Opinion

We have to combat the 'idea' of Trump

Posted June 22, 2019 1:00 am

We're a little messed up in the way we view politicians. Do we really support Bernie Sanders' policies or is it the idea of Bernie Sanders that we are infatuated with? Was support for Obama the result of what he did or who we thought he was? The idea of Bernie Sanders and the idea of Barack Obama. In this idealization we ignore the bad and amplify the good.

Democrats wonder how anyone could support Trump. Even if it's only 39% of polled Americans, you would think that his lies, amorality, petulance and mismanagement would turn us all off.

What keeps his following together? The idea of Donald Trump. A strongman in the boardroom (psst, Reality TV is not really reality). Someone who bucks tradition. Someone willing to push back hard on perceived enemies. Someone who can take control. Someone who poses as a person that will turn the clock back on a changing world.

Moderates and progressives need to realize today that fact-based arguments are not going to shake people from their Trump Idea. The best we can likely do is to start chipping away at the idealized image and hope we change a few minds. ,\

He's cozy with Putin - that's not good right? Kim Jong Un played him, didn't he? Deficits are through the roof - we hate deficits, right?

But in the end the majority of Americans not slavishly infatuated with the idea of Trump have to turn out in such numbers that he is totally and completely rejected in 2020.

David Troland

Arlington Heights

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