This American Life: #580: That's One Way to Do It
February 22, 2016 9:39 AM - Subscribe

Forget the easy way. This week, stories about people who come up with very innovative...and unusual...solutions to their problems. Including the story of a young voter who defies political categorization.
posted by jenfullmoon (13 comments total)
 
Dear lord, I didn't know what to make of that kid supporting Trump. Just...oy vey.
posted by jenfullmoon at 9:39 AM on February 22, 2016


So much cringe.
posted by entropicamericana at 10:19 AM on February 22, 2016


jenfullmoon - I guess the episode may be edited to support it, but I feel like Zoe Chace's theory is probably pretty accurate. The personal is political, after all. Trump squares the circle of the kid's contradictory life.
posted by Wretch729 at 11:03 AM on February 22, 2016


I just keep thinking, that kid is gonna be SO disappointed.
posted by jenfullmoon at 11:48 AM on February 22, 2016


Considering Trump has come forward saying he hopes to undo marriage equality... Yikes.
posted by Mr.Encyclopedia at 1:21 PM on February 22, 2016


I mean... Yikes. Poor guy.
posted by Mr.Encyclopedia at 1:22 PM on February 22, 2016


Poor guy, nothing. I have sympathy for what he's been through growing up and his family life, but apart from that - gay Republicans? I just can't.
posted by crossoverman at 4:21 PM on February 22, 2016


Some of it sounds like he fits in with this analysis of Trump supporters: people who value authoritarianism.
posted by damayanti at 5:50 PM on February 22, 2016


I have hope for the kid because when I was his age I was a libertarian-by-way-of-lavey-satanism-and-too-much-heinlein and was absolutely convinced of the rightness of my view of the world. But I grew out of it.

I think he'll grow out of whatever it is that's got hold of him too. Hopefully he can look back at his adorkably earnest younger self and laugh someday.
posted by sparklemotion at 8:45 AM on February 23, 2016 [1 favorite]


Dear lord, I didn't know what to make of that kid supporting Trump. Just...oy vey.

I was basically yelling "WTF IS WRONG IS WITH YOU?".

Unfortunately, I was listening on headphones and walking down the street at the time.
posted by His thoughts were red thoughts at 6:21 PM on February 23, 2016 [2 favorites]


That segment made me deeply uncomfortable. Clearly, this kid's political views make no sense to me. But clearly there is a LOT going on in his life, between his parents making him go to conversion therapy, being gay, being black in what I am pretty sure is a white family, being born again (?), being 18, his relationship with his dad ... I don't know. I'm not sure how fair it is to use this kid as an example and hold him up to such deep scrutiny. I hope things turn out OK for him, and I hope he goes to a big awesome state school for college and can find a community - whether it's a College Republicans group, or a religious group, or a Pride group, or Association of Black Students, or whatever - and I hope he gets to marry some lovely man someday and his parents go to the wedding and are joyful.
posted by ChuraChura at 6:44 PM on February 24, 2016 [3 favorites]


His thoughts were red thoughts: I hope the reporter does a follow up with this kid in the future. He's gotta hear about this sometime, right?
posted by jenfullmoon at 10:49 PM on February 24, 2016


His thoughts were red thoughts: I hope the reporter does a follow up with this kid in the future. He's gotta hear about this sometime, right?

Me too. Even if it's just a year from now, when he's been at uni for year and broadened his experience.

I mean, it seems to me that young republicans are thin on the ground as it is. A black young republican is going to be a bit of a rarity. A young, gay, black republican is basically a unicorn. A totally delusional unicorn.
posted by His thoughts were red thoughts at 3:44 PM on February 25, 2016 [4 favorites]


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