Rachel Maddow: Poll Reveals Trump Voters Are in Alternate State of Reality

a reply to: reldra

I have to disagree with one point Maddow made:

it seems important to know this incoming president basically created this fantasy life for his supporters

That is completely incorrect. Trump did not create the current situation the Right Wing finds itself in. It was in the making long before Trump was in the picture. While the case could be made that the reshaping of the Right began after the New Deal was put in place, it began to ramp-up when Limbaugh became a popular voice.

His style of propaganda caught on and created the market for people like Hannity (and Fox News) and other people to become successful, pushing half truths and disinformation to a section of the public that would not question what they were being told.

Then along came Obama and the Right Wing propaganda machine went in to full-production. Truth and facts no longer had value to the Right Wing, as they now injected an element of conspiracy in to their natural thinking and it has only grown since then.

Trump capitalized off of that. He knew a large section of the public was fed this propaganda, a specific general narrative, and so he crafted a campaign that took advantage of it. It worked very well.

Why do you think he held the bible and spoke to the Faith and Freedom Coalition?

Why do you think he hugged the American flag?

Because those sorts of things appeal to the propagandized Right Wing.

If anyone tells you that Trump is dumb, I hope you would disagree with them. Trump knew exactly what he was doing, he did it well and was able to swoon enough to win the election.

I will also disagree that these people live in an alternate reality. They live in the same reality, but they simply do not interpret what they see, hear and experience the same way. They've been taught to interpret it differently by the propaganda machine.

Hell I didn't need a poll to show me what is apparent just talking to, listening to, or observing your average Trump supporter. But I think "alt-reality" is too kind a term here. I prefer to stop mincing words and just say it like I see it: they are mentally and morally retarded.

I've noticed there is a sliding scale of Trump supporters that seems to correlate level of support and intelligence (no, it's not scientific, it's my own observations in the matter). There are some Trump supporters who are very smart. They were also not what I'd call Trumptards or Cultists. They weren't fervent supporters, and hardly any of them liked Trump. They voted for him for strategic/tactical (politically speaking) reasons, and are pragmatists. Funny enough, they are also well educated, either college or technical trades, and are usually independent voters. But as you go down the scale, the more a person supports the Chump, the more they adore him or actually believe his crap, the the less they think, the more ignorant they are. Kinda like a religion.

Now I know a bunch of Trump's cultists are gonna come jumping in to the predictable tune of "What about Hillary and her supporters...waaaahhh!!!!!" Well here's the thing. I am speaking from purely my own experience. And I've never really met a Hillary "supporter". Hillary voters? Yes. But there is a difference, like with Trump. I know several people who voted for Hillary, but none of them genuinely liked her. None of them thought she was a savior, or were under any illusions as to her, her character, or what she could/would do as president. They voted for her for the same pragmatic reasons the smarter Trump voters voted for Trump. In other words, they are not delusional or downright stupid.

a reply to: introvert

I will also disagree that these people live in an alternate reality. They live in the same reality, but they simply do not interpret what they see, hear and experience the same way. They've been taught to interpret it differently by the propaganda machine

I don't know about trump supporters or your reality , but I can tell you that Hillary is not living in my reality.

In her reality she was under sniper fire, took on the lobbyist who gave her money, and thinks its acceptable for someone under a FBI criminal investigation to run for POTUS.

a reply to: interupt42

I don't know about trump supporters or your reality , but I can tell you that Hillary is not living in my reality.

I'm not sure what Hillary has to do with this. I'd like to address the topic at hand and not let it be distracted by deflection.

a reply to: reldra

Before I jettisoned 24-hour news (along with cable) from my life, I used to watch both FoxNews and MSNBC to get a balance of the extremes of biased, opinion-based reporting. As with Sean Hannity, I learned to really despise Rachel Maddow, as she is often able to be shown to spin nearly everything that she discusses, and in addition to that, she is often wrong about the "facts" that she purports.

Of course the stock market has gone up--it would have gone up with a computer running the country after the "great recession," as would have the unemployment rate. This fact is not indicative if a good presidency after a recession, just as the fact that we recovered from the Great Depression was not because of the New Deal, and can actually be argued intelligently that such policies slowed the recovery, not caused it or helped it.

Concerning illegal votes for Clinton--Maddow has no way to prove that there weren't millions of illegal votes, just like Trump supporters can't prove that they did. Further more, a similar ignorance to reality has been shown when some progressives and liberal voters get polled. And seriously--she's STILL making the release of his tax returns an issue. Jesus Christ.

And you want us to listen to more than 12 minutes of her rambling? Come on.

We know that most voters are ignorant--I've asserted that point many, MANY times over the past few election cycles (yes, that includes Obama voters during the 2008 and 2012 elections, too)--but her spin to make it seem like only Trump voters are idiots is painfully obvious, and her continued harping on his tax returns is really, really tiresome.

