Trump Reconsidered

Scott Hardie | February 7, 2017
Talk of Donald Trump around here has been highly negative so far, in part because of the liberalism of the people doing the talking. So here's asking two questions out of curiosity:

1) Does anyone around here generally support Trump and have positive things to say about him? I promise to respect anyone's opinion here and I hope everyone else does too.

2) Even if you're generally opposed to Trump, has he done anything or taken any position that you agree with?

Samir Mehta | February 7, 2017
[hidden by request]

Aaron Shurtleff | February 8, 2017
I don't think it's going to happen, Scott. Honestly. Who's going to admit to it? Pretend (if you can) that you were a Trump supporter. Now, just read what has been said about him here. Are you feeling welcomed with open arms? Feeling like your opinion will be respectfully disagreed with? You're asking someone to be at the bottom of a pile-on situation. As a person who has previously put themselves in that position on a different disagreement, it sucks and it's frustrating.

Chris Lemler | February 8, 2017
I think the only good thing trump did was nominated Linda McMahon for the SBA job.

Scott Hardie | February 8, 2017
I might well be naïve, and I might be forgetful about how bad the piling on can be. It is to my lasting regret that Mike Eberhart, who was frequently the lone active conservative around here in the Bush years, was so often challenged on his opinions in ways that the liberal authors weren't, and that he eventually left over it. But I remain optimistic about the usefulness of an open and civil online forum, even in these darker, more divided days. I believe respectful disagreement is possible; I have all kinds of Trump supporters among my friends, online and off, and we get along fine when the subject comes up, though we don't discuss it as much as I would like. That said, all I can do is offer; someone else must be the first to volunteer for this experiment, and perhaps I am foolish to ask. But it doesn't hurt to ask, and I can hope.

Erik Bates | February 8, 2017
[hidden by request]

Samir Mehta | February 8, 2017
[hidden by request]

Aaron Shurtleff | February 9, 2017
Perhaps I am too pessimistic. But let me clarify something also. I don't believe a respectful disagreement about Trump can happen. Full stop. It shouldn't be taken as a slight on this community at all. I don't see how anyone can honestly say that they will respect the opinion of a person who supports a man who is LITERALLY being compared to Hitler. (Search internet for "Is it OK to punch a nazi?" and read all about the joys of respectful disagreement in today's society!)

Erik Bates | February 10, 2017
[hidden by request]

Scott Hardie | February 10, 2017
Certainly most conversations about Trump between liberals and conservatives go south fast, starting off without hope in the first place. But for a few people who come in determined to be respectful from the start and who discuss it in a neutral space, is there truly zero chance, not even a tiny chance, of being able to discuss Trump at length without rancor? I don't believe that. I guess we have four years to find out.

Like Samir, I was interested in the "drain the swamp" promise in the final weeks of Trump's campaign, even if it struck me as the sort of hail-mary desperation play that is forgotten as soon as the campaign is over. Not only was it forgotten, but Trump even admitted at a thank-you rally soon after winning that he didn't even believe the promise as he made it. This sort of thing is why I don't fully understand why he lies and obfuscates; he doesn't need to, as many of his own supporters don't seem to care, and he doesn't suffer consequences for things that other people in his position would. As for draining the swamp, the administration has obviously gone in the opposite direction.

Trump getting Carrier to save a thousand factory jobs while still president-elect was a qualified fine first step that I wouldn't mind seeing more of. By qualified, I mean that one or few deals like Carrier amount to stunts rather than actual achievements, and only a thousand jobs is a drop in the bucket, and I expect that cutting deals with Carrier on tax credits or whatever else was promised will only lead to every business in America sticking its hand out to the Trump administration the same way, all of which needs to be overcome for this sort of thing to matter at all. But if Trump somehow does manage to keep a great many workers employed without giving away too much in return, then sure, that's something I can get behind. (One of my Trump-supporting friends was over the moon when the Carrier deal was announced. He beamed, "Trump has already done more for American workers in two weeks than Obama has done in eight years, and he's not even president yet!" I neglected to ask him about this.)