Who would have believed that millions could gobble up so much bullshit?

[Cyrano]

We here on DU know that Trump is incompetent, a totally ignorant ass, emotionally hollow, and possibly/probably insane.

Yet, millions of people "love" him, believe him, and will probably vote for him this November.

So my question is not, "What's wrong with him?" It's "What's wrong with them?"

How incredibly brain dead do you have to be to not recognize a dangerous, deadly maniac when you see one?

I can't get into their minds. Yeah, I know that bigotry/racism is part of it, but there's more. Do they actually believe the lies he spouts second to second? Do they find something admirable about this disgusting specimen of humanity? Is he their image of a "strong leader?" Who knows? But what I do know is that the majority of us see Trump as a badly flawed person and his voters see some kind of idol/hero/leader/king.

In some ways, these voters scare me more than Trump does. Once he's gone, they will vote for someone/anyone like him again.

Ignorance can be cured through education. There's no cure for stupid. And that leaves us vulnerable to another Trump and the disease that calls itself the Republican Party.

[Jspur]

1. They get off on his

bigotry/racism that they are willing to excuse all the lies that he spouts. They love seeing people they hate suffer which he delivers in spades. They are also a lot of them that view him as a savior to the white race hence why these evangelicals fall all over him despite him not being religious.

[Newest Reality]

2. I think...

I think many of them see Trump as a mirror of who and what they are.

Considering that, they may be the kind of people you wouldn't want to live next door to, shop around, rent from, make any business deals with because they will look for ways to screw you, etc.

Yes, there may be that many Americans who are the spitting image of Trump and proud of it.

[Cyrano]

8. Hard to believe, yet, enough of them

voted for him to help him steal the election in 2016.

Go figure. Who would have thought that ignorance was as big a pandemic as Covid-19?

[smirkymonkey]

17. I think you are pretty spot on with your assessment.

Most people think it's all about racism. Racism is a big part of it, but it's not the whole story. I would say that one of the things that most of these people have in common is resentment, which is why Trump appeals to them so much.

Trump is nothing more than a massive, lifelong resentment in human form and he is the embodiment of all the rage and bitterness that these people harbor in their souls. He is the one who will lash out for them and destroy all their enemies. Not just poor minorities and immigrants, but the people who have always looked down upon them. The liberal "elites", the "uppity" women and minorities who have succeeded on their own, the gay people whom they believe are "flaunting" their "lifestyles" in front of them, and even the people who are simply kind hearted and giving who make them look bad by comparison.

He is, in reality, the ultimate loser who has never been accepted by those in society whose admiration he has always coveted and has never gained. And they understand this and see him as the warrior who will avenge their resentment against the people who have always made them feel "less than".

He is vulgar, trashy, obnoxious and crude and he is an exact mirror for them. They see themselves in him and his power is theirs, for the time being. This is why they can't let go. Because they know that this is a once in a lifetime chance that one of their own will be taking on everything and everyone they have ever hated, even though everything he does is for himself and his own personal feelings of vengeance.

[lunatica]

25. I think all you've said is correct only there is more

Fear. They hate everyone who is not like them in an intensely visceral way. There is no rationalization in their mind about it. It is a purely emotional feeling and it’s based in a deep fear of the unknown and of the other. Their reaction is violence because it’s the only way they know to deal with what they fear. It terrifies them to believe that if they were the minority they would be lynched, beaten, murdered and tortured because that’s what they do themselves. And they can’t imagine feeling or acting any other way.

They truly believe that if they lose their ‘superiority’ they will be treated as badly as they’ve treated others. People of color, be they Black or Brown, are considered to be very dangerous and likely to retaliate exactly like they do.

It’s gotten worse because Trump has been quite happy to build on that fear. He has whipped up as much anger, resentment and fear as he can. They no longer function from thoughtfulness. They function from pure reptilian fear and anger and they can only get their rage fix from him.

[smirkymonkey]

26. You're right, Lunatica.

I have left out the fear component. And for the reasons you stated above, these people are terrified. Their way of life is disappearing and they have no idea how to move forward in a world where they are second class citizens.

