I keep trying to grapple with Trump's appeal and I just don't get it. Now with mini rant.

[cali]

I understand that people like having their biases affirmed, but he's such a cartoon figure bad guy. What I just don't get is how people can be drawn to a braggart bloviator who has a history of not supporting the crap that he's currently gushing. And who has a shady history in business, supposedly his strong suit.

Wingers are constantly spewing contempt about the celebrity culture, and really, this guy's notoriety is all about his celebrity. I confess, I never saw Reagan's appeal either. He just seemed like a stupid, smarmy vitalis sales rep, but put him alongside der Trumpenfuhrer, and he looks like a statesman.

I don't lean toward overestimating the voting public at large, and certainly not republican voters, but this is fucking ridiculous.


Edit: having read many of the responses, I want to add that although I know a lot of what you are saying is on point, and I get those explanations, intellectually, on a gut level, he's just such an unappealing figure. Or to put it bluntly,he's repulsive. Grotesque. Revolting. And that's before he opens his mouth to get on with his incessant, annoying bragging. And if he's not plain old stupid, he does a masterful impression. I do not see his much vaunted charisma. More like anti-charisma.

Did I mention that I find him repulsive? Oh, and tacky on a mega level.

[elleng]

1. I've heard a number of times:

'He tells it as it is,' as if THAT were an attribute for POTUS! So THEN what???

[Rod Beauvex]

33. Maybe.

Remember Bernie's appeal more or less is the same thing. His supporters believe (myself included) that he tells it like it is. Whether Democrat or Republican, people like politicians they perceive to be voicing their (the voters) beliefs.

[adigal]

52. I heard a great response to that!! "So does my drunken Uncle, but do we want him for President???"nt

[elleng]

53. Zacly!

[leftyladyfrommo]

60. He's really physically repulsive to me.

Especially when he's being a real smartass. Those awful faces he makes just make my blood run cold.

[Zing Zing Zingbah]

61. I think "telling like it is" is laughable.

Most of the people that say that really don't have a good handle on "how it is".

[elleng]

63. Right!

[MariaThinks]

2. I think i do

Trump casts a very wide net and says what people may be thinking. While he's insulting one group of people, he's tapping into the fears and frustrations of others. Where this will end I don't know.

But it seems like he could win the gop nomination and then who knows.

[Buzz Clik]

3. Tea Party: equally unfathomable.

A bunch of angry folks who are attracted to other angry folks.

[jeff47]

4. IMO, it's 40 years of

The primary lie the Republicans have used to distract their base from the real causes of their problems.

Their base really doesn't understand how it's causing their problems, but they keep hearing it over and over again from their media sources and friends, so it must be true.

Trump just isn't using dogwhistles like most Republicans. Otherwise, it's exactly the same talking points with zero basis in reality.

[GreatGazoo]

5. There is a common method in marketing which applies to the marketing of politicians also.

You listen to the customer, lots of them, and then speak back to them in the language they used. It works extremely well.

Taco Bell ran a campaign saying their food made you "feel full" -- it was a stupid phrase that no doubt came from the above method.

Many people are stupid and angry -- Trump taps into that very well. Trump has electrolytes...

[Hepburn]

6. His support is there because he is saying the bigotted BS that most will not speak

Many white, male, middle class, working guys, especially the younger ones, feel squeezed out of the game...IMO. They see women, brown and black people and immigrants taking places that they feel are theirs. So, when a POS like tRump says what they are thinking...on the bandwagon they go. It is now OK to spout the hatred they feel.

PS:

JMHO

[Kelvin Mace]

7. People like politicians who lie to them

and keep issues as "black & white" simple.

For every complex social problem in the world there is a simple solution that is completely wrong.

[Zing Zing Zingbah]

62. They think the liars are actually the truth tellers...

and everyone else is lying.

