Trump has previously sparked criticism for swipes at servicemembers.

  • Nightwingdragon@lemmy.world
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    3 months ago

    Even I never give Trump enough credit for finding the absolutely worst possible option available to him and doubling down on it. He continues to amaze me with his ability to find levels of human stupidity that I did not think existed and saying “YES! WE CAN GO DEEPER!” (The only time he can ever say that, btw).

    The military has historically been ruby red. WHY THE FUCK would you EVER want to piss off such a reliable voting bloc by hurling these kind of attacks on the US military, entirely unprovoked? How does this net you a single vote?

    • tacosanonymous@lemm.ee
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      3 months ago

      As someone who served, I know just how stupid service members can be. Most were single-issue voters and it was who would give them the bigger raise 99% of the time.

      • Nightwingdragon@lemmy.world
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        3 months ago

        Serious question. Do you think that’s because, if they were deployed, the politics at home would have little to no impact on their day-to-day lives while on deployment, so they figure might as well vote for whoever gives me the biggest raise? Do you think many would change their vote if domestic politics had a more direct impact on their lives while deployed?

        • tacosanonymous@lemm.ee
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          3 months ago

          I was in a long time ago. I don’t think any of the enlisted people I knew (none above the age of 30) understood why we were even deployed. They are young, uninformed, and most likely brainwashed. They certainly didn’t respect any context or nuance that I tried to provide.

    • stoly@lemmy.world
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      3 months ago

      Two things:

      1. It turns out that unlike the police, soldiers in the US are not wanting to overthrow the government. They actually support the chain of command, etc.
      2. Soldiers was always a symbol. It’s like being pro-life. In neither case do they actually care about the people involved. They just want to feel like they are being tough on something.
    • eestileib@sh.itjust.works
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      3 months ago

      Because like you said the military is ruby red.

      People see the R, they pull the lever.

      Literally nothing DJT does will cost him votes from people for whom being a Republican is an identity.

      It’s all about turning out people who prefer left policies but don’t vote.

      • Nightwingdragon@lemmy.world
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        3 months ago

        Literally nothing DJT does will cost him votes from people for whom being a Republican is an identity.

        I have to disagree a bit here. We’re seeing that even that statement has its limits.

        We have more and more formerly staunch Trump supporters who are starting to say “Hol’ up”.

        And a lot of people don’t have trouble with the mudslinging Trump dishes out, until it hits them personally. Once they become (or feel they’ve become) a target of the Trump Hate Machine, they tend to change their tune on him pretty quick. I’m not hailing people who do that as heroes, mind you; they were perfectly OK with the hatred until it was directed at them.

        I cannot speak and do not speak for those who have served, as I never have. But from everything I’ve learned from the people who I do know that have served, they value their military service and their brotherhood more than their political identity, and they would take unprovoked attacks on their service (or the service of their fallen brothers) like the comments Trump gave last night about as well as showing up in the middle of Harlem and shouting the N-word through a megaphone. I haven’t talked to anybody I know who’s served since Trump made those comments, but I don’t even think the Trump-friendly ones would be willing to vote for him after that. Again, everybody has their limits.

        • snooggums@midwest.social
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          3 months ago

          They will speak against him, but odds are the number of votes for him will be comparable to his last two outings.

        • eestileib@sh.itjust.works
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          3 months ago

          Yeah people say “hold up”, then a week later they’re endorsing him again.

          McCarthy, McConnell, Graham, Cruz, Vance, it goes on and on.

          • Nightwingdragon@lemmy.world
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            3 months ago

            Even being willing to go on the air and say “Hey, this isn’t a winning campaign strategy” is a huge step forward for some of these people, many of which spent the past several years trying to bend reality to Trump’s whims. Even daring to criticize God-King-Trump a year or two ago was enough to get you a nasty tweet from Trump, all-but excommunication from the party, and deportation to Jupiter.

            Do you think Kellyanne “Alternative Facts” Conway and Kevin “Pilgrimage to Mar-a-Lago” McCarthy would have dared to even privately say that this isn’t a winning strategy to Trump, let alone publicly and on Fox News? And if they did, do you honestly think they’d have a career in the morning?

            One step forward, two steps back and all of that, but at least now they’re at least attempting to take the forward step every once in a while.

          • Okokimup@lemmy.world
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            3 months ago

            We should always draw a distinction between republican politicians and republican voters. The former are concerned only with their careers and are often not true believers in conservative rhetoric.