[elleng]

3. hugely successful repug propaganda,

been 'killing' us for years.

[EleanorR]

12. Yep, exactly this

Limbaugh, fox, facebook. Years and years of cultivating and nurturing ignorance, fear, and hate.

[elleng]

15. atwater+

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lee_Atwater

'As a member of the Reagan administration in 1981, Atwater gave an anonymous interview .. .

Atwater: As to the whole Southern strategy that Harry S. Dent, Sr. and others put together in 1968, opposition to the Voting Rights Act would have been a central part of keeping the South. Now you don't have to do that. All that you need to do to keep the South is for Reagan to run in place on the issues that he's campaigned on since 1964, and that's fiscal conservatism, balancing the budget, cut taxes, you know, the whole cluster.

Questioner: But the fact is, isn't it, that Reagan does get to the Wallace voter and to the racist side of the Wallace voter by doing away with legal services, by cutting down on food stamps?

Atwater: Y'all don't quote me on this. You start out in 1954 by saying, "Nigger, nigger, nigger". By 1968 you can't say "nigger"—that hurts you. Backfires. So you say stuff like forced busing, states' rights and all that stuff. You're getting so abstract now [that] you're talking about cutting taxes, and all these things you're talking about are totally economic things and a byproduct of them is [that] blacks get hurt worse than whites. And subconsciously maybe that is part of it. I'm not saying that. But I'm saying that if it is getting that abstract, and that coded, that we are doing away with the racial problem one way or the other. You follow me—because obviously sitting around saying, "We want to cut this", is much more abstract than even the busing thing, and a hell of a lot more abstract than "Nigger, nigger". So, any way you look at it, race is coming on the back-burner.[11][12][13]'

[certainot]

27. 1500 coordinated unchallenged radio stations, invisible to dems and city-dwelling media and

progressive leadership.

at $1000/hr 1200 radio stations x 15 hrs/day are worth $90MIL/week or about $5BIL/yr - ignored, unpolled, and unfactored for 30 years - analysts might as well have been studying fish without water

that is the difference. it is the only unique advantage - most of the complaints are aimed at the symptoms of ignoring that.

how ironic that while we are having what seems to be a real sea change after george floyd we continue to let 87 university and many pro sports teams broadcast on and support hundreds of rw radio stations - using black athletes to attract advertisers for KKK stations.

[elleng]

35. Right, surely invisible to me.

[uponit7771]

43. ..👍🏼

[Skittles]

40. but it's so OBVIOUSLY propaganda

why can't they see it?

I remember watching "Fox News", for like, 30 MINUTES before realizing it was lies, garbage!

[elleng]

41. 'They,' the targets, not interested in who or why,

happy to accept message that comports with their inclinations.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

4. Authoritarian followers are susceptible to demagogues.

Why did so many people cheer at Hitler's Nuremberg rallies? Watch the old films; he comes across as seriously unhinged, and if you read translations of his speeches you'll see that he says truly horrible and loony things. But the German people ate it all up because he promised them that Germany, which had been beaten badly in WWI, would become the most powerful country in the world, and he gave them a scapegoat - the Jews - to blame for all of its problems. What Trump is doing isn't much different. People who feel victimized, whether legitimately or not, love that shit.

[A HERETIC I AM]

10. It's an old playbook, and it can't be denied that he knows it, cover to cover

It's been said by many that know him that he is very savvy regarding how to manipulate people; That he is very gregarious in person, that he will make you seem important, and that you are, in that moment of meeting him, the most important person in the world to him, etc. And when he isn't getting his way, or when things aren't going the way he wants them to go, his behavior changes in a very predictable way.

All the traits of the "How to win friends and influence people" concept.

Trumpy is a moron, but he is not stupid. He is dangerous in that regard, and that is precisely why he needs to be utterly defeated.

[Cyrano]

11. Yep. He started with "Let's hate the Mexicans"

Then he moved on to all other brown people, then Muslims, and you don't need a crystal ball to know that Jews are next. And then Mormons because he hates Mitt Romney.