[Mass]

8. He is a loud mouth that appeals to people's bad instincts,

Luntz's focus group yesterday on CBS (only made of Trump's supporters) was frightening because those were largely wackos running on racial resentment (Obama should not be president, he is not capable or he is cocky, ....), but also fairly lucid of the fact Trump is all entertainment and you cannot expect he will do what he says. They credit him of using offensive statements to get the media attention and then talking about true issues (and with the idiotic media we have these days, there may be a bit of truth but this is very frightening).

This said, what is frightening is there is no way to know how large the movement is. Polls are not very reliable as you have no clue who answers (so many people do not answer polls anymore and we do not know whether there are patterns to people answering or not). Is it possible that people who do not answer polls go and vote for more moderate candidates (like happened in France yesterday) or is it possible that people do not dare say they support Trump and there are more GOPers voting for him? Who knows? And this is really what I find frightening.

Also there is clearly a feedback effect here. Trump says something outrageous. The media speak about him and nobody else (82 % of media talking about GOP candidates this week were about Trump). People say they will vote for him. Hopefully, people will wake up.

[nadinbrzezinski]

9. I do, and it is not different at all from what happened in Germany during the Weimar Republic

or a few other times in a few other places. We are not that exceptional.

[cali]

13. I don't think it explains his appeal

[nadinbrzezinski]

18. It is exactly the same appeal

It was the same appeal for the Ron Paul fans as well. When you actually talk to these folks, or rather listen (need a shower after that), you do learn that was animates them is truly rank fear. He is activating that fear in spades. Ron Paul did not go over 10 percent at any one moment, this is now reaching 30 percent (round numbers) among the Republican base which is also older and tends to be whiter.

It is a fear of losing their place in the world, for many it is a fear of the end of white supremacy. So there is a sense of the volk and yes some purity of the race in there. The fear that their kids will not do better, the fear that they will not be middle class, that they will starve in their own old age.

Oh and "keep the government's hand out of my medicare... " That is also part of it. I got mine, FU... kind of a mentality, and not understanding that this medicare is part of the government they hate. And quite frankly they also feel betrayed. Republicans have yet to truly deliver on any of the red meat they have been promising for the last 30 years. (There is some of that on the other side, but not even close to that acute... let's just say the Rs the fear and anger of the government is to the neck, base democrats are just getting into the water, as in it is up to their toes best case.)

It is an ugly dynamic.

[RobinA]

54. So,

do they think the race thing is the cause of all their problems? Because other than building walls and keeping people out of the country, what has Trump said that they imagine will help them? I get the fear both of the end of white supremacy and that they will not be middle class, but I don't see what Trump is offering other than on the supremacy end (they think). For instance, what is his plan for bringing their jobs back?

THINK PEOPLE! I guess it's all kind of visceral.

[nadinbrzezinski]

56. Yes

That is the short answer.

[Nyan]

10. You don't get it because you are using reason

Whereas Trump supporters are not. I think Chris Hedges was almost prophetic when he was talking about crumbling societies desperately reverting back to mythical belief, which, in this case, is that America is the greateat country by definition and that it will magically reclaim its greatness with a savior who, in their mind, personifies its greatness -a billionnaire. A "strong" white man who talks tough and will rid the society of all the things that makes us "weak." You know, the brown immigrants (not white immigrants), Muslims and criminal blacks, etc. Because then we become great again.

[cali]

15. Maybe, but my repulsion for him is a gut thing

[nadinbrzezinski]

19. ^^^^THIS^^^^^

which is the appeal of fascism at a mythic level

[Cyrano]

11. "You've got to be carefully taught to

hate and fear ..."

Rogers and Hammerstein explained it perfectly in this song from "South Pacific."

[HughBeaumont]

12. "Babe, all I know is what I see."

Not just a famous Carly Simon lyric, but the mantra of millions driven by hate narratives. It's different because this sort of rhetoric he's spewing kills people now, and his supporters are oblivious, as they think he's running for United States Dictator. I think in some way Trump believes just as much.

It's almost as if Vince McMahon from WWE was running for office . . . in character.

