We Were Meant to be Stupid
By: J. West
Tags: Democrats, Republicans, Insurgent, Politics, Opinion

“Never underestimate the power of stupid people in large groups.”

George Carlin

On January 6, 2021, a group of misguided anarchists entered the Capitol building in Washington, DC. Videos and pictures of the protestors circulated on social media. They were reminiscent of people in the background of live news reports.

You know, the ones air humping the reporter behind their back.

The police officers on the scene didn’t seem to be taking it seriously so I immediately turned to conservative sources. I was practicing my “don’t let the media control your emotions” mantra and searching for truth in a minefield of bullshit. It was, in my mind, time for drastic measures.

I needed to see what Parler was saying.

Parler, as it tends to do, made me feel worse so I went to Fox News. They were saying the same thing and still showing people gathered on the steps and climbing up the walls. It didn’t appear as concerning as what we were being told.

The news was calling it an insurgency but it just looked like an idiocracy of overly dramatic, emotionally unstable people. Weird, but harmless.

Then people started dying. In total, five people, including a Capitol police officer, were killed. A few days later, another Capitol police officer died by his own hands.

America, the reality show, has turned into American Horror Story: Political Unrest.

I’ve struggled to understand the mindset of Trump supporters since that golden escalator ride. I have sought out conversations with friends, family and strangers who voted for him. Some withdrew support after 2016, some stuck with him and others were new to the Trump bandwagon in 2020.

One was a 17 year old who illegally voted for Trump…

Worst of all, there were many who didn’t vote at all but were still huge fans, avid supporters of his social media presence and had pick-up truck flags in his honor.

Yes, some non voters are huge Trump fans. This includes those eligible to vote who just choose not to and those who are ineligible for various reasons.

Many times, the political conversations became hostile when I asked questions they didn’t know how to answer or if their answers created a moral dilemma for them. This is especially true among Christian supporters. When asked specific questions relating to their Christian values vs. Trump’s actions, they respond by deflecting, playing a game of whataboutery, calling me names and/or blocking me.

Some have hung in for the duration and I am grateful for the enlightenment they’ve offered.

Some of them are poor, undereducated white people… they just don’t know it. They have been told by conservative media that they are smarter than “woke” college kids and that they are middle class. The school of hard knocks is all they will ever need. They will ignore their overdue bills, sporadic employment history and high school dropout status to angrily proclaim that education is the problem.

They are the unemployed and underemployed who will argue against raising the minimum wage because burger flippers (literally the only people below them in the food chain) don’t deserve to be able to pay their bills either.

It seems ludicrous, I know, but this is our reality in America.

There are very intelligent Trump supporters. Many are business owners who support anything that dumbs down their potential employment pool and prevents competition. Not all of their reasons are due to their belief in fake news. Some of them know full well what is bullshit and what is not. They have education, money and status and that is exactly why they wanted Trump to stay in office for as long as possible.

Over the last several years, I have engaged with hundreds of Trump supporters through various platforms. I have not had any interactions, at least to my knowledge, with anyone involved with the insurgency. God… it feels so weird to have to say that.

Here is my journey into the psychology of the individuals as well as the sociological factors at play in their decisions.

An Informed Voter is a Tortured Voter

At one point, I decided to fully consider voting for Trump in 2020. Up until that point, I was set to vote for Biden because, well, he wasn’t Trump. As a ghostwriter, I have written from perspectives of varying beliefs. I’ve written other people’s opinions on a range of topics including politics, business and economics.

Sometimes I think I’m more persuasive when I disagree with an opinion.

Ghostwriting is similar to acting. Good actors know how to take on the personality of their characters. They mentally become someone else while they are playing the part. As a writer, I have to be able to be every part of my stories. My husband calls it empathic writing. It’s the only way, in my opinion, to tell a story properly.

I went into the prospect of voting for Trump with a completely open mind. I had plenty of research under my belt by that point. I looked at what he was claiming he had done while in office vs. what he actually had done. I compared his record to previous administrations to see if it was as irregular as the left was claiming it was.

On paper, I can tell you that the choice was not as obvious as I expected it to be. Did he do what he said he would, in reference to his official presidential actions? Sometimes. Was it highly irregular, when compared to other administrations? Yes... but only because we were paying closer attention.

Unfortunately, Trump is far from the first egomaniac to hold political office or even the presidential office. Politics tends to be a haven for those with inflated opinions of themselves. It is unfortunate for him that he was a victim of Big Brother. The government may have the reputation for being our Big Brother but let’s not forget who has the real power in this country.

We the people, once we learned how to read and were told we lived in a free country, used our power to create and empower the media. They were supposed to be looking out for us and informing us about all of the things we couldn’t see happening in the world and in our own government.

