The Four Kinds of Trump Supporters

[MatthewG.]

Last edited Mon Jun 8, 2020, 01:32 PM - Edit history (2)

Like many, I’ve spent a fair amount of time wondering why sizable numbers of Americans support the Presidency of a man as transparently unsuited to high office as Donald Trump.

I’ve tried really listening to Trump supporters on this. With VERY few exceptions, just about every one I’ve spoken with fits one of four categories:

1) Affluent cynics who care about nothing except getting their taxes cut. These are often well-educated people who’s entire politics are “I vote my wallet, first, second, and last.”

2) White identity types. “Why is it racist to ask for an NAAWP? Why is it racist for me to want a White History month? Why is it racist for me to love my White ancestry? Why do people hate me when i point out that Adolf Hitler made some valid arguments? Mean liberals are always calling me racist! Waaaaaah!!”

3) Religious fundamentalists : These are the people who claim to represent traditional godly morality, except when Trump pays porn stars for sex.

4) Stupid people : Unwise might be a better description than “stupid.” Not necessarily low IQ, per se - although there’s probably a correlation with that - but the type of willfully stupid people who believe that Bill Gates invented Coronavirus in a lab, protests against police brutality are a “Masonic psyop” and that Trump is our only hope against the Bankers/Illuminati/Secret Fluoridation Conspiracy.

That mostly covers it, as far as I can tell. If anyone here can identify other broad categories of Trump supporters, I’m interested in their thoughts.

[Ohiogal]

1. My right wing relatives

Are #1 and #2 rolled into one.

[MatthewG.]

4. There are crossovers, to be sure.

[certainot]

75. one major category unifying all these is talk radio - it's ridiculous it never gets polled

i'll bet it is the single most common denominator in trump voters - whether they get it directly or indirectly as part of the unchallenged national radio buzz or from talk radio's visual aide fox

like deregulation will lower media/internet/wifi prices, dems are flooding elections with illegal aliens, money is free speech, christine blasey ford/anita hill are paid dem operatives, hillary is the most corrupt politician in history, russian collusion and covid as are hoaxes created by socialist dems to bring trump down, mike brown and trayvon martin were thugs, their killers were protecting themselves, and kneeling athletes are unamerican - over and over and over, unchallenged, paid for by advertisers, and endorsed by hundreds of pro and college sports team - with majority black athletes.....

how many of the people that media and pundits classify as evangelicals are dittoheads first and spend 20 hours listening to political talk radio to every one hour spent in church?

how many cops listen to it on their cars? how many pastors listen to it because it helps them connect with their their flock?

[live love laugh]

85. This 👆🏽 nt

[spike jones]

48. The man driving car into crowd in Seattle yesterday and shooting protester is probably a #2.

Seattle June 7, 2020

https://www.seattlepi.com/local/crime/article/One-shot-after-man-drives-into-Seattle-protest-15323654.php

https://www.seattlepi.com/local/komo/article/Durkan-orders-SPD-officers-to-turn-on-body-15324271.php

[Goodheart]

2. If you're #2 or #3 you're automatically #4

So a bit of redundancy there.

[MatthewG.]

3. 😂

Funny.

I get the joke, although I’d say I have met people in categories #2 and #3 who aren’t into insane and inane conspiracies. But there is an overlap.

[Goodheart]

5. Good OP, though. :)

[lark]

6. Criminals love him

for he is one of them and if he can do it and get away with it, they think they can too.

[MatthewG.]

7. I'm sure...

You’re probably right.

Low-lives usually like low-lives, and a sizable number of people probably wish they could be as shameless as Trump and get away with it.

[safeinOhio]

8. About a month or so ago

I was in a check out line at the store. In front of me was ragged looking older guy wearing a maga hat. The guy behind me asked if he could barrow five bucks. The hat wearing the hat looks at him in disgust and says no. The man behind be says there are only two kinds of people that support tRump, billionaires and stupid people, I now know which kind you are.
Good thing I wasn't taking a sip of any liquid.

[MatthewG.]

9. Both funny and true.

[irisblue]

10. The ones who want a very conservative Federal Judiciary,

Like the federalist & heritage foundation, they overlap, but those people are very scary for the long term

[MatthewG.]

