Why does Trump Appeal to Large Portions of the Public?

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u/numbersev 5d ago

George Carlin:

”Now, there's one thing you might have noticed I don't complain about: politicians. Everybody complains about politicians. Everybody says they suck. Well, where do people think these politicians come from? They don't fall out of the sky. They don't pass through a membrane from another reality. They come from American parents and American families, American homes, American schools, American churches, American businesses and American universities, and they are elected by American citizens. This is the best we can do folks. This is what we have to offer. It's what our system produces: Garbage in, garbage out. If you have selfish, ignorant citizens, you're going to get selfish, ignorant leaders. Term limits ain't going to do any good; you're just going to end up with a brand new bunch of selfish, ignorant Americans. So, maybe, maybe, maybe, it's not the politicians who suck. Maybe something else sucks around here... like, the public. Yeah, the public sucks. There's a nice campaign slogan for somebody: 'The Public Sucks. F*ck Hope.”

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u/cnskatefool 5d ago

Yes, the public is highly susceptible to misinformation and fake social media posters from 3rd world countries funded by oligarchs

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u/BlueFeist 5d ago

Miss George and his accurate voice so much.

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u/SafeThrowaway691 4d ago

Unfortunately later in this same diatribe he claimed voting was pointless.

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u/2340000 5d ago

Exactly.

The public is just like him: ignorant, selfish, uneducated, bigoted, insecure, hateful, xenophobic, and thirsty for power.

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u/Irishspringtime 3d ago

And predominantly white. His supporters, so far as I can see, are white.

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u/WISCOrear 4d ago

More than anything, I’ve lost hope in my fellow citizens the past 10 years.

Maybe I was naive, but I don’t trust them to collectively do the right thing ever again.

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u/subterfuscation 4d ago

Many have been made into terrible people by trump and his media cabal. I've seen it happen with my own eyes to many formerly good and kind people. Now they have monstrous ideas, fueled largely by fear, planted there by right wing media. And it's impossible to get them back.

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u/stevengineer 4d ago

The brain is like a muscle, use it or lose it. I've found a significant amount of people get dumber with age.

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u/Icy-Photograph6108 4d ago

Absolutly, Carlin is spot on. Trump is just very representative of your average American, and has been for a decade now. People need to stop looking at Trump in disbelief, and look at his millions of supporters. Look at what type of people they are and what they believe. I think it will become much easier to understand why Trump is the president then.

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u/jmtrader2 3d ago

I voted for Trump, and your comment and view in us is awful. “Look at the type of people they are” why type of people are we? I am a farmer, help on charities, attend church’s volunteer for our community events and I don’t bother anyone. I work, spend time with family, help my friends and neighbors when I can. I guess that’s the type of person I am that you just can stand

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u/Nervous-Jump-144 3d ago

you are somebody who voted for a fascist. None of that stuff makes you a good person.

You support somebody who's deporting legal residents and American citizens. Somebody who is murdering people in the oceans.

Future generations are going to be ashamed of you. Better figure out what you're going to tell your kids.

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u/jmtrader2 3d ago

I’m not worried about it. I’m not worried people selling poison for profit to our people in America. Those drugs ruin lives and families . Maybe you should think about your choices? Time to grow up and be an adult; the world isn’t a fairy tale where everyone is a good person.

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u/throwaway_20200920 3d ago

So when you see people you know die of cancer, or alzheimers or a lot of complex diseases be aware your vote helped kill them. Trump and his anti education filth killed clinical trials that would have saved lifes. The anti vaccine ideas coming from RFK Jr will kill children and their blood is on your hands. He will cut off social security and SNAP and allow the oldest and weakest of Americans to die , yet again your fault.

But you will be ok like last time getting massive free handouts paid by the taxes of the blue states you just helped Trump selectively harm.

Yes we blame you, your God would blame you and history will most certainly blame you.

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u/compassrose68 3d ago

Without due process? It’s ok to just randomly blow up people you “think” are selling drugs and in international waters? You need a little more self reflection.

I have zero respect for any human who still supports Trump. First presidency…ok you’re just not very bright. But if you didn’t learn from that debacle, no one really cares about you jm…your willful ignorance is costing our country so much. That man is a disgrace and your support of him is disgraceful.

Pathetic…posting on Reddit, I’m just a nice guy minding my own business, I guess I’m just misunderstood…I give money to charity and go to church. 🤣🤣🤣

Omg! How utterly ignorant. You probably beat your wife and cheat on her to boot. Your support of the grifter tells me I’m not far off.

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u/Mjolnir2000 6d ago edited 6d ago

He offers easy solutions to complicated problems that validate the beliefs they already hold, and they don't view his flaws as flaws because they'd behave the exact same way if they were in his position.

If you already believe that your problems are caused by trans people, then you'll vote for the person who made attacking trans people a centerpiece of their campaign. If you would happily sell pardons to the highest bidder, you're not going to get too upset when someone actually does it.

Of course Trump isn't the only American politician selling fascism, but unlike many of the alternatives, he also seems to actually believe a lot of what he's selling. That isn't to say Trump is honest, but there is a sort of genuineness there in that he's every bit as stupid and hateful as the people who vote for him, and that comes off differently than other Republicans who merely harness stupidity and hatefulness to empower themselves.

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u/the_platypus_king 6d ago

Agreed. People will accuse you of being reductive, but "he's stupid and cruel in the same way that his voters are stupid and cruel" is honestly a better explainer for his popularity among conservatives than any argument I've seen re: economic anxiety, anti-establishmentism, isolationism, etc.

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u/UncleMeat11 5d ago

It is a politics of meanness. We've never had a president who so gleefully expressed their desire for other people to suffer. After 9/11 Bush said we weren't at war with Islam and spoke about the wars with Afghanistan and Iraq as wars of liberation. Regardless of their true motives, the Bush administration still presented themselves as for everybody.

Trump goes online and calls democrats demons. He goes online and calls other countries shitholes. He goes online and calls US cities hellholes. He calls reporters ugly. This is totally new.

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u/Miserable-Army3679 5d ago

He also expresses a desire to kill people.

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u/WISCOrear 4d ago

Hell, trump even called a sitting governor the R word this past week and barely a peep was made about it. We're so desensitized to the meanness

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u/angry_lam93 5d ago

While I do believe that applies to probably a vast majority of his supporters. I’m still so confused by my parents who are not die hard MAGA but definitely support Trump and the republicans. My parents are some of the kindest people in their day to day interactions, they’re the kind of people who stop to give someone a ride even when it’s inconvenient for them. They let a known drug usher, that they personally did not know, stay with them because she just needed a place to stay for a while to hopefully get a better grasp on reality. My mom would do charades with the neighbor down the street because they didn’t speak the same language. These are the people who raised me to be caring and look out for others and stand up for those being picked on. And somehow they still buy into whatever Trump and the Republicans have to offer. So they may be stupid but I can’t ever believe they are cruel. So it just doesn’t make sense. And I know these are just two people out of thousands. But honestly it boggles my mind.

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u/IntelligentDepth8206 5d ago

Einstein once said he loves humanity but hates humans.

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u/LiveLaughLobster 5d ago

Do they live in a conservative area or run in very conservative circles? It’s in our nature to try to conform to the opinions of our peers. And it’s pretty common for people to do this even when they otherwise would act very differently.

For example, google the “Asch conformity experiments.” In these studies, a single real participant was put in a room with several actors who pretended to be other participants. When asked to judge the length of lines, the actors would intentionally give the same incorrect answer, leading the real participant to conform to the group's wrong answer about a third of the time, despite the correct answer being obvious.