[davidn3600]

14. He's anti-establishment and rebelling against political correctness

[Zing Zing Zingbah]

64. Conservatives tend to think political correctness is some huge problem.

That's why some of them got all bitchy about Starbucks cups a few weeks ago (although I don't understand what the heck these people were expecting to see on that damn cup). I think we have much larger problems than political correctness (and coffee cups).

[liberal N proud]

16. I have trouble with the entire republican/teabagger ideal

So trying to understand Trump, is impossible!

[Prism]

17. Conservatives have an anti-establishment streak, too

I read a lot of conservative sites, and they really, really don't like how the Republican Establishment behaves. Look at immigration as an example. You have a base that is all about shutting down the border. The Establishment, however, doesn't want to do this, because their big business donors like immigration. So the Republican Congress dithers, people like Rubio support amnesties and such, and it absolutely infuriates the base.

So you get Trump out there, telling what they view as the "truths" the Establishment dare not speak.

He's like Dark Sanders. Populist, saying the things the Establishment won't, but the shitty kinds of things.

[Throd]

20. Easy. He is a thumb in the eye of the media and the RNC.

The more the NY Times and beltway GOP establishment squeal and shriek, the more popular he gets.

[cali]

22. Definitely that's a big piece of it, but even so....

[Pacifist Patriot]

21. You and me both. I cannot wrap my head around it to save my life.

[pampango]

23. RW populists like Trump & Le Pen, prey on two insecurities, economic and cultural.

Economic insecurity is widespread in Europe and the US. The right exploits this and uses cultural insecurity to blame economic problems on THEM (Mexicans, Chinese, Muslims, immigrants, the EU, etc.)

In Europe they hate the EU, refugees, immigrants and anything that infringes on sovereignty and the rights and privileges of 'real', native-born French, Swedes, Dutch, etc. (Monoculturalism is prized by the right in both the US and Europe.) In the US cultural insecurity is the right's fear of the increasing number and power of minorities, immigrants and secular or non-traditional groups.

Of course, LW populists recognize widespread economic insecurity. We differ in that we tend to blame our own 1% rather than the foreign version of THEM the right worries about.

There is not much 'there' there with Trump, but the same is true of Le Pen and a host of other RW populists who have been gaining in popularity. Their proposed solutions won't work - because their THEM is not the real problem - but every country has folks who are different in some way for the problems. Trump and Le Pen may espouse flawed policies but they know how to make a speech and simplify a complex world.

[L. Coyote]

24. About 20% of American adults dedicate under five minutes a year to thinking about politics

and they get their information to make political decisions from main stream media, so there goes that five minutes, completely wasted.

[Zorra]

25. It's quite simple. Ignorance -> Fear -> Hate.

The same applies to Cruz, Huckabee, and the other supremely unqualified to be POTUS republican candidates.

But when it comes to spewing hate appeal, Trump and Cruz lead the pack.

Sad and sorry to say this, but haters gonna support haters to lead them, and it can happen here.

[underpants]

26. Give this a read. ABC story on the anatomy of his S. Carolina supporters

http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/anatomy-donald-trumps-south-carolina-supporters-fed-fearful/story?id=35751538

[spanone]

27. he's george wallace with charisma and free air time.

and the internet gives all his racist supporters a voice

[Cary]

28. Nothing "conservatives" do surprises me any more.

It is liberals who don't vote, insist that "both sides do it," or otherwise don't see that Republicans/"conservatives" are the enemy. Yes, they are dangerous.

Trump is pandering. Trump is a demagogue. He feeds the base the raw meat they crave, which is hate. That's really what "conservatism" is all about. They hate minorities because they feel that their way of life is somehow threatened. They wax nostalgic for the way they thought things used to be, without remembering the bad parts. And "political correctness" is really code for "I want my 'freedom' to hate without being told I'm a racist or a hater."

Actually they are not conservative at all. They really are fascists, and they must always have "other." Their definition of "other" changes. Often times liberals are "other." Goebels said "We decide who is Jewish." What "conservatives" do is no different.

