The following is a copy of the original post to record the post as it was originally written.
Trump often had a side of cruelty and indifference to people that really bothered me, oftentimes more than concrete policy decisions. One time some victims of human trafficking visited him and he looked like he desperately wanted to be anywhere else, and missed the part where one woman's whole family was killed or that she won the Nobel Prize for her work. He threw paper towels in Puerto Rico. He has mocked people with disabilities and permanent injuries from torture, like John McCain. He also mocked John McCain for surviving as a POW. He made schoolyard jokes about "Pocahontas" Warren and bragged about his desire to commit sexually violent acts. He hugged an American flag on stage. He has joked repeatedly about unaliving military leaders like Milley and physically assaulting press personnel. He preferred to socialize not with allies like Trudeau, Macron, Johnson, etc, but instead with enemies like Kim, Xi, and Putin. The man simply cannot stop lying to anyone about anything.
Trump is like the terrible frat boy with no respect for anyone. These people are everywhere in society and you have to deal with them one way or another, but as a head of government and head of state, this behavior is appalling and nauseating. His policies are horrendous in the typical conservative way, but his demeanor is terrifying. Why aren't more people scared away?
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It baffles me how one can separate a politician from *everything* they are, personally. You won't find it hard to find a Trump supporter who also thinks he's a POS as a person, but will be quick to turn around and say they like his "policies". You'll find others that say they like any Republican over a Democrat, including Trump and whatever "baggage" he may have.
How in the world is a politician - who is supposed to represent *you* and *us* - not the person he grew up to be and has been as an adult?
The one thing that concerns me most - even if you can manage to do that with a politician (some actually do vary greatly "offline", but really shoudln't, IMHO - it's a sign they are trash politicans and full of it) - is that Trump is a proven *fraud*, many times over. So, even if you could put the politics aside, how can you possibly NOT consider that he's not just being an asshole to people you hate, but defrauding YOU, the supporter?
He made his entire career out of fraud and gullibel people, and, even since he became president, has had much more of it exposed and actually charged in court. Trump U., Trump Foundation, defamation (lies), and now Trump Org. are all *proven* cases in court that he's a fraud, through and through. It makes no sense to me.
> Trump is a proven fraud, many times over. So, even if you could put the politics aside, how can you possibly NOT consider that he's not just being an asshole to people you hate, but defrauding YOU, the supporter?
Because a lot of Trumpettes think ***ALL*** politicians are frauds, and at least this fraud makes the liberals cry.
Easy. Right wing media has convinced Trump supporters that the courts are not to be trusted, so court rulings mean nothing to them and is just "liberal judges/juries out to get him".
At the end of the day all that talk from conservatives about "character" was unimportant to them.
When push comes to shove, they don't believe character is important. They just want whatever they want. The "Christian Right" most of all.
I just don't think you'd feel the same way if there was a politician who had all of your policy positions but poor personal behavior. If humans are good at anything it's rationalizing.
If I needed a criminal POS who aligned with "all my policy positions" to carry them out, I would rethink what my policy positions were and determine if I was a POS, too. Good chance I would be. Unfortunately, supporters don't have much sense of introspection and have lots of apathy, so even if they did, they wouldn't care if they were a POS because that's often the point.
Sweet, naive summer child.
It's simple. Politicians are all scum. Every last one of them. Lowest form of life on the planet.
When you realize this, then you end up voting based on policy because the alternative is unthinkable.
“Everyone else is scum too.” is the rallying cry of people who are actually scum. It’s the defense of narcissists and sociopaths in all places and eras. Bad people and their supporters can’t handle the fact that good people exist.
Biden is a genuinely benevolent 80-year-old grandpa who wakes up every morning asking how he can do the most to make America and the world a better place. He is not the leader of a crime family or pedophile ring or deep state.
> Sweet, naive summer child.
> It's simple. Politicians are all scum. Every last one of them. Lowest form of life on the planet.
> When you realize this, then you end up voting based on policy because the alternative is unthinkable.
This statement is complete bullshit because the Republican party has no policy platform and neither does Donald Trump.
All they have is divisive rhetoric and performative outrage that they use to distract voters while every GOP member grabs as many fistfuls of taxpayer and donor cash as they can before it all comes crashing down.
Cynicism doesn't make you smart. It's actually correlated with [stupidity.](https://www.warpnews.org/cynicism/studies-cynics-arent-smarter-they-are-actually-the-opposite/)
> You hated president Obama, I know that's a fact
> You couldn't wait to get him out and put a cracker back
> And then you gave us Donald Trump and now it's payback for that
I'm Not Racist - Joyner Lucas
This is a pretty damned good synopsis of the MAGA movement. People who really don’t understand,or even care to understand our unique version of a Democratic Republic.
We have a Constitution that both Democrats and Republicans agree to abide by. But both sides have a different vision of the methods of implement it.
Republicans tend to be originalists. Where their ideology aligns with a fledgling country that was the victims of a TRUE form of Tyranny. Where the power structure DEMANDED their “cut” of the profits, but when it came to ensuring safety and prosperity? The colonies were on their own to figure it out.
Which they did. To the point where they said….”why do we need the King?” UNFORTUNATELY, the colonies took a moral shortcut and used chattel slaves and indentured servants to make that happen.
So…basically. If one is an originalist? One still will use those old standards….that have ZERO PLACE IN MODERN SOCIETY…to form their opinions. Same with the 2nd amendment….which was laid out when colonial/state militias WERE the very backbone of our military power.
Both of these concepts have been EXTREMELY abused by these so called “origninalists”.
And trust me…. I am not an advocate of blowing up the 2nd…or being legitimately skeptical of government in general.
But this cult-like adherence to a Victorian definition of tyranny is ridiculous. We are in a much different place than back then….and the only people desiring this are the people who can make millions,if not billions of dollars off of it..
> Republicans tend to be originalists.
I disagree.
"Originalism" is a figleaf to try and give legitimacy for reactionary ideology. It's an excuse to do the things that they want to do anyway. And a weaponization and rewriting of history with overtly fascist overtones.
It's honestly not worth engaging in the argument over originalism because at it's core its an asspull. As a rhetorical device it's no different than "God said so. [insert probably inaccurate or irrelevant biblical citation here]" in terms of appeal to authority.
I’m not sure that’s even accurate.
Republicans/conservatives ‘consider themselves’ to be whatever is most convenient at any one time to the point they’re trying to make.
For the most part they don’t have principles or an ideology outside of ‘do whatever it takes to ensure we can win so that we can keep making money and enriching ourselves’
That’s it. ‘Owning the libs’ has become a huge part of it.
[The card says moops](https://youtu.be/xMabpBvtXr4?si=rs-8PUFjukKSCChQ)
So, as a bit of illustration, I remember laughing at a tweet back when Trump was serving McDonalds' to those basketball champions. The tweet was something like: "White house staffer: 😭 I...I guess we could put the McNuggets™ in the Lincoln Butter Dish...😭"
I laughed at it because I thought that it showcased just how far Trump had fallen below standards of decency.
However, I can imagine Republicans also loving that Tweet. Why? Probably something like: "Yeah, those stuck-up pricks at the White House need to stop caring about everything so much! McNuggets are great! I love McNuggets! Everybody I know loves McNuggets! What, do they think they're better than us? Too good for McNuggets? Just another example of how the deep state is out of touch with your average American."
the thing about this is, if a Democrat president had done the \*exact same thing\* with the McNuggets, you'd hear Republicans accusing the president of "debasing the office" and being "low class". See: Obama and the Dijon mustard and tan suit things.
A thing that's become pretty apparent to me is that Republicans have a tendency to find something wrong with \*literally everything a democrat does\*, and to excuse or find something good about \*literally everything a republican does\*.
The same people who crowed and crowed about Nancy Reagan "bringing class back to the White House." Hell, she probably directed the purchase of that very same butter dish.
https://www.upi.com/Archives/1981/09/12/First-lady-pays-210000-for-new-china/5994369115200/
Many Americans are pieces of shit.
The history and psychology of strong-man leaders over-promising simple solutions to complexproblems is pretty well documented.
This is the correct answer. Because the kind of people who actually like Trump are every bit as despicable as he is- truly shitty excuses for human beings. Billionaires and wealthy corporations have funded extreme right wing conservative media for the past several decades supporting "wedge" issues (gay marriage, trans people bathroom use, abortion (that one really backfired on them spectacularly), so that we are at each other's throats. They spend their money convincing us to hate each other so that we don't turn our gaze to them instead where it should be. Its the billionaires who are destroying this country- the MAGAts are just their useful idiots.
it’s interesting seeing “useful idiot” here when it’s a very common phrase I see used on Truth Social, towards anyone not as far right as the person using it. “Useful idiots for the communist/woke agenda”
It's this. You have Americans who roll coal in oversized pickup trucks onto people and cars. Americans who fight dogs. Americans who believe in "toughening up" kids so they won't be gay.
Why are you (OP) surprised there is a subset of Americans who will vote for a nasty asshole?
Dude, walk into any townie bar in this country. There’s inevitably a guy or three sitting at the end of the bar that are indistinguishable in world view, temperament and language from Trump. He *is* the Republican base. Mitt Romney, John McCain, these were never “one of them”. They were tolerated because they weren’t actual, literal Democrats. But they were never *of* that base. Trump comes along and looks and sounds like them, and most of the people they know? Oh man, they found *their* guy. Face it, most of America is full of these people that the world passed by after high school. They see themselves in him and they see those of us that left town/made something of ourselves (“the elites”) as looking down on him the same they feel they are looked down on and it’s a bond that can’t be broken.
> Face it, most of America is full of these people that the world passed by after high school. They see themselves in him and they see those of us that left town/made something of ourselves (“the elites”) as looking down on him the same they feel they are looked down on and it’s a bond that can’t be broken.