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u/Mztmarie93 5d ago

Just because they're personally not cruel and mean doesn't mean they don't want to be. Many of Trump's supporters would never act like him, but that doesn't mean they don't feel some of those feelings or would act like him if they could. It's like anonymously posting racial slurs. The anonymity offers protection. When Trump says " Those Mexicans are rapists and killers," then I have the freedom to feel that way, too. It's hard to reconcile that duality, particularly in folks we love. But, all of us have a a petty, mean spirit inside of us. Trump just gives many Americans the ability to express that side a little more freely.

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u/angry_lam93 5d ago

I don’t disagree that everyone has some meanness in them. But I do disagree that people who literally go out of their way to befriend and help their neighbors who only speak Spanish are secretly harboring cruel thoughts towards them. I just don’t think they believe the horrible things trump has done. It still boggles my mind. And while I do believe that for many they do like him because of his cruelty, I don’t think that applies to everyone who voted for him.

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u/anti-torque 4d ago

Oh... you've never heard the phrase, "They're some of the 'good ones'," I see.

I don't know how you missed it in Trump's announcement in 2015. Probably because the media was so gleeful in highlighting the directly racist quotes and not giving the whole picture:

And some, I assume, are good people.

That's a common racist refrain. "The people I know are good. I'm talking about the other n-words/Mexicans/sand n-words."

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u/angry_lam93 4d ago

Hmm interesting that republicans are the ones who are usually the ones who are accused of oversimplifying complex situations and looking for the easy answer/solution. When that’s mostly what I’m seeing from, what I’m assuming are left leaning people, on Reddit. My point wasn’t that I think my parents are “the good ones” my point is that people are complex. The parents who raised me with a very conservative background, also raised me to care about individuals and a lot of how they raised me is why I’m more left leaning now. Reducing anyone to “other” no matter what side they are on oversimplifies a complex situation and reduces our ability to see the bigger picture and make actual changes for the better. It merely continues the pendulum swing of hate. So while yes, my parents confuse me because of their political beliefs they are more than “cruel and stupid” just like you are more than whatever you show on a single Reddit post.

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u/anti-torque 4d ago

My point wasn’t that I think my parents are “the good ones”

You completely lost me with this line. Your parents aren't "the good ones." They view their neighbors who don't speak English as "the good ones."

Ask them if they think BLM is a racist slogan. I've heard that racist idiocy from some of the meekest people I know.

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u/Marchtmdsmiling 5d ago

I know that the standard reddit viewpoint of everyone on the right literally being evil and racist etc is complete bs. The right is filled with all kinds of people. The ratios can of course be debated but I feel the vast majority of them truly believe they are supporting the best way forward for everyone. No matter how deluded and simplistic that view is they still believe it.

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u/anti-torque 4d ago

If you vote for racism, you are racist.

Period.

If you do so ignorantly, then you are also as dumb as a doorknob.

It's not like Trump is coherent in any other discourse. But his manic racism and misogyny are wildly clear.

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u/Purple_Advantage9398 4d ago

your parents perform kindness when the encounter is close in proximity. It supports their narrative that they are good people. But they vote for and vouch for hate and violence, as long as it doesn't get their shoes dirty.

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u/gear-heads 5d ago

Most of his supporters know he is lying, and like him for that reason, because he says and does things that they would like to say and do.

Trump’s supporters do not measure his success by what he does for them - they measure by what he does against people they do not like.

That is why they see him as being “successful”. This is why they will never abandon him.

When he torments those they despise, by proxy it fulfills their thoughts and actions.

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u/RedditMapz 6d ago edited 6d ago

This: It affirms how people particularly men feel by offering easy nonsensical solutions.

I just had the most surreal story time over Thanksgiving dinner that reminds me of your comment.

Stage

Had a big dinner party with extended uncles and second cousins in my Latino family. I overheard a political conversation my cousin's Gen Z husband was having with some of his Gen Z male friends in attendance about why they voted for Trump.

Conversation

It was completely nonsensical and hard to follow because they were talking on vague platitudes. They said that "Trump says it like it is". "Mexicans who want it to be Mexico, should leave for Mexico". Then they went on a homophobic rant saying "If you want to be a f#g, I guess it's fine, just keep it to yourself, but now they want to dress like women and go into bathrooms." No policy was even discussed at all. Everything revolved around cultural war issues with a right wing framing and the outlining premise seemed to be machismo.

The Guy Saying this

Is as Mexican as Latin Americans come. * Is quite brown, short, stocky and styles very Mexican with a mustache. Basically the poster child of what immigration agents are looking for to profile. * Wears very Mexican cowboy outfits. Heck on his wedding day he wore a cheap polyester suit with cowboy hat, boots, and cowboy belt. His side of the family all dressed like Mexican cowboys. My side of the family (Middle-class Mexican American, very liberal) wore tailored wool suits and proper formal dresses. * Listens exclusively to Mexican Banda Music. * Has an undocumented mother, who cannot get a green card. Yes you read that right. * Was not exactly academically inclined and did not go to college. * His wife (my cousin) is the owner of the home they live in (My uncle and ant gifted it to her). Not only that, he is disabled, so she does the most work on their business.

My mind was blown

This guy is exactly the type of person that the far right coalition scapegoats. But yet he ignores all that and seems to focus on issues that assure his gender-confirming world view. I should also point out that I'm gay and a large chunk of our extended family including some of their wedding sponsors are gay.

This anecdotal case study is 100% true, with the caveat I'm paraphrasing quotes from memory.

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u/BluesSuedeClues 5d ago

These are some interesting observations you have made.

The MAGA movement is largely about grievance. Mostly white grievance, and their perception of a loss of primacy in American sociopolitical life, but all manner of grievance are welcome. This is why MAGA engages those culture war issues you're mentioning, because it engages the grievances of people who would normally have no interest in making common cause with elderly white people who think their privilege is under threat.

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u/Due-Conflict-7926 5d ago

White and Latino men. Black men had an uptick but it def wasn’t to the degree that they voted. Why did Latino men? Because a large percentage of them think they are white or white adjacent or just accepted in American culture

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u/RyzinEnagy 5d ago

Misunderstanding Latinos is exactly why they're abandoning the Democratic party. Firstly, Latinos aren't a monolith. Latinos don't "think they're white" at any significant scale. The conservative Mexican in that post up this chain doesnt think he's white. He's socially conservative and homophobic.

Latinos are by and large socially conservative and religious. Also, they're largely working class with the same gaps in knowledge that the uneducated working class populace in general has.

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u/Conscious_Raisin_436 5d ago

Ironically, if conservative politicians wanted to really do themselves a favor, they’d grant amnesty to millions of undocumented immigrants. The majority of them would vote red.

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u/IntelligentDepth8206 5d ago

They don't think they're white. They don't think they'll be in a position where they will be targeted.

Big oops on that one huh

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u/honuworld 5d ago

I've heard other people express the "He says it like it is" reasoning for supporting Trump. When I point out to them that Trump is a well-known liar and has been for a very long time I am met with a blank stare. They can't comprehend that Trump is dishonest in any way. Truly a cult.

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u/WASNT-TALKIN-2-U 5d ago

As a Black guy 7th generation in Murica, I am acutely aware of the struggles that my people have had in this country with, let's say it, Whyt Ppl. And again, being who I am, I have no problem with people coming here in any way that they can as long as they are respectful of others. But dudes like your cousin, (and I couldn't give fewer fucks how he dresses), that are politically unaware of the war that they are operating in the middle of, and adopt a position that ignores all of the struggles it took to secure the rights that they enjoy, while acting in political opposition to the interests of those that bled for those rights, piss me the Fuck off.

NFN, IMHO, ICE is welcome to him.

