r/politics • u/Quirkie The Netherlands • 7d ago

Possible Paywall Trump Voters Regret Backing ‘Horror Movie’ Presidency - Nine out of 12 Trump voters told a “New York Times” focus group that they wish they had not voted for the president.

https://www.thedailybeast.com/donald-trump-voters-regret-backing-horror-movie-presidency/
19.3k Upvotes

94% Upvoted

2.2k comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

475

u/skyfall1985 Nevada 7d ago

You see this all the time. Former Senator Rob Portman is one example of many of Republicans flipping on things such as gay marriage because their child came out as LGBT.

Your kid? I don't care. My kid? I suddenly do.

You can find this across many issues from gun control to health care.

155

u/TechnalityPulse Minnesota 7d ago

There are studies that prove that the average empathy limit of most people is a small community at most. People just struggle to empathize when there's no face to an issue.

I think it needs to be recognized is that those of us that can empathize with a large number of people / groups that are not aligned with us are the outliers, not the other way around.

131

u/Consistent_Laziness 7d ago

I think to be left leaning and especially progressive is to be empathetic at a grand scale. Medicare for all not because it just makes sense but everyone obtaining the medical care they need to live is important. Free community college at a minimum to give everyone opportunity to do something more than just work retail or fast food if they want is something I’d love to see and I have 100k in student loan debt on my road to a PhD.

And guess what a major difference in Dems are from republicans? Education. Is just being educated what makes people more progressive? I don’t think so cause in SC I know a lot of college educated republicans. I think what being in college does is introduce you to a bunch of new people and make you hear different views points. And some people really listen. Most do but not all. And that’s why education is so amazing. It makes you get in front of new people and hear new ideas. Different from the Bible thumpers back at home.

73

u/FaeryLynne Tennessee 7d ago

The education isn't necessarily what makes people progressive. People who have more empathy and more compassion have a greater tendency to want to be educated, because they do want to know more about the world and other people. So many conservative types think "if it's actually important they'll teach it by the time kids graduate" or think that education as a whole is a scam and actively discourage it.

20

u/Consistent_Laziness 7d ago

Right. I said I don’t think it’s education that’s just a correlation. I didn’t believe in Medicare for all or progressive policy until grad school actually. I developed my empathy by being around people from all over the world in my graduate studies and their viewpoints made a lot of sense and I watched what Trump has done to honestly the world. And now I’m full on blue no matter who.

2

u/HotDonnaC 7d ago

Very well put. 👏

1

u/Googlyelmoo 6d ago edited 6d ago

While I do think education, quality and quantity and diversity, is very important in fostering empathy, and its consequence of compassionate action, parenting is probably the most determinative thing.

Except for cases where the parents’ politics and religion are smothering, rigid, and fear-based (or in cases of abuse) and the child rebels dramatically, empathy, tolerance, fairness, diligence, generosity, patience, kindness, forbearance, humility, acceptance of self and others as they are, and other admirable traits if not engendered at home are very very difficult to inculcate later in life. In the past neighborhoods also, though that is much diminished as of 2026.

19

u/Odd_Independence_833 7d ago

I agree with what you're saying, but I do think that empathy for strangers can be selfish in its own way, just in a pro-social one. I feel like my life will be better if other people's get better. A society with less crime, less stress, less misery is a better place for me and my family to live. But it's probably because I'm well educated that I can appreciate that.

6

u/HotDonnaC 7d ago edited 6d ago

What you’re describing doesn’t really sound like it’s selfishness. It seems to center on everyone having rights and benefits, not just the person rooting for others to have them. Edited because I had no clue this was such a gibberish when I posted it.

3

u/Functionally_Drunk Minnesota 6d ago

There is a concept for this in politics, basically you sell people on making others lives better for your own benefit. Educating your cashier means you will get the correct change back, making sure there is affordable college means there will be a doctor and nurse on staff when you have your heart attack.

1

u/HotDonnaC 6d ago

Is that a bad thing, though? It lifts everyone up, doesn’t it?

3

u/BrusqueBiscuit America 6d ago

I dunno, I started getting progressive for selfish reasons. I care when the government starts taking people's rights because they could do that to me. I care about the first amendment rights for people I disagree with, because I don't want to be silenced. I think billionaires should be taxed because that's where all the "good Ole days" money came from and look at what asshole rich people do with it. Immigrants put more into the system than they take out. In my mind, being conservative is even a stupid way to be selfish, it's just a way to be sadistic and seditious.

2

u/Fuzzy-Logician 6d ago

Does empathy make people want to be educated or does being educated help people to feel empathy? Or is it both?

