"Voting for a felon should be unconstitutional. I hope everyone who voted for him loses everything financially, emotionally, socially, and psychologically. There needs to be a price to be paid for destroying America with a vote."-WaPo Comment
"Many of the millions that voted Trump into office did not vote for him. They voted against a black/Asian woman and for white male supremacy. But that vote came with more than many bargained for. It also came with exposure of the fear of change without understanding the cost they would personally have to bear thinking they were only protecting their self interest."- NY Times comment
The news in a recent WSJ piece ('Trump's Pope Feud Divides Catholics', WSJ, April 18-19, p. A4) was simply astounding - even to a former Catholic. How in the hell could “60 percent of white Roman Catholics” have voted for Trump in 2024, many of whom still take his side against the Pope? Cognitive dissonance, gullibility, inherent lower IQ and an inclination to white supremacist skullduggery are several possible reasons. But one could also cut to the chase and reduce the multiplicity of explanations to a core of citizen betrayal of the Constitution itself.
"They shunned their responsibility as Americans, they rejected the teachings of their faith tradition, and they abandoned any kind of moral footing by enabling the ascension of a felon-rapist-scumbag mobster who lacks a single noble impulse. Through whatever combination of racism, misogyny, prejudice, intellectual ignorance, and plain old hatred, they willfully coronated him."
When one dives into current articles on how the citizen betrayal has played out in real time, one need look no further than the Trump -Pope battle. This has even divided Roman Catholics (e.g. who all ought to be supporting the Pope's gospel stance:
“Jesus said 'blessed are the peacemakers but Woe to those who manipulate religion and the very name of God for their own military, economic, and political gain."
Hence, to stand with Trump against these teachings vividly shows how cultural and moral knuckledraggers can still back a toxic slug like Donald Trump - IF they embrace his lies. That includes white Catholics like those in Boston's 'heavily Italian North end", like one Salvatore LoNano who avers (WSJ, ibid.):
"Trump is a hell of a president! He wants to take care of the United States".
Seriously? The roach who just launched a war with Iran with no end in sight? Murdering thousands and sending gas prices through the roof, while cost stress especially with groceries - food is coming. How bloody dense can you be? Especially adding that:
"The pope ought to stay in the Church and let Trump run this country!"
Yeah, bozo, run it into the ground, as a traitor as well as a felon. Here we have a character who's happy betraying not only his religion but his country, all in the name of Trump. But this is where it's at. Trump has polarized Catholics like he has the whole country. As Peggy Noonan put it in her latest column ('Trump Meets His Match In Pope Leo', WSJ, op. cit., p. A13):
"While the Pope echoes Christ's words, 'Love your enemies do good to those who persecute you' Trump's motto is 'I love getting even with people. I hate my opponents and don't want what's best for them."
Noonan calls those like Trump 'hicks', and clarifies:
"Modern hickdom doesn't have anything to do with geography, class, profession or birth, What all hicks have in common is they lack respect. They lack courtesy toward people or things that deserve a measure of homage. They don't have the bandwidth to know what should be respected in the world, or what and who helps it turn."
So we can say Catholic non-hicks are those referenced in the main weekend WSJ piece, i.e."For Catholics who never liked Trump, his behavior solidified their opposition."
Well, because they possess a moral insight which informed them from the time Trump first appeared over ten years ago that this self-confessed pussy grabber was unfit to be president. Ditto for a thug who encouraged violence at his rallies and disrespected a Vietnam prisoner of war like John McCain. ("I like war heroes that don't get caught!")
In the same sense one can argue those RC voters like Salvatore Lo Nano also fit Noonan's description of hicks. But maybe there are psychological dimensions to why so many Americans - not just a majority of white Catholics - expressed a preference for a classless felon, demagogue and traitor like Trump.
Of course, many don't agree with my take on citizen constitutional betrayal, and lean to more psychological dynamics.
Three separate research papers, published together in the Journal of Social and Political Psychology, each pointed to the same conclusion, according to analysts. Psychologists surveyed 128 U.S. adults in October 2019, who indicated a preference for Trump in the 2016 presidential election. Asked how they justified their support for the GOP candidate given allegations of his sexual misconduct, over half the group said they relied simply on denial and chose to not believe the charge.
According to the Journal Futurism:
“Those results were reproduced in a second study, started in
December 2019, two days after federal lawmakers voted to impeach the president. This
time, 173 MAGA diehards largely either denied the accusations, or demurred by
changing the topic to Trump’s policy decisions. In that study, the majority of
supporters denied the accusations outright, while 15 percent declared they
simply didn’t care.”
Meanwhile, the most recent study, a 2022 survey taken
immediately after Trump was arraigned for his role in the January 6 riots,
found that of 187 participants - over 60 percent - felt the accusations against
the orange fungus were a lie, This despite video footage of Trump directly inciting violence at the Capital
being readily available. According to analysis of the cumulative findings:
“While each study is highly complex in their own right,
together they reinforce the finding that denial of factual information —
Trump’s seedy misdeeds, basically — is a direct response to anxiety caused by
cognitive dissonance,”
According to study author Cindy Harmon-Jones, senior lecturer in psychology at Western Sydney University:
” I was motivated by real-life experiences. I’ve been puzzled and confused by the continuing support and admiration that Donald Trump’s supporters hold for him, despite the many accusations that he has engaged in sexual assault, corruption, and other immoral and illegal activities. I wanted to give those supporters a chance to explain in their own words why they support him.”
Harmon-Jones says she is also interested in cognitive dissonance outside the Trump-related breakdown. Specifically, whether supporters of Barack Obama or Bill Clinton would have reacted similarly if they learned of similar accusations against them.
Harmon-Jones insists it "remains to be tested", but I attest that if similar accusations were made against either man as those against Trump it'd be a deal breaker. My contention is that those Democratic voters had some basic perceptions of decency - certainly to the point of not supporting a bloody traitor who incited an insurrection.
To grasp the difference it helps to recall here Thomas Jefferson's words in his Notes on Virginia, i.e.
"Every government degenerates when trusted to the rulers of the people alone. The people themselves therefore are its only safe depositories. AND TO RENDER THEM SAFE, THEIR MINDS MUST BE IMPROVED"
Jefferson knew every government disintegrated if the "rulers" alone determined its fate. There would always be tyrants, unhinged demagogues etc, seeking to impose their will. This is why he expected the PEOPLE to become its safe depositories, i.e. in protecting their democratic Republic.
Also, this had to go beyond "bread and butter" issues which were bound to vary year by year. So Jefferson's words meant the voters being attentive to the nation's politics and political dynamics. By NOT being misled by bogus political ads and propaganda networks. Again, it's all on the voters to be educated and responsible before making their choice of leaders. No excuses!
The hardcore Trump voters, whether Maggats or Roman Catholic whites, chose deliberately to be misled and for one reason only: to effect their hate against the minorities they detested. Using the hateful avatar of Trump to do their dirty work for them.
The truth is hard to swallow.
See Also:by Ailia Zehra | May 19, 2025 - 5:19am | permalink

