Explain how Trump has so much support (1 Viewer)

[Bayouboy]

I would like some layman answers to the question "How does Trump have so much support, right now"? The final two word are important context.

I somewhat understand how he became a "force" prior to the 2016 election. There were many factors that allowed him to gain steam. Anti-establishment and not being a true politician was a big turn on to some voters on the right at the time. He talked a good game and somehow found a way to the Presidency despite acting "unpresidential". Trump's time in office had some victories for the Republicans and the economy was humming prior to COVID.....but the shirt show that happened on a daily basis with him firing executive staff (that didn't agree with him) and the overall chaos that was the White House certainly should've had an effect on his supporters. This was all BEFORE losing the 2020 election and what ensued. What happened after the 2020 election is well documented and, in my opinion, should have buried him as a candidate for office for eternity.

With ALL of what happened since the 2020 election, how can he still have half of the country (give or take) as supporters? Had all the election denying, countless gaffs, and the attempt to circumvent the Constitution had not occurred and had he regrouped and formed a strategy to compete in 2024, I could see a lot of his supporters continuing to follow him and his message. But I can't get how so many Americans can overlook what happened in front of their own eyes. I am truly bewildered.

I realize this is a mostly left leaning community, so maybe you folks do not have a clue either but would like to hear opinions. Especially, if you still support Trump through all of the mess.

 

[TampaJoe]

I think I’ve said this before, but I’ll say it again.
But to people in places Alabama, Mississippi, rural Louisiana and West Virginia, Trump is the only billionaire to acknowledge their existence.

I dunno about that. National politicians don’t pay much attention to those places. They are reliable Republicans voters. So to your point, national campaigns don’t spend much time there. If they were swing states, they would get all kinds of attentions. Like Georgia. Florida used to get a lot of attention but lately it’s reliably Republican.

 

[bird]

I think I’ve said this before, but I’ll say it again.
But to people in places Alabama, Mississippi, rural Louisiana and West Virginia, Trump is the only billionaire to acknowledge their existence.

I won’t argue. But then if they were on fire and Trump was walking by he wouldn’t pizz on them to put them out.

 

[Saint Jack]

I dunno about that. National politicians don’t pay much attention to those places. They are reliable Republicans voters. So to your point, national campaigns don’t spend much time there. If they were swing states, they would get all kinds of attentions. Like Georgia. Florida used to get a lot of attention but lately it’s reliably Republican.

But during the 16 election, he made it a point to go to those places.

 

[bird]

But during the 16 election, he made it a point to go to those places.

There is an old saying that poor Whites don’t think that they are poor but just temporarily embarrassed millionaires.

 

[TampaJoe]

But during the 16 election, he made it a point to go to those places.

Yeah he visited now and again but the focus was in swing states. That’s where elections are won and lost.

 

[Incumbent]

Yeah he visited now and again but the focus was in swing states. That’s where elections are won and lost.

General elections, sure. But I think Jack makes a fair point that Trump energized and radicalized his base by targeting people who increasingly felt unheard and dismissed. He was able to do that by leveraging his decades long public presence into swift political capital. His populist persona mesmerized his supporters and gave him a legitimacy with them that isn't otherwise well-founded. This built a political movement that has allowed him to coast to victory in three primaries. He tapped into their concerns that the country was changing in ways a lot of people didn't like, and he's built a GOP fortress around himself by pandering to religion and bigotry, and stoking and exploiting fear, anger, and ignorance.

 

[bird]

General elections, sure. But I think Jack makes a fair point that Trump energized and radicalized his base by targeting people who increasingly felt unheard and dismissed. He was able to do that by leveraging his decades long public presence into swift political capital. His populist persona mesmerized his supporters and gave him a legitimacy with them that isn't otherwise well-founded. This built a political movement that has allowed him to coast to victory in three primaries. He tapped into their concerns that the country was changing in ways a lot of people didn't like, and he's built a GOP fortress around himself by pandering to religion and bigotry, and stoking and exploiting fear, anger, and ignorance.

He moved into a vacuum. While Dems seem to support policies that would help those who believe they have been abandoned they do not or did not address the psychological inputs. Change is always upsetting. Swift change or the perception of swift change drives the likelihood of movement to radical reactionary responses.

