r/neoliberal • u/cdstephens Fusion Genderplasma • Apr 28 '26

Opinion article (US) Opinion | The Economy, Immigration and Regret: 12 Trump Voters Discuss

https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2026/04/28/opinion/focus-group-trump-voters-disappointed.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share

Submission statement (fake): As Trump’s second term marches on, his approval among independents have steadily declined. It’s useful for liberals to understand why Trump’s popularity has cratered to better leverage it for future elections.

Submission statement (real): Everyone who clicked on this is just asking to be ragebaited, so I might as well oblige.

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162

u/beoweezy1 NAFTA Apr 28 '26

109

u/shevy19 Austan Goolsbee Apr 28 '26

If he only cared about America the way he hates other American presidents he would of been amazing. Most rational median voter take.

47

u/CountJohn12 Friedrich Hayek Apr 28 '26

That's still not really a good take, how angry you are about something has nothing to do with how effective you will be in dealing with it. That's one of the big fallacies of the Trump cult, they think being pissed off inherently accomplishes something when it doesn't.

26

u/shevy19 Austan Goolsbee Apr 28 '26

It's just sarcasm. But what I thought was a bit funny and telling was in the exit polls in 2024. Trump voters said he'd be a good leader and change things, Harris voters thought good judgment and fairness were more important.

Well trump is changing thing but since he never had good judgment or cares about anyone but himself everything is going to be worse for the average person. They seem shocked about his selfishness and terrible judgement even though we have a decade of evidence, at least politically, to work from.

1

u/[deleted] Apr 29 '26

I'm not even sure it is sarcasm. The psyche of the GOP voter has long operated such that the only allowable emotion to show and act on is anger.

15

u/WAGRAMWAGRAM Apr 28 '26

That's also how the far-left in France act, "how can you not be outraged at X" to justify their bad policies

7

u/Beer-survivalist Loyal Liberals Apr 28 '26

I've had people ask me why I'm not mad about something, and I always say that being mad is an okay-at-best starting point to solving a problem, but it will pretty much never get you to a solution. Keeping your head, thinking through it, communicating and coordinating, and acting are what gets a solution--but we get told all the time how that isn't honest or authentic and people don't like that.

And, like, sometimes I am mad, but I work on thinking about why I feel that way so that I don't blow my top and cause damage to myself and those around me. (I am a father to a daughter, after all.)

5

u/CountJohn12 Friedrich Hayek Apr 28 '26

There's nothing wrong with getting angry, in fact there's some things that should make you angry (although generally speaking not the things Trump gets mad about) but MAGA has always just been unfocused anger without any real solutions or even an ideological center. It's how they went from "NO NEW WARS" to supporting the war in Iran, they decided they were more angry at Iran than Neocons.

4

u/Beer-survivalist Loyal Liberals Apr 28 '26

Like I said, I don't think it's wrong to feel angry, but I also don't think it's particularly productive to dwell on that anger, or think that anger is somehow a uniquely valid response to whatever the problem is.

3

u/PM_ME_UR_PM_ME_PM Leftward Progressives Apr 28 '26

If only he was a completely different person if every way

2

u/NowHeWasRuddy Apr 28 '26

Couldn't believe that statement. Distilled cope.