What Do Your Instincts Tell You About These Two People?
Let's flip on the ol' bullshit detector
Last night’s debate doesn’t really lend itself to a fine-grained policy breakdown. There’s not much to be learned from sorting through claims like “the people came in, they’re eating the cats” or “she wants to do transgender operations on illegal aliens that are in prison.” Even so, I’m tempted to break down some of the things Trump said about economics, because I’m dumbfounded that he polls strongest on economic issues even though he still doesn’t know how tariffs work, has plans that would increase inflation, and clearly has no fucking clue what causes what in an economy. The fact that we’re considering electing Trump to improve the economy feels like we’re thinking about putting Nick Cannon in charge of America’s sex ed curriculum — I want to run through the streets waving my arms and yelling “No! I do not believe that’s advisable!”
But after a decade of Trump, I know that parsing policy is a waste of time. Trump’s Bullshit Overload tactic works because every true thing (e.g. abortion is illegal in many states because of Trump) is countered by a lie (e.g. Democrats are literally killing babies). Most voters won’t suss out the truth. And I don’t particularly blame them; reading a 2,000-word article about which immigrants are eating which animals and how is a bad use of your time even if the rest of your time is spent naming your socks and masturbating to the guy on the Quaker Oats box.
And yet: I still don’t understand why anyone trusts Trump. Allow me to explain what I’m feeling by taking a big step back: I have a one year-old son. My wife teaches him numbers, my mom teaches him letters, and TV teaches him that acquiring physical objects will make him happy. My role — as I see it — is to teach him a broader set of skills known as “life management”. That will eventually include classic Dad stuff like shaving and a psychotic obsession with tire pressure, but it also covers intangibles like threat assessment and bullshit detection. Basically: He needs to learn how to not get played. He needs to learn how to tell the difference between what’s real and what’s not so that he doesn’t get shafted — this is a critical life skill. And that’s why I don’t understand how there can be adults in this country who look at Trump and fail to immediately see that he’s full of shit.