Don't underestimate the Rethug rage
For decades conservative politicians and political pundits have been telling white Christian males the country belong to them but that 'those people' (anyone not a white Christian male) are trying to take away their rightful ownership and change things for the worse. White Christian males have been told that 'those people' are trying to destroy the American way of life, and of course the American way of life that the politicians and pundits have been trying to sell them is not surprisingly the America of the 1950s and before. Back then anyone who wasn't a white Christian male had far less power and influence than now. In fact, some think the ideal American way of life predates women's suffrage, as some of those politicians and pundits have theorized that men are driven by logic but women by emotion, and consequently female voters have been one of the driving forces for changing things for the worse.
Fear is a great motivator, to the point where many of the staunchest believers these days aren't white Christian males, but also females, and people who don't really care about religion unless there is a chance to demonize Muslims as terrorists. Their beliefs have solidified as the rational part of the country continues to move to the left. Rational people realize that white Christian males aren't the masters but that everyone has equal value, regardless of their race, religion, or gender.
Things began to reach a boiling point in 2008. Rethugs were enraged for two reasons. Not only was the new POTUS an African-American, in charge of what white Christian males thought was rightfully theirs, but the conservative politicians that had flapped their gums so much about 'those people' taking the country away and ruining things seemed to have either very little interest or very little ability to put a stop to things. The person who had run against the 'Halfrican,' as some of the more deplorable Rethugs began calling our new President, had been John McCain. Many Rethug voters considered him more a Democrat than a Republican, and they began to turn on the Republican establishment for having supported him.
That's when the Tea Party movement arose, and it sought to 'take the country back' from 'those people' and to make 'America great again.' It was a direct response to both liberals and ineffective Republican leadership 'allowing' an African-American man to become the leader of what the Rethugs consider a country for white Christian males.
Not much has changed for Rethugs in the last years. President Obama won his second term, and now, shock, horror, we might even have a female President. The white Christian males and their accomplices expected the Republican establishment to give them another McCain or Romney for 2016, and they consequently decided to take matters into their own hands.
Donald Trump. He managed to brush establishment favorites like Jeb Bush aside during the primaries and he has managed to keep his poll numbers above the single digits because he embodies the Rethug rage. The rage against 'those people' and the rage against the Republican establishment for not doing more against 'those people.'
His outrageous comments have not turned Trump supporters away in droves because Trump is actually saying what they think. Even his latest comments about women won't have much of an effect, because some Trump supporters think exactly like him, and others would still support him even if he shot someone in the middle of the street, as long as he'll continue to promise to make 'America great again' by 'taking back' the country from 'those people.'
This is why Trump has brushed off controversy after controversy and even now still has a chance in November, as illogical as might seem. That's because Rethug voters are the ones voting based on emotion rather than logic. Some believe that a President Clinton would change this country forever and all hope of realizing that white Christian male American dream of the pre-1960s will be lost forever. Others are willing to fight on to 'take America back' from 'those people,' and if there is a President Clinton, I expect their vicious hatred and rage in 2020 to overshadow that of 2016.
Don't underestimate the Rethug rage. Donald Trump is not done just yet, and even if he loses in November - especially if he loses in November - don't expect the Rethug rage to go away any time soon.
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