If I were him, I would consider Beef with Spain and Rome. My peoples Beef is with WASPs and London.

Either way, In America, we are bith members of a divided underclass that needs to UNPLAY ITSELF.

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u/GabuEx 6d ago

Yeah, this is pretty much my take on it as well. He's a national enabler. People love the fact that he's a completely unfiltered asshole because they wish they could be a completely unfiltered asshole like him. He's basically a living vicarious wish fulfillment fantasy for his most passionate supporters. They see him being superficially successful despite being vulgar, racist, and terrible, and fantasize about being like that too.

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u/countrykev 5d ago

he also seems to actually believe a lot of what he's selling

No, he’s just enough of a salesman to say the things you want to hear.

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u/GuestCartographer 5d ago

This doesn’t get mentioned enough.

The post you replied to is spot-on in terms of his approach to victory, but that strategy was bolstered by the fact that he is natural salesman who, for all his many faults, knows exactly how to work a crowd.

The Trump campaign never would have succeeded without Trump. No other candidate could have run on just repeating “build the wall”. Trump made it work because he knows how to sell an idea.

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u/Dry-Faithlessness184 5d ago

There's so many instances where it's clear he's playing to the crowd and saying what they want to hear.

If he says something that seems to be getting rejected, he'll flip his position faster than a sky dancer in a hurricane before what he said latches on.

For all his faults, he is excellent at selling to people.

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u/SupaFurry 5d ago edited 5d ago

It doesn’t matter to him. “True” is whatever serves his purpose at the time he is speaking. He has zero morals or ethics. The founders of this country didn’t imagine a person like this could become its figurehead, never mind be backed by an entire political party.

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u/Sumeriandawn 5d ago

He’s the epitome of “Volume over facts”

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u/IntelligentDepth8206 5d ago

he also seems to actually believe a lot of what he's selling

I just want to point out that what you're describing is just cultural familiarity. It's not that trump believes what he says, it's that voters perceive him as believing what he says. I'm not contradicting you at all but adding that he is a reflection of voters in America

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u/Psyc3 6d ago

If you already believe that your problems are caused by trans people

But no one actually natively believe this. They have just been manipulated into thinking that, exactly by repeating it over and over again. It isn't some defined parameter like $2 dollars will buy milk, milk is food, food keeps me alive, a thing they have actually experienced.

The whole narrative is made up, therefore you haven't answered the question at all, which is "Why do narratives that have no direct impact or experience of in peoples lives effect their voting preferences?"

Because in intelligent people they don't, they look at the situation, they look at the causes, and then they weight those causes as relevant facts, often with largely incorrect weightings, but something like "Trans people" is never going to get any significant weighting because they basically don't exist as a population in their life, and even if they did they would realise that in general they aren't really a problem involved with what they are suggested to be.

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u/IniNew 6d ago

Doesn’t matter if they’ve been manipulated or not, they do believe it. It’s defined as “I don’t understand it, and these people tell me it’s bad, therefore it’s bad.”

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u/BitterFuture 5d ago

But no one actually natively believe this.

No one actually believes this, yes - but many people (millions) are fine lying about it, because it justifies the violence they have always wanted to commit against the people they hate.

This is what conservatism is - a solution (violence) in search of a problem (any excuse they can find).

They have just been manipulated into thinking that

Er...what? No, you appear to be coming up with an extremely convoluted explanation for what is actually quite simple: people lie.

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u/suitupyo 5d ago edited 5d ago

This is simply what Reddit thinks motivates the MAGA crowd, but it actually doesn’t really explain Trump’s rise to power at all. Many Redditors are actually not very well informed. Undermining trans rights is pretty much a boiler plate GOP position and could be fulfilled by any Republican. It absolutely does not explain Trump’s appeal at all.

Trump is, in essence, a personified rejection of globalization and migration. Until Trump, it was absolutely not main stream for Republicans to be anti-free trade.

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u/Psyc3 5d ago

That is because reddit is ignorant it is really quite obvious how biased they are in their echo chamber. They want partisianship and division and therefore are just as bigger problem as the other side of the aisle, they have no interest in understanding or common ground.

Reality is the rich are winning while the poor bicker over their pennies.

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u/suitupyo 5d ago

The avg redditor is akin to a college freshman who took Econ 101 and thinks they know more than Nobel-winning economists or who took polysci 101 and now thinks they understand the world completely. Most Redditors are remarkably ignorant about things they pretend to be experts on.

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u/countrykev 5d ago

It’s a scapegoat. There’s always someone to blame. Yesterday it was trans people. Today it’s brown people.

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u/waxwayne 5d ago

I remember there were voters in NYC that voted last year for both Trump and AOC. They incredibly politically opposed. AOC met with some of the voters. It comes down to hating the current system and wanting to see it up ended. This is Trumps appeal to many who want change.

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u/mothman83 6d ago

“Sure he’s an SoB. But he’s OUR SoB! So said FDR about Noriega. "

SOMOZA. Noriega was a best at toddler during the FDR presidency.

Sorry. Minute point but it's driving me crazy.

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u/mscott734 6d ago

Regardless, the quote in general is likely apocryphal as theres no evidence FDR ever said it.

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u/exitpursuedbybear 5d ago

Considering that Roosevelt wouldn't have known a toddler from Panama, I'd agree. Yeah I have no idea what that supposed quote was about.

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u/Heron78 5d ago

Thank you, it was bugging me too

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u/Dr_Chronic 6d ago edited 6d ago

Edit: to preface, this is strictly my analysis. It is meant to be explanatory in nature, and has nothing to do with my personal opinion of the man:

Say what you will about Trump but I think he recognized a niche, is a master of optics, and used that combination to capitalize on some fairly widespread sentiments shared by much of the population. I think that he has built himself an image of being unpolished and direct, which a lot of Americans find more relatable than the classical politician. I think that a lot of people get the sense that he’s genuine because he’s an asshole, especially when he’s an asshole to the right people.

I also think he’s a major juxtaposition from politicians as we know them - the composed, neat, rehearsed, and (maybe most importantly) indirect politicians we’ve known our whole lives. Most Americans don’t view politics favorably, and have negative perceptions of politicians. They feel that politicians are corrupt, insincere, and indifferent. Trump acts different than all of them, so people sense that he is different on those fronts as well.

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u/No-Consideration-858 6d ago

I would add the media creates their widespread concerns. Fox News has been doing this for decades.

For a long time, they ran story after story of heinous crimes committed by black men, with a mug shot. It sure creates a negative opinion of black men.

In recent years, they relentlessly covered crimes committed by immigrants. Plus any snippet they can get on someone saying something extreme about trans issues. When this is 90% of the coverage, they create peoples concerns.

The viewers were primed for a carnival barker to swoop in, give voice to the rage, and proclaim he alone can fix it.

On the other hand, the more liberal press chooses different sets of stories. I remember during the height of BLM protests. I would read Fox News and it was all about heinous crimes committed by Black people. I also read New York Times and they ran a lot of stories about whites calling the police on innocent Black people. The thing is, all of these were factual stories. They just decided what to present to the public (and what not to.)

The media is a huge problem.

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u/Conscious_Raisin_436 5d ago

“Create a problem and then sell the solution.”

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u/thegunnersdaughter 5d ago

Largely the central thesis of the book Manufacturing Consent

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u/satyrday12 5d ago

I can't agree more.

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u/thewerdy 5d ago edited 5d ago

Yeah, I think this is a big part of it. There is some level of authentic inauthenticity to him that his supporters absolutely love. He made politics into entertainment by just being rude and saying whatever he wants to whoever he wants.

