5 ms·

Don't know why you're getting downvoted. That's more or less why I voted for him.

AndrewBissell 7y ago
Trump is far less "burn it to the ground" than his fans like to imagine. He's a friend to Wall Street, K Street, Raytheon Acres and the good old Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
- war1025 7y ago
  Didn't see this Michael Moore video [1] until after the election, but it pretty well describes why I voted for him. I'm doing pretty well, but I have a blue collar background, and the people I grew up around weren't. Didn't really figure he'd win, but my dad had died earlier in the year, and I figured he would have voted Trump, so I did it for him. Wasn't really a "burn it to the ground" thing in a literal sense. Basically what the end of the video clip says: "It's going to be a big Fuck You to the establishment. And it will feel good." And it did. [1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wxDRqeuLNag https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wxDRqeuLNag
  - mirimir 7y ago
    Back in the day, the Yippies nominated a pig (Pigasus) for President.
  - Apocryphon 7y ago
    And did the spirit behind that gesture last? He then went and teamed up with the same Republican politicians he pledged to be different from, and gave the establishment a big tax cut.
    - war1025 7y ago
      People can say what they want about the tax cut, but personally I got roughly $5000 out of the deal.
- ineedasername 7y ago
  He tends to dog-whistle "burn it down" in his rhetoric while his actions wink to the entrenched interests a sort of, "don't worry, I don't mean it"
  - war1025 7y ago
    Since I've waded into downvote territory anyway: It's interesting that his opponents are the only ones that hear these "dog whistles".
    - ineedasername 7y ago
      No, I think his supporters see the dog whistle too, but in reverse: the "wink" to establishment as the dog-whistle with the message to them as the "real" one. I don't think either interpretation is strictly correct. I don't think President Trump himself has a "canonical" interpretation of these things-- his sentiment is changeable, not ideological or even political.
      - pnutjam 7y ago
        You misspelled "sensible".
        ineedasername 7y ago
        Okay, maybe your comment is going over my head here, but I need some explanation. I misspell things often enough, but I didn't use the word "sensible" here.
        pnutjam 7y ago
        Sorry, just a snarky way to disagree with your reasons. I meant to quibble with your final statement and propose -- "his sentiment is changeable, not ideological or even sensible"
kelnos 7y ago
Out of curiosity, how do you feel now, 2.5 years in? If you knew in November 2016 what you know now, would you still have voted for him? Do you plan to vote for him in 2020? Not trying to troll or start a political flamewar here, I'm genuinely interested, especially as it's pretty rare that a HNer will "admit" to being a Trump voter. The thing that always gets me is that even though Trump presented himself as this tear-down-the-establishment, drain-the-swamp kind of guy, it always seemed pretty likely that he'd just replace the political establishment with people in the business/finance establishment, which is essentially the same thing to many/most of the people who this platform resonated with. And, well... that's exactly what he's done, aside from the other expected outcomes of inflaming racial/gender/etc. divides; ignorantly bumbling his way through economic, trade, and foreign policy; and lying his way through every day in office. What is it about that which still lends him support? Is it still just the chaos? Because he's not actually fixing anything for most of his supporters; the elites are still just as elite as ever, and at best it's status quo, but in many cases things are worse. Put another way: it just seems unlikely to me that all the "burn it to the ground" supporters expected or are happy with the fact that burning it all down also causes them more suffering, too; more suffering than the establishment has been hit with. And yet, here we are.
- war1025 7y ago
  I normally don't admit to it, but I've become less fearful of the backlash lately. Current plan is to vote for him in 2020. Worst case I will abstain from voting for President. The economy is still on fire as much as it's ever been in the midwest. Can't complain there. The trade war is unfortunate, but the alternative is to bend over and take it from China. Everyone agrees that they don't play fair. So the options are to do something about it, or to just let them keep on. My family has a manufacturing background, so all the offshoring is sort of personal. The racial crap isn't nearly as much of an issue as the media likes to make it. It makes for good ratings, though. --- Basically I'm hedging my bets on at worst I think the government should be robust enough not to be brought down by one bad leader. And if it is, then maybe we deserved to fall. Plus from my perspective he's not doing all that bad.
  - ineedasername 7y ago

