I don’t care if he’s penniless, as long as he keeps appointing SCOTUS justices like Gorsuch and Kavanaugh (but I probably don’t count as part of his “base”).
The behaviors that cause liberals to dislike Trump are exactly what his core base love, so as long as he keeps doing that stuff they’re never going to abandon him because they’ve kind of signed on with him as a passion project.
The issue George W. Bush and Nixon had is both were very run of the mill, mainstream Republicans (of their respective eras, the 1960s/70s for Nixon and 90s/00s for W); neither was elected by roughly a 35% segment of the electorate that basically were demagogued by those men. Both men instead rode traditional waves that Republicans ride into office, and thus were likely to be held accountable by traditional measures, like the economy or basic rule of law stuff. Nixon’s voters viewed themselves as the establishment, and Nixon’s crimes fundamentally were crimes against our democratic legitimacy and institutions, so he lost a lot of his base when the tapes were finally released and people realized what a crook he was.
Trump’s supporters have been convinced government is a conspiracy-theorists wet dream that seeks to destroy their lives, so any “crimes” Trump commits against it are irrelevant. They’ve also been more easily suckered by distractions than Nixon or Bush voters were, so would likely believe whatever excuse Trump came up with for a failing economy.
So the reality is that core base of Trump’s likely will never abandon him. But he also can’t be elected with just them, they’re a big segment of his voters but not all of it, I’ve seen polls peg their number as somewhere in the low-mid 30s of all voters in the 2016 election. So there’s a number of other voters that voted with those people that put him in office, without them he can’t win reelection. But he also is likely insulated from impeachment more than Nixon was because his base scares all the Republicans in Congress so they won’t break with him.
As others have said, if he actually adopted liberal positions, like being pro-choice, saying he thought black people were victims of systemic racism and needed government programs to help redress it he’d suddenly be seen as a turncoat and “traitor to the cause”, and his support would crater to unsustainable (impeachment) levels. But he’s never going to start saying stuff like that.
In fact, enraging the liberals is exactly *why *they love it, and why he does it. Tribalism again.
Yes, today they’d be RINO’s or even Democrats, since the Dems have taken over the Responsible Adult demographic that the GOP has repudiated.
IOW, only slightly above the well-known 27% crazified base. His support can’t drop below its current level except marginally.
Think of whatever it would take to get you to support him. That would reduce his support to 30% or less.
Regards,
Shodan
Exactly, Shodan. What drives him, and them (including you?), is *not *what’s good for the country and the world, but whatever he and they think will piss off the libtards and erase Obama. No matter if it hurts them too, as sabotaging ACA funding exemplifies, they’re willing to accept that as long as they think they’re “winning” like Charlie Sheen.
He admits that he is, in fact, black.
Anyone can manipulate the economy short-term. That’s why they try to keep the Fed rates out of politician’s hands as much as possible.
It’s steady, long-term growth we need. Preferably not with the writing of a trillion dollars in hot checks for the rich when it wasn’t called for.
Eventually he’ll be a lame duck or an electoral loser, and they won’t care about him anymore.
Trump really is a hateful piece of trash, and being right-wing doesn’t mean you can’t see it, just that you won’t admit it. The movement only keep him around because they have to hang together to achieve their goals. They’d line up behind any president loyal to the party until he became a lame duck; and then they’d stop caring.
What would do it sooner? Success. The party will get rid of him when they get what they think they want. Get a constitutional amendment outlawing tax increases, labor unions, and occupational safety laws forever, or at least get a nice secure Federalist Society majority on every possible federal bench–and they don’t need the jerk from New York anymore.
Last week, I’d have offered the classic answer: “Only if he’s caught in bed with either a dead girl or a live boy.”
But with top members of the Trump crime family being convicted, pleading guilty and/or going to jail, maybe the tide is turning. Wasn’t it right here at SDMB that I read that Rachel Maddow was the top-rated cable news show for the guilty verdicts? Rachel Maddow!! Yay! And I read that Fox “reporters” are now quitting in droves, tired of working for liars.
Maybe these are, after all, the same Americans who landed on the Moon and marched with the Reverend Martin Luther King.
Doesn’t this presuppose that Trump voters have gray matter between their ears? Trump is already on record bragging that the uneducated people are his favorite voters.
No, we just hope that low-IQ Trumpists go back to fuming in front of their TV sets, tails between legs, ashamed of their own defecations, while real Americans rise up.
I think I’ve said this before on another thread, but I’m pretty sure that an admission of a homosexual affair would do Trump in, for sure!
paying for an abortion would likely do it. But if he did that I’m sure he left no paper trail to prove it. It would just be the woman’s word vs. his.
I distinctly remember the other side doing this in the '90s.
Meh. I think most of his supporters would just think that it makes him a manly man. Remember it’s ok if they get abortions, it’s the rights of other people they want to stomp on.
It was probably Cohen who paid for any abortions for Trump so he might spill the beans . Of course Trump fans would just say he’s a crook and liar.
That Trump is a liar is well-attested; and he’s certainly tried to cheat people.
But I think that the two main factors will be time and the economy. Gradually, over time his lies will come to haunt him. As for the economy, I’ll just leave this link
As soon as the economy tanks, that guy will be angry.
A video of him making out with Michael Moore just might do it.
One wonders if anything could move his base. The core of their belief is that Donald is absolutely infallible. Therefore every action, inaction, reversal of actions, statement or tweet is direct from God Himself All dissenting voices are to be silenced by any means necessary.
That is indeed an excellent quarter of GDP growth. It’s the fourth highest in the last ten years or so. The top three however were all under Obama so it’s not exactly like Trump’s numbers are “destroying” Obama’s.
Here’e a link to graph. I don’t really see how anyone can look at that and honestly come to the conclusion that there has been a huge swing either way as far as GDP is concerned.
Your post assumes facts matter. I would think by now you and most others posting here would realize with Trumps base and today’s GOP, facts are irrelevant.
Any dip in the economy will likely happen at some point after the midterms. Since the assumption is the GOP will lose their majority in the House, Trump will simply blame any economic crash or slowdown on Democratic control of the House, the she-devil Nancy Pelosi, Obama, Hillary and of course, The Deep State.
This will pave the way to his reelection in 2020.
For many; others are swayed by his open and proud racism and misogyny and anti-intellectualism. For the religious zealots, it isn’t that he’s infallible but more specifically that he is God’s chosen instrument. They can overlook and and all of his glaring flaws by observing that God has only flawed humans from among whom to anoint.
Nothing will cause his diehard base to desert him, because that would mean forfeiting their victory.
If you’re a sports fan, think back to a time your team pulled off a huge upset. How great did that feel? Now imagine the other team’s fans immediately started pointing out ways your team supposedly cheated, or colluded with the officials, or brought in ringers from other teams. Those sore losers just keep bringing up ways your team truly sucks, and doesn’t deserve to be the winner, and wouldn’t have won if it weren’t for this and that and the other thing. And they don’t just say your team sucks, they say you’re an idiot for supporting them.
Would you ever, *ever *decide, “Yeah, my team does suck after all”?