MEMBERS OF THE LATEST TIMES FOCUS GROUP VOTED FOR A PARALLEL-UNIVERSE TRUMP

The New York Times has just published another focus group roundtable, this one involving fourteen voters "who described Donald Trump as 'extreme' and differed with him on some key issues, including abortion rights, and decided to vote for him anyway." In some ways, these voters will get what they want from Trump: they don't like undocumented immigrants, and, as one participant puts it, they "think we need someone a little arrogant ... to straighten up the world." But in many ways they back an imaginary, parallel-universe Trump -- someone who doesn't exist in the real world.

They all seem dismayed by the state of America today -- with some exceptions:

Mary, 50, Asian, Wyoming, assistant
I was just looking at my retirement accounts, and it looks like the economy is doing pretty well right now.

... Kenneth, 62, Black, California, truck driver
The election went well, but even prior to the new administration coming into office, things were going well. The economy is better.

You folks know who's president right now, don't you?

Trump apparently made populist promises on a frequency only these voters could hear:

Seneca, 28, white, Arizona, charge specialist
I voted for him because I thought he was really smart and really good with money. And then also health care. I think it’s really cool that he’s going to take on fighting the big health care corporations that are charging insane amounts and hopefully get that under control.

Oh yeah, that'll happen. (/s)

On immigration, many of these people seem to expect a level of moderation that absolutely won't happen in an administration where Stephen Miller and Tom Homan have top positions:

Chris, 46, white, Pennsylvania, line technician
I think that there’s probably a very good majority of people that are undocumented that are normal, law-abiding people and could be contributing members of society. So I don’t think that getting rid of all of those is necessarily the answer. There are some that obviously don’t deserve to be here, but to just get rid of all of them — there’s people that are born here every day that — would they have to go start a new life in some other country, through no fault of their own? There could be some common-sense ways to go about doing it, other than just picking up and shipping them all out.

Mary, 50, Asian, Wyoming, assistant
I think I agree with Chris. There needs to be some type of metric or something. You can’t just drive a bus down the road and say, “Hey, show me your papers or get on the bus, and we’re taking you to Mexico,” or whatever. I know that there’s a lot of hard-working immigrants here who deserve a shot. If they’ve been here for 10, 15 years, contributing, I see no problem with that.

You can’t just drive a bus down the road and say, “Hey, show me your papers or get on the bus, and we’re taking you to Mexico,” or whatever. That's literally the Trump administration's policy on immigration, as Trump explained every time he spoke on the subject.

These people voted for Trump, but they don't want him to be, y'know, extreme or anything.

Moderator, Patrick Healy
Is there anything that concerns you about a Trump presidency? Is there anything you don’t want him to do as president?

Chris, 46, white, Pennsylvania, line technician
I just hope that it doesn’t go to his head and he starts to get reckless. I just don’t want him to get some of the wrong people in his corner, that are in his ear, that have their own agenda, maybe. Not that he would necessarily do it on purpose, but I feel like he might —

Direnda, 66, white, Kentucky, house cleaner
Be influenced.

Chris, 46, white, Pennsylvania, line technician
— go with the flow and want to please everybody and it just gets out of hand.

But don't worry!

Kathi, 57, white, Ohio, property management
I’m a little bit with Chris on that, but it does seem like this so-called election, he’s been much better about containing himself.

What was it that persuaded you that Trump has been "better about containing himself," Kathi? Was it the time he talked about Arnold Palmer's penis? Was it when he called Kamala Harris "a shit vice president" at the same rally? Was it his threat to put members of the House January 6 committee in prison? Was it when he accused the news media of treason?

On abortion, they're awfully certain that there won't be any more restrictions emerging from Trump's Washington:

Mary, 50, Asian, Wyoming, assistant
I think that he took it off the federal government and put it on the states. He doesn’t have a say anymore.

... Direnda, 66, white, Kentucky, house cleaner
I think Trump did the right thing. He just washed his hands of the whole situation and said: OK, you guys decide.

Trump will appoint several hundred judges and probably at least two Supreme Court justices, all of them bearing the Federalist Society stamp of approval. They're the ones who heard the message "OK, you guys decide."

The focus group participants aren't very concerned about Trump's appointees.

Moderator, Margie Omero
How do you think the Senate should go about considering Trump’s nominees?

Seneca, 28, white, Arizona, charge specialist
I think they should check on the people, run a background check and make sure that they’re qualified to be in the position, but unless there’s something huge, I think they should be going with Trump’s decision.

Is rape huge? Is being a pro-Putin fifth columnist huge? Is not believing that the polio vaccine is safe and effective huge?

Robert Kennedy Jr. gets a pass because (choose one) (a) he's right about vaccines or (b) he's a Kennedy, and Kennedys are dreamy:

Jason, 38, white, Florida, realtor
I’m glad he got picked. His stance on everything during Covid — I very much agreed with it. Obviously, if you wanted to get jabbed, by all means, get jabbed. Again, your body, your choice.

(If Kennedy had been in office during COVID, I assume the U.S. government would never have funded vaccine development or approved the final product, but yeah, sure, his stance is "choice.")

Noah, 62, Latino, Texas, retired
I don’t know that I have enough insight on him, but I have a mild historical optimism. I hope he gets almost Uncle Bobby-like and takes responsibility for all of the fraud that is committed throughout those departments, because that is one of the biggest sources of our expenditures in the country.

It's not "one of the biggest sources of our expenditures in the country," but most Americans have no clue where tax money goes.

These people aren't worried about the FBI or the Justice Department, either.

Joseph, 55, white, Minnesota, handyman
You have to have people that are able to follow the laws of America, the Constitution, and not have somebody that wants to bend the rules and enforce whatever their mind-set might be at the time....

Erich, 23, white, New Jersey, lacrosse coach
As long as they’re taking the good of the country into consideration, that’s really my main concern.

Yeah, I'm sure Kash Patel and Pam Bondi are selfless public servants whose only loyalty is to the rule of law.

And here's a concluding statement from one of the participants:

Noah, 62, Latino, Texas, retired
I think our country would be better off having a more informed citizenry and where people argue their own ideas, not just their party’s statement, on everything from immigration to the economy.

A more informed citizenry where people aren't just listening to party propaganda? Yeah, that would be nice.