Trump’s nomination is the first time American politics has left me truly afraid -by Ezra Klein

[malthaussen]

53. Sure, because that's what it was.

You're correct, IMO, in your assessment that Mr Trump is playing the emotions of the electorate masterfully. (So are the Democrats, for that matter) But consider that Mr Trump is the first politician of consequence (and he's the GOP's nominee, that makes him of consequence ipso facto) to openly advocate what many have yearned for in their deepest, blackest souls, for years. They aren't being fooled, there. (although it would be an interesting gedankenexperiment to ask how much probability Mr Trump has of pulling off any of his bigoted promises, from building a wall to gassing... er, I mean deporting... non-whites. Not that it is anything I'd like to put to the test) The thing is, rational voters see different problems and different important questions, and they seem so self-evident that there is an assumption that anyone must see them, or else they have drunk the proverbial kool-aid, bought the snake oil, have been deceived by the con man. But many of these people have no real expectation of any substantive change in their position vis-a-vis the ruling class, or that dollars will magically trickle down to them once taxes are cut enough for the wealthy. The only ones who buy that are ideologues. What I see is that they do hope for justification and validation of their superiority, a psychological reward, not a material one. And this, Mr Trump can provide, and America can be made "great" again just by saying it is great. It's a very different mind-set from those who apply rational analysis to facts in order to make a reasonable determination.

Again, this arguably makes them fools in one sense, but not in the sense that they are being deceived. If it were a simple matter of deception, then a plain exposure of the facts should serve as sufficient antidote. As it does not, I conclude something else must be going on.

-- Mal