Watching the news it isn’t hard finding examples of reporters asking people who and why they’re voting for this or that candidate. Something I’ve gleaned is how truly complex the motivations of people are while simultaneously how basic. Some voters, for example, argue they favor the POTUS’ opposition to globalization (e.g. he’s going to bring jobs back to America), his foreign policy (e.g. he’ll leave NATO and end the country’s wars), his domestic policy (e.g. restrictions to immigration and his Covid response), and his fiduciary policy (e.g. he’s going to cut my taxes); and then there’s the single issue voter, the principled opponent to abortion, who supports Trump because he’s apparently pro-life.
A short video for your consideration illustrating the absurdity of the single-issue voter.
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Reporter: so why are you voting for Trump in 2020?
Voter: he’s against abortion.
Reporter: the tax cuts he enacted made all the billionaire’s richer while contributing significantly to government deficit spending in order to continue providing social services like Medicaid. The national debt has increased from 18 to 23 billion under Trump. He’s supposed to be the deal maker and problem solver. The debt is projected to increase another five million during a second Trump administration. What do you make of his promises for economic growth to erase the debt?
Voter: but he’s against abortion.
Reporter: good point. I suppose some context is in order. He spent an two billion to address the Covid pandemic. Shutdowns are expensive. But what do you make of the Trump Administration’s response to the pandemic? For example instead of following the advice of scientists with respect to wearing masks to prevent the spread of Covid, his Tweets encourage people not to wear masks in public but just get “back to normal.” He said back in March Covid would just disappear. He even caught the disease himself. His rallies are called super-spreader events because thousands of infections can are traceable to his rallies. In September and October of 2020 alone, the United States was adding between 50 to 80 thousand new cases of Covid a day and on average a 1000 people were dying a day. America is definitely being hit harder than any other country by Covid.
Voter: but he’s a godly man and against abortion.
Reporter: over 220 thousand people have died so far. America has 3% of the world’s population and 25% of Covid related deaths. But I see your point. He’s a godly man who had the police violently break up a peaceful protest in Washington, D.C. for a photo op where he disingenuously held a bible aloft—a book he’s never read by the way—to make some sort of point about how he’s the law and order president. Speaking of which, he was particularly critical of the governors of Michigan and Virginia for their shut downs of the local economies and requirements for people to wear masks in public. He Tweeted “Liberate Michigan! Liberate Virginia!” Then in October six members of a militia group called Wolverine Watchmen took him at his word and attempted to kidnap the governor of Michigan over her Covid policies and try her for treason before the November election. Do you think the President has a responsibility to speak in ways promoting the public good (making the case for remaining calm and show responsibility towards one another) or should he just say express whatever comes to his mind like people should consume bleach to get rid of Covid?
Voter: well, he’s against abortion.
Reporter: what do you make of his constant violation of the Constitution’s “emolument clause” where it’s illegal for any sitting president to use their office to benefit financially. For example based on the April 3rd interview Bob Woodward had with Trump the POTUS admitted he knew how dangerous the virus was back in February. The Trump administration passed this information on to Trump loyalists and supporters who shorted the market based on this knowledge. This is one of the reasons why the country’s billionaires became collectively over 600 billion dollars richer while the majority of Americans suffered physically and financially. Also, whenever foreign dignitaries visit the United States they stay at Trump properties; and Jared Kushner, Ivanka Trump’s husband, has demonstrably sold access to his father.
Voter: yeah, well, that’s all fine and good. But like I said before: he’s against abortion.
Reporter: every law-abiding American opposes illegal immigration, I think. You’re obviously anti-abortion which, I assume, means you’re pro-child. What do you make of the Trump administration’s separating of migrant children from their parents. Children are being placed in cages. Children are actually dying.
Voter: those detention centers were created by Obama.
Reporter: well, that’s true and false. The older facilities were created by the Obama administration. But Trump has added significantly to detention capacity. And the cages themselves are Trump’s creation. Children are dying in those centers due to neglect. Not a single child died during the Obama administration’s handling of the southern border. Six have died since 2018. Also, right now there are over 500 children in cages, some as young as one or two, whose parents have already been deported back to their home countries. Kids are left behind and no one knows how to reunite them with their parents.
Voter: that’s sad, but I stand with the President. He’s against abortion.
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Single issue voters do not appreciate how their myopia causes more overall harm than good. Trump likes to use phrases like “people are saying” or “they say”. Well, they say hindsight is 2020. Look back at everything the POTUS has done, and not done, over the past four years. Remember how he created a moral equivalence between white supremacists and people protesting white supremacy at Charlottesville in 2017, i.e. “There are good people on both sides.” Don’t forget how he started his political career, coasting down on that escalator back in 2015, where he stated the majority of immigrants coming from Mexico are “rapists and murderers.” And don’t forget about the subsequent “Trump spike” in hate crimes across the country because he’s emboldened white nationalists and white supremacists alike. Please don’t forget how he made no public condemnation of Russia despite reports coming out of Afghanistan of Russia paying bounties to Taliban soldiers for killing American ones.
Speaking candidly, the 2020 election is a contest between two Americas: on the one hand, there’s a progressive state which believes in the rule of law, all people matter, and following science is important; and on the other side, there’s a country whose aggrieved members believes themselves exceptional because of how Trump makes them feel. This second group like it when he states publicly what they’re thinking, e.g. why do people from “shithole” countries come here? Why don’t people from Norway want to come here? During a recent rally in Minnesota, Trump literally said “you people have good genes in this state.” He says the quiet parts loud, everybody. There’s a reason this approach works: the bigger the lie the more likely it’ll be believed.
People are saying he hasn’t drained the swamp. People are saying he didn’t drain the swamp. People are saying if anything he’s expanded the swamp and appealed to the worst possible aspects of the American psyche.
The People, therefore, have a choice to make before elections become truly ineffective at reflecting the popular will: they must decide whether they want to live in and create a more perfect union as Lincoln observed or, as John Adams observed, follow a path to political suicide like so many democracies have before.
Peasants & Emperors 