Talking About Conservative Hypocrisy: My Reply to 'Why Do Democrats Hate When People Support Our President?'

On the question-and-answer site Quora, Trump supporter Lauren Davis asks:

Why do Democrats hate when people support our president? Don’t they know they make our country look bad?

My reply: 

Before I give you a proper answer, let me ask you this:

Do Trump supporters see the hypocrisy in asking questions such as Why do Democrats hate when people support our president? Don’t they know they make our country look bad, when many of them not only disrespected the previous President between 2008 and 2017 but depict Democratic Party politicians and voters as traitors, “socialists,” and overall evil destroyers of the United States?

See, one of the great tragedies about our representative style of democracy is that it has gradually devolved into a vitriolic team sport. A sport, dare I say, where it is a zero-sum game of “my team is better, so yours is for losers.”

Partisan rivalry in America, of course, is nothing new. George Washington did not like the party system and in fact, warned against the evils of it, but wherever you have different political/economic philosophies, e,g. conservatism vs. liberalism, capitalism vs. Communism, abolitionism versus slaveholding, freedom versus authoritarianism, secularism versus theocracy, etc, you are bound to run into the problem of organized political parties.

I’m not an expert in political history; I minored in history in college, it is true, but my main focus has always been on military history. My interest in politics, until very recently, was tied almost entirely to how wars begin due to domestic political concerns. Partisanship was something that I didn’t really pay attention to because, as a centrist, I’ve always thought that bipartisan collaboration is far better than “party over country” politics.

That having been said, I believe that the current Trumpist movement - an extreme mutation of American conservatism - is a polarizing, divisive, and dangerous cancer on America’s body politic.

For instance, Trump supporters tend to express themselves with great disdain about the tried-and-true method of bipartisan collaboration. They don’t see Democrats as their fellow Americans anymore, in no small part because of 40+ years of right-wing propaganda - disseminated by talk radio figures such as Sean Hannity and Rush Limbaugh - that has taught them stuff such as:

1. Democrats are promoting socialism and want to turn the U.S. into a larger version of Cuba, North Korea, and Venezuela
2. Democrats care more about “illegal aliens than they do about real Americans”
3. Republicans stand for family values, patriotism, a strong national defense, and secure borders
4. Democrats want to tax everyone to death
5. Democrats and liberals hate the U.S. and everything Americans stand for
6. Democrats are evil
7. Democrats want to kill babies

Don’t believe me? I see tons of content on Quora, Facebook, and Twitter every day from conservatives who espouse such views:

Mr. Obama said that industries will never return and low wages and high unemployment is the new reality. He suggested it would take a “magic wand” to change that. Mr. Trump without a magic wand and having to fight Congress and the Democrats made all of those things change. He knew how to live with reality. The Democrats seem to have lost that sense. Or is it only that they know better than they act and only wish to see our country fail? You tell me.

That’s good because the Democratic Party is a party of evil especially with their stand on legalized abortion which is murder.

That’s just two comments written by Trump supporters on one site (Quora), but there are far, far more than those.

It all boils down to, “My party - Republican - is way better than yours. And if you are not Republican, you are not a real American. Loser!”

Trumpism makes matters worse because Donald J. Trump’s supporters want the rest of us (whether we are registered Democrats or just liberal-leaning independents) to share in their nearly blind loyalty to the current President just because he is the President of the United States.

At the same time, they exhibit a sense of tone-deafness and collective amnesia when they are reminded that Barack Obama was not given the same courtesy that they demand from us.

It is galling to us that the Right complains about how Democrats show little to no respect to their President (who, unfortunately, is also our President, even though he does not represent or even respect our values), considering the hate and vitriol they aimed (and continue to aim) at President Obama.

So when Trump supporters express their hate every day for their fellow Americans who don’t share their conservative ideals, they are the ones that make the country look bad.

Note:

Ms. Davis' question has been reported to Quora Moderation for its insincere wording. Per Quora:

This question should be phrased with neutral and sincere language

This question's wording makes it seem like a joke, or intended rhetorically to make a statement, rather than looking for helpful answers. It should be rewritten to be a neutral, non-leading question