If Hitler had succeeded in wiping out all the "Thems," the next "Thems" would have been people too short, or too tall, or those with brown eyes, or those who were too underweight or overweight, or, ... well, you get the idea. Creatures like Hitler, Mussolini, Trump, etc., don't give a shit about any part of humanity. As long as they are the last ones left standing.

[kimbutgar]

16. He was attacking the "Democrat" Jews this am on Twitter

Soros, Bloomberg and Steyer.

But somehow Sheldon Adelson wasn’t mentioned, I wonder why?

But I know he will be saying white power soon enough out loud as he gets more unhinged realizing he’s losing biggly.

[Blecht]

5. He pisses off people they hate

It does not matter that he is killing them along with the people they hate.

Many of them are racists, all of them are hateful.

It really is not any more complicated than that.

[TreasonousBastard]

6. As evidence, I give you my brother...

He's not one of the monsters, and will never go out and march or cause trouble.

But, near as I can tell, he has never read a book since high school, reads no newspapers or magazines, and is a channel flipper-- never watching any show until its conclusion. News included.

He does, however, have his car radio pretuned to every rightwing station in the area. And is prone to making magisterial pronouncements on national and world affairs as they show up. Rational discussion is useless, since he firmly believes he cannot be wrong or make a mistake.

It's as if he magically absorbs opinions through the air.

Anyway, a week or so ago we were watching something on the Teevee and Trump made one of his daily bullshit remarks, insulting something. Brother exclaims, "That's what I love about this guy-- he's not afraid to tell it like it is."

I believe he is typical of Trumpians. And there is just no arguing with them.

[uponit7771]

13. +1, what anti terrorism agents do with ISIS recruits is to mock their logic with short quips ...

... that force them to think about realities you both know about.

Calling Trump Captain Clorox for instance or saying all the other countries have beat CV19 but the US because Trump opened too early etc.

There are mixed aisle forums I post on and these tactic get agro but most of the time they can't even responsd

[Dios Mio]

24. Yeah. I was criticising limbaugh when

speaking to my brother and his response was : “Do you know how many millions he is worth?” Hopeless.

[tblue37]

7. I suspect that Oppositional Defiant Disorder is pretty common in the US. nt

[Buckeye_Democrat]

9. It's been happening for years.

Like during the build-up of the Iraq War, with french fries being called "freedom fries" and such.

This country is chock full of angry, dangerous people. Most of them are Republicans.

I'm the youngest sibling in my family by far, and my older siblings say the nonsense has been with this country for as long as they can remember. Republicans rallying together and screaming "our country, right or wrong" during the Vietnam conflict, etc.

I'm sure that right-wing media makes it even worse, acting as an echo chamber for them. but let's face it... they were drawn to that bullshit in the first place. So there's something even deeper going on.

[OMGWTF]

28. My country right or wrong ...

If right to be kept right and if wrong to be set right.

Those fidiot Rethugs always forget about that part. Like they always leave out the part about the “well-regulated militia” in the Second Amendment.

[Buckeye_Democrat]

30. It's also amazing how they never seem to learn...

... from past mistakes.

They'll invent excuses why something didn't work out well, then move onto the next disaster-generating ideas.

No contrition or apologies. Even their right-wing "news" sources ignore their lies and mistakes. You'll never see one of them retire like Dan Rather, embarrassed over getting tricked to report falsehoods about Dumbya's military service. Then they point and mock, as if their information isn't FAR more inaccurate... which it is.

[Jeebo]

14. How can such a large segment of the populace be so thoroughly misinformed?

I worked for a newspaper for 45 years. I am retired now, but I did a lot of copy editing, among other things, for that newspaper. The communications industry used to be governed by noble principles like accuracy checking, vetting your sources, doing lots of things like that to make sure that what you were telling people was true.

Not so much any more. Now any doofus can post anything anywhere and there's nothing in place to check whatever the aforementioned doofus says, no matter if it's total bullshit. I always tell people when they tell me that "I read it on Twitter" or wherever that they should consider the source, that anybody can post anything someplace like that, that it's not subject to accuracy checking or fact checking or any means of making sure it's true. In other words, don't believe everything you read. That's more true now than it was even as recently as 15 or 20 years ago.

