Partially following on from
what I wrote on the Biden thread a couple of days ago (having the conversation split like that is bullcrap, by the way - although, well, it's only a conversation when dotardist alternative facts don't make an appearance), here's a bit from the latest Zakaria Global Briefing. If, let's say, five years ago somebody had told me I'd be quoting a few conservatives in a positive light, I would have said... pass the angel dust! The emphasis is mine:
Quote:
Trump’s Enduring Appeal
At The Atlantic, Sarah Longwell of Republicans for the Rule of Law writes that she’s been conducting focus groups with Republicans throughout the Trump era. Looking at suburban women, Longwell writes that some kept supporting the president through much of his term despite disliking him, out of a greater antipathy toward Democrats. But while President Trump’s trampling over norms and institutions proved too abstract to change minds, the pandemic hasn’t, and some suburban women who stuck with Trump have now turned against him. (“The most common response is—seriously—a variation on the term shit show,” Longwell writes, of reactions in the last six months.)
“Nevertheless, the story isn’t a wholly good one for Democrats,” Longwell concludes. “Some meaningful number of voters who are clear-eyed about Trump and his manifest failures—even those who think he is plainly doing a bad job—will stick with the president because they believe Democrats are worse and the media aren’t to be trusted. And these aren’t voters who are glued to Fox News and reading Breitbart News. Often they don’t think about politics at all—and they certainly don’t follow the daily machinations of Washington. They’re typically not on Twitter. Instead they swim in a cultural soup of Trumpism, surrounded by friends, family, and social-media acquaintances who do live more exclusively in a right-wing-media ecosystem. Even if [Joe] Biden pulls off a landslide victory, that ecosystem will remain. And so will the dislike of Democrats and distrust of the mainstream media. Getting rid of Trump won’t end the opposition’s problems.”
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