“He’s not hurting the people he needs to be hurting.” - and here all pretense stops. These people didn’t vote for trump hoping for better times for themselves and their families. They voted for a homophobic, racist, bankrupt conman because they hoped he would hurt their fellow citizens and non citizens, into a dystopian and cruel version of America. How very Christian of them! Thoughts and prayers, isn’t it?
29
So the point of voting for Trump was “hurting” people? Wow. At least she’s honest. Confirms my opinion of his base - hateful, vengeful and woefully ignorant.
13
How much compassion and intelligence can you expect from prison guards?
8
"He’s not hurting the people he needs to be hurting.” Excuse me? You think he "needs" to hurt people? What is wrong with you? THAT statement - that kind of hatred aimed at fellow human beings and wishing them harm - is what I see in the dark, perverted souls of Trump supporters. You people are lost.
24
“I voted for him, and he’s the one who’s doing this,” she said of Mr. Trump. “I thought he was going to do good things. He’s not hurting the people he needs to be hurting.”
Is this the right temperament for someone that works in a prison?
22
“I thought he was going to do good things. He’s not hurting the people he needs to be hurting.”
Not hurting the people he needs to be hurting.
You know what, lady? Yes he is.
41
Anyone finding themselves in an uncomfortable situation due to the shutdown should proceed immediately to the nearest trump brand hotelery and advise them on checkin that payment for same may be somewhat delayed and please just run a tab for them.
See how far that gets ya.
22
Who exactly does she think he "needs to be hurting." Did this woman cast her 2016 vote in the hopes of inflicting damage? This single simple statement reeks of both vindictiveness and martyrdom, and seems indicative of a Trump voter mindset.
30
Who is he supposed to be hurting? Rich liberals in the northeast? (Of whom Trump was one until he decided to run for office as a Republican because he knew Democrats would never vote for him.) Ivy League elites (also a group Trump and his kids belong to)? Immigrants (like his wives)? Illegal immigrants (like the ones he hires for his businesses)? Godless porn stars (aka his mistresses)? You know, when Trump said that he loves "the poorly educated," he was lying about that, too.
34
You can't fix Stupid.
Seriously.
28
It's a shame the Times can't field enough reporters to provide political psychotherapy to the entire republican electorate. The issues are the same as with an abusive relationship they keep going back to. It's the only way they can see themselves.
6
These Trump voters seem uninformed; Republicans never have been involved in rural betterment. In Texas Hill Country, farmers begged for electricity and offered to pay for its installation, but the GOP said no. The Dems were able to electrify the Hill Country using the power of LBJ. Same all over the country.
17
Regarding Crystal Minton's statement that "he's not hurting the people he needs to be hurting," in war there is always collateral damage and casualties caused by friendly fire.
13
I have very little sympathy for any person who voted for Trump because they thought Trump would make like miserable for all of the "people he was supposed to hurt." How about we try to make life better for everyone. This isn't a zero sum game even though the Republicans try to make people believe it is.
Also, tired of hearing about the poor Trump voters who are suffering now. Enough with these insipid stories.
23
Finally I meet the folks who bought the ‘Thneed’ from Trump, Fox News and the GOP. If they need more information on it, they can access the public library and read Dr. Seuss’s, ‘The Lorax’. It will be a suitable first step to educating themselves on what is important in life.
11
Once again, this is Donald Trump's shutdown, not the Congress. The Congress, both parties, both Houses, agreed to pass a Continuing Resolution without wall funding & Trump had agreed to sign it. Then Ann Coulter attacked him on Twitter & he reneged. Trump is damaging the economy & inflicting serious pain on Americans of both parties to please his extreme RW base.
17
Some of you may know of Abraham Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs. The Basic Needs must be satisfied first and then a person progresses upward.
At the top is the need for:
'Self-Actualization'/personal development
Next: 'Ego'/recognition
Then: 'Social'/love, inclusion, belonging
Next: 'Safety'/safety, shelter, stability
Basic: 'Physical'/air, water, food, health
As human beings, we are all subject to these needs - regardless of our political affiliation. If you've ever been fired or laid-off, you know the feeling.
The article, it is about Safety and Basic needs. If things continue to deteriorate, needs will continue to deteriorate, influencing the mindset of the individuals. Something happens when your child is crying or your cafe is in jeopardy because the prison is not operating at full capacity.
When Mexico Beach was destroyed, overnight everyone needed their Basic Needs satisfied - you could see it in their eyes and on their faces. They didn't care politics. It was predictable that they ALL asked for local, state & Federal government help.
I don't want things to get worse for these folks. But if things do get worse, minds will change. Yet, Florida has no border with Mexico. So why accept that you and your family are suffering but it's OK because The Wall is important?
It makes sense today, but having the bills going unpaid, your child crying and you not sleeping well does matter.
Trump is certainly hurting those who are - currently - loyal to him.
15
The article is an example of how Fox, trump, and the GOP have convinced their base that the US presidency’s current duties includes hurting Americans who don’t support The Party. The Republican is disappointed in trump. She “voted for him” because she “thought he was going to do good things” which would be to “hurt the people he needs to be hurting” instead of incompetently hurting her.
Seig heil, baby.
Putin’s primary goal is to divide America and trump is indisputably helping our enemy win.
25
"He’s not hurting the people he needs to be hurting.” This made me gasp when I read it yesterday. Would have liked the reporter to include more context from Ms Minton about who exactly Minton wanted hurt. I can guess as others have. But that's not the same as having her be specific.
Funny how hurting "them" also hurts "us" whether we want it to or not. I feel for her plight (work issues, driving long distances, ailing family members) but not her frame of mind.
22
"He’s not hurting the people he needs to be hurting."
Oh, he's hurting us plenty. I am a west coast liberal. My feelings are hurt. I feel bad for the country and the world.
16
Send paper towels to Marianna. You folks voted this grifter in.
27
“I thought he was going to do good things. He’s not hurting the people he needs to be hurting.”
Who are the people he needs to be hurting?
The people who did not vote for him? Unfortunate mentality that there should be people deserving of hurt.
There's a thing called karma.
26
I just feel bad for the Sims family, because they are probably going to end up divorced. Often, conservative men don't take it too well when their wives disagree with their beliefs; and now it's out there publicly.
12
That place reminds me of Ely, Nevada.
I remember visiting there, and the residents would long windedly boast about how they hated the government. Just hated it.
Ely's biggest employers?
Bureau of Land Management
Federal Prison Bureau
School District.
Trying to talk to them about how if government shut down in their area, their jobs would soon all dry up and blow away, was worse than talking to a wall.
The wall didn't try to hit you.
Hypocrites
22
At least the last House bill Republicans filed included disaster relief along with border security funding. The new Democratic majority filed a bill which included funding for overseas Non-GMO's that supply free abortions in other countries and denied disaster relief funding for American citizens in dire need. There is ,SERIOUSLY, something dangerously wrong with this new group.
They should be ashamed of denying citizens badly needed relief as well as ignoring the sovereignty and border integrity of their own country. They are TRULY now the most dangerous group of "Legislators" EVER to inhabit the halls of the House of Representatives.
The mother who drives 7 hours to be away from her tiny twins for two weeks at a time. The single mom looking after a disabled relative and relying on a boyfriend to look after her small child - something no woman should ever do. Their lives suck - quite apart from the Trump shutdown and the GOP global warming storms.
And they vote consistently Republican. And none of them earn more that 35,000 a year. And their most ardent desire is forTr*mp to hurt other people.
Really? Is that all they want? Seems to me that they desperately NEED a whole bunch of other things!
27
It is very clear that some Trump voters are surprised the president is indiscriminate when it comes to "hurting" people. I hope some will now realize that when you root for the demise of your fellow American, you are rooting for the demise of the entire country, yourself included. It gives credence to the idea that hate is like drinking poison and waiting for the other person to die. I hope this wakes a few of them up. I really do.
27
"He’s not hurting the people he needs to be hurting.”
Let that sink in.
22
“I worry about the government pulling out of rural America,” he said.
Aren’t you the very same people who voted for less government? Well...you got it.
42
Ms. Crystal Minton says "“I voted for him, and he’s the one who’s doing this,” she said of Mr. Trump. “I thought he was going to do good things. He’s not hurting the people he needs to be hurting.”
According to her, there is someone he needs to be hurting and that hurting would be a good thing. Now she voted for Trump, so I'm guessing she is not referring to fellow Republicans. I realize she is a single person, but I can't help but wonder how many others who think like her agree that there is someone Trump should be hurting.
For me, that comment sums up the state of affairs here in the USA. We are so polarized, some of us want to hurt others who don't agree with whatever it is we have an opinion about. Sadly, there seems little chance for this to change as long as there is a Donald Trump in the White House.
23
Pres. Trump's reputation, history , and rhetoric were public record and well known- not very positive and predictably getting worse over time -YET over 63 million people voted for him.
Talk about not doing your homework.......Now we all pay the price of such ignorance.
Would a Pres. Clinton be better ? I do not know, but the situation now is getting very bad and what if a real catastrophe happens ?
10
Trump isn't hurting the people he's supposed to be hurting? We pay the highest property taxes in the U.S. to live by our grandchildren. I chose knowing my grandchildren over traveling or other options. For decades, my vote has been directed towards improving the life of the working because I perceived the reality of what Republican policies would do after Reagan took the presidency. I argue for the respect of work and a living wage for those who do work. For every dollar of U.S. taxes I send to the federal government, our state gets back roughly 75 cents. I would not vote for Trump because his campaign promises were unrealistic and unable to be delivered. Do these people who want to hurt others have any idea of how absolutely tired we are of the problems they bring on themselves?
25
My heart just bleeds for these poor, unfortunate victims. They put their faith in a CONGENITAL liar, believed the lies, voted for the worst President EVER and now are crying because he doesn't care if they have homes or food or jobs. If you don't starve to death before, maybe you should consider voting for a Democrat, who WILL CARE that your lives were torn apart by a temper tantrum.
26
“I worry about the government pulling out of rural America,”
Oh really? So rural America woke up and realized they're the biggest benefit of socialism.
They've been voting for this for the last 30 years now they got what they wanting in Trump. Kentucky ranked 41st in terms of health, education, wages continues to vote for Mitch McConnell. The $32 million Senator voted for House raises while vetoing minimum wage increases "every" time it comes to the floor.
Sorry but my sympathies for these people have worn thin.
31
It is journalistic malpractice to end a story on a quote like that without providing context.
WHO needs to get hurt to satisfy this voter who Trump and the Republican Party sandbagged?
10
“He’s not hurting the people he needs to be hurting.”
On the contrary, people that were not only stupid enough to vote for him, but stupid enough to continue to support him despite suffering the consequences of his actions, YES! - they absolutely need to feel the hurt.
Their suffering will give them a dose of the fraction of the hurt felt by the world, the United States, and the majority of its population under the leadership of this lunatic.
18
It’s too bad that this area is suffering, but others suffer due to support of Trump. I am sick about our environment, our Supreme Court, the fake border crisis, etc...the shutdown hurts everyone. Trump is a fool. Those who voted for him are fools, too. Anybody who believed what came out of Trump’s mouth is a fool.
18
It's interesting to note the repeated sympathetic coverage of Trump voters' woes and anxieties, despite this being a self-inflicted problem (excluding natural disasters, of course). Yet, when the struggles of other members of our society are profiled, there's an endless litany of caustic comments from citizens and Republican officials demanding people "pull themselves up by your bootstraps" and endless personal anecdotes blindly steeped in survivorship bias.
"The people he needs to be hurting" likely includes myself, my friends, my colleagues, my neighbors, and some of my family members. I'm tired of being expected to break out the violins every few months or so, and extend my hand -yet again- no matter how many times it gets spit upon and swatted away. My pity, and patience, is gone.
If these hardships finally act as a wake-up call for the die-hard Trump base, so much the better. If not, well, you voted for it, you live with it. You're not the only ones suffering under the insanity of this administration and the Republican party.
33
prison guard thugs supporting the judgment of ICE and border patrol thugs is not really moving me to feel that Trump should remember the little people he is hurting.
9
They got what they voted for, no pity. It would be nice if the impact of Trump's lies and boneheaded decisions would only be felt by his voters, but sadly that is not the case. Thank the gods CA is still moving forward as a liberal bastion (center-left really). I just cross my fingers the "big one" does not hit during this president (yep, low case p for him) because you know he will withhold federal help just out of spite for us.
18
The last line says it all. She voted for him expecting him to hurt people. She's just upset because she didn't expect to be one of them.
35
You said it. That line speaks volumes. I wonder what people he was intending to hurt. I feel bad for anyone undergoing this misery but after all this and you are still with this dangerous narcissistic megalomaniac, then you are the problem and the enabler
13
I really wish the writer had followed up on that last statement “I thought he was going to do good things. He’s not hurting the people he needs to be hurting.” with "Who are the people that he needs to be hurting?" It would be interesting and telling to see the honest answer to that question in print.
16
@Appalled In IA
There really wasn't a need for a follow-up if you've lived in America long enough. Everyone knows who white conservatives refer to when they complain about "underserving people" and the government.
17
“He’s not hurting the people he needs to be hurting.”
I think Jesus said that.
24
"He’s not hurting the people he needs to be hurting.”
I'm pretty sure she's referring to those nasty, elite, coastal libruls, as well as people that they support - you know, minorites, gay people, etc.
This is why Trump is president. Because a bunch of Republicans are more interested in "hurting" their fellow citizens than in jointly solving the problems the country faces.
31
All of these federal workers should know that when they vote republican they vote for smaller government which means fewer federal workers and smaller raises and less benefits and the closing of local military installations.
Is Trump still your guy? Go to the rallies, have fun letting your hatred hang out but vote blue for self preservation
12
He’s not hurting the people he needs to be hurting??
Oh yes he is.
17
Good. Florida went for Trump. They deserve everything they're getting. I have no sympathy. This country deserves everything they're getting. Trump, the crackpot clown, designed to dismantle government.
12
"Shrink government to the size you can drown it in a bathtub." Whose slogan is that? "Government is the problem." Who says that? They hate big government, but who does rural America vote for?
14
"he isn't hurting the people he should be hurting." Excuse me Ms. Minton but your Freudian slip is showing.
17
Too funny!
5
"He's not hurting the people he needs to be hurting."
This says it all about the President's supporters and their priorities. How, exactly, does "hurting people" accomplish anything worth doing, or "make America great again?"
14
Can't you feel the MAGA love?
14
Hey, Panhandle Trump supporters!
Perhaps feeling some pain will clear up the blockage in your thoughts that prevented your reasoning that Trump is a megalomaniac mob mentality serial liar?
10
Trumpanzees should be the only starving as this is their fault
7
Perhaps Mrs Minton was twice misquoted. Maybe she said "helping".
6
"He’s not hurting the people he needs to be hurting.”
There in a nutshell is the guiding philosophy of the Republican Party.
They hate America. They hate the American people. They hate you (unless you're a billionaire). Racists, bigots, mysognists, homophobes, xenophobes, fascists, traitors.
2020: No More Republicans. None. Not one.
24
So, here we have anti-government white folks in dying flyover country whose livelihoods are made and lost at the government teat and who blame it all on the Other. Self-parody much?
25
“In Florida, where Republicans dominated the November midterms...”
Please don’t encourage an inappropriate sense of helplessness. Do I need to remind the editors how close the statewide elections were for both governor and the senate seat? People can make a change if they show up. In the opinion of many, Republicans barely cling to power based on vote suppression, gerrymandering, and in some cases, disturbing election irregularities. Most people in Florida in fact did not vote for any of this governmental dysfunction; it’s just another storm wrecking their lives. But they’re becoming more aware, better informed, and more are voting.
8
People are misinterpreting and thus overreacting to Ms. Minton's comment.