Of course, we also have intentional, deliberate propaganda sources like right-wing hate radio and Fox So-Called News (as Thom Hartmann calls it).

No wonder so many people are so out of touch with reality.

Another thing I always tell people is, Don't believe television advertising, especially political ads! TV ads are just about the worst possible way to guide and inform your voting decisions. My local newspaper (the one I worked for for 45 years) publishes a voter's guide a week or two before every election. I consult that guide to figure out which candidates and issues are more in tune with my ideology and political leanings and which direction I think the city, state, country and planet should be heading.

-- Ron

[dobleremolque]

22. Teach bro, teach!

I spent several decades in broadcast journalism, back when the phrase wasn't [as much of] an oxymoron. Nowadays the whole premise of commercial media in this country is to get as many eyeballs on the product as possible, so advertising rates can be as high as possible, to make as much money as possible.

How we cure that and get back to conscientious journalism, I wish I knew.

[stillcool]

18. learned behavior

is not about stupidity, it's about survival, or fitting in. I think most raving lunatics are very unhappy, don't know why, and don't want to know. We are a sick society, because we have never been real.

[gulliver]

19. They don't know how to live in the world they think Dems want to create.

We can only overwhelm them at the polls or change our approach to be more persuasive or both. Those are things that are in our power. Changing their minds is something they have to do.

Right now, the only practical thing we can do is wipe out the Republican Party in the next and subsequent elections. Biden can become President and heal the damage caused by Trump. Then all Americans will see the pattern in "Dubya-Obama-Trump-Biden" hopefully. Very terrible Dubya, was succeeded by the excellent Obama, who was succeeded by the unthinkably terrible Trump, who was succeeded by excellent Biden...

Fox News and the Republican Party would need to explain why the data doesn't match the theories they've been selling their poor customers.

[chowder66]

20. I personally feel like social media has had a big part in this as well.

Like finds like. Once they find each other they get validated in their hatred and rancor. The numbers grow and they become the "Tea Party" ,"Qanon", etc. The tinder was there but every new connection is fuel that stokes the fire.

[Buckeye_Democrat]

21. It definitely helps to keep them in a bubble.

With algorithms that determine what people tend to like, and so keeps giving them more of it.

[chowder66]

23. Yes, there's that aspect too along with hate radio and media.

It's all glue that helps them adhere to one another.

[matt819]

29. Fox

It’s cult 101. Hell, it’s graduate-level cultism. Brainwashing. Hate. Fear. The Other. Us vs them. For them it’s a zero sum game. If “the other” wins or gets stuff, they lose. There is no sense of community except among their own jobs. E Pluribus, fuck the Unum.

It’s Hitler in the 20s and 30s re Jews, Catholics, homosexuals, Romani, etc. They are the other, and only he can save them.

Today it’s gays, Jews, people of color (any color). It’s the Chinese flu. And only he can save them.

The message is repeated all day, every day. They hear nothing else and are told that anything else they hear is a hoax and fake news. They hear it on Fox and they hear it in their churches. Even as they Kay dying in the ICUs, their brains can’t take in the disconnect, the cognitive dissonance.

And, no, I don’t know how you deprogram 60 million people.

[0nirevets]

31. Well put, and I think that's been the real question at least since Bush v Gore.

My opinion is that the modern version of the GOP is a Machiavellian cult. Democrats are bad to the point of being enemies, Republicans are good, regardless of the culprits or arguments of the moment or the facts involved, and all means are justified in pursuit of an imaginary end. The Prince (Trump) must survive, if you will, to defend their fantasy kingdom. For today's GOP, corporate rule owned and run by white billionaires is all that matters, and American democracy is an archaic subject for academics.

