Article: Why Do So Many People Think Trump Is Good?

[Anonymous]

I'm just scratching my head at why anyone thinks Trump is a good businessman or builder. He built that wretched tower in Chicago and Trump Tower 55 years ago. Everything else was a reno job. And he didn't do a good job.

The guy can run a boutique hotel and a nice--but money-losing--golf course. That's it.

[Anonymous]

Trump is not a good businessman. He doesn’t run a family business, he runs a crime organization.

Extortion, tax evasion, and suing people instead of paying them is not “good business.”

[Anonymous]

I generally think David Brooks is pretty thoughtful. But what he seems to be lamenting is the loss of a caste system - a society where everyone knows their role and can excel in it and be valued for their contribution to the greater good. There's a meaning to life in that construct. The Enlightenment changes that with its focus on reason and individual happiness, which is pretty much the foundation of western civilization.

I'm not sure how Trump features in this. In many ways he's an autocrat who believes in a command economy that the government controls. Among Republicans today, their preference is for a government that chooses winners and losers. And it's fealty to Trump that decides who wins and who loses. There's no good here. But there is a yearning to be a part of something larger than the individual. And so we have a red team or blue team America. Which is unsatisfying for everyone. But there is a genuine yearning in most humans to be a part of something larger - and reason and the pursuit of individual happiness doesn't hit that space. Republicans have chosen a cult of the individual and a command economy. And Democrats don't know what the hell they're doing and offer no vision whatsoever. So the gravitational pull is going to be toward the red team, which at least offers some meaning and purpose - terrible as it might be. Whereas Democrats offer only nothingness and banalities.

[Anonymous]

The purpose of life is to create. Human creativity gives meaning to our lives.

AI will break our spirit even more since it has been trained to replace creative work as a part of some of the first attempts to monetize the new technology.

[Anonymous]

Trump is great and he deserves a Nobel Peace Prize.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Trump is great and he deserves a Nobel Peace Prize.

How do you get through the daily demands of life?

[Anonymous]

NP. I despise the man, and think he is extremely harmful to the good of the nation, but correctly predicted his wins in spring of 2016 and again in 2024, so you know where I am coming from.

This is my take: Trump is popular because Trump gives room and structure for many people to reject quasi-religious beliefs that have been presented as fact, but are not fact, by the dominant new faith-based groups in our society (political groups). He allows space for heresy, and he does not apologize for his own heresies. In a world where the wrong words (e.g. heresies to the newly dominant religions) can and have caused people to lose jobs, friends, etc., this is enormously appealing. Trump says wrong words all the time.

The background of this is that with the decline in organized religions, we as a society have replaced organized religions with allegiance to political parties and ideologies. And with that religious fervor comes a religious fundamentalism that freely mixes fact with belief but presents that to the world as fact.

I actually believe that the sharp rise in mental health issues in young people is related to this dissonance. They have been presented with what are essentially faith-based beliefs as though those are fact, but not with the structures to deal with apostasy. The religions of old do the same (present faith as fact), of course, but they accompany those religious tenets with a structure to enable faith and manage heresy. So, a Christian child raised in a Christian household might reach teenhood and declare there is no God, but when that happens, churches have structures for managing that apostasy. A Catholic child might be sent towards the sacrament of Confirmation, a fundamentalist child might be encouraged to talk to a pastor who does a baptism, etc. I’m not saying that it’s not rife with abuse, of course, but just that there are organized structures for dealing with apostasy and a failure to believe what is faith as fact.

The religion of political movements doesn’t have any such structures, however. You’re just a heretic if you disbelieve, and cast out of the tribe. And both parties are asking people to believe a lot that’s effectively religious in nature as fact, without any organized mechanism for addressing doubts and skepticism.

Trump walked into this and what’s remarkable is that he’s such a liar, but he lives his own truths and gives space for others while doing that. That’s an extremely unusual political quality right now: both Democrats and Republicans demand belief allegiance from their leaders. Trump is perceived as rejecting orthodoxies, in contrast. And he never apologizes, never backs down from a perceived heresy, never gives an inch to the party monitors tasked with keeping political heretics strictly inline.

That’s what is appealing: he allows people to reject beliefs that the party priest classes have declared untouchable tenets. And that is a freedom of religious thought that Americans on all sides of the political spectrum crave. Hence, his popularity.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It was an interesting premise. But it annoys me when writers try to “both sides” the problem.

In this case there is a reasonable argument it is both sides.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It was an interesting premise. But it annoys me when writers try to “both sides” the problem.

In this case there is a reasonable argument it is both sides.

Both "sides" need to be dissolved. Not rocket science.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:NP. I despise the man, and think he is extremely harmful to the good of the nation, but correctly predicted his wins in spring of 2016 and again in 2024, so you know where I am coming from.

This is my take: Trump is popular because Trump gives room and structure for many people to reject quasi-religious beliefs that have been presented as fact, but are not fact, by the dominant new faith-based groups in our society (political groups). He allows space for heresy, and he does not apologize for his own heresies. In a world where the wrong words (e.g. heresies to the newly dominant religions) can and have caused people to lose jobs, friends, etc., this is enormously appealing. Trump says wrong words all the time.