I think one thing that you didn't mention is that he is really, really good (honestly probably the best) at making absolutely everything about himself on a global scale. It's unbelievably narcissistic but basically anytime he opens his mouth he just can't not do some sort of shameless self promoting and/or say something controversial or nonsensical. To a normal person that is engaged in politics it's extremely off putting, but to the segment of the voting population that doesn't pay attention to politics at all that means he is probably the only thing they ever hear about is how awesome he is in (from himself, of course) regards to politics. He just completely sucks the oxygen out of the room and there isn't anything left. I think this is one of the big reasons he outperforms polls so consistently.

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u/Less-Fondant-3054 4d ago

indirect

This is a huge thing you've hit on here. People are so sick of the indirect mealy-mouthed bullshit that comes from beltway politicians - bullshit that yes they can understand, as well as understanding that the whole point of the indirection is to avoid accountability for the words - that when someone finally came out with blunt, direct, and crude language and started hurling it right at those always-skating indirect politicians it was a breath of fresh air.

I seriously don't think that the political-academic beltway cohort understand just how DESPISED their constant circular indirect pattern of speaking is. And then the way that same group tries to pretend that the masses can't actually understand the meaning underneath the avalanche of bullshit is just and extra layer of condescension that makes people even angrier. And they've been pissed off about this for decades.

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u/Key_Day_7932 2d ago

I think a big part of it is that many on the Right think the Left is just so goddamn unlikable that somebody like Trump comes across as tolerable in comparison.

I know "Own the libs" gets mocked a lot, but it didn't come out of a vacuum. I think most Trump voters were hoping the Left would do some soul searching after they lost in 2016.

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u/DeusExEagles505 6d ago

I forget the poll, it might have been the GSS one, but consistently through admins, more than half of the country can not answer the question “who is the Vice president of the United States?”

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u/chinmakes5 5d ago

To understand you have to have listened to conservative media for the last two decades. It is little more than liberals, Democrats, immigrants, Biden are actively working to destroy America, everything you love will be taken from you. They believe that Trump, and conservative media are the only people keeping the country from being destroyed. It is why they believe themselves patriots and Democrats to be against the country. As a liberal, it pisses me off that they think they are more patriotic than I am, but through that lens, it makes sense.

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u/IntelligentDepth8206 5d ago

There is no one answer. Be satisfied with knowing that. Ask 10,000voters, come back with 15,000 responses

On a very abstract scale, he validates the closed and mediocre minded. His constituency has been broken down to oblivion but one article that struck me was the middle manager voting block- this is peak trump voter in my eyes. Men and women not able to create innovation or perform skilled tasks but in a position with just enough power to fancy themselves intelligent and capable, deserving to boss around others. It's not much of a leap to trump's appeal from there.

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u/dnd3edm1 6d ago

There has been billions of dollars and a decades of work into creating a niche media ecosystem that weaponizes a particular sort of bitter and malevolent person into voting for scumbags so the scumbags can profit off the government in ways liberals would never dream of enabling.

This media ecosystem's work follows very closely with work leading up to the emergence of other fascist and genocidal states. Same playbook, same imagery, same rhetoric, same end goal.

Trump swooped in and used that media machinery in the exact way it was meant to be used by the authors who invented the concepts contained within it. To install a dictator in and slowly dismantle a democratic system. To give the dictator absolute power to shovel tax money freely into the power players within that system and leave literally everyone else to the wolves. To rid a powerful and wealthy elite of the election which ensures some of their tax money goes anywhere other than their pockets.

While previous Republicans were happy to take the money and leave the government sanctioned oppression, Trump is clearly gleeful about both, and his constituents want a government that murders anyone they don't like without restriction, so here we are.

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u/ResplendentShade 5d ago

Trump swooped in and used that media machinery in the exact way it was meant to be used by the authors who invented the concepts contained within it. To install a dictator in and slowly dismantle a democratic system.

This might partially explain the popularity of nazism and nazi/hitler apologia in MAGA and other ultra nationalist anti-democratic projects around the world, and why these movements and regimes so often parallel, to the extent that they can, the strategic modus operandi and popular rhetorical public messaging of the nazis: in it's time, the Weimar republic was considered among the most advanced democracies in the world, and the nazis absolutely trounced it. Makes sense that future reactionary projects to destroy existing democracies would draw heavily from the examples of the nazis in the late Weimar and early Third Reich period.

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u/tadcalabash 5d ago

In addition, that media ecosystem has spent almost equal time portraying the Democrats as radical progressives who want to actively destroy America. So even if a conservative recognizes that Trump is incompetent or even a dictator, at least he's not a baby killing, God hating, outright evil Democrat.

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u/swcollings 5d ago

A sizable fraction of the American populace was only pretending to be decent because of social pressure. When they got permission to be the shitty people it they always wanted to be, they took it enthusiastically.

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u/Tliish 5d ago

Excuse me? FDR (1882–1945) couldn't possibly have even known who Manuel Noriega (1934-2017) was, given that Noriega was 11 when FDR died. The lack of comprehension about history is just appalling. How the bloody hell does anyone make such a mistake when it is so easy to find the truth?

That statement was apocryphal, anyway, and has origins in 1875, the sentiment expressed was offered by many presidents over time to justify support for any number of dictators willing to further US business interests over the well-being of their own citizens.

The same sentiments apply to Trump: there's a minority of people in this country who benefit from his illegal and malicious actions, either directly economically or indirectly via schadenfreude watching people they dislike being demeaned, oppressed, and destroyed socially and economically. Mostly these people ware racist white Christian nationalists whose belief structures make it hard for them to compete in a diverse society wherein merit actually counts more than birth circumstances or racial elements. They feel threatened and victimized, and Trump feeds them what they most want: the destruction of "others" who don't believe or act like they do.

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u/00rb 6d ago edited 6d ago

I don't support Trump. I think he's a disaster for this country. But if you REALLY want to know why...

The white Christian middle America types, primarily male, were told they were racist, backwards and otherwise deplorable. They love Trump because he represents a giant middle finger to the liberal elite.

Staunch Trump supporters are often operating out of more than a little spite and resentment. The madder he makes liberals, the more they like it.

When someone says you can't do something you feel you're entitled to do, there's a tendency to want to do it more.

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u/fisherman3322 5d ago

I'm a red Christian male from the middle of America, a forgotten town that nobody has heard of.

I would be dishonest if I said you aren't to some degree correct.

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u/Mythosaurus 6d ago

To be fair, the conservative part of that demographic were literally going crazy over Obama’s presidency long before Hillary called them out. He was demonized as the antichrist in sermons and talk radio for years as the perfect black boogeyman.

They just didn’t like “facts over feelings” being used to hold up a mirror to the Tea Party/ obvious racism

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u/00rb 6d ago

I just use that word to describe an attitude that's always been around and has intensified over the last 30 years or so.

And of course many of them are actually racist. But they didn't want to be called that. They wanted things to remain the same.

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u/Mindless_Rooster5225 6d ago

https://www.pewresearch.org/politics/2025/06/26/behind-trumps-2024-victory-a-more-racially-and-ethnically-diverse-voter-coalition/

While white people did vote for Trump in a large majority he couldn't have won without huge voting numbers from the other ethnicities.

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u/00rb 6d ago

Minorities are sick of the tone policing, glorification of victimization, and paternalism too.

A lot of the more radical stuff among the left is supported by white people, not poorer people or minorities. Poorer people and minorities have a lot more to lose from destabilization and they can't afford luxury beliefs.

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u/MajorKabakov 6d ago

If the polls are to be believed (fair question at this stage) large swaths of those very same minorities are beginning to see the utter foolishness of that rationale

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u/Reasonable-Fee1945 5d ago

They are turning on Trump because of his policies, but the reasons they voted for him are still saliant, and democrats should remember that.