I was actually half expecting her to blame Bush for Trump refusing to release his tax returns, but gladly that didn't happen. Wouldn't have surprised me, though.

originally posted by: introvert
a reply to: reldra

I have to disagree with one point Maddow made:

it seems important to know this incoming president basically created this fantasy life for his supporters

That is completely incorrect. Trump did not create the current situation the Right Wing finds itself in. It was in the making long before Trump was in the picture. While the case could be made that the reshaping of the Right began after the New Deal was put in place, it began to ramp-up when Limbaugh became a popular voice.

His style of propaganda caught on and created the market for people like Hannity (and Fox News) and other people to become successful, pushing half truths and disinformation to a section of the public that would not question what they were being told.

Then along came Obama and the Right Wing propaganda machine went in to full-production. Truth and facts no longer had value to the Right Wing, as they now injected an element of conspiracy in to their natural thinking and it has only grown since then.

Trump capitalized off of that. He knew a large section of the public was fed this propaganda, a specific general narrative, and so he crafted a campaign that took advantage of it. It worked very well.

Why do you think he held the bible and spoke to the Faith and Freedom Coalition?

Why do you think he hugged the American flag?

Because those sorts of things appeal to the propagandized Right Wing.

If anyone tells you that Trump is dumb, I hope you would disagree with them. Trump knew exactly what he was doing, he did it well and was able to swoon enough to win the election.

I will also disagree that these people live in an alternate reality. They live in the same reality, but they simply do not interpret what they see, hear and experience the same way. They've been taught to interpret it differently by the propaganda machine.

Actually it was the both wings that created the situation.

The left pushed their agenda way too far and often without bringing enough support with them.
The push back was inevitable.
One thing I will agree on is that the propaganda on the right become a beacon for millions, but it was because of the propaganda and actions of the left.

Hence division.
You can't have the kind of divide you see in the West now if one side of the political ideology is being totally reasonable.

There has always been disagreement but the last 10 years have brought about such a divide as I have not seen in my lifetime. It's folly and contributory to the ongoing issue to blame one side and, as Maddow did, to accuse people of not living in reality.

The job of the left now is to be opposition to bring Republicans as close to the centre as possible - it should not be to entrench and divide further. That is why reasonable Democrats have and will be working with Trump.

a reply to: introvert

You don't know what Hillary has to do with with this . LOL really. Talk about deflection or are you in that alternate reality?

Here is a clue. Perhaps trump didn't win because his voter base was misinformed but he won because they were informed that she was the greater evil with her lies, scandals, and her warped reality.

a reply to: reldra

I generally dont believe anything until MSNBC or CNN officially denies it

Speaking of alternate states of reality, remember Rachel Maddow's looney election predictions?


This coming from a woman who literally cried for Hillary when she was being investigated by the FBI... and again when she lost the election. Reality bites!

We know there is a sizeable portion of the Trump electorate who are not able to make a reasonable assessment of the situation, there are many who voted Trump because they didn't want to see Clinton in the White House, but this vid isn't great at explaining the reality.

I believe it ha been posted here before regards the right wing thinkers are not as intelligent as the left...so research has said, so you cannot blame them when they buy what he is selling.

Both sides are at fault, the left should never have claimed the middle ground as it did, because they had to twist their ideology to fit, but this is not a one size fits all thing, you are one or you are the other, sure there may be cross overs but everyone is more one than the other, with this in mind there can never be complete agreement.

What the left need to do is re-engage with the core, the truth and stop trying to be left with a right wing jacket.

From my perspective there are two things I believe to be true when it comes to either side...

The left want to equalise through control, the right want to control by stealth, to give the illusion of individual responsibility through manipulation.

One side is being true to itself, the other needs to re-connect, but crappy propaganda like this vid isn't the way to do it.

The DNC rolled a loaded dice that failed, time to face up to that and be true to itself, if it ever hopes to overturn the ignorance that has set in from the right.

a reply to: reldra

Dang it, Nevermind.
Just don't have the time right now.
Will return to the thread.

a reply to: UKTruth

Actually it was the both wings that created the situation.

I think there is some truth to that.

The left pushed their agenda way too far and often without bringing enough support with them.

Agreed. The Left did push an agenda without enough support. They were not pushing Leftists ideals. Their agenda was just enough to the Right of center and it was not appealing to people such as myself.

One thing I will agree on is that the propaganda on the right become a beacon for millions, but it was because of the propaganda and actions of the left.

Not really. Regardless of what the Left did, specific narratives and agendas were pushed bu the Right Wing propaganda machine. That is one of the reasons the Right are attracted to fake news. It doesn't have to be true. It only has to satisfy confirmation bias.

