I guess Trump supporters did not think Biden was a serious candidate. After all, Biden did not appear to be "all there" by the way he campaigned by not campaigning.
Trump's strong campaign.
Trump drew thousands to Trump Rallies who came to hear him explain why he was running for re-election, what he had accomplished during his first term, how he tried to make life better for every American, how the Democrats had thrown every obstacle they could to prevent him from succeeding as President, and how he overcame it all. Trump endured spying on his 2016 campaign, the Dirt Dossier, the impeachment, the leaks to the press, the Mueller Probe, the vicious attacks on his nominees for executive and judicial appointments. Trump suffered from the way the Democrats and their media consorts maligned the Trump Presidency, his family, his friends, his Administration, and his "deplorable" supporters in the face of all the positive changes that had been realized. Trump did a lot of good, including judicial appointments, the removal of unrealistic regulations that held back American economic progress, policy changes from immigration to our role in the world. Because of the Trump Rallies ordinary Americans were inspired that the country was heading in the right direction under the leadership of President Trump. Trump was doing a great job.
Dangerous Democrats
My Republican friends are afraid of the Democrats. Republicans asked why the Democrats did not all condemn the riots, destruction and looting going on during 2020. Hearing no reasonable response from the Democrats, Republicans could only conclude that Democrats condoned the riots, destruction and looting. That conclusion made Republicans fearful that the riots would move from the cities to local neighborhoods and ordinary Republicans would be the next victims.
Democratic obstruction
Republicans, who feel they are reasonable folks, could not understand why the Democrats were acting so unreasonably with respect to Trump and his vision for a great America. In their heart-of-hearts they hoped voting Democrats would come to their senses and see how their leaders and activists were not acting in the best interest of all Americans and vote for Trump and not for Biden. By joining Republicans in voting for Trump all voters would reject the craziness that the Democrat leaders and activists brought to our lives over the last four years.
Biden, the Trojan Horse
Trump supporters did not believe Biden was a serious candidate. He seemed to be the Democrat candidate that could be packaged as the most middle-of-the-road Democrat leader who, by not saying much about what he would do as president, could get the most votes. At the same time he would be the transition leader from the 20th Century Democrat Party to the 21st Progressive Democrat Party.
Republicans are fearful that the new Progressive Democrat Party is out to bring down our Constitution and replace it with "woke" values that change on a whim and in doing so destroy our nation.
My sources of information
I find it hard to summarize what I have heard folks say in conversation and what I deduce from reading and hearing on the news. It all blends together but seems to point in the same direction. The world of Republicans and Democrats is changing and not for the better.
As to news sources, I watch Fox news regularly. I watch our local Channel 5 news most everyday, I sometimes read the Mail Tribune, I read the online news reports from several sources and I read In These Times a very liberal and progressive monthly news magazine. I sometimes watch BBC news, too."
8 comments:
“I watch Fox News regularly.”
The most dangerous person in our country is not Donald Trump; it is Rupert Murdoch.
Like Anonymous, I live in an area that is primarily Republican. Around me are retirees or those close to retirement who've moved to Central Florida from all across the US. I was a resident of Oregon for 45 years, and have watched it evolve from a red state to a very blue state. I owe my success to the tech industry there, as does my wife.
For decades, we worked hard, but never really paid much attention to the political process over the years.
I agree with much of what Anonymous wrote. I could have written the same.
I left Oregon to be closer to family on the East Coast, and mostly to escape the changes in Oregon over the years. We travel around the world and the US, and realized we could visit Oregon for much less than it cost to live there. We purchased a new home in Florida initially to be a 2nd home, but soon decided it was better to leave Oregon completely for our retirement years. Fortunately for us, we were able to sell our Oregon home, and close on the sale a few days before the pandemic shut down most of the country.
Our media and the Democrats are incurious concerning election issues because their guy is the apparent winner.
My major issue is that many states instituted voting changes by edict rather than following the legislative process. And with little experience with vote-by-mail, there were opportunities for mistakes and errors, and perhaps even possible fraud.
The Biden-Harris administration will have its share of success and failure, and I expect that Biden will step aside sometime within his first term, laying the groundwork for Harris to become president, and be the candidate to run in 2024, unless their mistakes are too big to overcome.
The electorate is more energized than the media acknowledges. right and left.
The big challenge is that both the Democratic and Republican parties are fractured; party unity isn't a reality, and it will likely get worse.
I realize this is an Oregon blog, and will continue to follow though I live in Florida. I still have many friends in Oregon. It's too bad that there isn't a lot of inward looking at the issues facing Oregon. You can't fix the rest of the US. Perhaps the blog focus should return to what ails Oregon, as the problems are many.
...and the world is flat.
The guest blog poster seems to want assurance that the election was fair. He wrote: “ We need an official and acceptable answer as to what constitutes a legal vote and whether or not only legal votes were counted.”
Perhaps this was not mentioned on Fox News:
“Not long after 6 p.m., the Wisconsin Supreme Court gave Republicans their fourth defeat of the evening. In a scathing order, written by Judge Hagedorn, the court dismissed an attempt by a conservative group, the Wisconsin Voters Alliance, to overturn the state’s certified election results and have Wisconsin’s presidential elections be chosen by the state legislature instead.
“Such a move would appear to be unprecedented in American history,” Judge Hagedorn wrote for the court.
“One might expect that this solemn request would be paired with evidence of serious errors tied to a substantial and demonstrated set of illegal votes,” he added. “Instead, the evidentiary support rests almost entirely on the unsworn expert report of a former campaign employee that offers statistical estimates based on call center samples and social media research.”
In case one suspects this judge of being a “RINO,” a Democrat, or a deep state “Never - Trumper:”
He was appointed to the bench by Republican Gov. Scott Walker....
Hagedorn earned an undergraduate degree in philosophy from Trinity International University in 2000 and his J.D. from Northwestern University School of Law in 2006.[3][4] While at Northwestern, Hagedorn was the president of the school's chapter of the Federalist Society.[3]
He was named Trinity College's Alumnus of the Year in 2014 because, according to the university, he "has been able to serve the people of Wisconsin in a way that impacts not only public policy, but embodies the core values of Trinity International University as well: Christ-centeredness, Comprehensive Education, Community, Church Connectedness, and Cultural Engagement."[3]
Yeah right. The entire judiciary was in on the fraud conspiracy, even though Trump appointed most of them. Please don’t reveal that the guest author/retired professional was an attorney…
We need to work on integrating these two very different worldviews. Or, we could have a civil war instead. I prefer integration.
Those of you who prefer a civil war might want to think carefully about which side has more guns and which side controls the food supply.
Take a leap.
Go out and buy a Roku box and add to your repertory of news watching channels. Dump Fox for a month. Add these free news channels
to widen your horizons ..DW from Germany, France 24 from France, RT from Russia, Aljazeera from Doha, Sky News from the UK, VICE NEWS from the USA, AND THEN ABC,NBC,CBS. TED , lectures, Democracy Now from USA.
OPEN YOUR MIND...ITS ALL THERE FOR FREE. I challenge you to see what is going on in the world without the USA spin.
All interesting commentary. What intrigues me is that while Trumpists buy his lies about fraud, they deny, vociferously, Republican elected Officials who still have some integrity, and are calling Trump out for his lies, and apparently really believe that the Democratic Party on one hand is smart enough to rig 7.2 million votes against Trump, and on the other hand dumb enough to leave Mitch McConnell in office.
The cognitive disconnect this requires is beyond my comprehension, as is your guest columnist,
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