The Mystery of the Classy Trump Voter

At his rancid online home at the ironically named Truth Social, disgraced, twice-impeached one-term President Donald Trump chose to honor the brave men and women who laid down their lives for our country with the following Memorial Day message: 

“Happy Memorial Day to All, including the Human Scum that is working so hard to destroy our Once Great Country, & to the Radical Left, Trump Hating Federal Judge in New York that presided over, get this, TWO separate trials, that awarded a woman, who I never met before (a quick handshake at a celebrity event, 25 years ago, doesn’t count!), 91 MILLION DOLLARS for “DEFAMATION.” She didn’t know when the so-called event took place - sometime in the 1990’s - never filed a police report, didn’t have to produce the “dress” that she threatened me with (it showed negative!), & sung my praises in the first half of her CNN Interview with Alison Cooper, but changed her tune in the second half - Gee, I wonder why (UNDER APPEAL!)? The Rape charge was dropped by a jury! Or Arthur Engoron, the N.Y. State Wacko Judge who fined me almost 500 Million Dollars (UNDER APPEAL) for DOING NOTHING WRONG, used a Statute that has never been used before, gave me NO JURY, Mar-a-Lago at $18,000,000 - Now for Merchan!”

What’s remarkable about this unhinged rant is that there is nothing remarkable about it. It’s not some crazed outlier; this is how Donald Trump chooses to communicate with the American people. 

Not only do people somehow accept that Trump used a day dedicated to honoring veterans to screech incoherently at his enemies in a rant that only makes sense if you have an encyclopedic knowledge of Trump’s various trials and tribulations, they fucking love it. They think he’s Batman when he’s really an inept supervillain.

Conservatives who profess to hold the military in the highest regard and post memes about how all of the billions of dollars that go to setting up illegal immigrants in mansions and giving them Lamborghinis should instead be set aside for homeless veterans will read that message and think that it reflects well upon the President, his mental state and his personality. 

They’ll say that Trump is a fighter who is punching back against all of the unfair attacks he’s been subjected to since he chose to sacrifice his own happiness to save our country from, in Trump’s own words, “the Human Scum that is working so hard to destroy our Once Great Country” by running for president. 

These ardent defenders will insist that Trump is fighting a brave fight against political correctness (or, as it is known to non-right-wingers, human decency) and showing the world how a strong leader communicates with his followers. 

I honestly do not understand how anyone could think that a man who writes posts like the one above on a regular basis should be made the most powerful man in the world and have access to our nuclear codes. 

I cannot wrap my head around the horrifying truth that in November, over sixty million Americans will vote for a man who fetishizes the military might in a way that would embarrass Yukio Mishima yet cannot refrain from screaming at the top of his lungs about the unfairness of the various criminal and civil trials he’s involved with even on a solemn day of remembrance. 

At a minimum, over sixty million people who ostensibly do not have an amnesiac block that keeps them from remembering Trump’s presidency will cast their vote for the former reality television host and sham university proprietor over Joe Biden, who, to be fair, is a feeble old codger who inspires no confidence. I’d vote for a dead Joe Biden over a living Donald Trump, but I have no illusions about the man and his electability.  

Many of these people will be voting for Donald Trump not because they like him or find his personality appealing but rather because they’re Republicans and consequently will vote for the party’s nominee no matter who it might be. 

I’m sure that the tens of millions of people who will vote for a deranged hate-monger will include lots of people who will be voting against Joe Biden as much as they are voting for Trump. 

Greed and self-interest undoubtedly play a role as well. Lots of people will vote for Trump because they think that he will lower their taxes, improve the economy, and fight inflation. They could be right. They’ll definitely be right about the lowering taxes part.

There are many reasons to vote for Donald Trump that have nothing to do with liking him as a person. 

I get that. Yet I still have intense cognitive dissonance over the fact that Trump was ever considered a viable presidential candidate, let alone a former president who could very well become the first president since Grover Cleveland to serve non-consecutive terms. 

What I find fascinating and alarming is that the 60 million+ Americans who will vote for Donald Trump must include a lot of people who otherwise are cultured and have impeccable taste. 

People who love opera, speak Latin, and are patrons of the arts will vote for a man who has single-handedly made our country an uglier, worse, more divided, and vulgar place. He’s dragged us all into the gutter, and yet people see him as a Golden God.

Do classy people feel guilty supporting someone who is so objectively terrible, who makes everything about himself and his zealously held grudges, even on Memorial Day? Or does he fulfill some weird, unconscious need they feel for a bully and a tyrant to punish their enemies? 

Do they live vicariously through Trump? Does he say the things they think but have the decency never to express publicly? 

I have no idea. As with so much of Trump’s appeal, I am flummoxed because for the smart set, voting for that lunatic is the tackiest thing you could possibly do, short of supporting him in a more public, vocal manner. 

I need teeth that work AND your help, so please do check out the Gofundme for my dental implant surgery over at https://www.gofundme.com/f/support-nathans-journey-to-dental-implants 

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