{"id":43,"date":"2016-03-11T22:11:42","date_gmt":"2016-03-12T04:11:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/markmeckler\/?p=43"},"modified":"2016-03-11T22:12:15","modified_gmt":"2016-03-12T04:12:15","slug":"i-overheard-a-conversation-between-two-trump-fans-that-every-journalist-needs-to-hear","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markmeckler\/2016\/03\/i-overheard-a-conversation-between-two-trump-fans-that-every-journalist-needs-to-hear\/","title":{"rendered":"I Overheard a Conversation between Two Trump Fans That Every Journalist Needs To Hear"},"content":{"rendered":"<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC \"-\/\/W3C\/\/DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional\/\/EN\" \"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/TR\/REC-html40\/loose.dtd\">\n<html><head><meta http-equiv=\"content-type\" content=\"text\/html; charset=utf-8\"><meta http-equiv=\"content-type\" content=\"text\/html; charset=utf-8\"><\/head><body><div class=\"getty embed image\" style=\"background-color: #fff; display: inline-block; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue',Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif; color: #a7a7a7; font-size: 11px; width: 100%; max-width: 594px;\">\n<div style=\"padding: 0; margin: 0; text-align: left;\"><a style=\"color: #a7a7a7; text-decoration: none; font-weight: normal !important; border: none; display: inline-block;\" href=\"http:\/\/www.gettyimages.com\/detail\/487929064\" target=\"_blank\" class=\" decorated-link\" rel=\"nofollow\">Embed from Getty Images<\/a><\/div>\n<div style=\"overflow: hidden; position: relative; height: 0; padding: 62.457912% 0 0 0; width: 100%;\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" style=\"display: inline-block; position: absolute; top: 0; left: 0; width: 100%; height: 100%; margin: 0;\" src=\"\/\/embed.gettyimages.com\/embed\/487929064?et=bfdHBzP0RNBb5z4IKWRGHw&amp;viewMoreLink=off&amp;sig=yKnxXeSXpQl-NOJNx6EKiwDM14z8zPQ7P_e9NwkNJ8Y=&amp;caption=true\" width=\"594\" height=\"371\" frameborder=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\"><\/iframe><\/div>\n<p style=\"margin: 0;\">\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p>I was sitting in an airplane, trying to dash off a few emails before catching a nap on the way to Indianapolis.<!--more--><\/p>\n<p>\u201cTrump is out there,\u201d a man in a baseball cap said in the row in front of me, \u201cbut he\u2019s saying what people only wish they could say.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cNo other politicians will say what needs to be said,\u201d his seat mate agreed.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cObamacare is killing my company,\u201d ball cap guy continued. \u201cWe do just $150 million per year, but no one in DC knows or cares. It\u2019s killing us.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>I shoveled a few peanuts into my mouth and listened. Much ink has been spilled over who exactly is the \u201cTrump voter,\u201d like they are some unknown, exotic beast that lives in unreachable lands like Alabama. Since most journalists live on the coasts or in large cities, they don\u2019t naturally run into the disproportionately working class Trump supporters.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cToday\u2019s big puzzle is how so many otherwise rational people have become enamored of Donald Trump,\u201d wrote noted American economist and social theorist Thomas Sowell. \u201c\u2026projecting onto him virtues and principles that he clearly does not have, and ignoring gross defects that are all too blatant.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>This was no mystery to anyone on that flight to Indiana in earshot of the two guys in front of me. In fact, the next sentence out of 12B\u2019s mouth perfectly sums up the Trump enthusiasm.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHillary is the same as we\u2019ve had for 20 years,\u201d he said. \u201cThey\u2019re all just politicians who\u2019ll never get anything done.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>In other words, the Donald Trump vote = the \u201cwhat the hell\u201d vote, and it\u2019s not altogether unreasonable.<\/p>\n<p>The American people have been repeatedly deceived and ignored by career politicians of both parties. It\u2019s not that people believe Trump is a true conservative or think he aligns with their values. But no matter who people support, they get nothing in return \u2013 no leadership, no discipline, and no restraint. In fact, they get worse than nothing. They lose the nation they love\u2026bit by bit.<\/p>\n<p>Rational politics is no longer rational.<\/p>\n<p>Trump supporters know very little about how Trump will govern. But they do know this: he will blow the whole system up. He plays by his own rules and conventional wisdom slides right off his Teflon political persona.<\/p>\n<p>The most recent example of this, of course, is his decision to back out of the Fox News debate.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cEverything he\u2019s doing goes against the book. Everything that any analyst or consultant or professional would tell you not to do, Donald Trump is doing it, and he\u2019s leading the pack,\u201d said Rush Limbaugh. \u201cThis creates its own set of emotions and feelings and thoughts that run from person to person. Now, the political business, if you want to look at it that way, is like any other business. It has its people who are considered the elites in it \u2014 and like any business, they hate outsiders.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Here\u2019s the thing. The \u201coutsiders\u201d hate the political elitism right back.<\/p>\n<p>I\u2019m not talking just conservatives. I know Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren fans who tell me they like Trump because he just might burn the whole thing to the ground and stick it to the crony politicians. Their anger is a natural and rational reaction to politicians routinely lie, breaking their promises, surrender when the fight gets tough, and spend money we don\u2019t have.