There has always been disagreement but the last 10 years have brought about such a divide as I have not seen in my lifetime. It's folly and contributory to the ongoing issue to blame one side and, as Maddow did, to accuse people of not living in reality.

The Left has many issues to work on and they have a long road ahead of them, but the Right has different issues to work on. Their base is brainwashed far beyond anything we have seen on the Left. That is their burden and their burden alone to bear.

The Left is not to blame for what the Right's propaganda has created.

originally posted by: interupt42
a reply to: introvert

You don't know what Hillary has to do with with this . LOL really. Talk about deflection or are you in that alternate reality?

Here is a clue. Perhaps trump didn't win because his voter base was misinformed but he won because they were informed that she was the greater evil with her lies, scandals, and her warped reality.

You missed the point. Hillary has nothing to do with the voter base being misinformed. Hillary didn't push disinformation. Right Wing media outlets did that. Hillary didn't create fake news and serve it to those desiring confirmation bias. Right Wing media outlets did that.

Trying to blame Hillary for the Right's problems is intellectually lazy.

originally posted by: introvert

originally posted by: interupt42
a reply to: introvert

You don't know what Hillary has to do with with this . LOL really. Talk about deflection or are you in that alternate reality?

Here is a clue. Perhaps trump didn't win because his voter base was misinformed but he won because they were informed that she was the greater evil with her lies, scandals, and her warped reality.

You missed the point. Hillary has nothing to do with the voter base being misinformed. Hillary didn't push disinformation. Right Wing media outlets did that. Hillary didn't create fake news and serve it to those desiring confirmation bias. Right Wing media outlets did that.

Trying to blame Hillary for the Right's problems is intellectually lazy.

Hillary did nothing but lie, so voters got sick of that trash and voted for Trump. The media were the ones pushing false reality by supporting all the lies Hillary told.

This all makes sense when you realize that the left's reality is all based on LIES, and to them, the truth is a false reality. Rachel Maddow sees Trump voters as the false reality because to her, the truth is false and the false is truth.

a reply to: solargeddon

You've made some awfully big claims in your post. Care to source any of them? Personal anecdotes about how you think there was a study that suggested that the right isn't as smart as the left is not going to cut it. Does it matter or occur to you that there are different types of intelligence? Do you remember any further details of the study you mentioned, like what types of intelligence "lefties" may have scored higher in "righties", and vice-versa? (Based on how our brains "rewire" themselves corresponding to input, I see this as a strong plausibility.)

For crying out loud, we need both hemispheres of our neocortex to function as humans. Can you not see, on the macro scale, that societies of humans need both "hemispheres" of political philosophy to function?

Where's the love? I voted for Trump, and knowing nothing further of me, you and so many others want to write me and people like me off. Sure there are lots of smug republicans too, but we are clearly all not that way, and I don't view the political left that way. Long term friends of mine of over a decade have turned their backs on me for that simple reason of whose name I put an X next to on my ballot. It is INSANE.

Where's the love?

a reply to: reldra

Accurate? According to whom, may I ask? Themselves?

...and in these accurate polls, how many people do they actually poll? ...and where do they poll them from?

I know they're supposedly random--let's just say I have my doubts as to the validity of that claim--

They poll let us say 1000 people...who is to say the next thousand would totally skew the results? Judging anything on the basis of polls with such a small sampling is useless.

All the polls, or a goodly majority of them, had Trump losing, some of them losing badly... Oops.

Polls had Dewey defeating Truman some years ago... Oops.

The only polls that matter are the ones on election day.

This one you're using is no better or worse than any of the others.

a reply to: introvert

I think you might be missing an element of human nature regarding the influence of the left on the outcome of the election and why people moved right. In fact I don't think their views really moved right, but people voted for Trump simply to be on the opposing side of overbearing liberals.

a reply to: NoCorruptionAllowed

Hillary did nothing but lie

That's what you believe because that is the soup you swim in. While Hillary did lie about some things, many were led to believe she speaks nothing but lies. That leads to posts such as your, using hyperbole in the place of reason and fact.

The media were the ones pushing false reality by supporting all the lies Hillary told

The most popular media outlets were against Hillary.

This all makes sense when you realize that the left's reality is all based on LIES, and to them, the truth is a false reality.

I don't see any fake news sites created to generate click-bait revenue for the Left. The Right is drenched is lies and disinformation and the reaction from the Right is to point fingers at the Left, drawing attention away from their ignorance.

It may make you and others feel better, but it doesn't address the problem.

a reply to: introvert

Hillary didn't push disinformation.

Even you cant be serious with that statement, can you? I mean...come on.... smh

The most popular media outlets were against Hillary.

Yeah...thats why they fed debate questions to Trump...oh wait...they gave them to hillary...wrong again...dude, you should really just retire the rhetoric. Its all out there for people to see now and there is no mistaking it any more. Its over.