The 'scared majority' will deliver a landslide victory for Trump
By: Douglas MacKinnon (The Hill)
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
For decades, we have heard about and often ignored "the Silent Majority." Time and again, Republican leaders have predicted that this seemingly mythical phenomenon was going to come to the fore and save the country from destructive Democratic policies.
At least in terms of the popular vote, that mythical creature has mostly remained in stealth mode, as the Democratic candidate has won the popular vote in seven of the last eight presidential elections.
Of course, our presidents are elected via the Electoral College, so the popular vote is not the final say. For the most part, the Democratic candidate has won the popular vote by crushing it in major cities and along the East and West coasts. Map-wise, most of the United States is still red.
For this election, I believe a new phenomenon is going to drive the vote for the Republicans and most especially for former President Donald Trump: the "scared majority" vote, which will actually show up at the polls.
I grew up in abject poverty as a child, and most of my contacts to this day are those in the working class or lower. While the entrenched elites from politics, academia, the C-suites, Hollywood and the media who live in bubbles of luxury and protection won't notice, those Americans have never been more scared in their lives. Not only about their future, but about their present.
Those I speak with on a regular basis tell me they have never been so frightened about circumstances out of their control. Circumstances they believe were deliberately and politically exacerbated by the Democrats and most especially by the Biden-Harris administration.
There is something going on. These times do not feel like the others for the working class. They feel much more foreboding.
There are now so many "canaries in the coal mine" on this issue that they need to take a number to chirp out the first warning.
The first is that the Democratic Party used to be the party of the poor and disenfranchised. Now it is the party of uber-wealthy tech and big-pharma barons and power-hungry special interests.
As Robert F. Kennedy Jr. posted last week: "Paycheck-to-paycheck voters were once the rank and file of the Democratic Party. Now they are abandoning it, and with good reason." We also have this recent headline from Newsweek: "I Raised Millions for Democrats. At the DNC, I Realized They're the Party of the Rich."
"Here's the sad truth," the author correctly states in the piece. "The Democratic Party has lost its way entirely. They mostly speak to the college educated, the urban and affluent, in their language. Their tone is condescending and paternalistic. They peddle giveaways to the college-educated like student loan forgiveness plans that disproportionately help their base, snubbing the majority of the country without a four-year degree, and then offer no tangible plans for true reform."
Well, guess what? The "majority of the country" is not stupid. In fact, to survive as a working-class and disenfranchised voter, you actually have to be quite smart. Tens of millions of these Americans not only do understand the political games being played but realize that it is they who are paying the highest price.
The next "canary in the coal mine" is the International Brotherhood of Teamsters non-endorsement endorsement of Donald Trump. For the first time in over 20 years, the Teamsters did not endorse the Democratic candidate. Instead, their leadership chose to endorse no one.
Why? Because that leadership was shocked to find that almost 60 percent of its rank-and-file membership — those would be fearful working-class Americans — have indicated they are going to vote for Trump over Harris. What is noteworthy here is that when Biden was still in the race, Trump was actually trailing him, 44 percent to 36 percent. As with the 2020 Democratic presidential primary, the more Americans see of Harris, the less they like her or trust her.
That goes double when they realize that Harris refuses to do real interviews or hold an unscripted press conference. Those I speak with also raise the fear that she is hiding something while being controlled by others.
Next, we come to the "canary" reported by CBS News. Correspondent Adriana Diaz admitted that, while in swing-state Nevada, she could only find "one person" in each restaurant she visited who planned to vote for Harris, while the rest were "really excited" about Trump. This, she said, after "leaving no stone unturned" to find any Harris supporters.
These times are different. The fear is building. During that segment, voters expressed a fear of the failing economy, fear of crime, fear of out-of-control illegal immigration and fear of a world on fire. "Fear" is the dominant emotion.
Speaking of immigration, we have this bit of insulting double-speak from Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell blaming the massive influx of illegal immigrants for the rising unemployment rate. Said Powell: "If you're having millions of people come into the labor force, then — and you're creating 100,000 jobs — you're going to see unemployment go up."
I've got news for Chairman Powell: The tens of millions of "scared" voters are more than smart enough to realize those "millions of people" coming into the labor force did not let themselves into our nation. These working-class American citizens know those illegal immigrants were released into the country by the Biden-Harris administration.
Fear is real. Fear does motivate. Working-class Americans do fear that elite-enabling liberal policies beyond their control are robbing them of their quality of life now and well into their futures.
But many of these Americans have also realized that there is one way to combat that fear and regain some of that control by voting.
I predict that there is a reckoning coming in November from those tens of millions of scared voters. And I suspect that reckoning is going to produce a landslide victory for Trump.
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Why then do you believe Trump has never polled over 50% or gotten a majority of popular votes?
If the majority of the country never vote for him?
