"He's a despicable human being, but he's done great things for the country. I

[Atticus]

support him more today than when I voted for him in '16." ---- Florida man interviewed by MSNBC.

Posting this for those who still urge us to "reach out " to these "people".

[a kennedy]

1. I KNOW, WHAT THE HELL???

And seriously??? What the hell has he done???

[Solly Mack]

2. I saw that. I turned the TV off.

Just.Damn.

[The Blue Flower]

53. I did the same

My disgust is bottomless.

[Solly Mack]

57. Yes. Bottomless.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

3. Despicable human beings do not do great things for their countries.

Hitler left Germany in ruins. Stalin, Kim and Pol Pot starved millions. There is clearly no hope for some people; the problem is that the deplorables aren't all in one place. Liberals are everywhere, even interspersed in red counties. I don't think any part of the country should be disregarded - the 50-state strategy is a good one - but there's no point in trying to convert the MAGAts. That's a cult, not a political identity.

[DBoon]

39. in 1948, many Germans would have said the same about Hitler

"He did great things for our country"

[democratisphere]

4. I saw that segment on msnbc and I was floored.

There is no hope of ever reaching the other side. They are truly crazy.

[dalton99a]

5. "He's my kind of asshole, and I love him now more than ever"

[SHRED]

6. "Great things" like kill people of color

That's what he's saying but is too coward to say it publicly.

[dalton99a]

7. Bingo

[Soxfan58]

8. Put colored kids in cages

Keeping mooslims out of our country. What more does a racist need?

[awesomerwb1]

9. I like to think there is a scale

for trumpers and imbecilic nutters like that guy.

From 1-10 he's a 13. But there are others who might have been in the 6-7 range or lower who are about to lose health insurance, are paying more taxes and lost property to a hurricane, tornado or floods who might still be receptive.

I think it's gonna get a lot harder for the dotard so we just have to keep chipping away, chipping away. We're not gonna get the 10-15s but we might get the 7 or lower.

[stopbush]

15. 90% of those MAGATs who lose their health insurance will say it's

because the political Mueller witch hunt kept tRump from getting his great healthcare plan passed.

[sprinkleeninow]

55. So twisted. MAGATs.

[OliverQ]

10. I can't wrap my head around how stupid and morally bankrupt

these people are. Like I'm disgusted to live in the same country as them. They like him more now that he's proven to be a criminal who sold out the country to our enemies for his personal benefit.

[smirkymonkey]

36. My head is about to explode.

I am starting to feel that if I was diagnosed with an incurable, fatal disease, I would welcome the diagnosis.

[delisen]

11. Sees himself reflected in Trump.

As H Clinton said, she should not have said half of Trump fans were deplorable. It is more like 15-20%. As some of the current Trump fans age-out it might go down to 10% bit there will always be some percentage for the foreseeable future.

[rufus dog]

56. 70% of Repukes believed Obama was born in Kenya

I always say she underestimated the number of deplorables.

[spanone]

12. to quote a movie character: stupid is as stupid does.

[spanone]

13. Nothing will sway the deplorables. NOTHING.

[Caliman73]

14. Did the reporter follow up with ... Name one "great" thing?

In my experience reporters rarely follow up with that question. The answer is almost always some gibberish about "made America great" or something stupid and vague. No follow up like what John Fugelsang does on his show... "Give me a policy that Trump has pushed through that shows he is doing well..." or something to that effect. The callers almost always respond with, "that's a gotcha question". Seriously though, it is just a question to see what specifically he has done. If you ask me what President Obama did that made things better, I would have said at least one thing was when he changed the rules for financial advisers to specifically have to work for the benefit of the investor and not their own interests. That was maybe a small change, but it made it so that the financial industry could not so easily try to trick people out of their money. Of course the ACA was a major policy though not perfect, it provided access to healthcare to people who could not afford it. It also made it so people with pre-existing conditions could not be priced out of healthcare.

Again, reporters often fail at basic follow up.

[Mr.Bill]

40. The follow-up question is a lost art

in today's journalism.

[mountain grammy]

47. my first thought, name one great thing..

no follow up..

[renate]

52. I assume they don't want to humiliate a regular person on TV

The people they’re interviewing aren’t public figures, they’re just regular folks who have agreed to be in a segment on what regular folks are thinking.