I have been attacked even here (which shocks me) for identifying their dangerous ideology as dangerous. Why some here ever believed they would ever be accepted by teabaggers is way beyond me.

Democrats are not perfect, and they never will be perfect. But Democrats are not the enemy. Trump isn't even the worst of the lot and actually it's rather fascinating that he appeals to Evangelicals. The religious right was never about religion, and the fact that they will overlook Trump's glaring lack of religious bona fides proves that beyond any doubt. They are about hate. Period.

[Dems to Win]

29. He's the only one who says he will enforce the immigration laws

He started out his campaign with that issue, got a lot of support, and people aren't going to leave his campaign because of this issue.

Unchecked illegal immigration has undercut the wages of the working class and been one factor in transforming them into the working poor. Democrats want to legalize everyone, Republicans want to continue the status quo where people can live and work without documents for 20 years or more with no enforcement of the immigration or labor laws. Only Trump says he will actually enforce the immigration law and deport the people who are here without authorization. It's a stance that has won him some very solid support.

Also, he's a reality TV star. Don't underestimate Americans infatuation with celebrities. If Schwarzenegger can get elected governor of California, Trump may well be elected President. I'm not one who says its totally impossible, no matter what the polls might say.

[pampango]

37. Illegal immigration from Mexico has stopped, even reversed, under Obama. Punishment of

'illegal' employers has been a focus of this administration after being largely ignored for decades.

Unchecked illegal immigration has undercut the wages of the working class and been one factor in transforming them into the working poor.

Not true. Robert Reich, among many others, have destroyed this conservative mantra.

Democrats want to legalize everyone ...

Democrats do not want to legalize 'everyone' (regardless of what Rush says abut our desire to recruit new Democratic voters) but we do realize that mass deportation will not work. With legalization, workers become covered by the same labor laws as everyone else making them less exploitable.

Only Trump says he will actually enforce the immigration law and deport the people who are here without authorization. It's a stance that has won him some very solid support.

Including from at least one DU poster apparently. Others on the far-right in the US and in Europe know that Trump's policies are both unworkable (though they have surface appeal to the angry) and do not address the real problem but mask it.

[Dems to Win]

46. Who will working poor Americans believe, their own eyes or a UC Berkley prof?

They can see with their own eyes that working class jobs held by their fathers and grandfathers are now held by immigrants, many of them undocumented.

Instead of working class, they are now working poor, with a minimum wage job at WalMart.

Thirty years ago, a man with a high school education could get a job in a slaughter house or landscaping or roofing and make a living wage, able to support a family. Now, all of those jobs are minimum wage, at best, and all the people doing them speak Spanish.

I've seen this happen with my own eyes. 35 years ago, a family member dated a guy who worked at a slaughterhouse, making a good wage doing dirty, nasty work. Now those jobs are done by immigrants in small towns all over the country.

http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Society/2015/0314/How-one-small-Midwest-town-has-turned-immigration-into-positive-change

Here at West Liberty Elementary School, mathematics is about more than numbers and shapes. It’s a blending of two languages, two cultures, and two very different groups of people that have come to inhabit this small town in rural Iowa. Like scores of rural communities across the Midwest and Great Plains, West Liberty has been transformed in the past several decades by an influx of newcomers, most of them Latinos who came to work in the big turkey processing plant that sits just beyond the downtown.

I have another family member who worked for years as a supervisor at a linen laundry facility serving hospitals, and the language of the workplace was Spanish. When someone left a job, the owner would call down to Mexico for a new worker, and one would arrive, fresh fake Social Security card in hand. It was their business model. He's not worked there for a couple of years, but I assume it's still going on. I've not read of any enforcement raid on the place.

35 years ago, when my dad got a new roof on the house, the crew spoke English. The crew five years ago spoke Spanish.

As long as there are millions of undocumented people living in the US, it's hard to argue that there has been vigorous enforcement of immigration laws. A slight decline in the number is not convincing.