We all want Revenge; we love it. It's by far the best motivator to get people to the polls. The Republicans gin up fear and hate, which comprise revenge. That's how they get Turnout and win elections. Revenge also brings people together and keeps them loyal.
People with Revenge on their minds feel righteous power as they love to vote against something they hate, which is always more effective than voting for something they want. Voting something thumbs down is easier as there's sustained passion involved and that burning anger will quickly transfer ire onto a politician that does not follow through. (Trump fears this)
About 70% of movies are about Revenge and everyone - including Democrats - cheer when the handsome Good Guy (whose nice family was murdered) kills the Bad Guys one by one.
The Revenge Ms. Minton speaks of is like that of righting wrongs - of Fairness and overdue Justice. It requires hurting those people who deserve to get hurt.
The Blue Wave is built on Liberal Revenge against Trump and the Trumpsters and the Republicans. (And don't they deserve it?) It motivates Blue Turnout far better than mere voting your interests.
Trumpster Rage and Revenge is against the rigged System and the Liberal Elites (->Hillary) who most profit from it (Yes, we do).
Revenge that rights wrongs is a potent Good. Ms. Warren uses it. Hitler also used it. For good or ill, Revenge works.
2
@Fourteen Anger gets things done. Unlike the urge to sit behind your computer and shake your finger at those horribly "uncivil" liberals. I'll take one Rashida Tlaib over five hundred tone-trolling centrists any day.
2
'She blamed Mr. Trump for the shutdown, a point on which she disagreed with her husband and most of her colleagues. “This definitely is making me more political than I have been in the past,” Ms. Sims said. She has been researching how Congress passes budget bills.'
a glimmer of hope
17
It's too bad Ms. Minton voicing her sentiments about how disappointed she is in Trump not hurting the right people--I presume she means non-Anglo immigrants, African-Americans, gays, East/West coast dwellers, Democrats and liberals in general--wasn't part of a videotaped interview. It would have been a nice gift for Democratic Presidential candidates to play in their ads.
10
I wish I could feel sorrow for these people, but as the lady said at the end she voted for trump so he would hurt others and I believe she means folks that dont look like her believe like her and live like her, as is with most people that voted for trump, and as is the case with all tyrants hes continually hurt the people who voted for him the most, not one of them said it was a mistake to vote for him and in fact still want a wall that will do them no good. These are typical trump voter's, they blame the world for their miss givings instead of looking at there own choices.
22
I've argued in these Comments for the past two years that Trump voters have been driven by only one "interest" - racism. And many commenters have disagreed, urging me to "reach out" to Trump voters, who were "hoodwinked" by Trump into voting against their "best interests."
This article ought to put this debate to rest. Ms. Minton has laid bare what motivates every single Republican voter: “I thought he was going to do good things. He’s not hurting the people he needs to be hurting.”
No follow up question is needed here. Her meaning is plain. She means to say that white Christians should not be "hurt" by Trump, but everyone else should be. In fact, she says they "need to be hurting".
I don't know how much more plainly the message will need to be made to naive Democrats and Independents who actually believe that "reaching out" to Trump voters will win them over. It won't.
Time to write all of them off. Every single Trump voter. Concentrate on the 60% of American citizens who want to help everyone, and who don't want to see anyone hurt. And if we cannot win a Presidential election and safeguard our democracy with this 60%, then the writing is on the wall (pun intended). Equal rights and opportunities have been a mirage these past 40 years. Our system of Constitutional checks and balances was a fiction -- Trump has shown that the Constitution is nothing more than a badly broken honor system. And if we Democrats cannot take back the White House, this democracy is over.
38
@Donegal
Agreed. Those who say we need to appeal to the President's base are neglecting to mention the simple fact that they are a distinct minority. It would be far better for the opposition to appeal to those who aren't currently participating in our political process, and simply write off those who, through their wilful ignorance of reality, have shown that they can't be counted on to further the interests of the country as a whole.
17
Nope. Nope, nope, nope.
No sympathy for those who are willfully tone deaf to anything other than their own paranoia about government, their rampant me-me-me-I-got-mine selfishness, their insatiable demands to see anyone who isn't like them to be punished accordingly, their inability to understand that their own party had years to do something about whichever crisis it manufactured as red meat for its base. And the "both sides" mean has become downright laughable.
It's nothing short of delightfully entertaining to watch them be on the receiving end of the very standards they screech for everyone but themselves; as such, instead of thoughts and prayers, I send the very bootstraps and personal responsibility they insist upon from the rest of us.
17
"“I voted for him, and he’s the one who’s doing this,” she said of Mr. Trump. “I thought he was going to do good things. He’s not hurting the people he needs to be hurting.”"
Seems like he's hitting exactly the right people.
15
"He’s not hurting the people he needs to be hurting.”
This right here is what's wrong with Trump supporters. The idea that someone has to be hurt in order to accomplish anything.
20
Like the woman who voted for Trump just to have her husband deported, these people didn't take the time (or maybe they lack the education) to think through their choices.
It is hard to feel much sympathy for these people because all Americans are suffering from their actions (vote). They shoved Trump onto to us - they should share in the pain and consequences.
25
When you listen to people from these deep red states I become more convinced that our union needs to break up. Red state citizens want to "hurt" fellow Americans. Blue state citizens want to help. Let's divorce already. There's no hope for them. One more thing, these people probably call themselves good Christians. The irony.
19
@Oliver Oh, terrific, let's condemn millions of women, children, folks of color, LGBT people, etc. to even worse conditions. And put a heavily armed enemy at our southern doorstep.
1
Where is the interview with the two Florida republican senators? Why are they not demanding a vote?
Why is the Republican Governor of Florida not demanding the senate vote?
Where is Matt Gaetz the Republican Congressman from this district? What is he doing besides his new show on Fox?
Why does Florida vote for people that don’t care about them?
16
This is what Florida's deeply conservative panhandle voted for. My concern remains with the rest of us who have to live with the consequences of that deeply conservative vote, and not only in Florida. My apology for not feeling more "Christian" about this but I don't.
14
“Not hurting the people he needs to hurt.”
Rick Wilson’s commentary says it all. “the rube 10 tooth base”.
7
"I love the uneducated". Trumps words. Of course he loves them, they are so easy to manipulate.
22
I don't get any pleasure or satisfaction hearing about Trump voters who are hurting because of the shutdown. The more gloating they hear the more it reinforces misconceptions about "the other side". What is happening to them is hard. They need encouragement and material help. This is an opportunity for Trump supporters to see that people who don't support Trump are not the enemy. Enjoying their troubles only reinforces their stereotypes. When people suffer, they should not be mocked.
7
@MJM
I don't enjoy their troubles, but until they realize that the "encouragement and material help" they need isn't coming from their savior in the White House or his corrupt political party, they're simply not worth talking to.
7
Republican voters, beware for whom you vote. Trump believes that "feelings" are for fools.
8
In Europe they strike.
5
To Ms. Minton:
He told you who he was when he regaled you with the fables of the the Scorpion and the Frog, the Woman and the Snake.
We told you who he was. But you wouldn't listen.
He is the Scorpion. He is the Snake.
You let him in.
And he bit you.
Not "the people he needs to be hurting".
How utterly appropriate.
16
You elect a clown, you get a circus.
None of this should be a surprise. Trump has no interest in government as a service to the people. He's been very clear on that point. He has no interest in the process or propriety of good government, and he's been quite clear about that in his words, tone and actions.
Buyer's remorse about a defective product is one thing. Complaining about a choice you made when it performs as promised is another. Look in the mirror and consider the real issue.
12
It is nearly impossible to dislodge stupid venal vindictive attitudes from those who have spent a lifetime honing those characteristics in themselves.
14
Ms. Minton Tell us all we need to know about her thinking. She wants to hurt someone. It's hard to care for someone who voted for a man like the President and them her bile and hate blows up in her face. It is also sad to see that she and her partner are raising two young children in this circle of hate. The idea of a government that is there to punish others to help her is truly a foul idea. One shutters to think how she treats the inmates under her care. The source of her own pain, that's Karma for you.
11
Now we'd all like to see the liberals / Dems take most of the pain but the choice of words could have been better chosen.
The panhandle........lol
@There Who's "we," white man? Many of us live in civilized parts of the country, not reactionary hellholes. We haven't drunk the Faux News Kool-Aid.
4
Why no follow-up question from this reporter? Ms. Mazzei really dropped the ball. I'd very much like to know who he's "supposed to be hurting".
8
A border patrol agent wanting the wall is like a toll collector wanting EZ-Pass. Sooner or later you may be out of a job.
8
Schadenfraude - Trump supporters getting exactly what they voted for - a government run by an incompetent bully.
14
Ms. Minton should pray for my well being, not for my demise as my northeastern liberal household pays significant federal taxes that fund the federal jobs in her town
She should pray I get raises and good health and for my continued employement- but instead she wants me hurt.
It makes me so sad to read this. I could never “wish bad” on anyone
26
When we vote, we agree to support the leadership that we vote for. Well, Floridians, you are now living with the leadership you have voted for. Your senators are republican, your president is republican, and now your governor is republican. You are living your voting choices.
25
@Lisa
...except you shouldn't generalize all Floridians. Indeed, your comment really is a slap in the face to those of us down here who work hard on nearly a daily basis to effect change and get progressives into state office, which we nearly did do this time around if you note the razor-thin margins in the outcomes gubernatorial and senate races. As for 2016, Clinton eclipsed Trump exponentially in all blue areas of the state: South Florida, Orlando, Tampa/St. Pete, Tallahassee and other college towns, etc.
So yeah, thanks a bunch for the support and kind words. /s
4
Trump's out of whack mentality claims the only persons who are feeling the financial squeeze of the government shut down are Democrats. Therefore, he has not any reason to show some empathy - no wait, he does not have any idea what that means. He truly believes he has not any reason to back off. The world reads this with disbelief and shock. Some of us feel sorrow - I feel shame that he is President.
20
"He’s not hurting the people he needs to be hurting.”
Governance by sadism is deep in the Republican DNA. From Reagan's infamous "welfare queen" fantasy to Trump's "they are not sending their best," it is a constant?
Why did Bush Sr. say he wanted a "kinder and gentler" GOP? Why did Bush Jr. say he wanted "compassionate" conservativism?
Because modern conservative ideology, and the people it attracts, are bullies, vindictive, cruel, and eager to always have someone to joyously hate.
24
No sympathy for people who vote emotionally against their own interest. The vindictive comment about ...”not hurting those who deserve to be hurt” says it all: Narrow minded, easily manipulated people who drank Trump’s koolaid because they’re simpletons without the ability to think critically.
27
the line: "He's not hurting the people he's supposed to be hurting" sums it all up. This is what we are facing, pure evil from top to bottom. How ironic that evangelicals have accused many former presidents as "the antichrist", yet they elected and continue to support a man who does arms says the exact opposite of what Christ taught. if there ever was an antichrist, Trump is it.
By the way, has Kushner received his big loan from the Saudi's to pay the mortgage due on 666 Fifth Avenue?
18
Go get a job in the repossession field. It’s going to be booming.
12
@R. Koreman AWESOME!!
1
"She blamed Mr. Trump for the shutdown,.. She has been researching how Congress passes budget bills." I'd like to congratulate Mrs. Sims for taking the initiative. She now knows that who is holding the people of Marianna hostage and won't fall for the life-long scammer. Maybe she can now go and educate the prison guards "blaming the impasse on both Republicans and Democrats in Congress who have failed to reach any agreement", not knowing that Trump will veto any agreement that he does not like. It shouldn't be that difficult really. Trump himself said he is "proud to shut down the government".
15
Yet another article Timesplaining what it is like to be a white working class Trump supporter.
These people remain motivated by nothing so much as their white grievance,even when it is contrary to their own self-interest, economic and otherwise. Understand that and understand everything.
There. I saved you the trouble of writing 200 more articles like this one.
22
Well Florida - heard the phrase "buyer beware". Well, you got what you paid for. The majority of the country saw right through this straw show but you guys happily chose to sign on.
You reap what you sow.
8
"He's not hurting the people he needs to be hurting".
What group is she talking about? Why does she think anyone needs to be punished?
If we had this answers perhaps we could better understand the rationale of Trump voters. Are thee many of them who want revenge? We know they hate Hillary. If they hated the 1%, they wouldn't have supported the tax cut. Oris it just irrational hassling out at vague enemies?
2
So sayeth Ms. Minton, “I thought he was going to do good things. He’s not hurting the people he needs to be hurting.”
"hurting the people he needs to be hurting"? I had no idea our country was filled with such nice people.
14
So, she is upset that he's not hurting the people he needs to hurt. Is there a more telling statement about the Trumputin cult's true feelings than this - Trumputin is ruining the wrong people's lives. I bet she goes to church every Sunday.
13
He's not hurting the people he needs to be hurting"
The shock and horror of that comment is monumental. Karma is as Karma does Ms. Minton. Or to put it more plainly "Do Unto Others as you would have done to you".
17
Exactly. Listen to what you are saying and act according to your supposed beliefs.
2
It’ll be okay. [Individual Number One] can relate. You’ll make adjustments, you always do. MAGA!
6
I'll take "Schadenfreude" for $1000, Alex.
15
“He’s not hurting the people he’s supposed to be hurting” .... this woman says .
To think that this is what some people expect a president to do, just tells you the mindset of many of the people who voted for this man
15
Who does Ms Minton consider to be the people Trump should be hurting?
11
This is exactly what was to be expected when you vote in someone with absolutely no understanding of government or how it works, when you vote in an incompetent zealot and bully who fully expects to get his way no matter what the consequences for everyone else. I have no sympathy for Trump voters at all.
11
If only someone would have warned them that trump has been a selfish, lying, con man only looking out for himself his whole life.
I guess, since millions of us did try to warn them, they are now getting exactly what you voted for. Good luck with that.
8
@Jim Someone did, but they were busy lapping up the stories about her running a pedophilia ring out of the basement of a pizza parlor with no basement.
7
Trump supporters still LOVE him. Nothing will change that. Dems have to get control to bring us to sanity. Ray Sipe
5
"He’s not hurting the people he needs to be hurting.” Meaning too many white people are hurting instead of the "other" people.
10
The people in the Florida panhandle got the Trump they wanted, so too bad for their team.
8
“I voted for him, and he’s the one who’s doing this,” she said of Mr. Trump. “I thought he was going to do good things. He’s not hurting the people he needs to be hurting.”
Who does she think he should be hurting? Why should a president try to hurt anyone? How much of a sociopath do you have to be for that sentence to come out of your mouth in earnest??
24
oh, but let me guess: a majority of the residents of this town "hate the government" and want to see the government made "small enough to be drowned in a bathtub." As you wish, Florida Panhandle -- as you wish.
5
They reaped what they sowed with Trump and the Republicans.
3
Honestly, I am tired of reading about how red states or regions are suffering because of Trump and how mostly white men still support him to build a border wall. The GOP had the House, Senate, and the Executive branch for the past two years. They bungled Puerto Rico, Houston, and Florida. They passed no meaningful gun safety reforms. What will it take, in addition to a 7-hour commute and the loss of your home to convince you that maybe things could be done differently? Maybe other people would be helped, even if you don't agree, but would that be so terrible?
301
@New reader
sorry, DEM is not the answer. either
Just when I think I can't be any more outraged by a statement from a Trump supporter, I read this article. "He's not hurting the people he is supposed to be hurting". Wrong again.
12
@Scott Kennedy
Really ? Are the rich suffering any of the deprivation that the people described in this article are enduring ? Only the poor should be hurt, or make sacrifices, or do without ? Why ?
4
I’ll go on the assumption that you believe her statement about who needs to be ‘hurt’ are the wealthy? We don’t know that. Her comment speaks volumes about the Trump voter’s mindset. It’s self involved and sadly in this case self inflicted.
1
@glork I doubt this trumplover is referring to "the poor"...