It’s frustrating, but I can see why they choose not to follow up.

[Brawndo]

16. But don't call him stupid, we don't want to be perceived as elitist /s

[SammyWinstonJack]

22. STUPID!

[Brawndo]

24. lol yeah, I can't resist the temptation either

[liberalnarb]

17. No, its a lost cause to try and reach out to those who support tRump.

We need to focus on the voters, 100 million strong, who feel disillusioned and did not vote in 2016.

[andym]

18. Perceived self-interest

drives the largest contingent of his supporters beyond the religious right and conservative sheep. They think he is helping them (mostly not even true), and care not a drop about anything else.

Is anyone in this subset reachable? Some may be, but only if you bribe them with what consider "goodies" like big tax cuts, great paying jobs or $$.

[Freethinker65]

19. Amazing how many "ends justify the means" assholes put themselves on moral pedestals

All we can do is expose their hypocrisy and move on.

I enjoy ridiculing them, but often that makes people sympathetic to their hypocrisy. I now think exposing the hypocrisy every chance we get, then dismissing them and getting our message out iis the way to go.

[peggysue2]

20. Anyone who supports Donald Trump at this moment, . . .

after all we know, after everything he's done and said is hopelessly deranged and/or brainwashed. Attribute it to Fox News or talk radio or flat-out bigotry, these supporters are beyond our reach. Let 'em go and let's concentrate on our own voters, Indies and those who waver about voting at all.

We cannot convert those in the mud pit; they like it there.

[Baitball Blogger]

21. Here's the right translation:

"Trump is despicable, and so are the despicable things that he's accomplished that I agree with, but won't talk about specifically."

[coeur_de_lion]

28. Yep. Even the MAGAs know he's beyond corrupt

But they can't admit that their hero needs to go. There are so many people in this country just as sick and corrupt as he is, and he is their idol.

[Vinca]

23. What the hell has he done for the country? Sorry - I can't think of a thing.

He hasn't built his bloody wall even though the cult thinks he has, he's managed to make health coverage more expensive for many people and his tax cut turned out to be fat cats win, average people lose. Unless you believe in fairy tales, the man has been a complete failure.

[Boomerproud]

25. He uses his power to hurt people his cult hates.

End of story.

[KT2000]

35. The most important thing

he has done is put a plaque with his name on it on a fence section that was repaired under Obama.

[durablend]

37. Pwning teh libs

Good enough for him

[malaise]

26. I saw that shit

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

27. Hitler promised to make Germany great again, too.

And no, I'm not violating Godwin's Law. That was exactly Hitler's pitch: he was going to raise Germany from the devastation of WWI and create a Thousand-Year Reich. But he also needed scapegoats for people to fear so they would support him, and of course those were the Jews especially, as well as foreigners and other outsiders. Hitler was about as despicable as it's possible to be, but people followed him right off a cliff because he was making Germany great again. Which, of course, he didn't; it took decades, plus reunification, for it to recover.

[Sentath]

41. Thought you might like to know

Mr Godwin likely doesn't think you are either: https://www.theregister.co.uk/2017/08/14/godwins_law_creator_rescinds_ruling_after_nazis_march_in_charlottesville/

[Liberal In Texas]

58. Just got done reading Philip Kerr's "Prussian Blue" an historical novel.

The parallels with pre-war Nazi Germany and what's going on now are scary.

[samnsara]

29. well i have to say this guy THINKS hes putting Country first..and thats what we all...

...say we strive to do. However hes getting his info from a trash can. I just dont know if I would sell my soul for my country. Half our job is done with this one..we dont have to sell him on how horrible trump is. He admitted it! With this guy its a matter of convincing him that we do a better job and that trump is a big fat liar.

[brooklynite]

30. Who has advocated reaching out to "these people"

I and other have pointed out a difference between the 35% Trump base and the 10% who voted for him because they were fed up with traditional politics, and then came back to help us win in MODERATE REPUBLICAN districts in 2018.

[Tiggeroshii]

31. What's the point of having a moderate, then?

Giving up on all the people who voted for trump I 2016 is forfeiting the election again.

[Drunken Irishman]

33. It's not just the moderates who are saying we need to reach out to Trump supporters...

I hear people saying Bernie can bring Trump supporters back because of his populist bent.