 

[TampaJoe]

General elections, sure. But I think Jack makes a fair point that Trump energized and radicalized his base by targeting people who increasingly felt unheard and dismissed. He was able to do that by leveraging his decades long public presence into swift political capital. His populist persona mesmerized his supporters and gave him a legitimacy with them that isn't otherwise well-founded. This built a political movement that has allowed him to coast to victory in three primaries. He tapped into their concerns that the country was changing in ways a lot of people didn't like, and he's built a GOP fortress around himself by pandering to religion and bigotry, and stoking and exploiting fear, anger, and ignorance.

I don’t disagree. I don’t think that has anything to do with his net worth. It’s about the message and not the money. He is a promoter. My problem with him is that he uses a sledgehammer to drive a thumbtack. He was a divisive President in 2017 and he is even more divisive today. IMV, that is our greatest weakness as a country.

We have had enough divisive Presidents of late. It is tiring.

 

[Saint Jack]

Yeah he visited now and again but the focus was in swing states. That’s where elections are won and lost.

That’s all you need to do to become a god to those people.

 

[Saint Jack]

I’m not saying it’s a recipe for a winning election, but it shows why red states and the rural parts of states are so on his side.

 

[TampaJoe]

That’s all you need to do to become a god to those people.

He is not a god. He is not Hitler. When you go there, you do just what you accuse him of doing. “stoking and exploiting fear, anger, and ignorance.”

 

[Saint Jack]

He is not a god. He is not Hitler. When you go there, you do just what you accuse him of doing. “stoking and exploiting fear, anger, and ignorance.”

You had a large group of Trump supporters trying to storm the capital because he convinced them there was no way he could have lost the 20 Election!

 

[TampaJoe]

You had a large group of Trump supporters trying to storm the capital because he convinced them there was no way he could have lost the 20 Election!

Okay. So that makes him a god or Hitler in your book?

You do what you want. Up to you. But when you go that route, you do exactly what you accuse him of doing.

We can debate whether his conduct on Jan 6 was illegal. That is a legitimate issue. But if you seek to clsssify everyone who doesn’t agree with you as a cult member or a good German, then that’s exactly the kind of behavior you accuse Trump of. It’s demonizing people who don’t agree with you politically.

The folks who don’t agree with you aren’t traitors, or cultists, or Nazis or Putin lovers etc etc etc. Biden Harris supporters aren’t socialists or communists. At some point in time we have to get beyond this kind of political dynamic or we will collectively fail as a nation.

 

[Incumbent]

I don’t disagree. I don’t think that has anything to do with his net worth. It’s about the message and not the money. He is a promoter. My problem with him is that he uses a sledgehammer to drive a thumbtack. He was a divisive President in 2017 and he is even more divisive today. IMV, that is our greatest weakness as a country.

We have had enough divisive Presidents of late. It is tiring.

I disagree on a couple of points.

I think his wealth is an important part of the recipe for how he connected with his supporters so quickly, many of them Christian evangelicals. Wealth is power and the powerful patriarch plays well to many people. It's why so many Christians embrace the strict, vengeful, all-mighty God, and the lavish depictions of Heaven, over the portrayal of a loving, benevolent Christ, who lived simply.

Trump doesn't have conventional political skills. He isn't eloquent at all. He lacks charm. He lacks class and refinement. He doesn't demonstrate an ability to understand complex issues at a high level. His draw is his highly charged rhetoric and wealth, which supports the idea that he's both a fighter and he must know better. His wealth isn't a singular distinction that puts him over the top with people, but I think it's an important part of the package that elevates him in the minds of his supporters and puts a veneer of legitimacy over his glaring shortcomings and moral deficiencies.

"Enough divisive presidents": Strongly disagree here. Whatever the faults of other more recent presidents and candidates, none have come anywhere close to engaging in the same strategy of persistently inflaming tensions and stoking hatred among people.

 

[RobF]

Okay. So that makes him a god or Hitler in your book?

You do what you want. Up to you. But when you go that route, you do exactly what you accuse him of doing.

We can debate whether his conduct on Jan 6 was illegal. That is a legitimate issue. But if you seek to clsssify everyone who doesn’t agree with you as a cult member or a good German, then that’s exactly the kind of behavior you accuse Trump of. It’s demonizing people who don’t agree with you politically.

The folks who don’t agree with you aren’t traitors, or cultists, or Nazis or Putin lovers etc etc etc. Biden Harris supporters aren’t socialists or communists. At some point in time we have to get beyond this kind of political dynamic or we will collectively fail as a nation.

In today's episode of "Joe doesn't get it," Joe demonstrates that he can't see the difference between accurately describing cult-like behaviour with a leader displaying increasingly fascist and authoritarian tendencies, with specific parallels to Nazi Germany ("They're poisoning the blood of our country!"), and false rhetoric.