1
While we're busy pointing fingers I just want to point something out: I don't know many people who voted for Trump, but I know plenty who voted against Clinton.
4
@Gibson Fenderstrat - Unfortunately, a vote against Clinton was in effect a vote for Trump. Why people haven't figured this out yet I don't know.
7
@PM I know, right? As if that makes any difference.
1
@Gibson Fenderstrat And this is what they get for their precious "purity."
"He’s not hurting the people he needs to be hurting.” Sadly, yes he is. He's hurting those people for whom this is the only way that they will understand the consequences of their political beliefs.
8
“I voted for him, and he’s the one who’s doing this,” she said of Mr. Trump. “I thought he was going to do good things. He’s not hurting the people he needs to be hurting.”
Like the wretched refuse?
7
I am stunned by my own naïveté. People vote to hurt other people? I was taught to vote for the platform and the policy, not for a best friend or a drinking buddy. It would never occur to me to vote for the candidate that can hurt the most people, but it seems I am in the minority here. However it happened, we do seem to have someone in the White House whose biggest desires are to roll back liberties, civilities, and rights for all who aren’t old white men. And it sounds like a lot of his base supports that.
12
“I thought he was going to do good things. He’s not hurting the people he needs to be hurting.”
Unbelievable. Absolutely unbelievable. Nothing further even needs to be said.
25
Deplorable.
20
@Socrates And she was torn to shreds for saying it. Yet one more time when Hillary Clinton was torn into bloody pieces for being correct in public.
5
“I voted for him, and he’s the one who’s doing this,” she said of Mr. Trump. “I thought he was going to do good things. He’s not hurting the people he needs to be hurting.”
Yep, typical Trump supporter. Rational people should be concerned about who is being HELPED, not HURT. I bet she will vote for him again too.
20
He's not hurting the people he needs to be hurting ? That's impossible, he's hurting everyone.
18
"He's not hurting the people he needs to be hurting."
That sentence right there speaks volumes to the cruel nature of the Trump voter. These are truly sad people. The President's job is not to hurt anyone. It is to be a fair, just, leader and a defender of the Constitution. His job is to help leave this place better than he found it.
25
"He’s not hurting the people he needs to be hurting." That is the epitome of a deplorable mindset in a nutshell.
19
The final lines of the piece were the most eye-opening for me:
“I voted for him, and he’s the one who’s doing this,” she said of Mr. Trump. “I thought he was going to do good things. He’s not hurting the people he needs to be hurting.”
The president should be hurting people??
11
In the run-up to the 2016 election, I was telling all my friends that this was a strong sentiment among Trump's rural base. They thought I was crazy. I told them that they like Trump because he is evil. I told them that everything that you believe is good they believe that it is bad and everything you believe is bad that they think that it is good.
15
Until further notice. I will not care about those who, despite having FACTS available to them, don't care about their own well being.
I feel badly about this statement but I'm frustrated about those who will not reconsider their choices despite example after example of this choice being against their self interests.
17
“He’s not hurting the people he needs to be hurting.”
It's the line so many commenters, myself included, point out. And for every good reason noted.
12
You get what you vote for. It is most appropriate that the people most hurt by the current administrations policies and ineptitude are its most vocal supporters.
8
One more NYT article outlining how life is going for Trump voters...as if there was one new, insightful thing to say about a minority of Americans who seem to relish, if not wallow, in their own misery and ignorance. While the majority of Americans keep saying, "I told you so", the NYT seems to think we're interested in deepening our "understanding" and "empathy" for a group of people who have cost us so much. The fact that they cost themselves even more is of little solace. Stop talking to them. Stop talking about them. Stop.
16
@Laura Yes! Exactly!!
I have to wonder with this proposed actual physical wall and these billions: who benefits? Someone is getting those billions, and it sure isn't the American taxpayers.
I'm a Democrat but do not, as the President seems to insist, want "open borders." But let's use our brains, technology and a smart work force to come up with a 21st century solution, and not build a 5th century BC solution that wastes time and money, and will likely be a huge drain on finances to sustain and maintain.
8
@Patrick I'd like a solution, but I'm not even sure a problem exists. There's tons of evidence -- all good and solid -- that the majority of violence and terrorism in this country comes from home grown Uhmurkin white males, and that immigrants pose little to no threat whatsoever. I'm more prone to believing that our current border situation is actually just fine and needs no further tweaking or special high-tech solutions, really.
4
"He's not hurting the people he needs to be hurting". And that right there is all you have to know about today's GOP. Government is about hurting the right people.
12
Lies and propaganda hurt real people, and I feel for them deeply--but they voted for the people who want to blow up the system and devalues public service for the good of all the people, no one should be surprised by the lack of concern shown by the GOP for everyone impacted by the shut down or by climate change, it is exactly what is cheered for in every Trump rally. You broke it, you get to suffer to consequences. Hopefully Republicans will wake up to reality soon, maybe listen to the opposition from time to time.
4
Sorry but I really don't have too much sympathy for these people. They get what they deserve by voting him into office.
7
Couldn't agree more with the sentiments expressed in these comments. I would just like to say a couple of things to the Trump voters in Marianna Fl complaining about the effects of the shutdown.
"I really don't care, do you?"
"Whomp whomp"
9
"Deeply conservative"? Have you been to the Florida panhandle? Conservative is a political philosophy, a mind-set that believes in slow change and traditional values. Go to the Florida panhandle and look around -- are these 'values' anything anyone would want to conserve?
8
Judging by the number of confederate flags flying in front yards, they ain’t changed much at all. So I guess that does make them conservatives.
1
@Jim
I grew up in the panhandle in the 1970s. Nothing has really changed there since then except some of the white sand from its beautiful beaches getting blown back into the gulf by multiple hurricanes. Eroll Morris could do a sequel to his 1981 film Vernon, Florida today using interviews with the children of the original interviewees and it would probably turn out to be little more than a remake.
1
@Jim I'll take your word for it!!
“He’s not hurting the people he needs to hurt.” Since when do we elect a president, a member of Congress, or anyone to hurt people??
8
“He’s not hurting the people he needs to be hurting.”
Wow. Just wow.
6
" You only hurt the ones you Love ". Sending them my thoughts and prayers. That's ALL they deserve. Seriously.
6
There's no point in putting up a wall or fence because illegal immigrants will just sail around it or tunnel underneath it. It won't keep out terrorists, criminals, illegals, etc. But yet, Trump is willing to spend billions of dollars on it and is willing to keep the federal government "hostage" until he gets the money. It's crazy. It's extortion and it's illegal.
4
"I thought he was going to do good things. He’s not hurting the people he needs to be hurting.”
The President of the United should not be "hurting" any American.
This woman's comment is deplorable.
12
I feel this government shutdown is just a spoiled man's attempt to get his own way. I did not think our country paid ransom to hostage takers. And this is what I feel is going on. I hope that the folks that voted this man into office are happy right now.
5
Dear Ms. Minton, Who exactly do you believe that Trump "needs to be hurting" and why?
Is it the ultra-rich that he gave another big tax break to?
Is it the Central Americans from Guatemala whose government is run by gangs that will kill their families?
Is it east-coast and west coast upper middle class liberals with college educations and good paying jobs who think higher taxes to fund Medicare and Medicaid and Food Stamps is a good thing?
Or is it somebody else?
7
A telling article about Trump supporters.
Trump, of course, is highly negative, vindictive, aggressive, and punishing. And isn't that just what Americans want in their president? As we found out the hard way, "Yes" some do, like the forgotten people in this little struggling rural, town.
And Trump is not only greedy (simply selfish for himself), he is full of avarice--meaning he only feels he wins if other people lose and are hurt.
There is a bitterness in Trump--no matter how much money he has--and there is a bitterness in his supporters (true in our extended family also). They do not wish other people well, and feel better when others are in pain. They certainly do not like "do-good" liberals who value caring, diplomacy, and want to help others
Trump eschews kindness and diplomacy as a way of solving problems, and prefers to see people hurt by his actions, which gives him a sick sense of power over others--viciously "firing" those who disagree with him, putting children in cages, shutting down the government.
Why? Because right-wingers and tea partiers "hate" the government and want to see those government workers with good benefits hurting (mentioned in "Hillbilly Elegy." They hate the government, that is, until they actually discover they need the government. Some people don't get it, until it hits them personally.
I think our next president will be a kind, caring, intelligent person who values allies, the truth, and people doing well.
9
@PB You are making the assumption that there actually will be "the next president." I'm not. I don't put anything past this overgrown toddler and his band of Deplorables. Pelosi and Schumer refuse to give in to the biggly tantrum, Trump declares his emergency, aided and abetted by McConnell, and we have taken a huge step towards Trump suspending elections in the name of "national security." The Mueller cannot come fast enough.
5
@PB I don't think they are struggling for any reason but their own personalities at this point. I grew up in a mostly white classic small town where, as merely a dark-white Italian American, my family was the neighborhood color, and my neighbors never let me forget it. A black family had tried to move in before I was born and they were harassed so badly that they had to leave. When I was a child up until I left for graduate school, my every waking moment was spent thinking about GETTING OUT.
Now, I AM a liberal, so I get that people can struggle due to things like unforeseen medical costs and jobs disappearing; this is why I'm a member of a political party that seeks to solve these problems. But I am not so much a bleeding heart that I fail to see when someone's life is a disaster purely because THEY are the one living it.
These towns "struggle" because they are dumps filled with nasty, uneducated, spiteful people, and anyone not like that is physically ejected like an owl vomiting up a ball of mouse bones.
4
I wonder if they've gotten tired of winning so much yet.
5
Trump will claim his unconstitutional national emergency is to help these people. And most of them will believe him.
6
While I agree that Ms. Minton's statement that she is disappointed in Trump, simply because he hasn't hurt enough people yet, absolutely defines the thinking of most Trump supporters, don't forget the voice of reason in Ms. Sims who has begun researching how Congress passes budget bills. I applaud her and any other citizen in Trump country that is trying to educate themselves on what is really going on.
Presumably these people will not vote for someone like Trump every again and that is a definite step in the right direction.
155
This article is good. I'd like to add a point the writer couldn't have gleaned without spending a long time with the region's people. That is the depression most of them are experiencing. The land has been absolutely devastated. It's hard to look at, hard to talk about. Moreover, people are trying to fix horrible problems with slim or nonexistent services, and residents are still very much in shock.
This is my family's home. Every single person I know there is sad. You can't drive down the road, can't look out your window, without seeing dozens, hundreds, of uprooted or splintered-off trees. Huge trees, centuries old. The landscape is simply obliterated. Everyone knows people who've lost their homes or jobs. All struggle to describe the overwhelming loss and how it's affected them. Depressed. Reeling. And realizing that not only are they hurt: they are absolutely alone. Forgotten.
Now is the time for a thoughtful representative of the Democratic party to make the case for the price one pays for unfettered adoration of politicians. When they know they have your vote, they will completely ignore you. And when their line is espousing limited government, chances are they really don't know how to govern, so their adoring electorate is all the more in trouble.
Posting told-you-so comments online is a little cathartic. But is anyone reading who could actually make a difference? Get thyself to Bay, Washington, and Jackson Counties. Now is your moment.
127
@Jennifer Being in shock and depressed is sad and I feel for them. To me, that is not a justification for them looking to hurt "the other" through their Trump vote.
42
@Jennifer - Thank you for saying that. Not only is this a time for compassion - it is also an opportunity to show people who are hurting the kind of society people who didn't vote for Trump want to build and how a caring government can truly help. Gloating and saying "I told you so" doesn't help anyone and will just reinforce Trump voters' bad opinion of the other side.
19
@Just Deserts, her remark jolted me as well. It was stunning and deliciously revealing at the same time. But I don't make too much of it. Tit for tat is getting us absolutely nowhere. These people are in upheaval right down to the nub of their existence. My point isn't really to feel sorry for them; what I want is a leader to rise up and show them why they shouldn't hate government. I know for a fact that some formerly-closed ears are now listening.
27
After our public health careers evaporated with the election of Reagan, my husband and I, armed with the broad knowledge and critical thinking provided by our liberal arts educations, were able to reinvent ourselves several times and were gainfully employed for forty years in several parts of this great country. We had to accept that having children is for the wealthy and could preclude our staying middle class.
Now retired, we travel the country in a (modest pop-up) RV, mostly on the blue highways and rural backroads, camping in state and national parks and other public lands with the pride of ownership. In places like the panhandle and near the Blue Ridge Parkway we pass those mobile homes with their Confederate flags, Trump and Thank You Jesus signs. Along the way we support the local economy and talk to people, so I'm not surprised by this article at all.
A hint to a solution is in the name "mobile home": it's meant to be temporary or movable. You have the option to escape, but please leave your limiting attitudes behind.
8
I voted for Hillary Clinton even though I didn't really expect her to hurt the Goldman Sachs executives who paid her hundreds of thousands in "speaking fees". Were big bankers and financiers the sort of people that Ms. Minton thought should be "hurt" or at least whose control of the country should be reduced? Trump has certainly been taking action against immigrants and generally people of color so it's hard to see how Ms. Minton could be disappointed on those issues. If many people think that action should be taken against big monetary interests maybe Democrats should be proposing policies that really do that and are likely to reduce inequality.
60
@skeptonomist She said, and I quote verbatim, "“I voted for him, and he’s the one who’s doing this,” she said of Mr. Trump. “I thought he was going to do good things. He’s not hurting the people he needs to be hurting.”
People.... not corporations, not oligarchies, not banking institutions, but people. And the people she wants him to hurt? We were already hurting, thank you very much. Now she's catching up to us, those who cried for days when trump was ensconced in the White House, those who see people of color around our nation suffering more by the day, those who have an ounce of empathy.
26
The Mitch problem..... Republican Senators will soon hear from the 25 percent who support Th Con Man in Chief and his worthless wall . When the liar in chief 's supporters do not receive their income tax returns, food stamps , start realizing they are paying for the tariffs by the price increases , receive quarterly loss on 401k , and the list goes on. The voting public must call and send snail mail to these Republican senators and remind them that we are not living in a cave or under a rock . The voting public even the 25 percent is staring to feel the repercussions of the incompetence of The Con Man in Chief and his lying administration. When the Senators and others in the administration stand up for a liar they are in turn also liars. These Senators and representatives are all guilty of all the criminal acts The Liar in Chief as committed because they have defended him and failed to protect the American public from his treasonous activities . Republican Senators please talk to Mitch and ask that he put country before party and grow a spine.
7
This is one of the "reddest" areas in the nation, represented by Congressman Matt Gaetz, a devoted Trump acolyte who recently said:
"What he's not going to compromise on is the safety of the American family or the protection of the American economy. I know who the president is negotiating for, I don't really know who Democrats are negotiating for. I mean, are they really negotiating for illegal immigrants?"
Well, Mister congressman, the Democrats have passed legislation that would end the shutdown immediately and give these constituents of yours the money they need to get to work and live their lives. We read about what these people are doing to fulfill their job responsibilities, going far and beyond what is expected because of a hurricane and now they are expected to bear this expense out of their own pocket. Could you possibly insult them more with your continued lap-dogging of your president who insists that those most affected by his shutdown are "democrats?"
Is there no end to your partisanship, sir? The only reason your constituents are living these hardships is YOU, Mister Congressman.
234
@Thomas Payne
They voted for this guy. You get the government you deserve.
25
@Lou Panico Exactly!
5
@Thomas Payne Matt Gaetz is not the Congressman for Marianna, Florida.
3
An interesting experiment. These folks say they want limited government and to be self-reliant. This should be seen as a wonderful chance for them to live their values. How delightfully life-affirming such empowerment can be!
35
@Doug K Self-reliance is only preached when black people need help in tough times. If you're white, then it's not a handout.
2
“He’s not hurting the people he needs to be hurting.”
This is heartbreaking. Really?
