Something about cardboard boxes, overpasses, sparrows, and old curtain rods.
A lot of it is hate. But there is another IMO very significant element that gets mixed in.
Partly from propaganda, and partly from lived experience, a LOT of people believe America was always or at least has become a crooked con that is not working for them. These people can easily be persuaded that:
America is not working for me or anyone like me. Conventional politics of either party hasn’t done anything for me in my lifetime. All I feel is political hopelessness.
trump promises radical change. And since it can’t possibly get worse than it is now, that change, even if I don’t understand what it is, can only be for the better. For me. Let’s roll those dice; I have nothing to lose and everything to gain.
The portions of that message that are fantasy are very obvious. To us. Not to them.
Tagging @Frodo in the Pit - a place I don’t think he comes often - so he can see how the Brazil and Argentina tags have been cruelly switched.
I wonder if it’s pride. Pride would be “I know I voted for a loser who is destroying the country and I can’t admit it.” I think it’s just a continuation of rampant, colossal ignorance. Like Charlie Brown and the football. Or the people in Jonestown. It’s a lack of the ability to see reality, to see that things aren’t what you thought or hoped, I have to go with the scientific term STOOPID.
ISTM that those who believe Trump personally gives a sh*t about them and their problems and those who believe the same of their Own Personal Savior Deity are congruent sets. And this is despite copious evidence to the contrary in both cases.
The Jonestown comparison is apt. It’s a cult.
Few committed cult members have the wisdom and courage to escape before complete disaster strikes.
I have posted a few times, ‘Anything said before “but” is bullshit.’
e.g., ‘I’m not a racist, but…’
“I’m not an antivaxer, but…” (followed by antivax meme(s))
No, see, I’m one of the good vermin, not like those bad vermin.
Many are so used to casual hate speech that it does not register as a threat. Many others listen only to the RW news system so they never even heard that.
Trump is television candidate. He always complains about the government even when he runs it which creates the impression (among some) that he’s fighting for you. He’s backed by right wing media whose mission is to reassure their viewers rather than inform them. And his supporters perceive Trump as follows:
To a lot of us, Trump is a celebrity real estate developer who likes to get into petty feuds with fellow celebrities. That doesn’t seem very presidential. But that’s the old Trump. The modern Trump still gets into petty feuds with fellow celebrities, but he’s also the star of Celebrity Apprentice, and that’s how a lot of people view him these days.
Now, picture in your mind how Trump looks. He is running things. He sets the tasks. The competitors all call him “Mr. Trump” and treat him obsequiously. He gives orders and famous people accept them without quibble. At the end of the show, he asks tough questions and demands accountability. He is smooth and unruffled while the team members are tense and tongue-tied. Finally, having given everything the five minutes of due diligence it needs, he takes charge and fires someone. And on the season finale, he picks a big winner and in the process raises lots of money for charity.
Do you see how precisely this squares with so many people’s view of the presidency? The president is the guy running things. He tells people what to do. He commands respect simply by virtue of his personality and rock-solid principles. When things go wrong, he doesn’t waste time. He gets to the bottom of the problem in minutes using little more than common sense, and then fires the person responsible. And in the end, it’s all for a good cause. That’s a president.
Obviously this is all a fake. The show is deliberately set up to make Trump look authoritative and decisive. But a lot of people just don’t see it that way.
That’s from a 2015 blog post.
My favorite of Los Caprichos!
These people who voted for Trump and later had relatives detained/deported obviously thought that because they had voted for Trump they and their families had been put on a master list of people who were exempt from the rules that everyone else had to follow. Kind of like a “reverse-No-Fly-list”.
I wouldn’t be surprised if you are exactly correct about this. Sort of a “Friends of Trump” list.
Please tell me the flavor-aid phase is coming soon.
So, what I’m hearing is that the advice is not too strict at all 
(quote shortened)
The Trump is a ‘celebrity’ shit drives me nuts. As far as a TV celebrity, he’s a two bit ‘reality’ TV show ‘actor’ (for different values of actor)
A celebrity, someone that deserves recognition as such is someone like Robert Redford or Mary Tyler Moore. Or hundreds of others.
Trump is not fit to shine their shoes.
Quite literally. I’d be worried about what would happen if he were forced to bend down, perform any sort of physical activity, and stand back up
It could be difficult to distinguish between the likely result and … Shinola.
It doesn’t hurt that a lot of Trump’s fundraising e-mails are written as if Trump is making a personalized appeal to the target
“You’ve been identified as one of President Trump’s fiercest and most loyal defenders, and according to your donor file, you’d make an excellent addition to the Trump Army,” it reads. “When you become a member of the Trump Army today, we’ll give you access to get our never-before-seen, Limited Edition Camo Keep America Great Hat.” With that camo hat, it goes on to promise, Trump supporters will be able to let everyone know that they have Trump’s back “when it comes to fighting off the Liberal MOB.”
“I want to know who stood with me when it mattered most, so I’ve asked my team to send me a list of EVERY AMERICAN PATRIOT who donates to this email,”