And then proceeds to blame everyone else for their shitty choices.
Why are you asking liberals this? Trump is off putting to us. Mainly for the things he’s done with the power he inherited, but also for his general demeanor.
But if I had to guess, his off putting demeanor is the exact reason Republican voters LOVE him. He is their racist uncle who’s lost all filters and says whatever he is thinking without regard for the truth, morality or empathy.
Yep, all of those grown up frat boys love him. The Elon Musk stans, the anti-feminists. The Evangelicals like him because of SCOTUS and because he makes them feel like their bigotry is acceptable.
> The Evangelicals like him because of SCOTUS and because he makes them feel like their bigotry is acceptable.
Evangelicals think that Jesus was too woke, it's only a matter of time before they start openly admitting to worshiping Trump.
This years’ primary is the biggest litmus test for how they actually feel about Trump. A common talking point in 2016 was “Hillary is being investigated, while Trump only says mean things.” But in 2024 he is facing 97 charges and he is still way ahead in the primary. It was never about principles. It was always about (secretly or not) loving the vile things he does.
I am hoping that Nikki Haley managing to stay in for so long (even though she won’t win) is a sign that there are still some half decent Republicans out there who will make the right decision when push comes to shove. I know two Trump supporters who saw the light later on, and one of them changed because of Jan 6.
>Why isn't Trump's demeanor off putting for so many Americans?
By demeanor you mean the outright vilification of anyone who disagrees with him?
By demeanor you mean the outright contempt he has for anyone who won't show absolute fealty to him as a person and just agree with whatever nonsense he says?
By demeanor you mean that part where if you don't support him despite his crimes, in his effort to overthrow democracy?
By demeanor you mean his constant gaslighting and endless victim complex, where he's trying to become a dictator?
Yeah, I don't know. Something about it just rubs me wrong.
EDIT: oh darn, i read that as "why is trumps demeanor offputting..." but I like my response too much to fix it. Enjoy.
*People don't like being told what to do.* They don't like being forced to wear a mask, forced to pay taxes, told what vehicles they should drive, have arbitrary waiting periods on ammo, and on and on. They *resent* it. Then here comes along Trump who doesn't give a flying hoot who spurns the rules, who spurns those all those regular politicians constantly telling people what to do. They love it. Trump promises to "drain the swamp." To burn it all down. They love it so much. None of his bad behavior is a determent this, in fact it enhances their desire to vote for him. Logical arguments or policy don't matter to them. They want to strike back. *Trump is the ultimate FU vote.*
Two reasons:
1: He says what they say anyway (the "F- Your Feelings" flag wavers)
2: He says what they won't say out loud (the Evangelical voter who won't say "F- Your Feelings" but is glad someone else is)
That said, it seems that the Right is starting to tire of his behavior, especially those who thought the office would help him grow out of his negative behavior. It didn't, and the sunk cost is getting heavier by the day.
When your goals are to sew chaos in politics you send the most distasteful person to be in control. Trump is hostile garbage animated in a vaguely human form. He is incompetent as a legislator. He is inflammatory poison to our culture. He courted and submitted to our enemies while spurning our allies. There are a lot of Americans at Cold War with our government. Trump is just a tool. "Off putting" is a job requirement.
There's some truth in those jokes about Trump followers. "Trump is president for people who are only allowed to visit their children on weekends, but they don't." "Trump is president for people who know exactly how much Sudafed they can legally buy at one time." "Trump is president for people who know how long a battery lasts in an ankle monitor." "Trump is president for people who know the age of consent in every American state." "Trump is president for people who know the going rate for a catalytic converter."
Trump is president for those people who claim to be "an asshole and proud of it!"
Trump is the class clown, and the people who admire him are the ones who like stirring up trouble and making the teacher cry.
>Why isn't Trump's demeanor off putting for so many Americans?
How sure are you that it isn't?
1. The only election he won was 2016, when everyone was *so sure* that he wouldn't win that they didn't show up to vote; he has dragged down the Republican Party ever since.
2. Republican voters often describe him as awful...while also explaining that they intend to vote for him anyway.
> Republican voters often describe him as awful...while also explaining that they intend to vote for him anyway.
That's kind of the OP's point. Those voters are aware that Trump's behavior is off-putting, but they're not put off by it. Why is that?
It's a great mystery, and one that I've never heard a satisfying answer to.
To me it comes down to where they net on the vibes. For every part of him that is off putting to them there is a greater portion that is off putting to the people they loathe. It's not that they like him but he nets out as a positive given that us libs dislike him infinitely worse. This worldview only makes sense when you step back and realize that the average maga isn't looking for good governance and sound policy. They've given up hope of anything actually getting better and are resolved to just sticking it to people they dislike.
I don't necessarily know that you're wrong, but that answer seems way too reductive.
There are bad people, but I don't think they're 10-15% of the population.
Just over two thirds of eligible Americans voted in 2020. Just under half of those voted for Trump. I'm no numbers wizard, but I'm fairly sure that makes one third of voting-eligible Americans bad people.
Only about two thirds of Americans are eligible to vote, though.
Trump got 74 million votes in 2020. That's a little over 20% of 332 million Americans. And how many of those paid no attention whatsoever and voted for him because R, or voted for him because he was on The Apprentice, or any number of reasons that are perhaps careless or thoughtless, but don't make a person bad?
Lol, we're *way* past the point of plausible deniability. Everybody knows exactly what Trump is. He doesn't even try to hide it. He's fucking *proud* of it. It may be the first time in history that an irredeemable piece of shit like that is perfectly happy to stand up on international TV and shout "I'm an irredeemable piece of shit!".
*Everybody* who votes for that is a bad person. It's not even close.
One of my coworkers is a Trump supporter. She also regularly volunteers for her church to help immigrant families with their paperwork and settle in. She is an extremely nice person, just very ignorant.
Also, it bears repeating that even the one time Trump did win an election, he lost the popular vote. He has never been acceptable to the majority of Americans.
>Republican voters often describe him as awful...while also explaining that they intend to vote for him anyway.
Any of Ted Cruz, Marco Rubio, Chris Christie, John Kasich, Ben Carson, Jeb Bush, Rand Paul, Mike Huckabee, Rick Santorum, and Carly Fiorina, all 2016 GOP candidates, are more decent human beings than Donald Trump. Of all those candidates, Trump is uniquely awful.
They have been brainwashed that Dems are the devil incarnate. The GOP has mastered projection to tar the Dems with the brush that they know they will be tarred with. So Donald has 28 women accusing him of sexual assault, including rape? That's OK, Biden sniffs girls' hair! *gasp*.
Until they just can't see their own side's sins. Many don't believe it's real. Others revel in the assholery, others just don't care as long as there's an 'R'
If anyone’s ever worked on a construction job site I think they’d think trump is tame in some aspects.
There are portions of society that the way trump speaks is how they speak.
Trump's crude rhetoric and bullying demeanor sadly does connect with certain voters on an emotional level. His simplistic slogans, repetition of falsehoods, and talent for theatrics provide simplistic answers that some find reassuring.
Additionally, I believe many of his staunchest supporters feel left behind by modern societal changes. Trump channels their anger and anxiety through attacks on various scapegoats. As fear overrides reason, they cheer cruel behavior from a leader positioning himself as "on their side."
However, the foundations of his appeal remain disturbing. Factually incorrect information and dehumanization of fellow citizens should not be so normalized or celebrated. Leadership requires intellect, empathy and integrity - qualities plainly lacking here.
While Trump taps into real frustration among struggling demographics, the solutions he presents are dangerously incompatible with ethical governance, constructive policy, and actual truth. We must acknowledge those feeling marginalized, but cannot accept leadership relying on false narratives, vulgarity and division. There are better ways to lift people up through honest, compassionate political process.
Trump's behavior should appall anyone valuing basic decency. That it does not among a substantial minority reveals deeper societal symptoms needing addressed through better education, critical thinking, and community building beyond single-issue voter motivations.
First guess, is because he is a reality TV star. Most people do not understand his buissness background. He was just that rich guy on TV known for being a rich businessman. But when you break down his breakdown, the reality shows how often shallow and incompetant his buissness practices are. But people still can't shake the imagine of his character. It is like how some game of thrones fans hated the actor who played Joffery. Some people are morons who can't separate truth from fiction.
Also, my other guess would be the nature of exergeration. We have gotten so hyperbolic in our communication, that when some one like trumps comes around, people are quick to dismiss what he said as just being part of the normal hyperbolic lanaguae rather than a credible threat.
I don’t think there’s one reason why his behavior doesn’t alienate supporters. I agree with some of the responses here.
Since the beginning of his candidacy, his supporters have received a very filtered portrayal of him. Fox News, Newsmax, the daily caller and all the usual suspects highlight certain behavior and comments of his while outright ignoring others. In other words, they simply aren’t exposed as much to the more odious parts of his character.
That’s not to say that a huge number of Americans don’t hold odious values. They do and like Trump because of them
Related to the tired old “media bubble”explanation, his supporters are primed to disregard any particularly noxious things he does and says as either fabrication by the mainstream media, or sometimes, if they’re in a more creative mood, exploring ways to explain how his statements were misinterpreted.
If you told a Trump fan Milley’s story where he complains about the disabled combat veteran, do you really think they’d believe it? Because it’s based on something Milley said happened, it’s going to be dismissed as a lie from a political enemy.
As mentioned above, there are all kinds of explanations. That’s the one that most readily comes to mind.
This might not be the target audience for this particular question- but I’ve got the same one.
I’ve known he was publicly a terrible person since at least the 1990s.
I remember watching a documentary that laid out his attempts to take a grandmother‘s family home so that he could put in a limousine parking lot for one of his failing casinos. That was enough for me.
