Trigger warning US politics

[orangerful]

On my way to/from work there is a house with a flagpole out front. It doesn’t have the American flag flying from it right now. For the past few months, it has had a white flag that reads: Trump 2020: No More Bullshit.

I don’t consider myself a prude, but it did seem kind of wrong to have “bullshit” proudly displayed on a main road where families drive by and parents might not appreciate that word being sounded out by their child in the backseat. But, whatever, it is their opinion and it is clear what side the people in that house are on when it comes time to vote. I wasn’t offended.

But then last week a flag appeared underneath the white one. This one is dark blue, with Trump’s name emblazoned with the American flag’s stars and stripes. Underneath that is the phrase: Make Liberals Cry Again.

Now that bothered me. Because now it is not expressing an opinion about the amount of bullshit happening, but saying that you should vote for Trump to hurt other people, to vote out if a sense of malice, to elect him just to cause pain.

Why? Why does that seem like an ok thing to say? I have never said that we should vote for someone to hurt another person (well I guess Republicans believe that businesses are people so if you look at it that way…)

It just really concerned me because how could you even hope to converse with someone like that. The “no more bullshit” person sounds open to a debate, you probably won’t change their mind, but it sounds like their issue is with the government and how it is run. But the “make liberals cry” person? They are cruel, mean, and clearly don’t care if they cause harm.

And how can that feel like the side you want to vote for?

Comments

[silverusagi]

but saying that you should vote for Trump to hurt other people, to vote out if a sense of malice, to elect him just to cause pain

It does seem like so many conservatives share this attitude. That it's all about "getting" the other party, and they're not so much against ideas as they are against people. The "owning the libs" thing is totally real and a huge motivating force.

As in all things, I blame Fox News.

[jerusha]

I have been treated to more than one racist, pro-Trump diatribe from my clients in the last week or so. There really is no reasoning with some of these folks.

[rhoda_rants]

I mean, it's the same message. The second one is just more transparent.

[schrodingers_time_lady]

Why? Why does that seem like an ok thing to say? I have never said that we should vote for someone to hurt another person
This is... painful to read. Not your response, but the fact that someone else thinks that's a way to spend their vote. [sighs]

[yourlibrarian]

I understand why that hit you differently. One could be about policy. The other is about people.

[bungalow_life]

As someone who was raised by conservatives, who voted conservative through most of her twenties, I feel as if I'm well suited to say that the GOP isn't conservative anymore, it's just a cult. I think it's part of why 2016 took me so off guard, because while I'd leaned more liberal in recent years for various reasons, I expected and anticipated conservative values to hold true, and they didn't, and since then I just mostly see cult behavior that I feel like is probably driven by Fox News, and I never know how to tell my parents that 'no, what you taught me as a conservative is this, and also... it's part of why I would never vote for Trump so 🙃'