Donald Trump is a loudmouth; he's a bigot; he's an idiot. He's evil! He's insane! He wants to bring back racism!
Those are all monikers and slurs I've heard (and in a couple cases, have myself) applied to the Donald. The current Republican nominee is so bad that the College Republicans on campus here at Ashland have actually disavowed him, choosing instead to get involved with state and local elections. It's pretty bad when an organization that exists to help elect Republicans won't help elect a Republican. But that's where we are today. Why?
I thought about this the other day and realized that the Never Trump demographic is just as blind as the Trumpites themselves. Both routinely ignore evidence that contradicts their position and, instead of answering it directly, resorts to insults and farcical arguments. Which is to say they're equally problematic and impossible to argue with.
What about Trump creates a level of irrationality within his opponents?
Well, for one, it's his manner, which is intentional. He purposefully uses small words. Write down one of his rally speeches. It's rambling -- because it's not scripted. It's also comprised of small concepts. He comes across as vague because he is being vague. His supporters can read into his policy positions something that fits their own preconceived notions of the Donald.
The other big thing is that his alt-right policies created an echo chamber in the media. Big-name publications all immediately turned on Trump as soon as his announcement speech ended. The New York Times has made assassin-style attacks on his policies, family, business record, and marriages since day one. And why not? It was clear already that the big-name media tends toward "progressivism." Can we expect them to act against their own convictions? And yet many Trump supporters act as if the media should be super-humanly objective.
These two things made it easy to make him a target. In fact he practically painted one on his own back. The media may have thought attacking him would hurt him; as it is, it gave him so much name recognition that he was able to easily swing the Republican nomination against more qualified and orthodox opponents.
It is typical for people to set up things in a cut and dry, black-and-white manner. You're evil; we're good. You're wrong; we're right. You're sexist; I'm not. You're homophobic; I'm inclusive. You're racist; I don't see color - et cetera.
This mindset -- that our first feelings are right, and those who agree are also right, of course--leads to a couple of things a lot of you have heard about. They're called confirmation bias and groupthink. Once we have enough seeming confirmation of our own position, it does not matter what other evidence is given; to a point, all information we get is made in light of our current belief. So if I believe there is only one God and I am visited by divine beings claiming to be gods, my first reaction--and perhaps my final conclusion--will be that those 'gods' are in fact demons. It just makes more sense within my own worldview to assume such. Trump supporters and his haters have the same problems. They are nonsensical, arrogant, and can rarely actually debate the position.
The sins of Trump supporters are mirrored in his haters.
The only way to remedy this is for each of us to be willing to listen. Not just wait for someone else's rant to be over -- I mean really listen to them. Their feelings are valid. Their opinions are valid. I'm not a Trump fan, but if a Trump supporter is explaining why they want to vote for Trump, I'm going to at least try to hear them out. I can only hope they'll extend the same courtesy to me.
