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I already called this in my last political post. Trump will win the battle but Hilary will win the war. Like anyone though, I can’t help but stare, open-mouthed, at this slow-moving train wreck. Still, I’m holding out in a state of denial that the GOP will nominate Kasich in a contested convention, and things will be okay. The imploding GOP has done very little to suggest anyone but Trump will win the nomination. Mitt did come out and give it the ole college try. Otherwise, Democrats have done more to warn us of impending anarchy.
I’ve accepted all this but still can’t quite get over this one quandary. Just how does a minority view become so dominant? I’m sure the Nazis represented a minority in Germany, yet they assumed power. I want to better understand the GOP numbers. What does 30% to 40% really mean in Primaries? If you assume half the country is Democrat and the other half is Republican, then 30% becomes 15% of the nation at large. And when you consider much, much less people vote in primaries than the general election, it must be less than 10% of the country that supports Trump. One man, one vote? Hardly. I’m just amazed at how things can go so far south, steered by such a small minority of knuckleheads.
I don’t believe Trump could ever be elected, but then I didn’t think he’d ever be nominated, and I’m being proven wrong on that outcome. I’m beginning to become alarmed. I’ve done my part. I’ve debated Trump-supporting friends on Facebook. I blog my personal views. I put myself out there. I tried logic and facts. That’s pointless of course. People don’t vote facts, they vote their life-long system of beliefs. An interesting study suggests the one unifying personality trait among Trump supporters is their comfort level with authoritarianism. Maybe that’s genetic. Maybe it’s social experience. Whatever, it’s a personality trait. As much as I want to simplify my understanding and refer to Trump supporters as idiots and anarchists, they’re not necessarily. Apparently Trump supporters are no more stupid than any other American. Fair enough. They are who they are and for whatever reason, Trump appeals to them.
I don’t unfriend them on Facebook. I block quite a number of posts and content sites – over two dozen apps. Facebook doesn’t show how many pages I block, but at least that many. I don’t unfriend people for thinking differently than me. I think of Facebook as my TV and each content-producing friend as a different channel. And I appreciate having some variety to watch. I try to avoid behaving as an Internet Troll but I don’t shy away from commenting. Not sure why I’m so comfortable commenting my personal views. I’ve always figured it’s job related. My job put me online before the Internet and I’ve become comfortable with it. The message is the medium and the medium is now a multicast party line. So the message is noisy. This is my contribution to the noise. I understand there are few topics more sensitive than politics, but freedom doesn’t spring from silence. You know where I stand on Trump.
A Runner's Story 