14. Good point

Good point. Conservatives who primarily care about the judiciary do exist. I’ve found that those types, when pressed, usually fit into categories #1 or #3 on my list. There are probably some educated conservatives remaining who just see Trump as a long term political Republican Party power investment, though.

[marked50]

11. Not sure how this type may fit into any of the 4 categories.

There are a number of MAGAt's that support Trump entirely because of his hatred of all things "liberal". These are people who carry a massive baggage of hating the things that support a vibrant society and label things as "political correctness". Anything that suggests to them how to behave in a community is abhorrent to them and they want some sort of revenge.

Many would fit into #2 but not exclusively.

[MatthewG.]

15. Yeah, the hate-addicted might be a fifth category.

Last edited Mon Jun 8, 2020, 10:26 AM - Edit history (1)

You know, I’d agree with you that the hate-addicted might be a fifth category.

These are the radio talk-show junkies who barely care about governance or policy at all, but absolutely seethe with hate at liberals. There’s an overlap with category #2, especially, but it’s not 100 percent.

[marked50]

36. Hate addicted is a good description-Thx

[KS Toronado]

51. I'd vote for hate addicted

Worked at a shop where rush limpdick and hate radio was always on

and they really HATED Liberals, had to play along somewhat because I feared for my safety,

they had suspicions I was a "closet Liberal" and fired me, was happy to go.

[MatthewG.]

57. Yeah, I may have to add "hate-addicted" to the list.

[NurseJackie]

12. Those are some astute observations and descriptions.

[MatthewG.]

16. Thank you.

[JHB]

13. 5) Conservative/Libertarian ideologues who see him as a vehicle to push pet policies

From billionaires to the merely affluent (and those who cater to them), they've been fine with him because, as Grover Norquist put it, he has "enough working digits to handle a pen ... to sign the legislation that has already been prepared.

Note that this can overlap with one or more of the others, most often 1) and 3).

[MatthewG.]

17. I find most of those...

I find most of those fall into category #1.

One of my relatives, who is quite well educated and affluent, summed up that view with this quote: “when you strip away matters of personality, politics is largely about whose ox gets voted. My sole political concern is making sure mine isn’t.”

[highplainsdem]

18. I've been fortunate not to have to deal with any of the racist Trump supporters (or else

the ones I know are smart enough to know better than to let me become aware that they're racists).

OTOH, I know and am even related to Trump supporters that fit the other three categories.

And the stupid ones are particularly embarrassing to have in the family.

They DON'T have low IQs. They can think rationally on some subjects. They can manage successful careers. But they have been brainwashed by RW media into believing all sorts of nonsense including lots of idiotic conspiracy theories.

[MatthewG.]

19. I've definitely met high IQ people in category #4

I’ve definitely met some people with a high IQ who got into category #4. They just don’t have a great sense of how deeply confirmation biases and the need for pattern recognition can run. In many cases it’s almost a self-willed stupidity ; the same people who tell me government can’t work because big organizations always fail due to inefficiency will sometimes spin elaborate yarns about world-spanning, multi-generational conspiracies which combine elaborate ideological goals and vast sway with ruthless effectiveness and absolute, perfectly enforced secrecy.

[plimsoll]

25. Humans like stories.

You can connect tons of unrelated stuff together, to build a story. It doesn't match reality, but it may be a great story.

[MatthewG.]

28. Good point.

Good point.

I’d also offer that in my observation elaborate conspiracy theories can appeal to the same kind of mindset drawn to practices like numerology - they offer the allure of secret knowledge, whereby practitioners, through a simple investment of belief, become in their own minds elevated over the “uninformed” and “asleep.”

[certainot]

74. and that's what talk radio has been used for for 30 years, and what limbaugh is

good at - all the rw radio stations follow his lead, otherwise his dittoheads call them up to straighten them out

the same stories/lies get told hundreds of different ways, over and over and over because dems and liberals ignore talk radio while it kicks our ass

[plimsoll]

76. I admit I don't listen anymore.

My Blood pressure can't take it. I just assume that Lush Rimshot and his ilk will say anything to denigrate Democrats. He and the rest of them will get us killed.

[certainot]

77. they're doing very well at it with global warming alone, and i hope he gets the credit he

deserves for the death and misery he's responsible for before he croaks soon

[Bernardo de La Paz]

29. Yes. "Unwise" captures them too, along with the stupids. . . . nt

[MatthewG.]