Land doesn't vote. People do! Acres don't count!
So? Trump never polled over 50% in 2016 either, yet he won there. You really need to stop with the national polling nonscience as it's not showing a valid picture. Popular vote doesn't elect the President, the EC vote does. In 2016 Hillary Clinton won the popular vote and Trump won the EC vote which put him in the White House.
Popular vote is meaningless in the Presidential election but when that's all one has I guess they need to keep trying to hammer that losing point home.
Trump is not supported by any "majority"...
So, most of America does not support him!
And again there you are wrong. Going by the voting in the Republican primaries it's easy to see that the majority of Republicans did support him.
Again, he has never polled above 50% in a popularity poll. So what? He was in the low 40% in 2016 and he won the EC vote. Keep crowing about something meaningless but this election will be settled by a handful of battleground states where the two of them are basically tied (ie, within the margin of error). We'll find out in November who gets to sit in the Oval Office but shouting out today who's going to win is basically useless.
Maybe 25% but that is still way too fucking many.
Only 25%? He should be easy to beat then..
The Party of Projection is all the gop/gqp is anymore. That's what this 'article' is - sheer projection. You've sold your party to the devil or the anti-christ - one racist evil disgusting pile of shit.
We know what you're scared of. Whites are no longer or are fast becoming A MINORITY. You are no longer the majority. White males that is.
Hilarious!
"My Ass Nottagonnahappen When Pigs Fly!" - JBB
This guy, Douglas Mackinnon author of this article, thinks that he speaks for "Most Americans"...
The level of illegals in our nation remains stable between 10 and 12 million since Bush. An encounter is very different from an illegal entering our nation.
Voting based on false fears is extremely unhealthy for a nation.
Maybe the term should be "concerns" instead of fears. Nothing false about them. Millions of Americans are very concerned about the negative direction the democrats have taken this country.
That is the case every election year. Partisans always claim that the other side is taking the nation in the wrong direction.
That is just predictable noise.
What matters is that this year a traitor who is also a loose-cannon, vindictive narcissistic scoundrel has a good shot at the most powerful office on the planet.
That is what should concern the electorate.
The number of immigrants living illegally in the U.S. has increased under Biden’s administration after remaining stable for years.
Illegal immigration surged under Clinton and Bush.
The current record of 12.2 million occurred during Bush's term and since then has been relatively stable between 10 and 11 million. The number was dropping during Obama's term and continued to drop during Trump's midterm but started to rise again in the latter portion of Trump's and in Biden's term .
Like most anything in reality, there will be ebbs and flows. But the trend for illegal immigration is basically a flat line right now.
Here is the key point. Trump and his supporters attempt to make it seem as though untold millions of illegals have crossed our borders. That is nonsense. They are conflating encounters with actual illegal population.
The above chart shows that when all is said and done the net change is minimal; and that is dealing with a surge of encounters. While I am in favor of strengthening our borders to mitigate illegal immigration, I am going to challenge those who parrot the utter bullshit from Trump and the like.
Really? So they can't be comparing the number of recorded encounters and comparing it with the statistical probabilities of "got-aways"?..
Nor do they count "asylum" seekers in those numbers.
Current stats estimate 10 million encounters during Biden; not 10 million new illegal immigrants in our population.
Trump claims that 20+ million new illegal immigrants entered our population under Biden.
He has been tossing out this bullshit for months now, but most recently during the debate:
Go ahead, support that ridiculous nonsense. Explain how you could want this irresponsible clown as PotUS.
Right? Cause illegal immigration isn't an issue at all this election.
What are the stats for encounters vs. got aways?
Do you support people voting based on lies?
If people understood that illegal immigration is not even close to the fantasy pushed by Trump it would not be such a key issue.
As I noted, I am in favor of shoring up our borders. And we certainly can do that with Congress authorizing funds to hire more agents, build deterrence structures, employ modern technology (e.g. drones with various sensors including thermal and night vision).
But I am entirely against manipulating gullible people who vote for a scoundrel based on his lies.
'10,15, 20 million ....no one knows how many'
"The next "canary in the coal mine" is the International Brotherhood of Teamsters non-endorsement endorsement of Donald Trump. For the first time in over 20 years, the Teamsters did not endorse the Democratic candidate. Instead, their leadership chose to endorse no one
Why? Because that leadership was shocked to find that almost 60 percent of its rank-and-file membership — those would be fearful working-class Americans — have indicated they are going to vote for Trump over Harris. What is noteworthy here is that when Biden was still in the race, Trump was actually trailing him, 44 percent to 36 percent. As with the 2020 Democratic presidential primary, the more Americans see of Harris, the less they like her or trust her.
That goes double when they realize that Harris refuses to do real interviews or hold an unscripted press conference. Those I speak with also raise the fear that she is hiding something while being controlled by others.
