Why is Trump so Popular?

[Toni]

Why is Trump so popular?

He was the first Presidential candidate to say verbatim what AM radio has being saying for decades. People like Romney, Bachman, Rubio, Gingrinch and all the other fuckwits would speak in polite code saying "Border security is my priority". But if you've been listening to Limbaugh for decades, Trump is the first person to "tell it like it is" about those Mexican rapists. And unfortunately, Limbaugh was fucking popular.

This clip is seven years old (I hope I got the timestamp right). It goes for a fucking hour, but you only need to watch 5:10 until 7:20. The reason hasn't changed. If you started listening to Limbaugh when you were 30, you'd be the age of a typical Trump supporter right now. He's popular because AM radio was/is popular (YMMV) and Trump was the first the ctrl-c/ctrl-v that sort of rhetoric.

I'm not watching it because my husband (briefly) used to listen to it and sometimes, it was simply 'on' when I was doing errands and had the radio on and didn't change the station quickly enough. I will say that it was half of the reason my sister and brother in law got divorced.

 

[Patooka]

I'm not watching it because my husband (briefly) used to listen to it and sometimes, it was simply 'on' when I was doing errands and had the radio on and didn't change the station quickly enough. I will say that it was half of the reason my sister and brother in law got divorced.

That's kinda the point. If you have lived and breathed Limbaugh all your life, everything Trump says is reasonable. And in 2016 for the very first time a politician is speaking your language. You know better than me how popular Limbaugh, Savage etc are. The US is hardly unique having parts of its population preferring to be entertained (read: outraged) than informed. The difference I suspect is that it is commercialised all the way up to eleven.

 

[Politesse]

Indeed, Trump says the things he does because they're already in the suburban conservative zeitgeist and he knows they'll be popular. He is not an original thinker, so much as a man who watches a hell of a lot of tv and has a stainless steel instinct for singling out what appeals to a particular audience and emulating it.

 

[Toni]

I'm not watching it because my husband (briefly) used to listen to it and sometimes, it was simply 'on' when I was doing errands and had the radio on and didn't change the station quickly enough. I will say that it was half of the reason my sister and brother in law got divorced.

That's kinda the point. If you have lived and breathed Limbaugh all your life, everything Trump says is reasonable. And in 2016 for the very first time a politician is speaking your language. You know better than me how popular Limbaugh, Savage etc are. The US is hardly unique having parts of its population preferring to be entertained (read: outraged) than informed. The difference I suspect is that it is commercialised all the way up to eleven.

What I think is that it isn’t that a certain segment ( white, male, usually working class and/or under employed) listens to Limbaugh and Trump not for entertainment but because it feeds and confirms their insecurities and prejudices. For a not insignificant portion of the white male population ( at least of a certain age), the gains made by women and minorities in society, putting them close(r) to equality with white males feels as though they have lost ground, not gained equals. They see laws and regulations aimed at ending discrimination as being aid to these ‘newcomers’ that white men are denied. Some may suspect, deep down, that they would not be top of the heap without the policies and social mores that helped them to the top of whatever heap they had climbed—no matter how hard they worked. That does not make them feel better but only reinforces their feelings of inadequacy. We’ve always looked down on physical labor, even highly skilled physical labor. Which is part of the reason so many parents push their kids into college. That and the fact that hard physical labor takes an enormous toll on bodies.

But it’s not just sexism and racism. Whatever people may believe, except for the very top echelons, women’s work involved a lot of hard physical labor —and resulted in high maternal and infant mortality. For people like my family, being able to have a parent stay home to raise children was a dream come true. Any working parent can understand why.

 

[ZiprHead]

Remember Trump gave Limbaugh the Medal Of Freedom.

 

[Elixir]

Remember Trump gave Limbaugh the Medal Of Freedom.

...and then he died.
Everything Trump touches, dies.

