Great letter says it all...

[Playingmantis]

Last edited Sun Oct 26, 2025, 06:50 PM - Edit history (1)

I used to wonder how it was possible that Trump could have won in 2016, and this second time in 2024 given how emotionally toxic and depraved he is.
I no longer do. I actually think he won, for that precise reason. Because he had at least one fucked-up part to mirror the fucked-up parts of millions.

If you are a racist, you found your guy. If you are a misogynist, you found your guy. If all you care about is money, you found your guy. If you have an emotionally armored heart, you found your guy. If you make fun of disabled people, you found your guy. If you hate intelligent people, you found your guy. If you are a rapist, you found your guy. If you like golden showers with Russian sex-workers, you found your guy.

If you have not done a stitch of work on your emotional issues, you found your guy. If you are a serial cheater, you found your guy. If you are a perpetual bankrupt, you found your guy. If you don’t pay people for their honest work, you found your guy. If you are a hustler and a conman, you found your guy. If you mock people’s physical appearances, you found your guy.

If you long for a toxic Daddy, you found your guy. If you are dissociated and disembodied, you found your guy. If you are unconscionable in all your economic dealings, you found your guy. If you lie day and night, you found your guy. If you have never eaten green vegetables, you found your guy. If you are a white supremacist, you found your guy. If you have a hole in your ego so big that not even the presidency could fill it, you found your guy. If you are a sociopath, and care not one iota about other humans, you found your guy.

If he only had two of these issues, he never would have won. It was the fact that he had hundreds of them, that made him the winner. Because millions of humans are toxic. So they could relate to him, in one form or another.
It's never been about trump. It's always been about the people who finally have their twisted feelings about others validated. trump has given "those people" permission to disparage and hate their fellow human beings.

trump is only symptomatic of a much larger issue of a collective toxicity. If there is a single sentence that characterizes trump it is this: “He says the things I’m thinking.”

That may be what is so terrifying. Who knew that so many tens of millions of Americans were thinking unconscionable things about their fellow Americans?
Who knew that tens of millions men felt so emasculated by women and challenged by minorities? Who knew that after years of seeming progress on race and gender, tens of millions of white Americans lived in seething resentment, waiting for a demagogue to arrive who would legitimize their worst selves and channel them into political power?
Perhaps we had been living in a fool’s paradise.
Now we aren’t.

&lc=UgyRa4wW_Zbz5_IZ9y54AaABAg

[RainCaster]

1. This says it all!

I've felt like this for years now. It's so clearly spelled out here.

[calimary]

3. But now it's becoming an increasingly harsh reality,

at least to those willing to recognize it.

But you know what they say about denial. It ain’t just a river in Egypt.

GREAT post, Playingmantis!

[appmanga]

2. "Who knew that so many tens of millions of Americans were thinking unconscionable things about their fellow Americans?"

Tens of millions of other Americans who happen to be black knew it. Just like they know how galling it is for so many people who purport to be allies to have written off Trump's election to "the price of eggs".

The bottom line comes from Tom Waits: "You gotta keep the Devil way down in the hole".

[es466]

4. Excellent post -- this really gets to the heart of the matter

I've long thought that there has to be something wrong with people who insist on cheerleading everything this guy (and his maladministration) says and does, and this explains it very well. It's like the people who are his hardcore supporters are mostly hardwired to be assholes, and supporting Trump gives them the ability to indulge in that while hiding behind politics.

[proud patriot]

5. Yup

Just shared this

[mjvpi]

6. A Big Tent for assholes

[summer_in_TX]

7. If you hate others' freedom, you found your guy.

If you hate the work of figuring out who to vote for, you found the guy to take that burden and guilt off your shoulders.

A group of us were discussing Erich Fromm's The Fear of Freedom today. Made me realize that when Trump promised that group of Christians they'd never have to vote again, they probably were glad about it.

[erronis]

8. Absolutely. Thanks for tying in Fromm to this.

[rubbersole]

9. That's so spot on.

It also explains why people stick with him as he deteriorates mentally. He's always been batshit crazy. He's more batshit crazy now. They see it and just don't care. Scary, actually.

[NoKingsOrPsychopaths]

10. Nailed it!

Let's keep it going. If you're dumb as a rock, you found your guy. If you are a *bigot,* you found your guy. If you are hell-bent on revenge for the every perceived injury, you found your guy.
SUPERB post, Playingmantis!

[Playingmantis]

15. Thanks

[CTyankee]

11. Don't forget the religiously insane. Driven to vote for Trump due to your religion's toxic effect on you.

Our computer guy is an example. He also has involuntary jerking of his head, I guess a form of dyskinesia (sp.??). Sometimes it is bad but sometimes not even noticeable. It's like a nonverbal stutter. He is in church all day on Sundays. He calls himself a Lutheran.

[Alice B.]

12. This post is everything. It's not about policy. It's permission.

I can’t even articulate how crushing that is to contemplate. So I try to remember (accurately or not), that more people stayed home than voted for him.

[Emile]

13. That was great. Thanks for sharing it!

[Silent Type]

14. I'm wondering who trump will anoint/endorse for 2028? He won't run, but he'll find someone to take his place

and preserve his reign of terror.