So I took a look at the Donald Trump Pepe blog today, for the first time in a long time, and the memes on display there seem to be getting darker and cruder and more violent as election day draws closer.
It’s not as if the blog — a storehouse of sorts for, well, Donald Trump Pepe memes — had been lacking in crudeness before. Donald Trump meme-makers, after all, are the sort of people who think that it’s just plain hilarious to joke about throwing enemies out of helicopters and gassing the 7-year-old daughter of a writer they don’t like in a Nazi death camp.
But the newest memes are, if anything, worse — more graphic, more personal, more threatening than even the Holocaust memes that have been a staple of Trump’s volunteer mememakers for the last year. The newer memes, which seem more openly sadistic than those from months past, show Hillary being raped, being led to the guillotine, killing herself with a gunshot to the head.
There’s blood. And diarrhea. Lots of diarrhea.
Here’s a sampling from the memes posted recently on the Pepe Trump blog; I’ve censored the most graphic parts, but, seriously, if your day is going well and you want to keep it that way, you may want to stop reading here.
If not, let’s start with the murder-themed memes.
While their fellow Trump fans chant “lock her up” at Trump’s rallies, the mememakers fantasize about Hillary’s execution at the hands of a triumphant Trump.
Others fantasize about alternate ways she could be killed.
There are memes in which Pepe goads Hillary into killing herself.
And others (too violent to post here) imagining the same fate for Hillary’s “shills.”
There are numerous animated gifs depicting The Donald violently raping Hillary. Here’s a censored, non-animated version of one of them.
And then there are the scatological memes. This is the most presentable one of the bunch.
I guess the, er, joke here is that evil SJW Hillary fans are always complaining about racism. How a frog pooping on a poster for Hillary is supposed to relate to this I have no idea.
Another even more crudely scatological meme depicts a nude Hillary lying on the floor shitting herself while watching Trump’s victory on TV. I’m not going to post that one here, but if you have the stomach for it, take a look at it on the Trump Pepe blog.
And there’s a weirdly elaborate meme depicting Clinton diving into a big pit of money a la Scrooge McDuck, only to find that most of the money has been replaced with shit by a sneaky Trump fan.
After all these, it’s almost a relief to find a meme featuring a Pepe who’s merely peeing.
I mean, sure, “globalism” is a dogwhistle for “the Jews,” but at least there’s no blood or poo.
It’s not difficult to see the problem with labeling 40% of US voters as irredeemably racist or blinkered and incapable of caring for anyone else. Maybe that’s unwarranted pandering, but it just doesn’t seem very pragmatic considering they get to *vote again*.
What might be the most frightening aspect of Trump’s campaign, even as he loses, and I still think it’s clear enough that he will, is the fact that he could easily have been successful if he weren’t so stupidly boorish and incompetent. All it would take is somebody with decent knowledge of domestic and foreign policy without a history of sexual assault or anything similar, speaking in coherent sentences, capable of sounding reasonable when they wanted while at the same time speaking to people’s people’s prejudices. A sort of more charismatic Mitt Romney with alt-right politics.
@Bryce
Had Ted Cruz been nominee I guarantee that we’d be biting our nails down to the roots. Honestly if he or some other American Hitler came along, I wouldn’t be opposed to a multinational effort to curtail the 4th reich.
@rugbyyogi
What aren’t we getting? Are we forgetting that they’re human being too? That they share the same fears of poverty, hunger and isolation? That chances are they aren’t consistently extremely bigoted to the levels of the alt right? That they often haven’t developed the need to be informed and question authority due to numerous socioeconomic traps of their own design? That they are capaple of showing unity in not being shitty people?
These things tend to be universal, what isn’t is the idea that we’re supposed to empathize with Trump supporters with less than a week left before this election is over. I can empathize with the idea of being treated in the media as backwards morons of low standing, that is a terrible premotion that taps directly into classism.
Have I not just demonstrated that I see why they do the things they do, but I still see what they do to be fundamentally wrongheaded and bring everyone else down with them?
Congratulations they won’t support literal Klan members, but keeping pseudo segregation and enforcing heteronormative gender roles is still on the books for them. And supporting Trump all the way until he violated the core narratives of comservstive family values was fine enough for them. Indifferent bigotry in a shstem that promotes oppression is still bigotry.
