tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3856837.post448622192830117160..comments2023-10-24T09:06:30.200-04:00Comments on No More Mister Nice Blog: WHY ARE CARSON AND TRUMP WINNING? HERE'S A THEORY.Steve M.http://www.blogger.com/profile/11963290427258439242noreply@blogger.comBlogger6125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3856837.post-64077146216915327232015-10-26T21:16:42.958-04:002015-10-26T21:16:42.958-04:00As if change in the status quo were a bad thing.As if change in the status quo were a bad thing.Ten Bearshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06594307610015584119noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3856837.post-88068340210147337702015-10-26T16:06:50.155-04:002015-10-26T16:06:50.155-04:00I think about the level of craziness in the suppor...I think about the level of craziness in the support for Trump and Carson a lot. I'm a psychologist. I'd start with 9/11, which stimulated an unprecedented level of fear in people, some of whom got over it. But other people, whether they could talk about it or not, experienced great vulnerability. <br /><br />And in the aftermath of a great vulnerability, we often feel shame -- that we were so "weak," that our vulnerability is on display, etc. Hence the need to go to war, to jack up the fighting defenses. But the war! Iraq was a debacle. Instead of helping the public handle their fear, the war made George Bush and the Republican politicians suspect in the hearts of average, everyday Republicans. <br /><br />They could not be trusted to make the world safe. This is their "sin," their failure. But until Trump mentioned how 9/11 happened on Bush's watch, there was not enough public discourse by ordinary Republicans, discourse which admits that they were abandoned and misled. <br /><br />In the meantime the citizens (who were still fearful and disillusioned by the failure of the Republican leadership) kept these two conflicting forces within their own thinking: Only The Republicans Can Govern/The Republicans Cannot Govern. Like sharp knives inside themselves, these paradoxical beliefs clash ... and make them even more crazy.<br /><br />Along comes Trump, who makes fun of the other Republicans. I'm saying that you cannot underestimate the emotional relief and comfort these citizens feel when someone says the Emperor has no clothes. They need the aggression turned onto the Republican leaders. They want them punished. Everything else is a side show, including their attacks on Obama. They can get mad at Obama, and spin stories about his imagined qualities, but they only get real, palpable emotional release when someone attacks the Republicans. It softens the intensity of the clashing knives in their heads. This emotional release is why people line up to hear Trump.<br /><br />Notice that Carson's followers make a lot of his braininess and his "gentle" manner. And yet he's saying many of the same things about Muslims. He gives the fearful citizens a pass for being fearful, but his so-called gentleness provides a cover for the wish for more aggression.<br /><br />Both Trump and Carson help people hide from themselves, from their own complicated, unthoughtful aggressions.<br />MollyAnonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08574280118169828597noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3856837.post-31689343084973669792015-10-26T11:57:38.781-04:002015-10-26T11:57:38.781-04:00Trump's success shows they have never cared ab...<i>Trump's success shows they have never cared about smaller government, deficits, unions or any of those other republican tropes - if it hurts 'those people' then they're for it. </i><br /><br />"Smaller government" means "cutting off Those People, whose lives are too cushy."<br />"Deficits" means "spending too much on Those People, whose lives are too cushy."<br />"Unions" means "leaders of Those People, helping them act lazy and live lives that are too cushy."<br /><br />It's all one thing: the government gives welfare to Those People and we're the unlucky saps stuck with the bill. This 96% of why Republicans are Republicans. 3% care a lot about abortion (which relates to the too-easy lives of Those People also), and 1% are just filthy rich greedy asswipes.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3856837.post-36645763699449094732015-10-26T11:37:14.002-04:002015-10-26T11:37:14.002-04:00@ Bill Featherston. I agree. @ Bill Featherston. I agree. Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08880308031096340258noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3856837.post-84514325925791277262015-10-26T09:18:24.300-04:002015-10-26T09:18:24.300-04:00No. My theory is that the republicans have given u...No. My theory is that the republicans have given up on the democratic process itself, you know- all that voting nonsense that encourages 'those people' to have a say in those things that affect them. They want a Strong Man to take control and crush the opposition, restore the constitution to what they believe it was prior to when 'those people' (women, minorities, immigrants, liberals, dirty hippies, etc.) hijacked it, and lead them back to their privileged and mostly imagined status.<br /><br />That's it. That's all. Trump's success shows they have never cared about smaller government, deficits, unions or any of those other republican tropes - if it hurts 'those people' then they're for it. Give us our own tyrant and we'll be happy they say. Anyone as crazy as them will do.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12885877938051822490noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3856837.post-5097793896220792512015-10-26T08:58:44.621-04:002015-10-26T08:58:44.621-04:00It's interesting that Carson would bring up sl...It's interesting that Carson would bring up slavery (a "politically incorrect" word?!) in relation to slavery. On an unrelated comment on a different blog, I came upon this article, "The History of Abortifacients", which quoted a 1705 book about Surinam:<br /><br />"The Indians, who are not treated well by their Dutch masters, use the seeds [of this plant] to abort their children, so that their children will not become slaves like they are."<br /><br /><a href="http://jezebel.com/the-history-of-abortifacients-1658993381" rel="nofollow">http://jezebel.com/the-history-of-abortifacients-1658993381</a><br /><br />Although I don't think Carson would accept slavery as an exception for abortion.Arthur Mervynhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17504229544539032232noreply@blogger.com