Had it not been for the creation of the media, I would not have been able to see Britney Spears’ public mental breakdown or find out from my newsfeed that a guy I used to work with has a foot fetish.

All media is not all bad but it certainly isn’t all good and most of what the average American sees is the bad part.

Sir John Dalberg-Acton wrote a letter in 1887 and dropped a line which is still heard today:

“Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.”

You’ve probably heard the quote or seen it posted on social media and credited to god-knows-who. I believe I’ve seen it credited to FDR… the only US president to win the presidency four consecutive times before term limits were put into place.

What most people don’t know when they hear that quote, is what he was referring to in his letter.

Sir John unsuccessfully rallied against the doctrine of papal infallibility, which was put into place by the Catholic Church during the First Vatican Council. The next couple of lines were even more profound:

“Great men are almost always bad men, even when they exercise influence and not authority, still more when you superadd the tendency or the certainty of corruption by authority. There is no worse heresy than that the office sanctifies the holder of it.”

That last part really brings it home for me. In the case of the church, they were saying that God speaks directly through this one mortal, chosen by the mortals in the church, and that we mortals must consider any mortal in this position and everything they do, to be equivalent to God.

They wanted to give us a living representation of God to worship and never question.

It’s one of the oldest political tricks in the book and it still works like a charm on the average moron.

This country is ours but it’s not an entitlement — it’s an opportunity. The framers of the Constitution handed us a maze, rather than a document. The best case scenario behind their intentions is that it was an optimistic outline for a world that, though they knew it would come, they wanted no parts of it in their lifetimes.

It’s similar to the feelings of slave owners who freed their slaves in their Wills.

“I know you deserve your freedom but it scares the shit out of me so I don’t want to be here for it.”

Americans were given a roadmap to freedom but it was more like a half faded treasure map with lots of holes and you aren’t sure which end is up. It took us generations to scratch the surface of understanding our true power. We’re still not over the first hurdle:

Make it apply to us all so we can reclaim our humanity and rehumanize the masses.

The best case scenario is what most Americans believe about the framers’ intentions. It’s not how I see it at all.

The most important thing to know about the document which holds our freedom is this:

The only people considered “people” when the Constitution of the United States was written were affluent, white men.

This fact has only changed marginally in the last couple of centuries. Honestly, despite my best efforts so far, I cannot disprove my assertion that this is still how the law operates to this day.

The Constitution is a topic I have been researching and I plan to do a separate series. It’s operational title is “America for Dummies” but I feel like that may be inflammatory.

Politics is not what it appears to be to the average voter. Each party has their basic platform but, in the interest of appealing to as many demographics as possible, they’re pretty generic.

If they were being honest, they would say:

We believe that only white men with money should make laws and that the most powerful among us should be above those laws. We also work hard to keep most of you just above poverty and ignorance and convince you that you’re smart and wealthy so you won’t realize that you are voting against your own best interest. We’re more organized because we despise change and it’s easy to live a predictable life when you violently resist change by whatever means necessary… unless it’s change that puts money in our pockets. Then we’re cool with change. We like money, status and power and feel as though we are the only ones qualified to bestow money, status or power upon others. Also, not to brag or anything, but God prefers us — ask any Southern Baptist.

As good as that sounds, let’s consult the other side…

We believe that only PEOPLE with money should make laws and that the most powerful among us should be above those laws. We’re a bit better about claiming to want education but it can be hard to tell. We believe that all people should be treated like people — as long as it makes us and our friends more money. We like all the important things in life like money, status and power. We are progressive and like change because innovation equals money. Change is hard but profitable. Women and minorities being human is new to us but we’re getting used to it — awkwardly and disingenuously. We’re not fighting hard enough to put it in writing but give us a chance. We’re trying to look like we’re trying. We aren’t the other party. Is that enough incentive?

Of course, I’m being extra and talking about the extremes so don’t be offended. It was amusing to try to put their ideals into the bluntest terms possible. Politics is about way more than red and blue. Those are just the Bloods and Crypts vying for control of the people and our resources.

To get into government, you have to choose a side. Why? Because we allowed the people in charge of making rules and laws decide who they apply to. As long as they don’t piss off the wrong people, they can do virtually anything they want.

Jeffrey Epstein made a career out of the privileges afforded to powerful, affluent men.

In order to figure out what each candidate actually supports, you have to know who pays for their vacations and other extracurriculars. It’s hard to do all that research so, once again, we trust others (RNC and DNC) to do it for us.

This is clearly a pattern.

While in office, Trump has done what most politicians do but he did it with impunity. At one point, I thought he may be an evil genius sent to show us the flaws in our government. The genius part never came to fruition, nor did the draining of the swamp he claimed he was going to do.

