Wednesday, February 28, 2018

President Trump Expresses Surprise That Most Welfare Recipients Are White

Some conservatives wonder how people who are not as fond of Trump as they are can possibly think that Trump is a racist.

For those of us who are not fans of Trump, though, it is more of a question of how his admirers can fail to see it.

I mean, seriously! It's not like he is hiding the fact. He thinks that Mexicans are criminals and rapists, he feels threatened by Islam because he equates it systematically with terrorism, and he refers to mostly black countries, as well as some Central American countries as "shithole nations," and outright favored immigration from countries such as Norway, even though Norwegians in their right mind would not actually want to make a move here, as they enjoy a significantly higher standard of living than we Americans have.

Plus, of course, there was the hard to overlook matter of outright Nazis and white supremacists marching through the streets of an American city, having a torchlight rally, and inciting violence. If you remember (and who could forget?), President Trump seemed very reluctant to be too critical of them, seemingly refusing to suggest that they were largely responsible for the horrifying violence, suggesting instead that "both sides" had responsibility in the incident. He also suggested that there were very good people on both sides, as well, although the notion of white supremacists and Nazis being regarded as "good people" by  an American President felt outrageous and offensive to many Americans.

Last autumn, there was the matter of him visiting the suffering people of Puerto Rico, who had been hit hard by not just one, but two consecutive major hurricanes that devastated the island and left it without power, and with severely damaged infrastructure. He congratulated himself and his administration on the response, although the rest of the world not only did not congratulate Trump, but condemned his response, suggesting that the suffering that has lasted far too long (a sizable percentage of Puerto Ricans on the island still have no power, and most went without power for months) was disgraceful and nothing short of an abysmal failure. The symbol of his seeming indifference was when he threw paper towels like basketball shots to a crowd of Puerto Ricans assembled to see him, all the better not to touch them or be touched.

Also, there is that whole anti-immigration thing, and his dismissal of what he called the "diversity lottery."

And, of course, let us not forget Trump's wall. How can we possibly forget, when Trump and his admirers will not ever allow us to forget? Experts routinely show

So, it should surprise no one that there is still one more incident.

Of course there is.

Recently, President Trump was informed that, in fact, there are many whites on welfare and receiving benefits, and that the majority of these welfare recipients are white. Perhaps someone even informed him that most of these whites are Trump supporters, although who knows if anyone dared tell him that/

However, Trump expressed surprise that so many whites received these kinds of government benefits.  

His response was telling:

“Really? Then what are they?”

Where are they?

Well, Appalachia, for starters. Apparently, candidate Trump, now President Trump, was not aware that the most loyal hotbed of Trump supporters, Appalachia, is also an area filled with such whites who rely on government assistance or, as conservatives like to call them, government handouts. It might seem counter intuitive, and indeed it is, that this area would be so chock full of Trump supporters, when Trump clearly looks down on such people, and intends to cut their benefits.

There are other regions, as well. Other mostly poor regions in the south, some places in the Midwest, and parts of the west, such as in Arizona. 

Really, though, is anyone really surprised at Trump's ignorance of his own supporters? For that matter, with all that we have seen in this country in recent decades, is it really any wonder that so many Trump supporters support him, even though they are voting against their own interests?

Perhaps it should be surprising, but I can hardly say that it is. It is one of those modern day paradoxes about our country, which contributes to what has become a glaringly obvious and undeniable decline in almost every way. Many people, conservatives and liberals and people in between alike, recognize it as such. Our standard of living has seen a marked decline in recent decades, and it feels to me like ignorance and an inability to see con artists for what they are - an inability that has only grown more pronounced as the decades have slid by - have been arguably the largest contributors to this decline.




Here is the article from Newsweek that got me on this topic to begin with:


TRUMP THINKS ONLY BLACK PEOPLE ARE ON WELFARE, BUT, REALLY, WHITE AMERICANS RECEIVE MOST BENEFITS BY RYAN SIT ON 1/12/18

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