17
It is painful to watch people suffer who consistently vote against their own best interests... Even though the rest of us try to educate and explain, and vote to help THEM, they still vote out of spite, hatred and fear.
At some point, the chickens come home to roost and we watch in horror at the results. FL has shifted more and more Republican; this is the result and it will continue to get worse. Commentor Ellie could not have been more eloquent.
15
Ms. Minton: He's not supposed to be hurting anyone. He's supposed to be the president of ALL Americans. Your statement is one of the most depressing statements I've read in a long time. Hoping this experience will broaden your experience to include all of us.
18
“I worry about the government pulling out of rural America,” - but this is EXACTLY what they chose to vote for. They voted for a President and Party that would promise a much smaller government... and this is what they're getting. This means a government that will do less to protect residents from disasters, less to protect clean water and air, less to insure that people get the health care and education, less to provide job training, less to provide veterans' benefits, less to protect our wild spaces and national parks, less to repair crumbling infrastructure, etc...
39
What happened to the party of small government? seems that in the process of eliminating government from other people they removed it for themselves and now they don't like it.
13
“I voted for him, and he’s the one who’s doing this,” she said of Mr. Trump. “I thought he was going to do good things. He’s not hurting the people he needs to be hurting." There is so much that is wrong with this statement, as others pointed out. First, what is her role as a federal employee? What type of people does she believe she should be hurting?
The WH narrative must continue to be exposed: terrorists are being stopped at airports, security funding should be holistic, borders include air and sea. How will the wall protect us from a plane or ship carrying terrorists?
The holes in their logic. Lots of soundbites here.
46
"He’s not hurting the people he needs to be hurting.”. That really just sums it up, doesn't it?
46
Actually I'm sure they are happy that Trump's tax law has hurt the entire east coast states. Despite NY, NJ, and CT contributing more to federal government than they receive (unlike WV especially) Trump followers love that he actively hurt those states. The $10,000 SALT deduction must be lifted. This was deliberate as the coast was considered "liberal." Now Panhandle, you get the Trump treatment. Too bad for you.
14
“I voted for him, and he’s the one who’s doing this,” she said of Mr. Trump. “I thought he was going to do good things. He’s not hurting the people he needs to be hurting.”
If that is your position, then I'm afraid you are wrong - while a great many people do not deserve the pain and stress they're going through, folks like you absolutely deserve to understand that your actions have consequences, and that trying to hurt others is only going to rebound that pain onto you to. It's time you grew up and acted like civilized adults.
66
If all federal workers instantly walked off their jobs when shutdowns happened there would not be another shutdown. Ever. They must refuse to be held hostage.
18
They voted for this. I couldn't care less about their plight.
41
Trump and his followers have divided this county so much that I see these people as more foreign to me than the immigrant caravan. Hard for me to get my sympathy up for these people of the panhandle.
Maybe they will contact Trump and have him open the government.
41
It is probably unfair to bring this up at this time but I just can't help wondering whether these people will still support Trump and the Republicans in the next election. It was clear that this man was not qualified to be President still people voted for him. Are we supposed to feel sorry for people getting what they voted for?
35
“I voted for him, and he’s the one who’s doing this,” she said of Mr. Trump. “I thought he was going to do good things. He’s not hurting the people he needs to be hurting.”
Exactly who are these people that he "needs to be hurting?" I didn't realize that was the purpose of a president.
37
Private prisons, private schools, mercenaries, and private detention for asylum seekers are the backbone of the new Right that support Trump. With any luck, they will make private prisons a booming business. Right now, 1 in 10 Floridians have a history of a felony charge. Imagine the profit!.
14
“I voted for him, and he’s the one who’s doing this,” she said of Mr. Trump. “I thought he was going to do good things. He’s not hurting the people he needs to be hurting.” -- that last sentence says all you need to know about Trump supporters
37
A president’s job is not to hurt people. That’s an internet troll’s job.
352
@SKL He's not hurting the people he needs to be hurting".
What group is she talking about? Why does she think anyone needs to be punished?
If we had this answers perhaps we could better understand the rationale of Trump voters. Are thee many of them who want revenge? We know they hate Hillary. If they hated the 1%, they wouldn't have supported the tax cut. Oris it just irrational hassling out at vague enemies?
18
@Paul W. Case Sr. - We do have answers, Paul, answers found in the application of cognitive science and related fields.
It could just be her association with the field of corrections that causes her to accentuate the negative, but that doesn't explain the history of violence as entertainment.
For some reason, state sanctioned violence is condoned and encouraged. If a group of individuals should incorporate, take out a massive business loan, arrange for all the proper licensing fees, hire a law firm, and create a new sport called The World Wide Extreme Public Hangings Gone Wild Network, I have no doubt that it would be a fairly successful enterprise. It might sound rather ghastly to some, but hey, it's a free country. You don't have to watch.
Medical science can describe and diagnose, and society can prescribe and proscribe what may or may not be a aberrant or abhorrent perspective on this or that aspect of the human condition.
But then you run up against the law, as painful as this lesson has been, it is designed to be deliberately slow.
I would love to be able to snap my fingers and have every Trump voter instantly realize that while being led in chants of "Lock Her Up!" might remind you of the fun you had at your high school pep rallies, that clown at the podium isn't the Dean of Students, that this isn't junior high, and the promises he is making are designed to be zero sum.
Someone is going to get hurt.
And if your name isn't Trump, he doesn't care who it is.
14
But Trump IS an internet troll. Or at least a Twitter troll.
13
I guess Ms Minton must have been happy when Trump blamed the fires in California on the Californians. Or when he raised taxes on blue states by taking away the tax deductions used by ordinary middle class residents who live in places with a high cost of living. I guess those (we) are the people he “needs to be hurting”—my elderly parents, my family who just wants to leave near parents and siblings, my working class neighbors. And I guess the rich, who got huge tax cuts, don’t need to be hurting. Our children, on the other hand, will have to make up for those tax cuts—they must “need” a world of hurt.
The funny thing is, Ms Minton, when I vote it’s not in the hope of hurting you or anyone. I vote so you, and everyone like you, will have affordable health care, preschool for your children, access to community college, and job retraining for those who have lost work to automation. I vote so climate change won’t bring more and more brutal storms your way and so social security and Medicare will be secure from the raids of greedy politicians. I think we all suspected there was a generous helping of spite and hate behind the election of Trump, but it’s sobering to see it in black and white.
1029
@Ellie
I couldn't agree more. Even if I want the rich and corporations to pay more of their fair share of taxes, I don't despise them or begrudge them their wealth. Yet these Trumpettes are so "ye sinners in the hands of an angry God' about everyone but themselves.
Like Trump, they play a zero sum game. They must win and you must lose. No wonder they love him. They're just like him, only poorer. -- thegamesmenplay.com
51
@Ellie You're a better person than me. After these last eight years (starting with the Tea Party) I have purposely voted to hurt those in the red states who have held the rest of us hostage.
24
Great response, can I borrow every word?
14
I know that corner of Florida,Georgia, Alabama quite well. This is a declining rural area that increasingly is home to the elderly and those middle-aged and young people who refuse to leave to follow opportunity elsewhere. The refusal to be mobile among Americans in general has become remarkable to see. For a nation that was founded by people who landed on the east coast and literally hacked their way across a continent to the other coast, Americans no longer recognize that sometimes you have to move to get a new job. Some of the people in this article are educated or trained professionals who could find a job elsewhere if only they had the will to do so.
190
Nobody wants to be the next “Okie”. Misery loves company.
11
@RS It cost me $6,000 to move my two-person household across the country, and that was moving and hauling my stuff in a rented truck, rushing to finish the whole drive in just three days and spending one of two nights at a friend’s house. The truck rental alone was over $2,000, not counting gas. Many people can’t move, even if they can find a job that pays enough to live on elsewhere in a place where housing costs don’t eat the difference (thanks for creating jobs in NYC, Amazon!). Half of all Americans would be wiped out with an emergency expense of a few hundred dollars. How will they be able to move?
45
@Aidan
I don't want to trade misery stories, and everyone's economic situation is unique. When I left home for my first post-college job, I took only what I could fit into my car. I used my few hundred dollars savings for an apartment deposit and to buy a bed and small dining table and two chairs at a local furniture store on the installment plan. I added other pieces of furniture as my paychecks kicked in over the next few months. Today I have staff whose children graduate with college debt and manage to move hundreds of miles where a new job is offered.
43
poor old President Trump is walking a tightrope: he is alienating millions of voters, many of them probably his own supporters, to pander to the others, who will stick by him even if he sneaks into their houses in the night to cut off their feet. on balance, where will Trump and his Republican Party wind up when the dust settles? this is the trend: they move inexorably toward the extreme right until no matter what tricks they try, they can never win an election, so they stage a putsch, possibly burning down Congress with Democrats in their seats.
4
I have zero pity for anyone who voted for Trump and now finds themselves in an untenable situation because of the shutdown.
Donald Trump has made it absolutely clear who he is, and he did so for DECADES prior to 2016. You knew exactly what he was and you voted for him anyway.
You did this to yourselves. End of.
44
They voted for him, and that in itself tells a story of attitudes toward “others” and an inability to identify an amoral, anti-intellectual, mysoginistic charlatan.
But if they bought his lies and supported him for the past 2 years while making the country far less safe in his quest for an authoritarian government, what on earth right do they have now to complain?
They got what they voted for, and certainly did not care about the rest of us then.
Own the problem that Trump supporters rained down on the country!
29
The one guy blames congress for the shutdown, as most of them probably agree upon. A comment that displays in bold fashion that they either do not know how to read or just another trump supporter who disputes and outright denies the truth staring them in the face. The Congressional House, before and after democrats taking control, had bought forth several funding measures to the senate in which McConnell refused to bring to the floor for a vote. Funding measures that were very reasonable and even included over a billion dollars of additional tax dollars for boarder security (just not to be used toward the construction of a wall) but Donny Boy refuses to negotiate, like a real self-proclaimed, deal maker would. This shutdown falls squarely upon the shoulders of trump and his Florida supporters need to realize that. If not, just shut up and suffer the consequences that your president caused you. If you lose your homes, your cars, and can’t feed your children try to get it through your thick skulls that your president is responsible for it all.
33
But he DID negotiate.
He told the Dems to compromise and give him the wall.
(Donald does not know how to read, hence does not know what the word compromise actually means)
1
It is too bad Trump voters will never be reading articles like this. It would be a good idea to write letters to the editor in towns and cities in Trump enthusiastic areas.
17
“I voted for him, and he’s the one who’s doing this,” she said of Mr. Trump. “I thought he was going to do good things. He’s not hurting the people he needs to be hurting.”
This is insane. Exactly who is he supposed to be hurting? We are told that Trump supporters despise being viewed as politically ignorant but, i'm sorry, as Gump wisely stated "stupid is as stupid does. "
37
We know precisely who she's talking about needing a good hurting --- black people, brown people, Jews, liberals, immigrants --- anybody other than white Christian Americans.
1
Let me put this in a language even the reddest state can understand:
Galatians 6, verse 7: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.
14
@John - President Jed Barlet couldn't have said it better.
Infuriating that Trump is doing real injury to so many Americans.
5
When this wall thing is over (if ever), these folks in FL very well may be without federal jobs forever. Someone in the government may figure out it's cheaper to keep the prisoners where they are and shut the Florida one down.
Don't forget, MAGA.
14
Hmmm let me guess at who Ms. Minton thinks are the “right” people that Trump should be hurting... Gays?Single Women? Non-whites? Non-Christians?
20
If you ever had trouble understanding the mind of a Trump voter, this article will clear it up with its last quotation: "[Trump] is not hurting the people he needs to be hurting."
25
@Badger- exactly. White fragility at its finest.
You vote for someone who is good at hurting people, you better expect to be hurt. And with Ms. Minton’s comment, my last drop of sympathy for Trump supporters drained away.
31
These are the people who live in the tabloid world that Rupert Murdoch invented for them. Media lies and propaganda really should be against the law. Bring back the Fairness Doctrine and repeal the law Clinton signed that allowed Murdoch to create his empire of lies and sensational falsehoods. VOTE.
11
Trump supporters believe his nonsense. They do not live in a border state. Florida was the entry point for Cuban immigrants and is a source of drugs that arrive by sea. The wall was a talking point to keep Trump focused on immigration- that’s all - a memory gimmick that is crippling our world standing.
9
I can not wrap my head around the thinking of people who vote for Trump and work for the government. I thought Republicans are supposed to hate the idea of government workers and here these people are, suffering from the affects of a horrible hurricane, probably expecting the government to come in and rescue their town, their infrastructure and their prison jobs. They still can't see their vote was wasted on a man who doesn't care about them, who will deliberately ruin their lives, and will declare a "national emergency" to get his way.
15
@trish And it get worse when you look into the government response to the hurricane. How less than 50 FEMA trailers had been delivered by 60 days after the storm. The latest count is 125 trailers are in use and they have a backlog of 1450. So here they are, in the completely destroyed wasteland (and it's horrible, so horrible to experience in person) and FEMA has managed to get 125 trailers to the area. There's still debris everywhere. The sad part is most of them will continue vote the same way, even though it hurt them and their community and continues to do so.
It's impossible to have any sympathy for trump cult members that are victims of this shutdown. He could personally come to their house and burn it down and these people would go to a friends house to watch hannity while their house is burning. Then, blame others for the arson. If you're that weak-minded you can never be saved. Natural Selection at work.
19
How long do the rest of us have to pay for these third world cultures to live in second world societies? Hope this shut down lasts a long time so some portions of this country realize how completely dependent they are on their despised federal government.
12
Government employees who voted against Government - now suffering from self inflicted wounds. And still don’t realize that Trump lies. It would be funny if it wasn’t so sad.
14
Dear Ms. Mazzei: "He’s not hurting the people he needs to be hurting” is a heck of a cliffhanger. I'm intensely curious to know who she meant. Did she elaborate?
10
@BFB
She didn't need to elaborate.
Everyone knew who Ronald Reagan was referring to when he denigrated "Cadillac-driving welfare queens." It wasn't poor whites in Appalachia and the rural South.
Unfortunately, these people are waking up to the fact that they've been supporting a conman who really doesn't care about anyone but himself. I don't really care, do you?
8
My heart bleeds for these Trump voters. No, I mean that. Really, it does. I feel soooo bad for them.
1
At some point Trump's supporters must awaken to the awful truth, he does not care for anyone, especially lower middle class workers. They have their own ignorance to blame. Change the channel, read a real news paper, find the truth. Trump is evil.
8
@Seabreazer They voted for him because he is evil. They thought that they were voting for the chief of their tribe. This whole Trumpian dynamic is like a Wagnerian opera derived from Norse mythology.
1
Don't care about Florida. On any case, they don't need me. They have God and the Republicans on their side.
5
Ms. Minton's quote is troubling but unfortunately fitting. Let us not forget that amongst the many flaws in the tax cut, Republicans tailored the bill to shift the tax load towards Democrats as much as possible.
Trump repeatedly has said one way or another he is only for the people who voted for him.
Disgusting times.
11
Divide and conquer... Shrink the government to the size to be drown in a bathtub... Bannon is over in Europe giggling with glee.
1
That's the fundamental mistake Republicans made. No one benefits under fascism. Some suffer cruel deaths, everyone suffers agonizing terror and a gnawing hunger. Even the highest ranking members of the party get their heads chopped off.
Trump cheated on his wife five months postpartum, stabbed cabinet members in the back, threw his personal lawyer under the bus, abused all of his children, including disgustingly fawning over Ivanka her entire life. No, Florida panhandle voter, Trump was not going to look out for you.
Yes these voters got what they voted for. And yet I can still eek out the tiniest bit of sympathy for them and wonder, what must happen to a person's psyche to make them cower before a man they know will ultimately hurt them. This is pure narcissistic abuse, and these voters, for whatever psychological harm they have suffered, reveled in the opportunity to be consumed by the fire of their own resentment.
