They like him because he’s guilty too
Politico asked its readers who were upset about Trump’s impeachment to provide reasons for their indignation:
For Keith Swartz, who is 66 years old and runs a recruiting firm based in Tacoma, Washington, almost anything includes a president he regards as “manic, uneducated, illogical,” and also “essentially a horrible person … vulgar, amoral, narcissistic.”
Wait, this a defense of Trump? Yes, hang on. He’s done a fine job on the economy, in particular, in the face of a Democratic opposition that has bent rules and abused process for three years in an implacable bid to thwart him. “To those of us who support what he has accomplished,” Swartz concluded, “it feels like he is our O.J.”
Conventional wisdom isn’t that black people supported O.J. because he was an innocent man railroaded by an unjust system, but because he was a guilty man who worked an unjust system to his advantage. Ezra Edelman’s award-winning documentary, O.J.: Made in America, illuminated how the black community’s investment in and response to O.J.’s acquittal was rooted in outrage around the acquittal of the police officers responsible for the Rodney King beating as well as rampant police brutality more broadly. I guess, for Trump’s supporters, the persistent Democratic opposition to his presidency is comparable to having their citizenship and humanity repeatedly undermined by agents of the state. It’s a distortion that fits neatly within the white identity politics fueling contemporary American nationalism. Another one:
Alan Weisz, a dentist from Deerfield, Illinois, considers himself a “thoughtful conservative” who sometimes must cover his ears when Trump uses words to stoke “hardcore supporters” or “enrage his hysterical detractors.” But this is countered by the fact that he regards the president as “incredibly tough” and a strong leader. He said he prefers “good policy” even if it means tolerating “bad optics” and a “big mouth” and will easily take Trump over what he sees as the “apology tours, regulation, pomposity, weak leadership” under former President Barack Obama.
“I and a lot of Americans support the president because he is Everyman, not the pretentious power hungry politicians and righteous ‘journalists’ roaming the streets of DC and big cities,” reader Stephen Stankiewicz wrote in an email.
What kind of vision allows a person to look at this president and not see a pretentious power hungry politician? I’ve been skeptical of the argument that impeachment would be bad for Democrats and influence swing voters to support re-election because I couldn’t imagine people who weren’t already planning to vote for him being persuaded by this. But I might have to rethink my position on that. Even the powerfully corrupt can make sympathetic victims if you see yourself in them.
