At first the press only talked about Trump to ignore real republican thought, then it became a reinforcing cycle as people bought into the despair.
Illinois counties downstate (I live in a bordering state) ran out of Republican primary ballots last election. These people come out in droves. They will continue to come out in full force, 150%. I believe we will see record turn out in the fall, and it will be mostly Trump supporters.
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- The wall
- Fight against sanctuary cities, including now support for a bill that would allow relatives of murdered US citizens who were victims of aliens protected by Sanctuary laws, to sue those sanctuary cities.
- Travel ban, which for me is a litmus test as to whether you are a "crazy leftist" by whether or not you actually think it's a "muslim ban."
- Stronger economy through less regulation
- Bring back jobs to US
- Rational trade deals that prioritize US, not sacrifice it. (China, USMCA, etc.)
- A general aversion to taking other first-world countries' shit, who simultaneously exploit us for money and protection, and say how horrible we are.
- Reversal of Iran deal
- Efforts to remove US from middle east
- Prison reform
- Drug price transparency
- "Drain the swamp" / exposure of the "deep state" / revelation that this concept is real and simple: the natural bias that occurs within government when there is a 90%/10% political imbalance. (Currently 90% democrat/10% republican.) This manifests as things like the Mueller report: based on a lie, started by hostile government actors, causes a shit-ton of political casualties who would not even be considered if they were on the other side, wastes everybody's time and money. And it is only possible for it to happen one way: against Republicans. This is transparent and obvious.
- 5 year foreign lobbying ban
- Repeal and replace Obamacare. (As an anecdote, my mom said that out of the whole 8 years of Obama as president, the only thing that really changed for her is that she paid more for insurance while receiving less, a direct result of Obamacare.)
- Support the vets / VA
- Space Force
- Supreme court justice
- Protection of religious expression in schools
- "Fuck you" to liberal elites [1]
> which for me is a litmus test as to whether you are a "crazy leftist"
Implying that those who disagree with you are "crazy leftists" might be one reason for a downvote, for a start.
>- Travel ban, which for me is a litmus test as to whether you are a "crazy leftist" by whether or not you actually think it's a "muslim ban."
Can you elaborate on this? While it's not a literal ban on muslims, it does disporportionately affect muslims.
>- Bring back jobs to US
What Trump policies can be attributed to this? AFAIK there a bunch of reports that a bunch of companies that "brough back" jobs were planning on doing it anyways (eg. carrier/honeywell, couldn't remember which).
>- Efforts to remove US from middle east
Sure, he hastily pulled out of Syria, but earlier this year we were on the brink of war with Iran. What gives?
>- the natural bias that occurs within government when there is a 90%/10% political imbalance. [...] This manifests as things like the Mueller report: [...]
But Mueller is a registered republican?
>- Prison reform
>- Drug price transparency
>- Protection of religious expression in schools
I'm not aware of any of these. Can you elaborate?
> But Mueller is a registered republican?
One thing you will notice is that a lot of Trump supporters hate both Democrats as well as many Republicans. Trump himself ran on attacking the Bush era. Remember his debate with Jeb Bush? Same with him hating on McCain (who gave the Steele Dossier to the FBI). That's why, Trump and a lot of his supporters dislike majority of dems but also many republicans.
> Can you elaborate on this?
The countries are predominantly muslim but how does that make it a "muslim ban"? Are muslims still allowed from other countries? Yes. Are Christians from those banned countries allowed either? No. Seems straightforward then that it is not a muslim ban. The list of countries was composed by the Obama administration, not Trump. Trump just made a rational application of it. If there were a European ban, would it be a Christian ban? It would "disproportionately affect" Christians. Seems outlandish to think so. This characterization is ridiculous.
> What Trump policies can be attributed to this?
China trade war tariffs, for example. The China trade deal more broadly. The USMCA. The effort to make the US energy independent and a net exporter. [1]
> earlier this year we were on the brink of war with Iran
This depends on your choice of media and its bias and characterizations. The choice to strategically eliminate a single terrorist general with a missile, rather than wait for the plans he was brewing to bubble, prevented things from escalating and did it with zero casualties. This is an example of, not a counterpoint to, efforts to remove.
> But Mueller is a registered republican?
This seems like a very hollow thing to say. Whether or not the specific investigator is of a certain party is generally meaningless when his appointment is the decision of someone else, and the work on his team was mostly not carried out by him, but his staff. This would be true anyway, but it was clear in his deposition that he was also a mostly ignorant figurehead, unaware of a lot of what was happening. More broadly, I used the mueller investigation as an example of a wide trend, and that Mueller is a republican has nothing to do with that trend, or the statistical makeup of DC.
> Prison reform
Please literally google "trump prison reform". The First Step Act on Wikipedia is the first result.
> Drug price transparency
Please literally google "trump drug price transparency". The whitehouse fact sheet is the first result. [2]
> Protection of religious expression in schools
Please literally google "trump protection of religious expression in schools". The whitehouse fact sheet is the first result. [3]
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If you are genuinely surprised you've never heard of these things before, you may consider what aspects of your information intake may be bubble-like and self-reinforcing. It would be healthy to question the media narratives that you tend to consume, and/or opening your stream to other news sources.
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[1] https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/presidential...
[2] https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefings-statements/president-do...
[3] https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefings-statements/president-do...
Because a Muslim ban was what Trump said he was going to do, and he explicitly linked the policy in question as the fulfillment of that commitment?
https://www.cato.org/blog/dozen-times-trump-equated-travel-b...
If you have a child that claims he's going to dig a hole to china, but people tell him this is futile and he should consider digging a well instead, which is an action sort-of in the same direction but meaningfully different and actually practical, and then he agrees and digs a well, then you appreciate the well and call it a "well," you don't continue to call it a "hole to China," which it clearly is not. You could, but you'd be displaying your attachment to your original anger.
There is a massive, silent, and barely political segment of the population between far left and far right. For that silent majority, the only real impact they will have noticed from the Trump presidency is that they paid slightly less in tax.
Most people genuinely don't care about politics. Everyone cares about their money. I think the tax cuts are more important than you let on.
They don't know or care about tax policy, what deductions apply when, how rates are calculated, none of it. They will only notice that they paid less this year than normal, and that will make them happy.