I know there are some people who will never get it but I fear there are way more than what we think. We are liked minded here but are we living in a bubble here like DC and Hollyweird but in our own way?
Today I was invited to a brunch at a good friends home. There were about twenty people there. They are black and they are very Christian and loving people. There was only one other white person there. I am explaining this so you understand the mindset.
I never talk politics around them because I am positive they are liberal Democrats.
In the living room they had on MSNBC so I was definitely not sitting in there. As I was walking through they were reporting on Fani Willis being able to stay on the case and they were all excited.
I was sitting in the kitchen with my friends sister and brother. The people at the party are on their late 60's to mid 70's.
I don't recall the conversation but the sister said to her brother who was talking to me I don't like to talk politics. She said to me once I said something to my family and it got really ugly so I don't talk about it anymore.
The brother asked me if I like Trump. I stated as I was laughing I don't really want to talk about this. He said well are you and I said yes I like Trump because I think he has the people's best interests at heart.
He said he's a racist. He said did you know his father's a racist? I said to him I don't know about his father but Trump did a lot for the black community. He said he does that for show. Then I asked him have you ever heard Biden when he was young what he said about the black people? He said he never said anything. I said there's plenty of video but there and you are never going to see that on TV. I said you do know the Democrats where the party of the Klu Klux Klan. He said no they are not. I said how about Robert Byrd he was the head of the Klu Klux klan. I said you do know why the Civil War was fought because Lincoln freed the slaves and the Southern Democrats wanted to keep their slaves. He shook his head no.
He said you kniw what MAGA means. I said yes it means make America great again. He said you know why Trump says that? I said yes. He said he wants to return to slavery. That is what he means. I said no he wants to make America unified and great be being independent. He wants us to be strong and bring manufacturing back to be independent. I told him thus hads absolutely nothing to do with slavery.
I said you better do some research to really find out what's going on not what you're being told because the media is lying to you. His sister said this is why I don't bring it up because everybody yelled at me. Then I asked him I just want you to think about this why does everybody hate this man so much that is in the government.
Then his sister brought up to me about Ukraine and she couldn't understand why Putin wanted to hurt everybody. I told her I had some insight in that since the girl I work with was born and raised in Russia and came here when she was in her twenties and her family is still in Russia.
I told her the reason he went into Ukraine was because the Russians that were there wanted Putin to save them. I told her that there were biolabs there that he destroyed. I said she is not a fan of Putin but she is backing him 100% on this. The media wants to make Putin the boogeyman but I told her the US government is involved in all that is going on in Ukraine so they just want to blame it on Putin.
She said now I'm glad I met somebody that could tell me more than what I was listening to on the news. I told her the worst thing to do is listen to any of the news stations because they all lie.
The one thing I noticed is no one brought up anything about Trump's affairs or anything like that it was all about him being a racist.
This is how effective the media is in brainwashing the masses.
Thought you would want to know my experience today to give you room for thought.
Fren, I get where you are coming from, but they have an excuse for every “Trump is not a racist” fact: he is only “pretending” not to be a racist. There is no fact that beats that. There is no way to argue against “pretending”.
I think the strategy is to hopscotch right over this because the more you keep “Trump” and “racist” in the same sentence, the more Trump seems like a racist. The facts get drowned out by the persuasion of the words. It’s all a rhetoric game. You’d probably be better off rolling your eyes, groaning, and going, “Not this old trope again. Don’t you know Kanye put this one to bed years ago? Catch up with the times man!”
You see how that changes it? Did Kanye ACTUALLY put this to bed years ago? No, that’s not official! But it sounds like it is. And now the person feels out of date and behind the times, which no one likes. And you haven’t used the words “Trump” or “racist” at all. You’ve also put them on the defensive. Now THEY have to argue against an arbitrary claim of which you are the decider. Did Kanye put this to bed or did he not? You’ve also trapped them because odds are they will likely jump to start attacking Ye as either an anti-Semite or crazy. Think about the frame here. You’re now off “Is Trump a racist” and you’ve got them calling a black dude crazy. That’s an easy trap. “Oh of course, any time a black man doesn’t do what the white man wants, he’s ‘crazy’. So typical. Come on, you’re better than that.” You’re using all their established rhetoric against them. They’re gonna know calling a black man crazy is a bad look and switch to anti-Semitic. But now you’ve pivoted to the Democrats’ biggest split right now, which is the war in Gaza. You’re now way past “Trump is a racist” and instead poking holes in their entire unworkable coalition. In about five statements you could literally have this same person accusing Biden of genocide. And now you have the words “Biden” and “genocide” in the same sentence. See how that works? Rhetoric!
I rarely read all replies on posts but I kept going to see if you commented further to others. You have very insightful comments. I'll try to work your approach into my discussions.
There is one point I rarely use in "Trump is racist Biden isn't" discussions because it is somewhat scorched earth. I'll point out that there is a lot of video of Biden sniffing and groping little children which is pretty perverted behavior. But the kicker is that he only does this to white children. He won't sniff little black children. Why won't Joe sniff little black children? Does that make him racist?
My responses to the people shooting arrows at Trump (mean tweets, failed marriages, etc) is that 'you're not marrying the man. You're selecting someone who can make your life better for 4 years and possibly beyond.' Then I launch into the low unemployment numbers by Trump for each of the 'groups' that were touted back in the 2020 campaign. Then segue into the inflation and price of eggs, gas, etc. They cannot deny the impact on their pockets. Stay away from Ukraine discussions. (and Israel/gaza stuff). Those topics are so muddy and fluid that nobody can argue those with persuasive certainty. What a rats nest, both of those. But the border is always good fodder. Mass immigration isn't good for either side when you're down to the street level view. My $.02
I like the cut of your jib and would subscribe to your newsletter.
Hey, thanks! I always knew rhetoric was important, but it was Scott Adams who really revealed the extent of it for me. If you like these sorts of persuasion tricks, his book Win Bigly is a good read on how Trump used persuasion in his 2016 campaign. He also vlogs daily on Rumble and YouTube. Real Coffee with Scott Adams. He basically filters the daily news through the lens of persuasion. Sometimes he’s frustrating, but often he has an outside the box way of looking at things that gets you thinking, even when you disagree.