Sunday, April 09, 2017

Trump Supporters: A House Divided

Like most structures built by Donald Trump which outwardly appear sophisticated and finely constructed, but under the surface are primarily composed of particle board with a mahogany veneer and gold-colored paint, the coalition of alt-right racists, resentful whites frightened by changing demographics and a loss of power, and Republican supporters who support the candidate come hell or high water isn't looking so gilded as a result of his decision to reverse course and bomb a base in Syria.

In short, his alt-right supporters are losing their shit.

Richard Spencer who once literally hailed (or heiled) Donald Trump has denounced the invasion and held what he styled as an anti-war rally to oppose him.... and was glitter bombed  for his troubles.

Ann Coulter, always a nasty piece of work, is tweeting about how depressed she is about the attack and hoping that his supporters will reign him back in.

Frog faced (and you know I'm right about that description) Nigel Farage, Brexit architect and Trump's choice as UK ambassador to the United States, has spoken out against his actions as has fascist French presidential candidate Marine Le Pen.

The alt-right and conspiracy theory spreading news has also criticized Trump's decision to bomb the Syrian base. My personal favorite is Paul Joseph Watson, editor of Infowars.com who stated he was "off the Trump train" over this issue, then after being attacked by Trump supporters stated he was never off the Trump train and that such claims constituted fake news, thus impugning himself further in the process:





Fringe media personalities in Canada are also of a similar mindset. Ezra hasn't said anything specifically, though his re-tweets of Ann Coulter indicate displeasure:






Faith Goldy is similarly quiet herself, though her views seem fairly clear:



Formerly of The Rebel, Lauren Southern is willing to be a little bit more outspoken in her disappointment:





However, Rebel contributor and self-identified antisemite Gavin McInnes seems a little more forgiving (though coincidentally, he still wants Trump to get rid of his most prominent Jewish advisor and keeping a guy who also isn't a big fan of Jews):





But while many "alt-right" Trump supporters feel betrayed, many other Trump supporters are tickled pink as they believe that this shows, "America is back!" and further hope for an even more robust, interventionist, foreign policy.

Not one that involves any actual diplomacy and alliance building, of course. Just one that involves dropping lots of bombs on people because when you view your military as a hammer, every problem is a nail.

I see this struggle between Trump-supporters and erst-while allies on a number of social media sites. As is see it, those opposed to the bombing those who support it provide the following rationales:

Oppose:
  • Assad is our ally fighting ISSIS and is protecting Christians (a rather dubious claim, but there it is).
  • Trump was tricked. He's being manipulated by Obama holdovers or neo-cons such as his son-in-law (Kuchner's Jewish faith is often also mentioned.... I wonder why?).
  • It's a false flag. There was no chemical attack or, if there was, it was carried out by the jihadists.
  • Bombing the Syrian base might result in more icky refugees.
Favor
  • Assad targeted children! Of course he targeted them before and we didn't care, nor do we want them here now.... but think of the children!
  • 'Merica! Fuck yeah!
  • A Muslim is a Muslim so why bother making distinctions?
  • Kill 'em all and let God (our Lord and Savior all praise to Him and his mercy) sort them out!
Oh, and George Soros is also blamed by both sides. As are Clinton and Obama who are accused of either not doing enough to stop the horrors to supplying the bad guys to manipulating Trump. And Trudeau is a pussy and a Muslim too apparently because why not.

The clearest indications of these sentiments can be found on the main WCAI Facebook page. While the founder of WCAI and operator of the Facebook group Joey Deluca is fully on board the Trump train still....


.... there's a little bit more conflict within the membership:


Right. I'm not going to subject you to all 469 comments and additional responses, but here are a few representative samples:



















































Those commenting in the above exchange are American, Canadian, British, Australian, and other nationalities. And they are at each other's throats less than 100 days into Trump's first term in office.

I admit that I can't help feeling a bit of schadenfreude regarding those who feel Trump betrayed them. I mean, they are upset that a con artist with a long history of conning people conned them after ignoring people who told them they were being conned. As for the rest, no amount of evidence will convince them that Donald Trump isn't the savior he made himself out to be. 

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