Next, we come to the "canary" reported by CBS News. Correspondent Adriana Diaz admitted that, while in swing-state Nevada, she could only find "one person" in each restaurant she visited who planned to vote for Harris, while the rest were "really excited" about Trump. This, she said, after "leaving no stone unturned" to find any Harris supporters."
What bullshit.
Which part?
Take your pick - all of it
Or - hear me out - they're NOT the majority. They're the minority - fringe, even.
And they sure as hell aren't in stealth mode. We've been listening to these people for years telling us that the world is going to Hell in a handbasket.
Yeah, thats the campaign he has been running. Scaring the shit out of people. It should not just be a losing strategy, he should be shamed for the way he has run it, because it has been remarkable for its lies - even considering this candidate is the biggest liar in the history of presidential politics.
Some examples: Israel will cease to exist; WWIII is coming; the auto industry will collapse; LGBT people are preying on our kids; children are getting secret sex change operations when they go to school; immigrants are eating people's pets; full term babies are being killed after they're born. And that's just off the top of my head.
Sure. Because they've been brainwashed into thinking that way.
Yes, but the reasons for being afraid are not.
The Party of Projection.
Define "projection".
Projection
Reviewed by Psychology Today Staff
Projection is the process of displacing one’s feelings onto a different person, animal, or object. The term is most commonly used to describe defensive projection—attributing one’s own unacceptable urges to another. For example, if someone continuously bullies and ridicules a peer about his insecurities, the bully might be projecting his own struggle with self-esteem onto the other person.
The concept emerged from Sigmund Freud ’s work on defense mechanisms and was further refined by his daughter, Anna Freud, and other prominent figures in psychology.
Contents
Unconscious discomfort can lead people to attribute unacceptable feelings or impulses to someone else to avoid confronting them. Projection allows the difficult trait to be addressed without the individual fully recognizing it in themselves.
Freud first reported on projection in an 1895 letter, in which he described a patient who tried to avoid confronting her feelings of shame by imagining that her neighbors were gossiping about her instead. Psychologists Carl Jung and Marie-Louise von Franz later argued that projection is also used to protect against the fear of the unknown, sometimes to the projector’s detriment. Within their framework, people project archetypal ideas onto things they don’t understand as part of a natural response to the desire for a more predictable and clearly-patterned world.
More recent research has challenged Freud’s hypothesis that people project to defend their egos. Projecting a threatening trait onto others may be a byproduct of the mechanism that defends the ego, rather than a part of the defense itself. Trying to suppress a thought pushes it to the mental foreground, psychologists have argued, and turns it into a chronically accessible filter through which one views the world.
An example of projection would be the following: A married man who is attracted to a female coworker, but rather than admit this to himself, he might accuse her of flirting with him. Another would be a woman wrestling with the urge to steal, who comes to believe that her neighbors are trying to break into her home.
Projection can occur in a variety of contexts, from an isolated incident with a casual acquaintance to a regular pattern in a romantic relationship. But learning to recognize and respond to projection can help people understand and navigate social conflict.
When your fears or insecurities are provoked, it’s natural to occasionally begin projecting. If you think you might be projecting, the first step is to step away from the conflict. Time away will allow your defensiveness to fade so that you can think about the situation rationally. Then you can 1) Describe the conflict in objective terms 2) Describe the actions that you took and the assumptions you made and 3) Describe the actions the other person took and the assumptions they made in order. These questions can help you explore whether and why you may have been projecting.
If someone has an unusually strong reaction to something you say, or there doesn’t seem to be a reasonable explanation for their reaction, they might be projecting their insecurities onto you. Taking a step back, and determining that their response doesn’t align with your actions, may be a signal projection.
A harmful consequence of continual projection is when the trait becomes incorporated into one’s identity. For example, a father who never built a successful career might tell his son, “You won’t amount to anything” or, “Don’t even bother trying.” He is projecting his own insecurities onto his son, yet his son might internalize that message, believing that he will never be successful.
Although it’s difficult to do so, individuals who experience this can try to remember that the criques are about the other person, and to be confident in who they are outside of that relationship.
Projection can reveal hidden insecurities or beliefs that are valuable to explore in therapy. It also relates to the phenomenon of transference , in which a patient transfers feelings he or she has toward another important figure in their life onto a therapist. While projection can occur in different contexts, transference is primarily understood through a therapeutic lens. (For more, see Transference. )
While psychodynamic and psychoanalytic therapists are more likely than others to invoke projection as a behavior of note, therapists trained in all modalities are familiar with the construct. Some may discuss a person misattributing or misunderstanding their own biases, without labeling such behavior "projection."
