This op-ed piece sums it up pretty well:
Many of these people voted for Trump not because they like him or his policies, but because they just wanted to put up a gigantic middle finger in the face of the establishment and the mainstream media. Whether or not Trump is really such a middle finger is highly questionable, but that’s not the point. The point is enough people didn’t buy into the hysterical claims about Trump in the run up to the election, otherwise he wouldn’t have won. The lesson Trump opposition should have learned from Hillary’s loss is that the “just act like insane lunatics” approach to Trump doesn’t work against him. This would’ve been the logical conclusion reached upon genuine reflection and introspection, but this is not what happened.
Indeed, what many so called “liberals” have done in their post-election meltdown is fully embrace exactly what they have always accused the opposition of being — warmongering, racist, hateful, insensitive lunatics. In their clouded hysteria, many of these people are turning into the monsters they claim to be fighting.
racist? hateful? lunatics?
Most of the people who oppose Trump and what he's done and what he's doing, have very specific reasons for their opposition. We don't believe that one should call the CIA corrupt, simply because it puts out information that Trump disagrees with. We don't agree with his appointments, or the approach he takes to singling out private citizens for attack on twitter. We don't agree with how free and loose he plays it with the truth.
When we take issue with folks we disagree with, by and large (not all of us), do so on the issues. If you feel any sense of ridicule, it's because the perception is that the positions you're taking are unreasonable. Perhaps it's being overdone by folks who disagree, but the stakes are pretty high.
But I agree...most folks I know voted for trump as a middle finger to the establishment, to liberals, to PC culture, etc. But what they didn't do was vote in support of Trumps platforms, by and large. They voted for their own ideals, and they HOPE that Trump does stuff that they'll like. They're willing to roll the dice with him in a way that I never would be comfortable doing.
IF they are able to vote for him with that mindset, but also carry a critical eye with them into his presidency regarding how he's doing, and whether it's good for America, that's a good thing. But if they, like many here seem to beleive you're doing, lose track of any frame of reference beyond what trump is saying, it becomes a bad thing because they'll just end up supporting whatever he says and wants to do, however bad for America it might be.
When you invalidate all sources of information except for the ones you agree with or that Trump doesn't attack, what you're left with is essentially the equivalent of a China or Russia situation, self-imposed, where the only content you take in is that which is "state approved".
