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.

 

[superchuck500]

As Trump berated Zelensky under the guise of good TV, he also embraced the political force of reality TV. He was converting the genre’s core features—the refusal to distinguish between truth and lies, the ambiguities that verge into nihilism—into an exercise of unchecked power. Trump and Vice President J. D. Vance used the occasion to repeat misinformation so egregiously wrong that it mocked the very notion of “information.” Vance accused Zelensky of being “disrespectful,” of coming into the Oval Office and trying “to litigate this in front of the American media.” (It was the White House, of course, that had turned a meeting that would typically be conducted in a closed-door session into a media event.)

Reality affords total immunity in part because it creates environments that cannot be penetrated by the standards of the outer world. The Apprentice—a spin on Survivor, essentially, set in the kill-or-be-killed world of the corporate jungle—made no sense in practical terms; it reflected the executive-hiring process about as well as Survivor reflected bushcraft. But Does it make sense? is roughly as relevant to a reality show as Is it real? In the worlds established by reality TV, nothing makes sense, and everything does. Reality shows establish, and then are beholden to, their own rules. They are stridently insular. They are thoroughly self-rationalizing. That is the fun—and the danger. They will do whatever they want, because they can.

Trump brought that logic to his meeting with Zelensky—and the permissions of The Apprentice to the White House. Here was the Oval Office, remade as his “boardroom”; here were the confrontations that brought climactic closure to each episode, reconfigured as diplomacy. Here was Trump, the all-powerful executive, bringing his signature glare to the world stage and his signature phrase to a nation: You’re fired, he basically told Ukraine, as he posed and vamped.

Trump Is Breaking the Fourth Wall

Reality television helped propel Donald Trump to the White House. Now its conventions are helping him expand its powers.

www.theatlantic.com

 

[Bayouboy]

Evangelical support for Trump isn’t about his money. It’s about his open support of religious freedom.

That made me laugh.

 

[SFIDC3]

It’s about his open support of religious freedom.

So, I guess you missed the Muslim ban, I'll wait to see if he institutes a Christian ban at some point.....

 

[UriUT]

I really don't think yall's definition of religious freedom is the same as his. Just like these magas are convinced that white men are being persecuted, he's convinced that christians, who are what? 80% of Americans, are persecuted. How are they persecuted? How are white men persecuted? He won't tell you because, just like all his answers, you give him nuances, he comes back with accepted generalities.

So if the question was, "why is the sky blue?". Someone with expertise may say, "because of the composition of our atmosphere, light waves from the sun are refracted in a way that gives our eyes perception of blue". He would then not accept that answer because...I don't know...it's against his belief system like democrats are evil...his response then would be, "the sky is blue!!!" Then yall would come back and correct him, and round and round we go.

 

[Sendai]

So, I guess you missed the Muslim ban, I'll wait to see if he institutes a Christian ban at some point.....

The Muslim ban was limited to people from Eight countries with ill will to the United States. The other billion Muslims weren’t banned.

 

[bird]

Religious freedom…

What the religionists want, allegedly, is God back in the public square. While God has never left the public square by the very definition of God the actual issue is much deeper and complex. They want their definition and thereby their belief structures as handed down to them by various members of the priest caste (Roman, Orthodox and Protestant clergy) to be chiseled into stone as the law of the state. They want to make second-class citizens of those they have been taught to despise. What they don’t want is a discussion of dogma. That is to be avoided at all costs.

This can be summed up as “the state must allow me to hate and discriminate against those I wish to hate and also must enshrine that hatred as law.”

Beyond that? They and Trump are unconcerned about religious freedom despite the shrieked claims of many. Oh, and, no, Christians and White men are not discriminated against. Never have been, never will be. Anyone who claims otherwise is a liar. And they surely know what God says about lying.

 

[bird]

The Muslim ban was limited to people from Eight countries with ill will to the United States. The other billion Muslims weren’t banned.