Trump is far less "burn it to the ground" than his fans like to imagine. He's a friend to Wall Street, K Street, Raytheon Acres and the good old Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

war1025 7y ago
Didn't see this Michael Moore video [1] until after the election, but it pretty well describes why I voted for him. I'm doing pretty well, but I have a blue collar background, and the people I grew up around weren't. Didn't really figure he'd win, but my dad had died earlier in the year, and I figured he would have voted Trump, so I did it for him. Wasn't really a "burn it to the ground" thing in a literal sense. Basically what the end of the video clip says: "It's going to be a big Fuck You to the establishment. And it will feel good." And it did. [1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wxDRqeuLNag https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wxDRqeuLNag
- mirimir 7y ago
  Back in the day, the Yippies nominated a pig (Pigasus) for President.
- Apocryphon 7y ago
  And did the spirit behind that gesture last? He then went and teamed up with the same Republican politicians he pledged to be different from, and gave the establishment a big tax cut.
  - war1025 7y ago
    People can say what they want about the tax cut, but personally I got roughly $5000 out of the deal.
ineedasername 7y ago
He tends to dog-whistle "burn it down" in his rhetoric while his actions wink to the entrenched interests a sort of, "don't worry, I don't mean it"
- war1025 7y ago
  Since I've waded into downvote territory anyway: It's interesting that his opponents are the only ones that hear these "dog whistles".
  - ineedasername 7y ago
    No, I think his supporters see the dog whistle too, but in reverse: the "wink" to establishment as the dog-whistle with the message to them as the "real" one. I don't think either interpretation is strictly correct. I don't think President Trump himself has a "canonical" interpretation of these things-- his sentiment is changeable, not ideological or even political.
    - pnutjam 7y ago
      You misspelled "sensible".
      - ineedasername 7y ago
        Okay, maybe your comment is going over my head here, but I need some explanation. I misspell things often enough, but I didn't use the word "sensible" here.
        pnutjam 7y ago
        Sorry, just a snarky way to disagree with your reasons. I meant to quibble with your final statement and propose -- "his sentiment is changeable, not ideological or even sensible"

kelnos 7y ago

Out of curiosity, how do you feel now, 2.5 years in? If you knew in November 2016 what you know now, would you still have voted for him? Do you plan to vote for him in 2020? Not trying to troll or start a political flamewar here, I'm genuinely interested, especially as it's pretty rare that a HNer will "admit" to being a Trump voter. The thing that always gets me is that even though Trump presented himself as this tear-down-the-establishment, drain-the-swamp kind of guy, it always seemed pretty likely that he'd just replace the political establishment with people in the business/finance establishment, which is essentially the same thing to many/most of the people who this platform resonated with. And, well... that's exactly what he's done, aside from the other expected outcomes of inflaming racial/gender/etc. divides; ignorantly bumbling his way through economic, trade, and foreign policy; and lying his way through every day in office. What is it about that which still lends him support? Is it still just the chaos? Because he's not actually fixing anything for most of his supporters; the elites are still just as elite as ever, and at best it's status quo, but in many cases things are worse. Put another way: it just seems unlikely to me that all the "burn it to the ground" supporters expected or are happy with the fact that burning it all down also causes them more suffering, too; more suffering than the establishment has been hit with. And yet, here we are.

war1025 7y ago
I normally don't admit to it, but I've become less fearful of the backlash lately. Current plan is to vote for him in 2020. Worst case I will abstain from voting for President. The economy is still on fire as much as it's ever been in the midwest. Can't complain there. The trade war is unfortunate, but the alternative is to bend over and take it from China. Everyone agrees that they don't play fair. So the options are to do something about it, or to just let them keep on. My family has a manufacturing background, so all the offshoring is sort of personal. The racial crap isn't nearly as much of an issue as the media likes to make it. It makes for good ratings, though. --- Basically I'm hedging my bets on at worst I think the government should be robust enough not to be brought down by one bad leader. And if it is, then maybe we deserved to fall. Plus from my perspective he's not doing all that bad.
- ineedasername 7y ago