<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s a rational reaction when the majority of Americans never supported ObamaCare, still don\u2019t support\u00a0ObamaCare, and are getting financially pounded by ObamaCare. It\u2019s a rational reaction when our borders (still) aren\u2019t secure no matter how much they talk about \u201cbuilding that wall.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s also rational when Islamic terrorists attack us on our own land and our leaders say it has nothing to do with Islam.<\/p>\n<p>However, blaming it on anger seriously underestimates the American people and makes voters sound unreasonable and emotional. What\u2019s really irrational is going to the polls every four years, pulling the lever, and expecting a different result.<\/p>\n<p>Voters can do the math. They know the current financial trajectory of the nation is unsustainable; collapse is imminent. The markets are falling and the world financial situation is perilous. Yet,\u00a0the politicians of both parties conspire in the last omnibus to\u00a0raise\u00a0spending by $200 billion per year. Politicians and bureaucrats continue to\u00a0mortgage the future of our children and grandchildren for their own benefit.<\/p>\n<p>Politicians and bureaucrats should heed the warnings they\u2019re receiving from voters.\u00a0Regardless of who\u2019s elected, the gig is up. The emperor has no clothes and the people know it. They\u2019ve been betrayed by their own government.<\/p>\n<p>Yes, they\u2019re angry, but they\u2019re also intelligent, observant, passionate, engaged, and sick and tired of an entitled ruling elite.<\/p>\n<p>Many people don\u2019t trust Trump to actually govern Constitutionally, because he\u2019s impossible to predict and has a liberal record. But people support him because of that very volatility.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cTrump is functioning totally outside this structure [of traditional politics] that has existed for decades. As such, the people who are only familiar with the structure and believe in it and cherish it and want to protect it, feel threatened in ways that you can\u2019t even comprehend.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Good. Let them be threatened.<\/p>\n<p>I am not a Trump supporter, nor do I publicly support any candidate. But I understand why \u201cWhat the hell?\u201d is now less a rhetorical question anymore than it is a voting strategy.<\/p>\n<p><em><strong>This article was first published <a href=\"http:\/\/opinion.injo.com\/2016\/02\/252676-donald-trumps-entire-campaign-strategy-relies-voters-saying-hell-will\/\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">here<\/a>.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I understand why \u201cWhat the hell?\u201d is now less a rhetorical question anymore than it is a voting strategy.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2673,"featured_media":45,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[3],"class_list":["post-43","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-who-are-donald-trump-fans"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v21.1 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>I Overheard a Conversation between Two Trump Fans That Every Journalist Needs To Hear<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"I understand why \u201cWhat the hell?\u201d is now less a rhetorical question anymore than it is a voting strategy.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markmeckler\/2016\/03\/i-overheard-a-conversation-between-two-trump-fans-that-every-journalist-needs-to-hear\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"I Overheard a Conversation between Two Trump Fans That Every Journalist Needs To Hear\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"I understand why \u201cWhat the hell?\u201d is now less a rhetorical question anymore than it is a voting strategy.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markmeckler\/2016\/03\/i-overheard-a-conversation-between-two-trump-fans-that-every-journalist-needs-to-hear\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Mark Meckler\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2016-03-12T04:11:42+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2016-03-12T04:12:15+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/653\/2016\/03\/Screen-Shot-2016-03-11-at-10.10.53-PM.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"768\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"374\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Mark Meckler\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Mark Meckler\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"5 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markmeckler\/2016\/03\/i-overheard-a-conversation-between-two-trump-fans-that-every-journalist-needs-to-hear\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markmeckler\/2016\/03\/i-overheard-a-conversation-between-two-trump-fans-that-every-journalist-needs-to-hear\/\",\"name\":\"I Overheard a Conversation between Two Trump Fans That Every Journalist Needs To Hear\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markmeckler\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2016-03-12T04:11:42+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2016-03-12T04:12:15+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markmeckler\/#\/schema\/person\/e95fc54d2a84068750f5d9a181cd2421\"},\"description\":\"I understand why \u201cWhat the hell?\u201d is now less a rhetorical question anymore than it is a voting strategy.