‘I like him even better now’: Trump’s true believers keep the faith
Millions of Democrats and independents view Trump’s four years in office as a disaster but for supporters it is his biggest asset
Wearing a shirt festooned with countless images of Donald Trump, Leverne Martin was looking cheerful for a man who had set off from Poplar Bluff, Missouri, at 9pm and driven through the night, arriving in Dubuque, Iowa, at 5.30am. When did he intend to sleep?
“As soon as President Trump is back in the White House,” the 55-year-old handyman replied without missing a beat. “If we don’t get him back in 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, where he belongs, we’re in a mess, man. That’s why I’m voting for President Trump. That’s why I drove nine hours.”
On a grey, rainy day, Martin was near the head of a long and winding queue outside a cavernous conference centre overlooking the Mississippi River. Like so many fans in so many towns and cities over nearly a decade, an overwhelmingly white crowd had come to cheer on Trump, elected US president in 2016, beaten by Joe Biden in 2020 and clear frontrunner for the Republican nomination in 2024.
It's hard to believe, but there has always been as much as 20% of the population who are willing to believe anything that makes them feel special. These are the people who think they would be successful and happy if they weren't being kept down by aliens, ghosts, or secret international conspiracies. What Trump has done is to give them an enemy they can see. That has brought them all together and brought in another segment who are slightly less crazy, but are united by their hatred of "others".
If most people in this country voted, they would be scary, but not large enough to be a political force. As it is, they are still a minority, but not by a safe margin. Any time they can convince a small group of independents to vote them they are capable of winning elections. Even without that, their "win by any means" non-ethic means they can game the system and outright cheat while feeling good about themselves. That has allowed them to win more elections.
We should be able to win back the independents, and I think we largely have. I don't know that there's much we can do about the rest of them. Now that they have been weaponized and unified, they will continue to be a threat until the current generation of them die off. We need to contest every election and fight for our democracy. There are enough of us to do that successfully, if we make the sustained effort to do it.
It's not that hard to believe when you realize human intelligence is a normal curve distribution. That bottom 20% will always do the stupid thing.
"Think of how stupid the average person is, and realize half of them are stupider than that."
George Carlin
The average American has a below 6th grade reading comprehension.
@Cabrio @mister_newbie I come from the EU. Can someone please explain why this is happening in the US?
A combination of a 'tradition' of anti-intrllectualism and an education systen that has depreciated the value of critical thinking skillls.
I can't emphasize enough how the proudly ignorant are shouting down anyone who speaks from a position of facts and evidence in small communities and cities. I know it's not the only factor, but it feels HUGE and the kids growing up around it see that. I have a 9yr old in one of those places who is acutely aware of it to the point of changing her interactions with her friends to stay off the radar.
America never got rid of their fascists after the civil war, and now they are seeing the effects on their society.
@Cabrio Thanks!
All good points here. Apathy won't help.
An astute way to put it, thanks for writing it down.
Temporarily down on their luck. They would be millionaires if not for those awful people who think they have a right to be treated equally to them. Who took their jobs. Who are draining the welfare system and don't deserve a penny. They will happily crush the hands of those below them on the ladder so they remain above.
You can fool some of the people all of the time.
Those people are usually conservatives.
It's really easy.
Step1. Say u love Jesus
Step 2 say u love trump.
Step3 ???
Step4 profit
Step3 is selling a product basically anything cuz these morons try to cash trump bucks