I feel there is a useful distinction to make, in that if a member of the Republican party speaks poorly of Trump, then the Trumpists attack said Republican. The Trumpists are forged nearly exclusively from Republicans, but I do not consider them as such. Their ideology, such as it is, is whatever Trump tells them - they are a party of, by, and for Trump. However, I will grant you, that the vast majority of remaining Republicans have sold out their own previous party ideology to maintain or grown their power as Trumpists.
Which leads to an interesting point. If Trumpists are the ‘true believers’ of a crazed, populist tyrant wannabe, what are those republicans like, say, Mitch, who are manipulating both Trump and his Trumpists? Crypto-Trumptists? Trumpcoaters? Trumpfluffers? The mind boggles.
I prefer to let my words be straightforward, and to do my editorializing with sentences. That is to say, I wouldn’t use a term like “trumptards” to convey the idea that Trump supporters are idiots; when I wish to convey that idea, I say “Trumpists are idiots”.
Putting the “idiot” meaning in the word itself leaves wiggle room that I don’t intend to allow: “Sure, the trumptards are idiots, but I’m not one of them; I’m one of the sensible Trump supporters”. By putting the meaning in a complete sentence, I can make it clear that all of Trump’s supporters are idiots.
I’m just not a fan of name-calling in general. That’s at the intellectual level of children. It’s fine when they do it; I don’t expect any better of most of them. I do expect better of myself.
Right now I favor “Trumper” for someone devoted to Trump the person and “Trumpist” for someone advocating an authoritarian de facto overthrow of our constitutional norms. I doubt anyone else gets the nuances the way I intend, but it makes me feel better.
There’s obviously a lot of overlap among the people in those two categories. But the Trumpers will go back to sleep when Trump dies or shuts up or becomes irrelevant. A least they will until the next authoritarian demagogue steps up. The Trumpists won’t. They’ll be all in for authoritarianism every day. And yes, I’ll need a new “ist” for that movement’s name or figurehead once it emerges.
Earlier in this fiasco I used “MAGAs” as the same as “Trumper”, but I’m drifting away from that.
Deluded.
Deliberately ignorant.
Colluders.
Nasty little shits.
Ethically and/or morally handicapped.
People who could best serve their country by shutting up and getting the fuck out of the way while badly needed repairs to this country’s psyche and reputation are made.
I really like the term that someone else has put up TRUMPUBLICANS.
It covers the deceived and deluded, but also is able to include the cynical party hacks who ride on it for political purposes and the almost criminal subset that are making whatever they can out of monetising the Trump brand such as being put into lucrative positions in return for unconditional support.
I personally think that its very much the latter that are running the show and they are very much in the naked greed grab before the curtain falls