Which was and is irrelevant. That can be demonstrated first by the fact that extremists are a very small percentage of population. in addition, escape from persecution is a very common motivation. The second is demonstrated by the $5 million gold card. Do you not realize that there are wealthy extremists who would happily take advantage of that to enter the country? That includes Wahhabists from Saudi Arabia, an alleged ally.

 

[fooferdoggie]

The Muslim ban was limited to people from Eight countries with ill will to the United States. The other billion Muslims weren’t banned.

not for lack of trying.

 

[MT15]

The Muslim ban was limited to people from Eight countries with ill will to the United States. The other billion Muslims weren’t banned.

In your eyes it was fine? Do you think all Muslims are radical and hate America if they are from those countries?

You cannot possibly be a real conservative. You’re just another authoritarian who makes excuses for whatever two absolutely bigoted individuals want to do, contrary to our principles of religious freedom and democracy.

 

[SFIDC3]

The Muslim ban was limited to people from Eight countries with ill will to the United States. The other billion Muslims weren’t banned.

I don't think anyone sane would argue that Russia has ill will towards the US.....and they are predominantly Christian, why no ban?

 

[Sendai]

In your eyes it was fine? Do you think all Muslims are radical and hate America if they are from those countries?

You cannot possibly be a real conservative. You’re just another authoritarian who makes excuses for whatever two absolutely bigoted individuals want to do, contrary to our principles of religious freedom and democracy.

As I said, the other billion Muslims weren’t banned.

 

[RobF]

As I said, the other billion Muslims weren’t banned.

I'm sorry, but that is an inane argument, both specifically given the rhetoric around the order at the time, and generally; something of this nature does not need to target literally every member of a group to be described as targeted at that group generally, and arguing that "lots of that group weren't directly affected!" does not make it ok that the rest of that group was. That should not need to be explained.

 

[TampaJoe]

I really don't think yall's definition of religious freedom is the same as his. Just like these magas are convinced that white men are being persecuted, he's convinced that christians, who are what? 80% of Americans, are persecuted. How are they persecuted? How are white men persecuted? He won't tell you because, just like all his answers, you give him nuances, he comes back with accepted generalities.

So if the question was, "why is the sky blue?". Someone with expertise may say, "because of the composition of our atmosphere, light waves from the sun are refracted in a way that gives our eyes perception of blue". He would then not accept that answer because...I don't know...it's against his belief system like democrats are evil...his response then would be, "the sky is blue!!!" Then yall would come back and correct him, and round and round we go.

Is it possible for you to comment without putting words in my mouth. I don’t think I ever said anything about persecution. You just make that crap up on the fly or what?

 

[TampaJoe]

So, I guess you missed the Muslim ban, I'll wait to see if he institutes a Christian ban at some point.....

I has nothing tondonwithbwhat you think. It has everything to do with what they think and believe.

 

[Sendai]

I'm sorry, but that is an inane argument, both specifically given the rhetoric around the order at the time, and generally; something of this nature does not need to target literally every member of a group to be described as targeted at that group generally, and arguing that "lots of that group weren't directly affected!" does not make it ok that the rest of that group was. That should not need to be explained.

Eight specific countries with real issue with the United States doesn’t incorporate the remaining billion Muslims outside the eight countries.

 

[bird]

Eight specific countries with real issue with the United States doesn’t incorporate the remaining billion Muslims outside the eight countries.

Ridiculous thinking. Remember the 9/11 hijackers most of whom were Saudis?

 

[fooferdoggie]

As I said, the other billion Muslims weren’t banned.

you forgot how trump wanted to monitor all Muslims?

 

[RobF]

Eight specific countries with real issue with the United States doesn’t incorporate the remaining billion Muslims outside the eight countries.

Yes, that is the inane argument you're making, that I already addressed specifically as the rhetoric around it clearly illustrated what the actual intent was, and generally.

Not sure why you thought just repeating it would help. It didn't.