 

[T.G.G. Moogly]

For a not insignificant portion of the white male population ( at least of a certain age), the gains made by women and minorities in society, putting them close(r) to equality with white males feels as though they have lost ground, not gained equals. They see laws and regulations aimed at ending discrimination as being aid to these ‘newcomers’ that white men are denied. Some may suspect, deep down, that they would not be top of the heap without the policies and social mores that helped them to the top of whatever heap they had climbed—no matter how hard they worked. That does not make them feel better but only reinforces their feelings of inadequacy.

It is very true for lots of white males and hence the cult of victimhood. Today the Orange paints himself as victim, victim, victim. It's so childish and rather difficult for an ostensibly and presumed mature adult white male to be so taken by the juvenile rhetoric. Of course that is assuming the adult white male is a mature, intelligent thinking adult. Obviously that is not the case in millions of instances.

 

[southernhybrid]

I'm not watching it because my husband (briefly) used to listen to it and sometimes, it was simply 'on' when I was doing errands and had the radio on and didn't change the station quickly enough. I will say that it was half of the reason my sister and brother in law got divorced.

That's kinda the point. If you have lived and breathed Limbaugh all your life, everything Trump says is reasonable. And in 2016 for the very first time a politician is speaking your language. You know better than me how popular Limbaugh, Savage etc are. The US is hardly unique having parts of its population preferring to be entertained (read: outraged) than informed. The difference I suspect is that it is commercialised all the way up to eleven.

What I think is that it isn’t that a certain segment ( white, male, usually working class and/or under employed) listens to Limbaugh and Trump not for entertainment but because it feeds and confirms their insecurities and prejudices. For a not insignificant portion of the white male population ( at least of a certain age), the gains made by women and minorities in society, putting them close(r) to equality with white males feels as though they have lost ground, not gained equals. They see laws and regulations aimed at ending discrimination as being aid to these ‘newcomers’ that white men are denied. Some may suspect, deep down, that they would not be top of the heap without the policies and social mores that helped them to the top of whatever heap they had climbed—no matter how hard they worked. That does not make them feel better but only reinforces their feelings of inadequacy. We’ve always looked down on physical labor, even highly skilled physical labor. Which is part of the reason so many parents push their kids into college. That and the fact that hard physical labor takes an enormous toll on bodies.

But it’s not just sexism and racism. Whatever people may believe, except for the very top echelons, women’s work involved a lot of hard physical labor —and resulted in high maternal and infant mortality. For people like my family, being able to have a parent stay home to raise children was a dream come true. Any working parent can understand why.

True, but a lot of women are hardcore members of the Trump cult. I've never understood how they can support a man who has been accused of sexual assault so many times. I think I mentioned the nurse I briefly worked with and remained in touch with over the past 5 or so years. She is poor, in her 70s and barely gets by on SS. She almost died of COVID due to refusing to take the vaccines. WTF! She's been widowed since she was in her 50s. She was so proud to put that damn Trump sign up in her yard. I only know that because of one of my brief, rare visits to Facebook. I have only heard from her once or twice this year and it's partly due to my aversion to dealing with someone who says she's praying for me, knowing full well I'm an atheist and who, at least in the past, was a proud supporter of Trump. She and I never discussed politics, but she knew that I was a Democrat as one day, one of our mutual patients asked her why in the world she would vote for any Republicans. The only thing we've ever had in common is that we're both nurses. I felt sorry for her, due to all of her problems, so I tried to be a supportive friend.

My neighbor's 96 year old aunt voted for Trump too. She's a very nice woman, but easily manipulated by whatever her church tells her.

So, it's not just working class white males who support Trump.

Why do you think so many women support that horrible man who openly made the statement about grabbing them by the pussy! My only guess is that it has to do with the religious cult and their claim that Jesus would forgive him for his sins.

 

[TomC]

Trump is popular because establishment is and has been (for a long time) horrible.

Yes, what we really needed was a fifth wealthy male New Yorker to break the mold of the presidential establishment.

I did not say people were rational. I only said your current regime is horrible.

I've never had the slightest problem criticizing U.S. society or the government. I can get really vicious sometimes.

