a suspension of disbelief & Donald redux redux

Twice before I've blogged about the folk who attend our local megachurches yet tell me that they do not believe what they believe in those churches... here and here.  I wrote about folk who walk into a church and suspend their disbelief... that is they basically acted as if they believed what was being said for that hour in church and then wrote it off as they walked out the door.  Or perhaps they simply don't listen to what is being said.

I've been thinking about this in regards to the Donald Trump phenomenon.  I think that is going on there as well... the folk who are endorsing him are not really listening to what he is saying.  It does go further than that - and perhaps this is true in those church folk as well.  Not only are they not hearing what is said, they are projecting what they want to hear.  For example, Donald has made "Make America Great Again" his slogan.  Not once has he given even the slightest idea how he would do that and even more important, he has not defined what that means.  What are the characteristics that we have lost?  When was the time that we were great?  Those listening can fill in whatever answers work for them... and they do.

That "morals" voters would choose Donald Trump over anyone except Hugh Hefner is almost unbelievable.  That neo-cons would back his economic policies makes me scratch my head.  I guess some folk find his bull in the china shop persona attractive after Obama's measured, cautious, and thoughtful presentation on the world stage but for the life of me, I can't figure out why.  I'm sure there are some who feel so disenfranchised that they want to blow up this entire project called American democracy and replace it with... who knows what... and they aren't presenting a picture any more well formed than Somalia.  And finally there are those Republicans who have decided that since Trump will get the nomination, he must be a real Republican and is therefore worthy of their vote over any Democrat... even one whose policies are well to his right in almost every single way.  And those same Republicans continue to ignore... here is the list from that liberal bastion the Washington Post.   I get that there are folk who really don't like Hillary, the Dems likely nominee and hope that by electing Donald, they'll at least retain control over the SCOTUS and the legislative branches.  That, of course presupposes that anyone can predict what Donald would do with judicial nominees and that there are enough folk out there drinking the Kool Aid to provide shirt tails for Republican candidates down the ballot. 

And the rest of the world looks on in wonder as we Americans continue to suspend our disbelief, project our hopes and dreams, and ignore what is blatantly in front of us.  And they are realistically afraid.