This kind of cult thinking and devotion is no surprise when you consider how deeply tied the GOP is to evangelical "Christians," whose leaders believe taxes are a demonic attack on their religious freedom, and their rank and file believers seem to swallow anything and everything they are told. Cases in point: Joel Osteen chasing away flood refugees from his church so they wouldn't soil the carpets, or Kenneth Copeland casting out the evil Covid-19 demons. Oy ve.

There just isn't much critical thinking going on in the minds of those millions of people who toe that hard GOP party line. And to keep it that way the leaders of the GOP (Trump, McConnell, et. al.) long ago flushed their sense of virtue or morals down the drain, if they ever had any virtue or morals to begin with.

Peace

[denem]

32. American Tribalism: A third will vote for the GOP no matter what.

Hoover won 39.7% in 1932. 36.5%, was the lowest ever, four years later.

trump is their CiC, leading the tribe into GE war. He may be a flawed / poor CiC, but war is war.

[Mr.Bill]

33. They believe he's the smartest businessman in the world.

That's why he has ten billion dollars.

Plus he gets to have sex with porn stars, even if it does cost six figures to do it.

[bucolic_frolic]

34. MAGAzis are really more accurately called disrupters

They do not accept anything. They go against the grain. Explanations light up their paranoid circuit. It's a trained response from right wing radio, encouraged by decades of foam-whipped hatred.

They learned how to question reality, but no one should question their knee-jerk judgment.

Are you with me?

[GeorgeGist]

36. They didn't get STUPID ...

by cramming the night before.

[TrumpCleaner]

37. A complex question worth of two Nobel prize. One shot is the symbiosis with faux news.

This is really a complex question worth of two Nobel prize

One contributing factor is: media fixation.
If someone always tunes in to faux news, never anything else, then you can be assured that he will be spun to whatever way they dictate.

Trump has formed a coalition with right wing media like faux news etc, by himself constantly labeling msm as "fake news", while the faux news only speak for him, they formed a symbiosis relationship.

Until now I was really puzzled by trump calling msm "fake news", doing so makes msm his enemy, so why?

Now I have the puzzle solved by myself and with your question as a trigger.

[SpaceNeedle]

38. I think it was mainly because of the "Apprentice" show

Some people thought that he really was a "can do" businessman.

[jimlup]

39. The live in an alternate reality helped along by a daily does of FOX News

[Awsi Dooger]

42. YouTube comment: "Democrats are getting everything they want and it's still not enough"

"They are such hateful people I had to ask my boss to move my office."

I read that a half hour ago. That's the way they think. We are the evil ones not understanding all the gifts bestowed by Trump

[Fyrefox]

44. They're wired differently...

His supporters see Trump as one of their own who "made good," and they thrill to see their racism, xenophobia, misogyny, and anti-intellectualism modeled and embraced by the presidency. They wallow in his crudeness, vulgarity, and complete lack of empathy for others. They really like having an autocratic, neo-fascist leader who will impose their beliefs and will on others, by a beat-down if necessary. There is absolutely nothing that Trump could do that would make his hardcore base turn against him, but hopefully this is their last "hurrah."

[Hortensis]

45. :) Just remembered this quote for another thread.

There's part of the answer in it. Beware any ideologue, right or left, who can't be talked to because his rhetoric pays no attention to truth.

“Someone who lies and someone who tells the truth are playing on opposite sides, so to speak, in the same game. Each responds to the facts as he understands them, although the response of the one is guided by the authority of the truth, while the response of the other defies that authority and refuses to meet its demands.

The bullshitter ignores these demands altogether. He does not reject the authority of the truth, as the liar does, and oppose himself to it. He pays no attention to it at all. By virtue of this, bullshit is a greater enemy of the truth than lies are.”

― Harry G. Frankfurt, On Bullshit

These voters' willingness to believe what cannot be true is scaring every thoughtful person on the planet. They demonstrate in the world's greatest democracy today that what movements that ignore truth do in many democracies, including in Germany's in the 1930s, they will do anywhere they break the leash of civilized people and get control of it instead.

[Dirty Socialist]

46. Abortion is another reason

Many opposed to abortion are so opposed that they will support anyone else opposed, and are blind to all other issues