Believing in Trump: Crazy?
Welcome to From Insults To Respect.
Today, millions of people continue to believe in President Trump. Given what we have learned about him, does it make sense to insult these believers by viewing them as crazy? Let’s give this question some thought.
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This week, I went to a community theater to see a play. It involved two married couples arguing over how to discipline the 11-year old son of one of the couples who had violently attacked the son of the other couple. In no way did the subject of the play have anything to do with political issues. Nevertheless, one of the audience members proudly came wearing a huge red, white, and blue bucket hat– puffy on top, and prominently displaying Trump’s name. He also wore a shirt that looked like it could have been made from the red, white, blue and stars of the American flag. In all appearance, this guy plainly looked like he worships our current president. In light of the series of actions of President Trump, many Americans view such worshipers as crazy.
I’m not suggesting all of those who still support Trump actually worship him. I have met voters who say they still support him even though they don’t particularly like him, but nevertheless believe he is better than any of the candidates who are likely to be put up by the Democrats in the next presidential election. What I am here referring to are just the Trump supporters who truly worship him despite knowing the current situation.
The Current Situation
Here, I describe just some of the major events that might lead people who had in the past believed in Trump to change their minds.
September 2005, Trump is caught on tape advocating “grabbing women by the pussy.”
Between 2005 and 2010, Trump ran a costly course promising to help real estate hopefuls break into the business, something he called Trump University – only its false promises of success proved a total flop. In 2018, a judge ruled that Trump must pay out $25 million as part of a settlement.
Federal judge upholds verdict in E. Jean Carroll case
In the Spring 2023, E. Jean Carroll won her case when a jury found Trump was liable for sexually abusing and defaming her.
On January 13, 2023: The Trump Organization was convicted of tax fraud and fined $1.6 million in relation to 17 charges, which included falsifying documents and allegedly inflating asset values for loans and insurance purposes, while simultaneously undervaluing them for tax purposes.
On May 30, 2023, Trump was convicted by a jury on 34 counts of falsifying business records “to conceal damaging information and unlawful activity.” The records pertained to money allegedly paid to adult-film actress Stormy Daniels to not reveal details of an extramarital affair she said she had had with Trump in 2006.
Very early in Trump’s current administration, he pardoned people who assaulted the capital, including those who were convicted of violently attacking police officers.
By early 2026, hundreds of legal cases had been filed against different parts of his agenda, meaning his administration has spent millions of dollars of tax payer money fighting court battles alongside governing. One of the most recent involves the Supreme Court declaring his tariffs are unconstitutional, thereby leaving his administration to figure out how to pay back the millions of dollars his tariffs had collected. That’s one hell of a mess. Meanwhile, the tariffs never led to the great boom in U.S.manufacturing jobs that Trump had promised.
Trump had claimed that to close our southern border, a border wall had to be built. Despite most of the border wall having not been built, he now brags he has closed the border and claims no one else was able to do it until he did.
Well, there is no way to fully determine how many people are currently illegally crossing the border, but authorities say the best way to estimate this is by determining the number of apprehensions that are currently occurring there. Below, in Figure 1, the record of apprehensions is laid out for the past 25 years. It indicates that during the Obama Administration (2009 to 2017) the border crossings had been at about the level that it is now. This continued for the most part during Trump’s first term (2017 to 2021) with a large bump around 2019, and then quickly returning to the Obama era levels. Shortly after Biden took over, there was a huge jump in border crossings until bipartisan efforts began to strongly complain. Biden responded with much stricter policies and by his last year in office border crossings began to drop, quickly returning to the Obama era levels.
Figure 1: 25 Years of Apprehensions at the Southern Border
As we can see below in Figure 2, it continued to drop a little more during the first month Trump began his second term, a period prior to any of Trump’s border policies actually having time to be instituted. This lower level has remained through the rest of his first year back in office.
This current level is somewhat questionable because Trump has installed an administration that he selected to make him look as good as possible. Some of their efforts have not always been viewed as completely on the level. For example, Trump had promised to release the Epstein files upon his return to the presidency. He refused to do it until Congress passed a law that was veto proof requiring him to do so by a specific date. It is now several months past that date, and Trump is now refusing to release over a million of them. His current administration is backing him on this clear violation of the law. Meanwhile, FBI agents have been quiting, refusing to carry out his demands. So any evidence Trump’s administration provides must be taken with a pinch of salt.
Figure 2:
Returning to the issue of immigration, a poll conducted in January by The New York Times and Siena University found that 63 percent of voters disapproved of Trump’s Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s tactics, feeling it had gone too far. Particularly upsetting is that upon ICE killing two Americans, his administration made statements about what had occurred clearly in contrast to what the American public could see with their own eyes in video recordings. Then, even more egregious, the administration officials declared before any investigation that those who were killed were domestic terrorists.
Trump’s Justice Department recently filed a lawsuit against Fed Chairman Jerome Powell that a federal judge quashed saying it was obviously just for retribution because Powell had refused to lower interest rates that Trump wanted. This is costly, and completely wastes the time of judges who have better things to be doing then dealing with such frivolous cases.
Now, Trump has started a war with Iran, after pledging, when running for office, he would not engage the U.S. in foreign wars instead focusing on problems right here at home.
He had promised to lower consumer prices; they have instead risen.
Finally, recent polls indicate many who voted for him in the last election have turned against him, with his current approval level sitting at about 38 percent.
Given The Above Well Known Set Of Facts, Is It Useful For People To Consider Believers In Trump Crazy?
Considering someone as crazy is typically viewed as an insult. If you call someone crazy, it is likely to elicit an angry response such as, “No, I’m not crazy, you are!” Perhaps creating such animosity is fine with you, but here on this blog I advocate considering the value of converting your insults to respectful exchanges. To that end, let’s consider the great master of such endeavors–Abraham Lincoln (See HERE for a full discussion of this).
In 1865, Old Abe had been reelected president for a second term. Seeking to unify the nation as the end of the brutal four-year Civil War was in sight, he attempted to rise above the anger and divisiveness and start the process of healing. In his inaugural address, he asked his fellow country folk, referencing the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 7:1) to “let us judge not that we be not judged.” He concludes with these immortal words:
“With malice toward none with charity for all, with firmness in the right as God gives us to see the right let us strive on to finish the work we are in to bind up the nation’s wounds, to care for him who shall have borne the battle and for his widow and his orphan ~ to do all which may achieve and cherish a just and lasting peace among ourselves and with all nations.”
Throughout the Civil War, many in the southern states truly and passionately believed they were fighting for a noble cause consistent entirely with their religious beliefs. Although Lincoln felt differently, he still asked his citizens to have malice toward none with charity for all. And in America, we honor the principle of religious freedom.
Can we not find it in our hearts to view the people whom I symbolize as the man wearing that huge red, white, and blue bucket hat– puffy on top, and prominently displaying Trump’s name, not as crazy, but rather as having deeply religious views. This doesn’t mean we should or shouldn’t vote for Trump supporters, but, rather, it provides us the understanding that those who believe in him, when he speaks, provides the spark that lights up their religious faith.
My Best,
Jeff
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Some people will enjoy reading this blog by beginning with the first post and then moving forward to the next more recent one; then to the next one; and so on. This permits readers to catch up on some ideas that were presented earlier and to move through all of the ideas in a systematic fashion to develop their emotional intelligence. To begin at the very first post you can click HERE.
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