9
Ms. Minton's comment, "He’s not hurting the people he needs to be hurting,” perfectly illustrates the deplorable nature of some Trump supporters. This attitude. This selfishness. This disregard for others.
21
Whaaaa! He’s not just hurting the Americans we voted for him to hurt.
6
At the risk of staying the obvious, funds would be much better helping to rebuild after Hurricane Michael, repairing establishments like the Waffle Iron diner, than building a wall.
And a note to Ms. Minton – as if she reads comments on the NYT website LOL! – Trump does not "need to be hurting" any of us.
12
The idiocy is mind-boggling. You live in Florida. You know how drugs and illegal immigrants come to the U.S. On BOATS. They walk up the BEACH. How is a 2,000-mile wall in the Texas desert going to help?!?
22
No sympathy for those who voted for a criminal. Don't they know we already have a wall across the southern border??
6
Having lived through my share of hurricanes, I have great compassion for the people in Florida struggling to put their lives back together. However, it should be noted that consistently many of those people have voted against their own self interest. I do not understand that today any better than I ever have. The vast majority of Floridians lifestyles do not have much in common with the concepts supported by the Republican Party. And to be fair, it's not just been during the Trump years that the GOP has voted against the best interests of the middle class of America. Furthermore, if the wall gets built, that's not going to help these people either.
6
It would have been quite useful to hear the answer to "What people should he be hurting?" Maybe she meant the 1%, but she likely meant the phantom hordes of "the others" that Trump and his allies conjure up to keep people like Ms Minton in line. That the quote has Ms Minton equating "doing good things" with hurting people illuminates the well of resentment that Trump and his followers enjoy. It is a mental illness to believe harming others is "doing good things," and Trump is the vector of this illness. Rural people who grow our food, who guard the prisoners, who watch their land being paved over by large retail corporations and see their local governments succumb to the powerful pressures that are building "inland ports" across American's rural landscapes are as much on the front lines of the fraying of the common person's American dream as anyone in our cities and suburbs. We require a compassionate comprehensive renewal of American governance and education that serves as an antidote to the ignorance and resentment communicated from Trump's party. A healthy democracy depends on an educated citizenry that can make prudent decisions. Voting based on one's resentments of "the other" has not turned out to be a prudent decision for the suffering of people in the Panhandle. Some reflection might lead to their asking why they still have plastic on their store fronts and where is help from their local, state and federal governments?
34
@Rosemary Galette- brilliantly put.
2
In the last sentence, one of the prison guards who had voted for Trump, blames him for her current blight. Trump had promised “to do good things,” she says , but instead her town is facing a serious financial crisis. She had expected pain, but it would be inflicted on others: “He’s not hurting the people he needs to be hurting.” There is no better example of the politics of resentment, a major reason Trum won. It had been (and still is) on full display during he rallies.
What the lady doesn’t understand, however, is that Trump hurts everybody and he doesn’t care if they were among his most fervent supporters. Everybody gets slimed. Once Trump voters realize this elementary fact, it’s game over.
24
"I voted for him, and he’s the one who’s doing this,” she said of Mr. Trump. “I thought he was going to do good things. He’s not hurting the people he needs to be hurting.”
That statement is an excellent summary of the mindset of the Trump voter. Their primary reason for voting for Trump wasn't because they thought he would improve their lives. It was out of spite - they want to hurt people who "need" to be hurt.
81
Elections have consequences, and this is what happens when you vote Republican.
"I thought he was going to do good things. He’s not hurting the people he needs to be hurting.” That kind of says it all, doesn't it? Trump voters don't mind his policies wrecking other (read: minorities') lives, but they're aghast and hurt that it's now falling upon them. Well, a loose cannon eventually points at you. My hope is that people will finally wise up and realize that Republican policies are based on cruelty and spite, and voting for them makes no one's lives any better.
43
"He’s not hurting the people he needs to be hurting.” He doesn't need to be hurting anyone, that's the problem with people who voted for him enthusiastically, people who actually supported him and didn't just vote for him due to lack of option. Those supporters voted for him based on the negative things he wanted to do to the "others." No, the right way to say it so you don't look like you're surprised that he cares as little about you as he does those "others" would be to say: "He's not helping the people he needs to be helping." Her focus on the negative shows me all I need to know about why Trump's supporters voted for him.
455
Bingo!
11
@Jess
ON THE NOSE....for the most part, these people bring it on themselves by remaining in their bubbles = ignorant and blind to the real world. I know..I grew up here. Got out long ago and I avoid going back at all costs. Even though, my mom still lives there.
Again..can not fix stupid.
12
I'm a retired federal employee in a red state, and one day I was talking with the mailman, a current federal employee. I said that any government employee who voted republican was voting to cut their pension, cut their cost of living increases, cut their insurance, cut the number of employees, etc. He said yes, but he said the bigger issue was morals, he didn't think the democrats were moral. I don't think he was right about the morals, and I do vote democrat. But I'd bet that the layoff won't change many votes in the red states.
25
That may be true, in which case, these folks are the architects of their own destruction. There is only so much we can do to save people from themselves.
26
@Frank wow...they voted in the most immoral President of our times and they think the Democrats are not moral?
25
@Frank wow this is very harsh i also voted democratic not republican
2
I wish we had a president that actually cared about others. I think people need to be educated about the border to understand a 2000 mile long wall is a waste of money because it won't stop people from coming here.
I wish people would stop voting against their own self interests. If the Democrats were in power this would not be happening.
24
I have very little sympathy for these folks. Sure they are in trouble but they brought it on themselves. The Republicans are 100% responsible for the misery that they people are facing (of course the Republicans are NOT responsible for the hurricane). Since these folks have chosen the GOP and its policies they cannot now complain. Elections have consequences and this is one of them.
40
@A A They're not responsible for the hurricane but they need to understand that the money 45 wants to spend on the wall takes money away from needs such as hurricane repairs, farm assistance, medicare and medicaid and education, among other choices.
41
@A A No, they're not responsible for the hurricane, but they are responsible for their reckless environmental policies that practically guarantee more such catastrophic storms.
Like you, I have little sympathy for people who can't get out of their own way to vote for candidates who would actually help them.
12
@Ellen G. No, the money for Trump's ridiculous wall would be more BORROWED money, not "money taken away from needs such as hurricane repairs, farm assistance...."
1
The people in the panhandle aren’t suffering alone. To name a few, the horrible flooding of Hurricane Florence, the Northern California fires and now the aftermath of mudslides. Trump made appearances and promises there also. In addition, many in rural America live in perpetual poverty and suffering without a natural disaster. These areas are the backbone of trumps base, what has he done for them. All he needs to do is tell them how much he cares, they’ll vote for him again.
12
Is this any way to run a government? Is this a good example of what Republicans mean when they say they want government to be run more like a business? What kind of business is in the business of "hurting" some of its own customers? Why don't Republicans aspire to running a government like an efficiently run, democratic government--like, say, Canada, or Finland, or Sweden--instead of running it like a Trump casino or a Trump University?
27
Because instead of “promoting the general welfare”, they prefer to promote their own.
7
@WmC
Because those countries are the enemy. Liberal, socialist countries where the living standard is higher than in the US is not what the Republicans aspire to. First they would have to learn the difference between communism and democratic socialism.
9
@WmC Many corporations hurt their customers, the list is endless.
If you want to see the core reason that the US is such a mess you need look no further than the words of our dear leader when he says that “most of the workers not getting paid are Democrats”. That may or may not be true but then truth matters little to this vile excuse for a president.
He does not see a nation of differing political points of view and concepts, just the people he approves of and the people that he hates. The president is required by the Constitution to serve the needs of all of the US and not just those that he agrees with. That alone is justification for removing this clown from office, regardless of his many other crimes.
65
So people in Florida, a state surrounded by water with no border with Mexico, are all for a wall.
If they were smart, which, judging by their comments, they're not, they might want to lobby for a seawall.
In the meantime, let them suffer. What's that saying? You've made your bed, now lie in it.
29
The Trump Shutdown. Please NYT emphasize that this is it’s correct name that in all your articles. That will put pressure on him. He owned it already in the December meeting. Don’t let him disown it and blame it on the dems.
33
Maybe the Trump voters in the panhandle ought to try actually reading the Bibles they claim to revere so much.
"For they have sown the wind, and they shall reap the whirlwind"
--Hosea 8:7
34
Folks deserve who they vote for. Enjoy.
33
God, I sure wouldn't want to be in the federal pen right now! But who cares about the safety and well being of prisoners? Certainly not the Donald.
13
Y’all voted for him. Y’all got him. Enjoy!
40
“Sometimes you’ve got to do stuff to get stuff done,” he said of Mr. Trump’s stance. This from a Panhandle resident.
The statement is not exactly as erudite as Penn Warren's (All the King's Men) whose Huey Long said, "If you want to make an omelet, you have to break a few eggs."
Of course the Pandhandlers never read Penn Warren, or much of anything else, but perhaps they are beginning to realize, during their seven-hour unpaid commute to a "guvmint" job, that Humpty Trumpty is not going to be put back together again, and they won't be eating omelettes.
But come the next snake oil salesman to promise the ignorant a golden lifestyle, despite all logic, and they will line up to vote for him.
I claim the right to say this about my fellow Floridians because as a public school teacher, I tried for 30 years to teach analytic thinking to them. Them that didn't get it moved to the Panhandle and other rural areas, where they could deer hunt with Jesus. And vote Republican.
67
I'm sure you gave it the good old college try in the classroom, but by then it was too late. the kiddos already had about six years of scary training in superstition, blind obedience, and fear that molded their little brains to accept things on faith, like heaven, Santa, and the Easter Bunny. Trump and his ilk are in that same league: supporters accept their crazy view of the world on faith alone and live in a fantasy land. Trump is the Easter Bunny in a fright wig.
1
No USDA? Sounds dire.
3
Ms. Mazzei: I assume you asked the logical followup to the last quote about hurting people -- "Which people, in your opinion, should the president be hurting?" What was the answer?
36
It would be great if you would run an article EVERY day about how people are affected. Very intimate personal stories. America needs to see (and hear) these stories. This is an abominable time to be an American. AND intimate, real stories of kids that have been taken away and their parents. My heart breaks for all of this.
22
Hard to feel sorry for a state that voted for Trump overwhelmingly and continues to vote in republicans.
30
a very dear friend (and next door neighbor) died of lung cancer he developed from years of smoking. of course I felt sorry for him in his agonizing death, and for his family, even though he brought it on himself. if he'd picked up a gun and commited a quicker suicide, I would still feel for him. and if he picked up the gun and fired into his head not expecting the certain result, I would feel for him even more. that's how I feel about Republicans... until they turn the gun around at me.
1
We have cancelled a vacation, and postponed (indefinitely?) a medical appointment for a non-urgent issue, and a much-need repair/update in our home. The gov't job we have in our family is higher up on the pay scale. Nonetheless, the uncertainty is causing us to tighten the belt because we have college and retirement on the horizon. Our household cutbacks are already having an effect on other businesses in our community and region.
16
Gee, that's too bad - maybe think before voting in the future
26
" Everyone I talk to wants the wall."
That's a large part of the problem. If you really want the wall , you need to get out more and talk to different folks.
45
@jopar That's the problem: "everyone" he talks to is either a sycophant or a extremist commentator like Rush, Hannity, or Coulter.
5
Trump never said that "winning" did not have a cost associated with it that would have to be paid. To the Trump folks in the panhandle of Florida the cost to their families of a months if not years long shutdown and going without being paid is the cost of the "winning" that Trump promised them. Walls, trade wars etc., will all come at a tremendous personal cost to Trump's base, but that is the price of "winning", it is what they voted for. These voters are getting what they voted for, Trump's "winning".
37
@Shend
Let's add an "h" to Trump's winning, and make it "whinning" because that's all he does, whine like a kid who doesn't get his way. The immature leading this nation into his "contained" dirty sand box, where he makes all the rules, yells at everyone, shares with no one or only those who humor him. Someday, the pain of living in this country will reach enough people where they will begin to think about holding him accountable and then they will break free of his sandbox. For the rest of us, let us not help him build it! I am for reasonable border security, and let's not forget about our oceans- fund the Coast Guard!
5
Trump had a Republican Congress for two years. If republicans wanted the wall, they’d be building the wall. They passed the tax cuts for the rich with no worries about a deficit. So why no money for the wall? Because both sizes know a wall is not an easy cure-all for our immigration woes, just a very, very expensive placebo. Republicans, who have traditionally supported immigration in the interest of providiing a cheap labor force gladly lined up beside Trump. The little people? They got a champion who would deliver pain to the people they hate—the educated, the “elites”, the blue states, women, minorities, immigrants. They wanted surgical strikes. Hurt and pain inflicted on others. What they’re getting is hurt and disdain for everyone who isn’t the one percent.
Two years ago I could never have imagined a president who displayed active animosity and belligerence toward half the population of the country, with followers who wanted him to deliver “hurt” to the right people—their fellow citizens, families, human beings with whom they might have some political differences. The scales fall from our eyes.
68
Two types of people: one wants never wants others to hurt or struggle as they may have.
The other type wants everyone to struggle as much as they have and suffer. There is no reasoning, or discussions to be held with this with those who lack all empathy, compassion, and ability to think critically.
In a world full of the first type, always be the second. Trump is relying on the second type of person to maintain his base
18
Not hurting the right people? Why is our president hurting any citizen?
48
@John Yes, an interesting quote. I wonder if the NYT has omitted some useful context here.
3
@Darth Vader
What context could they be omitting that would change the meaning of a us citizen expecting the president they voted for to intentionally cause pain/hurt on anyone?
9
@Matt: I don’t want to guess. It’s the Times’ job to tell us.
1
Mrs Minton is exhausted and I think she was referring to the 1 percent.
4
Yes, that crossed my mind as well, although it doesn't make it much better. I wish there had been some follow up on that particular quote.
4
If she wanted the 1% to suffer, why did she vote one in to run the country? The 1% are the golden calf of the GOP, the “job creators!” ( only if one doesn’t understand how the economy works) why would a GOP sycophant want the 1% damaged? She want Democrat’s and ONLY Democrats to suffer.
6
@JeanneDark It can't be that. Trump is in the 1%. Give her some credit.
1
I have a hard time feeling sorry for people that vote Republican. They do not care about you, they never did. I moved to Florida from NY 7 years ago. Florida which is a conservative state that has very low pay, yet high living expenses and the benefits are terrible. God forbid you want unemployment insurance it is very low and they make you answer 100's of questions. Yet, these people love to vote Republican. Sure let's get a wall and waste billions of dollars rather instead of I don't know fixing roads and bridges putting people to work, make public schools better for all children, etc ect. Here you go again NYT talking Trump supporters. There are plenty of people in Florida that do not want the wall, that hate Trump and his policies. It is Trumps shutdown by the way.
54
They got exactly what they voted for.
61
I know I shouldn't comment before reading the article, but my prediction is at least one quote from a Trump voter saying how "it is worth the sacrifice" to "make America great again".
9
@Badger. As Coolidge apocryphally said, "You lose."
Good thing it's only Democrats on welfare who are impacted by the shutdown. Florida gets what it voted for. And apparently what it wants. MAGA
19
They have not missed a paycheck and will be paid this Friday.
@KeysCalm no they won’t. If the gov doesn’t reopen, no pay.
5
@KeysCalm
By "will be paid", you mean "might be paid". And if they're not paid, they can always "make arrangements", as MAGA boy said. Can they call his dad, the way he did?
2
I find it extremely gratifying to read that this area of the country is ‘extremely conservative.’
To all of those who voted for Hillary, you have my deepest sympathy. You didn’t ask for this and you don’t deserve it.
