Why The Attacks On Trump’s Character Don’t Land

[Right_in_Virginia]

Why The Attacks On Trump’s Character Don’t Land
Townhall, Jan 3, 2018, Derek Hunter

<snip>

That’s really what it boils down to – Trump supporters don’t care. None of the untruths, to whatever degree, aren’t important enough to matter. This is largely due to overkill. Liberal journalists are all too happy to “fact check” everything the President says, no matter how insignificant, as if flooding the zone will somehow bring about a critical mass that turns off support. What it really does is drown out all of it, and the petty nature of most of it leads the larger issues to be dismissed as well. Trump declaring he won the Electoral College in a historic landslide isn’t important to anyone, it’s the equivalent of stretching the size of a fish you caught. Yet it’s presented alongside other substantive falsehoods as if it’s the same as saying, “If you like your doctor, you can keep your doctor.” It’s not, by a longshot.

That’s the difference between critics and haters. Critics, whether you agree with them or not, are generally justified in their criticisms, which tend to be based on specific policy or even style differences. Haters will be unsatisfied and angry even as someone accomplishes things they’d sworn they supported because of who is accomplishing them. It’s irrational. There is so much personal hatred of Donald Trump for existing in a way the old order doesn’t like, it’s become impossible and exhausting trying to separate out legitimate criticism from venomous ramblings. It’s like trying to blame which raindrops made you wet in a thunderstorm.

[…]

Virtue signaling, Romney concluded, “I will speak out against significant statements or actions that are divisive, racist, sexist, anti-immigrant, dishonest or destructive to democratic institutions.” It could have been lifted from any transcript from CNN or MSNBC, and will go a long way toward his elevation to the post of “the new John McCain.”

But people have heard all of this before, and have discounted it. Partisanship existed long before Trump, he didn’t invent it and his unhinged critics are the ones who’ve lost their collective minds. The President treats every critic the same, regardless of race (it’s up to you whether you think that’s a good thing or not), and the same goes for gender. There is nothing “anti-immigrant” about seeking to end illegal immigration, unless you equate the two. And if the First Amendment has any meaning, exercising your right to it does not diminish any else’s to do the same, even if it’s pointed toward them.

There’s plenty to dislike about Donald Trump the man, just as there’s plenty to dislike about everyone, if you spend all your time looking for it. Trump voters don’t, Trump critics do. And they do so while claiming his supporters are obsessed with him…without irony.


More:  https://townhall.com/columnists/derekhunter/2019/01/03/why-the-attacks-on-trumps-character-dont-land-n2538425

[Free Vulcan]

Nails it.

[montanajoe]

Actually its more of a reflection on the Nation than on Trump.

The nation has lost its moral compass, Trumps election is just a symptom of the moral decay that has permeated every aspect of American life....

[aligncare]

... it’s become impossible and exhausting trying to separate out legitimate criticism from venomous ramblings. It’s like trying to blame which raindrops made you wet in a thunderstorm.

Which is similarly what I said in another thread a few minutes ago. Fighting irrational hatred is immensely tedious. And God bless Donald Trump. He has kept remarkably calm throughout the torrent of legal challenges, and hatred and lies tossed at him daily. A lesser man would have wilted under the strain.

[musiclady]

Actually its more of a reflection on the Nation than on Trump.

The nation has lost its moral compass, Trumps election is just a symptom of the moral decay that has permeated every aspect of American life....

Absolutely correct.

[the_doc]

Actually its more of a reflection on the Nation than on Trump.

The nation has lost its moral compass, Trumps election is just a symptom of the moral decay that has permeated every aspect of American life....

Bingo.  That was my overarching and very serious concern about Trump getting the nomination.  I was mainly disgusted with professing Christians who were championing Trump for the nomination when they had manifestly a better option or two (as far as any of us could tell at the time, at least). In short, I abhorred Trump's candidacy during the primaries, and during the 2016 election, I refused to participate.  I was hopeful that HRC would lose against Trump, but I wanted no part in putting Trump into the White House,   

***

Now, my greatest repugnance shifts to the leftists (and a few NTers, unfortunately) who hate practically everything about their own President--who does happen to be trying to do a good job against vicious un-American opposition (and who definitely is doing a lot of good things to reassert our God-given rights, with more good things to come, I think).