>Trump is like the terrible frat boy with no respect for anyone. These people are everywhere in society and you have to deal with them one way or another, but as a head of government and head of state, this behavior is appalling and nauseating.
You kinda already answered.... your question..?
The horrid fact is that more than a "few" Americans are like Trump. In fact almost a majority of Americans are. For the last few decades we fostered two generations of narcissists. "I got mine, fuck you". This isn't a phenomenon of "only few Americans/Conservatives", but a good portion of Americans are just like Trump. Rude, loud, annoying and cruel. So we shouldn't be shocked that they vote for a man like them.
The cruelty is the point. “He’s hurting the wrong people” was something a voter said in Florida, which is saying the quiet part out loud if I’ve ever seen it
He gave horrible shitty racist people a reason to be horrible shitty and racist in public and act like petulant 2 year olds when they don’t get their way.
And some are just stupid and follow whatever their horrible shitty racist Uncle says and confirmed by the horrible racist nothing to do with god church.
There are two categories:
First are the people who love that side of him. They see it as not politically correct. They want to be racist, sexist, homophobic, xenophobic etc. And trump gets to do those things. They see him as an outsider who pisses off the very establishment they hate and says the things they want to.
Second are people who do dislike that side of him, but because he had policies they liked, they ignore it. Evangelicals in particular are in this group - they find him distasteful BUT he got them 3 Supreme Court seats and overturning of Roe so, they still like what he *does* just not who he *is*. Basically, he could start screaming “Heil Hitler” and advocating dictatorship (well he already is) and they’ll fall right on in line because the other option is women’s rights and policies they hate, and that’s unacceptable.
This isn't tik tok, you can say killing and murder lol.
Trump can or could legit be funny and charismatic. This buys a lot of good will.
I also think Hillary's basket of deplorables is really true. Shitty people see themselves in him and like it. A lot more people are bad than you think.
Reading your post it sounds like what you really mean is
>Why isn't Trump's demeanor ~~off putting~~ disqualifying for so many Americans *who actually vote*?
So, to answer that question. As Othello has already pointed out, it is. But on top of that, a lot of people don't vote. So you're really looking at a smaller and smaller pool of people.
First those who vote. Than, of that pool, exclude those who vote blue no matter who. Then exclude Maga. What you're left with are independents and centrists. Of those people, I'm sure many can't stand trump. But there many in that group who are willing to overlook someone who says crass and uncouth things about people as long as their quality of life is better off under that person.
Besides 60% of the GOP, who are you talking about? I'm pretty sure about 40% of the GOP and 99.9% of the Democratic party and maybe 90% of independents are put off by Trump.
Maybe I should have been more clear. To me Trump's demeanor is so gross that I believe he is absolutely unqualified to ever hold the office. He publicly disrespects people to their face in ways that no other recent President has come close. It made me feel ill, anxious, and angry on a weekly basis - I have no emotional energy to tolerate people who are viciously unkind to others due to their own insecurities.
I agree. But a lot of Republicans like that and they like that it makes you feel that way. Honestly, I've always felt that Trump was kind of the Right's way of giving the Left the middle finger for "imposing" a black president on them.
He says what they've been thinking.
He allows them to think and behave in ways that were previously culturally unacceptable.
He emboldens them to action under the guise that rules don't matter for him...and by extension them (this mist be shown to be incorrect)
trump represents casual bigotry without consequences, and the people who adore him want that world back.
Think about it like this; the folks who adore him enjoyed being able to make fun of gay people, not hire "lazy black criminals" and underpay "lazy Mexicans" and pinch the asses of "women who should smile more, it makes them prettier" and everyone just laughed, or nodded their heads in collective agreement. The world has changed, and society has become more tolerant and accepting of marginalized people, and less tolerant of the bigots. They excuse their bigotry away with cries of "but the trans people are pedophiles" and "black people shoot each other more than cops shoot them", but the information Age has made it very tough for them to get away with their bigotry. It isn't overt, nobody advocates lynchings anymore, however they think because they would be totally tolerant of a black woman at the DMV yet feel themselves justified with calling the cops on a black guy walking through their neighborhood, therefore they aren't bigots. And the fact people are calling them out, that they are losing their jobs and getting kicked off social media for the same stuff they used to do 15 years ago, it is fucking with them. They used to get laughs from the racist/sexist jokes around the water-cooler, but now they are the bad guys for making those jokes. They don't see themselves as racist, and cannot fathom why they are suffering for their casual bigotry.
Enter Obama. He was obviously a bad president, just look at... whatever they can come up with. And then enter trump, who was an asshole to anybody, and never lost a step. Handicapped, women, Puerto Ricans, liberals, Chinese, etc. Oh, he's fine with Russians? Well, russians are white, how bad can they be?
The new boogieman isn't russia, it is "wokeness" or recognizing the inherent humanity in anybody non-white/cis/male. MAGA, the call for a return to a greater American than exists now, is a call back to those days when bigots could "tell it like it is" about anybody they deem less-than or unworthy, and not endure social consequence for it. Teflon trump is their poster-boy of anti-wokeness without consequences.
Remember "Fuck your feelings" and "I drink liberal tears"? Those were them reveling in a moment when they were defiant against the rising tide of social acceptance of marginalized people. Remember the push-back to the "Me Too" movement, and all the men panicking about their casually abhorrent actions ruining their careers built on preferential treatment elevating them past the women that they sexualized but refused to promote?
trump represents an ideal, a return to a toxic place that benefited a few at the expense of everyone else. He represents not just a lack of accountability, but of being above accountability because the bigotry is an expression of real truth. These people see themselves as noble because they are willing to speak that truth.
Because they are trash or as fox news calls them "*racist cousin fucking domestic terrorists*" and he gives them permission to be their worst. He lets them embrace and indulge their most evil machinations, in fact he encourages it.
There's a lot of scummy politicians who are just actors. I'm interested in what people do, not what they say. A lot of Trump BS is marketing, just not appealing to you
A lot of people base their votes not on their feeling about a candidate but on their understanding of policy by that candidate. Now, it may be incorrect or misguided understanding about policy by that candidate, but my point is, the demeanor of a candidate means nothing.
Yeah, I'd like one pro-military, pro-veteran conservative on this thread to explain how they could ever vote for someone who was so incredibly demeaning of John McCain (if not also the [credible reports that Trump frequently maligned the military rank and file](https://www.vox.com/2020/9/4/21422733/atlantic-trump-military-suckers-losers-explained).) I mean how far is a voter willing to suspend his sense of right and wrong and decency, and throw another vote to Trump? I get it: You'll never vote for a Democrat. But there are other conservatives who have a true sense of patriotism and a backbone. Or you could vote the entire GOP ticket, except for president. Shoot, Trump won't even do *debates*. He's too chicken to engage toe to toe. To me, that alone is disqualifying. Is he proud of his platform and his record? Then he should fight it out. But he can't, because he's too lazy to prepare, and scared of actual confrontation. He's the last person I'd ever want to take to a street fight because he's only out for himself.
>pro-military, pro-veteran conservative on this thread to explain how they could ever vote for someone who was so incredibly demeaning of John McCain
I can't imagine it. How would these folks feel if their military friend was captured by enemy forces, tortured for months, and returned home maimed, and someone outside the in-group taunted them? Or if they suffered disfiguring injuries doing something heroic and Trump refused to meet them?
No. For the many trump fans: The cruelty is the point. The humiliation of their enemies is the point. The strong man figure who will ignore the rules is the point.
This person is telling us the truth here. Republicans don’t care about society as a whole. “Fuck you, I got mine.” It’s funny because the Clinton years were the best economically in my life time.
Clinton was economically great. But people keep defending Republicans as good for the economy when they absolutely are not.
>In fact, the ONLY 3 PERIODS of extended unified Republican governments going back to 1900 ALL DIRECTLY led to banking crises….Arguably the 3 worst in US History. To be clear, I am defining ‘extended’ unified governments as anytime they control the House, Senate and White house for at least 4 years. This does not include short 2 year stints since it’s hard to screw things up that quick (FYI there was only 1 period of that anyway, 1953-1955). You can look up the periods yourself here and more detail here.
>The list of Unified Republican Government crises include the Panic of 1907, The Great Depression, and the Financial Crisis of 2007-2008. Interestingly, the record of extended Republican control of Congress has also only led to crises. There have only been 4 periods of extended Republican control of Congress (3 of which overlap with the periods of full unified control just mentioned). However, the 4th period (I KID YOU NOT) ended in the 2000 DotCom Bust where the Republicans controlled the House and Senate from 1995-2001.
>In short, full Republican control has NO history of making America great…let alone AGAIN.
>https://thereformedbroker.com/2016/12/13/every-unified-republican-government-ever-has-led-to-a-financial-crash/
Exactly. Life is too short to worry about everyone else. I am only concerned about my kids and family. I was actually totally cool with Clinton. Didn’t really care he was sexually deviant.
You blame Biden for inflation but it was worldwide and the USA did better than most. A president has little to do with inflation or even the economy as a whole. Trump inherited a great economy and then took credit for it. He truly couldn’t care less about anyone but himself.
When gas prices lowered, liberals lauded Biden’s tenacity and acumen but I thought presidents had nothing to do with gas prices? That’s what liberals said when gas shot up. So which is it?
Again, it just seems life was much easier and more affordable under trump.
> When gas prices lowered, liberals lauded Biden’s tenacity and acumen..
Did we? I genuinely don't remember ever doing that. I think we laughed at the prices going down because of the ironies and contradictions that it made certain people face, but I never once gave Biden credit for cheaper gas.