He loved the swamp. He was the Shrek of the swamp. The people quoting his mantra about draining the swamp, have no idea what the swamp is. You can’t drain it — our government is built around it.

I quickly realized that he was flying false flags while capitalizing on the real ones. So much for the second coming of Christ theory Q-Anon tried to sell.

A close friend started sharing things and openly supporting Trump on social media. On paper (green paper), I understood his position. He was what the media has called “the shy Trump voter” and, as an affluent, white male business owner, he was voting for his people.

But, on a personal level, I couldn’t understand it. He had been deep into mindfulness and spirituality back in the early days of his business. The growth he experienced was phenomenal and he had seemed happy in recent years. He was a philanthropic, caring guy who had always been for inclusion and education.

He got lost behind the curtain. It’s easy to do. You see how things work and realize that small business owners are on the bottom rung of the economic ladder and consumers are only here to consume. They aren’t free. They are cattle. Why would you want the herd of idiots you depend upon for your livelihood to know that you depend upon their stupidity for your tropical vacations and luxury cars?

He shared some of his conspiracies and I explored them.

I was not prepared. At the end of the first Q-Anon video I watched, they referred to Trump as the second coming of Christ. I threw up in my mouth a little.

The way in which they presented their conspiracies was well done and they made sure to have every detail wrapped up neat and tidy… a big red flag. Nobody has all the answers. All stories have blind spots. When there are no blind spots, that means bullshit was used to fill in the blanks.

In the case of Q-Anon, it’s already been unveiled as a joke that was hijacked and expanded upon by lonely people who wanted attention. Since that fact does not fit the narrative, the believers ignore it.

Trump is not responsible for the crazy conspiracies that his followers believe but he is responsible for being one of the idiots who believe them. He was in a position of power and influence and he used that position for evil.

If you really want your mind blown, check out Nostradamus’ prediction about a false trumpet.

I was struggling to find items for my pros list. I watched interviews and rallies and was appalled by his behavior. He has a complicated relationship with reality and does not display much integrity, at least not with any consistency. I don’t mean that he is inconsistent with what he says in different interviews — he is inconsistent in the same interviews.

I watch members of the media poke him and he responds exactly the way they want. He feeds into every narrative the other side has thrown at him. They said he would start a civil war and set out to make it true.

Do not for a minute think that my lack of support for Trump means that I think the Democrats hung the moon. While it’s true that I prefer my mind control in the form of “yay unity” over “yay hatred” what I really prefer is honesty and integrity.

Despite my efforts to try to force myself to continue on my path of support for the incumbent president, I couldn’t get past a conversation Trump had with Retired General John Kelly at the grave of his son in Arlington National Cemetery. He reportedly commented to the grieving father, who had also proudly served our country:

“I don’t get it; what was in it for them?”

Trump does not understand the concept of service or sacrifice. There were plenty of other things he reportedly said in reference to his disdain for military service, but that statement stuck with me. How could the Commander in Chief of our country, who was claiming he was going to make America great for everyone, not understand sacrifice?

If he doesn’t understand service to one’s country, how are we to believe that he is serving our country?

After I finished my research on Trump, I researched Joe Biden. I considered alternative candidates (no, not Kanye) but I felt strongly that I wanted to be part of getting Trump out of office. I live in a battleground county in a battleground state so I wanted to serve my country by maybe making a difference.

The rally cry of the Trump supporters — “he’s done nothing in 47 years in politics” — is, shockingly, not at all true. You can look it up but it should be pretty obvious that it’s not true because everybody does something.

He certainly seemed to sniff that little girl’s hair in the one video but that’s far from the creepiest thing I’ve ever seen a politician do. Almost every person I know who has had occasion to be around babies and children, has sniffed them.

But very few of them have paid the underaged daughters of drug addicts for sex like the bipartisan Trump and Epstein crew has.

I’ve listened to Biden speak and I know when Biden for President is speaking and when Joe is speaking. He has had to remain poised and practically statue-like throughout this entire process. He was a stutterer as a child and it is something that comes out when he is nervous or hasn’t had time to rehearse.

Politicians don’t write their own speeches, people like me write them. I have seen much younger men struggle to deliver a 10 minute speech with teleprompters in their faces.

He doesn’t appear to have dementia or Alzheimer's. He is an intelligent man and, from what I can see, he is a principled man.

He is a career politician and, while I am hopeful that he will remedy the army of hatred that his predecessor empowered, I am reserved and more hopeful that he won’t raise an army of equally gullible, holier-than-thou, social media justice warriors.

The conservatives among us are not ready for that.