Like back when our government was launching an invasion of Iraq. I was out in the streets waving placards. I helped organize "write your representative" campaigns. I fought with my father. I did everything I knew how to(peacefully) do in opposition to that war.

But what we're talking about now is the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Not the many ugly episodes from U.S. history.

And frankly, I too am disappointed by the current Biden regime. I've come to think that they're pussyfooting around. We need to deal with Putin's Russia like Churchill would have done Hitler, rather than Neville Chamberlain bullshit about placating a violent tyrant for "peace in our time".
That's not going to happen. You and Putin have made that clear. There will continue to be war until Putin's ambitions are destroyed and buried.

And the damage paid for.
Tom

 

[Toni]

I'm not watching it because my husband (briefly) used to listen to it and sometimes, it was simply 'on' when I was doing errands and had the radio on and didn't change the station quickly enough. I will say that it was half of the reason my sister and brother in law got divorced.

That's kinda the point. If you have lived and breathed Limbaugh all your life, everything Trump says is reasonable. And in 2016 for the very first time a politician is speaking your language. You know better than me how popular Limbaugh, Savage etc are. The US is hardly unique having parts of its population preferring to be entertained (read: outraged) than informed. The difference I suspect is that it is commercialised all the way up to eleven.

What I think is that it isn’t that a certain segment ( white, male, usually working class and/or under employed) listens to Limbaugh and Trump not for entertainment but because it feeds and confirms their insecurities and prejudices. For a not insignificant portion of the white male population ( at least of a certain age), the gains made by women and minorities in society, putting them close(r) to equality with white males feels as though they have lost ground, not gained equals. They see laws and regulations aimed at ending discrimination as being aid to these ‘newcomers’ that white men are denied. Some may suspect, deep down, that they would not be top of the heap without the policies and social mores that helped them to the top of whatever heap they had climbed—no matter how hard they worked. That does not make them feel better but only reinforces their feelings of inadequacy. We’ve always looked down on physical labor, even highly skilled physical labor. Which is part of the reason so many parents push their kids into college. That and the fact that hard physical labor takes an enormous toll on bodies.

But it’s not just sexism and racism. Whatever people may believe, except for the very top echelons, women’s work involved a lot of hard physical labor —and resulted in high maternal and infant mortality. For people like my family, being able to have a parent stay home to raise children was a dream come true. Any working parent can understand why.

True, but a lot of women are hardcore members of the Trump cult. I've never understood how they can support a man who has been accused of sexual assault so many times. I think I mentioned the nurse I briefly worked with and remained in touch with over the past 5 or so years. She is poor, in her 70s and barely gets by on SS. She almost died of COVID due to refusing to take the vaccines. WTF! She's been widowed since she was in her 50s. She was so proud to put that damn Trump sign up in her yard. I only know that because of one of my brief, rare visits to Facebook. I have only heard from her once or twice this year and it's partly due to my aversion to dealing with someone who says she's praying for me, knowing full well I'm an atheist and who, at least in the past, was a proud supporter of Trump. She and I never discussed politics, but she knew that I was a Democrat as one day, one of our mutual patients asked her why in the world she would vote for any Republicans. The only thing we've ever had in common is that we're both nurses. I felt sorry for her, due to all of her problems, so I tried to be a supportive friend.

My neighbor's 96 year old aunt voted for Trump too. She's a very nice woman, but easily manipulated by whatever her church tells her.

So, it's not just working class white males who support Trump.

Why do you think so many women support that horrible man who openly made the statement about grabbing them by the pussy! My only guess is that it has to do with the religious cult and their claim that Jesus would forgive him for his sins.

My theory is two-fold: Some people are so anti-abortion that they will vote for anyone at all that they believe will help make abortion illegal. They held their noses and voted for Trump only because of who he was likely to put on the SCOTUS. A subset also believe we are approaching end times and they are hell bent on helping that along. I suppose they think they will be part of the rapture. Or God’s kingdom on earth.

