Gunnar wrote:ETA: I think part of the reason for that is that no one wants to admit to having been a fool, and the more obvious the foolishness of having voted for Trump becomes, the greater a fool they have to admit to being for having voted for him in the first place, thus the more they double down on trying to justify that bit of foolishness.
I'm sure that this is the case for a number of folks.
Otherwise, I believe that a healthy number of them really don't want to examine the roots of their decision, for reasons illustrated within this thread, as example, or for others that originate within irrational emotion or bitter attitudes about being 'wronged'. So many of the Trump supporters that I know have the biggest chips on their shoulders and an odd sense of entitlement and injury, not borne out of any reverse privilege that actually exists to work against them, but more from the consequences of
their own decisions, and the actions of
their political heroes. And now, not wanting to look at that outcome honestly, they need a scapegoat or three to blame their woes on. Trump provides.
The current 'border wall' shenanigans prove the point. If the country has been booming along at record-low unemployment and the existing border infrastructure is handily keeping at bay the 'hordes of dirty foreigners' from South of the Border, just what is the
panic in needing to throw billions at something that border crossers will just walk around or dig under? Just what negative effect out of the norm are immigrants causing the country at the moment that requires a government shutdown over money to build a wall?
Now we have Trump rage-tweeting in ALLCAPS distraction tantrums about that wall that he once claimed would be
paid for by Mexico ... except that was always a crazy lie. If anything gets built, it'll be paid for by the Base. It will be a magnificent waste of tax dollars and add more to our debt, further skewering the Base's claimed 'conservative values'. Will the Base think and see through this con? Doesn't seem like they can or want to. Not that it matters, they just want to be coddled by the political equivalent of the Kardashians.
I don't want to believe that the larger portion of Trump voters just don't think very clearly, but I've been waiting a couple of years now for proof otherwise and haven't seen it yet. I gotta call a spade a spade at this point.