Donald Trump and Aspergers

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Just wondering if anyone else has any thoughts on this matter.

I've been following this election from the start (and was on the trump bandwagon from the start) and I have aspergers.

I just wanted to discuss a thing I noticed.

From all the forums that support Donald Trump, well, mainly the shitposting forums like r/the_donald and 4chan /pol/ you see autism promoted as a virtue.

They refer to eachother as autists and and what they do as "weaponised autism". (search autist on r/the_donald - I can't post the example)

I see my support for the policies of Donald trump summed up in one statement. "Feels versus Reals".

As a person with aspergers, a strong sense of empathy is something we don't really have, and nearly all of Hillary Clinton's arguements were emotional, where the Donald Trump arguements that appealed to me felt fact based and produced some measurable change.

Lets take a couple of examples.

First woman. I don't care. Appeal to emotion.

Muslim Ban. I want to feel safe. That is all that matters to me. Consider the saying "All Terrorists are muslims but not all muslims are terrorists"...

I can only understand the first part of the sentance. All Terrorists are Muslims. (Yes throughout history everyones been a terrorists (ie. IRA) but I'm talking now - the last 20-30 years). That's enough to disqualify them from coming here.

I have no problems with Muslims banned from coming/immigrating to the United States. I see theres nothing wrong with this argument, there are many places in the world they can go. But I prefer they do not come here.

Gay/Trans rights. I have no problem with the standard "Republican" view. People can do what they want behind closed doors. This is not the 40s 50s. No one is looking to convict Alan Turing. I don't want to go back to that point.

However, on the side of North Carolina toilet decision, I support it. Someones right to behave in whatever manner they choose STOPS as soon at interfers with someone elses safety. Encouraging a law (like Washington state) which states that an individual can use any changeroom/toilet they choose to use is dangerous. Look at the cases coming from that state of mature males with a wig in public swimming pool womens bathrooms, scaring mothers with young children then the police being called and stating that they are allowed to stay. It is only a matter of time that a child gets molested. That is wrong.

I have no issue with them being allowed or more single unisex/disabled bathrooms being encouraged, but safety is paramount.

Political Correctness. I'm pretty sure your like me, if you see a group of young people in a heading towards you and your a bit scared, you'd cross the road because you don't know what they'll do, and with Aspergers don't have the social skills to deal with it. These days if its a group of Black men (or any minority) it suddenly becomes "racist".

Thats it for the moment, but would like to leave it here and add things to it.

I don't know what I'm trying to achieve here, something like considering the question if aspies are "naturally conservative" and the Donald Trump candidacy has brought us all out in the open?

Your desire to feel safe is an emotion. Read Edmund T. Rolls' work. I can't comment on the rest of your post, because I myself am feeling very emotional about this election and couldn't get past this first non-factual thing you wrote. Spoiler alert I have aspergers, and I feel emotion very strongly.

Wow. Just wow.

Yes we have emotions. I didn't mean to say we didn't. What we don't have is empathy.

Politically correct people calling Trump supporters racist, homophobic, transphobic, xenophobic felt like water off a ducks back to me.

I don't put myself in the shoes of a Muslim or Mexican, because that's something I (or we) just don't do.

Last edited by anoneurogamer on 11 Nov 2016, 8:54 pm, edited 1 time in total.

One thing that Trump is for that I'm against is the "anyone can use any bathroom". However, there were more topics that I agreed with him more on, so I let the bathroom thing go. It ended up taking care of itself.

We don't need to put ourselves in anyone else's shoes to understand how it feels to be marginalized. We are already marginalized.

I get what you mean. When I look at the terrorist stuff, I just look at the facts - what's happening in America now and what can be done to get it under control. It's the political correctness that's getting in the way.

But haven't you heard? I'm a straight, "cis", white male! That trumps every hardship and obstacle I've ever encountered! Of course, they forgot to inform me of the rules and neglected to provide me with my straight, white man pass...

On a serious note. I wonder if people are going to learn that this shaming narrative doesn't work, or if they'll double down and give Trump a second term?

I think that's pretty much the opposite of true. Both candidates attempted to connect with people on an emotional level. Clinton attempted to substantiate her points, but Trump usually didn't. He relied on rhetoric and emotion alone. When he did make substantive points, they were usually kept quiet, with the only exception that immediately comes to mind being his tax plans.


Not sure what this means?


"I want to feel safe" is an emotional argument. That doesn't necessarily mean that it's a bad one, just that it's operating on an emotional level.

Not all terrorists are Muslims. For example, Anders Breivik was not a Muslim. The man who shot up a black church was not a Muslim. The Dallas shooter was not a Muslim.

It's obviously wrong to discriminate against people based on their religion. Imagine if you were trying to get somewhere and you got stopped because of your beliefs? We condemn the countries that don't allow "Israelis" in, and we should do the same for countries which don't allow Muslims in.

If you don't want Muslims in America, then you have a problem. Violent Islam isn't a gene, it's a meme. You can't stop ideas. Terrorism will creep into America via the internet. Domestic terrorists are likely to be the major threat going forward.


I don't think the cases you cite are actually remotely frequent. Although they might exist, I've never seen a credible account of one.

In any case, aren't you solving the wrong problem? Don't make it an offence to go in the "wrong" bathroom. Make it an offence to be horrible to people! Trans women are not "unsafe" - they're much more likely to be the victim of a crime than a perpetrator - and cis women are not inherently safe to be around either.


No, autistic people are not more likely to be conservative or support Donald Trump. For example, users on this forum heavily test as left-liberal on political affiliation tests; this is exactly the opposite of the authoritarian-right policies which Trump endorses. The "who did you vote for" thread put Trump well behind Clinton.

I would like to propose a few alternative explanations for what you have observed:

1) You are suffering from confirmation bias; you only notice autistic people when they support Trump.
2) Internet Trump supporters know that their political views make them outcasts. Trump supporters use "autism" as shorthand for "outcast".


I wonder if anti-feminists will ever form coherent arguments that don't use ridiculous straw men...

Also think it's important to remind participants of the forum rules:

It is not acceptable to suggest, for example, that trans people are unsafe or that Muslims are terrorists. Please bear this in mind.

I don't know but I could see Trump extending comradery to BLM by offering that he's black at the waist or telling Ellen Degeneres that he's a raging lesbian too.

It's very insulting to me that aspies are "offended" by Trump's remarks and automatically refuse to vote for him. Why are most minorities so sensitive? I have Aspergers, why should I be offended by his comments. I'm just a normal person who like to laugh and isn't so sensitive.

There is no "we" here. Speak for yourself, please.

This is why I don't go around telling people I have autism. I don't want to be mistaken for a conservative. :p

Especially when you're statistically more likely to be killed by a police officer than a terrorist, and you're more likely to be molested by Donald Trump than by a trans person.

It is blatantly false that all terrorists are muslims.

Why would anyone on this site vote for Trump when the Clinton administration had 21+ on their agenda and Trump blatantly mocked somebody stimming?

Oh wait please don't answer that. I am so sick of the excuses.