Through their conversations, a therapist may observe that a patient seems to be projecting, either onto the therapist or toward other people in the patient’s life. For example, a therapist might realize that a patient continuously posits that their partner is having an affair, with no evidence. The therapist might explore whether the patient is secure in the relationship or is perhaps the one struggling to remain faithful. Projection can be an opportunity to identify difficult emotions that need to be processed.
If a therapist suspects that a patient is projecting—either onto the therapist or onto other people in the patient’s life—they will likely explore the patient’s reaction. Understanding why the patient is reacting to the therapist with such a strong emotion , or misinterpreting a therapist’s statements, can help reveal underlying relationship challenges that should be discussed and resolved.
Unfortunately that's what politics has devolved to. That seems to be all they do, is push fear and the negative ads highlighting what the opponent is going to do. Your examples show the fear that Trump is pushing yet let's not forget the fear that Harris is pushing. Trump will cut Social Security, Trump will cut Medicare, Trump will ban IVF and push a national abortion ban, Trump is dangerous for democracy, Trump will end the Constitution by making himself king.
Pushing fear is what politicians do rather than talk about their plans to make our lives better.
Trump is a deranged asshole .
Yes and Harris is an obfuscating fool. Yet, as we're constantly reminded, those are the choices...
I agree he has promised not to. However, Trump has promised to cut so many taxes that Congress will have no choice. We won’t be able to pay for those programs. If he has a plan to protect either program, I bet it’s hiding under his healthcare plan.
I also agree he has not threatened this. However, his party is trying to do exactly that because they have a problem with unused embryos. To them, disposing of any embryos is murder. If they can achieve a ban through Congress, or convince Trump to limit it somehow via an executive order, I doubt Trump would resist.
Again, I agree he is not pushing it, but his party is, and Trump was intentional about getting Roe v Wade overturned. If by some miracle, Republicans passed such a bill through Congress, do you really think Trump would veto it? Why would anyone think that?
For this, I think there is ample evidence. He continuously tries to sow doubt and mistrust in our democratic institutions, and our judicial ones, as well. And his propaganda has been highly effective - not for reform, but for chaos.
He might - either directly, or more likely, effectively.
Trump rebuked for call to ‘terminate’ Constitution over 2020 election results
He has violated the terms of the Constitution on multiple occasions and suggested that the terms of the Constitution be ignored on several others. He has no training in the law and next to no understanding of - or respect for - how law or government are supposed to function.
“I’m for Article I, I’m for Article II, I’m for Article XII.” - Trump, 2016 (The Constitution has only 7 articles.)
Multiple times he has suggested serving three or more terms. He has sought and achieved power and immunity never before imagined for the president. He sent a mob to stop the peaceful transfer of power. He sure looks and acts like a guy who is trying to be king.
Let's not forget that Trump cannot do either by himself, both must be first passed by Congress. His promises to cut taxes is all campaign promises. Harris has also promised to not raise taxes on anybody making under $400k annually yet has also stated she is willing to let the Trump tax cuts expire which would mean a tax increase for everybody.
More campaign rhetoric IMO. Trump has also stated that he wants IVF funded by Congress. He's also stated that he would not sign a bill to ban abortion nationwide, but like both items I don't try to predict how someone will turn on such hot-button issues. I think we can both agree that Trump will do what he thinks is best for him on both issues. But I doubt very much that either issue would pass Congress and I feel rather confident that should he try to work either of them into an EO, that would be met with a court challenge quickly.
Meh, most of this is Trump pushing back because they were 'mean' to him. He can't do it, it's just talk. Any attempt would quickly be shut down so I don't lose any sleep over this bullshit.
Wtf does that even mean?
It means actual lies are being used to make people afraid. They fear things that are verifiably not happening. I listed a few.
If you look at the issues that are important to the voters, their fears are verifiable.
Then list these issues and make your case that their fears are verifiable (justified makes more sense).
You know I have looked at the issues, and you know what you just wrote is bullshit.
SSDD
Well you're half right..
Pre-edit....
"The first is that the Democratic Party used to be the party of the poor and disenfranchised. Now it is the party of uber-wealthy tech and big-pharma barons and power-hungry special interests."
"The Democratic Party has lost its way entirely. They mostly speak to the college educated, the urban and affluent, in their language. Their tone is condescending and paternalistic. They peddle giveaways to the college-educated like student loan forgiveness plans that disproportionately help their base...."
I'm not voting for Trump...I will not fill in that oval on the ballot...since Colorado will go for Harris.
I won't be voting for any democrat either, and will vote for Republicans only. I'm partisan, but not blindly so, as some have accused me of.
Harris offers nothing except warmed over Biden policies that have failed. She has shown no leadership skills or political wisdom, no charisma or gravitas, and is even more unlikeable than Hillary. The progressive agenda is not catching on with the average American voter and they are losing numbers in every demographic. It'll come down to a few thousand votes in a handful of states, and Trump is likely to have the better EC total.
Projection