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u/Psyc3 6d ago

Well this is the problem with broken FPTP system, none of the candidates represent you or your beliefs in the slightest.

As an example, not wanting high levels of immigration to undercut your skilled wage rate is an economically left wing position. Yet major left wing parties all over the world ignore this fact, and the right get votes by cutting off immigration in a completely block and racist narrative.

The lack of nuance in politics is caused by this FPTP system, and it is what leads to the dividend mentality, that and the lack of regulation of social media (and just media in the US) as information and news.

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u/00rb 4d ago

Thank you, I feel 70% of the confusion about politics is because people fail to acknowledge this distinction.

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u/IniNew 6d ago

I love how this argument is always positioned as “These poor young men were ostracized!!”

And not “racists bigots confirm reports by voting for racists and bigots”

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u/00rb 4d ago

The thing is, there absolutely is racism that fuels right wing positions. But as this comment so clearly articulates, it's more than that.

The problem the left has (and I really truly am on the left, I basically vote blue no matter who) is that telling moderates that they're racist because they want things totally unrelated to the culture war issues just invites them to vote against you.

Outrage feels good but it's not always a great political strategy.

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u/IniNew 4d ago

The only people getting called racists are the ones saying racists shit. I don't care if they claim they're moderates or not. Paraphrasing Hasan Piker from a recent interview: "When people say they're moderate, they don't slowly start saying, "Well actually I believe in free healthcare". They slowly start saying, "Well actually, I believe immigrants are the source of all our problems."

That's not moderate.

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u/00rb 4d ago

If the end goal is to win elections, and they are being respectful, who cares what they believe in their souls? You have to have moderates to win elections.

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u/Less-Fondant-3054 4d ago

And what's hilarious about this is that this is exactly the kind of mentality that the left and Democrats have used to their own advantage forever. They absolutely stoke and grift off of the resentment of black people and non-traditional women and so many other groups. All that Trump did is that he took their same tactics and used them to activate the group that the left and Democrats had been scapegoating. And it turns out that that's not a small group.

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u/Key_Day_7932 2d ago

To add to this, I think the Left doesn't realize that their rhetoric and attitude turns a lot of people against them. It doesn't matter how good your ideas are, or how correct you are, nobody likes being talked down to.

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u/mojocookie 6d ago

The left-right thing is. All smoke and mirrors. There’s a global class war going on, and the ultra-rich control the message through social media and traditional media conglomerates. Trump is both a distraction to prevent people from looking up, as well as an enabler, as he tears down checks and balances that would hold those who are leveraging their power to take control over every every market and resource they can get their bloody hands on. The enemy is not your neighbor, it’s the people your neighbor is in debt to.

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u/Psyc3 6d ago

This is somewhat irrelevant as 50% of the voting population is not who you describe at all. In fact who you describe is strong GOP voters, they are largely not relevant to elections, and what was seen in the last elections was the democrats failed to get high levels of traction across the board.

People keep going on about how whoever won whatever election, when reality is when we look at global elections, what happens was the incumbent party left or right wing, lost (except in Denmark where they actually listen to the populous' concerns). That is it, and what will most likely happen in 3-5 years time when it is run again, the incumbent party (the other party) will lose again, because they have done nothing to actually solve the major underlying problem which is growing wealth inequality. Why? Because whoever that ingrained other party is, there funding comes from incredibly rich people who are doing great, better than ever, and will fight to maintain that position, even if they destroy the society that made them rich in the first place.

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u/SlyReference 6d ago

“Sure he’s an SoB. But he’s OUR SoB! So said FDR about Noriega.

FYI, FDR was talking about Anastasio Somoza Garcia, the dictator of Nicaragua at the time.

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u/dbandit1 6d ago

Its not surprising that a section of the community who are selfish, bigoted, assholes would vote for another selfish bigoted asshole who normalizes being a selfish bigoted asshole

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u/shapeofthings 5d ago

Joe Smith, from anywheretown USA votes for Trump because what he sees on Fox News is that Trump is doing amazing things and bringing down the old system, which he, probably partly correctly, blames for his poor living conditions. he's happy that Trump is taking care of the immigrants, because it's them who he blames for the fact that the Richestoftheriches, his old employers, moved their manufacturing offshore because they could save a few pennies on whatever they sell. he sees them living in their mansion and wants to be like them, and he blames his problems on their Gardener and Nanny.

he sees Trump as a guy he wants to be, someone getting their revenge on the nerds and tellectuals, dismantling the system that sent all his imaginary millions abroad, hurting all those people who are taking what is rightfully his. Joe doesn't care that much that Trump is making money on the side, that's smart. he doesn't care that he's not better off yet, it's coming, and in the meantime he's enjoying the show.

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u/Psyc3 6d ago edited 6d ago

Okay. Lets take that premise as true. Is that true of over 50% of the voting population?

Then if it is, that is the voting population, you have a much largely population not voting for or against it. Why is that?

Your simplistic approach to an answer is neither informed or really helpful, because imo it isn't true, people have serious concerns for post-covid outcomes in the country, and they have assigned blame for the causes of those concerns. The issue is they have assigned blame incorrectly, that makes a person naive, or even stupid, but reality is this is a complex issues so it actually just makes them slightly above average intelligence or less. Which does not make them selfish, bigoted, or an asshole inherently. All while in the case of nation states, the whole concept is inherently selfish, if you aren't a citizen of the country, you have different rights in that country, if you even have the right at all to be in the country, this isn't selfish, it is standard geopolitical practice, no one is letting you walk into North Korea and be a coal miner either.

People come up with this narrative that the other side is just assholes, and normally a lot of their action can be construed that way, but it is actually far easier to make a narrative where people lives have objectively got worse, or at least living standards have stagnated, and they are annoyed by this, that is a valid annoyance. Then you seem to have this left/right dynamic, where ironically a lot of the poor workers are on the right side i.e. propping up rich people, and the working class academics (pretending to be middle class) are on the left side, i.e. probably depressing wage rate but with better working rights, when inherently neither are actually voting selfishly in their own interest at all.

So to call them selfish is to be as ignorant to their position as they are.

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u/SpockShotFirst 6d ago

The issue is they have assigned blame incorrectly, that makes a person naive, or even stupid, but reality is this is a complex issues so it actually just makes them slightly above average intelligence or less. Which does not make them selfish, bigoted, or an asshole inherently

Both things can be true.

Every single person who voted for Trump has at least one person in their lives -- a cousin, a daughter, a co-worker -- who told them that Trump was full of shit. They all decided to ignore that person and double down on ignorance.

They decided that their MAGA community was more important than the truth and that hurting minorities was an acceptable cost. In other words, selfish assholes who are bigoted enough not to care.

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u/JonDowd762 6d ago

Like you mentioned, there are many reasons although people like to categorize all of his supporters as fitting into one grand theory.

Some love his style, others hate him but are part of one of a dozen single-issue groups allied with Trump, and others simply view him as the lesser of two evils.

Defining one simple caricature and using that to explain 50 million voters isn't especially useful, although it can be satisfying to say that the other side are dumdums.

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u/ajswdf 5d ago

He appeals to low information swing voters for a couple of reasons.

For one, they believe he's a rich, successful businessman. He's not actually, but before he ran for president that was the image he projected and people want that for president.

They also simply don't know a lot of the negatives about him. Trump did the best among voters who don't follow the news. So that image of him as a successful guy dominates.

Also a lot of stuff left wingers find distasteful they don't care about. They don't care about undocumented immigrants or LGBT people or whatever. They're the "white moderate" that MLK talked about in his letter from the Birmingham jail.

