Thread by @RadioFreeTom

I have had this convo with Trump supporters a hundred times over the past 4 years, and it always ends with confused cognitive dissonance, or just anger.
Makes them even more confused when I say I'm a conservative, but I just them to be *consistent* in what they say they want. /1

https://twitter.com/QasimRashid/status/1321286743274987525

They'll say: "You used to agree with me," or "But you want what I want!" And I say: Sometimes. But I've changed my mind on the ACA: people depend on it and it's here to stay - just like Medicaid. It helps people like *you* and your family, right?
/2

Eventually, they'll concede that they are mostly getting what they want, and they mostly just want other people not to have what they have, and then they say: "Yeah, you make some good points, but... things have to change. You just don't get it."
And I say: Okay, explain it. /3

It's the same challenge I regularly issue to liberals: Tell me what exactly you want *done*, and what you're willing to sacrifice to get it. And the answers are remarkably the same: I want the things I want, and I don't want to think about costs or tradeoffs. /4

My point - insofar as I have one - is that rationality doesn't work, because at some level, the public isn't nearly as stupid as they pretend they are. WAY less informed than they should be, but more savvy than they let on. They know the *wrong* answers and how to avoid them. /5

The people who say "things should change" mean "I want entitlements for me but not for people who aren't me." They know why that's wrong. So they evade the conclusion and say "Well, agree to disagree" because the facts are already in the can and they know it. /6

It's important to keep making the argument against Trump, as I will soon in a piece. But I think it has to be a moral argument, not a policy argument. Talking about taxes or Medicaid gets you nowhere, because *they already know*.

We return to our regular programming now.

/7x