I don't support Trump, I'm a Bernie supporter. I understand there are many forces squeezing the middle and working classes -- NAFTA and the rest of the horrible trade deals, out-sourcing, the thieves on Wall Street.

But I just can't buy the standard liberal line on undocumented immigrants. Looking the other way while unscrupulous employers exploit desperate vulnerable workers to do the hard, dirty work for ridiculously low pay has hurt our native born working class, and people are angry about it.

The Establishment of both parties will just rock along with this situation forever, so along comes a bomb thrower expressing the frustration of millions of Americans. IMHO it's a big part of Trump's appeal. Also IMHO, it hurts Democrats to be so tone-deaf on this issue, handwaving that 'immigrants create jobs!' without acknowledging what working class people see and experience.

If The Establishments of both parties wanted to take the wind out of Trump's sails, they would pass serious immigration reform right now. Give legal status to those here for years, since we've chosen not to enforce the law for so long it's the only fair thing to do. But then have truly effective labor law and immigration enforcement so there will never be another generation of Dreamers, because it simply won't be possible to live here for decades without legal authorization.

Instead, people are trying to get rid of Trump by calling him a fascist bigot. I don't think that will be at all effective, and I'm seriously concerned Trump is going to be elected President.

[pampango]

47. We agree on much. But progressive countries with more immigration are better for workers

than regressive countries with less immigration.

Sweden (14%) and Germany (13%) both have a higher percentage of foreign-born residents than the US (12%) has. Their working class and middle class are much healthier than is ours because they employ progressive union, tax, regulatory and safety net policies.

But I just can't buy the standard liberal line on undocumented immigrants. Looking the other way while unscrupulous employers exploit desperate vulnerable workers to do the hard, dirty work for ridiculously low pay has hurt our native born working class, and people are angry about it.

Where do you get the 'looking the other way' accusation against liberals? Is providing a path to legal status and prosecuting 'illegal employers', 'looking the other way'?

If The Establishments of both parties wanted to take the wind out of Trump's sails, they would pass serious immigration reform right now. Give legal status to those here for years, since we've chosen not to enforce the law for so long it's the only fair thing to do. But then have truly effective labor law and immigration enforcement so there will never be another generation of Dreamers, because it simply won't be possible to live here for decades without legal authorization.

Who will working poor Americans believe, their own eyes or a UC Berkley prof?

As long as we don't become the anti-science, anti-research, anti-history party. There is already one of those. They seem to say, "I see brown people doing the work my father and grandfather used to do. Build a wall!" They base policy on anecdote, fear and hate rather than on how to produce the greatest good for the greatest number.

Instead of working class, they are now working poor, with a minimum wage job at WalMart.

We all know of the demise of the working class and middle class. The question is do we blame that demise on immigrants or on regressive tax, anti-union and deregulation policies fostered by our 1%.

[Dems to Win]

58. Robert Reich today: The Revolt of the Anxious Class

http://robertreich.org/post/135202830270

The anxious class feels vulnerable to forces over which they have no control. Terrible things happen for no reason.

Yet government can’t be counted on to protect them.

Safety nets are full of holes. Most people who lose their jobs don’t even qualify for unemployment insurance.

Government won’t protect their jobs from being outsourced to Asia or being taken by a worker here illegally.

********

Where do you get the 'looking the other way' accusation against liberals? Is providing a path to legal status and prosecuting 'illegal employers', 'looking the other way'?

The federal government has looked the other way under Clinton, Bush, and Obama. That's how we've gotten to a point where people have been in the country for two decades without legal authorization.

Any discussion of deporting undocumented immigrants is met with great outrage from liberals. Without immigration reform, vigorous opposition to deportation equates to looking the other way from the exploitative system of undoc immigrants paired with unscrupulous employers.

Today, there are millions of fake Social Security numbers being used for employment, and the SS Administration knows where they are working, because the reports they get from employers have an employee name that does not match the name the SSA assigned to that number. Yet the federal government does nothing, and 9+ million undocumented people remain in the country indefinitely.