Speaking of good things to come, I'm waiting for some major Swamp-draining that Trump is oddly well-suited to pull off.  Unlike the GOP's genteel moralists like Romney, Trump is likely to take the drastic steps that are indispensably necessary for draining the Swamp.  Whether or not Trump really knows God by now, he is providentially suited for an extraordinarily rough political war, a war that is literally unprecedented in American history.  Trump is confident enough (LOL) and rough enough and deceptive enough to wage a domestic war against an arrogant and powerful and deceptive enemy state, the Deep State.   (The radical leftists [the Deep State with their useful idiots] are scared out of their gourds about the Swamp-draining that Trump has been planning for two years, because even the weak moral compass that they have tried to suppress is pointing at them with awful accusations.  Trump's thus far understated charges against the Progressives probably makes them even more desperate to pull out all stops to destroy him, because many of the Progressives have committed capital crimes--and they know that Trump knows.)

On the flip side of spiritual matters, it seems to me that the most virulent NTers who do happen to be genuinely conservative are more or less clueless about what's going on.  That's a different scenario of a failure of one's moral compass.  (Ironically, some of the terribly conservative NTers are not conservative enough to suit me.)

[Right_in_Virginia]

Actually its more of a reflection on the Nation than on Trump.

The nation has lost its moral compass, Trumps election is just a symptom of the moral decay that has permeated every aspect of American life....

[Jazzhead]

Trump's hard core base loves him precisely because he fights.  That he fights at a "street" or theatrical level doesn't matter to them.   Nor, it appears, do they care about how Trump makes the hallowed "office of the Presidency" appear.

The problem is that Trump wasn't elected by his base, he was elected by a coalition consisting of his base and others who, quite frankly, in many cases held their noses because they feared the notion of President Hillary first and foremost.   It is the latter group that has, increasingly, become exasperated and exhausted by Trump's shtick.   You can see it in the midyear election results - in many of the heartland states where Trump earned his margin of victory,  the Dems roared back with victories based on appealing to that exasperation and exhaustion.   

Notice how Romney in his WaPo op-ed didn't criticize Trump's policies, but rather focused on his ego, personality and demeanor?    That's the contradiction Trump represents -  he fights to advance policies many folks want,  but a significant chunk of those folks are simply embarrassed by the man and his reality show.   

The solution seems evident enough - keep the policies but replace their advocate with someone without all the reality-show baggage.    Trump will go down in history as a catalyst, but he cannot finish the revolution he started.   He hasn't the discipline to do so,  and the real danger is that when the voters ultimately punish him, they will throw the baby out with the bathwater.   And with the Dems trending HARD, HARD left,  the risk of seeking another four years of the Trump Show is the loss of conservatism itself.     

[the_doc]

Trump's hard core base loves him precisely because he fights.  That he fights at a "street" or theatrical level doesn't matter to them.   Nor, it appears, do they care about how Trump makes the hallowed "office of the Presidency" appear.

The problem is that Trump wasn't elected by his base, he was elected by a coalition consisting of his base and others who, quite frankly, in many cases held their noses because they feared the notion of President Hillary first and foremost.   It is the latter group that has, increasingly, become exasperated and exhausted by Trump's shtick.   You can see it in the midyear election results - in many of the heartland states where Trump earned his margin of victory,  the Dems roared back with victories based on appealing to that exasperation and exhaustion.   

Notice how Romney in his WaPo op-ed didn't criticize Trump's policies, but rather focused on his ego, personality and demeanor?    That's the contradiction Trump represents -  he fights to advance policies many folks want,  but a significant chunk of those folks are simply embarrassed by the man and his reality show.   

The solution seems evident enough - keep the policies but replace their advocate with someone without all the reality-show baggage.    Trump will go down in history as a catalyst, but he cannot finish the revolution he started.   He hasn't the discipline to do so,  and the real danger is that when the voters ultimately punish him, they will throw the baby out with the bathwater.   And with the Dems trending HARD, HARD left,  the risk of seeking another four years of the Trump Show is the loss of conservatism itself.   

I agree with much of your post.  I just wouldn't bet against Trump's plans utterly to ruin the Democratic Party.  He is only now getting started, in my opinion.  Everything thus far has been tediously difficult groundwork laid down in spite of a myriad of Deep State distractions.

Romney is a nerd who seems to be trying to position himself to make another run for the White House.  I say it ain't gonna happen.  If Trump's countercoup against the Deep State is largely successful (even if not completely destroying the Dems), he will automatically knock the now rather flimsy GOPe-associated props out from under guys like Mit McFlake. 

[Frank Cannon]

The nation has lost its moral compass, Trumps election is just a symptom of the moral decay that has permeated every aspect of American life....

Yeah, because things were a lot better when Senators were beating themselves almost to death in the well of the Senate, govt' officials were having duels and we had a President with an out of wedlock child.

Your Pollyanna version of history never existed.