33
A president and a major political party are weakening the institutions of American society to serve a hostile foreign regime. Elections matter.
39
"He’s not hurting the people he needs to be hurting.”
That should be the first paragraph. How utterly disgusting.
114
@YD This quote makes it very difficult to sympathize with her.
11
@YD Thanks for calling attention to this line, a concept so horrible my brain rephrased it to something less abhorrent. What an awful view! What’s wrong with people?
9
@YD
I suspect I am among the people he "needs to be hurting" given my politics, my education level, where I live, how I feel about women's rights, and how I raise my kids. I can assure you, I am being hurt by the shutdown.
22
‘“You can point fingers at both sides,” said Jason Griffin, 44.’
No, Jason, you cannot. Go back and look at Trump’s Oval Office meeting with Pelosi and Schumer where he says “I would be proud to shut down the government.”
140
@M. Grove
‘“You can point fingers at both sides,” said Jason Griffin, 44.’
Parroted in true trumpian style. You broke it (voted for him), you own it.
4
"hi I'm too dumb to realize I was voting against my own self-interest even though absolutely everybody told me exactly that."
85
While I feel for those impacted by the storm and the shutdown, it needs to be said that elections have consequences. Mexico made it clear long before Trump was elected that, no, they would not pay for the wall. But people still voted for Trump, the man with no plan.
Chanting “lock her up” at a rally may get the endorphins firing, but it’s not much in terms of policy. Everyone needs to dig deeper than sound bites and understand what a candidate will do should they get into office. If there are no details, then consider that a giant red flag.
71
This is why I have zero sympathy for Trumpists:
“I voted for him, and he’s the one who’s doing this,” she said of Mr. Trump. “I thought he was going to do good things. He’s not hurting the people he needs to be hurting.”
75
@Charlie one has to wonder who she thinks the President should be hurting.
4
Can we just imagine the hate that swirls around this person, to think that she should be spared because she supported Trump but she needs somebody else to be hurt.
A stunning admission of discrimination, disdain, and utter callousness toward others!
10
Ms. Minton is quoted as saying " “I voted for him, and he’s the one who’s doing this,” she said of Mr. Trump. “I thought he was going to do good things. He’s not hurting the people he needs to be hurting.”
This goes to the crux of the problem with many Trump voters, they believe there are people who should be hurt by the actions of the President. In addition they were such poor readers of Trump's history that they did not realize he does not discriminate who he hurts, he hurts anyone who gets in the way of any aspect of his money making schemes and dangerous world view.
The world Ms. Minton is not so much made up of good and bad people as you may have heard in a revival tent. It is made up of those who are suffering those who are not. The goal of the leader of the richest most powerful country on Earth should be to alleviate suffering.
94
@greg. Ms. Minton, a Trump supporter, voted for Trump on the grounds that Trump was going to hurt certain people that she felt needed to be hurt. She voted for a President on the hopes that the President she voted for would hurt others. How sick is that?
12
"He’s not hurting the people he needs to be hurting."
Pray tell, exactly who should be hurt?
54
@Doug: The NYT should have provided the answer in the article.
3
"He's not hurting the people he needs to be hurting."
This story should have continued with the reporter asking, "What people does he need to be hurting?"
Not that it would have come as a surprise to many of us, but just to pin it down, Ms. Mazzei should have asked that of Ms. Minton, and then included her answer in this story.
57
Honestly, it's already too late.
Even a total shutdown of human CO2 emissions right now would not affect the warming, which will accelerate as arctic and sub-arctic permafrosts melt and generate astounding volumes of the 30x more potent Methane gas. Already, millions of sub-arctic lakes are bubbling away, venting methane.
Hothouse earth, soon.
(Not to mention the 10,000 other ways we are destroying the planet)
21
“I voted for him, and he’s the one who’s doing this,” she said of Mr. Trump. “I thought he was going to do good things. He’s not hurting the people he needs to be hurting.”
This is the most illuminating comment about what motivates his voters.
110
White Spite !
True Deplorables in every sense of the word.
64
@San indeed, it appears he is hurting the people he needs to be hurting.
Sadly, he's hurting a whole bunch of others too.
11
@San
Which Americans does she want him to hurt?
9
If anything - this shutdown shows how close to financial ruin the middle class is. Hopefully eye opening to folks (ahem.. Trump) who constantly say the economy is doing "great". These stories are sad - but also highlight poor savings, bad money management and middle class wages that don't allow for a nest egg
32
@Momsaware
This article shows the intellectual and moral ruin of Trumpistan.....economics are the least of the problems of these morally bankrupt souls.
Whited Sepulchers R Us 2019
35
These are not middle class people. They are working class people. Bad money management? A nest egg? There is nothing to manage except which bill will not get paid or what meal will get missed and certainly nothing for that egg in the nest. They are making Federal minimum wage.
23
@Socrates I've read articles similar to this, but different areas. One person was impacted by shutdown because they don't pay December mortgage so they can have $ for christmas presents for kids. They then finally pay back when they get tax return in March from IRS. So if they don't get tax return, they'll be foreclosed. It was their yearly financial "strategy" that could leave them homeless. Crazy or sad?!
6
These people deserve the government shutdown. I'm sorry, but they do. They have voted for this and now they are getting what they voted for: a federal government that is incapable of sustaining itself at its present size. They just didn't think it would affect THEM. Well, it did. I say good riddance. Maybe that's harsh, maybe it's politically incorrect, I think I'm just "telling it like it is." They want a wall? Maybe they can quit this job, pull themselves up by their bootstraps, and build it themselves with their GoFundMe account.
121
"Only the worst people...."
Trump 2019
34
These Trumpers are delusional. They'd rather travel 400 miles away from home to a job without pay than give up on Trump.
113
@Debbie -- Sorta like the Battle of Stalingrad but without Russians. Oooops. Them too!!
3
@Debbie: Did you read the article? There are no jobs where they live.
He’s not hurting the people he needs to be hurting —no sympathy for these cruel, heartless people.
135
No sympathy for any of those in the panhandle. This is who they elected.
94
“I worry about the government pulling out of rural America,” he said.
“This, after all, is one of many towns across the country where private industries are few and the federal government is intimately connected to livelihoods.”
Wait, what?! Red rural Americans vote for the Republican promise of shrinking the federal government and now they’re worried about it actually happening? What’s wrong with these people? Elections have consequences and it’s time these voters face the reality of their votes.
402
@left coast finch
Why should the prison be rebuilt in the panhandle when it is an environmentally vulnerable place? Perhaps it should be rebuilt somewhere safer and not in the panhandle as a perk to a Republican politician.
34
@left coast finch
Trump America has no clue as to what is going on and as long as Fox News does not tell them, they never will. Elections indeed have consequences and so does being poorly informed and deluded.
34
In other words, they got what they voted for. No sympathy here.
93
I would love to ask the last person quoted in the story. Ms. Minton, who is Trump supposed to hurting?
107
Yes but at least give her credit for a shred of understanding that she’s been betrayed. It’s more than many of the “president’s” supporters seem to grasp.
41
@amrak. Shouldn't he be a positive force to lift all Americans? Why should he hurt any American?
7
@amrak
Ms. Minton is aimed all wrong, and may not have phrased her thought perfectly, but there are people who should be, if not hurt, at least discouraged. There is evil in this world. I'm thinking folks like the Koch brothers, and Sheldon Adelson, and the rest of the wealthy right wingers who feel their country is a bank, and their job is to rob it. I only wish Ms. Minton understood who her real enemy is.
5
But the Prison Workers do not mind as they support Donald's action and support His work in making the Texas border more secure with a wall.
6
"He’s not hurting the people he needs to be hurting.”
Yes he is. He's hurting his supporters and that is one of the few things that makes this tolerable. Minton has disabled parents and 7-year old twins and her first concern is that other people suffer. She's getting exactly what she deserves.
187
@Marcia
It is truly ironic and altogether fitting that Trump may be the Biblical scourge that "his people" so fervently believe everybody else deserves, and it will be "his people" who bear the brunt.
1
America needs a better education system so the citizenry is better able to discern blatant fearmongering by demagogues and rogues.
94
@Rocky Did you read the article? She's disappointed that the people she wants hurt are not hurting. His voters understand the fear mongering and like it.
22
Even if this statement were true, what does that have to do with ANYTHING AT ALL? He is a bully and like most bullies, quite uninformed. It doesn't do anyone any good to use this situation to "prove" the ideology of either party. It is pointless to continue this rhetoric. Feels like we're all just digging a deeper hole that we'll have a declining chance of getting out of.
8
@anon. The only way this is going to end is if Trump feels it would improve his popularity with his base to end it. That's what it has to do with anything.
2
As the sign days on the McDonald's 'hiring day'
so it could always be worse, who wants to be a
prison guard anyway especially with a 400 mile commute. Should have released the inmates it's Florida after all.
10
I am surprised that there is so little compassion and outrage that the suffering in Panhandle communities post hurricanes has been forgotten and neglected. I am a liberal and a Democrat. But I do not judge a community's right to relief and rebuild based on their political positions. The fact is that the Panhandle continues to suffer and no one seems to notice. This is the first article I have read to check in on the Panhandle. As someone who works for a national non profit, I know that churches as schools and businesses just barely got back into operation. That people are still without homes. Did you not see the pancake house in plastic and the McDonalds sign? The specific case of the prison and this one person does not mean that we should abandon our neighbors who are suffering. If a political litmus test defines which of our neighbors get aid and support in times of crisis, and which do not, we are all doomed.
16
@Ann Mellow I'm not sure what position you're reacting to here. I don't see any comments arguing that the government should refuse to help these communities because they're Trump supporters. On the contrary, they would be receiving much needed help if their president weren't holding the government hostage. So let's first recognize that this is a problem of their own making.
Are you arguing that we should not withhold sympathy? Well, that's something for each person to decide. I absolutely empathize with some of these families. It would be incredibly difficult to deal with the aftermath of a storm, a horrendous commute and long stretches away from home, *and* to have no money coming in. It's horrible situation to be in, and I wouldn't wish this on people just because they voted for Trump.
But is it unjust? Is it unfair? Not as unfair as it is for people who are hurting and didn't vote for this mess, or whose vote counted for less because of where they lived.
41
@Ann Mellow
You're right, and the level of malice and viciousness in these comments is remarkable. Tribalism at its worst.
2
As you sow, so shall you reap.
The last sentence in the article may answer your concerns for the well being of these folks.
“I voted for him, and he’s the one who’s doing this,” she said of Mr. Trump. “I thought he was going to do good things. He’s not hurting the people he needs to be hurting.”
16
Concluding quote in this story from Crystal Minton, a secretary in Florida who works for the federal prison system: “I voted for him, and he’s the one who’s doing this,” she said of Mr. Trump. “I thought he was going to do good things. He’s not hurting the people he needs to be hurting.” (And who are the people “he needs to be hurting” in her mind? I guess we can figure that out in a split second.) We get similar views, if less bluntly stated, from farmers and business owners who voted for Trump. The trade war is good only as long as it hurts other people. I guess Trump acolytes aren't big on shared sacrifice.
123
@Ellen Freilich
They have been quite happy to sacrifice individuals in both racial and religious minorities, women, disabled persons, members of the LGBTQ community, immigrants, those in need of asylum....
12
@Davina Yep. As Captain Louis Renault says in Casablanca, "Round up the usual suspects."
4
@Ellen Freilich
As inclined as I am to attribute the worst 'motivations' to 'the maga crowd,' in this instance I think Ms. Minton merely ('if' w/o 'art') meant that trump and his band-of-brothers-out-of-arms should be taxing themselves, i.e., the 'rich.'
But if 'given the chance' to say somethin' white-supremacyish …..
2
Quote: "he's not hurting the people that need hurting". Pretty well sums up the psychology of the prototypical Trump voter, the perfect Freudian slip. These are people that are not interested in a government that harms rather than helps.
58
@Ed
I don’t think it was a Freudian slip though. No mistake about it.
13
Pelosi is now being lionized by the establishment left as the greatest Speaker in this history of this country or any other.
Yet her counterattack to Trump’s immigration racism, bigotry, and wall fetish was to play right into the Republican narrative that Democrats support open borders and the rights of illegal immigrants over those of American citizens.
Pelosi’s faux-libuster on Dreamers caused people to ask “When was the last time Democrats went the extra mile for American citizens?”
When was the big faux-libuster for a
higher minimum wage or health care or bank regulation or any of the other bread and butter issues for regular Americans? When was the faux-libuster for the federal employee COLA?
People want a wall because they want their leaders to worry about them, American citizens, first.
Speaking for 8 hours in 4 inch heels supporting people (however sympathetic) who can’t vote isn’t just a poor footwear choice, it’s also a bad political choice.
Democrats, get serious on real immigration reform and enforcement (without bigotry, hatred, or an out of control ICE), or Trump will eventually win this war, even if he loses the shutdown battle. And losing to a fool like Trump is a pretty embarrassing prospect that I hate repeating over and over again.
7
@Objectively Subjective: You are misinformed about Pelosi's positions. For example, see this about the $15 minimum wage: https://www.politico.com/story/2017/05/25/democrats-2018-agenda-minimum-wage-increase-238828
3
If this article was meant to elicit feelings of empathy for Florida Panhandlers it did not work for me which makes me sad. These folks just need to pull themselves up by the bootstraps and while they are at it, prepare for the next hurricane which will surly come. Or maybe they should move, no stay where you are. I have no sympathy for these people. None. That comment - "He's not hurting the people he needs to be hurting." Words fail me. Completely.
68
@Steve Beck I am more than happy to fill in for you, for those words that fail you.
1
I drove through the panhandle just for trump was elected and it seemed every house had a Confederate flag and trump sign. Sorry rebels, you can't have your cake and eat it too.
89
Is a wall more important than a paycheck to put food in front of children? Trump will be fine eating caviar tonight, while these unpaid workers try to figure out 3 squares a day.
22
"He's not hurting the people he needs to be hurting." What does that even mean? Why didn't the reporter ask Ms. Minton to clarify who she thought needed to be "hurt"? Leaving readers to draw our own conclusions, fed by our personal biases, just contributes to divisiveness.
36
@OMGwhatNow The thing is, that no one NEEDS to be hurt. That is what everyone is having a problem with her meanspirited, small and vindictive comment - her belief that someone needs to be hurt. I may have different beliefs than others, but I certainly don't want anyone to be hurt. However, Ms. Minton does.
8
@Surviving I get what you're saying, and I agree. Thanks for pointing out the bigger problem, which is that Minton seems to think the president is justified in hurting people who (in her opinion) deserve it.
1
"He’s not hurting the people he needs to be hurting.”
- Ms. Minton
What people are this Trump voter referring to? And why do they always feel the need for someone to be hurt?
Who is acceptable to hurt?
Immigrants? The Media? Minorities? Democrats? Elites? Women? Children?
There is nobody Trump "needs to be hurting", yet needless cruelty is the hallmark of his administration.
I won't be watching Trump's performance later tonight.
I encourage the rest of you not to as well.
Don't feed Trump's ego with high ratings.
Turn the TV off.
The reviews in the paper tomorrow will be bad enough.
Stand strong. Democrats
Don't give in.
135
@D. DeMarco
I won't be watching. If he is talking he is lying. Sad but true.
14
" “I thought he was going to do good things. He’s not hurting the people he needs to be hurting.”
And still, even after the dawning of realization that their golden calf is simply fool's gold, they want others to be hurt. Religion has morphed into a very sick thing where hating "the other" and abusing children are simply new tenets of their faiths.
60
Remember the famous line, "Let them eat cake!"?
That didn't turn out so good for old Marie A.
If only we could be so lucky!
15
These are the people who want small government but make their living from the government. Ironic isn't it and hypocritical.
57
We are advised over and over by economists to keep an emergency fund in the bank to cover unpredictable events in life. Obviously this shut down will end and people will then be paid. Those who used their emergency money can then easily pay it back.