Being seen in the media as violent, stupid and backwards hicks is a terribly classist view. I really don’t see this as anything other than white apologia in the face of other groups’ struggles.
Everyone sees themselves as the good guy. This is true for everyone everywhere. Like that is somehow going to make their consistent voting pattern in screwing people like Axe over a little less bad. “Because you see they didn’t mean to, they just don’t know any better.” You are better than this, you are better than a person trying to equate racial hate to hate towards them.
So they’re smart enough to understand that the KKK has a bad reputation and it would be bad to be associated with them, so it’s better to be racist in more sneaky ways.
And this is supposed to make people feel more sympathy for them? Hm.
@Alan Robertshaw
I guess this is a good time to repost this one…
Another big issue with telling people on the left that they need to see the people on the right as humans and try to reason with them is that we’re already doing it or have done it. I can’t count the number of times I’ve tried to talk to conservatives about how GOP economic policies hurt them and don’t make sense for the economy as a whole. They do not listen. One of my uncles has a disabled son who lives in a group home. His daughter has explained to him many times about how Republicans cut services his son needs. He is not swayed. Some people will choose their bigotry every single time. Even when they know it hurts them and those around them. What more are we supposed to do?
The thing is, I do still try to reason with people in my life who are this way. Even though it’s been futile. That doesn’t mean I can’t still be angry and contemptuous about their refusal to change. Do people really think that progressive types who are angry about the racism and misogyny of the GOP are unable to ever be civil to people who disagree with us? Where’s the evidence of mobile violence and bullying perpetrated by us? It’s not there. We’re not the ones dehumanizing people here.
To me, asking me to have empathy for Trump supporters is like asking me to have empathy for “incels”. Incels are hurt and lonely because of rejection. That’s an awful experience to go through, so on the surface it makes sense that one should be sympathetic to their situation. But they take that situation and turn it into anger at an entire group of people. They feel entitled to something they’re not getting, and they want to direct their anger at someones they feel are responsible.
See, but we experience the same problems as them. We’ve never not been empathetic to the situation or the problems because we live with those same problems. So when you ask us to be empathetic it’s not about their situation or their problems. It’s about their choices and actions. And I can’t get behind that. I can’t empathize with choosing a fascist who will set our country back half a century.
What WWTH and kupo said.
I find it extremely telling that not one news source has asked Republican audiences to empathise with Black people, Latin@s, women, refugees, gay/bi/trans* people, Muslims, other religious minorities, godless people, or any of the groups they’re used to hurting and are now voting against them.
Empathy seems to be a duty expected only of other people.
@rugby
I like you. You love them. But you’re not gonna get me to give a shit about these people, cos someone I like loves them. Now, I have real serious problems with your latest comment. This is exactly what I was talking about. You’re asking us to excuse the actively, gravely harmful behavior of grown adults. You’re asking us to accept as valid their decisions you admit are terrible. And you’re asking us to do so without similar effort being required from them
Why are we meant to do this? You do posit some reasons. In order:
One of em changed their mind and apologized, nobody’s irredeemable, they’re ignorant, they don’t actually mean to hurt you (in fact, they literally don’t care about you), most aren’t that bad, people hate them too, sincerely held religious beliefs, it’s not just white guys, they accept me, and they hate the KKK
I don’t know why you think any of these is a good defense, but none of them are. This is the same shit every other apologist for every other harmful group spouts. Once again, I invoke @Oogly: when they start walking…
@Ryeash
No, no no, I’m sorry, that’s not what I thought you meant at all! To be perfectly honest your post made me think back and I couldn’t stop myself from indulging in a bit of self-pity (for which I apologize, it’s not exactly putting my best foot forward especially as I’m pretty new here).
Crowds do make me pretty nervous, more so if they are entirely (or mostly) composed of males (then again I don’t need crowds for that, two guys standing together make me nervous as hell). I don’t really make friends either, although I could probably learn, except for the most part I don’t particularly like people (too much past negative experience), and I loathe ‘small talk’. I also tend to be rather sarcastic.
Again, I didn’t think you were making light of agoraphobia, I just saw your post and kinda went off on my own tangent, sorry about that.