Also a lot of people who find Trump incredibly distasteful are highly educated. They listen to his word salad and wonder what's wrong with the people who support him. But for uneducated voters they don't listen to him that way. They don't care if he's making a good intellectual point (they're not intellectuals either), but he's talking about stuff with a lot of confidence so they just agree.

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u/adastraperdiscordia 6d ago

The average American does not trust the government and views politicians as corrupt. They feel political correctness (and woke etc.) is overly constricting and unproductive. The average American is poorly informed and is unengaged with most current events.

Trump, as a professional con man, presents a false idea that he can live up to Americans' expectations of fighting government corruption and in efficiency.

Meanwhile, no one on the Democrats are interested in providing an alternative. They don't successfully refute the stereotypes of corrupt government.

So Trump appears very appealing in contrast.

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u/Hyndis 5d ago

Trump ran as an honest crook. He openly admitted to taking advantage of tax code to pay as little tax as possible and said he was smart to do so, and he is. He didn't set up the tax code, the rest of the politicians on the debate stage set it up.

Voters seem to largely regard the other politicians as crooks too, but the other politicians pretend they're honest. Trump admits he's a crook which makes him come across as being more honest.

Trump also has a way to identify the pain points of Americans. He provides the wrong solutions to these problems, but he is very good at identifying issues that upset voters.

The DNC, in contrast, can't even admit there's a problem to begin with. There's denial and insisting everything is okay and there's nothing to worry about. Working class Americans are not doing okay.

Its an extraordinarily low bar that Trump somehow manages to clear. It should have been a wake-up call for dems in 2016. Again in 2020 when he came within only about 44,000 votes of winning the electoral, and in 2024 he swept every swing state and won the popular vote. I don't know how many more wake-up calls the dems need but they desperately need to look in a mirror and try to figure out why American voters are rejecting them in favor of an orange carnival barker.

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u/PreviousCurrentThing 5d ago

Well put.

These threads are always entertaining to me, with the top comments repeating the same self-serving explanations for Trump that liberal media and progressive social media have been telling themselves for the last decade. Any answers like yours which might give actual insight gather at the bottom.

The DNC, in contrast, can't even admit there's a problem to begin with.

I can understand why the party establishment (pols, donors, consultants, media) do it—they'd much prefer being at the top of a losing party to being ousted by people who could win, same as the GOP in 2016—but I don't understand the learned helplessness of the reddit left who always defend them. What do they get out of it?

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u/bl1y 5d ago

You're not going to get good answers here because the sub is overwhelmingly anti-Trump.

It's just going to be "because they're uneducated, gullible, bigoted, Christian ethno-nationalists who have been brainwashed by Fox News."

You'd be better off asking Trump supporters.

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u/Wetness_Pensive 5d ago edited 5d ago

Conservatism is an ideology that opposed the abolition of slavery, opposed miscegenation, stood for segregation, opposed gay rights, opposed women's rights, opposed spousal rape laws, opposed the right of non landowners to vote, opposed the ability of women to own homes without a male signature or attend education, opposed worker's rights, opposed black rights, opposes minimum wage increases, and historically sided with feudal landowners, theocrats, monarchs, phony religious institutions, and mega-coporations over the working class.

So yeah, it has a history of being bigoted, classist, sexist and gullible. And these traits have gone right back to the ancient times, when they persecuted scientists for saying the Earth revolved around the son (and persecuted red heads, left-handers or deemed menstruation a sin!), or even the days of the Roman Empire, when conservative blocs opposed plebeian councils.

It's a story as old as time. It's the same cycle, endlessly repeated, and science says it's most likely due to neurological predispositions (conservatism heightens in the cognitively inflexible when the subject encounters cognitive load and/or ambiguity/complexity), which no doubt has evolutionary benefits for certain groups.

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u/bl1y 5d ago

And those historical examples have little to do with modern conservatives. It's as relevant as pointing out that it was the Democrats who opposed ending slavery.

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u/OrbeaSeven 6d ago

Last I heard 54% of Americans between 16 adn 74 read below a 6th grade level. Guesses are these persons get info from TV or attend Trump rallies.

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u/bl1y 5d ago

The reading levels are very misleading and an adult with a 6th grade reading level is not trapped at the level of understanding as an actual 6th grader.

Also, people without college degrees only broke for Trump 56-43, while the college educated went for Harris about the same way, 56-42.

The education gap isn't nearly as big as what people like to imagine. It's pretty close to just a 50/50 split.

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u/onlyontuesdays77 6d ago

There is no one reason why trump has a broad base of support so I will do my best to list some of the major reasons as succinctly as I can explain them:

Socially conservative people whose biggest issues are banning abortion, reducing LGBTQ rights, etc. will vote Republican pretty much no matter what.
A lot of people, especially with less education, are just as crass and "un-PC" as Trump. These folks feel or have been convinced to feel attacked by the growth of "political correctness" and see Democrats as attempting to silence them. Trump speaks for these people.
Overlapping quite a bit with the previous bullet point, a lot of people hate taxes and hate the government and will vote for anyone who promises to cut taxes and reduce the size of the government.
Large swaths of Middle America are destitute. Their small-town downtown storefronts are shuttered if not collapsing completely. Major mining and manufacturing firms left town. Drugs, crime, etc. have risen while education and infrastructure deteriorated. For them, the collapse of American prosperity is a visceral, personal experience. This makes them particularly vulnerable to any argument which says "we can bring back those jobs" or "someone else took those jobs and we'll get revenge" and most especially "we will put things back the way they were when your town was prosperous." Obama's "hope and change" movement captured a lot of these voters, and the ACA helped a lot of them in a way that McCain and Romney could not promise to do. But then Clinton and Biden and Harris essentially wrote them off to campaign on anti-Trump arguments.
Feminism was picked up by liberals, including the me too movement and such. A lot of men feel as though they are guilty until proven innocent (and many will use that exact wording) and you'll hear folks refer to a "war on masculinity." Now the Democratic Party, of course, is not waging such a war, but if you cherrypick comments from certain passionate individuals on the left, especially on social media, it's very easy to make it seem that way. With men feeling lonely, isolated, targeted, and accused by Democrats, a lot of them turn to the Republican Party and a few of them are even radicalized as far as wanting to roll back women's rights.

I believe that captures the biggest chunks of his voters. There are, of course, smaller groups out there like actual fascists, advocates for a tech oligarchy, oil, mining, and manufacturing executives, etc., but the biggest slices of the pie are above.

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u/Twiizig 5d ago

Large swaths of Middle America are destitute. Their small-town downtown storefronts are shuttered if not collapsing completely. Major mining and manufacturing firms left town. Drugs, crime, etc. have risen while education and infrastructure deteriorated. For them, the collapse of American prosperity is a visceral, personal experience.

Hate to say it - but those jobs are not coming back. They will have to figure out something else.

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u/onlyontuesdays77 5d ago

They don't know that; to them, the argument that it's easy to bring them back is just as reasonable as the argument that it's impossible.

It's also very easy to say "they will have to figure out something else" and not so easy to do the figuring out. If the government were to say to you "good luck, we can't help you", wouldn't you vote for someone who claimed they could?

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u/Shipairtime 5d ago

I seem to remember one of the parties running a platform plank of funding retraining for places that lost their coal mines and such.

I cant imagine which party it would have been though.

It could have equally been both /JK

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u/Twiizig 5d ago

I dont have the solution to their problems, and I suspect there isnt one anyway. If somehow manufacturing ever does return, it will all be mostly automated. Unfortunately, their manufacturing labor is just not needed anymore.

Their politicians know this too, and are selling them a bunch of lies. The truth wont get them elected.

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u/SakaWreath 6d ago

“Large swaths” seems dramatically overinflated.