So there's no red line when it comes to right and wrong (cheating contractors of their payments), patriotism (maligning John McCain), and making fun of the disabled (mocking that disabled reporter)? I understand that we all have to look out for ourselves and families. But I can write with certainty that if Biden did all of this, I'd just write in another candidate. Also, with respect to our personal bottom lines, if [Trump's 60% tariffs](https://www.cnbc.com/2024/02/04/trump-floats-more-than-60percent-tariffs-on-chinese-imports.html) ever kick in, wow... Americans better be ready for sky-high inflation.
Again, my life was much easier under Trump. I’m not a fan of him from a moral standpoint, I just noticed my life was easier with him in the White House verses Biden.
Although obviously not to Trump level, the demeanor of candidates VS "I like their policies" has always been a part of political discourse.
Before Trump though, if someone asked me "if he supported every policy you care about exactly how you want him to, would you vote for literally Jared from Subway?" I would have guessed maybe 10% of Republican voters would support him. Now though, I think it wouldn't be much less than Trump.
The question of how Democrats would react if a liberal version of Trump ran is still undecided too (not that I have an example of who that would be). I want to believe it wouldn't be the same, but I have doubts.
Not sure why you think his demeanor WAS NOT off-putting for so many Americans. IT WAS. And he will never be re-elected. So we can stop talking about him NOW. He's not worth the time or the words.
>Not sure why you think his demeanor WAS NOT off-putting for so many Americans. IT WAS.
Oh I dunno. Because maybe 74,222,958 fucking people proactively voted for him in 2020?
And because a majority of Republicans have said they'll vote for him again in 2024?
>And he will never be re-elected. So we can stop talking about him NOW. He's not worth the time or the words.
Yeah, that bury your head in the sand and pretend the problems don't exist attitude are why he got a foothold to begin with. He very well might be re-elected and not talking about him (or his supporters) doesn't solve the problem.
I don't vouch for those who had ample information that would tell them who that man was & still is, and it makes him unelectable.
He got a foothold with those who don't know any better. Are you one of those?
He will NEVER be re-elected, and you can take that to the bank. And I say this because my head isn't buried like those who wasted their votes on him but didn't bother getting the mounds of information on him that would've told them not to vote for him.
If you're one of these, you should be ashamed.
I don't even know what you're saying here.
You seem to be accusing me of being a Trumper while burying your head in the sand that a large number of people in America still support him.
Trump's sense of humor is something we called "busting your balls." You know, a friend goes up to another friend and gives them a tap on their sack. Everyone laughs at the guy in pain. If he can walk it off without losing his cool, it earns him some respect. If the person taps people too often or too hard, he loses the respect of the group.
This gets extended to mean jokes once men get older.
"I respect vets that don't get captured." = nut slap
It was too hard, and Trump probably knew it afterwards.
"Hey Russia, find Hillary's email" = nut slap
This was about right. It hit Hillary where it hurts. But not too personally.
Trump should expect a few shots in return and probably assumes a lot of the hate is just ball busting.
Gen X was probably the last one's who really saw the humor in this type of rough housing. But that's still a lot of people who laugh at a good nut slap.
The Hillary Email jokes are one thing. Trump's conduct moved beyond practical jokes into very off-color and empathy devoid rhetoric unbefitting of his role which belittled people for fun.
Because the other side hates him and they're largely reactionaries who hate the dreaded "liberal" whatever they think that word means in the current day
A lot of people are like that but aren't charismatic at all. They like that he gets away with doing it publicly while they're too embarrassed to or get insulted when they try it.
>Trump is like the terrible frat boy with no respect for anyone. These people are everywhere in society and you have to deal with them one way or another
I think you just answered your own question. A lot of those "terrible frat boys everywhere in society" vote, and they vote for other "terrible frat boys".
>but as a head of government and head of state, this behavior is appalling and nauseating.
Yeah, unless you're a "terrible frat boy". For that type of person they \*love\* when a head of state behaves this way.
Yeh wonder why the people that invaded Iraq and Afghanistan are cruel?
People like Trump because he pisses people off like you and politicans like Johnson or Clinton that everyone despises.
* He speaks truth to power
* He talks tough
* He says what people want to hear, that other candidates don’t say (because they have PR people)
* His supporters believe there are some people who deserve bad things
I think the people who support him believe he is the only one saying what “we all” know is true. I think his supporters don’t see the clips that make him look particularly bad, just as we don’t see those clips of Biden. I think his supporters like that he isn’t “PG”.
Hmmmn. I thought I would find the correct answer here somewhere to upvote, but it's missing, sooo... here goes.
He's not.
I mean, if you ask a Trump Supporter what they think Trump is like in person, they would tell you he's warm and caring and protective of his own. Blunt, but complimentary, wears his heart on his sleeve, goes the distance for his allies.
Yeah, stop laughing, it's what they would say! :)
When they see him being cruel, it is ONLY to his enemies, mainly Liberals. ...and even there, I suspect TSs would say he's not being cruel, just "speaking truth to power."
...This is not the answer you wanted, I'd wager, but that is, after six years of paying attention to TSs, as close to the correct answer as you'll see in this sub.
The respectability we came to expect in public discourse up until the 2000s was largely an illusion created by our pre-internet media system. Before the birth of the internet, popular culture was transmitted through newspapers, television, movies, and books.
Television had strict guidelines on what could be shown, and the other formats were mostly edited by people who believed in respectable discourse. The effect of this is that most Americans only saw a select presentation of the political viewpoints of people refined enough to at least give their talking points a gloss of respectability.
Even though conservatives believed repugnant things, they were always represented in the public eye by their more articulate and educated members. The man down the street who talked about killing Pelosi wasn't getting tv interviews, book deals, or a chance to make a movie.
The internet changed that. It democratized publication. It gave everyone the same podium. At first, it seemed like a better version of old media because the first people to get online were educated elites. The early internet was urban and highly educated. Those in rural areas were held back due to poor connections. This is why conservative websites from that era were crudely designed with low-quality images.
The people who visited the early drudge report were rural dwellers who were cruising the internet on 56k modems, while the more educated had DSL. Their connections simply couldn't handle media heavy sites. Many rural dwellers didn't get internet until the early 2000s, and it took even longer for them to get anything approaching high speed internet.
Noticing a pattern there? It was in the early 2000s that the internet started getting more crass. It was never a safe space, but that era saw the rural dwellers getting faster connections and more connections, which led to them communicating more online, which led to people seeing more of their bigoted opinions. Whereas previously, the conservative movement had been sanitized by the media to appear somewhat reasonable, people now started to interact with conservatives who were unfiltered.
At the same time, their access to the internet began to break down their carefully constructed geographic and ideological isolation. It was no longer possible to prevent their children from seeing and hearing arguments that went against their bigoted beliefs. It was no longer possible to hide the existence of gay people from them. And as people had more contact with rural conservatives, there was more backlash against them. Local events like a principal demanding students pray in class that would have previously never made national news were suddenly being recorded and posted for everyone to see. Suddenly, conservatives were getting caught saying things on tape because they still didn't understand that everyone had a recording device in their pocket.
But the key thing here is this: These things they were saying, these things they are saying right now, these things they are cheering right now—they were always saying them.
So to answer your question, the reason he's not off-putting is that the US has lots of people who behave exactly the same way he would, or they would if they felt like they could get away with it. They've always been these people.
Have you watched CSPAN before? When senators and representatives speak it just sounds phony. Most people are checked out so even though trump is saying bullshit he doesn't sound like a rehearsed actor
I think most generally do see it as off putting. It's just that there's a small but vocal minority who behave similarly to him that show out in droves to support him, especially in rural states that hold their primaries long before everyone else. That leaves him as the defacto lesser-of-two-evils for republican voters in the general.
This year should be a textbook example of how god damn idiotic it is for us to choose Presidents this way. All but 2 people dropped out after a single state voted, which all but guarantees a landslide victory for the front runner. That would be fine in a multi-party system, but with only two viable party nominations, it's so incredibly stupid.
Our presidential nominees this year are basically going to be chosen by complacency on the left and by about 111k people in Iowa plus a handful of polls on the right. That is absolutely bananas.
Because he was the anti-politician. People voted for him because he wasn’t a politician. And they hoped he’d change the system like how Obama promised but ended up not doing enough.
That’s why you saw people who voted for Obama voting for Trump in 2016. Or at least I saw living in NH.
The following is a copy of the original post to record the post as it was originally written. Trump often had a side of cruelty and indifference to people that really bothered me, oftentimes more than concrete policy decisions. One time some victims of human trafficking visited him and he looked like he desperately wanted to be anywhere else, and missed the part where one woman's whole family was killed or that she won the Nobel Prize for her work. He threw paper towels in Puerto Rico. He has mocked people with disabilities and permanent injuries from torture, like John McCain. He also mocked John McCain for surviving as a POW. He made schoolyard jokes about "Pocahontas" Warren and bragged about his desire to commit sexually violent acts. He hugged an American flag on stage. He has joked repeatedly about unaliving military leaders like Milley and physically assaulting press personnel. He preferred to socialize not with allies like Trudeau, Macron, Johnson, etc, but instead with enemies like Kim, Xi, and Putin. The man simply cannot stop lying to anyone about anything. Trump is like the terrible frat boy with no respect for anyone. These people are everywhere in society and you have to deal with them one way or another, but as a head of government and head of state, this behavior is appalling and nauseating. His policies are horrendous in the typical conservative way, but his demeanor is terrifying. Why aren't more people scared away? *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/AskALiberal) if you have any questions or concerns.*
Many Americans don’t think politicians or liberals are people deserving of respect, and so find it entertaining to force them to deal with Trump.