There are other women who are so accustomed to men behaving badly—grabbing, leering, assaulting that they simply see this as normal male behavior and even signs of an alpha male. Same with the casual rancism and bigotry. They believe that’s what everyone really thinks but liberal elites are too hypocritical to admit it. On that, they do have a point, sad to say.

Some of course are bigots and some are so pro-big business that nothing else matters to them but in that they are no different than bigoted white men.

 

[SLD]

I'm not watching it because my husband (briefly) used to listen to it and sometimes, it was simply 'on' when I was doing errands and had the radio on and didn't change the station quickly enough. I will say that it was half of the reason my sister and brother in law got divorced.

That's kinda the point. If you have lived and breathed Limbaugh all your life, everything Trump says is reasonable. And in 2016 for the very first time a politician is speaking your language. You know better than me how popular Limbaugh, Savage etc are. The US is hardly unique having parts of its population preferring to be entertained (read: outraged) than informed. The difference I suspect is that it is commercialised all the way up to eleven.

What I think is that it isn’t that a certain segment ( white, male, usually working class and/or under employed) listens to Limbaugh and Trump not for entertainment but because it feeds and confirms their insecurities and prejudices. For a not insignificant portion of the white male population ( at least of a certain age), the gains made by women and minorities in society, putting them close(r) to equality with white males feels as though they have lost ground, not gained equals. They see laws and regulations aimed at ending discrimination as being aid to these ‘newcomers’ that white men are denied. Some may suspect, deep down, that they would not be top of the heap without the policies and social mores that helped them to the top of whatever heap they had climbed—no matter how hard they worked. That does not make them feel better but only reinforces their feelings of inadequacy. We’ve always looked down on physical labor, even highly skilled physical labor. Which is part of the reason so many parents push their kids into college. That and the fact that hard physical labor takes an enormous toll on bodies.

But it’s not just sexism and racism. Whatever people may believe, except for the very top echelons, women’s work involved a lot of hard physical labor —and resulted in high maternal and infant mortality. For people like my family, being able to have a parent stay home to raise children was a dream come true. Any working parent can understand why.

True, but a lot of women are hardcore members of the Trump cult. I've never understood how they can support a man who has been accused of sexual assault so many times. I think I mentioned the nurse I briefly worked with and remained in touch with over the past 5 or so years. She is poor, in her 70s and barely gets by on SS. She almost died of COVID due to refusing to take the vaccines. WTF! She's been widowed since she was in her 50s. She was so proud to put that damn Trump sign up in her yard. I only know that because of one of my brief, rare visits to Facebook. I have only heard from her once or twice this year and it's partly due to my aversion to dealing with someone who says she's praying for me, knowing full well I'm an atheist and who, at least in the past, was a proud supporter of Trump. She and I never discussed politics, but she knew that I was a Democrat as one day, one of our mutual patients asked her why in the world she would vote for any Republicans. The only thing we've ever had in common is that we're both nurses. I felt sorry for her, due to all of her problems, so I tried to be a supportive friend.

My neighbor's 96 year old aunt voted for Trump too. She's a very nice woman, but easily manipulated by whatever her church tells her.

So, it's not just working class white males who support Trump.

Why do you think so many women support that horrible man who openly made the statement about grabbing them by the pussy! My only guess is that it has to do with the religious cult and their claim that Jesus would forgive him for his sins.

Speaking of Trump and Jesus, now we have this:

MSN

 

[scombrid]

Our dentist and good friend is a 40 something half Asian lesbian. She supported Trump because he was on the Republican ticket, guns, and socialism. She thinks DeSantis is the best thing that’s ever happened to Florida in spite of things like Ladipo. She got herself and her entire staff vaccinated like the first week the vaccine came to Florida. But guns and socialism trump all that.

 

[ZiprHead]

Speaking of Trump and Jesus, now we have this:

MSN

There's a way to fix that problem.

