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[nenjin]

Do you have to be blinded by anger? I honestly don't understand and it scares me.

Anger and fear about what will happen tomorrow. You have to understand, for American Conservatives Trump represents the refutation of the last 30 years of liberalism. Clinton and Obama. He represents for them the rejection of progressive thinking (gay marriage, transgender rights, immigration forgiveness, political correctness.) So whatever he says, no matter how crazy, they don't really hear what he's saying. What they hear when he speaks is "Fuck liberals, God is great, homosexuals and immigrants are animals, internationalism is bad" etc... and so forth.

This is why liberals say Trump could state he will eat a baby and his base would cheer. They don't honestly listen to what he says or think about the long-term impact of letting him do what he wants. They just know that he continues to be a giant middle finger to everything they hate and fear, and so they cheer for him thinking he's a bulwark against them.

[Telgin]

I can somewhat confirm that, based on what I hear from conservatives around here.  It's a Trump vs. Liberals fight, and the details don't matter.  All people need to know is which side they're on, and if nothing else, Trump is great at getting people to pick a side.

[LordBaal]

So... wich chaos champion will come after emperor Trump?

[Iduno]

As a European, I keep watching in horror and disbelief at what is happening.

I can imagine having wildly different opinions about the politics.
I think Trump has a counterproductive approach to international trade and diplomacy, but I can imagine thinking he's doing it right.
I think his approach to the environment is destructive, but I can imagine not caring as much.
I think his tax deductions for the rich make him Scrooge irl, but I can imagine believing in trickle down economics.

Okay.

But when I watch his rallies, I am just stumped. How he made people chant about jailing and expelling his political rivals. How he calls the free press the "enemy of the people". How he loves to bully a protester out of his rally, is that a standard part of every speech he makes nowadays? How he "jokes" about become president for life, and installs his family in high positions.

That's where I am left speechless. How is it possible to like this guy and support him? Do you have to be blinded by anger? I honestly don't understand and it scares me.

We also have literal concentration camps that people are dying in. And that's not new. They were built under the possible most left-wing president we have had under my lifetime, who was aware and didn't care. The major fight we have going on right now is making sure "socialists" don't make rich people pay taxes.

[SalmonGod]

Yeah, it is basically completely out of spite.  He mimics their hatred, and his behavior angers the people that they hate.  This is what they want more than anything.  I could write a really long post about it, but I'll just offer this.

The same mechanisms that happen on a personal scale in abusive households also happen on a societal scale.  The power dynamics, emotional abuse, gaslighting, and so on that keep a populace trapped in unhealthy relationships with their leaders and each other on mass scale mirror the same dynamics that keep abusive households doing what they do. 

The last resort of an emotionally abusive person to retain their control over the subject of their abuse is to threaten or attempt suicide.  "If you disrupt my domination in this relationship or leave me I will kill myself and possibly you with me."  Trump's movement is definitely fascist.  I've seen it suggested that fascism is a suicide cult.  It sees history as a never-ending saga of decline from a mythical idealized past that they wish to regain, and they do this by trying to remove the elements of society that don't fit with a vision of the past where their kind were prosperous and dominant.

The trick here is that Republican politicians have knowingly abused fascist-style rhetoric for decades in order to distract from their own robber baron behaviors, creating a vicious cycle.  No, it absolutely did not begin with Trump.  The quality of life of their base continually sinks as they are robbed by their leaders.  Desperation sets in.  They look to their leaders.  Their leaders point to the social progresses of the past century, and say "Look at the degeneracy of these others.  We used to keep them in line.  They're taking it all from you and they don't deserve it.  This is the problem.  Vote for me and I'll fight them for you."  Their base votes for them.  They fight the others, but also continue to rob from their own voting base.  Nothing gets better.  For those who never wise up, desperation deepens, until nothing matters but the spiteful resolve to take the other down with them.  Let the world burn and gloat about it.  So long as they're laughing while the others protest in horror, it is a step closer to the natural order they believe in.  Glorious absolution comes at last in service to the vision of a prosperous purity that would have been if not for those meddling SJWs and lessers who refused to know their place.  Now their place is dismay while the fascist wins by getting to draw some satisfaction from that.

Meanwhile sane republican leadership recoils in horror at the monsters they've created as true believers and opportunists filter up through the ranks to sit beside them.

[JoshuaFH]

Do you have to be blinded by anger? I honestly don't understand and it scares me.

Anger and fear about what will happen tomorrow. You have to understand, for American Conservatives Trump represents the refutation of the last 30 years of liberalism. Clinton and Obama. He represents for them the rejection of progressive thinking (gay marriage, transgender rights, immigration forgiveness, political correctness.) So whatever he says, no matter how crazy, they don't really hear what he's saying. What they hear when he speaks is "Fuck liberals, God is great, homosexuals and immigrants are animals, internationalism is bad" etc... and so forth.