President Obama has increased labor law enforcement, but imho it's been a drop in the bucket compared to the scale of the problem. The proof is the large number of people still working here with fake SS numbers.

They seem to say, "I see brown people doing the work my father and grandfather used to do. Build a wall!"

Pretty sure they'd be upset if they saw whites speaking Polish at the job sites, while knowing the federal government is not enforcing the immigration laws.

Robert Reich again:

I’ve heard their complaints and cynicism, their conspiracy theories and their outrage.

Most are good people, not bigots or racists. They work hard and they have a strong sense of fairness.

But their world has been slowly coming apart. And they’re scared and fed up.

It's easy for smug liberals to call all objections to unauthorized immigration 'racism' and therefore not worth listening to. It helps Democrats lose elections.

[RobinA]

55. One Word

Union

[Dems to Win]

59. Two Words: Bernie Sanders

Wish the media would cover him as much as they cover Trump. Bernie is speaking to the issues people are angry about, in a much more constructive way.

[2naSalit]

30. It takes a certain flavor of

assholery, insensitivity and self-aggrandizement to feel the appeal.

[valerief]

31. He speaks to them at a 3rd grade level. Their minds don't wander from him using words or

phrases they don't understand, because he doesn't use them. He speaks in very, very simple declarative sentences. He punctuates his speech with emotion, too, so they're cued as to what's important.

He makes them feel smart--smart enough to follow what he says. And he does it without a lot of Jesusy shit.

[Mr.Bill]

35. He also doesn't use numbers when he talks.

So his supporters don't have to analyze all that math.

Math is what killed Ross Perot's popularity.

[valerief]

48. I think pundits were paid to kill Perot. People didn't think to make fun of

his charts until they were told to.

[SheilaT]

32. Most people don't want to think. About anything

above the level of whether to get pepperoni or sausage on their pizza. (With apologies to all the vegetarians and vegans. The non-thinking of those are thinking about other toppings entirely.)

It starts very early on, especially for those raised in "religious" households. They're given the party line of the religion and told they must never ever question it. And most people don't. Or if they do, it's often only to make a lateral move, from being a Methodist to a Presbyterian, for instance. Or to get involved in an even more deeply fundamentalist sect. Cult.

Most people never wander very far from either the place or the intellectual milieu of their childhood. One of the reasons a genuinely liberal arts education is generally scorned in this country is that such an education attempts to make people think outside of their prior experience and beliefs. It's not easy for most people.

Top this with the fact that the vast majority of people in this country learn everything they know from television, and you've got an on-going education in ignorance. A lot of people cannot tell the difference between reality and fiction, and worse yet they don't think it matters very much. They think "The DaVinci Code" is historically accurate. They think all sorts of nonsense like that.

Worse yet, anything that can't be explained in 25 words or less is considered not worth paying attention to. I'll add that those who think the only book you ever need to read is the Bible are the worst, not necessarily because of their actual beliefs, but because the Bible is the original short attention span piece of literature. People who read it a lot honestly believe that every problem can be addressed and solved by quoting some short passage. More to the point, there is no sustained narrative in it, which means people who rely on it for their source of wisdom cannot begin to get it that not every issue can be explained in only a few words. It's why they don't understand evolution or climate change or math beyond addition and subtraction, because above that you need to pay attention for more than thirty seconds.

[iandhr]

34. "If you can convince...

... the lowest white man he is better than the best colored man he won't notice you picking his pocket."

LBJ 1960

As true today as it was then

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

36. He promises to be a strong and decisive LEADER and lead us all to safety.

Safety from refugees, murderous Muslims, rapist Mexicans, and the IRS. He offers simple solutions to all of our problems (real or imagined).

He's a wealthy (which shows he must be "smart&quot demagogue who preaches to idiots, nationalists, racists, and paranoids.

[Utopian Leftist]

38. What you said here:

Wingers are constantly spewing contempt about the celebrity culture, and really, this guy's notoriety is all about his celebrity.

