You’re not wrong but it doesn’t change the overall situation. This in particular is the crux of the issue for me:
A lot of people believed Trump’s lies.
If you believed that Trump was a trustworthy individual by the time the 2020 election rolled around then you were, at best, stupid. To be clear, I don’t mean that as a juvenile insult or a way to dehumanize people I disagree with. What I mean is that, in the most generous interpretation of the situation, you were unaware of how often and about what subjects Trump refused to be truthful both before and during his presidency. In addition to this ignorance, you also held very strong opinions about subjects you clearly had no interest in educating yourself on, namely the fact that he’s so obviously full of shit. These opinions were strong enough that you were willing to overlook the historical anamoly of being impeached two separate times in order to vote for this man. Now, perhaps it is a bit incendiary to state it so bluntly, but I don’t know what else to call a categorical refusal to engage the rational part of your brain other than stupidity.
Clearly there are Trump supporters who are stupid for reasons other than I’ve outlined here. My point is simply that the above scenario is about as open minded as you could reasonably be when evaluating the motivations of a Trump supporter and my conclusion is still that they are idiots. I think we’re well past the point where it’s necessary to make excuses for them.
You’re not wrong but it doesn’t change the overall situation. This in particular is the crux of the issue for me:
If you believed that Trump was a trustworthy individual by the time the 2020 election rolled around then you were, at best, stupid. To be clear, I don’t mean that as a juvenile insult or a way to dehumanize people I disagree with. What I mean is that, in the most generous interpretation of the situation, you were unaware of how often and about what subjects Trump refused to be truthful both before and during his presidency. In addition to this ignorance, you also held very strong opinions about subjects you clearly had no interest in educating yourself on, namely the fact that he’s so obviously full of shit. These opinions were strong enough that you were willing to overlook the historical anamoly of being impeached two separate times in order to vote for this man. Now, perhaps it is a bit incendiary to state it so bluntly, but I don’t know what else to call a categorical refusal to engage the rational part of your brain other than stupidity.
Clearly there are Trump supporters who are stupid for reasons other than I’ve outlined here. My point is simply that the above scenario is about as open minded as you could reasonably be when evaluating the motivations of a Trump supporter and my conclusion is still that they are idiots. I think we’re well past the point where it’s necessary to make excuses for them.