It's been impossible to understand Republican support for Trump

[cyclonefence]

among heretofore fairly sane Senators, and the best explanation has been that they're afraid if they oppose him, they'll lose substantial segments of Republican voters, and that may have been true. Or he might have had dirt on all of them, or pretended he did. In any case, we could make some kind of explanation, however crazy, for their behavior.

But why are they sticking with him now? Do they truly believe that MAGATS will continue to turn out in droves for Republican candidates who do not project the national image of bald-faced lying bluster, of pumped-up orange insanity that Trump offers?d Do they think any local candidate is going to give them the national exposure Trump has? Without his persona, the MAGATS are going to dissolve--anyone remember H. Ross Perot?

And as has been pointed out a zillion times, Trump doesn't care about anyone but himself. Do they think that out-of-office Trump is going to travel to Bumfuck MN to stump for Republican candidates? No way in hell is he going to exert himself for anyone else. If there seems to be the smallest chance he can run in 2024, he'll be out there, *using* local races to raise votes and funds for himself, but during the years out of office, assuming he's not in jail, he isn't going to do diddle for anyone else.

It's time for the rats to strap on their life-jackets.

[ananda]

1. Clearly, Republican and "fairly sane" is an oxymoron.

...

[mucifer]

2. It's like the civil war. They feed off this belief they didn't lose. It energizes them

[mitch96]

6. When you can't understand an outcome or situation and it does not "fit" your belief system

conspiracy theories abound...
As the saying goes, "Denial in not only a river in Egypt"..

[C_U_L8R]

3. Stockholm Syndrome

Plus their corrupt media sources and politicians are exacerbating the problem. The whole GOP needs serious therapy and some need to go to jail.

[musclecar6]

4. Yeah

I don’t get it either. Eventually the Republican voters are going to finally start to figure out that this guy is history who is a menace and completely bungled this pandemic war in which we are all suffering from because he politicised wearing a mask.

[JHB]

11. If you think they'll give it up, I have three words for you (several sets of them actually):

"Clinton Body Count"

"Enemy of Normal Americans" (ok, that's four, cut me some slack )

"Born in Kenya"

"Obama's socialist agenda"

"Lock Her Up"

"Benghazi Benghazi Benghazi"

[no_hypocrisy]

5. I think part of it is that Trump is their Front Man.

He gets out there and insults everyone and beats them into silence and submission. It's something they can't do or want to do, but they like the results.

If Trump was "conventional," the Republicans wouldn't be that faithful to him.

Either that, or Trump has dossiers on each and every one of them.

[Dustlawyer]

22. He can still tweet against them. The Republicans brainwashed their followers for decades

and Trump hijacked them all. Now Trump holds their voters hostage and all of the Republicans keep paying the ransom instead of standing up to the voteknapper Trump.

This is an unforeseen danger of propaganda that they could lose control of the message. Trump hijacked the messaging and took over the Party.

Restore the Fairness Doctrine and beef it up. It is what is needed to fix this.

[LSFL]

25. But once Trump is out

Twitter can suspend his account, right? Take the hit and let all the MAGAts migrate to another platform. It would be better without them there anyway. The GOP needs to reform without the Trumpers too. Scrape them off and let them form a 3rd party. Like how all the KKK types fled the Democratic party in the 60s. Then they could shift center and get a larger share of unaffiliated voters and still win elections.
Any party Trump forms would be stillborn. The inability to win significant elections would drive his victory obsessed tribe back underground for a generation.
Remember, I live in a deep red area. Everyone is not a Trump supporter. Many only voted for him because they ALWAYS vote and they ONLY vote Republican.
I think that if you look at the difference between McCain and Trumps vote tallies you will find a better indicator of how many MAGAts are out there. I have not heard one peep about the election being stolen from people who are as Partisan as I am.
I am just spit balling here. I hope I am right. I am not one to hold grudges, but I still need a path to forgiveness for select friends and family.

I am probably a delusional idiot.

[NRaleighLiberal]

7. for the voters, think cult. for the politicians, think fear, greed and lust for power

[2naSalit]

8. I suspect...

And this is digging a little deeper in your claim regarding the politicians, they are afraid that their conduct, including prior to 2016, will be exposed and a vast racketeering operation is at risk and will shift the balance of economies around the world.

[NRaleighLiberal]

13. they are certainly in deep with various things they don't want to have surfaced.

[2naSalit]

19. I have no doubt about that.

[JDC]

9. Naked Power and Control

[UncleTomsEvilBrother]

10. Trump got 73 million votes

Why are we surprised that the 48-50 Senators supporting him is any different from the rest of them? I work with an woman, and she is absolutely lovely to me. When we were having a casual conversation, she very gently said to me that "...it's too bad for Mexican kids being locked up, but their parents should have known better."

Yes, they seem "sane" only because they have beautiful veneers and pleasant affects. We have to look deeper than that, though. Their voting and belief systems are just as evil as the maniacs attending the superspreader events.

[OnlyLoveEndures]

12. Willful Ignorance

willful ignorance (uncountable) (idiomatic, law) A decision in bad faith to avoid becoming informed about something so as to avoid having to make undesirable decisions that such information might prompt.

