Name:   copperline - Subject:   Warning: verbose Anti-Trump post ahead...;) Date:   9/12/2016 11:40:39 AM

Some time ago, Hodja wrote that I just didn’t understand what Trump supporters saw in their candidate, and I have to say I agreed with him.   Since then I have spent a good bit of time thinking about what he had to say.

At about the same time, my nephew sent me an internet meme entitled “Donald Trump is like your drunken uncle”… a funny send-up of Trump’s brash and often poorly considered pronouncements in his campaign speeches.  It was pretty funny, but got me to thinking about the relationship between Trump supporters and their candidate.

It occurred to me that Trump supporters have a similar relationship with him that a family might have with an active alcoholic. 

If you are married to an active alcoholic, there are several things you tend to do in order to cope with that very bad situation.   When they act inappropriately, you tolerate it but experience  a lot of embarrassment.  When the alcoholic is rude or even aggressive toward other people, you smooth it over with excuses.   When the alcoholic does things that are dangerous, even damaging, to the family… you try to do damage control, smoothing it over, talking to the offended people with the intention of decreasing their upset & outrage.    And when the alcoholic does things that are clearly against your personal interests, you are silently angry but publically tolerant and accepting.

The problem with having a relationship with an alcoholic is usually that you can’t easily get out of it, feel a great deal of worry about the correct course of action, and have lots of doubt.    Frequently you think the outcome of leaving could be worse than the humiliations and risks of staying put.    Family members can be very loyal, even if it is not in their best interests to do so.

So it is with Trump supporters.

As Trump continues to careen down the campaign path, taking brash rhetorical shots at ‘enemies’  and picking unnecessary fights, he is also much like the alcoholic who ...stinging from criticism of their actions … seeks to repeatedly  justify and defend their past behaviors.   For instance, Trump returns to discuss incidents when his supporters wish he would just move on  pass that… like the Megan Kelly or John McCain mis-steps that he brings back up in speeches.   The only apparent reason for doing this is to defend himself by saying once again that he was not doing anything wrong…but by doing so he simply underscores what his supporters know:   he shouldn’t have done that in the first place.    At other times, Trump will be confronted with things he has said & done, & his response comes down to “I don’t remember doing that”.   Family members of alcoholics are really familiar with that excuse.

Now Trump doesn’t drink alcohol at all, nor does he appear high.   Instead, he appears to be intoxicated on something  else that affects his judgement and is so highly desirable that he seeks it out constantly… even to his own detriment and the detriment of people who have come to count on him.   Trump’s drug of choice is the adrenaline that comes from hearing the cheers of his crowds….. the attention, adoration, perhaps the power that comes with great wealth & recognition.  It’s a heady mix that it warps his sense of judgement and how he feels about his responsibilities toward those people who count on him to be steady & mature. 

If you don’t think he gets intoxicated by the attention & adulation of his crowds, look at how he spins “off message” when he leaves teleprompter speeches and riffs off the top of his head ….spurred on by the reactions he is getting from the crowd.     He simply follows the applause lines, continuing to elaborate on topics that his campaign advisors repeatedly tell him to stay away from because he says too much and strays away from coherent, relevant campaign messages.   Trump ignores this advice because he likes to hear the applause so much that he lives for it, and nothing else matters except the feeling that his people love him, respect him,   they make him feel both powerful & vindicated.   When Trump is being foolish, he is unaware of it…. Like your drunken uncle.

With only a few months left in the campaign, you actually hear quotes from  experienced GOP professionals talking about whether Trump needs an “intervention”…. A direct reference to the idea that they see him in the same light as my analogy suggests.   Trump is like the out of control alcoholic who keeps going while  his supporters want to believe he will someday change of his own accord, magically transforming himself into “the person we all knew he could be”.   That futile hope sadly describes  many an alcoholic’s family perfectly.   They are trying to love him but have to ignore, tolerate, or excuse a vast amount of factual behavior to do so.  They are trying to live with the discomfort they feel at him, and just hope nobody gets hurt too badly in the meantime.  

And as some family members continue to do this,….ignoring what they see, tolerating what they hear…. they can gradually appear to be as out of touch with reality as the alcoholic themselves.