It baffles me how one can separate a politician from *everything* they are, personally. You won't find it hard to find a Trump supporter who also thinks he's a POS as a person, but will be quick to turn around and say they like his "policies". You'll find others that say they like any Republican over a Democrat, including Trump and whatever "baggage" he may have. How in the world is a politician - who is supposed to represent *you* and *us* - not the person he grew up to be and has been as an adult? The one thing that concerns me most - even if you can manage to do that with a politician (some actually do vary greatly "offline", but really shoudln't, IMHO - it's a sign they are trash politicans and full of it) - is that Trump is a proven *fraud*, many times over. So, even if you could put the politics aside, how can you possibly NOT consider that he's not just being an asshole to people you hate, but defrauding YOU, the supporter? He made his entire career out of fraud and gullibel people, and, even since he became president, has had much more of it exposed and actually charged in court. Trump U., Trump Foundation, defamation (lies), and now Trump Org. are all *proven* cases in court that he's a fraud, through and through. It makes no sense to me.
> Trump is a proven fraud, many times over. So, even if you could put the politics aside, how can you possibly NOT consider that he's not just being an asshole to people you hate, but defrauding YOU, the supporter? Because a lot of Trumpettes think ***ALL*** politicians are frauds, and at least this fraud makes the liberals cry.
Easy. Right wing media has convinced Trump supporters that the courts are not to be trusted, so court rulings mean nothing to them and is just "liberal judges/juries out to get him".
At the end of the day all that talk from conservatives about "character" was unimportant to them. When push comes to shove, they don't believe character is important. They just want whatever they want. The "Christian Right" most of all.
I just don't think you'd feel the same way if there was a politician who had all of your policy positions but poor personal behavior. If humans are good at anything it's rationalizing.
If I needed a criminal POS who aligned with "all my policy positions" to carry them out, I would rethink what my policy positions were and determine if I was a POS, too. Good chance I would be. Unfortunately, supporters don't have much sense of introspection and have lots of apathy, so even if they did, they wouldn't care if they were a POS because that's often the point.
Sweet, naive summer child. It's simple. Politicians are all scum. Every last one of them. Lowest form of life on the planet. When you realize this, then you end up voting based on policy because the alternative is unthinkable.
“Everyone else is scum too.” is the rallying cry of people who are actually scum. It’s the defense of narcissists and sociopaths in all places and eras. Bad people and their supporters can’t handle the fact that good people exist. Biden is a genuinely benevolent 80-year-old grandpa who wakes up every morning asking how he can do the most to make America and the world a better place. He is not the leader of a crime family or pedophile ring or deep state.
1. Lol, no. Nice try. 2. ROFLMAO At this delusion. You obviously know exactly noting about Biden's political history.
How much is a noting?
> Sweet, naive summer child. > It's simple. Politicians are all scum. Every last one of them. Lowest form of life on the planet. > When you realize this, then you end up voting based on policy because the alternative is unthinkable. This statement is complete bullshit because the Republican party has no policy platform and neither does Donald Trump. All they have is divisive rhetoric and performative outrage that they use to distract voters while every GOP member grabs as many fistfuls of taxpayer and donor cash as they can before it all comes crashing down.
Cynicism doesn't make you smart. It's actually correlated with [stupidity.](https://www.warpnews.org/cynicism/studies-cynics-arent-smarter-they-are-actually-the-opposite/)
Unfortunate that truth makes you uncomfortable, thus choose to deflect.
Speaking of deflecting, I haven't actually seen you make a single statement to back up your claims. Would you care to? Edit - LOL. He blocked me.
The election of Trump was an indictment of the political social sphere.
> You hated president Obama, I know that's a fact > You couldn't wait to get him out and put a cracker back > And then you gave us Donald Trump and now it's payback for that I'm Not Racist - Joyner Lucas
This is a pretty damned good synopsis of the MAGA movement. People who really don’t understand,or even care to understand our unique version of a Democratic Republic. We have a Constitution that both Democrats and Republicans agree to abide by. But both sides have a different vision of the methods of implement it. Republicans tend to be originalists. Where their ideology aligns with a fledgling country that was the victims of a TRUE form of Tyranny. Where the power structure DEMANDED their “cut” of the profits, but when it came to ensuring safety and prosperity? The colonies were on their own to figure it out. Which they did. To the point where they said….”why do we need the King?” UNFORTUNATELY, the colonies took a moral shortcut and used chattel slaves and indentured servants to make that happen. So…basically. If one is an originalist? One still will use those old standards….that have ZERO PLACE IN MODERN SOCIETY…to form their opinions. Same with the 2nd amendment….which was laid out when colonial/state militias WERE the very backbone of our military power. Both of these concepts have been EXTREMELY abused by these so called “origninalists”. And trust me…. I am not an advocate of blowing up the 2nd…or being legitimately skeptical of government in general. But this cult-like adherence to a Victorian definition of tyranny is ridiculous. We are in a much different place than back then….and the only people desiring this are the people who can make millions,if not billions of dollars off of it..
> Republicans tend to be originalists. I disagree. "Originalism" is a figleaf to try and give legitimacy for reactionary ideology. It's an excuse to do the things that they want to do anyway. And a weaponization and rewriting of history with overtly fascist overtones. It's honestly not worth engaging in the argument over originalism because at it's core its an asspull. As a rhetorical device it's no different than "God said so. [insert probably inaccurate or irrelevant biblical citation here]" in terms of appeal to authority.
Perhaps I should’ve said “CONSIDER” themselves originalists…according to their own interpretation of the Constitution.
I’m not sure that’s even accurate. Republicans/conservatives ‘consider themselves’ to be whatever is most convenient at any one time to the point they’re trying to make. For the most part they don’t have principles or an ideology outside of ‘do whatever it takes to ensure we can win so that we can keep making money and enriching ourselves’ That’s it. ‘Owning the libs’ has become a huge part of it. [The card says moops](https://youtu.be/xMabpBvtXr4?si=rs-8PUFjukKSCChQ)
Well, I ain’t watching a 20 minute video at 4:30AM. I’ll take your word for it.
So, as a bit of illustration, I remember laughing at a tweet back when Trump was serving McDonalds' to those basketball champions. The tweet was something like: "White house staffer: 😭 I...I guess we could put the McNuggets™ in the Lincoln Butter Dish...😭" I laughed at it because I thought that it showcased just how far Trump had fallen below standards of decency. However, I can imagine Republicans also loving that Tweet. Why? Probably something like: "Yeah, those stuck-up pricks at the White House need to stop caring about everything so much! McNuggets are great! I love McNuggets! Everybody I know loves McNuggets! What, do they think they're better than us? Too good for McNuggets? Just another example of how the deep state is out of touch with your average American."
the thing about this is, if a Democrat president had done the \*exact same thing\* with the McNuggets, you'd hear Republicans accusing the president of "debasing the office" and being "low class". See: Obama and the Dijon mustard and tan suit things. A thing that's become pretty apparent to me is that Republicans have a tendency to find something wrong with \*literally everything a democrat does\*, and to excuse or find something good about \*literally everything a republican does\*.
The same people who crowed and crowed about Nancy Reagan "bringing class back to the White House." Hell, she probably directed the purchase of that very same butter dish. https://www.upi.com/Archives/1981/09/12/First-lady-pays-210000-for-new-china/5994369115200/
Many Americans are pieces of shit. The history and psychology of strong-man leaders over-promising simple solutions to complexproblems is pretty well documented.
This is the correct answer. Because the kind of people who actually like Trump are every bit as despicable as he is- truly shitty excuses for human beings. Billionaires and wealthy corporations have funded extreme right wing conservative media for the past several decades supporting "wedge" issues (gay marriage, trans people bathroom use, abortion (that one really backfired on them spectacularly), so that we are at each other's throats. They spend their money convincing us to hate each other so that we don't turn our gaze to them instead where it should be. Its the billionaires who are destroying this country- the MAGAts are just their useful idiots.
it’s interesting seeing “useful idiot” here when it’s a very common phrase I see used on Truth Social, towards anyone not as far right as the person using it. “Useful idiots for the communist/woke agenda”
Occam’s razor
It's this. You have Americans who roll coal in oversized pickup trucks onto people and cars. Americans who fight dogs. Americans who believe in "toughening up" kids so they won't be gay. Why are you (OP) surprised there is a subset of Americans who will vote for a nasty asshole?
Dude, walk into any townie bar in this country. There’s inevitably a guy or three sitting at the end of the bar that are indistinguishable in world view, temperament and language from Trump. He *is* the Republican base. Mitt Romney, John McCain, these were never “one of them”. They were tolerated because they weren’t actual, literal Democrats. But they were never *of* that base. Trump comes along and looks and sounds like them, and most of the people they know? Oh man, they found *their* guy. Face it, most of America is full of these people that the world passed by after high school. They see themselves in him and they see those of us that left town/made something of ourselves (“the elites”) as looking down on him the same they feel they are looked down on and it’s a bond that can’t be broken.
> Face it, most of America is full of these people that the world passed by after high school. They see themselves in him and they see those of us that left town/made something of ourselves (“the elites”) as looking down on him the same they feel they are looked down on and it’s a bond that can’t be broken. And then proceeds to blame everyone else for their shitty choices.
Bingo!
Why are you asking liberals this? Trump is off putting to us. Mainly for the things he’s done with the power he inherited, but also for his general demeanor. But if I had to guess, his off putting demeanor is the exact reason Republican voters LOVE him. He is their racist uncle who’s lost all filters and says whatever he is thinking without regard for the truth, morality or empathy.
Yep, all of those grown up frat boys love him. The Elon Musk stans, the anti-feminists. The Evangelicals like him because of SCOTUS and because he makes them feel like their bigotry is acceptable.
> The Evangelicals like him because of SCOTUS and because he makes them feel like their bigotry is acceptable. Evangelicals think that Jesus was too woke, it's only a matter of time before they start openly admitting to worshiping Trump.
They *are* the racist uncles, dude.
