Do Republican voters like what Trump is doing and saying?
They must be OK with it.
He has 81-percent approval from Republicans.
I am trying to understand why Republicans of good character tolerate Donald Trump. People who supported Reagan, Dole, two Bush presidents, McCain, and Romney now tolerate Trump who represents values and behavior opposite the people they voted for in the recent past. None of those Republican presidents and candidates would have engaged in the grift, the pardon transactions, the flouting of laws that Trump does openly and proudly. They would have understood it to be wrong, bad for the country and inconsistent with the dignity of the office. They had character. They had the internal controls one expects of people in positions of responsibility.
Trump's rants look strange and dangerous to me. It makes a mockery of his claim to be a "stable genius." Trump is acting like a whack job -- profoundly temperamentally unfit -- and it is getting worse.
The New York Times headline is only partially true. It says that Trump is responding to the criticism about the Iran war. His critics also publicly shared their worry about Trump's mental condition. They think that he has "lost it."
I present this long Truth Social post to readers, and leave it for you to decide how you feel about the author. Do you trust his temperament and judgment? If he were your father, would you decide it is time to take his car keys away? Imagine you are a Republican congressman. You have the ability to meet with colleagues and arrange to replace the president. Remember, you have an option. JD Vance is in place to take over in the event of presidential incapacity. Does Trump sound like a reasonable man of sound judgment? Would you trust the author of this post to represent you in court? Would you hire this man to be CEO of a business you own? If you were on the board of a school district or public hospital or university, would you hire this man to be its leader and public face?
[Note: To get daily delivery of this blog by email go to Https://petersage.substack.com. Subscribe. The blog is free and always will be.]
21 comments:
His issues with dementia will become more serious and severe and it’s been pretty obvious for anyone with an open mind that his behavior is deteriorating. Certainly the rest of the world recognizes it, even if republicans don’t.
We need an age limit for the office of President.
Why didn't you say that when Joe Biden was president?
This is just more of the same thing that I first heard from President Trump in 2015. In 2015 and 2016 (until the election) I didn't think that he could be elected. What he says and stands for is demented--it always was, IMHO--but it's not dementia. President Trump is shrewd. Megyn Kelly sounds desperate, telling our president to "shut up" and all; even though he should shut up. As for the car keys, let's see if the Democratic Party takes over both the house and senate, and manages to successfully impeach him in 2027. That's when the rubber will meet the road. We will be able to legally place prop bets on the impeachment trial.
Peter: I’m continuing to feel like you are asking rhetorical questions. I may be oversimplifying (my land-grant university training was obviously not as rigorous as yours from Harvard, but alas, I digress) but “cognitive dissonance is a bitch.” People voted for Trump for lots of reasons. The Republicans that you know - the country club, chamber of commerce set - I’m sure abhor Trump’s seeming absence of decency and character, but their portfolios are doing fine, their taxes are low, and their businesses are poorly regulated. Who can argue with that? If a couple of hundred thousand brown people have their lives completely turned upside down and they get a free plane ticket back to their country of origin; if thousands of people in Iran are slaughtered by American bombs and missiles for living in a regime run by Islamic fanatics; if poor and working Americans can’t afford fuel to get to their low paying jobs; that’s just how the world works. All my friends at the country club voted for him. Everyone at church voted for him. All the parents at the private school I send my kids to voted for him. All my neighbors in our exclusive gated community voted for him. Everyone I watch on TV likes him. We couldn’t have all been wrong. No way.
Peter: I’m continuing to feel like you are asking rhetorical questions. I may be oversimplifying (my land-grant university training was obviously not as rigorous as yours from Harvard, but alas, I digress) but “cognitive dissonance is a bitch.” People voted for Trump for lots of reasons. The Republicans that you know - the country club, chamber of commerce set - I’m sure abhor Trump’s seeming absence of decency and character, but their portfolios are doing fine, their taxes are low, and their businesses are poorly regulated. Who can argue with that? If a couple of hundred thousand brown people have their lives completely turned upside down and they get a free plane ticket back to their country of origin; if thousands of people in Iran are slaughtered by American bombs and missiles for living in a regime run by Islamic fanatics; if poor and working Americans can’t afford fuel to get to their low paying jobs; that’s just how the world works. All my friends at the country club voted for him. Everyone at church voted for him. All the parents at the private school I send my kids to voted for him. All my neighbors in our exclusive gated community voted for him. Everyone I watch on TV likes him. We couldn’t have all been wrong. No way.