The Conservative Bible Project

On Christmas Day of 2008, Andrew Schlafly — sore that the Bible doesn't lend exclusive support to his particular brand of nutjob conservatism — started his most important project to date, and what some most might consider his biggest insult to Christianity yet: Conservapedia's Bible...

rationalwiki.org

 

[Politesse]

Interesting! Did he actually study Greek, or he just "correcting" English translations?

I know there's been a lot of talk in Evangelical circles that Trump is a Cyrus-like messianic figure.

 

[Swammerdami]

I recently read an opinion comparing Trump with DeSantis. DeSantis out-trumps Trump with virtues that seem important to the base: hating immigrants, hating LGBTQ, hating Democrats, etc. Yet Trump outpolls DeSantis: the former is on target to be the next nominee (even from jail) while the latter is turning into a laughing-stock.

The explanation, according to the opinion, is that some Trumpists, despite their behavior, are not actually drenched in hatred. Instead they like Trump because he is "charming." But deSantis, despite his lovable hatreds and scams, is lacking in charm.

This segues into a serious question. I often judge a person's character successfully after brief conversation! Oh sure, it doesn't work with all (or even most) people, and only a subset of character will be discerned. But it isn't hard to recognize the con-man approach, unless done very cleverly.

For example, if I didn't know Trump I could listen to him for 1 minute and decide he's a grifting asshole. Are other Infidels similarly endowed with rudimentary character-reading skill?

Yet millions of Americans find Trump charming and allegedly truthful! For a self-diagnosed autist it seems odd that I outperform so many millions of gun-toting Americans in the simplest listening skill.

 

[bilby]

Remember Trump gave Limbaugh the Medal Of Freedom.

...and then he died.
Everything Trump touches, dies.

Oh well.

The USA was kinda entertaining, while it lasted.

 

[James Brown]

My theory is two-fold: Some people are so anti-abortion that they will vote for anyone at all that they believe will help make abortion illegal. They held their noses and voted for Trump only because of who he was likely to put on the SCOTUS. A subset also believe we are approaching end times and they are hell bent on helping that along. I suppose they think they will be part of the rapture. Or God’s kingdom on earth.

There are other women who are so accustomed to men behaving badly—grabbing, leering, assaulting that they simply see this as normal male behavior and even signs of an alpha male. Same with the casual rancism and bigotry. They believe that’s what everyone really thinks but liberal elites are too hypocritical to admit it. On that, they do have a point, sad to say.

Some of course are bigots and some are so pro-big business that nothing else matters to them but in that they are no different than bigoted white men.

Team Because vs. Team Despite

Some people are still supporting Trump despite all the awful things he has said and done....

Trump won those primaries without the help of Team Despite because he had the unwavering allegiance of Team Because. These are the folks who look at that whole long list above and love every bit of it.

 

[southernhybrid]

I saw something on MSNBC yesterday about how some evangelical Trump supporters are cherry picking the better parts of the NT, saying that those things don't apply in today's world. They were talking about the things that most decent people support like helping the poor etc. I never thought our less than perfect country would become this fucked up.

 

[SLD]

I saw something on MSNBC yesterday about how some evangelical Trump supporters are cherry picking the better parts of the NT, saying that those things don't apply in today's world. They were talking about the things that most decent people support like helping the poor etc. I never thought our less than perfect country would become this fucked up.

Yeah, I posted the link

MSN

 

[lostone]

I saw something on MSNBC yesterday about how some evangelical Trump supporters are cherry picking the better parts of the NT, saying that those things don't apply in today's world. They were talking about the things that most decent people support like helping the poor etc. I never thought our less than perfect country would become this fucked up.

I think that many of these people were raised with the idea that life is hard, and meant by God to be be hard, so the only comfort anyone will be able to find in life lies in Jesus. So they want to make life tough for most people, because that is they way they think it should be. I also think that a little bit of the Calvinistic idea that God blesses those He considers virtuous by making them wealthy and good looking also fits into their beliefs, so they think being poor, unhealthy, and suffering is what most people deserve. It's a mean way of looking at life. Mother Teresea, for example, thought human suffering was good for the soul, some say.