32. Unwise is a better descriptor than stupid.

Thinking about it, I prefer your description of category #4 as “unwise” over “stupid.”

[PatrickforO]

46. I think this has to do with the right-wing propaganda machine.

I'm referencing that documentary called 'The Brainwashing of my Dad.'

I know my ex father-in-law, who passed back in 2002, was one of those. He was really smart, and a great father-in-law. I loved him.

Yet, over the last decade of his life, he took to listening to right-wing AM talk radio and was well into the process of becoming a radical libertarian before he died. For example, he absolutely hated the Clintons, and was utterly convinced they were responsible for killing a whole bunch of people, anyone who got in their way, really. And that was straight from his listening to talk radio for hours every day.

I'm sure you are well aware of the Powell Manifesto in 1971 that laid all of this out, and of course the snake Reagan's killing of the Fairness Doctrine by pocket veto in 1987. Those things laid the groundwork of what we have now..

[certainot]

61. yep. this wouldn't happen without that propaganda operation and that's

largely worked because of 30 years of unchallenged radio repetition. radio gave the think tanks national AND local messaging control fox can't do. social media is new and most of the russian trolling piggybacked established rw radio memes.

media and dem and progressive leadership seem oblivious to it, don't poll for it, seem to believe it's a 'demand' issue - as if 95% of talk radio listeners prefer limbaugh over hartman or miller. and they talk about the 'evangelical base', which is much more 'dittohead base'

those stations are KKK-lite and it is incredibly ironic so many of the loudest radio stations, more than 260 of llimbaugh's 600 depend on 87+ university's sports broadcasting and their athletes for community cred and attracting advertisers. i'll bet over 30-40% of rw radio stations depend on schools and pro sports like that - and majority black athletes.

it will be really sad if limbaugh croaks of lung cancer, the monopoly he leads falls apart (hopefully) or we suddenly finally start seeing progress, and rw radio never gets credit/blame for the massive misery and destruction he/it caused, and the biggest political mistake in history is never learned from.

[PatrickforO]

69. I agree. I've seen your posts of this before. Perhaps it is time for us to

do something about this, but let's get Trumpy out in November first.

But yeah, I'm amazed at how indoctrinated my cousin is, for example. I mean it is like a giant teflon wall whereupon facts splatter and just slide down into oblivion.

One of the things that has always bothered me about Democrats is we are really crummy at messaging. We are. And I'm not cutting us down, because I am a Democrat in good standing. But we've been miserable at messaging for decades. Like Udall in my state, who got defeated by Cory Gardner. Gardner is a right-wing nut job, WAY too far-right for Colorado, but Udall ran such a milquetoast campaign that his message was like the biblical tepid water - neither hot nor cold and so people spat it out. Udall, an INCUMBENT for God's sake, was routed by Gardner and that helped the GOP set up what we now have in the US Senate.

We are so lucky these Republicans are turning against Trump and putting out pro ads like the Lincoln Project. There are a couple others too. These are GOOD, EFFECTIVE ads. Why can't we put things like this together? I've always wondered that.

[certainot]

73. how many protestors, GOTV activists, $$$, is one unchalllenged liar with a megaphone worth?

our messaging failure is directly related to their radio advantage - that is the only medium they need - their think tank hacks sit around waiting for dem messaging progress, design a campaign to distort or divert or yell over it and and dems never know what hits them.

it's a bloody shame that it had to get this massive - it makes democracy useless- the only reason bush and trump got close to the white house is we let them use monopoly unchallenged messaging volume to shortcircuit the real feedback a democracy needs. a few blowhards is all it takes to yell over most protestors - republican politicians don't need to pay any attention to them - limbaugh and sons are louder

these protests are huge and will create change, but the leverage to get change will be reduced merely because progressives let a few hundred liars on 1500 radio stations yell over us. i haven't heard lately but it's completely predictable - that the cons will take a few stories and events and blow them up into national stories to help republicans and their politicians to excuse their opposition reforms. they did it for newtown, etc. every fucking time. the local shit-fer-brains on the local station was asking his listeners how can we not have police, etc - as if that's what the protests are about.

how many paid callers do 1500 radio stations get? a caller from the kremlin to limbaugh's show reaches 20 mil.