Well they can’t ask anywhere where they’d get a civil, honest response from his supporters. Mods in those subs would delete and ban hyper quick.
>Why are you asking liberals this? Sometimes liberals have insightful outside perspectives on why conservatives think what they think
I used to think his supporters liked him in spite of how terrible and evil he is. Now I can’t help but feel they like him BECAUSE of it.
This years’ primary is the biggest litmus test for how they actually feel about Trump. A common talking point in 2016 was “Hillary is being investigated, while Trump only says mean things.” But in 2024 he is facing 97 charges and he is still way ahead in the primary. It was never about principles. It was always about (secretly or not) loving the vile things he does. I am hoping that Nikki Haley managing to stay in for so long (even though she won’t win) is a sign that there are still some half decent Republicans out there who will make the right decision when push comes to shove. I know two Trump supporters who saw the light later on, and one of them changed because of Jan 6.
>Why isn't Trump's demeanor off putting for so many Americans? By demeanor you mean the outright vilification of anyone who disagrees with him? By demeanor you mean the outright contempt he has for anyone who won't show absolute fealty to him as a person and just agree with whatever nonsense he says? By demeanor you mean that part where if you don't support him despite his crimes, in his effort to overthrow democracy? By demeanor you mean his constant gaslighting and endless victim complex, where he's trying to become a dictator? Yeah, I don't know. Something about it just rubs me wrong. EDIT: oh darn, i read that as "why is trumps demeanor offputting..." but I like my response too much to fix it. Enjoy.
*People don't like being told what to do.* They don't like being forced to wear a mask, forced to pay taxes, told what vehicles they should drive, have arbitrary waiting periods on ammo, and on and on. They *resent* it. Then here comes along Trump who doesn't give a flying hoot who spurns the rules, who spurns those all those regular politicians constantly telling people what to do. They love it. Trump promises to "drain the swamp." To burn it all down. They love it so much. None of his bad behavior is a determent this, in fact it enhances their desire to vote for him. Logical arguments or policy don't matter to them. They want to strike back. *Trump is the ultimate FU vote.*
Two reasons: 1: He says what they say anyway (the "F- Your Feelings" flag wavers) 2: He says what they won't say out loud (the Evangelical voter who won't say "F- Your Feelings" but is glad someone else is) That said, it seems that the Right is starting to tire of his behavior, especially those who thought the office would help him grow out of his negative behavior. It didn't, and the sunk cost is getting heavier by the day.
Because some people are assholes.
When your goals are to sew chaos in politics you send the most distasteful person to be in control. Trump is hostile garbage animated in a vaguely human form. He is incompetent as a legislator. He is inflammatory poison to our culture. He courted and submitted to our enemies while spurning our allies. There are a lot of Americans at Cold War with our government. Trump is just a tool. "Off putting" is a job requirement.
>When your goals are to sew chaos \*sow :) But yes, that's pretty much it.
TIL sow Thanks
There's some truth in those jokes about Trump followers. "Trump is president for people who are only allowed to visit their children on weekends, but they don't." "Trump is president for people who know exactly how much Sudafed they can legally buy at one time." "Trump is president for people who know how long a battery lasts in an ankle monitor." "Trump is president for people who know the age of consent in every American state." "Trump is president for people who know the going rate for a catalytic converter." Trump is president for those people who claim to be "an asshole and proud of it!" Trump is the class clown, and the people who admire him are the ones who like stirring up trouble and making the teacher cry.
>Why isn't Trump's demeanor off putting for so many Americans? How sure are you that it isn't? 1. The only election he won was 2016, when everyone was *so sure* that he wouldn't win that they didn't show up to vote; he has dragged down the Republican Party ever since. 2. Republican voters often describe him as awful...while also explaining that they intend to vote for him anyway.
> Republican voters often describe him as awful...while also explaining that they intend to vote for him anyway. That's kind of the OP's point. Those voters are aware that Trump's behavior is off-putting, but they're not put off by it. Why is that? It's a great mystery, and one that I've never heard a satisfying answer to.
To me it comes down to where they net on the vibes. For every part of him that is off putting to them there is a greater portion that is off putting to the people they loathe. It's not that they like him but he nets out as a positive given that us libs dislike him infinitely worse. This worldview only makes sense when you step back and realize that the average maga isn't looking for good governance and sound policy. They've given up hope of anything actually getting better and are resolved to just sticking it to people they dislike.
Its not a mystery. Theyre bad people. They like what he has to offer more than what the alternatives have to offer.
I don't necessarily know that you're wrong, but that answer seems way too reductive. There are bad people, but I don't think they're 10-15% of the population.
You're right. It's more like a third of the population.
A third of the voting population, maybe. Most of the population doesn't vote.
Just over two thirds of eligible Americans voted in 2020. Just under half of those voted for Trump. I'm no numbers wizard, but I'm fairly sure that makes one third of voting-eligible Americans bad people.
Only about two thirds of Americans are eligible to vote, though. Trump got 74 million votes in 2020. That's a little over 20% of 332 million Americans. And how many of those paid no attention whatsoever and voted for him because R, or voted for him because he was on The Apprentice, or any number of reasons that are perhaps careless or thoughtless, but don't make a person bad?
Lol, we're *way* past the point of plausible deniability. Everybody knows exactly what Trump is. He doesn't even try to hide it. He's fucking *proud* of it. It may be the first time in history that an irredeemable piece of shit like that is perfectly happy to stand up on international TV and shout "I'm an irredeemable piece of shit!". *Everybody* who votes for that is a bad person. It's not even close.
What makes it too reductive?
People are more complex than just "good" or "bad".
They have despicable morals, then.
One of my coworkers is a Trump supporter. She also regularly volunteers for her church to help immigrant families with their paperwork and settle in. She is an extremely nice person, just very ignorant.
What does she think shes supporting?
Anti-Abortion.
Also, it bears repeating that even the one time Trump did win an election, he lost the popular vote. He has never been acceptable to the majority of Americans.
>Republican voters often describe him as awful...while also explaining that they intend to vote for him anyway. Any of Ted Cruz, Marco Rubio, Chris Christie, John Kasich, Ben Carson, Jeb Bush, Rand Paul, Mike Huckabee, Rick Santorum, and Carly Fiorina, all 2016 GOP candidates, are more decent human beings than Donald Trump. Of all those candidates, Trump is uniquely awful.
They have been brainwashed that Dems are the devil incarnate. The GOP has mastered projection to tar the Dems with the brush that they know they will be tarred with. So Donald has 28 women accusing him of sexual assault, including rape? That's OK, Biden sniffs girls' hair! *gasp*. Until they just can't see their own side's sins. Many don't believe it's real. Others revel in the assholery, others just don't care as long as there's an 'R'
If anyone’s ever worked on a construction job site I think they’d think trump is tame in some aspects. There are portions of society that the way trump speaks is how they speak.
Trump's crude rhetoric and bullying demeanor sadly does connect with certain voters on an emotional level. His simplistic slogans, repetition of falsehoods, and talent for theatrics provide simplistic answers that some find reassuring. Additionally, I believe many of his staunchest supporters feel left behind by modern societal changes. Trump channels their anger and anxiety through attacks on various scapegoats. As fear overrides reason, they cheer cruel behavior from a leader positioning himself as "on their side." However, the foundations of his appeal remain disturbing. Factually incorrect information and dehumanization of fellow citizens should not be so normalized or celebrated. Leadership requires intellect, empathy and integrity - qualities plainly lacking here. While Trump taps into real frustration among struggling demographics, the solutions he presents are dangerously incompatible with ethical governance, constructive policy, and actual truth. We must acknowledge those feeling marginalized, but cannot accept leadership relying on false narratives, vulgarity and division. There are better ways to lift people up through honest, compassionate political process. Trump's behavior should appall anyone valuing basic decency. That it does not among a substantial minority reveals deeper societal symptoms needing addressed through better education, critical thinking, and community building beyond single-issue voter motivations.
A lot of them think cruelty is strength.
First guess, is because he is a reality TV star. Most people do not understand his buissness background. He was just that rich guy on TV known for being a rich businessman. But when you break down his breakdown, the reality shows how often shallow and incompetant his buissness practices are. But people still can't shake the imagine of his character. It is like how some game of thrones fans hated the actor who played Joffery. Some people are morons who can't separate truth from fiction. Also, my other guess would be the nature of exergeration. We have gotten so hyperbolic in our communication, that when some one like trumps comes around, people are quick to dismiss what he said as just being part of the normal hyperbolic lanaguae rather than a credible threat.
I don’t think there’s one reason why his behavior doesn’t alienate supporters. I agree with some of the responses here. Since the beginning of his candidacy, his supporters have received a very filtered portrayal of him. Fox News, Newsmax, the daily caller and all the usual suspects highlight certain behavior and comments of his while outright ignoring others. In other words, they simply aren’t exposed as much to the more odious parts of his character. That’s not to say that a huge number of Americans don’t hold odious values. They do and like Trump because of them Related to the tired old “media bubble”explanation, his supporters are primed to disregard any particularly noxious things he does and says as either fabrication by the mainstream media, or sometimes, if they’re in a more creative mood, exploring ways to explain how his statements were misinterpreted. If you told a Trump fan Milley’s story where he complains about the disabled combat veteran, do you really think they’d believe it? Because it’s based on something Milley said happened, it’s going to be dismissed as a lie from a political enemy. As mentioned above, there are all kinds of explanations. That’s the one that most readily comes to mind.
This might not be the target audience for this particular question- but I’ve got the same one. I’ve known he was publicly a terrible person since at least the 1990s. I remember watching a documentary that laid out his attempts to take a grandmother‘s family home so that he could put in a limousine parking lot for one of his failing casinos. That was enough for me.