[Klaralven]

14. Those who want to be reelected don't want their fingerprints on the shiv

[beachbumbob]

15. in the end, trump has brought MASSIVE WINS to them

- judges
- dismantling govt
- caging immigrants
- building a wall
- countless other wins in their eyes

[Mr. Ected]

16. I would submit that very few actually support or even fear Trump

It's those 70 million agitated assholes that they actually fear.

That being said, if they were true patriots, they'd abandon those antagonists and side with the Lincoln Project. Those aren't Republicans, those aren't conservatives.....they're fascists seeking mob rule.

[uponit7771]

18. +1, I op'd this very fact (link)

https://www.democraticunderground.com/100214599324

[uponit7771]

17. Trump is more love in the kGOP than Obama could think of !! The kGOP senators understand their base

... and enough of the kGOP base loves Trump to a cultish level

[NurseJackie]

20. Linsey Gram is being blackmailed... photos with with underage prostitutes. That's my guess.

I don't know for sure... it's just my guess. But, people talk and I'm not the only one who's theorizing about it. All I can tell you is that it certainly makes sense as a way to explain their sudden and dramatic 180-degree turn-around. They are acting like someone who's afraid they are about to be sent to prison.

[Statistical]

21. Republican voters LOVE Trump. They aren't reluctantly voting for him. They love him.

They are utterly loyal to him. They couldn't care less about the rest of the GOP. Trump right now could end most Republican politicians political careers.

[Edwcraig]

23. This never has been about Trump

Last edited Sun Nov 22, 2020, 12:14 PM - Edit history (1)

"By 2016, “conservative” Republicans, recharged by the election of a black man as President, vanquished the moderates in the Grand Old Party. The cancer had spread from white racists in the South, to white racists throughout the country. A Republican parade had formed, marching to the beat of the white racists. It was looking for a leader. It did not matter if that leader shot someone on 5th Avenue. They wanted a leader that would vanquish minorities. They were in ecstatic when he jumped in front of their parade and proclaimed.

“When Mexico sends its people, they're not sending their best. They're sending people that have lots of problems, and they're bringing those problems with us. They're bringing drugs. They're bringing crime. They're rapists.”

They were sold. It was a Republican parade of racists. Racists and those who do not believe in government, because government since FDR, helped minorities and those that need help. "

http://democraticprinciples.blogspot.com/2019/08/joes-grand-old-party.html

They will be there after Trump is gone. We must stop them.

[ampm]

24. Just a thought

My thought is this when they broke into the DNC there was reporting of the RNC as well so they might have real dirt on them and so they play to his tiny fiddle because they are trapped so they tell the lie and gin up the base to follow

[Bradshaw3]

26. It's nothing but tribal now

Informed by race, religion, greed, power, fear and hatred of the other. In my opinion it's all about in group-out group behavior. Ailes, Rove, Nixon understood that and used primal triggers, most of which are the same ones they use today. They can change them though when needed because there are no philosophical or ethical reasons for them now as there once might have been when it came to discussions of, for example, communism versus capitalism.

Russia/China/Communism was used to justify the explosion in the military-industrial complex in spite of Eisenhower's warning. Now Russia has gone from two legs bad to two legs good, while China is made up of Asian people, so they will use race there; Communism is a meaningless term in today's global environment in which Russian and Chinese rulers chase personal wealth as much as our robber barons, but the word triggers fear in many. There is no central organizing theme, other than my side against them, with god, guns, abortion, freedumb, etc. just code words.

The repub officials, many of whom know what they peddle is bullshit, are just hired guns while their voters are like the sad people endlessly pulling the handle on the one-arm bandits at a casino, thinking their sick loyalty to a machine built to rip them off will one day pay off. It does, but not for them. Unfortunately, this will go on long after dump is gone.

[chriscan64]

27. The rank and file republican voters are like the Frankenstein monster.

These "sane" republican leaders created them, but as with the monster, control is not a given. Trump is the kind of candidate their voters had in mind before Trump came along. John McCain's "Obama's a good man, we just disagree" went over like a lead balloon. The core principle for the republican establishment is about fighting for the right to get rich and keep the money. Period. Everything else like the idea that these tax savings will come around in the form of job creation is about getting more voters than they could with that core principle as its only message. Nobody will take to the streets to keep Richie Rich from having his taxes raised by 3% if you word it that way. You get different results if you say Obamacare will kill your grandma and raise your taxes.

When Trump took off in the '16 primaries, the establishment sought to head him off, not because he was so reprehensible as a person but because they feared his ideological impurity and tendency not to play ball. His victory shut them up as they waited for him to serve his term(s) so they could get back to business as usual. They may have planned for a turn on Trump after an election loss, but his vote count in 2020 shut them up again. Trump is not some temporary blip in the long course of republican politics, the voting mob the gop created will follow him and turn on any republican who turns on him.

[KentuckyWoman]

28. No it's easy to understand. Very easy

Republicans are selfish idiots. They'll burn down the whole damn country if it means one more nickel in their bank account.

It isn't just the Trumpers. It is Republicans. Period.