at $1000/hr x 1200 stations x 15 hrs/day thats about $5BIL/year FREE for republicans

in colorado 850 KOA dominated co for decades with llimbaugh and rosen (then mandy connel, another racist sack) and others. the one liberal talk station ever there coincided with turrning CO purple and blue so they sabotaged it and ended it. low level activism around CU was happening for a decade to get CU to stop broadcasting sports on KOA and for some reason KOA, which had kept him while going more toward sports and letting it's smaller sister stations do most of the RW crap, suddenly dropped him to one of those lesser stations last september. did KOA get pressure from CU, hearing they might start looking elsewhere and considering the pressure that might generate if broncos and rockies athletes spoke up? did they drop limbaugh preventively?

if so it can happen to hundreds of other stations - the universities, sports teams, advertisers and ad agencies need to get the message. that will force the ad industry to have to ask advertisers if they actually support trump, global warming, racism, etc....... that will force the break up of the messaging monopoly that's been kicking dem messaging for 30 years

[lame54]

20. Dense, stupid, dumb and moronic

[MatthewG.]

21. 👍

[ffr]

22. One trait of all four, they're followers

not leaders.

[FailureToCommunicate]

23. And number 2 and 4 are being fed a steady stream of racist bile from RW radio and

FOX of course.

[MatthewG.]

24. I agree.

I agree with you.

Thinking about it, there may be a fifth category of people who don’t really care about policy or governance at all, but just seethe with hatred for liberals. These are the FOX news crowd and radio talk show junkies. They can overlap with other categories, but not always perfectly.

[moose65]

42. I've encountered some of those

They don't even bring up issues at all, because they don't care about ANY issue. When I tell them that a liberal policy would actually HELP them, they don't even want to consider it. All liberal ideas, politicians, and people are evil.

In fact, one of my co-workers kinda crystallized that for me. She lives in a rural red county, although the town she lives in is actually fairly evenly split and has a sizable African-American population. She said something like, "These days, they don't see us as the political opposition. They see us as the enemy, and they have to convince people that we're evil." It is FAR beyond mere political disagreement.

The only way that many of them will ever change will be when Fox News turns on Trump and starts telling them to turn as well. They will drop Trump like a hot potato in that case. They'll blame Democrats somehow, though. It's what they do.

[samsingh]

26. they are traitors and evil

[Bernardo de La Paz]

27. Re cat4: Unwise. Even some very intelligent people can be very unwise. And unwoke

Of course the category is also populated mostly by stupids.

[MatthewG.]

35. I like your descriptor - "unwise."

[underpants]

30. That's pretty much it

[djacq]

31. #2

[marble falls]

33. I reposted this on another forum. Its good stuff.

[MatthewG.]

34. Thank you!

[Poiuyt]

37. I've heard a different list of characteristics of trump supporters

1) The top 1-2% of America, economically speaking.

2) The woefully ignorant.

3) People who are openly or blatantly racist.

[MatthewG.]

50. Lots of ways to slice an orange!

[ProfessorGAC]

80. 2a: Willfully Ignorant

I think that's a subcategory of your woefully ignorant.

[bucolic_frolic]

38. McMansion-dwelling tranquilized Protestants

Seriously, there was a time when this entire discussion would be WASP. But now, perhaps thanks to Bill Barr, you have to add Catholics. Reckoning morality with plunder of God's earthly resources is hard to wrap your head around. They don't care how many oil wells and garbage dumps they drill and fill, as long as there's steak on the barbie and women are in the kitchen.

[Tom Rinaldo]

39. I think that's basically true today of those who are still with Trump

There were some other possible types of 2016 Trump voters, but now that it is no longer speculative what a Trump presidency actually entails, your list pretty much covers anyone still planning to vote for him.

[Demsrule86]

40. Nope. I live in Ohio which went for Trump last time...and most voted for him because he promised to

fix manufacturing. Ohio and rust belt states never recovered after 08 like other parts of the country. The rust belt has lost so many good paying jobs and they were replaced with shit jobs but now in this mess, even those jobs are going...there is going to be starvation in Ohio if the GOP doesn't continue helping with a 16.93 % unemployment and it is higher here. I have heard even Du'ers announce the 'jobs aren't coming back', I would advise no Democrat eve say that as without the rust belt we are in trouble for presidential elections. I believe we will win in 20 but something must be done...no reason green jobs can't be brought back here.This is why Ohio is in play...Trump lied and he attacked the union in Lordstown.