2
@Aaron Adams I guess you don't understand that for many people everything they take home goes to cover necessities.
There is nothing left to save.
37
@Aaron Adams Not everyone affected by the shutdown will get paid backpay. Contractors who work for the government do NOT get paid back pay. They simply don't get paid at all. They are out this money. Also, those businesses that depend on government workers/contractors for their income. Think about the towns near National Parks whose tourist dollars are their only income. Think about cafes/restaurants near large government facilities who depend on gov't workers for their income. How about gas stations in towns where gov't facilities are located? When gov't employees can't afford to drive, they can't afford to buy gas. None of these people will get any "back pay."
And no back pay will erase the stress of deciding whether you should pay the mortgage or a tank of oil this month. How do you choose between food or medicine you need? And what about the hits to your credit rating when you can't pay the mortgage on time? Or the credit card payments on time? No back pay will fix those things.
6
Ever heard of the phrase: Living Paycheck to Paycheck!
4
Ms. Minton says of Trump, "He’s not hurting the people he needs to be hurting.”
And just who would that be? Liberals? Minorities? Those who did not vote for him?
It never occurred to me to vote for a President based on who they would hurt. I always assumed it's a President's responsibility to unite us, to make our nation strong.
167
Who exactly is Trump SUPPOSED to hurt, in that person's thinking?
Although the hurricane was an act of nature, these people certainly have no one to blame for Trump but themselves.
44
“...He’s not hurting the people he needs to be hurting.” — what would Jesus do?
74
Veterans get preferred hiring for federal jobs. They compose perhaps 20% or so of the total and it would seem that those who are in Border patrol, secret service and TSA must have a good amount of veterans. After all, they have excellent security and firearms trading. Not paying them is about as non patriotic as you can get. And not hurting the people you need to be hurting? Who are you supposed to be hurting? Democrats? Non Christians? Non whites? Enlighten us.
42
I, and several other people in a group I'm associated with, donated time, money, clothing and food to people in the area affected by Hurricane Michael. We did this because it was basic human kindness and we knew, but chose not to consider the politics of the people involved.
I am sorry to say that I deeply regret that decision.
92
@RN. I donated money as well. I am deliberately and consciously working at not letting the attitudes, actions,and behaviors of trump voters damage my soul and psyche. it's hard sometimes.
2
White welfare queens, cruel Christians, award-winning hypocrites, and complete cognitive dissonance.
Make America Deplorable Again
Trump 2019
Nice people.
180
So, those whose mantra is smaller government are dependent on government and devastated by a government shutdown. I need more coffee.
156
@James
I moved here from RI 11 years ago, I keep asking myself why I didn't just keep driving. It is was pretty area before the Cat 5 Hurricane and it is unbelievably cheap to live here. Just don't mix with the local! Your brain cells die rapidly! The gene pool is rather shallow, lucky if you can dip your toe in!
10
@James I need more vodka but I don't think my liver can withstand the amount of vodka it takes to swallow this garbage.
3
"He’s not hurting the people he needs to be hurting.”
I didn't see a follow up question to that -- what people did she think he needed to be hurting? Did you ask her that question or should we all jump to our own conclusions?
192
@Mary My thoughts exactly! We definitely need a follow up on this. It's a really revealing statement worth investigating.
31
@Mary
What people should the President of the United States of America be hurting?
Enemies that we are at war with? Terrorists? OK.
But beyond that? Just who would you be OK with purposefully hurting as function of the government?
25
White conservatives have no problem with welfare, as long as it doesn’t benefit “others.”
It’s always been that way since the beginning.
50
This is an illuminating comment: “I thought he was going to do good things. He’s not hurting the people he needs to be hurting.”
It reflects the core hypocrisy of right-wing beliefs—an insistence on Christian religiosity combined with a lack of care for others that mock the teachings of Christianity.
441
@Michael Graca
Yes, a very illuminating comment and I believe it speaks volumes about why this segment of the population voted for Trump and will continue to support him. Trump is brutally spiteful and vengeful taking pleasure in hurting people with his counter punching behavior. Much or most of his base shares these beliefs and loves it when he fights back and "hurts the people he needs to be hurting." They have never seen a president who has done this and they can relate strongly is one who does. This kind of tribalism is very difficult to overcome. It is tragic in many respects including the fact that most of these people will never understand that Trump really couldn't care less about any of them.
102
@Michael Graca Turns out that that "other cheek" they talk about was someone else's cheek.
6
@Cynthia,
You are too kind in characterizing the Trump supporters' hate as "tribalism".
We all know who she was referring to regarding who "needs to be hurt".
And it ain't White people like her.
6
“I voted for him, and he’s the one who’s doing this,” she said of Mr. Trump. “I thought he was going to do good things. He’s not hurting the people he needs to be hurting.”
No, Mrs. Minton, your statement haplessly proves he IS hurting (at least some of) the people he needs to be hurting. It’s the one silver lining to come out of this Trump-owned debacle.
166
@Kip I don't think Mrs. Minton has been hurt anywhere nearly enough. I hope all of those who think like this, are granted by their deity the humility of which they are so desperately in need.
7
"He's not hurting the people he needs to be hurting."
Sums up the Republican strategy for governing pretty well, I think. What lovely people.
319
@Kevin L , exactly, what do you expect when you vote for someone who disregards women like he does. Still amazing to me that women actually voted for him, he's an abuser and you accepted it, what do you expect? He won't change, it's in his core, he can't change. You're just seing it from a different angle now because it affect you directly
33
@ML someone elsewhere on the intertubes made the very valid point that the women who voted for Trump were generally white women whose lifestyle and well-being rests upon attaching themselves to white male power and privilege.
9
A president who is interested in ALL of the people would not be aiming to hurt only one section or one party. A president should be concerned about how his policies will affect all Americans.
That someone objects to being hurt by the policies of the man they voted for but has no objection to others being hurt by them leaves me feeling more isolated and afraid for my and mine's future.
95
“I worry about the government pulling out of rural America,” says the city manager of a deeply conservative town, with utterly no trace of irony. You see, folks, “conservatism” has never been about small government; it’s about hoarding all the government’s resources for you and your kind. Once you understand that, the Republican Party becomes much more predictable.
381
@Jim It's also about coming with one's hand out for blue state dollars while screeching against everything we believe in. They're taking OUR money, then hoarding. If Lincoln had a crystal ball 160 years ago, one has to wonder if he would have been so quick to preserve the union. Based on what we know now, I would have let them go with bells on.
25
@Bluesheltie I won't get into it because it would be far too pedantic especially for a comments thread, but that would have been a bad idea.
I would suggest instead that Sherman didn't go anywhere nearly far enough.
6
Marianna is a typical GOP supporting region populated by poorly educated, economically challenged, and predominantly white residents. These are people dependent on the government and yet vote for a smaller government against their own interest. I bet their mentality is that the government should down-size as long as they are not affected by it.
213
Where is your Senator? Crickets. “the wall” aside, you voted for this chaos. What about his life and his campaign told you differently? Trump was a garish figure of local interest—a punch line on Page Six of New York tabloids, Lord of the Flies, before the advent of The Apprentice, designed specifically to improve his image for a reality tv show, turning him into a fictionalized icon of American success. Regrettably, this reality TV show star with an F in decency, nevermind policy, is who 63 million very gullible people thought would make a good president. There’s your great president.
145
@Sasnewport Don’t make the mistake of thinking in black and white. Many of the 63 million people that voted for Donald Trump were actually voting against Hillary Clinton. Consider this and consider being highly critical of the Democratic Party if you don’t ever want Trump and a bunch of greedy Republicans elected again. I have a feeling that we will revisit this if too many people are content with going back to Democratic Party governing status quo. The people are hurting and they want more Bernie Sanders and less Clinton.
2
Many people who don’t want Trump don’t want Bernie Sanders either. I think the wise choice would be to get over the 2016 election and to pray there is a better choice in general in 2020. I try to calm my own fears by reminding myself that almost anyone would be better than Trump. Unfortunately, after 2016, I know that there are too many people who can’t recognize the worst case scenario and then reliably vote for the candidate most likely to prevent that worst case from occurring.
3
@Louise Cavanaugh Democrats thinking inside the same box and doing things pretty muc the same way as before Trump and the Republicans will only assure us another Trump and Republicans. If we are going to go backwards we have to go as far back as the New Deal, going back to Obama / Clinton “compromise with crazy Republicans because that’s what our big money donors want” will end in a Bush or a Trump getting elected again.
If HRC were president or any other Democrat, the money couldn’t come fast enough. Congress would be throwing money at the President, and the word deficit would never be heard. They want to deny him the ability to keep a campaign promise because they are hoping to weaken his bid in 2020. This is politics at its most vile. Yes, someone is to blame, but it’s not Trump.
1
Hey TD,
You’re pretty quick to spend everyone else’s money. Which country did Trump repeatedly promise would pay for a wall?
230
Trump promised GREAT healthcare too. See any of that happening? Since when is it one party's job to help the other honor campaign promises?? Especially when they're a stupid waste of money? The Trump admin passed a huge tax cut that benefited the wealthy and blew an even bigger hole in the deficit. The only one weakening his 2020 bid is trump himself.
77
@TD
Cause we never had a shutdown when we had a democratic president. I don’t remember Republican congresses throwing money at democratic presidents. And in this case, some republicans don’t want to pay for a symbolic wall. Border security, yes. Policies that work, yes. Symbolism, no. If you want symbolism, read a novel.
44
Trump said he can relate but thought also only Dems don't get a paycheck.
But what do people expect from these illogical statements? After all, people should have more than two years to get used to them. But they don't until the rock fell on their own foot.
Trying hard not to be schadenfreude, for these folks are just regular folks trying hard to provide a good life for the children - not unlike those illegal immigrants trying to better home for their children in a strange land - but they are not dissimilar some of the prisoners who have committed crimes because of drug addiction they guard against at the prison.
Trump is their opioid addiction. His illogical us-versus-them "immigrants are all criminals" kind of red meat statements stimulate the primitive part of people's brain that they give up rational and even empathetic responses to follow Trump and other pied pipers. Now, they are half way off the cliff and some realize maybe they are marching to someone else's tune while others are still addled to understand their own deeds. Some call this Karma or reap-what-you-sow but it is incredibly sad nonetheless
76
@Bos
My theory is that he's their drug - when he validates their feelings of victimhood by modeling a victim mentality, they get a blast of dopamine.
Guess their hit isn't as powerful as it usedto be..
3
“I voted for him, and he’s the one who’s doing this,” she said of Mr. Trump. “I thought he was going to do good things. He’s not hurting the people he needs to be hurting.”
And there you have it. I had a tiny bit of sympathy for Ms. Minton, and then she pops off like that. The mind of a trump supporter.....I don't care who he hurts, as long as it isn't me. The American spiral downward continues apace
417
Oh, she cares who he hurts. Note the use of the word “needs” in reference to whomever she thinks should be being hurt. Trump’s words attacking and belittling others during the primaries (and continuing to today) were what got him elected. I’m sure he’s got some choice ones queued up for this evening’s address. I’ll take a pass on listening to that malignant and ignorant rant.
20
The shutdown on top of the hurricane has caused Ms. Minton to rethink a lot of things.
“I voted for him, and he’s the one who’s doing this,” she said of Mr. Trump. “I thought he was going to do good things. He’s not hurting the people he needs to be hurting.”
- No sympathy for the devil. Buy the ticket, take the ride
235
@Jonathan And they will all vote for him again in 2020.
3
Congress should offer matching what mexico pays for the wall as a compromise up to $10 billion. How can trump say no - then its back on him to get money from mexico!
35
"He’s not hurting the people he needs to be hurting.”
I know I've commented on this as an underlying attitude of Republican voters, as well as have some editorialists, where it doesn't get much attention but here is Republican voter saying it out loud.
People need to be hurt by vindictive and vengeful policies. It's not enough to 'win' or to implement Republican ideals but that others must suffer for it. If you lose its not enough that you don't get to govern but you need to be punished for it.
The President is not the president of just one party or of his base. The president is the president for all the people of America.
592
@Marie
But you see, he is hurting his supporters who deserve to be hurt.
7
@Marie:
NOT THIS President!
4
@Marie Although, as I'm sure you know, "this" president is not even president for the suckers who voted for him - much less for the rest of us. He's in it purely for self-aggrandizement and self-enrichment.
13
The 123 million people who voted in the 2016 election - 60 million who voted for this president and 63 million who didn't -
should join together and demand that Congress do its job by exercising their restraining power on this president before we reach a point where there will no longer be three equal parts of the government as stated in the costitution.
42
@Tom Osterman When you add in the 50% of eligible voters who did not vote, 50% + 23% = ~75% of eligible voters who did not vote for Lump.
Just 1/4 of the adult pooulation got us to this horrific point.
16
'...instead blaming the impasse on both Republicans and Democrats in Congress who have failed to reach any agreement.
“You can point fingers at both sides,” said Jason Griffin, 44. “I point fingers at everyone. If they want to get something done, they can.”'
I appreciate this gentleman's frustration, but he needs to follow the news more closely and turn off Fox. The truth is the president refused to sign bipartisan bills to prevent a shutdown, including a bill that passed the Senate 100-0. The truth is that the president, after agreeing to a deal with Democrats more than a year ago that secured him a multiple billions for his wall in return to securing a path to citizenship for the Dreamers, the next day backed out of the deal.
The issue here is the president, in whom Mr. Griffin is expressing such confidence. I suggest he contact Mitch McConnell's office and demand that he bring to the floor the bills the House is now passing to reopen the government and insist that all the Republicans vote for them, securing a veto-proof majority. He should then contact the White House directly and demand the president sign those bills.
If the president vetoes them? Mr. Griffin should again contact McConnell's office and demand the veto be overturned.
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@Davina I wish NYT had a ”love” button-your comment is spot on!
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@Leslie I am sure Jason Griffin doesn't have the first clue about what has happened or how this works or how to even contact his elected officials.
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I find the assumption that Border Patrol all want the wall because they are other federal workers interesting. Some of them certainly do, but others would like other things - more agents, more electronic monitoring (and probably better supported asylum & court systems in which to move cases along).
As to Trump hurting the wrong people: I'm sorry for people's suffering (especially the children), but my empathy has its limits when Trump's behavior causes hurt & folks still think he's the greatest thing since sliced bread. If a voter continues to love him in such circumstances, then they ought to tighten their belts & comfort themselves with the 'sure & certain knowledge that they are making America great again.'
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@Anne-Marie Hislop: There is a predominant culture among uniformed services, like the infamous "blue wall" among cops, for instance. So-called "solidarity" with other uniformed services is drummed into them, as are many attitudes and beliefs that are practically inescapable during a career. If an individual service member is a "free thinker" he or she learns to be rather circumspect about expressing those views to colleagues, and enjoys only precious few opportunities to act on those beliefs. Unit cohesion and discipline are paramount. I saw that in the military during 'Nam, and I see it in the faces and voices of the sheriffs and Border patrol agents I shoot with and practice along side of at the rifle range. Take some small comfort in the fact that many of them hold a low opinion of Trump and his activities as individuals.
Our area here is, of course, ground zero for the "immigration problem", only for most of us it's not a problem. For most of us, the shutdown is much more of a problem, given the extremely large population of uniformed services, retired military, etc who live here and depend on the many Mexican and other hispanic people whose goods and services keep us going.
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@EricR This is a deeply insightful comment. I was just thinking of the farmers, whose incomes have been hammered by soy and corn prices due to the Chinese tariffs, and how muted their criticism has been- always prefaced with 'His hearts in the right place' or 'I just wish he'd stay off twitter' before justifying some incredibly poor decision by this administration. I think the next step will be some version of 'I supported his policies but he was the wrong man for the job'. In other words, a better more sanitized version of Trump, but with the same outcomes.
