To be clear from the start. I'm neither a Trump supporter or opponent. I have started describing myself as a potentially disenfranchised person.
Secondly, I'm not looking for libertarian reasons that Trump is bad. I know those. Here's my question.
If you are a normie. If you are a voter, maybe middle of the road "independent". Maybe a progressive. What is so bad about Trump compared to these former presidents.
- Nixon
- Reagan
- Bush
- W. Bush
I was recently listening to Tom Wood's episode about the recent Trump verdict with Robert Barnes. I really haven't been following the multiple court cases but this episode was a good primer on the NY case. I also recently watched a clip of Bill Maher appearance of Gutfeld. These two things resulted in my asking the question.
What on earth is so bad about Trump? I have no strong feelings for or against him. I think I'm pretty dispassionate.
I'm old enough to remember the huge level of hate directed at Reagan. He was the devil to most on the left. Bush much less so. But W Bush... oh man. He was the man that led the US into war on false pretense. He oversaw the expansion of spying on US citizens. Was behind the expansive use of torture. He was evil in the eyes of the left. I remember Obama running on "change".
Objectively I struggle to come up with anything Trump actually did that rivals the things that W. Bush did. Yet, over and over I have heard progressives long for W to come back... I do not see Trump as being especially dangerous or evil. I do see him as evil. I do see him as a criminal. But he's a former president. All of them are in these groups IMO.
To me... it just seems like emotional distress. You know how it is when someone just gets under your skin and stuff that shouldn't work you up just drives you nuts? That's what I think is going on here.
Honestly it seems like mental illness to me. Messaging from the system is powerful. Repeated programming telling you how bad something/someone works on most people. That's a part of it. But I also think Trump is an excellent troll. He enjoys playing the villain. He seems to relish it. I mean, we played the villain for a while in the WWE.
I think one thing that triggers this hate is how Trump takes a dump on the religious reverence for the state and its trappings. You see this in the reactions to J6. You see this in the mocking Trump gets. Trump exposes people. Their deep feelings and emotion state. I see this in both his supporters and haters. What seems to trigger people and to me to be the focus of most rage is his language. His words... yeah his words. That's where I have the disconnect. Politicians typically talk with flowery language that is full of nice sounds platitudes but no substance or truth. Trump doesn't do that. Yeah, he lies but he doesn't seem to care if he offends. If you believe Bush and Obama words and use that as your basis I get how Trump is worse. But really, are we 16 years old? Are that many people that naive? It would appear this is true.
Again, I am not a Republican. I don't participate. But if you are a progressive. If you hate Trump I would seriously consider doing some soul searching. Maybe you need to turn off the news. Maybe you need to tune out for a while. I'm not telling you to vote, vote for Trump, or even like him. The level of opposition to Trump is not rational to me. It seems like a emotional overreaction.
Maybe I'm just missing something. Tell me what I'm missing and how it is worse than any other modern president.