[MatthewG.]

52. I'll agree there were jobs voters in '16.

I’ll agree that in ‘16, there were working people
who believed Trump could restore some of the better paying manufacturing jobs that have long since fled the country.

I don’t run into many people with those beliefs these days. You might.

[Tikki]

41. #3s are by large hypocrites...they don't even acknowledge it as a sin.

You have to wonder if it is even mentioned in religious institutions anymore.

Tikki

[Laura PourMeADrink]

43. What's the generalization? Democrats care more about

the masses and less about people next door. Republicans don't care about people they don't know?

After moving from northeast to TX, found this to be true. People will go out of their way to help a neighbor, but don't give one iota about bad things that happen on a global level.

Translating that to your question... I think there's a variation to #1. I see it here. "If my family and friends are ok and they have jobs, then we will vote for trump again". They don't care about anything that doesn't affect them... Like trying to bribe Ukraine, for example.

PS your last category is spot on. I would name it "low-infos with lower IQ". They believe anything and don't have the wherewithall to research for truth. Republicans have definitely captured this group. Why Facebook smears work. It is so much easier because you don't have to substantiate your claims and you know no one will look up.

Why we don't set up rapid response teams asap is crazy. Buy the same lists R's buy and immediately create counter ads to the smears. If we can influence 1%, better than no one.

[Initech]

44. I know people who are a combination of 1 and 2, and 2 and 3.

Which would automatically make them part of group 4 by association.

[panfluteman]

45. I Would Add that the Religious Fundamentalists Are Narrow Minded Single Issue Voters

And therefore supremely easy to control and manipulate by the likes of a master demagogue like Donald Trump. The religious right voters are whores for their "pro-life" judges, and Trump understands the state of whoredom very well, thank you!

Otherwise, I think you have pretty well summed up the totality of Trump voters. Although I may not share your views on things like water fluoridation, I think these four basic categories are pretty much sufficient to describe them all. As for the stupid people, the main thing is that they either never took courses in civics and American government in high school, or if they did, they were either brain dead in class or were asleep in class, especially when they discussed the warning signs or red flags thrown out by a potential dictator. Sad!

[NoRoadUntravelled]

47. I personally know individuals from each of the 4 groups you write about here.

Your assessment is spot on.

I have identified one more group. This is a group that's a bit difficult to describe. They hold New Age beliefs of love and peace AND believe that space aliens will rescue us from the evil in the world. As an example, some of 'Magenta Pixie's' Youtube videos portray Trump as a "Light Bringer". These folks refer to themselves as "White Hats" who are ushering in a new paradigm of peace and see Trump, not only as one of them, but as one of their leaders. They have high praise for him and see him as "vibrating at a high frequency".

If you read the comments under the videos you can see that many of them see symbolism in every word and action of Trump and perceive his words and actions as being good as well as being directed at them personally. As though he is speaking to them. Not all these people are Americans. The UK has a fair share of them, as well.

[MatthewG.]

54. I actually know a woman exactly like this

It’s interesting that you mention the New Age Trump fans. I actually know a woman who fits your description to a tee. (Interestingly, she lives in the U.K., but she loves Trump.) Talking to her and her husband was one thing that got me thinking about this list.

I consider New Age Trump fans to fall within category #4 of my list. They seem to buy into all the weird QAnon conspiracies, then layer those with the UFO talk and occult theories.

[NoRoadUntravelled]

60. I can see how they'd fit into the #4 group. #4 with an odd twist.

It's so strange to see how his support grows in communities like this. It's as though he's got something for every belief system to hang a hat on.
There's a woman I've known for a long time who seemed to have flipped all of a sudden. She started listening to the Qanon group and then started supporting Trump who had once been the antithesis to everything she had believed or supported.

[MatthewG.]

63. The connection is paranoia and hostility to education.

New Age Trump fans are a lot like Christian Fundamentalists in that their spirituality represents a complete rejection of educated opinion. Scratch beneath the surface of both and you’ll a paranoid belief rooted in insecurity - with the educated, basically, being a stand in for a society they believe doesn’t represent or care about them.