To "Anonymous": I did say it repeatedly throughout Bide's term of office. I urged him NOT to run for re-election. The author of that query has had significant brain impairment due to brain swelling, a condition he used to try to explain away and excuse significant tax probems he had with regulators. I delete most of his intended comments to this blog, but let a few through to help establish a record with comment-readers in the event he once again runs for public office as a crony-loving Republican wanna-be. He complains about the good old boys because they have contempt for him and won't let him into their club. I understand his frustration. But he tolerates Trump's financial grift because he is in the Trump cult. But he has an excuse:for his gullibility; he admits he suffered significant brain damage.
Many of us did say that when Biden was President, to the point that he literally dropped his campaign for reelection barely 100 days before the election, or do you not remember that?
Should that have happened sooner? Hell yeah it should have, myself and many others were saying as early as 2022 that it was obvious Biden needed to announce he wasn't running for reelection, Peter Sage was one of the people saying that.
Also that kind of response doesn't remotely negate ANYTHING written in today's post.
Trump is a lawless, demented ignoranus clinging to his delusions of adequacy, and those who tolerate him aren’t any better.
Are you insinuating the Democrats aren't members of country clubs, or that their kids don't attend private schools? Is it just a Republican thing?
A superannuated, half-literate middle-school bully.
I do recall the diehard ostriches on Joe Biden here.
In both cases our best hopes lie with the support staff.
I just listened to a fascinating Code Switch podcast episode.
They interviewed a political scientist. Her main point was that people form a tribal allegiance to a party, and then adjust their beliefs to conform to that party.
Black people, for instance, were strongly opposed to gay marriage. But they had a strong tribal allegiance to the Democratic Party. When the position of the Democratic Party switched to support for gay marriage,, blacks became overwhelmingly supportive of it.
So when Peter asks why people still maintain their allegiance to Donald Trump, the answer is that they are maintaining their connection to their tribe. Many people make the mistake of thinking that politics is irrational; it’s not. Politics is emotional and tribal.
Among Trump’s many crimes, he made a coup attempt. He violates the Constitution. He ignores the legislature and rules by fiat. He spews anger, hatred and lies on a daily basis. In other words, he hates democracy and is hellbent on doing for our republic what Hitler did for his. Those who want to maintain their connection such a tribe are no better than he is.
Sorry, that was the wrong URL. Here is the correct one for that podcast.
Every member of the other tribe also has a vote. They say equivalently negative things about Mike and his tribe. In a democracy, slinging insults is not a path to political success.
What you say is why I remain a Republican, if not a devotee of Trump.
The problem with Biden is that he didn't drop out sooner. If he had, there would have been a Primary to pick his successor. Certainly, Harris would not have won. A far better candidate would have emerged and easily beaten Trump. But, he didn't, Harris was appointed and now we get Trump. 2 and 1/2 more years of him. How much more trouble will he get us in? All those MAGA people out there have to realize that he is not a Conservative. He's only for himself. How much power he can perceive. How much money he can make off his office. How much attention he can get.
Yes, Joe screwed up and we're paying for it.
Yes Peter C, but also a lot of the world suffering and dying from his selfish ignorance and contempt for their race. Various orgs like Oxfam estimate USAID cuts have resulted in 500K needless deaths of children because of malnutrition and disease in just 2025. Then the government subsidizes the US farmers and companies that provide those products and services. So we didn’t save anything and people suffer and die. Rah Rah MAGA!!! Go Pro-Life Evangelicals!
Republicans may claim we're as lawless and crazy as they are, but they're as delusional as their whack job leader. For example, Trump didn't like Iran shutting down the Strait of Hormuz, so now he's done it. That's why Trump's chumps are so tired of 'winning,' because they aren't.
MT- not only that but various studies support the idea that people with higher intelligence or education are just as easily deceived as anyone else; in fact some studies suggest they are more so. So how do you (or me) know we aren’t deceived? Maybe Pink Floyd’s “we don’t need no education” is more spot on than we thought :)
Actually, White southerners didn't maintain their connection to the Democratic Party after it passed the civil rights act.
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