[Absalom]

So attack's on Trumps character don't land? Hmm, then consider.
Over the past 100 years, increased homosexual behavior among
Roman Catholic Church leaders has accelerated from a droplet to a rainfall.
While Catholics remain constant in their beliefs and values, what about
non-Catholics who are also religious?
Do they think better or worse about the RC Church because of this behavior?
Does it help/hurt the image of the Church in the mind of average people?
For the Trumpets, he can do no wrong but are they the only one's who matter?
What about those w/o a firm opinion, as yet, about Trump?
How about foreign business leaders and those who listen to them?
Character is destiny and those who refuse to grasp this wisdom are delusional.






 

[Right_in_Virginia]

Trump's hard core base loves him precisely because he fights.  That he fights at a "street" or theatrical level doesn't matter to them.   Nor, it appears, do they care about how Trump makes the hallowed "office of the Presidency" appear.

The problem is that Trump wasn't elected by his base, he was elected by a coalition consisting of his base and others who, quite frankly, in many cases held their noses because they feared the notion of President Hillary first and foremost.   It is the latter group that has, increasingly, become exasperated and exhausted by Trump's shtick.   You can see it in the midyear election results - in many of the heartland states where Trump earned his margin of victory,  the Dems roared back with victories based on appealing to that exasperation and exhaustion.   

Notice how Romney in his WaPo op-ed didn't criticize Trump's policies, but rather focused on his ego, personality and demeanor?    That's the contradiction Trump represents -  he fights to advance policies many folks want,  but a significant chunk of those folks are simply embarrassed by the man and his reality show.   

The solution seems evident enough - keep the policies but replace their advocate with someone without all the reality-show baggage.    Trump will go down in history as a catalyst, but he cannot finish the revolution he started.   He hasn't the discipline to do so,  and the real danger is that when the voters ultimately punish him, they will throw the baby out with the bathwater.   And with the Dems trending HARD, HARD left,  the risk of seeking another four years of the Trump Show is the loss of conservatism itself.   

You are no conservative, you are Pelosi's lapdog.  And to present yourself as anything other is downright disingenuous. 

You want Trump gone precisely because he the most conservative President in recent history.  And what pisses the hell out of you is he IS effective and heaping insult to the injury to your widdle feelings, his supporters have more courage and strength in their little fingers than you pajama boys have in your entire being, teddy bear included.

Get used to the Trump Show, Jazzy Boy.  He's here for the duration.

[Right_in_Virginia]

So attack's on Trumps character don't land? Hmm, then consider.
Over the past 100 years, increased homosexual behavior among
Roman Catholic Church leaders has accelerated from a droplet to a rainfall.
While Catholics remain constant in their beliefs and values, what about
non-Catholics who are also religious?
Do they think better or worse about the RC Church because of this behavior?
Does it help/hurt the image of the Church in the mind of average people?
For the Trumpets, he can do no wrong but are they the only one's who matter?
What about those w/o a firm opinion, as yet, about Trump?
How about foreign business leaders and those who listen to them?
Character is destiny and those who refuse to grasp this wisdom are delusional.

You should've stopped at Hmm

[Jazzhead]

You are no conservative, you are Pelosi's lapdog.  And to present yourself as anything other is downright disingenuous. 

You want Trump gone precisely because he the most conservative President in recent history.  And what pisses the hell out of you is he IS effective and heaping insult to the injury to your widdle feelings, his supporters have more courage and strength in their little fingers than you pajama boys have in your entire being, teddy bear included.

Get used to the Trump Show, Jazzy Boy.  He's here for the duration.

Guess my post struck a nerve.  Good.   

[TomSea]

So attack's on Trumps character don't land? Hmm, then consider.
Over the past 100 years, increased homosexual behavior among
Roman Catholic Church leaders has accelerated from a droplet to a rainfall.
While Catholics remain constant in their beliefs and values, what about
non-Catholics who are also religious?
Do they think better or worse about the RC Church because of this behavior?
Does it help/hurt the image of the Church in the mind of average people?
For the Trumpets, he can do no wrong but are they the only one's who matter?
What about those w/o a firm opinion, as yet, about Trump?
How about foreign business leaders and those who listen to them?
Character is destiny and those who refuse to grasp this wisdom are delusional.

That's a pretty bitter rant and seems offtopic.  Abuse is everywhere in that respect.  Maybe one can say and I'm not saying this, your rhetoric can be emulated,  "well, the true church is especially under attack from Satan."

  https://newsok.com/article/feed/8147162/southern-babtoys-corporation-a-satirical-look-at-the-pervasive-problem-of-clergy-sexual-abuse  (Southern Babtoys)

Go bow to Mecca, that is where you'd be without the Crusades.