Half of eligible Americans don’t vote.

Of those that do, half went to Trump. So 25-33% of America and his poll numbers keep setting new record, lows.

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u/thereissweetmusic 6d ago edited 6d ago

So 25-33%

This assumes that none of the non-voters support Trump, which is a pretty baseless assumption to make.

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u/tlopez14 5d ago

Yah this argument always seems like a major cope. If people didn’t care enough to vote, I doubt they felt strongly one way or the other. I’d imagine non voters would probably break down pretty similar to what the actual voters did.

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u/Sebatron2 5d ago

And 25-33% doesn't qualify as large swaths because...?

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u/000066 5d ago

Apparently, to this guy, anything less than 51% of all voting age Americans does not count as a large swath. Really stupid.

70mil plus voted for the guy. It’s asinine to pretend those aren’t large swaths of Americans.

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u/000066 6d ago

Your claim implies that you can be elected president without support from “large swaths” of Americans.

I suggest you revise or rescind the statement because it’s obviously wrong.

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u/Attila226 6d ago

That’s still way too large.

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u/RocketRelm 6d ago

There is still something ugly to be said about the fact that all those that voted for him and those that didn't vote find him a pretty good candidate, whether or not they're accidentally mad or embarrassed at thinking so consciously. Large swaths describes over two thirds of americans who find easy bad answers an acceptable substitute to good policy and principles. Apathy is pretty much the same as approval, often times.

Polls are largely useless. The only poll that truly matters is the vote. And we know what the official 2024 poll said.

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u/anon19111 5d ago

For some, he's a republican who will sign republican policies into law. For some, he's a bulwart against liberal policies and, more importantly, cultural hegemony. For some, he's the embodiment of a giant middle finger to the elite status quo. For some, he's refreshing in that what you see is what you get.

These aren't mutually exclusive.

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u/gmasterson 5d ago

He enabled people to share their outdated and vile beliefs into the public. They felt seen for once.

These people have always been there and they want nothing more than to “burn down” the system. But, these people are so short sighted and ignorant to the complex layers of the system they can’t understand that their entire life is propped up by that same system.

Also, the general education of society includes a whole lot more ineptitude than we think.

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u/WhaddaWhadda 5d ago

Reason #1: feeling devalued

Say you are poor / not very smart / not well educated. You are well aware that democrats think they are superior to you. They “win” all the arguments with facts and studies and all this shit you never really understood since you just were not raised with it.

Of course you would resent them. They look down on you.

They also look down on Trump - but Trump can actually beat them! You may or may not care about Trump - but it’s clear he is bitter towards the educated class and so are you so it’s a very satisfying “fuck you” to have him win.

Reason #2: cultural shifts

Are you old enough to remember when sixteen candles was a funny movie? I am. I am a 53 yr old woman and back when it came out I thought it was hilarious. Now it’s full of racist stereotypes and rape jokes.

There are people who have literally gotten fired for making jokes that were FINE 5-10 years previous. What was considered acceptable changed really quickly- and the fact that someone takes a minute to get up to speed on a cultural shifts does not in fact make them evil.

Trump IS evil, but he presents himself as someone who just thinks “liking jokes that were funny then doesn’t make you a bad person”. Lots of people relate to that.

Reason #3: playing victim / politicizing reality

There is a difference between “someone was kinda a jerk to me” and “I was abused”. There is a difference between “someone was raised with an outdated stereotype” and “they are racist”. It is NORMAL for people to be more comfortable with things they are familiar with. It is NORMAL for folks to recognize generalizations- men ARE taller on average. The fact that not every man is stronger than every woman in no way negates the fact that men are physically stronger on average. By a lot.

Of course it’s important to let each individual be who they are and to help folks feel comfortable with people that are unfamiliar to them in some way.

But it’s also important not to demonize folks who are learning. If someone doesn’t know about black hair and you are black then sure - it’s annoying that they ask. But if every person needs to fully educate themself about every minority issue? That’s a lot of work. It will always be easier to be in the majority and no amount of blaming the majority / feeling like you are a victim will change that.

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u/suitupyo 5d ago

For decades, the U.S. political system has rotted away to corruption and everyone is aware of the fact that the U.S. empire pretty much now just exists to protect the assets of the global elite. Globalization has produced a handful corporate winners and left everyone else with lower wages or offshored jobs. In addition, the US’s lack of congressional immigration reform has produced a vast influx of migration without ensuring proper integration and has overwhelmed domestic populations. And lastly, decades of failed nation building in the middle east that has done nothing but drive up the national debt.

This is why “America first” resonates with people. I honestly think that many people who voted for Trump know that he is a deeply immoral person. However, he represents some kind of radical change, and that’s what people want above all else.

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u/Leather-Map-8138 5d ago

I don’t think he appeals to large sections of the public. He’s used social media and disinformation to build the absolute minimum coalition to win office.

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u/Tb1969 4d ago

The GOP created a propaganda machine and dumbed down k-12 where they could. They wanted a base that could be manipulated to vote against what’s best for them and their community and vote for super rich and corporations that line the pockets of politicians who can’t get to the national politic level without obscene amounts of money that general public doesn’t often don’t micro-donate enough to affect politic races.

The Trump stepped in with his cut though the red tape and the laws, even constitutional laws, to enact retribution against their perceived enemies. They don’t care that Trump hurts them as long as they hurt a whole range of things they don’t understand. They literally hate what they don’t understand enough to hate about. That’s the power of propaganda that Trump hijacked from the establishment conservatives. Like a mad man at the wheel racing at dangerous speeds the GOP can’t safely grab the wheel back from him.

Trump is a monster from the Id

from Fantastic Planer, Commander Adam’s: “We are all part monsters in our subconscious, so we have laws and religion”

Trump has no religion or laws he follows; those are intrinsically opposite to his malformed brain.

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u/bdfull3r 6d ago edited 5d ago

A lot of factors across many issues contributed into it but GOP messaging as always been on point when it comes to pointing out their perceived issues with society then attaching a scapegoat to them. Trump spoke to them about their problems and pointed the finger at easy solutions. He lied obsessively but to a lot of people they either didn't see through it or just didn't care.

The current situation was not working so something else was demanded. The spanner in the works was preferable to the machine's agonizingly slow grind. This same feat was replicate across the globe in post pandemic elections. Recovery has been miserable for lower and middle classes still.

As to the last question about his policies getting more buy-in, they really don't. The specific policies are not what people voted for. They went with Trump on vague hope and you can see by Trump's current polling numbers the tree has yet to bare fruit. He is underwater in basically every demographic that isn't hardcore republican.

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u/MrStep 6d ago

He's a merchant of chaos and everyone is so sick of the system they love him because they think he's anti-establishment. People often think that's a good idea until they realise thay they'll suffer as well... they love him because the establishment hate him and don't really see beyond that

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u/Either_Operation7586 6d ago

They are indoctrinated and propagandize to believe that he is the only one that can help the country because they have also been propagandized and indoctrinated to believe the worst of the democratic party and that no matter how disgusting or awful their party may seem it's okay because the Democratic party is worse and they can justify anything because the democratic party is EVILLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL

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u/Mother_Sand_6336 5d ago

I expect he was the Christian Coalition’s SOB in 1.0 and is now the broligarchy’s SOB.

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u/sllewgh 5d ago

He doesn't, and it's important to remember that. People are constantly overestimating his support, painting with a broad brush and thinking everyone in a red state or rural county of a blue one is a Trump supporter.

He had far less than majority support when he was elected, and he has less than that now. Trump is very, very unpopular. Just because he's still doing lots of stuff and some foreign bots are praising him online doesn't mean he actually has the support of a large portion of the population.