The background of this is that with the decline in organized religions, we as a society have replaced organized religions with allegiance to political parties and ideologies. And with that religious fervor comes a religious fundamentalism that freely mixes fact with belief but presents that to the world as fact.

I actually believe that the sharp rise in mental health issues in young people is related to this dissonance. They have been presented with what are essentially faith-based beliefs as though those are fact, but not with the structures to deal with apostasy. The religions of old do the same (present faith as fact), of course, but they accompany those religious tenets with a structure to enable faith and manage heresy. So, a Christian child raised in a Christian household might reach teenhood and declare there is no God, but when that happens, churches have structures for managing that apostasy. A Catholic child might be sent towards the sacrament of Confirmation, a fundamentalist child might be encouraged to talk to a pastor who does a baptism, etc. I’m not saying that it’s not rife with abuse, of course, but just that there are organized structures for dealing with apostasy and a failure to believe what is faith as fact.

The religion of political movements doesn’t have any such structures, however. You’re just a heretic if you disbelieve, and cast out of the tribe. And both parties are asking people to believe a lot that’s effectively religious in nature as fact, without any organized mechanism for addressing doubts and skepticism.

Trump walked into this and what’s remarkable is that he’s such a liar, but he lives his own truths and gives space for others while doing that. That’s an extremely unusual political quality right now: both Democrats and Republicans demand belief allegiance from their leaders. Trump is perceived as rejecting orthodoxies, in contrast. And he never apologizes, never backs down from a perceived heresy, never gives an inch to the party monitors tasked with keeping political heretics strictly inline.

That’s what is appealing: he allows people to reject beliefs that the party priest classes have declared untouchable tenets. And that is a freedom of religious thought that Americans on all sides of the political spectrum crave. Hence, his popularity.

Old sins have been replaced by new sins.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Because MAGA is locked inside a media ecosystem that is devoid of facts or reason.

Liberals falls for every single hoax, while thinking they are better at divining facts.
Joe Biden is sharp as a tack and all the videos are cheapfakes.
Buildings in Aurora have not been taken over by gangs.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Because MAGA is locked inside a media ecosystem that is devoid of facts or reason.

Boo Hoo libs have lost narrative control.

yeah sure MAGA

[Anonymous]

OP because the majority of Americans are as stupid AF. 54% read below a sixth grade level. They are morons who voted for a moron.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP because the majority of Americans are as stupid AF. 54% read below a sixth grade level. They are morons who voted for a moron.

That was also true when Obama won.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:NP. I despise the man, and think he is extremely harmful to the good of the nation, but correctly predicted his wins in spring of 2016 and again in 2024, so you know where I am coming from.

This is my take: Trump is popular because Trump gives room and structure for many people to reject quasi-religious beliefs that have been presented as fact, but are not fact, by the dominant new faith-based groups in our society (political groups). He allows space for heresy, and he does not apologize for his own heresies. In a world where the wrong words (e.g. heresies to the newly dominant religions) can and have caused people to lose jobs, friends, etc., this is enormously appealing. Trump says wrong words all the time.

The background of this is that with the decline in organized religions, we as a society have replaced organized religions with allegiance to political parties and ideologies. And with that religious fervor comes a religious fundamentalism that freely mixes fact with belief but presents that to the world as fact.

I actually believe that the sharp rise in mental health issues in young people is related to this dissonance. They have been presented with what are essentially faith-based beliefs as though those are fact, but not with the structures to deal with apostasy. The religions of old do the same (present faith as fact), of course, but they accompany those religious tenets with a structure to enable faith and manage heresy. So, a Christian child raised in a Christian household might reach teenhood and declare there is no God, but when that happens, churches have structures for managing that apostasy. A Catholic child might be sent towards the sacrament of Confirmation, a fundamentalist child might be encouraged to talk to a pastor who does a baptism, etc. I’m not saying that it’s not rife with abuse, of course, but just that there are organized structures for dealing with apostasy and a failure to believe what is faith as fact.

The religion of political movements doesn’t have any such structures, however. You’re just a heretic if you disbelieve, and cast out of the tribe. And both parties are asking people to believe a lot that’s effectively religious in nature as fact, without any organized mechanism for addressing doubts and skepticism.

Trump walked into this and what’s remarkable is that he’s such a liar, but he lives his own truths and gives space for others while doing that. That’s an extremely unusual political quality right now: both Democrats and Republicans demand belief allegiance from their leaders. Trump is perceived as rejecting orthodoxies, in contrast. And he never apologizes, never backs down from a perceived heresy, never gives an inch to the party monitors tasked with keeping political heretics strictly inline.

That’s what is appealing: he allows people to reject beliefs that the party priest classes have declared untouchable tenets. And that is a freedom of religious thought that Americans on all sides of the political spectrum crave. Hence, his popularity.

Old sins have been replaced by new sins.

Pretty much.