Joe either thinks it's simply impossible that there can be cults, fascism, or parallels to Nazi Germany, or is wildly in denial about the accuracy of the contemporary comparisons, in service of his usual right-wing partisan in "both sides!" clothing' schtick.

Either way: Joe doesn't get it.

 

[J-DONK]

In today's episode of "Joe doesn't get it," Joe demonstrates that he can't see the difference between accurately describing cult-like behaviour with a leader displaying increasingly fascist and authoritarian tendencies, with specific parallels to Nazi Germany ("They're poisoning the blood of our country!"), and false rhetoric.

Joe either thinks it's simply impossible that there can be cults, fascism, or parallels to Nazi Germany, or is wildly in denial about the accuracy of the contemporary comparisons, in service of his usual right-wing partisan in "both sides!" clothing' schtick.

Either way: Joe doesn't get it.

It's also a tone deaf argument to make when Trump is probably a week or two away from couping the government via ignoring court orders.

Have we gotten any confirmation Trump is paying the USAID contracts as ordered by the SC?

 

[TampaJoe]

I disagree on a couple of points.

I think his wealth is an important part of the recipe for how he connected with his supporters so quickly, many of them Christian evangelicals. Wealth is power and the powerful patriarch plays well to many people. It's why so many Christians embrace the strict, vengeful, all-mighty God, and the lavish depictions of Heaven, over the portrayal of a loving, benevolent Christ, who lived simply.

Trump doesn't have conventional political skills. He isn't eloquent at all. He lacks charm. He lacks class and refinement. He doesn't demonstrate an ability to understand complex issues at a high level. His draw is his highly charged rhetoric and his wealth, which supports the idea that he's both a fighter and he must know better. His wealth isn't a singular distinction that puts him over the top with people, but I think it's an important part of the package that elevates him in the minds of his supporters and puts a veneer of legitimacy over his glaring shortcomings and moral deficiencies.

"Enough divisive presidents": Strongly disagree here. Whatever the faults of other more recent presidents and candidates, none have come anywhere close to engaging in the same strategy of persistently inflaming tensions and stoking hatred among people.

I grew up in the south in a Southern Baptist church. In my experience, wealth isn’t worshiped. So I don’t agree with that assumption. Evangelical support for Trump isn’t about his money. It’s about his open support of religious freedom. I don’t know that he is all that religious. I kinda doubt it but he does push all the right buttons for many religious people.

He does have plenty of shortcomings. Lots of them. But his super power is that he knows how to promote himself and his brand. He obviously understands what appeals to the masses and nobody outworks him. He was able to overcome all his own shortcomings and all his professional and political challenges and get himself elected again. So he does have some skills.

I agree with some of what he is trying to accomplish. My problem is how he chooses to go about it. To use his own words, the cure can’t and shouldn’t be worse than the disease. His negotiating strategy seems to me to create, unnecessarily, negative goodwill with friends and enemies alike. Get what you want by intimidation. That may work in NY real estate development but I don’t think it works well in his role as POTUS. At least not in every situation. My fear is that it does damage to the office of POTUS. Whether that is permanent remains to be seen.

 

[Dragon]

I grew up in the south in a Southern Baptist church. In my experience, wealth isn’t worshiped. So I don’t agree with that assumption. Evangelical support for Trump isn’t about his money. It’s about his open support of religious freedom. I don’t know that he is all that religious. I kinda doubt it but he does push all the right buttons for many religious people.

He does have plenty of shortcomings. Lots of them. But his super power is that he knows how to promote himself and his brand. He obviously understands what appeals to the masses and nobody outworks him. He was able to overcome all his own shortcomings and all his professional and political challenges and get himself elected again. So he does have some skills.

I agree with some of what he is trying to accomplish. My problem is how he chooses to go about it. To use his own words, the cure can’t and shouldn’t be worse than the disease. His negotiating strategy seems to me to create, unnecessarily, negative goodwill with friends and enemies alike. Get what you want by intimidation. That may work in NY real estate development but I don’t think it works well in his role as POTUS. At least not in every situation. My fear is that it does damage to the office of POTUS. Whether that is permanent remains to be seen.

Trump is not a true advocate for religious freedom. If he were, he would respect all religions—as well as the right to have no religion at all—but he does not.

He only embraces certain religious groups because they revere him, which directly contradicts the teachings of the Bible. In this way, he resembles the leader of Jonestown, thriving on the devotion of his followers.