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Captain Dicky's avatar

I've often used Trump as a scapegoat for the reason I play golf. I took golf up right about the time Trump become POTUS in 2017. I would often say that was the moment I gave up on American politics. I, like a lot people, become very cynical of politics after Obama's first term as POTUS, and I voted Green where I could in 2012. I was done casting "lesser of two evils" votes. I've completely stopped voting since 2012 with the exception of some local voting to help kill some bad legislation. By the time 2016 come along, I wasn't feeling the Bern. I certainly didn't think Hillary Clinton was beatable, and Trump was a sideshow spectacle dominating the 24 hour news cycle, but I figured who was taking this guy seriously.

Well, it turned out a lot people with voter registration cards took Trump very seriously. I couldn't wrap my head around the appeal, and I think a lot people thought the same way. It was like - that guy, really? The man that was a unintended creation of the swamp in Washington was going to go to Washington and destroy his on habitat? It was just to surreal and convoluted to wrap my mind around the seemingly mindless support for Trump. But, it was happening right in front of everybody playing out on America's biggest stage - the POTUS. Those who dared to dream of a Trump Presidency and those that just couldn't imagine it was possible. The dreamers' dream came true, and Donald J Trump become 45th POTUS.

I certainly didn't care for Hillary, and you could see there was no energy outside of the DNC for a Clinton presidency, but she was the establishment choice. The major media companies all deemed her the next POTUS of the US on election night. Then the voting results told another story. It was not going to be a Clinton dynasty after all. Ol' Orange's supporters came out to vote while a lot of potential democratic voters stayed home. Several factors may have been involved in the turnout of 2016. They've all been discussed and dissected.

I live in Mid-Missouri, and that's where I play a lot of golf these days, and in early 2017 when I started to "seriously" take up the game, well, I take the game seriously, but it doesn't take me too seriously. I found out a lot people that play golf in Missouri love Donald Trump, and they were elated that Trump was in the Oval Office. You couldn't help but over hear a lot of conversation going on at the driving range. I started wearing headphones while I practices my swing at the driving range. I didn't engage anybody. I am not a people person. I don't dislike people, I just don't want to talk with them. So, I kept to myself for the most part, however, over time I became a regular at the driving range/par 3 course. People started to notice me, and small talk turned to conversations.

I am fat middle age white guy that's playing golf, so most assume I'm a republican. So, people at the course would discuss their political ideologies with me. There was a particular group of old Marines that took a liking to me. I would even play the par 3 course with them from time to time. I have family that supports Trump, and my wive's family is almost all Trump supporters, so I was not surprised by some of the things I heard from people at the golf course, but unlike my family or my wive's family, I would engage more with the people at the golf course. I don't talk much politics with love ones.

I found out from the old Marines and couple people I work with that they didn't really care for the character of Donald Trump, but they truly thought, and still do believe, Orange was going to go to Washington and clean it up. It's kind of the liberal thinking in regards to old Joe Kennedy, who was an absolute crook, that his past as a thief and lying cheat would serve the American public well because he knew all the cons and how to work them, so he was the 1st Chair of the Securities and Exchange committee. I'll let your bias or knowledge of the Kennedys let you figure out how that turned out for the American people.

Trump was sent by his voters with a mandate, most in good faith, to shake up Washington. He was a slap in the face to a lot of the "liberal" democrats. He was going to build a wall, he was going to stop corruption in Washington and he was going to run America like he ran his very "successful" business. They all believed this because he was on TV and he said he was very successful thousands of times, and if America would just vote him in, America would be great once again.

For some of his supporters, they are able to compartmentalize him. They accept that he's a womanizer, crook with ties to the mob and at best a sexual harasser, but the trade off, for his supporters, is that Don is super savvy businessman that knows all the angles and dirty tricks to get the America back on Its feet again. Well, that was the logic from what I gathered from my interactions with republicans at the golf course. They took him for what he was presented to America as by network TV - a successful business man that didn't take no for an answer. And his mandate was to tell US government - You're Fired!

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Sasha Stone's avatar

What I'm seeing now, and I could be wrong, is the establishment reclaiming the center by using "woke" ideology ...they can hold onto power if they pander to the loudest online and stifle dissent via Big Tech, Big Media, cancel culture, etc. So the Democrats are taking massive amounts of power now thanks in large part to Trump, right? They know it, everyone knows it. So either they will dominate by achieving both a cultural and political "revolution" - woke and progressive combined, or those who can't tolerate the new rules of the strident puritanism will revolt in 2024.

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