OK, so. This ... looks bad.
Photo by Spencer Platt/Getty Images.
Donald Trump's resounding victory in Indiana last night — and Ted Cruz and John Kasich's departures from the race — means that, barring a last-minute catastrophe, he's all but wrapped up the Republican nomination for president.
While it's more than a little discouraging to think that Trump, a man who's made so many bigoted comments about Mexicans, Muslims, women, black people, and Jews (and that's not even a full list of groups he's offended) is still so beloved by so many people, the truth is that though the 11 million total votes cast in Trump's favor this far have been good enough to best his rivals and let him walk away with a commanding victory in the Republican primary, it doesn't actually make him all that popular in the grand scheme of things.
11 million votes might sound like a lot, but there are 318 million Americans, meaning that, currently, only 3.5% of the population has cast a ballot for Trump. That's peanuts. Even if we grant that a lot of those are children and others who can't vote, that's still peanuts. Not even peanuts. It's just peas. Or just nuts.
But I digress.
To put that 11 million number in perspective, here's a look at how many more millions of Americans do noble, inspiring, or just generally kind of cool things each year than have voted for Trump's brand of hater-ade this year.
1. Volunteering (62.6 million people)
62.6 million Americans volunteered in 2013. That's 51.6 million more people than have voted for Trump so far.
Photo by Randy Shropshire/Getty Images.
Statistically speaking, at this point, you're about five times more likely to find Americans who recently made brownies for a church bake sale or escorted a 90-year-old nursing home resident to the bathroom than you are to encounter Americans who bought hard enough into Trump's BS about Mexicans being rapists and Muslims being terrifying death-splosion monsters to cast a vote for him.
Unless of course, you're on the internet, in which case, they'll find you.
2. Going to a baseball game to watch a last-place team play (which people did 14.1 million times)
Always next year, Papi. Photo by Adam Glanzman/Getty Images.
Attendance at the stadiums of the six worst MLB teams in their division last year totaled 14.1 million. That means 3.1 million people thought it was a better use of their time and money to watch the completely hopeless Boston Red Sox, Oakland Athletics, Cincinnati Reds, Philadelphia Phillies, Detroit Tigers, and Colorado Rockies flail helplessly at a series of 90-mile-per-hour fastballs for three-plus hours than to cast a vote for Donald Trump.
Sure, some of them probably went to games more than once, but these attendance figures don't count the millions of fans who, even more bafflingly, went to watch those teams lose on the road. When you factor that in, it's clear that more Americans spent the summer of 2015 clinging to an inspiringly cockeyed and delusional but ultimately charming hope that it still just might be Joey Votto's year than who voted for the host of "Celebrity Apprentice" to become the Republican nominee for president of the United States.
3. Being Latino (55 million people)
Photo by David McNew/Getty Images.
Among the 55 million Americans who identify as Latino, Trump currently boasts an impressive 77% unfavorable rating.
That means there are almost four times more Latino-Americans who hate Trump's guts (42 million) then there are total people who have voted for him so far.
4. Using wind to power their homes (approx. 45 million people)
Photo by David McNew/Getty Images.
Wind turbines provide power to an estimated 18 million American homes. Given that the average American household contains 2.5 people, that's about 45 million people helping save planet Earth by doing nothing more than living high off that sweet breezy crude — 34 million more people than have pulled the lever (or filled in the dot or dimpled the chad) for the former CEO of Trump Steaks.
5. Donating to charity (265 million people)
Photo by Albert Herring/Wikimedia Commons.
Americans not only gave $358 billion in 2014, but a Gallup poll taken the previous year found that 83% made some sort of charitable donation, which works out to about 265 million people.
That's not only a staggering amount of humans; it's real money! Definitely more real than the donations Donald Trump promised to make to veterans organizations and then only sort of did.
6. Supporting the right to affordable, reproductive health care (175 million people)
Photo by Andrew Burton/Getty Images.
55% of Americans — about 175 million people — favor federal funding for Planned Parenthood.
Even if you extrapolate out Trump's percentage of the Republican primary vote (40%) to half or all of the electorate, Planned Parenthood still comes out ahead.
Not getting ovarian cancer and being able to choose when or if you're ready to start a family: still more popular than giving the doofus behind Trump Airlines the nuclear codes.
7. Visiting America's national parks (which people did 307.2 million times)
Meh. Photo by Karen Bleier/Getty Images.
America's national parks recorded a whopping 307.2 million visits in 2015.
That's like if 11 million people each voted for 28 Donald Trumps...
Ahhhhhhhhhh! Ahhhhhhhhhhhh! Photo by Spencer Platt/Getty Images.
...perhaps the most terrifying "28 of something" that it is possible to have — narrowly edging out bees, undetonated land mines, and phone calls from your mom where she didn't leave a voicemail.
8. Watching "Let It Go" on YouTube (526 million views)
Photo by Matt Stroshane/Disney Parks via Getty Images
As of May 4, 2016, the official video for "Disney's 'Frozen' 'Let it Go' Sequence Performed by Idina Menzel" had been watched an ungodly 526 million times! If there was a way to put it to a vote, a 3-year-old theater-pop anthem of self-empowerment from a children's movie would pile-drive Donald Trump into the mat in the biggest landslide in history.
