Supporting Trump Means Supporting a Culture of Violence

https://www.theatlantic.com/newsletters/archive/2024/04/supporting-trump-means-supporting-a-culture-of-violence/677941/

48 comments

  1. >Trump’s fan base will shrug off its leader’s condoning of violent fantasies and implied threats of violence as more harmless lib-owning. But what Trump is doing is dangerous, and the time is long past to stop treating support for his candidacy as just one of many ordinary political choices.

  2. A – Trump supporters will never read this article.

    B – If they did they wouldn’t care.

    The media is preaching to the choir for clicks.

  4. All of the Trump supporters I know are people who will casually threaten violence for the slightest inconvenience.

    So this is a bit of a chicken and egg scenario.

  7. …is this piece nine freaking years old?

    “I’d like to punch that guy in the face.”

    Constant fights at his 2015/2016 rallies.

    “They’d be carried out on a stretcher, folks.”

    “Don’t be too gentle when you throw the guy you arrested in the paddy wagon.”

    Not to mention the sexual violence we all heard him brag about committing and the dozens who accused him of it in 2016.

    This sort of fluff is right up there with the 450,000th installment of “If Republicans do ____, they will have officially become The Party Of Donald Trump.”

    Mostly can’t believe there’s still an audience for it. Re-runs typically get old.

  8. The US was kind of built on a culture of violence. I always think we overlook that aspect of our history and society. Pretty much our entire past is full of condoning or celebrating violence, whether via race riots, lynchings, massacres of Natives, wars overseas, or police brutality. We act like we should be in some more enlightened era now, but we’re not far removed from pretty violent eras in our past, and it shouldn’t be too surprising that many Americans still find it appealing or at least not an issue.

  9. And not even the fun kind of culture of violence

  11. They are itching to use their many guns so violence is preferred for them.

  14. It’s not like they’re the only ones having violent fantasies. They’re just too stupid to understand how poorly it would go for them.

  16. Trump is a coward who loves the violence his followers will commit on his behalf. Put him in the middle of it and he would sh*t his diaper

  17. Supporting any governments in 2024 means supporting a culture of violence. It’s called a police “force” for a reason.

  18. I would suggest that those that support inclusivity and tolerance have not nearly been violent enough after witnessing Germany and other bad actors in the Second World War. We need to organize and act similarly that will communicate with a resonance that cannot be forgotten.

  19. Force and violence is how they always win, that’s how history is written.

    They cheat at everything, and use force to maintain whatever it is.

  20. Supporting Trump means being ignorant. The only way to change the minds of Trump supporters is for them to learn by slowly breaking from the cult reality they live in. You can’t really attack Trump, you can’t really attack the underlying premises they espouse. They have to be sold on the idea that what they currently believe in doesn’t actually benefit them. It absolutely has to be all about them, in order to get a voter to change their mind.

  21. They are so absolutely sure something is about to go down, the cops let all able bodied rednecks do absolutely anything they want here. I live right across the street from a school and for days reds have been on my side shooting just thousands of rounds off at all hours. A truck NEVER gets pulled over here and it’s so obvious they are all tweaking and drunk. Obvious switches on they’re guns. This is Western NC right now. Home of the gravy seals.

  23. violence
    Racism
    Xenophobia
    Classism
    Sexism
    Misogyny
    Etc
    Etc

  25. Mainly gross ignorance – the kind that really revealed itself during Covid that I let myself not believe existed before then. – but yes, lack of empathy/compassion, which has led to hatred and violence.

  26. They are just awful people. The worst of humanity.

  27. Way too much violence. It will lead to some real trouble down the line

  28. This article would ask them to be introspective and reflective on the choices they’ve made thus far, asking them how they cannot come to a different conclusion. The cult of personality requires no such introspection. It requires only blind loyalty.

  31. The people supporting Trump already know that. It’s why they’re supporting him. The cruelty is the point.

  33. Just like any terrorist organization, the MAGA movement and trump’s enablers in congress are weak… and only feel strong and righteous when they attack people who are minding their own business. Although they whine about their rights and their imagined loss of them, only try to take away from everyone else. Threats of violence…actual violence…. It’s all good with them. Just as Al Qada would bomb people who are no threat to them personally, the fanaticism of their movement justifies it. Same with MAGA

  34. Is it wrong for us to still believe in the constitution? Are we not a republic, bound by the constitution, with democratic processes to execute the republic’s affairs? Is it still true that republicans want a smaller government with less control and regulation on American lives? Is it still true that Democrats want an expansive government and the ability to shape citizens lives for the better that they see? On one hand Dems can do great works with expansive reach and larger agencies, but they also can yield unsavory power over their citizens by becoming too expansive and too involved in the private lives of its people. Idk it’s so confusing just wanting to be a law-abiding, peaceful, open-minded citizen who values and abides by the constitution I guess.

  35. Sexual violence. And intimidation. And advocating for other people to fight for you and pay your bills. I’m sure there’s more.

  37. I’m only one generation removed from family, who were executed in an event of political violence. I think about this everyday.

  38. That’s why he is so popular. America is a country with a handful of Brilliant, compassionate people desperately trying to hold back the tide of violent, ignorant scum. I feel like the Chinese lady at the beginning of Three Body Problem. Fuck humanity. Let the aliens take over.

  39. What has always bothered me about any Iraq veterans who support Donny. Isn’t don essentially a carbon copy of Sadam Hussain? Wanting race & class minority rule over democracy through violence fear and racial manipulation.

    We have fought both fascism and communism because democracy demands compromise and concensus. Which neither ideology permits.

  40. Culture of racism, hypocrisy, bigotry, hatred, con-artistry, scammers. Missed a few cultures.

  41. When a former President posts a picture of his rival hog tied in a truck, he has gone too far. Again. This is Fascism

  43. I would like to ask one of them if they had a young daughter in a beauty contest, would they be ok to let Trump and a few other men walk into their dressing area to “inspect” her and then grab her privates because according to him, since he owned the hotel and the pageant, he was entitled to the girls too. Trump has broken EVERY commandment and a hundred extra laws just because “when you’re famous, they let you do it.”

  45. Ding ding ding! Anyone who has been paying any attention could surmise this. When you dehumanize your opponents and actively condone or excuse the violent behavior of your supporters I’m not sure there’s another way to describe this political movement. And it does feel like a movement. And as much as he is venerated by his base, I believe he would suffer immensely by disavowing this type of behavior among his supporters. I think they’d find a way to pick up and move on from him. To someone more extreme than him even.

  46. America a culture of violence? Since when?

    …checks notes…

    Oh, damn literally the entire time

  47. Supporting Trump also means you probably have lead poisoning.

  48. That’s what the MAGA cult fantasizes about. They think they’re going to be the victors if the country breaks out in a second civil war.

    I assure you, the guns at the US military’s disposal are more numerous and a lot bigger than whatever you can buy at your favorite unregulated gun show.

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