On average dem voters make less per year than Trump voters so I don’t buy the economic hardships line. It’s entitlement is what it is. Immigrants getting jobs that white people assume they ate entitled to. If immigrants weren’t doing those jobs, the company would outsource most likely.
Yeah, I’m from a working class background and despite having a college degree, I don’t have much money. It is certainly possible to be white, working class, and have experienced being broke and not be racist and xenophobic. I’m certainly not a privileged elite who can’t understand hardship. This narrative that progressives don’t know what it is struggle is untrue and just a silencing tactic. When it’s convenient to the right, we’re privileged elites. Others times it’s convenient for them to cast us as shiftless lazy moochers who are jealous of the success conservatives got by bootstrapping.
@rugby, I totally get your perspective on this. I feel it too – I feel terrible for calling people out on this sort of thing. My first reaction is to peel apart why they’re doing it, because it’s never just a simple reason. There’s always economic issues, or education issues, or whatnot. The villains are never mustache-twirling Snidely Whiplashes. It’s always complicated and empathetic. And especially if they’re your people, it’s impossible to avoid seeing those complications. I live in a conservative rural area, one going through a pretty tough recession right now. I see the same things here.
They deserve compassion – they’re human beings, after all. I agree that they should be listened to, and that they should be offered education to help them understand what the problem is. It’s the only way to actually fix the problem, after all.
But that doesn’t mean that everyone needs to show compassion, and that no one can express anger for their support of a fascist demagogue. Both reactions are valid and have their place. It’s right that the people most harmed by Trump would be angry at those who put him so close to the presidency. It’s also right that the people closest to those Trump supporters would understand their reasons – and would also be the best placed to provide that education. Both reactions are valid and good.
Progressives don’t need to march in lock-step with the same reactions to problems. That’s the strength of being a forward-looking group. We’re free to explore different ways of doing things. It’s also our weakness, because we can get mired up in the argument of how best to accomplish a goal. In these cases, I think it’s important to remember that compassion is our overall goal, and that we’re all going to make mistakes along the way. This includes to one another, here.
Anger at Trump supporters is active compassion to those who would be most harmed by a president Trump.
Compassion for Trump supporters is active harm to those who would be most harmed by a president Trump.
It’s an awful situation with no right answer, but again – we don’t have to march in lockstep here.
This is only my perspective, but it’s how I’ve come to see the problem.
(also yeah, the progressives as “liberal elite” cliche is super tiring. Most of my working life has been spent at or around minimum wage, and I’ve always been deeply red.)
(er, blue. Liberal is red in Canada. You get the idea!)
@EJ (The Orphic Lizard)
Thank you. There was something about this whole we need to empathize with Trump voters thing that was bothering me and I couldn’t articulate it, but it’s this. We need to empathize with them, but no one ever suggests the reverse.
@Jesalin
Welcome to the club. (No sarcasm; that describes me too, and most of the people I know).
@Scildfreja
Well, to paraphrase a million right-wing assholes, maybe if they didn’t insist on maintaining a culture of poverty and warming themselves with their sense of entitlement, they’d be doing a lot better for themselves. This is, as has been mentioned repeatedly in this very thread, literally their own fault, and they fight every effort to alleviate it, not just for themselves, but for anyone. And I cannot see how any reasonable person can have any sympathy or respect for that perspective. Their position is morally, ethically, economically, and factually wrong, but it’s not ever going to go away as long as people who aren’t scumbags keep fucking defending it and making excuses for it. And it is breaking my fucking heart that I am having this much trouble convincing so many of the leftists here to knock off the fascist apologism!!!!. I understand that you’ve got emotional investments in some of these people, but what they are doing and supporting is evil and unjustifiable; stop looking for ways to excuse their horrible actions. When they stop being horrible people, then you can talk about how they’re really well meaning, or good at heart, or just scared, or what the fuck ever bullshit, but until then, they are fucking fascists, and tolerating fascism is the end of a free society.
@EJ(TOL)
@Jesalin
I agree with all of this ^ I have my partner and a couple close friends who know me and my quirks and are cool with all of it and whose intentions I can trust, and that about does me for human contact. Love animals, though!
