He was introduced as a Trump supporter

I thought perhaps it was a joke. I was reading Paul Fidalgo’s Morning Heresy from yesterday, and the surprise module in my brain was activated. The surprise-activator is at the end of a slew of Trump-reporting:

The Christian Post (which I should say has been pretty good and fair to us) pulls a Romney and makes an un-endorsement of Donald Trump (an “undorsement”?):

This is a critical time in American history and we call on all Christians to pray for personal repentance, divine forgiveness and spiritual awakening for our nation. It is not the time for Donald Trump.

Oh! Oh! Guess who is supporting Donald Trump! Like, publicly! Michael Shermer. Ron Lindsay said on Twitter, “So The Moral Arc apparently leads us to Trump. Who knew?” (And to which I responded: “Everyone, STEP AWAY FROM THE ARC.”)

Seriously? Not that I think Shermer isn’t conservative enough, but is he really anti-intellectual enough? It’s probably a joke, which I won’t get until I follow the link?

So I followed the link, and it’s not a joke. Hemant writes:

Michael Shermer, publisher of Skeptic magazine, was recently interviewed by KCRW, an NPR affiliate in California. To my surprise, he was introduced as a Trump supporter (around the 17:17 mark).

I couldn’t believe it. I thought skeptics were supposed to be able to see through bullshit.

Shermer’s reasoning boiled down to the idea that Trump was a good dealmaker:

… Things I like about Donald Trump? First of all, this idea of deal-making. And not providing, say, a 14-point plan on every single thing he’s gonna do. Well, as he points out, and this is true, like the boxer who has a plan for every round of the 12-round match, and then gets punched in the nose in the first ten seconds and that’s the end of his strategy…

When you go in to make a deal, you don’t start where you want to end up, in the middle there. You start with the most extreme position you can ask for, without getting laughed out of the room, and then negotiate!

No one should make a deal, though, with someone who changes his mind every few days, who throws entire groups of people under the bus to make himself look better, and who is happy to get the support of people with abhorrent values. Even if that person is the President.

Also, as Rachel Maddow pointed out last night, the guy incites violence at his rallies, and the violence is happening.

Oh well, maybe it’s more of a guy thing.

Editing to add: Ariel commented:

I think you should read this. It is also from Herman Mehta, but one day later. Shermer claims that he is “not publicly endorsing anyone”, he gives also some explanations about the situation with KCRW.

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