Still Votin' Trump -- No Matter What

Why do people continue to support Trump no matter what he does? Simple. They don't care what he does. They support Trump because he hates the same people they hate.

He can do pretty much anything and they'll explain it away. Or they will just laugh it off because they truly don't care what Trump does or they chalk it up to "fake news."

How liberals see Trump supporters - it's not that simple

 

The one core value that Trumpsters celebrate above all others is hatred for weakness. Refusing to wear masks to protect oneself and others from COVID has been turned into "freedom" but it's really about exposing fear. They're playing chicken with nature, and whoever flinches is a "weakling."

Their passionate hatred for weakness is what proves to them that they are strong. 

Kindness = weakness. 

Honesty = weakness.

Compromise = weakness.

They believe themselves superior in every way to anyone who doesn't hate weakness as much as they do. They consider liberals to be weak people who are inferior to them, "takers instead of makers"  but they also know that they are outnumbered and that is why they will condone "any means necessary" by their side to retain power.

 

Psychologists have identified several key traits that most Trump voters share:

1.  Authoritarian Personality Syndrome - characterized by extreme obedience and unquestioning respect for and submission to authority.

2. Social dominance orientation -  a preference for a societal hierarchy of groups in which the high-status groups dominate the low-status ones.

3.  Prejudice - Not all of Trump's supporters are prejudiced against ethnic and religious minorities, but those who are prone to prejudice have found a home in the Republican Party and Trump has welcomed their support with plenty of dog whistles.

4. Minimal Intergroup Contact - Contact with those outside one's own group tends to reduce prejudice.  Trump’s white supporters have had significantly less contact with minorities than other Americans. 

5. Relative Deprivation - the experience of feeling that one is being deprived of something to which one believes they are entitled; like jobs going to "illegal aliens" or shipped to Mexico and China, etc.

6.  Practicality Trumps Morality - Trump offers tax cuts for the rich and reducing government regulations that get in the way of businessmen making money. By tying tax cuts and reducing regulations to job creation, Trump appeals to blue collar workers in the rust belt as well. In essence, their attitude is that as long as Trump benefits me financially, I don't care what else he does.

7. Easily manipulated by fear - Science has shown that the conservative brain has an exaggerated fear response when faced with stimuli that may be perceived as threatening.

8. Mental health problems - people who are already borderline are being cynically manipulated with propaganda that further damages their mental health

9. Collective Narcissism - "American Exceptionalism" The mistaken idea that the United States is uniquely virtuous is comforting to many Americans. Trump exacerbates the collective narcissism with his anti-immigrant, anti-elitist, and strongly nationalistic rhetoric.

Many people vote Republican because Republicans offer the appearance of "moral clarity" — a simple vision of good and evil that activates deep-seated fears. Right Wing news and opinion outlets manipulate their followers' despair and confusion, and massage those emotions into self-righteous anger and hate. They have been convinced by their leaders that a Democrat victory will lead to the destruction of America and everything they hold dear.

Democrats, in contrast, appeal to reason and do so with long-winded explanations.

Many people love Trump because he flouts all the rules about what you can say and how you can say it. They love him for this even when they disagree with what he’s saying and how he’s saying it. Being politically incorrect is the important thing, because Trump is doing what they wished they felt free to do.  

Challenging a Trump voter on their facts doesn't work because it threatens their entire world view. When we challenge Trump voters with factual evidence, they discount the evidence, no matter what the source, and then generate new rationalizations for why they are right. The Right Wing Propaganda Machine and echo chamber, including Fox News, is especially adept at giving Trumpsters rebuttals that they can use to minimize their discomfort with bothersome, contradictory facts.

Conservatives blame immigration and changing demographics for creating the political and social environment where their views are defined as stupid, bigoted, and hateful. So, Trump’s attacks on Mexican and Muslim immigration are part of the same message. They think Trump will reverse this trend and make it safe for people just to be themselves again. 

Leaving Trump would be tantamount to an admission that they were wrong about him all along. Every new revelation of Trump's wrongdoing, along with what I like to call Trump's "daily outrage," where he keeps the media lurching from one drama to the next, increases the investment his supporters have in him and it makes it that much more difficult for them to finally decide that they have had enough of Trump.