According to a recent poll conducted by The New York Times and Siena College, people who were less engaged with prominent news coverage during President Donald Trump’s first 100 days were more inclined to view his performance favorably.
Roughly one in three voters reported being largely unaware of at least one major development from Trump’s first 100 days. These incidents include the erroneous deportation of Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia to El Salvador, market volatility, or budget cuts initiated by tech billionaire Elon Musk and his Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), per the Times.
But despite these gaps in awareness, a majority of Americans say they are paying close attention to news from the Trump administration — a higher level of engagement than was seen during the initial phase of former President Joe Biden’s term.
Immigration was the issue on which Trump received his highest approval ratings, although a majority of Americans still viewed his approach negatively, according to the poll.
And:
The Awful Truth The MAGA Trumpies Can't Bear To Hear
And:
And:
by Mike Lofgren | February 14, 2025 - 6:13am | permalink

In his book, The Present Age, the late sociologist Robert Nisbet applied a pithy descriptor to a phenomenon we have seen all too often in public life: the “no-fault” theory of political action, particularly in foreign affairs....
It would appear that Nisbet’s thesis needs revision. What he said was blatantly obvious: of course politicians rarely blame themselves for their own egregious policy failures, for it characterizes the typical behavior of ambitious, self-confident, and often corner-cutting people.
What is more significant, and troubling, is the reaction of the people who elect them: why do they more often than not reward leaders who inveigle them into national calamity? Isn’t there also a no-fault doctrine that applies to the American voter, a doctrine that is for the most part rigidly observed by journalists, pundits, and the self-proclaimed wise men who monopolize the op-ed pages of the prestige newspapers?
And:
by Robert Becker | April 19, 2026 - 5:03am | permalink

How DT’s DTs (Delirium Tremens) trigger the growing, circular firing squad
Swarms of MAGA Destroyers-in-chief,
Debased by malice, hatred and grief,
Unearth their matchless lose-lose blunders,
To commit matchless worst-case plunders.
Betwixt chaos-driven nincompoops
And outlaw knaves playing shock troops,
Besieged Trumpers can’t buy a win:
So moral bankruptcy fuels their tailspin.
Absorbing nada from dire defeats
Suits feckless, arrogant deadbeats;
The more bizarre the MAGA fable,
The more desperate to finagle.