The vast majority of celebrities are liberal at heart. Artists and entertainers of all kind lean liberal. IMO Wingers are simply not used to having a celebrity spew their kind of garbage. Unfortunately for them, in preferring the novelty of Trumpet, they are sewing the wind (and soon will reap the whirlwind).

[Gore1FL]

39. 20% of the Country approved of Dick Cheney when he left.

That probably equates to 40-60 of the GOP.

I suspect that is Trump's ceiling.

[vinny9698]

40. The GOP base has always being racist, anti government, Confederate flag waving, etc.

But politicians before would use dog whistles to convey their sentiments. They worship at Liberty University, speak at CPAC, etc. using dog whistles and innuendos to convey their message to the base.
All Trump has done is to speak to them openly.

[tea and oranges]

41. A While Back

I read a Kos diary that, while partly tongue in cheek, boiled it down to this:

Lots of people want to hate.

They go to Democrats & say, We want to hate such & such minority group. The Dems say, No, you can't hate minority groups, any of them.

The turn to the Republicans & say, We want to hate on a minority group. The R's say, Hell yeah, we hate them too!

That was some time ago, but I think about it lots since the advent of Trump - he gives more permission to hate than ANY other Republican.

[TygrBright]

42. It's pretty clear, actually.

He tells people:

1. There are tons of horrible scary problems that are the reason why they aren't getting what they believe they're entitled to.

2. There is a simple answer to every one of those horrible, scary, complex problems.

3. He knows what that answer is and will implement it.

4. And (BONUS!) the answer doesn't require them to do anything but vote for him. Any pain will be borne by "other" people who probably deserve it anyway.

This is extremely powerful appeal, if you can make people believe it.

Unfortunately, after decades of industrious trashing of the educational system and corporatization of the media, that's not real hard.

sadly,
Bright

[santafe52]

43. This isn't about Trump…

There have always been mad men, racists, shysters and narcissists. Trump isn't our problem.

What's different about this, is that about 30% of the American people support his behavior. THEY support the racism, the lies, the overwhelming lack of class and intelligence he represents. They support his audacity, his anger, his selfishness. They applaud his lack of tact, his adolescent insults, his lewd and crude presentations and characterizations.

Trump's not "The Problem" . The Problem lives next door to you. IT sit's at the desk next to you at work. IT will be having Christmas dinner at your place this year. IT gets it's "news" from Fox and Rush Limbaugh and from it's religious leaders and local Republican politicians.

If IT ever gets to be the majority in the country…..we're done.

So.…however this thing shakes out. ALL OF US….Bernie supporters and Hillary supporters, HAVE to band together to stop IT.

[spanone]

44. 30% of GOP primary voters...not 30% of the american people. much smaller number.

http://www.alternet.org/media/fear-not-more-americans-support-bernie-sanders-donald-trump-no-matter-what-tv-says

[mopinko]

45. i know a pretty unlikely fan. the appeal to him is

that he feels like he is the only one who is going to tell the pentagon to go fuck themselves.

[ellie]

49. He really is revolting

[Orsino]

50. He's the only one of them with a shred of remaining personality.

He never learned to pull his political punches, or much of anything else a spoiled eight-year-old doesn't know.

I am not surprised that the ignorant prefer him to the timid little corporate robots that make up the rest of the field.

[Funtatlaguy]

51. Google: P T Barnum motto

We have millions in this country now.

[MineralMan]

57. Half of the public has sub-average IQs.

We call them Republicans, I think.

[Zing Zing Zingbah]

65. Or maybe average IQ

just isn't enough for people to make sense of politics anymore. If religion dominates their whole thought process, that seems to negate whatever intellectual abilities they might have that would otherwise enabled them to make competent political decisions. Group think is a biggie for a lot of people. They like to stick with their team and their most important team seems to be their religion. I don't know if that is IQ driven or personality driven. Maybe it is a little of both. I know the majority of people have personality types that are generally followers. Republicans messed this all up pretty bad when they tied themselves to Christianity.