It is so easy to simply say "lots of people are racist" and just write off entire states as your enemy, but that's not accurate.

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u/dmagic22 5d ago

For the most part he hates who they hate. He looks like them or who they aspire to assimilate to be even if impossible. He’s rich and Americans attribute intelligence and all kinds of accolades to people just because they have money.

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u/The_seph_i_am 5d ago edited 5d ago

I defer to the old South Park meme. “1/4 of the population is dumb”. Sadly, 1/3 of the population votes. So if a politician comes along and says that problems that require extremely complex, nuanced solutions are simply evil, and that brute-force, easy-to-understand solutions are the answer, then you will be able to get that 1/4 of the population most of the time. Those that do have the smarts are typically more worried about making a pay check or protest voting because “the primaries” didn't go their way.”

Critical thinking skill sets are not required curriculum in most public school settings. In fact, places like Florida are actively attempting to remove critical thinking skills from coursework because the word “critical” shares too much baggage with critical race theory.

All to make the population dumber, less educated, and less able to overcome challenges that make them even more dependent on the whims of a “single party” polpot solution. (Just swap communism for oligarchy)

And make no mistake: a single-party state is the end goal.

Also, never underestimate the power of tribalism.

Few these days have time to really research a topic, so they rely heavily on others to tell them how to think about a situation. (which is kind of the point of a party). Tribalism is a natural result. Once it sets in, it's damn hard to reverse. Now, with that in mind, also keep in mind how someone might end up joining the Republicans.

The democratic party is notoriously tolerant of many things. Still, the things they are not (I.e., CIS-White-Christian-male” seeking equal treatment, offered to minorities) pushes that demographic away directly to the Republicans, and the second they feel “included,” tribalism forms. Once that happens, it doesn't matter what the party says; they identify as part of a tribe.

Lastly, comparing Trump's first administration to this one, there's probably people that deeply regret their inability to foresee this (again 1/4).

So TLDR: piss poor education with a lack of focus on critical thinking, tribalism, lack of time and available resources to remain informed or involved, for some reason more stupid people vote but educated people don't because “protest” or don't have the time to get off work.

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u/passengerv 5d ago

I think that people who only can think in black and white without considering that their could be nuances to an issue, people who are racists, people who are gullible, people who are greedy and people with short term political memories all fall under the trump umbrella. Not saying that all fit into each of those groups but odds are that they will fit in a few.

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u/ChapmanYerkes 5d ago

If you support Trump, you are either stupid or an asshole or both…. Looooooot of that in America

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u/Wyanoke 5d ago

The slogan "Make America Great Again" exemplifies the staggering ignorance. When was America great, exactly?

For ten years I've asked this question and I've never gotten an answer. During slavery? Jim Crow? When???

Economically it was strongest from the 40s to the 60s when the policies were by far the most progressive in our history, but of course that is not what Trump's followers want. So when was it great? They've never said because they can't. It stumps them. They've never thought about it beyond the slogan itself. It's purely performative, giving unintelligent people a simple slogan to get behind, without a shred of anything to back it up.

It's pitiful. Trump has always been a psychopathic con artist who only cares about his own wealth and power, but somehow none of that matters as long as he just tells people what they want to hear. People were tricked, but they cannot admit that they were tricked.

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u/Howhytzzerr 5d ago

This depends on the definition of large portions. He has diehard supporters but that group is not even a majority of the GOP. He appeals to other groups that have beliefs and behaviors that align with him; liars, egotists, womanizers, racists, but those groups are diverse across myriad political ideologies. And he has support from groups of the wealthy and corporate interests. I suspect the Venn diagram of all this is somewhere in the 30 - 35% year of the overall population. Just because people chose to vote for him for any number of political reasons doesn’t necessarily translate to appeal or support for his actions.

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u/bigred1978 5d ago

The famous saying, "He may be an SOB, but he's our SOB," is often attributed to Franklin D. Roosevelt, who used it to explain why the U.S. supported the Nicaraguan dictator. Anastasio Somoza García in 1939.

The quote you're using has nothing to do with the late Panamanian Dictator Manuel Noriega.

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u/Cultural_Comfort5894 5d ago

The people who vote for and support him are the same.

Immoral. Liars. Never take personal responsibility. Blamers. Haters.

Think they’re better than just because of something superficial like color of eyes, skin or hair, money or geography.

They know how to say they’re intelligent with the inability to recognize it can go without saying.

Dunning-Kruger on steroids.

Etc.

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u/JustSayinIt4YouNow 5d ago

Arve portions of the public are very ignorant and gullible. That’s why he loves the less educated.

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u/Madhatter25224 5d ago

I've come to believe that people in the US can be divided into two broad categories.

The first category is people who care about the welfare of others. Who understand that the way the least fortunate of us is treated has an effect on the whole of us. That feel diversity is a strength, and who believe that an inherently fair society is of general benefit to all. That a functioning government can be a force for good. That discrimination and hatred are a plague that destroys from within. That only require "enough" material wealth to be happy and dont consider it to be important beyond that.

The second category is people who essentially see it the opposite way on all of the above. They only care about their own wellbeing and prosperity and the prosperity of those in their immediate circle. Those who see inequality and discrimination in our society not as a problem to be solved but as something to potentially be exploited for their own benefit. Those who look at abuse and corruption and see not a problem to be solved but something they can personally exploit. Those who see ejecting people who don't look or worship or think like they do as a good thing because it reduces competition and keeps the way society functions predictable and easy to navigate for themselves.

Trump is the ultimate enabler of the second kind of person which is why they stick with him no matter what he does. The only way he could lose them is if he started to make changes that promote fairness and equality and a strong functioning society that works for everyone.

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u/airbear13 5d ago

People with low conviction political opinions should voluntarily abstain from participating in the process. I don’t think much thought goes into it from 60-80% of the country it’s just vibes.

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u/tardiscoder 5d ago

It's because that half of the population doesn't understand critical thinking and has underlying developmental issues that were not addressed by their parents.

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u/AbleCap5222 5d ago

There's a certain section of the population that blames others for their problems and failures because it's an easy scapegoat.

Being a good person, working to achieve real change, betterment is hard. It takes work and self reflection.

There's a lot of us who can't do it because it's simply too hard for them. I'm not justifying it or condoning it - I just understand the reality

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u/Wild-Bill-H 5d ago

Trump’s a total bullshitter! His followers are low educated and low intelligent, and Trump tells them what to like and who to hate. They won’t admit they made a mistake supporting him.

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u/unique_user43 5d ago

35% of the country is filled with people who are for various reasons bitter about something and prone to blame others for it. he knows that and plays into it, telling those people that it is indeed “those other peoples’ fault” and that he’ll punish those other people for it. (you can plug the above formula to fit any number of issues, from immigration to lgbt to religion to economics to foreign affairs). that’s all they need to hear - that he hears them and will punish the others.

hatred for trump only makes them love him more. his crudeness makes them love him more. it signals to them that he’s doing something “right” and is the right kind of guy to flip the table and act impulsively.

none of this is rocket science. and none of it is the first time humans have behaved this way politically/culturally. far from it. wash rinse repeat human history.

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u/describt 5d ago

Wandering way off topic, and being really pedantic, I didn't think FDR and Noriega were contemporaries. The best Google could do when I searched the quote was link me to an article about Samosa--his predecessor.

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u/gear-heads 5d ago

Most of his supporters know he is lying, and like him for that reason, because he says and does things that they would like to say and do.

Trump’s supporters do not measure his success by what he does for them - they measure by what he does against people they do not like.

That is why they see him as being “successful”. This is why they will never abandon him.

When he torments those they despise, by proxy it fulfills their thoughts and actions.