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posted by janrinok on Saturday November 19 2016, @04:12PM   Printer-friendly
from the statistics-or-lies? dept.

Scott Alexander gives a great breakdown of Trump and how the portrayal of him as being "openly white supremacist" is probably (likely) wrong.

I stick to my thesis from October 2015. There is no evidence that Donald Trump is more racist than any past Republican candidate (or any other 70 year old white guy, for that matter). All this stuff about how he's "the candidate of the KKK" and "the vanguard of a new white supremacist movement" is made up. It's a catastrophic distraction from the dozens of other undeniable problems with Trump that could have convinced voters to abandon him. That it came to dominate the election cycle should be considered a horrifying indictment of our political discourse, in the same way that it would be a horrifying indictment of our political discourse if the entire Republican campaign had been based around the theory that Hillary Clinton was a secret Satanist. Yes, calling Romney a racist was crying wolf. But you are still crying wolf.

I avoided pushing this point any more since last October because I didn't want to look like I was supporting Trump, or accidentally convince anyone else to support Trump. But since we're past the point where that matters any more, I want to present my case.

He further states: "I realize that all of this is going to make me sound like a crazy person and put me completely at odds with every respectable thinker in the media, but luckily, being a crazy person at odds with every respectable thinker in the media has been a pretty good ticket to predictive accuracy lately, so whatever."

So do his claims hold up under scrutiny, is he manipulating the figures, or is he just a 'crazy person' ?


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  • (Score: 2, Insightful) by Arik on Saturday November 19 2016, @07:53PM

    by Arik (4543) on Saturday November 19 2016, @07:53PM (#429576) Journal
    So your logic is that some Muslims are terrorists, therefore no Muslims should be allowed to immigrate? And to hell with the US Constitution! - really?

    I'll go you one better. Some people are terrorists, therefore no people should be allowed to immigrate again. My plan doesn't make any more sense than yours does in terms of solving terrorism, but at least it's not so directly inconsistent with the Constitution.

    Seems you're smart enough to realize there's a problem but still don't understand the importance of diagnosing a problem correctly before you prescribe a solution. 'Just do something' is a foolish motto. All too often, those who are the quickest to 'do something' do the wrong damn thing and make it worse. Sometimes, quite often actually, an attack is not really about the damage it does. It's about provoking a specific reaction. Giving them the reaction they seek is not such a great strategy.

    --
    If laughter is the best medicine, who are the best doctors?
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