This is why liberals say Trump could state he will eat a baby and his base would cheer. They don't honestly listen to what he says or think about the long-term impact of letting him do what he wants. They just know that he continues to be a giant middle finger to everything they hate and fear, and so they cheer for him thinking he's a bulwark against them.

This is what I don't get: hate who? and why? I mean, yeah, racism, but the actions taken are extraordinarily disproportionate to whatever circumstances they're actually living in. For the most part, I think pretty much all of Trump's voter base actually has a pretty good standard of living, it doesn't make sense for them to be hateful without real suffering in their lives.

Sorry if I'm being utterly daft about a key detail here.

[Enemy post]

For the most part, I think pretty much all of Trump's voter base actually has a pretty good standard of living, it doesn't make sense for them to be hateful without real suffering in their lives.

Sorry if I'm being utterly daft about a key detail here.

It is important to remember that a huge chunk of his support comes from rural areas, especially dying industrial towns. Places where the coal mine or the steel plant shut down and the town's economy collapsed. Those things aren't about to come back, but Trump promised they would.

*Almost forgot to add, he also told them that the town's collapse was the fault of already-hated scapegoats.

[PTTG??]

Yeah, if you aren't familiar with the Republican Hate Machine, by all means try to talk to some republicans about "liberals."

For your own safety, don't try to tell them that they are liberals.

[Dunamisdeos]

As opposed to a primary in which voters cast ballots in the same way they would for a general election, Iowa's caucuses are social affairs; caucusgoers gather in person and pledge their support for a candidate by physically "standing in their corner" in designated parts of a room.

I reiterate, what the shit?

[Enemy post]

Welcome to the wonderful world of primary elections, where the rules are made up and the points have immense historical consequences.

[nenjin]

For the most part, I think pretty much all of Trump's voter base actually has a pretty good standard of living, it doesn't make sense for them to be hateful without real suffering in their lives.

You gotta remember, Trump's voter base:

-Thinks God wants them to be rich.
-Sees people they admire who are rich.
-Sees that they're personally not rich and starts looking for scapegoats, because if God wants them to be rich then it must be someone else undermining them as the reason they're not.
-"De tuk er jerbs"
-Home invading illegal immigrant rapists are around every corner.

They blame basically everything except the system they're propping up for why they haven't made their millions, or still have to pay taxes, or why they need their guns. Even having an administration that they fully support, they maintain they need their guns in case "the government", which is their guy, decides to break in to their homes and make them all practice Sharia law.

Yes, their lives are nothing to complain about from the outside view. But in their eyes, their "greatness" has been stolen by the unworthy, undeserving masses of immigrants. Their laws are being perverted by perverts and non-Christians. The war on Christmas, "Happy Holidays", etc...

Yes, it doesn't make any sense from an outside perspective. But for them, they've built a culture of victimization around their lives despite the fact they're solidly middle class. And you can't convince them otherwise, because even if you present all the facts, their natural reaction ends up being "Well yeah but if things were running the way I think they should run, I'd be rich now. But I'm not, and that's ultimately someone else's fault."

Christ I have a good friend who has been leaning Right since Trump's election, and he's obsessed with the idea of becoming a millionaire in his mid 30s.

Fuck the Prosperity Gospel. I swear half of our ills come directly from it.

[Dunamisdeos]

As a practicing Christian, I would like to point something out.

Fuck the Prosperity Gospel.

That is all. Thank you.

[Lord Shonus]

As a practicing Christian, I would like to point something out.

Fuck the Prosperity Gospel.

That is all. Thank you.

[Kagus]

I mean, there are plenty of Republican voters living in poverty too... Not all of them are living comfortably.

But they've been fed the line of "Conservative politics allow the individual to enrich themselves!", because it works for the people at the top that they dream of being, so they support that because they think they're the target demographic. They'd rather support the dream of easily becoming a millionaire, than a platform that actually provides assistance to people like them.

I imagine there's a great deal of pride involved as well. "I can do this, I don't need help, and I certainly don't need handouts", so they try to embody that self-image by voicing their support for programs and ideals that... Are by no means helping them. Doesn't help that they've been lied to about it, and are still being lied to about it, and now they're so deep in it that turning the other way is not only terrifying; it's humiliating.

[PTTG??]

...or why they need their guns....

I agree with your assessment, but I would add that for a large portion of them, keeping their guns is an end unto itself. In a local newspaper, I've read an opt-ed (by the editor-in-chief, top front page), stating that the second amendment was the only important amendment, and that every "man, woman, and child" in the country should have a gun and use it regularly. The whole well-regulated militia thing is just, in their mind, a bit of flowery language.