Yeah, no. They're not redeemable.

[Drunken Irishman]

32. Yup! I've been saying this for over a year now...

And why people need to seriously reevaluate their belief that Trump can't win a reelection.

I have a coworker who does not like Trump. She thinks Putin is evil and hell-bent on dominating the Globe. She thinks North Korea is run by a nut. She thinks Trump is a horrible human being who should get off Twitter...but she also supports him. Why?

She believes the economy is doing good.

She believes there is a crisis at our border.

She believes Trump, with all his warts, is still doing a good job as president.

She'll point to her 401K, the fact it's grown more under Trump than it has under the last two presidents.

I know she voted for him in 2016 and I know she'll vote for him again in 2020.

These people can't be reached. The only thing that may open them to voting Democratic is if the economy collapses.

[Awsi Dooger]

38. We are at the mercy of how the economy is viewed in mid 2020

Everything in your list is perfect. Trump unfortunately has a very low standard to clear. Mueller is a topic here but not elsewhere.

The right track/wrong track percentage in this country has basically been miserable since the end of the Clinton years, when right track was into the low 70s. Nowadays it seldom moves above 35 or 36. During the Obama years it was as low as 11 and generally in the 20s.

Since Americans have become accustomed to such low feeling of optimism, any small period of uptick is welcome. Trump would have had no chance at re-election in 2017. But beginning on 2018 all of the related satisfaction numbers began to climb. See the link below. We need that trend to stall and reverse. By election day 2020 is too late. Opinions have long since been cemented by that point. All of the models that look at presidential results in relation to economic news indicate that summer is the critical time period. We've basically got 14 months for the economy to slow down and more importantly to already be viewed as on the downswing by the American public.

https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2018/11/more-americans-think-us-right-track/574927/

[DallasNE]

48. Lots Of Warning Signs

Tariff's on Canadian lumber put the brakes on housing starts. The new trade agreement has not yet passed the Senate so are the tariffs still in place.

Car loan delinquencies are at there highest level since the Great Recession and this is before the hard times. Income disparity is a big player here.

The job creation is weaker now than a year ago.

The Fed had announced no more interest rate hikes for the rest of the year.

Most economists now expect the economy to stall out late this year.

The budget deficit is running higher this year than projected. Are tax revenues soft? That or rosy projections are the most likely reasons. $1 trillion deficits during good times spells trouble during hard times. Indeed, this round could bring back stagflation.

[Hekate]

34. I saw that. Still picking my jaw off the floor. I'd love to know exactly what Trump's done, aside...

...aside from not being black.

[Nitram]

42. "Done great things for the country?" Like weakening our national security, depriving refugees of

their human rights and treating them like animals, removing protections on clean water and clean air, encouraging racism and bigotry, damaging our democratic system, depriving people of voting rights, and making the US a pariah among nations.

[durablend]

44. Yup!

Said "man on the street" is likely for *all* of that.

[DallasNE]

43. "Done Great Things" - Like What? n/t

[Rambling Man]

51. I've asked people that question

they just lie.

They'll tell you the $15 they got extra in their paycheck was $1500. Like a drunk protects his access to booze, so too do Trump cultists do everything possible and just straight up lie to protect their racism and hatred.

So long as Trump is hurting brown people, everything he does is excusable.

[CaptainTruth]

45. Trump supporters make me think perhaps Darwin was wrong. nt

[ProudLib72]

46. So where is the interview with someone in possession of at least half a brain?

I want to hear "He's a big pile of shit and I hope he dies from a stroke soon!"

[pdsimdars]

49. Amen! Ignore them and focus on your OWN base.

[Mr.Bill]

50. Then there's the ones, like a few of my relatives,

who say "They should just leave the man alone and let him do his job. Give him a chance."

[kacekwl]

54. Hey Flordia man,

name me one. Just one.

[LiberalFighter]

59. Yet they can't enumerate the great things he has done.

[radius777]

60. Translation: "Trump is bad but saves me from darkies."

Trying to win over white populists is a fools game, since populism is interwined with xenophobia and racism and nobody plays to that better than Trump can.

Dems can win every time if we focused on what our true base is - a metropolitan and diverse base - ie the Obama coalition.

In 2016 many of these voters simply didn't turn out - those are the people we need to focus on.