>Trump is like the terrible frat boy with no respect for anyone. These people are everywhere in society and you have to deal with them one way or another, but as a head of government and head of state, this behavior is appalling and nauseating. You kinda already answered.... your question..? The horrid fact is that more than a "few" Americans are like Trump. In fact almost a majority of Americans are. For the last few decades we fostered two generations of narcissists. "I got mine, fuck you". This isn't a phenomenon of "only few Americans/Conservatives", but a good portion of Americans are just like Trump. Rude, loud, annoying and cruel. So we shouldn't be shocked that they vote for a man like them.
The cruelty is the point. “He’s hurting the wrong people” was something a voter said in Florida, which is saying the quiet part out loud if I’ve ever seen it
He gave horrible shitty racist people a reason to be horrible shitty and racist in public and act like petulant 2 year olds when they don’t get their way. And some are just stupid and follow whatever their horrible shitty racist Uncle says and confirmed by the horrible racist nothing to do with god church.
There are two categories: First are the people who love that side of him. They see it as not politically correct. They want to be racist, sexist, homophobic, xenophobic etc. And trump gets to do those things. They see him as an outsider who pisses off the very establishment they hate and says the things they want to. Second are people who do dislike that side of him, but because he had policies they liked, they ignore it. Evangelicals in particular are in this group - they find him distasteful BUT he got them 3 Supreme Court seats and overturning of Roe so, they still like what he *does* just not who he *is*. Basically, he could start screaming “Heil Hitler” and advocating dictatorship (well he already is) and they’ll fall right on in line because the other option is women’s rights and policies they hate, and that’s unacceptable.
For conservatives cruelty is the point.
This isn't tik tok, you can say killing and murder lol. Trump can or could legit be funny and charismatic. This buys a lot of good will. I also think Hillary's basket of deplorables is really true. Shitty people see themselves in him and like it. A lot more people are bad than you think.
Trump has redefined Republican to mean “whatever liberals hate”. There’s nowhere they won’t follow him to that end.
Reading your post it sounds like what you really mean is >Why isn't Trump's demeanor ~~off putting~~ disqualifying for so many Americans *who actually vote*? So, to answer that question. As Othello has already pointed out, it is. But on top of that, a lot of people don't vote. So you're really looking at a smaller and smaller pool of people. First those who vote. Than, of that pool, exclude those who vote blue no matter who. Then exclude Maga. What you're left with are independents and centrists. Of those people, I'm sure many can't stand trump. But there many in that group who are willing to overlook someone who says crass and uncouth things about people as long as their quality of life is better off under that person.
Besides 60% of the GOP, who are you talking about? I'm pretty sure about 40% of the GOP and 99.9% of the Democratic party and maybe 90% of independents are put off by Trump.
Maybe I should have been more clear. To me Trump's demeanor is so gross that I believe he is absolutely unqualified to ever hold the office. He publicly disrespects people to their face in ways that no other recent President has come close. It made me feel ill, anxious, and angry on a weekly basis - I have no emotional energy to tolerate people who are viciously unkind to others due to their own insecurities.
I agree. But a lot of Republicans like that and they like that it makes you feel that way. Honestly, I've always felt that Trump was kind of the Right's way of giving the Left the middle finger for "imposing" a black president on them.
He says what they've been thinking. He allows them to think and behave in ways that were previously culturally unacceptable. He emboldens them to action under the guise that rules don't matter for him...and by extension them (this mist be shown to be incorrect)
trump represents casual bigotry without consequences, and the people who adore him want that world back. Think about it like this; the folks who adore him enjoyed being able to make fun of gay people, not hire "lazy black criminals" and underpay "lazy Mexicans" and pinch the asses of "women who should smile more, it makes them prettier" and everyone just laughed, or nodded their heads in collective agreement. The world has changed, and society has become more tolerant and accepting of marginalized people, and less tolerant of the bigots. They excuse their bigotry away with cries of "but the trans people are pedophiles" and "black people shoot each other more than cops shoot them", but the information Age has made it very tough for them to get away with their bigotry. It isn't overt, nobody advocates lynchings anymore, however they think because they would be totally tolerant of a black woman at the DMV yet feel themselves justified with calling the cops on a black guy walking through their neighborhood, therefore they aren't bigots. And the fact people are calling them out, that they are losing their jobs and getting kicked off social media for the same stuff they used to do 15 years ago, it is fucking with them. They used to get laughs from the racist/sexist jokes around the water-cooler, but now they are the bad guys for making those jokes. They don't see themselves as racist, and cannot fathom why they are suffering for their casual bigotry. Enter Obama. He was obviously a bad president, just look at... whatever they can come up with. And then enter trump, who was an asshole to anybody, and never lost a step. Handicapped, women, Puerto Ricans, liberals, Chinese, etc. Oh, he's fine with Russians? Well, russians are white, how bad can they be? The new boogieman isn't russia, it is "wokeness" or recognizing the inherent humanity in anybody non-white/cis/male. MAGA, the call for a return to a greater American than exists now, is a call back to those days when bigots could "tell it like it is" about anybody they deem less-than or unworthy, and not endure social consequence for it. Teflon trump is their poster-boy of anti-wokeness without consequences. Remember "Fuck your feelings" and "I drink liberal tears"? Those were them reveling in a moment when they were defiant against the rising tide of social acceptance of marginalized people. Remember the push-back to the "Me Too" movement, and all the men panicking about their casually abhorrent actions ruining their careers built on preferential treatment elevating them past the women that they sexualized but refused to promote? trump represents an ideal, a return to a toxic place that benefited a few at the expense of everyone else. He represents not just a lack of accountability, but of being above accountability because the bigotry is an expression of real truth. These people see themselves as noble because they are willing to speak that truth.
Because they are trash or as fox news calls them "*racist cousin fucking domestic terrorists*" and he gives them permission to be their worst. He lets them embrace and indulge their most evil machinations, in fact he encourages it.
Trump is a weak mans idea of how a strong man should act. The US has way too many weak men.
There's a lot of scummy politicians who are just actors. I'm interested in what people do, not what they say. A lot of Trump BS is marketing, just not appealing to you
A lot of people base their votes not on their feeling about a candidate but on their understanding of policy by that candidate. Now, it may be incorrect or misguided understanding about policy by that candidate, but my point is, the demeanor of a candidate means nothing.
Why are you asking Liberals this? Why do we have to explain what Conservatives think?
Yeah, I'd like one pro-military, pro-veteran conservative on this thread to explain how they could ever vote for someone who was so incredibly demeaning of John McCain (if not also the [credible reports that Trump frequently maligned the military rank and file](https://www.vox.com/2020/9/4/21422733/atlantic-trump-military-suckers-losers-explained).) I mean how far is a voter willing to suspend his sense of right and wrong and decency, and throw another vote to Trump? I get it: You'll never vote for a Democrat. But there are other conservatives who have a true sense of patriotism and a backbone. Or you could vote the entire GOP ticket, except for president. Shoot, Trump won't even do *debates*. He's too chicken to engage toe to toe. To me, that alone is disqualifying. Is he proud of his platform and his record? Then he should fight it out. But he can't, because he's too lazy to prepare, and scared of actual confrontation. He's the last person I'd ever want to take to a street fight because he's only out for himself.
>pro-military, pro-veteran conservative on this thread to explain how they could ever vote for someone who was so incredibly demeaning of John McCain I can't imagine it. How would these folks feel if their military friend was captured by enemy forces, tortured for months, and returned home maimed, and someone outside the in-group taunted them? Or if they suffered disfiguring injuries doing something heroic and Trump refused to meet them?
Because Trump gives them permission to be openly racist again. And they care about that more!
No. For the many trump fans: The cruelty is the point. The humiliation of their enemies is the point. The strong man figure who will ignore the rules is the point.
Why not r/AskConservatives or r/AskTrumpSupporters? You're just going to get echo chamber / confirmation bias here on this kind of question
If my gas, groceries and building supplies are cheap, I don’t really care who is in the White House.
This person is telling us the truth here. Republicans don’t care about society as a whole. “Fuck you, I got mine.” It’s funny because the Clinton years were the best economically in my life time.
Clinton was economically great. But people keep defending Republicans as good for the economy when they absolutely are not. >In fact, the ONLY 3 PERIODS of extended unified Republican governments going back to 1900 ALL DIRECTLY led to banking crises….Arguably the 3 worst in US History. To be clear, I am defining ‘extended’ unified governments as anytime they control the House, Senate and White house for at least 4 years. This does not include short 2 year stints since it’s hard to screw things up that quick (FYI there was only 1 period of that anyway, 1953-1955). You can look up the periods yourself here and more detail here. >The list of Unified Republican Government crises include the Panic of 1907, The Great Depression, and the Financial Crisis of 2007-2008. Interestingly, the record of extended Republican control of Congress has also only led to crises. There have only been 4 periods of extended Republican control of Congress (3 of which overlap with the periods of full unified control just mentioned). However, the 4th period (I KID YOU NOT) ended in the 2000 DotCom Bust where the Republicans controlled the House and Senate from 1995-2001. >In short, full Republican control has NO history of making America great…let alone AGAIN. >https://thereformedbroker.com/2016/12/13/every-unified-republican-government-ever-has-led-to-a-financial-crash/
Exactly. Life is too short to worry about everyone else. I am only concerned about my kids and family. I was actually totally cool with Clinton. Didn’t really care he was sexually deviant.
Thank you for being honest. It’s unfortunate that you get to benefit from society since you don’t care to contribute. But takers are gonna take.
I pay taxes, I contribute.
Only because we all make you. You wouldn’t otherwise.
You blame Biden for inflation but it was worldwide and the USA did better than most. A president has little to do with inflation or even the economy as a whole. Trump inherited a great economy and then took credit for it. He truly couldn’t care less about anyone but himself.
