Understanding Why They Still Support HIm

While the Prez polling numbers are dropping, there's still a group of "faithful" who still support him. And we suspect this core will be fans no matter what unfolds. Let's see if we can understand why.

First, acknowledge that this has always been so - that is, there's always two sides of the ledger to polls that purport to gauge support of a Prez. Indeed, there are patterns that pollsters can cite that seem to apply across the board, no matter the Prez. And if there's truth to those patterns, the Big Orange Guy is no exception.

But given that, we can still wonder what's behind the support team. 

Now, understand, this won't be a political diatribe. We'll try to keep it neutral. 

Why "try"? To be honest (and is there any other way?), a lot of recent pronouncements and actions have gone beyond head-scratching to something closer to hair pulling.

We could provide a list of the items that range from irritants to outright assaults on the truth (a/k/a lies). But instead here's are two recent examples:

First, the penchant to rename stuff: Why change the name of the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America? Why declare AI must be called "Super-Intelligence" in all government documents and pronouncements? The former seems a manifestation of pure power, as in "I can declare this as leader of the most powerful government in the world (or some such logic). The latter clearly intends to manipulate language to advance a view that AI must be advanced as far as it can go because...well, what? Because it will make the world a much better place; or that our country's economy will actually be the "greatest economy of all time" as has already been declared by said Prez? 

Second, the push to eliminate changing the clock this fall. Instead of "falling back," we leave the time alone and wind up on permanent Daylight Savings Time. Is he aware of the fact that this has been tried before, and relatively quickly changed back because of popular discontent - a discontent based on good reasons like children having to go to school in the dark (among other things)?

Oh, and let's note that in a recent statement, he declared Daylight Savings Time to (something like) a "stupid" idea - this in the face of his plan making Daylight Savings Time permanent. (Does he know what he's talking about or was it a matter of just confused thinking spurred by the habit of blurting out whatever "inspires" him n the middle of the night?)

Okay, maybe we're dancing on the edge of getting too political here, but these examples were mild examples. We could have delved into the War in Iran, price inflation, especially oil for those who rely on gas to get them to and from work...and more. But we'll leave it at that.

And yet, in the face of all this, a solid core still defends, even extols this guy. And, in fairness, we could certainly point out certain reversals of insanely stupid (open borders, DEI stuff)) and outright dangerous and evil  policies that have grown like toxic weeds in recent years. (We'll leave these unmentioned for the time being.)

With these in mind, we posit that one reason for continued support is that change from what many considered horrendous policies by predecessors. This alone would hold that support in place even in the face of the wars, the chaos, pointed personal attacks and humiliations of opponents and enemies.the absurd exaggerations (e.g., the "greatest economy the world has ever known"), and, yes, the outright bald outrageous lies.

But in the end, we can't ignore MAGA. From personal experience of those who remain loyal (and somewhat blindly so), we've learned that there really are those who believe that just about anything proposed or executed will or has already made America great again. We can dispute this, but we can't dispute their belief. It drives what in some cases is real devotion to the man and to his actions.

Then there are those less enamored, but nevertheless more or less fully on board with the Big Orange Guy. In their case, they may recognize that all is not perfect, but the alternative has been and could be so much worse. 

They have a point.

Of course, we could ask exactly what is meant by making America great again. Some of the obvious items are more easily understood, for example, protecting our borders, dismantling absurd DEI rules, opposing or at least slowing down the degraded behavior that undermines any traditional understanding of morality and culture. 

But what of the economic and financial stuff that's pushed? Besides the absurd notion that our economy is the greatest the world has ever seen, and that our financial markets are set to explode into the stratosphere because of the incredible benefits of AI - or some variation thereof - we could wonder if these purely material things really give weight to the idea of "great." But that's a subject for another time.

For now, let's relax and take some extra R&R on what for some of us is an extended weekend, with Columbus Day landing this Monday.

For now, we'll step back from any implied discontent or criticism of the current regime with something that indeed has made America great. It's come to be called the Great American Songbook and contains the incredible collection of creative genius that flourished in the 20th century before the coming of Rock and Roll. This one takes off with a reference to the man we remember and honor in a few days - Christopher Columbus. And it's a favorite version by Louis Armstrong and Ella Fitzgerald - two folks who did actually make America great.