No need to be sorry! I just wanted to make sure I wasn’t being an insensitive jerk. Go off on all the tangents, as far as I’m concerned. Then again, I’m an infrequent commenter myself 🙂
@Scildfreja,
Thank you (as always) <3
@dalillama,
I wrote a big reply here, because you made me really angry. I’ve deleted it and will be more succinct and less italicized.
Canadian conservatives are not the same as American conservatives. I’d appreciate it very kindly if you didn’t white-wash the differences in our countries by just assuming that Conservative = Republican. Up here, being conservative is much less indicative of being a bigot than being a Republican is down there. So, no, I wasn’t defending fascists. I do and have repudiated friends that have come out in favour of the horrible bigotries that your media have been spilling liberally over our border. This is different.
(This, incidentally, is one of the reasons why Canadians can get so angry over being called Americans; it’s because we’re very different from our dear neighbours and we hate our identity getting bulldozed by southern assumptions.)
I’m not in the frame of mind to address the rest properly, beyond suggesting that unilateral rejection of a community doesn’t do anything more than cause polarization and deepening hate, whereas exposure lessens both. That can be a discussion for another time, though.
I likely won’t be replying, as this was very stressful to write. Apologies if it causes you any stress in return.
@Scildfreja
Sorry I’m way late, but ^this is the nicer, more cogent version of what I’ve been tryna say, yet never quite could, this whole time. You actually do that a lot. Fix and focus my thoughts, solidify perspectives, help make the words fit right. Thank you 🙂
One major issue is the sheer lack of voter education. The media has spent three times as much airtime just on Clinton’s emails as it has on all policy positions combined for the candidates:
http://www.mediamatters.org/blog/2016/10/26/study-confirms-network-evening-newscasts-have-abandoned-policy-coverage-2016-campaign/214120
Every time we see Trump v Clinton head to head, Clinton utterly destroys him. But then, like clockwork, there’s whispers about her emails, and the media give wall-to-wall coverage about this one thing that’s actually somewhat bad that Clinton actually did.
As for policy proposals: zip. Did you know that Trump proposes ethnic cleansing? Clinton is proposing carbon pricing. Trump wants to cut taxes. Clinton does too, but much less.
Meanwhile, a well-placed source tells me that extreme right wingers in Quebec are talking about heading to the US for Election Day to “monitor” the vote and join in the civil war there if Clinton wins, or help Trump with the ethnic cleansing.
Where by talking I mean seriously enough to get pseudo-governmental agencies involved (we have violence prevention programs funded by the state, run by non-profits).
The thing that pisses me off about the whole “Clinton’s EMAILS!” bullshit is that it’s a fucking moot point (that has been proven to be not a legal issue with Clinton and is only being brought up because the director of the FBI is just trying to fuck with the election) compared to, you know, Trump being accused of child rape.
But oh, no, the emails are FAR more important than the fact that one of our presidential nominees is being accused of child rape and threatening the girl and her family if she talked! [/sarcasm]
And let’s not forget the fucking tape of him talking about sexually assaulting women.
But EMAILS amirite?
Priorities. We need to re-arrange them.
@PI
Media is more yellow than sulfur and piss and somehow is worth less than that. Fact checking and being responsible is dead when you can bribe them to do and not do whatever the fuck you tell them to do. If any of them actually did their jobs, Trump would have never gotten to this point because either A: They ignore a blatant magnet of fascism and deconstruction of the constitution, or B: Hammer him hard with fact checking and do away with this false equality like somehow he or anyone from the GOP has any merit other than being bloody protofascists and leeches bleeding the country with their greed.
Seriously you’d think that CNN, whose bosses donated so much cash to Clinton’s campaign, would have a vested interest in doing some fact checking on the opponent of their chosen candidate. Then again if they can’t be bothered to hide their blatant military cheerleading why should I expect them to do even that?
And there PI goes off on the same spoonfed narrative, that this election is about emails versus pussy.
@Paradoxy
Even on the ‘apples to apples’ comparison, it’s bullshit. Her foundation is the source of all things evil, but his is just fine. Her husband is a raging predator, but he’s all talk. She is a conniving plutocrat, but he’s an everyman. It’s almost as if there were a double standard… Nah!