I would say there are variants of Christianity and New Age beliefs that are more sophisticated than a total rejection of educated consensus and understanding, but when either turns into fundamentalism, you’ll find ground for Trumpism.

[I_UndergroundPanther]

82. I seen the new ager type

Weird combo tho.

[NY06DemSoc]

49. There's always the team sports fans

The ones who don't have any identity or political thought but have always associated with their party. Always been a Republican, always will vote blindly for the party. We have them on our side too but of course they seem more benign to me.

[Mme. Defarge]

53. I think there might be another category.

The “go along to get along” types in order to be accepted in their group. For them life is solely personal, the people who shrug and say, “It’s just politics”. I know, and am friends with, a lot of people like this. Incredibly kind and generous people. We know where each other stands on the president and stay connected anyway.

[MatthewG.]

56. I'm sure some people fit this too.

I’m sure some people do fit this category. They’re what I would call “weak Trump supporters.” I’d basically consider them apolitical types in the orbit of more passionate believers of types 1-4.

[Mme. Defarge]

59. Yes!

In another group they would think differently. But many are very vehement in their support, which may be more about rooting for their team, using selective talking points to defend their view.

[backscatter712]

55. So many of the Trump supporters I've seen are just dumber than a box of rocks.

Some people are reeeeeally fucking stupid.

[BobTheSubgenius]

58. For the last 3+ years, my list has been largely the same.

- Authoritarians. Those who inexplicably want to prostrate themselves in front of a dictator...OR...those who think that they will somehow be in the ruling strata.

- Billionaires. both actual and wannabe.

- Bigots.

- Imbeciles.

[BComplex]

62. Almost without exception, around here it's GUNS GUNS GUNS!!!

These people want their guns more than they want air or water.

[MatthewG.]

64. I'm considering a fifth category.

I’m considering adding a fifth category, for people who primarily seethe with talk radio and Fox News-inspired hate.

Most of the gun nuts I have personally spoken to would fall into that.

[Laura PourMeADrink]

65. comprehensive and very interesting study by UC in Santa Cruz on trump supporters

https://jspp.psychopen.eu/article/view/750/html

[MatthewG.]

67. Very interesting study.

Thank you for drawing my attention to that interesting study. I read a study once indicating Trump supporters tended to have high degrees of racial resentment, but I hadn’t known there was research into other traits they exhibited. I wonder if lack of intragroup contact is correlated with wild conspiracy theorizing?

[Poiuyt]

71. That link deserves a thread of its own

[Laura PourMeADrink]

72. I will, once I can read fully on something bigger than my phone.

And synthesize it all. Interesting that the farther a trump supporter is from the border the more they are anti-immigrant.
.

[Polybius]

66. 5) Supreme Court

I know of two Republicans who hate Trump but will vote for him anyway, because the Supreme Court is just that important.

[MatthewG.]

68. In my experience

In my experience, most of the Supreme Court and judiciary watchers fall into categories #1 and #3 when yuh start to quiz their thinking deeply. There may be some educated conservatives who are exceptions to that rule, but I don’t see a lot of that.

[MustLoveBeagles]

70. Good list

I've met people here in the Midwest that fall into those categories. Sometimes they fit into more than one or even all of them by varying degrees. A Fox watching/Hate Radio listing category needs to added to the list as you and some others discussed up thread. Both have done a great deal of damage to our national discourse and our country.

[MatthewG.]

84. Thank you

[LeftishBrit]

78. I get the impression...

that there are some who worship guns as a graven image! Perhaps another category.

Though to be fair, I hardly know any Trump supporters.

[Catherine Vincent]

79. Or (5) vote R because my husband/wife told me to

[I_UndergroundPanther]

81. Another category

Possibly,gun humpers.
They pretty ignore politics,shifted rightward but vote republican every time
Because they live in fear of gun control.

[BadGimp]

83. I think you misssed at least one very important group...

They are: (in no uncertain order)
- Mostly White
- middle income
- angry
- somewhat to significantly economically displaced (repeatedly)
- afraid - they're are seeing their life's sunset and not liking what they are seeing
- low(er) education and even lower information
- looking for someone to blame
- easily manipulated by the economic forces and media manipulators

Not sure what to refer to them as...