HOLIDAY RE-RUNS: TALKING TURKEY REDUX

Last year at Thanksgiving, I was in a foul mood.  The last thing I wanted to do at holiday gatherings was listen to jubilant Trump voters crow about their victory.  So I developed a strategy that I hoped would turn that triumphalism against itself.  I never got a chance to use it, because I didn’t run into any Deplorables during the holidays last year.  And I was appropriately grateful for that!

This year, a fair amount of air has leaked out of the Trump balloon.  The press can always find Cult 45 members who’ll swear eternal fealty to Trump.  But serious polls show that among rank and file GOPers, there’s buyer’s remorse going on.  Not that they’d vote for Hillary, heaven forfend, but some of them understand that their boy has a few more issues than they’d expected.

But on the off chance that you (or I) are forced to interact with a True Believer over the holidays, I decided to update my original post.  My advice is to avoid criticizing Trump directly and force Trump supporters to defend him.  Here are a few questions to stimulate that sort of conversation.

1.      Do you admire Trump’s long history of sexual assault, infidelity, and pussy-grabbing? Which one of those things do you like the most? For men: Do you wish you could get away with those things too? For women: Would it be OK if your husband or father did those things?  [If they deny that the Access Hollywood conversation with Billy Bush happened, here’s a YouTube recording you can play for them.] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t7PM9kwFwnc

2.      Are you impressed by the way Trump lies so easily, changing his story at will, even when there is video evidence to prove he’s being untruthful? Do you wish you could lie and get away with it like he does? Which of the other Ten Commandments would you like to be able to get away with breaking?

3.      Do you admire the way he’s cheated his business partners? Or the fact he’s walked away from four bankruptcies while leaving his partners and creditors holding the bag? Do you wish you could cheat people and get away with it like he does?

4.      Do you like his attacks on minorities? Which minority group is the worst, Blacks, Mexicans, Muslims, Jews, or Gays? After Trump deports Mexicans and Muslims, which group should he deport next? Which African country should be forced take the African-Americans we deport? Should we send Jews to Israel, or to the European country their ancestors came from? And where should we deport Gay people?

5.      How much do you hate science? Which branch of science do you hate the most? Which animal do you hope goes extinct first, tigers, rhinos, elephants, or gorillas?

6.      Do you hate Democrats more than you hate pedophiles?  What exactly do you admire about pedophiles?

7.      Do you agree with Donald Trump that if a man who’s been accused of sexual harassment denies the charges, we should believe him and doubt his alleged victims?  If so, do you believe Bill Clinton’s denials? 

8.      On November 19, 2017, a Trump supporter said on CNN, “If Jesus Christ gets down off the cross and told me Trump is with Russia, I would tell him, 'Hold on a second. I need to check with the President if it's true.'”  Who do you trust more, Donald Trump or Jesus Christ?  Would you support doing away with Christmas and making Donald Trump’s birthday a big national holiday?  Which of our current holidays would you give up for a national Trump Day?

I’m grateful for everyone who reads what I write.  I hope you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday!