{"id":299,"date":"2018-04-23T19:16:52","date_gmt":"2018-04-23T23:16:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.tameri.com\/wordpress\/roguerhet\/?p=299"},"modified":"2025-05-30T21:07:09","modified_gmt":"2025-05-31T02:07:09","slug":"skimming-headlines-and-shrugging","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.tameri.com\/roguerhet\/2018\/04\/23\/skimming-headlines-and-shrugging\/","title":{"rendered":"Skimming Headlines and Shrugging"},"content":{"rendered":"

What I find most interesting about this political moment, sadly, is the lack of coherence within the political parties<\/a>. What the moment demonstrates is that ideological purity matters only to a fraction of a fraction of a fraction of voters.<\/p>\n

We see this with every White House. Things promised are not implemented and positions shift. Partisans defend their party, even as supposedly foundational values are compromised or abandoned.\u00a0Donald Trump<\/a> takes this ideological flexibility to new extremes, yes. But, we know that values give once a party occupies positions of power.<\/p>\n

People of passion have chosen sides, and are fiercely loyal to those sides, but most people have opted to tune out most of the daily headlines.<\/p>\n

The once loud voices of the Tea Party<\/a>? None of the values they professed seem to matter. The religious conservatives? Oddly quiet and forgiving of President Trump.<\/p>\n

But it isn\u2019t only the Republicans<\/a> that have conflicts with their core voters. The Democrats<\/a> are torn between an educated urban elite focused on one set of high concept issues and a working-class union base that conflicts with the elites. The \u201csoda tax\u201d is good example of policies implemented by the elites that primarily cost the poor. \u201cWe\u2019re doing this for your own good,\u201d could eventually cause a backlash.<\/p>\n

The average person seems to be tuning out just as the two partisan tribes prepare for battle.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m not reading as much news as I did only two years ago. No longer do I skim every article on Politico or RealClearPolitics<\/a>. I skim the headlines on Apple News and my Facebook feed, but mostly I don\u2019t care as much as I did.<\/p>\n

Why do voters tune out? I am curious, and I hope studies find some answers.<\/p>\n

My world did not end when President Trump took office. My life is no better, nor is it worse. Nothing of major consequence\u00a0in my daily life<\/strong><\/em>\u00a0<\/em>changed.<\/p>\n

Just as Republicans overhyped the claims about the damage Bill Clinton or Barack Obama<\/a> would cause to the United States, the Democrats have overhyped Donald Trump (which seems impossible to do).<\/p>\n

By suggesting to voters that a single politician might destroy the county, both parties end up looking bad.<\/p>\n

Negative campaigns work \u2014 they work by turning off voters for the other candidate. Negativity doesn\u2019t get people to change their voters; it gets people to give up and walk away from participating. People do not want to vote for the lesser of two evils, so they stop voting.\u00a0Likewise, when voters assume neither party is a genuine threat and life is good enough, they also don\u2019t remain engaged.<\/p>\n

When I read the hysterical claims of one side or the other, I find myself shrugging.<\/p>\n

Opposition is easy. Negativity is easy (especially now).<\/p>\n

Most of us don\u2019t enjoy day after day of negativity. At some point, all the negativity will lead to exhaustion and apathy. People will consider their daily lives and compare their experiences to the claims of partisans.<\/p>\n

Interviews with Trump supporters suggest one reason they do remain loyal is because he is attacked. These loyalists care more about fighting back against perceived enemies than pondering Trump\u2019s policies. They aren\u2019t backing Trump because he represents coherent continuity of Republican values. Instead, they cling to the notion that he opposes the values they oppose.<\/p>\n

Opposing Trump is what unifies many Democrats. This politics of negativity increases cynicism and distrust in institutions.<\/p>\n

Trump fatigue could work against Democrats, oddly enough.<\/p>\n

What we are witnessing is just how incredibly ineffective politicians and partisans are at persuading people with whom they disagree. Instead, partisanship deepens and the voters in the middle disengage.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

What I find most interesting about this political moment, sadly, is the lack of coherence within the political parties. What the moment demonstrates is that…<\/p>\n

Continue readingSkimming Headlines and Shrugging<\/span><\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":1148,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"iawp_total_views":9,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[5,8,9],"tags":[119,235,248],"class_list":["post-299","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-media","category-psychology","category-policy","tag-trump","tag-partisanship","tag-political-parties","entry"],"yoast_head":"\nSkimming Headlines and Shrugging - Rogue Rhetorician<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.tameri.com\/roguerhet\/2018\/04\/23\/skimming-headlines-and-shrugging\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Skimming Headlines and Shrugging - Rogue Rhetorician\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"What I find most interesting about this political moment, sadly, is the lack of coherence within the political parties. 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