Today we learned that Trump’s business has done so poorly that all of us have paid more money in taxes that he has. Let’s table the conversation about tax policy and instead talk about how Trump’s “success” in business was the biggest talking point leading up to his election.
Here’s the thing though: it was just a talking point. None of his supporters care about this in the slightest. Exactly zero of his worshipers will drop him now that it is clear that he is in fact, a very poor businessman.
The single biggest reason for his success here is his unique ability to hate. People don’t like to deal with the social consequences of ruining the lives of people who have a different worldview than they do. Just like Trump and taxes, they found a loophole. Instead of directly antagonizing their Muslim neighbors, they found a politician who would do it for them. Instead of doing the tiresome work shaming their gay coworkers, they realized that it is so much easier to have the government do it for them. They discovered that it is surprisingly socially acceptable to pretend to believe in honesty, integrity, and Constitutional rights while propping up a government that has utter disdain for these things. It feels so much better to lie when you know that millions of people are lying with you. Integrity has its rewards but it doesn’t even begin to rival the intoxicating frenzy of giving up everything that you have ever pretended to believe in exchange for belonging to a group with trillions of dollars of power.
When they say that they believe in small government, they really mean that they want the government to be small for anyone they don’t like. Meanwhile they make the government so big that it has become the battering ram to destroy your rights. By the time they discover that those rights belonged to them as well, it will be far too late.