Following Donald Trump’s bewildering press conference Tuesday, Jimmy Kimmel opened his show with a message for Trump voters. He starts by telling them that he gets why they supported Trump. He understands the desire to break out of the existing political status quo, to “shake this Etch-a-Sketch hard and start over.” But he doesn’t believe that those voters aren’t at least starting to know, deep down, that they made a huge mistake. Now they have a choice: dig in and double down on their support, or admit their mistake.
Last night, Kimmel read some of the “thoughtful responses” his video accrued on Facebook and Twitter. Now, if you’ve ever read a Trump supporter’s response to facts presented on Facebook or Twitter, “thoughtful” is probably not the word you would use to describe them. “Ignorant,” “hateful,” or maybe “poorly spelled and constructed” all come to mind as more accurate descriptions, all of which apply to these.
Kimmel laughs through the comments, and they deserve to be laughed at. But they’re also incredibly sad, as well as worrisome. Because they represent the feelings of so many very real people. The most troubling, perhaps, is from “James” on Facebook, who pulled out the “[Kimmel] is a racist promoting racism” argument. This argument isn’t new, the “you’re intolerant for not tolerating my intolerance” defense, but after the goddamn president spouted from that playbook in his press conference, it’s become an even faster, or at least more public go-to response for racists. They’re not even just talking about the Antifa movement or anyone proposing meeting violence with violence (a separate, but still bullshit argument), but insisting that any opposition to racism is itself racism against white people*. All white people should be 100% offended by that suggestion.
I’m glad Jimmy Kimmel can laugh at these people. Someone should be able to.
*not a real thing
(image: screengrab)
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