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markmeckler\/2016\/03\/i-overheard-a-conversation-between-two-trump-fans-that-every-journalist-needs-to-hear\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markmeckler\/2016\/03\/i-overheard-a-conversation-between-two-trump-fans-that-every-journalist-needs-to-hear\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markmeckler\/2016\/03\/i-overheard-a-conversation-between-two-trump-fans-that-every-journalist-needs-to-hear\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markmeckler\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"I Overheard a Conversation between Two Trump Fans That Every Journalist Needs To Hear\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markmeckler\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markmeckler\/\",\"name\":\"Mark Meckler\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markmeckler\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markmeckler\/#\/schema\/person\/e95fc54d2a84068750f5d9a181cd2421\",\"name\":\"Mark Meckler\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markmeckler\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/cf71f8e44cbfd7951a4eb0173d2a8f27?s=96&d=identicon&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/cf71f8e44cbfd7951a4eb0173d2a8f27?s=96&d=identicon&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Mark Meckler\"},\"description\":\"Mark is one of the nation\u2019s most effective grassroots activists. After he co-founded and was the national coordinator of the Tea Party Patriots, he founded Citizens for Self-Governance to revolutionize American government. Founded in February 2012, this grassroots initiative expands and directs the ever-growing, bipartisan self-governance movement. Mark appears regularly on wide variety of television outlets, including MSNBC, ABC, NBC, Fox News, CNN, Bloomberg, Fox Business and the BBC.\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markmeckler\/author\/mmeckler\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"I Overheard a Conversation between Two Trump Fans That Every Journalist Needs To Hear","description":"I understand why \u201cWhat the hell?\u201d is now less a rhetorical question anymore than it is a voting strategy.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markmeckler\/2016\/03\/i-overheard-a-conversation-between-two-trump-fans-that-every-journalist-needs-to-hear\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"I Overheard a Conversation between Two Trump Fans That Every Journalist Needs To Hear","og_description":"I understand why \u201cWhat the hell?\u201d is now less a rhetorical question anymore than it is a voting strategy.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markmeckler\/2016\/03\/i-overheard-a-conversation-between-two-trump-fans-that-every-journalist-needs-to-hear\/","og_site_name":"Mark Meckler","article_published_time":"2016-03-12T04:11:42+00:00","article_modified_time":"2016-03-12T04:12:15+00:00","og_image":[{"width":768,"height":374,"url":"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/653\/2016\/03\/Screen-Shot-2016-03-11-at-10.10.53-PM.png","type":"image\/png"}],"author":"Mark Meckler","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Mark Meckler","Est. reading time":"5 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markmeckler\/2016\/03\/i-overheard-a-conversation-between-two-trump-fans-that-every-journalist-needs-to-hear\/","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markmeckler\/2016\/03\/i-overheard-a-conversation-between-two-trump-fans-that-every-journalist-needs-to-hear\/","name":"I Overheard a Conversation between Two Trump Fans That Every Journalist Needs To Hear","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markmeckler\/#website"},"datePublished":"2016-03-12T04:11:42+00:00","dateModified":"2016-03-12T04:12:15+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markmeckler\/#\/schema\/person\/e95fc54d2a84068750f5d9a181cd2421"},"description":"I understand why \u201cWhat the hell?\u201d is now less a rhetorical question anymore than it is a voting strategy.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markmeckler\/2016\/03\/i-overheard-a-conversation-between-two-trump-fans-that-every-journalist-needs-to-hear\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markmeckler\/2016\/03\/i-overheard-a-conversation-between-two-trump-fans-that-every-journalist-needs-to-hear\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markmeckler\/2016\/03\/i-overheard-a-conversation-between-two-trump-fans-that-every-journalist-needs-to-hear\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markmeckler\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"I Overheard a Conversation between Two Trump Fans That Every Journalist Needs To Hear"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markmeckler\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markmeckler\/","name":"Mark Meckler","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markmeckler\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markmeckler\/#\/schema\/person\/e95fc54d2a84068750f5d9a181cd2421","name":"Mark Meckler","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markmeckler\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/cf71f8e44cbfd7951a4eb0173d2a8f27?s=96&d=identicon&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/cf71f8e44cbfd7951a4eb0173d2a8f27?s=96&d=identicon&r=g","caption":"Mark Meckler"},"description":"Mark is one of the nation\u2019s most effective grassroots activists. After he co-founded and was the national coordinator of the Tea Party Patriots, he founded Citizens for Self-Governance to revolutionize American government. Founded in February 2012, this grassroots initiative expands and directs the ever-growing, bipartisan self-governance movement. Mark appears regularly on wide variety of television outlets, including MSNBC, ABC, NBC, Fox News, CNN, Bloomberg, Fox Business and the BBC.","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markmeckler\/author\/mmeckler\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markmeckler\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markmeckler\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markmeckler\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markmeckler\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2673"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markmeckler\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=43"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markmeckler\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markmeckler\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/45"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markmeckler\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=43"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markmeckler\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=43"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markmeckler\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=43"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}