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“He’s not hurting the people he needs to be hurting.”
Mindset of trump voters, captured in a single sentence. Bravo!
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@a I can imagine Trump cultists reading that line and saying to themselves, "you're not supposed to say that out loud! Inside voice!"
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I'm going to actually give her the benefit of the doubt on this one and say she means he's supposed to be draining the swamp as they say and hurting the fat cats not the little guy... That being said Trump voters clearly are pretty clueless about cause and effect.
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@a: Exactly! I'm surprised she said it out loud. Right-wing thugs usually try to hide their real beliefs behind euphemisms.
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Thanks for noticing places here like Marianna, where the main employers are prisons or parks, and the salaries support family farms. Most people have no idea of the existence of communities of the panhandle which live this way.
Our president has no idea, period. Certainly none at all about the way of life of people at his rallies after they go home.
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@Mac
Mac, you are right. But some large minority of Americans still vote for and support him even though it goes totally against their best interests... and they continue to defend him!
We have met the enemy and it is us.
Is America that hopeless?
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Don't forget the large military installations in the panhandle too and all the military retires living there. The hypocrisy of white conservatives is very difficult to stomach. I have had military retires tell me that the military is not really part of the government. I nearly spit my coffee out on that one. The mental gymnastics required to be a conservative these days is at times downright laugh out loud funny.
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@Mac While I feel sorry for the people of Marianna, like another poster said about his charitable giving, I send money every month to a boy in Guatemala so he had the basics and can get an education. I’ve been doing it for years and he finished school and is now well on his way to becoming a nurse.
Why do I this? Because he wants to be in Guatemala and wants to stay and help the people there. So one of the best ways to help end the situation at the border is to lift up the people of these nations to achieve their dreams.
That encapsulates why I don’t give to causes helping rural areas like the panhandle. They would take the money and continue to vote GOP which is against their self-interest. That would be giving money against my self-interest.
I’ll reconsider if the people of the Panhandle and other areas start to vote in a different manner, but until such time I’ll keep sending money to Guatemala. I’m even considering adding a second Central American child now that the current one is nearly grown.
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A comprehensive, unbiased analysis is needed that identifies the pros/cons of building a wall vs. simply maintaining the current fence system. Various questions need to be answered, including:
Is there any increased security provided by building a wall?
Are there technological solutions (cameras; sensing devices; other electronic systems) that are less expensive than a wall that would provide a similar degree of border security?
What are the overall costs to build and maintain a concrete or steel wall over the entire border and/or over a significant portion of the border where illegal crossings have been shown to regularly occur?
Would border patrolling still be needed to maintain border security?
How would tunneling and climbing over be prevented by building a wall?
Would increased border patrolling provide sufficient border security at a lower cost than a wall?
These and other questions need to be asked and answered, backed up with data developed in a scientifically rigorous manner, before being able to answer with certainty how a wall compares against the current fencing system.
Only then will the administration be able to convince Congress, the Senate, and indeed the country on the pros and cons of investing billions of our tax dollars towards building a border wall.
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@Ed
Somehow, I like the idea of policy through evidence and proof, but the entire idea of applying a scientific framework to the policies popping up now just doesn't seem to make sense, given the emotional state of the electorate, whipped up by politicians -- especially the president.
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Trump and conservatives in general and most especially his base do not handle complexity well. Always beware a leader who espouses simple solutions to complex problems. This scenario has never ended well throughout human history.
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@Ed I am 100% sure these data do exist, but that they are not being used to make the decisions - emotions and ideology are.
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Wait a minute. According to conservative politics, that federal prison should be privatized and paying minimum wages with no benefits, farmers should not be getting government subsidies, and taxes should be at a level so low that FEMA wouldn't exist. I'd like to donate some money, but I've already donated all I can to amnesty international to help the refugees at our border, and the rest of my income goes to higher property taxes because the 1% don't pay their fair share.
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@Peter
Sir, if you believe that the 1% does not pay their fair share, I strongly recommend that you review official IRS statistics. It will be enlightening, I promise.
@WLS
Well, my taxes increased $4000 this year so the 1% could get a tax break.
And I am pretty sure that the $4000 I would have had to spend would have gone into the economy rather than into coffers with more zeros than I will ever see or stock buy backs.
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@WLS
Please see Dr. Krugman's column on diminishing marginal returns...
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Maybe they would be a little better off if they had voted democrat for senator and governor. No sympathy from me.
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There still was a hurricane!
Oh, wasn't the problem supposed to be too much big government?
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@winteca
Big government is only bad when it helps "those people."
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I live in Panama City, south of Marianna. We were devastated as well by the Hurricane. Our county, as well as most of the FL Panhandle, is often referred to as Lower Alabama (L.A) and is the a Bible Belt region that went all out for Trump. This last line in this piece by Marianna resident Crystal Sims is a devastating reflection of many of the people of the Florida Panhandle: "He’s not hurting the people he needs to be hurting.” I wish the reporters had asked her who Trump is supposed to be hurting, and if hurting people is why she voted for him. I'd like some clarity on this.
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@Aliguator Correction - the quote was by Crystal Minton. Wish I could edit the original post :)
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I had the exact same thought.
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Exactly. That was what struck me as well. Since when is it the President’s job to “hurt people”? I thought he was everybody’s President.
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Trump has a habit of not paying the people who worked for him. So what else would you expect?
The voters had plenty of opportunities to learn what he was like. There was a Republican Primary, if they must choose an "R". He is what they chose. They wanted the chance to hurt someone. They heard his rhetoric, full of hate and urging bloodshed, and chose him. That chance to hurt mattered more than anything else.
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@cls they wanted revenge for having to suffer through eight years of a black man occupying the White Man's House. Period, paragraph, end of sentence.
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It amazes me to listen to these people who are most hurt by Trump continue to support him regardless of how much he hurts them. Trump supporters must be the most self destructive people I have ever known of.
And have any of these people actually ever looked at a map to see the length this wall must be to stretch from the Gulf to the Pacific through 3 states? It would be a project more expensive and difficult than settling Mars with humans.
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@Keith Orndoff what a silly question, Keith! Isn't it clear by now that these people will have no truck with facts and reason and rationality? It's all lizard brain with them.
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Trump repeatedly and intentionally stiffed contractors, employees, customers and investors throughout his "business" career for personal gain. Now he does the same as president, inflicting damage on millions of his supporters and opponents alike. No surprise, and he will continue to wreak havoc until he is removed. So what are you waiting for, Congress?
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"...not hurting the people he should be hurting." That Trump voter had a ton of my sympathy until she said that.
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Or maybe he is hurting the people who depend on the federal government but don't see themselves as "those people". Maybe they will open their eyes a bit but probably not....
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It amazes me when voters of the panhandle and other southern regions , vote against their own interests just to satisfy their tribalism.
The people that depend on the Federal government for employment, social services, Medicaid and disability assistance are the voters that are being bamboozled by their pastors and community into supporting an inheritance benefited wealthy conman that couldn't care less about them.
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@Del
Trump didn't just win the majority of white votes in the 'southern regions.' Reexamine the electoral maps from 2016. He won the majority of white voters, period.
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I didn't discuss the color of the Voters skin in the panhandle of Florida or certain areas of the South. I simply stated that people vote against their own interests. They love the so-called "socialism" that provides their paychecks and federal government assistance. They drive on Federally maintained highways,..ect, they need FEMA after hurricanes and flooding, they need "socialism" more than they understand. I don't need to discuss a human beings race that happens to be an American citizen.
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Hillary won the white vote in only 8 states: ME, VT, MA, DC, WA, OR, CA and HI.
And she won minorities in all 50 states.
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“I voted for him, and he’s the one who’s doing this,” she said of Mr. Trump. “I thought he was going to do good things. He’s not hurting the people he needs to hurting."
Proverbs 26:27 "Whoever digs a pit will fall into it, and he who rolls a stone will have it roll back on him." Amen.
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@Gail "...not hurting the people he needs to be hurting..."
A brief glance into a dark heart.
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@Gail I am happy to give the people who think like this a helping hand into that pit.
And then fill it in.
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If the spoiled toddler king doesn’t get his toy and keeps the tantrum up for “months” or even “ years”, apparently even that won’t be enough for his supporters to stop blaming everyone but him. I wonder at both the lack of education and curiosity that produces lockstep citizens who seem to have no idea how our government works or the essential nature of checks-and-balances. I wonder how many folks in Marianna watch, read or hear no news outside Fox or conservative talk radio. As these hard-working families and others like them go deeper into debt while the baby pouts, will his state-run media tools ever tell them that BOTH parties, as well as the baby himself, were ready to sign legislation that would have made their hardships unnecessary? Will they ever realize that it was the baby’s news media nannies who screamed and shouted and said the magic wall was more important than anything else, including their jobs and farms?
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@LindaWV You and Joe Manchin must be the only Democrats left in WV. Hang in there.
Living 45 minutes north of WV - and therefore being attuned to the state to some degree - while I understand the antipathy towards the thinking that Obama alone crashed the coal industry (Hint: A lot of it was due to combined cycle power gen and the cheap natural gas) I am unable to get past the hurdle as to why the people of WV didn’t realize the coal was/is pretty much done, steel wasn’t coming back and that voting Democrat would have served their self-interest better.
I just shake my head and think: The bogeymen that the GOP are trotting out to the good people of West Virginia aren’t the bogeyman our to destroy WV, it’s the GOP politicians (policies) WV is voting for. Why can’t the people of WV see this?
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@Paul, my family and I are continually mystified by these questions. It's not just in WV either. All over the country, with the exception of the very wealthy, the folks who support trump heart and soul are the very people who stand to be most hurt by GOP policies (whether current or truly conservative). Add to that how many folks who need welfare don't vote (yes, I understand the roadblocks but they do manage to fill out paperwork for assistance so there has to be a degree of antipathy or resignation---why bother?---involved too), and sometimes I wonder why we keep fighting for the multitudes who seem to consistently fight against themselves.
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This is a microcosm of what continues to happen throughout the country as a whole!
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Hint- work in the private sector and dine be reliant in the government, much easier.
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@There
If you live in the US, you are reliant on a government somewhere. Even the private sector would evaporate without government investment.
Because mountain men don't use roads or drink tap water.
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Easier said than done.
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@There what about area private businesses, like restaurants, losing money because people can’t afford to buy anything? It doesn’t work that way.
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Hundreds of times Trump stated as simply as he could so even his base could understand that Mexico would pay for the wall. Where I ask is their outrage that we must now pay.
By the way why haven't these federal prisons been privatised and the guards paid minimum wage with no benefits? That is conservative economic doctrine, guess that just applies to brown skinned workers in non rural parts of the country. The hypocrisy of Trump supporters makes it very difficult to feel any sympathy for them.
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@Chris as mentioned multiple times in the comments, I guess the brown skinned workers were the ones Trump was “supposed to be hurting.”
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@Chris I've asked Trump cultists this very question. Most of them attempt to change the subject, telling in and of itself.
The few who dare to answer it simply say, 'eh, so what, where was your outrage when Obama/Hillary lied about X?'
Leaving aside whether Obama/Hillary actually lied about X... I am certain they never shut down the government for weeks and brought harm to millions (not to mention to continue to erode the reputation and prestige of this once-great nation) because of their lie.
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Our republican citizens have to adhere to republican orthodoxy and stop living off big government tax payer funded jobs... and stop whining about it. Remember, government is bad. A free, unregulated market is good. Government jobs and functions like jails, schools, dept of agriculture are really just socialism.
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These people are getting what they voted for, or to paraphrase the Trump voter quoted in the article, President Trump IS hurting the people he NEEDS to be hurting:
the people who deny climate change so they vote in climate change deniers
The people who scream for less government, then suffer because they have less government
The people who fell for Trump's lies, because they didn't care to look (for even a minute or two) at the "negative" (i.e. fact-based) reporting about their guy. You knew who he was, if you only bothered to look.
And now your lives are torn about, your town is in shambles, and no one is there to help.
You get what you vote for.
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@Chris sadly they will do it again. The next guy might have a different name and better hair and be a more competent fascist. But they'll fall for it all over again. #WASF
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“He’s not hurting the people he needs to be hurting.”
Not “helping” — hurting. This is the mindset of the Republican party. Disgraceful.
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@FlipFlop, a classic “Freudian slip”. Priceless. Except the people who most need to understand the implications are immune to understanding. It dovetails with the observation that the Trump administration is geared toward destruction, not creation.
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@FlipFlop if only these people were capable of shame, or self-awareness.
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To the contrary, he is hitting his base in the only place that matters: their wallet.
Keep it up, Don!
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All Trump has to do is get Mexico to pay for his wall like he said he would do and his self-manufactured crisis would be over.
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“I thought he was going to do good things. He’s not hurting the people he needs to be hurting.”
What President needs to be 'hurting' anyone?
I'm very curious what she meant by saying such a thing?
A president should be trying to help all he or she can, without harming this Nation as a whole.
For the president to say it's Democrats not being paid means we should audit who is getting furloughed and who isn't and if there truly is a preponderance of Democrats beyond the statistical norm, it needs to come to light.
I don't understand how fingers can be pointed at both sides or anyone can believe such a thing. The shutdown began when the Republicans owned the government lock, stock, and barrel. To not understand this is an ignorance logic or facts will not be able to overcome.
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The people in this town are conservative Republicans and richly deserve the fate they freely chose. And they still don't get it. How is the human brain capable of such dysfunction?
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@Carol Merkin I have wondered that since childhood when I saw the adults that I babysat for enthusiastically embrace Reagan while losing all manner of money and dignity to "the next Prince charming", lottery tickets, and pyramid/multilevel marketing schemes. They want to believe in believing because reality is just to hard to look in the eye.
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“I voted for him, and he’s the one who’s doing this,” she said of Mr. Trump. “I thought he was going to do good things. He’s not hurting the people he needs to be hurting.”
Its not enough to win but "others" must lose
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“I voted for him, and he’s the one who’s doing this,” she said of Mr. Trump. “I thought he was going to do good things. He’s not hurting the people he needs to be hurting.”
they’re saying: we’re okay cruelty directed at others but not us. They’re surprised they’d be tossed aside as collateral damage. They’re surprised to find the billionaire who squandered his inherited wealth doesn’t really care if they suffer. Come to find out he thinks like they do...”as long as it doesn’t hurt me.”
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@Jack Hutton and it ain't like we didn't try to warn them either. I have Team Trump partisans in my own family who are finally questioning their own judgement now that the chickens have come to roost. In fact one just preemptively said "Yeah, you told me so".
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@Jack Hutton
It's not just "we're ok with cruelty directed at others." She voted for him because she thought he would be cruel to the people who "needed" to suffer cruelty. Cruelty is the feature, not an acceptable bug.
This is the ugly essence of the matter. It's a human failing to blame all your troubles on "those" people, and to celebrate when "they" suffer. We probably all feel that way sometimes, but most of us also recognize how weak and selfish and false it is. But the Republican Party under Trump has elevated this weakness into a core principle. Trump rallies are ecstatic celebrations of it. "Punch him in the face." "Lock her up."
This unfortunate woman has inadvertently spoken the truth in a way that deserves to become famous.
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@Multimodalmama take it one step further next time you hear this. Ask them, 'so will you vote differently next time a politician comes along fearmongering about The Other and attempting to push your racist buttons?'
I am quite done with regrets not followed up with changes in behavior.
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' Though Mr. Trump said on Twitter over the weekend that “most of the workers not getting paid are Democrats,” that is far from true in places like Jackson County, Fla., '
That is far from true anywhere in the USA and an example of Trump's irresponsible lying and grandstanding re this partisan shutdown.
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It won't be long before federal employees go after trump's "billions." I'm sure they will become punitive towards a president singlehandedly bankrupting them.
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