I keep wondering if maybe eventually the Republican base will abandon Trump not so much because of practical issues like the logistical headaches of trying to do international politics as a convicted felon but because it’s really impossible to ignore the fact that he’s just a garbage human being
I suppose there may be some folks for whom his selfishness, mendacity, pettiness, and cruelty are features but I really don’t think those things are appealing to the majority of the base. They might like the idea that he’s “strong” or “uncompromising” but not that he’s a whiny loser prick
I’ve said it before: the magats think his policies will only affect the libs. They don’t understand fascism will hurt them (if they aren’t billionaires)
I think the problem at this point is a non-trivial number of his supporters, even the less grotesque ones, are so committed to the idea of supporting him that they can’t see an offramp from that position.
I've wondered about this. If they abandon Trump, it's likely their entire social ecosystem turns on them. This is why it's so hard to abandon religion.
I put the number at 17-20%. In any poll about the most vile aspects of Trump, there will be a hard 17-20% who still support him. On a Venn diagram, they would probably overlap 100% with abject ignorance and/or severe mental illness.
I am extremely unwilling to chalk up Trump support to mental illness, that is extremely stigmatizing and unfair to the millions of people suffering from it who don’t have fascist sympathies.
Fair enough. I unwittingly used the term mental illness in too general a sense and I do apologize. Fascist sympathies would be closer to what I meant. Thank you for the correction.
The same people who believe that all these "downsides" are made up, believe the fictitious persona - born leader, business genius, intelligent, etc. - that was completely fabricated for a reality TV show. Go figure.
Unfortunately there's a whole industrialized disinformation-for-profit media complex that is propping him up because he's a useful distraction from the fact that the plutocrat owners of said media complex are robbing the middle and working classes blind and reestablishing Feudalism.
Half the country voted for him *because* his disgusting behavior appeals to all the disgusting racists in this country. I don't think anything about him has lost its appeal. Half this country is messed up in ways no one has really untangled yet.
I think the measure of American decadence goes exactly to that point. White people see power slipping through their fingers &, since they’ve convinced themselves that equality is oppression, Trump is precisely who they demand in their actual madness.
That is true decadence.
The problem is
25% or so of the population *adore* him for these
They're the same ones watching Faux N00z 24/7
You can't explain THEM away, or handwave them off
Sadly, the truth is, a quarter or so of our population is stupid evil, & lots of them are related to us
We have choices to make
The thing that they love about him is his ability to be unaccountable for the things he says and does. If there’s hope it’s in that illusion being shattered by all of this. If he actually faces consequences, then he’s just another crook. That won’t sway everyone, but it absolutely will sway some
With any other public figure, the headline is usually more sensational than the actual story. When it's about Trump, the headlines only scratch the surface and the context makes him sound even worse. They do the same thing when they quote him; they always pick the part that sounds least unhinged.
I really don't know. I try to think well of people, but he really has been a cruel, lying, whiny baby in public every day for almost a decade now, and I just don't how I can believe the base's love for him isn't tied to that.
Every time I see people who support him interviewed, and I'm sure these interviews are cherry-picked, but every time, it's someone saying how he's a good Christian, doesn't lie, cares about them, etc. And it's just like... who are you talking about? They just project whatever they want onto him.
You could have said the same about Nixon through most of Watergate, and about GW Bush through most of his first term and his second election. "Past performance is not indicative of future results."
I think the thing that will matter to a lot of them is that he increasingly appears weak and humiliated. When people pick a leader to be their strong overbearing daddy who's going to beat up all the people they don't like, and then he starts looking like he can't deliver, they can turn pretty fast.
It's less that than he's an avatar that's like a Sampson charging against their enemies (us). As long as he fulfills that (holy) role, they will not abandon him.
If he decompensates and becomes incapacity or weak, then look to possible abandonment.
The problem seems to be the "team" mentality. Like... they've always voted one way, so they have to keep voting that way, regardless of the players. Instead of thinking critically. :/
I don't have that faith in humanity you do. I'm reminded of how Nazis in Germany, after Hitler's downfall, for the rest of their lives, kept believing in the cause. Once your mind is hijacked into a cult, (which is what I believe MAGA is) it's very hard to come back from that on your own.
That may be the most dangerous thing about him: For his supporters, accepting horrible behavior from him leads to accepting it from other Rs, and from themselves.
They legit just don't hear/process anything that doesn't track with their self image. And that's been the gop voters for decades. Few have woken tf up and those that do have to be open to change despite being brainwashed that change is the worst thing ever.
He's telling his people that they are victims. They don't care if it's based in reality, it's what they want to hear.
That this completely crashes with the "strong and unbending" self image doesn't matter.
They wantvto be told that they are victims. They won't dump Trump :(
4 years ago is when it became a waste of energy to try to understand his supporters. You couldn't rationalize what they're thinking because they're not thinking rationally. Now it's an even bigger waste. The only rational reason you'd vote for him at this point is if you really don't like democrats
The “whiny loser prick” part of it is what really gets me. Everyone hates whiny sore losers. Even whiny sore losers hate other whiny sore losers. But they keep going supporting him no matter how much he loses and whines. It lessens them by association.
those features HAVE to be appealing to his base. i cant imagine why else any adult would even TOLERATE him. i really need to get out in the world and listen to people to understand why they tolerate him. let alone admire... i personally wouldn't want him licking the gum off th bottoms of my shoes
speaking from experience, the "this is a political witch hunt and a perversion of our institutions what they're doing to him is messed up and wrong" crowd are locked in, sad to say
I don't know. I keep seeing the Biden commercial where the ending is "Trump wants revenge" and thinking that's a selling point to the right wing. "Revenge for what?" most of us are thinking, but how many movies are there where the hero protagonist is out for revenge?
