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.

 

[bird]

Found this today....
*

Trump's questionable morality gets a pass from evangelical voters. I decided to ask why.

Why in the world do voters with a deep sense of faith keep showing support for Donald Trump, a man with a growing list of public sins?

www.yahoo.com

Outside of the attempts to equate Trump with Cyrus I think it has to do with a belief that this country is somehow special biblically. This country is not mentioned or even alluded to in scripture but that is irrelevant to the belief. The next step in that is the dangerous mixture of religion and politics. There is and old saying which goes: “when you mix religion and politics you get politics.” The Founders knew of that problem because they knew what Europe struggled with including the divine right of kings. The evangelical community is either naively blind or willfully blind to this particular problem. There is also an element of belief that they will be the rulers.

 

[MT15]

Found this today....
*

Trump's questionable morality gets a pass from evangelical voters. I decided to ask why.

Why in the world do voters with a deep sense of faith keep showing support for Donald Trump, a man with a growing list of public sins?

www.yahoo.com

Thanks for posting that. Things that stuck out to me:

1. Trump only received the support of about half of the evangelicals in Iowa. That’s down a great deal from the 2020 election, isn’t it? The article never mentioned that his support has weakened.

2. The pastor who said about Trump’s being found liable for sexually assaulting Carroll that everyone probably has regrets on their past - I would have followed up with when have you ever seen Trump express regret or own up to a mistake? That’s a pathetic take on Trump who never says anything to suggest he’s capable of reflection on his errors. He’s not contrite at all.

 

[MT15]

Oh, and do pastors just routinely endorse candidates from the pulpit now? They should never do that.

 

[Optimus Prime]

Oh, and do pastors just routinely endorse candidates from the pulpit now? They should never do that.

Pretty sure they’re not supposed to

@DaveXA would know I think

 

[fooferdoggie]

Oh, and do pastors just routinely endorse candidates from the pulpit now? They should never do that.

yep they have grown embolden because no one enforces the law.

 

[cuddlemonkey]

Thanks for posting that. Things that stuck out to me:

1. Trump only received the support of about half of the evangelicals in Iowa. That’s down a great deal from the 2020 election, isn’t it? The article never mentioned that his support has weakened.

2. The pastor who said about Trump’s being found liable for sexually assaulting Carroll that everyone probably has regrets on their past - I would have followed up with when have you ever seen Trump express regret or own up to a mistake? That’s a pathetic take on Trump who never says anything to suggest he’s capable of reflection on his errors. He’s not contrite at all.

Re: #2, I would have followed up with "Really? Regrets? Sexual assault and rape is a regret? WTF is wrong with you?"

 

[DaveXA]

Pretty sure they’re not supposed to

@DaveXA would know I think

They're not supposed to, correct. They can lose their tax exempt status by doing that. That said, the line is often blurred because while they won't come out and say vote for so and so, what they will do is touch on election topics that definitely gives a hint on who they should be voting for. I.e. vote pro-life or what have you.

I never did that. But a lot of churches are somewhat autonomous, so they can do their own thing at times.

 

[DaveXA]

yep they have grown embolden because no one enforces the law.

That's not entirely true. I'm aware of examples where a church has lost their tax exempt status for acting as a political organization, which is against the rules.

That said, usually it takes someone reporting them for that to happen.

That said, you're probably right in that enforcement is pretty lax, but it does happen.

 

[fooferdoggie]

That's not entirely true. I'm aware of examples where a church has lost their tax exempt status for acting as a political organization, which is against the rules.

That said, usually it takes someone reporting them for that to happen.

That said, you're probably right in that enforcement is pretty lax, but it does happen.

I have seen preachers bragging about it and challenging the IRS to come after them.

 

[DaveXA]

I have seen preachers bragging about it and challenging the IRS to come after them.

There are a few who do that and they're definitely dummies.

 

[MT15]

I’ve seen videos of preachers shouting and carrying on about Trump by name in their churches. I think it has become pretty common since Trump. I wish the IRS would get a bit more aggressive about these types.

 

[fooferdoggie]

I’ve seen videos of preachers shouting and carrying on about Trump by name in their churches. I think it has become pretty common since Trump. I wish the IRS would get a bit more aggressive about these types.

yes they really did nothing while trump was in office. but its a thorny issue and almost never happens. tis sad these preachers break the law in the name of Jesus.

 

[DaveXA]

I’ve seen videos of preachers shouting and carrying on about Trump by name in their churches. I think it has become pretty common since Trump. I wish the IRS would get a bit more aggressive about these types.

They should. And some have lost their tax exempt status. It's a thing in some churches. Never saw it in the churches I've attended. And won't attend one who does that.

 

[Optimus Prime]

posted this article in a different thread but this passage should go here
==============================================

........For nearly forty years, the Christian Nationalist movement won some battles, but kept losing the war. Yes, Ronald Reagan ushered in a new era of cultural conservatism. But Roe stayed on the books, America continued to grow more diverse, and with LGBTQ equality and same-sex marriage, it seemed to many Christian Nationalists that the country was quite literally going to hell.

Enter Donald Trump.

On the surface, as Reiner explained, Donald Trump would seem to be an unlikely hero to a conservative religious population: as one of the pastors interviewed in God and Country said, he was once held up as an embodiment of the seven deadly sins. "Seeing the rise of Trump," says Reiner, "seeing the movement supporting this corrupt, failed pathological liar, I was very curious as to why this was happening. Why were they choosing this guy? In the past, evangelical Christians were big supporters of the Republican party – I understand that. But why support Donald Trump over Jeb Bush, who is an actual evangelical?"

The answer, says Reiner and several experts in the film, is power. Trump was seen – rightly, it turns out – as the "tough guy" who could deliver what "nice guys" could not. "This is the guy who's gonna get it done," one Christian Right leader said after meeting Trump in early 2016.

For many of the religious leaders interviewed in the film, Christian Nationalism's embrace of Trump was proof that the movement was never really based in Christianity, but in a particular kind of nativist ethno-politics. But among the Christian Nationalist faithful, Trump became God's chosen one who would set America on the right path. Indeed, Trump's many personal failings were seen as proof that this was God's hand at work. And indeed, Trump did deliver: Roe overturned, conservative Christian judges throughout the federal bench (handpicked by one of their own), and a validation of the worldview that America had lost its past greatness, and must fight to get it back...........

MSN

www.msn.com

'They're Frightened of Diversity': Rob Reiner on the Threat of Christian Nationalism

Rob Reiner delves in to the history of white Christian Nationalism, its role in Jan. 6, and the rise of Donald Trump, in his new documentary.

www.rollingstone.com

 

[MT15]

It’s a huge, massive capitulation to the ends justify the means. It’s a betrayal of everything they were taught mattered.

 

[Optimus Prime]

It’s a huge, massive capitulation to the means justify the ends. It’s a betrayal of everything they were taught mattered.

So in other words, "I will vote for someone who's whole life explicitly goes against biblical scripture, values, principles and teachings as long as I get what I want"

 

[MT15]

lol, I just realized I turned it around. They are doing the ends justify the means. Which is the opposite of what is supposed to happen.

 

[bird]

Yup, like I said when you mix religion and politics you get politics. While religion is the cloak of claimed justification the goal and want, desperate want, is political power.