[TomSea]

I'd still vote for Trump, he's been the best Prez. of my lifetime, really, until last December. It just didn't add up. Some would say that was influenced by Rand Paul.

Too much musical chairs in the cabinet.

[DCPatriot]

So attack's on Trumps character don't land? Hmm, then consider.
Over the past 100 years, increased homosexual behavior among
Roman Catholic Church leaders has accelerated from a droplet to a rainfall.
While Catholics remain constant in their beliefs and values, what about
non-Catholics who are also religious?
Do they think better or worse about the RC Church because of this behavior?
Does it help/hurt the image of the Church in the mind of average people?
For the Trumpets, he can do no wrong but are they the only one's who matter?
What about those w/o a firm opinion, as yet, about Trump?
How about foreign business leaders and those who listen to them?
Character is destiny and those who refuse to grasp this wisdom are delusional.

The internet has made the globe a very tiny place in which to hide.

[roamer_1]

Actually its more of a reflection on the Nation than on Trump.

The nation has lost its moral compass, Trumps election is just a symptom of the moral decay that has permeated every aspect of American life....

YUP.

[roamer_1]

Character is destiny and those who refuse to grasp this wisdom are delusional.

That is exactly the salient point in fact... The principle thing.

[Right_in_Virginia]

Guess my post struck a nerve.  Good.

I painted you as a disingenuous fraud.  Why would this strike my nerve, JazzBoy?

[Axeslinger]

Yeah, because things were a lot better when Senators were beating themselves almost to death in the well of the Senate, govt' officials were having duels and we had a President with an out of wedlock child.

Your Pollyanna version of history never existed.

@Amb. Frank Cannon
Oh I don’t know...the first 2 outta 3 of those sound pretty good and Meatloaf told us “2 outta 3 ain’t bad”

[corbe]

   They don't land on me because I was already convinced (in 2015) that he was an immoral reprobate, full of sound and fury signifying nothing.

[Sighlass]

Actually its more of a reflection on the Nation than on Trump.

The nation has lost its moral compass, Trumps election is just a symptom of the moral decay that has permeated every aspect of American life....

Hammer Nail

[Axeslinger]

Trump's hard core base loves him precisely because he fights.  That he fights at a "street" or theatrical level doesn't matter to them.   Nor, it appears, do they care about how Trump makes the hallowed "office of the Presidency" appear.

The problem is that Trump wasn't elected by his base, he was elected by a coalition consisting of his base and others who, quite frankly, in many cases held their noses because they feared the notion of President Hillary first and foremost.   It is the latter group that has, increasingly, become exasperated and exhausted by Trump's shtick.   You can see it in the midyear election results - in many of the heartland states where Trump earned his margin of victory,  the Dems roared back with victories based on appealing to that exasperation and exhaustion.   

Notice how Romney in his WaPo op-ed didn't criticize Trump's policies, but rather focused on his ego, personality and demeanor?    That's the contradiction Trump represents -  he fights to advance policies many folks want,  but a significant chunk of those folks are simply embarrassed by the man and his reality show.   

The solution seems evident enough - keep the policies but replace their advocate with someone without all the reality-show baggage.    Trump will go down in history as a catalyst, but he cannot finish the revolution he started.   He hasn't the discipline to do so,  and the real danger is that when the voters ultimately punish him, they will throw the baby out with the bathwater.   And with the Dems trending HARD, HARD left,  the risk of seeking another four years of the Trump Show is the loss of conservatism itself.   

@Jazzhead

You have pissed me off to no end and good lord I think you’ve got some crap bass-ackwards

But not this post of yours.  This is 100% spot on.   The only thing I would add is the tragedy of the lost possibilities. It truly is tragic.

Also, if things go down as youve suggested, and I think they will, conservatism won’t merely be lost for a generation, because we WILL still be out here, but rather, that as the lefts attacks on us grow, we will be forced into more of a corner, requiring us to actually fight...(side note Jazzy: this is why you’re so wrong on the 2A, but let’s not hijack)

And everything youve said and everything I’ve said is why the true kool aid drinking, bowing in realty to their newest deity like @Right_in_Virginia will lambast you (and I) for your post.

[the_doc]

   They don't land on me because I was already convinced (in 2015) that he was an immoral reprobate.

Reprobates come in all shapes and sizes, of course. 

I suspect that a fair number of TBR members are, theologically (not colloquially) speaking, reprobate.  (All of us need to be careful.  The True Being and character of God are serious matters.)