(Is it too late for the Democrats to nominate "Disney's 'Frozen 'Let It Go' Sequence Performed by Idina Menzel?" Asking for a friend).
9. Commuting on public transit (16 million people)
Photo by Andrew Burton/Getty Images.
The bad news? A mere 5% of all Americans use mass transit to get to work. The good news? That works out to 16 million people, which is five million more than have voted for a trust-fund baby who bankrupted his gross casinos.
10. Calling to tell their moms how much they love her (??? million people)
Admittedly, I've got no statistics on this, but I think it's a safe bet to assume more than 11 million Americans do this each year.
I hope more than 11 million Americans do this each year.
You're the best, Mom. Photo via iStock.
And most importantly...
11. Not voting for Trump (14.5 million voters)
11 million people in the Republican primary voted for Donald Trump.
14.5 million Republican primary voters haven't. That's about 3.5 million more, according to math.
Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images.
Meanwhile, the ranks of Republicans who not only didn't vote for Trump's brand of callous bigotry, but say they still won't vote for Trump include an editor of a prominent conservative blog...
...a former John McCain adviser...
...and the managing editor of the Washington Examiner, a conservative publication.
Meanwhile, 12 million Democratic primary voters have voted for the Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton and 9 million have voted for Bernie Sanders. Math says that's a total of 21 million people — 10 million more than have voted for Trump thus far. If you combine the Republican and Democratic not-Trump votes, you get almost 45 million.
Trump will almost certainly get more than 11 million votes in a general election, especially now that the other 17 Republican candidates have dropped out of the race. But while Trump might seem unstoppable now, only 3.5% of Americans have actually cast a vote for him thus far.
Far more Americans are standing up to Trump's brand of bigotry, mysogyny, xenophobia, and general cluelessness than are casting a ballot for it.
And that's just as important a story.
From now until November, let's make sure we keep it that way, so that Trump can go back to doing what he does best:
Photo by Chad Buchanan/Getty Images.
Selling terrible vodka.
There's a reason why some people can perfectly copy accents, and others can't
Turns out, there's a neurodivergent link.
A woman in black long sleeve shirt stands in front of mirror.
Have you ever had that friend who goes on vacation for four days to London and comes back with a full-on Queen's English posh accent? "Oooh I left my brolly in the loo," they say, and you respond, "But you're from Colorado!" Well, there are reasons they (and many of us) do that, and usually it's on a pretty subconscious level.
It's called "accent mirroring," and it's actually quite common with people who are neurodivergent, particularly those with ADHD (Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder). According Neurolaunch, the self-described "Free Mental Health Library," "Accent mirroring, also known as accent adaptation or phonetic convergence, is the tendency to unconsciously adopt the accent or speech patterns of those around us. This linguistic chameleon effect is not unique to individuals with ADHD, but it appears to be more pronounced and frequent in this population."
Essentially, when people have conversations, we're constantly "scanning" for information—not just the words we're absorbing, but the inflection and tone. "When we hear an accent, our brains automatically analyze and categorize the phonetic features, prosody, and intonation patterns," writes Neurolaunch. For most, this does result in copying the accent of the person with whom we're speaking. But those with ADHD might be more sensitive to auditory cues. This, "coupled with a reduced ability to filter out or inhibit the impulse to mimic…could potentially explain the increased tendency for accent mirroring."
While the article explains further research is needed, they distinctly state that, "Accent mirroring in individuals with ADHD often manifests as an unconscious mimicry of accents in social situations. This can range from subtle shifts in pronunciation to more noticeable changes in intonation and speech rhythm. For example, a person with ADHD might find themselves unconsciously adopting a Southern drawl when conversing with someone from Texas, even if they’ve never lived in the South themselves."
People are having their say online. On the subreddit r/ADHDWomen, a thread began: "Taking on accents is an ADHD thing?" The OP shares, "My whole life, I've picked up accents. I, myself, never noticed, but everyone around me would be like, 'Why are you talking like that??' It could be after I watched a show or movie with an accent or after I've traveled somewhere with a different accent than my 'normal.'
They continue, "Apparently, I pick it up fast, but it fades out slowly. Today... I'm scrolling Instagram, I watch a reel from a comedian couple (Darcy and Jeremy. IYKYK) about how Darcy (ADHD) picks up accents everywhere they go. It's called ADHD Mirroring??? And it's another way of masking."
(The OP is referring to Darcy Michaels and his husband Jeremy Baer, who are both touring comedians based in Canada.)
Hundreds of people on the Reddit thread alone seem to relate. One comments, "Omfg I've done this my whole life; I'll even pick up on the pauses/spaces when I'm talking to someone who is ESL—but English is my first language lol."
Sometimes, it can be a real issue for those around the chameleon. "I accidentally mimicked a waitress's weird laugh one time. As soon as she was out of earshot, my family started to reprimand me, but I was already like 'oh my god I don’t know why I did that, I feel so bad.'"
Many commenters on TikTok were shocked to find out this can be a sign of ADHD. One jokes, "Omg, yes, at a store the cashier was talking to me and she was French. She's like 'Oh are you French too? No, I'm not lol. I'm very east coast Canada."
And some people just embrace it and make it work for them. "I mirror their words or phrase! I’m 30. I realized I start calling everyone sweetie cause my manager does & I work at coffee shop."