"On the Stoop" channel, from the delightfully named Larone Koonce. Who I've never heard of before today.
He strikes me as a thoughtful man, careful in speech and fair with his comments.
I learn that he's a "happily retired Corrections Officer". A retired prison guard. He wrote a book aimed at helping new CO's manage their jobs better. I can't imagine being a CO. But we need prisons, so we need prison guards. Better to have them be good at their jobs, to be decent human beings for themselves and for the prisoners.
I'm sure that most -- not all, but most -- of my friends and relatives, here and around the world, are anti-Trump. They probably see me as the "crazy daddy", the "crazy uncle" who lives in Hong Kong and has gone loop-the-loop bananas.
Because I prefer a Quixotic Donald Trump to a Cackling Kamala Harris. Because I'd vote for a provenly competent Trump (viz: T45) to a manifestly incompetent Kamala (viz: her CA record and her campaign).
So I have the same issue Larone has in the vid above. How do deal with your dear ones who have Trump Derangement Syndrome?
The way I play it is pretty much to say nothing. Which is how a lot of the commenters at "On the Stoop" play it too.
Larone says he plays it different ways depending on the person. With some, he just ignores the issue. With others, he might touch lightly on it, if raised. And with others he goes "all-in". Which is also a good approach.
It's also true that: "you can't use logic to talk someone out of position they reached without logic". Which, tbf, is how many got to their TDS states in the first place. By their feelings. Not liking the man and his rude tweets, for example. By believing every ipse dixit claim that he's a "racist" (he's not), or a rapist (he's not), or a felon (which is one of those things that's factually correct, but not true... ).
In my own case, I'm far from a "Always Trumper". But I'm not a "Never Trumper" and most certainly no TDS.
In 2016, had I had the vote in America, I would have voted for Hillary. May god forgive me. But by the time of the 2024 elections, it was a no contest. I'd seen Kamala Harris for some years. It was clear to me that as a prosecutor in California she was ineffective. As an Attorney General for the whole state, she left it in worse shape than she found it. As Vice President, she caused no harm because she did nothing. Sent by Biden to deal with the border, she sat on her hands. Asked about it on CNN, she admitted she'd not even been to the border and countered with ".. and I haven't been to Europe either". Huh?
Her book is "107 days", the length of her campaign. The suggestion is that had her campaign been longer, she'd have done better. The opposite is the case. The more we saw of her, the more we were turned off.
As long as all we saw of her was rushing the Veep jet to the Veep limo, ear glued to her iPhone, rushing from Veep limo to her next scripted event, ear still glued to her phone, as long as that was all we saw, then all was well. Sort of. But as soon as she was in front of the cameras, she fell apart. Or served us her infamous "Word Salads". Remember her disastrous interviews with CNN, together with her companion dog, Tampon Tim. Or her disastrous 60 Minutes appearance. Where they had to massage her response so much it was successfully litigated by Trump. Or her time on The View, where she couldn't even handle Sonny Hostin's softball question "what would you do differently", and Kamala answered "Ahhh.... Nothing". An appearance so disastrous it pretty much sank her candidacy on the spot.
Meantime, remember Trump. Going on all shows, Left or Right, answering all questions, talking to podcasters for hours at a time, going into hostile town hall events, tearing up the hustings. The man was everywhere all at once, everywhere giving the same message, one the people clearly liked.
I'll summarise Trump's campaign message as A,B,C,D,E:
A is for America First. Not a "fascist dog whistle" as the Dems claimed, but a slogan first used by the Democratic president Woodrow Wilson in 1916. Meaning no starting wars and no boots on the ground. Which after Vietnam, Iraq, and so on, you'd think most people would be signed onto.
B is for Border. As in Border security. Which Trump achieved in lightening record time. There are now the fewest illegal crossings on the southern border in American history.
C is for Crime. As in needs control. Which we see now playing out on the strets of DC.
D is for Deportations. Which is happening and has the support of 70-80% of the American public, whatever the legal injunctions the Dems keep throwing up, via their "Lawfare V 2.0".
E is for the Economy, which is a strong focus. As it was in Trump 45. Tariffs are controversial, but their ultimate effect is still to be played out. E is also for Energy, as in take steps to make sure that Americans and American industry has the cheapest energy in the world.
Stack that clear message up against the Kamala message. Which was ... what, exactly? "Joy"?? "Brat"?? Vote for me coz Opera likes me? Vote for me coz George Clooney likes me? Hells Bells, vote for me coz the Whole of Hollywood goes gooey over me? Or... vote for me coz I demand government-funded trans operations to any imprisoned illegal immigrants who want it? Coz I want the US to play weak and feckless on the international stage? Coz I plan to keep allowing in millions of unvetted illegals to enter the country?
Those messages? I mean, just stack one up against the other. It's common sense vs..... I dunno, hopes and wishes and fairy tales. "You too can vote like your Hollywood Heros and Honeys".
In the end, come November 2024, I thought the choice between a Trump who we knew from 2016, and who'd been pretty good the first time around, and a Kamala who was feckless and unconvincing, was pretty easy. Trump all the way. But of course, not so for all those with TDS.