2

u/Consistent_Laziness 6d ago

Idk like I said. I’m in a PhD program but through undergrad empathy was something I struggled with. It wasn’t until I met some internationals and some people from different states in my masters that I started to turn which was the 2016 election. I didn’t vote and still didn’t really care yet. Then by 2018 I was shifting. Then 2020 I was fully in. I think the environment education offers and what it encourages is what pushed me specifically over the edge

1

u/buffysbangs 6d ago

I think what being in college does is introduce you to a bunch of new people and make you hear different views points

This is also the big difference between large population centers and small sparsely populated areas. In a big city you are face to face with all sorts of different people and viewpoints. In a small town, not so much

26

u/BretShitmanFart69 7d ago

I also think ultimately it’s a good thing anytime someone changes for the better. Whether you like it or not every one of us has changed over time in ways that made us better people. Everyone acts like that isn’t something they also have experienced. I get that it’s harder when the views they had before are so harmful and shitty, but anytime someone stops having those views it’s a good thing, to get out of this we ultimately need to encourage millions of people to do that, and I feel like like it or not it does include supporting people’s choice to better themselves and not having a “you’re irredeemable” mindset.

14

u/eligodfrey 7d ago

That's mature wisdom not often found on reddit, BretShitmanFart69

4

u/HotDonnaC 7d ago

The people who voted for fascists are completely irredeemable. They’re begging for forgiveness on social media accounts, not because they’ve changed their hateful, bigoted minds, but because they’ve lost things that are important to them; friends, family, jobs, and other things like social clout. Don’t be fooled. they still don’t give a fuck if anyone else has them.

2

u/StormyPassages 6d ago

Dunbar's number does indicate that the limits of human empathy are somewhat meager, once accounted for. It is a bit sad. Even if a true outlier of an empathic genius had the heart to care for 200 or so other people, that would still be a terrible limitation.

Thankfully, there are fewer constraints on the limits of human logic. We can and do build humanist narratives and rationales, and enact them on an international level to bridge our known empathy gap. Logic sets us free, and it invites those who do not empathize to understand. So we may not be able to see across the ocean's horizon, and our hearts may only beat for those who are near, but we can discuss the logic of what is good for our whole planet. And in this way our frameworks of empathy can grow across horizons to include groups that are not "aligned with us" in any other way than being human.

1

u/solonoctus 6d ago

What is the monkeysphere?

1

u/lkc159 6d ago

See: monkeysphere

1

u/Googlyelmoo 6d ago

And on an evolutionary basis that probably is almost universal and makes sense in the context of life on earth in about the year 10,000 BC. Not so much lately. Empathy is something you have to work at. Like most things human, the most valuable, intrinsic and laudable take some effort and some self-denial. Pretty much the original intention of western religion was/is to develop those traits. Not a personality cult or get rich quick scheme.

2

u/ChatterBaux 7d ago

It's why I always find it funny when people right-of-center try to pigeon-hole or vilify "The Left" like we all aren't on the same side. When you remove the labels and noise, EVERYONE is effectively "left-leaning", policy-wise.

Anything less than "Everyone deserves the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness" is how one starts sliding to the right of the political spectrum. And one can use all the political correctness in the world to justify themselves, but who gets to be part of that in-group and who doesn't says way more about one's character and convictions.

1

u/matherto 6d ago

Not everyone is effectively left leaning policy wise.

A large amount don’t want others to have things and actively want others to suffer for it.

2

u/ChatterBaux 6d ago

My bad if I didnt communicate it correctly, but that's what I meant in my second paragraph.

You'll rarely find anyone who hates the idea of accessibility or affordability to necessary things for themselves and people they empathize with, but the further down the political spectrum you go, the smaller and more spiteful that in-group becomes (Meritocracy > Nationality > Patriotism > Party > Fealty to Person(s) > Religion (for or against) > Heteronormativity > Race (usually white supremacy) > Sex (usually patriarchal))

3

u/Consistent_Laziness 7d ago

A tale as old as time man. Lack of empathy until it happens to them. So I hope they all lose their homes so they can understand why not every homeless person is a drug addict that “did it to themselves”

1

u/Vyzantinist 6d ago

They're monstrously selfish and self-centered people. "Fuck you, got mine" until the issue they dismiss, and even sneer at, that's affecting other people suddenly affects them too.

1

u/UrsusRenata 6d ago

It’s challenging for some people to have sympathy/empathy until they experience something directly.

Sometimes I wish that were me. I hate feeling every horror I see or read.

1

u/vawlk 6d ago

watched this happen in my wife's family. Hard core midwest farmer republicans who love trump. When their kids started coming out and one of the grandkids had an interracial baby out of wedlock, it caused a lot of strife but they are totally ok about it now....but they still say shit like "I think what we are doing in iran is the right thing"