More on: What Makes a “Never-Trumper?”

by craigshieldsPosted on April 19, 2025 Posted in Renewables - Politics

Re: me recent post: What Makes a “Never-Trumper?” my old friend responds: Pretty funny!! Not worth a comment at this point. I’m watching what he’s doing now.

Well, so is the rest of the world.

Trump’s:

• Making enemies of countries that have been allies that go back to the formation of the Union,

• Crashing the stock market,

• Imposing tariffs that most economists say are heading us into a recession (if not a depression),

• Defying the SCOTUS,

• Denying due process to those he wishes to send off to torture prisons outside the country,

…. leaves us all wondering what could possibly be next.

I think the central problem with your argument is the premise that anyone talking against another must have committed harmful acts against him.  Caligula, Ivan the Terrible, Mussolini, Stalin, and Pol Pot were all categorically horrible people (aka “anti-social personalities.”  I’m fairly certain I did not do anything to hurt them (though I most certainly wish I could have).

What Makes a “Never-Trumper?”

by craigshieldsPosted on April 18, 2025 Posted in Renewables - Politics

An old friend contends that those who contest Trump and his policies must have committed harmful acts against the president.

Here’s another viewpoint on the subject that he may wish to consider: About half of this country, and the vast majority of those in the rest of the developed world, believe, based on what they can observe about his actions and statistics (see left), that Trump is a garden-variety criminal sociopath, aka an “anti-social personality.”

Further, they believe that people who support Trump at this point have what could be called a “low confront of evil” or an “ethics blind spot.” Of course, most “never-Trumpers” put this more coarsely and bluntly, using words like “fools.”

Now, let’s be fair.  Isn’t it possible that all this attack against Trump is a “witch-hunt,” in which an innocent and productive member of society was unfairly persecuted?   Sure.  But how likely is it that four different independent grand juries, composed of people just like you and me, handed down four separate indictments including 91 felony counts, simply because it had become fashionable to hate a former president?  We’re to believe that they violated their oath and their personal integrity because it was “the thing to do.”  I’m skeptical, to say the least.

Whatever the case, one thing is certain: either Trump supporters or his detractors have been conned, and this country has never experienced anything remotely like this in its past.

I’ve spoken with folks from dozens of countries around the globe on this topic, and here’s what they tell me, almost to a person, “We simply feel sorry for you. We recognize that, throughout history, many world democracies, some tiny, some huge, have gotten swallowed up by ignorance and hate, but we never, in a million years, imagined that this could happen in the United States.”