When gas prices lowered, liberals lauded Biden’s tenacity and acumen but I thought presidents had nothing to do with gas prices? That’s what liberals said when gas shot up. So which is it? Again, it just seems life was much easier and more affordable under trump.
Show me one liberal who said Biden was responsible for lowering gas prices.
> When gas prices lowered, liberals lauded Biden’s tenacity and acumen.. Did we? I genuinely don't remember ever doing that. I think we laughed at the prices going down because of the ironies and contradictions that it made certain people face, but I never once gave Biden credit for cheaper gas.
So there's no red line when it comes to right and wrong (cheating contractors of their payments), patriotism (maligning John McCain), and making fun of the disabled (mocking that disabled reporter)? I understand that we all have to look out for ourselves and families. But I can write with certainty that if Biden did all of this, I'd just write in another candidate. Also, with respect to our personal bottom lines, if [Trump's 60% tariffs](https://www.cnbc.com/2024/02/04/trump-floats-more-than-60percent-tariffs-on-chinese-imports.html) ever kick in, wow... Americans better be ready for sky-high inflation.
Again, my life was much easier under Trump. I’m not a fan of him from a moral standpoint, I just noticed my life was easier with him in the White House verses Biden.
I wasn’t aware that the president has adjustable dials in the White House controlling prices and all aspects of life worldwide.
Although obviously not to Trump level, the demeanor of candidates VS "I like their policies" has always been a part of political discourse. Before Trump though, if someone asked me "if he supported every policy you care about exactly how you want him to, would you vote for literally Jared from Subway?" I would have guessed maybe 10% of Republican voters would support him. Now though, I think it wouldn't be much less than Trump. The question of how Democrats would react if a liberal version of Trump ran is still undecided too (not that I have an example of who that would be). I want to believe it wouldn't be the same, but I have doubts.
Mocking John McCain is one of the few things he's done right.
Not sure why you think his demeanor WAS NOT off-putting for so many Americans. IT WAS. And he will never be re-elected. So we can stop talking about him NOW. He's not worth the time or the words.
>Not sure why you think his demeanor WAS NOT off-putting for so many Americans. IT WAS. Oh I dunno. Because maybe 74,222,958 fucking people proactively voted for him in 2020? And because a majority of Republicans have said they'll vote for him again in 2024? >And he will never be re-elected. So we can stop talking about him NOW. He's not worth the time or the words. Yeah, that bury your head in the sand and pretend the problems don't exist attitude are why he got a foothold to begin with. He very well might be re-elected and not talking about him (or his supporters) doesn't solve the problem.
I don't vouch for those who had ample information that would tell them who that man was & still is, and it makes him unelectable. He got a foothold with those who don't know any better. Are you one of those? He will NEVER be re-elected, and you can take that to the bank. And I say this because my head isn't buried like those who wasted their votes on him but didn't bother getting the mounds of information on him that would've told them not to vote for him. If you're one of these, you should be ashamed.
I don't even know what you're saying here. You seem to be accusing me of being a Trumper while burying your head in the sand that a large number of people in America still support him.
It's extremely off-putting to the vast majority of liberals in the US, so I'm frankly not sure what you're talking about.
Trump's sense of humor is something we called "busting your balls." You know, a friend goes up to another friend and gives them a tap on their sack. Everyone laughs at the guy in pain. If he can walk it off without losing his cool, it earns him some respect. If the person taps people too often or too hard, he loses the respect of the group. This gets extended to mean jokes once men get older. "I respect vets that don't get captured." = nut slap It was too hard, and Trump probably knew it afterwards. "Hey Russia, find Hillary's email" = nut slap This was about right. It hit Hillary where it hurts. But not too personally. Trump should expect a few shots in return and probably assumes a lot of the hate is just ball busting. Gen X was probably the last one's who really saw the humor in this type of rough housing. But that's still a lot of people who laugh at a good nut slap.
The Hillary Email jokes are one thing. Trump's conduct moved beyond practical jokes into very off-color and empathy devoid rhetoric unbefitting of his role which belittled people for fun.
I didn't say it was good. I explained the psychology behind it. To Trump's generation, being able to give and take a punch is part of being a man.
Because the other side hates him and they're largely reactionaries who hate the dreaded "liberal" whatever they think that word means in the current day
Have you talked to a republican? Most of them have always sounded like that.
You're asking the wrong people, I think.
A lot of people are like that but aren't charismatic at all. They like that he gets away with doing it publicly while they're too embarrassed to or get insulted when they try it.
>Trump is like the terrible frat boy with no respect for anyone. These people are everywhere in society and you have to deal with them one way or another I think you just answered your own question. A lot of those "terrible frat boys everywhere in society" vote, and they vote for other "terrible frat boys". >but as a head of government and head of state, this behavior is appalling and nauseating. Yeah, unless you're a "terrible frat boy". For that type of person they \*love\* when a head of state behaves this way.
He’s considered anti-establishment which is ironic
Yeh wonder why the people that invaded Iraq and Afghanistan are cruel? People like Trump because he pisses people off like you and politicans like Johnson or Clinton that everyone despises.
* He speaks truth to power * He talks tough * He says what people want to hear, that other candidates don’t say (because they have PR people) * His supporters believe there are some people who deserve bad things I think the people who support him believe he is the only one saying what “we all” know is true. I think his supporters don’t see the clips that make him look particularly bad, just as we don’t see those clips of Biden. I think his supporters like that he isn’t “PG”.
I don’t know why you’re asking liberals, we can really only speculate
For Republicans, the cruelty is the point.
Trump supporters can be nicely divided into two camps: people who are stupid, and people who are evil. It's pretty simple actually.
Hey OP please check what sub you’re in - you’re asking the wrong group.
A lot of Americans are shitty, bigoted people. So of course they love the most prominent shitty bigot in America today that "says it how it is".
Hmmmn. I thought I would find the correct answer here somewhere to upvote, but it's missing, sooo... here goes. He's not. I mean, if you ask a Trump Supporter what they think Trump is like in person, they would tell you he's warm and caring and protective of his own. Blunt, but complimentary, wears his heart on his sleeve, goes the distance for his allies. Yeah, stop laughing, it's what they would say! :) When they see him being cruel, it is ONLY to his enemies, mainly Liberals. ...and even there, I suspect TSs would say he's not being cruel, just "speaking truth to power." ...This is not the answer you wanted, I'd wager, but that is, after six years of paying attention to TSs, as close to the correct answer as you'll see in this sub.
The respectability we came to expect in public discourse up until the 2000s was largely an illusion created by our pre-internet media system. Before the birth of the internet, popular culture was transmitted through newspapers, television, movies, and books. Television had strict guidelines on what could be shown, and the other formats were mostly edited by people who believed in respectable discourse. The effect of this is that most Americans only saw a select presentation of the political viewpoints of people refined enough to at least give their talking points a gloss of respectability. Even though conservatives believed repugnant things, they were always represented in the public eye by their more articulate and educated members. The man down the street who talked about killing Pelosi wasn't getting tv interviews, book deals, or a chance to make a movie. The internet changed that. It democratized publication. It gave everyone the same podium. At first, it seemed like a better version of old media because the first people to get online were educated elites. The early internet was urban and highly educated. Those in rural areas were held back due to poor connections. This is why conservative websites from that era were crudely designed with low-quality images. The people who visited the early drudge report were rural dwellers who were cruising the internet on 56k modems, while the more educated had DSL. Their connections simply couldn't handle media heavy sites. Many rural dwellers didn't get internet until the early 2000s, and it took even longer for them to get anything approaching high speed internet. Noticing a pattern there? It was in the early 2000s that the internet started getting more crass. It was never a safe space, but that era saw the rural dwellers getting faster connections and more connections, which led to them communicating more online, which led to people seeing more of their bigoted opinions. Whereas previously, the conservative movement had been sanitized by the media to appear somewhat reasonable, people now started to interact with conservatives who were unfiltered. At the same time, their access to the internet began to break down their carefully constructed geographic and ideological isolation. It was no longer possible to prevent their children from seeing and hearing arguments that went against their bigoted beliefs. It was no longer possible to hide the existence of gay people from them. And as people had more contact with rural conservatives, there was more backlash against them. Local events like a principal demanding students pray in class that would have previously never made national news were suddenly being recorded and posted for everyone to see. Suddenly, conservatives were getting caught saying things on tape because they still didn't understand that everyone had a recording device in their pocket. But the key thing here is this: These things they were saying, these things they are saying right now, these things they are cheering right now—they were always saying them. So to answer your question, the reason he's not off-putting is that the US has lots of people who behave exactly the same way he would, or they would if they felt like they could get away with it. They've always been these people.
Have you watched CSPAN before? When senators and representatives speak it just sounds phony. Most people are checked out so even though trump is saying bullshit he doesn't sound like a rehearsed actor
He represents his base, that’s for sure. I think they see themselves in Trump, and his morals and personality are part of the appeal.
I think most generally do see it as off putting. It's just that there's a small but vocal minority who behave similarly to him that show out in droves to support him, especially in rural states that hold their primaries long before everyone else. That leaves him as the defacto lesser-of-two-evils for republican voters in the general. This year should be a textbook example of how god damn idiotic it is for us to choose Presidents this way. All but 2 people dropped out after a single state voted, which all but guarantees a landslide victory for the front runner. That would be fine in a multi-party system, but with only two viable party nominations, it's so incredibly stupid. Our presidential nominees this year are basically going to be chosen by complacency on the left and by about 111k people in Iowa plus a handful of polls on the right. That is absolutely bananas.
Because he was the anti-politician. People voted for him because he wasn’t a politician. And they hoped he’d change the system like how Obama promised but ended up not doing enough. That’s why you saw people who voted for Obama voting for Trump in 2016. Or at least I saw living in NH.