All of which is both hilarious and utterly depressing that people feel that way about the golden shitter conman, given how he's made a mint by stiffing the little guy contractors with nonpayment and threats of litigation while building his real estate "empire," such that it is.

But, hey, doesn't it work that way in a lot of dysfunctional relationships, people making others feel a certain way while every action in their history suggests something entirely different?

The irony of it all is that capitalism has ardently failed these people as the wealth gap has widened and middle America has been hollowed out. These are the people who should be embracing the "European democratic socialist" model, for it is that model that would meaningfully improve their lives. But yet they think that it is a dirty word and the likes of Bernie Sanders are akin to the devil.

Yeah, an interesting question about these folks is how many are just flat out being conned vs. see through his bullshit and just don't care.

I assume many if not most of the religious right, run of the mill Republicans and the like fall into the latter camp.

I agree on the second camp. The tired argument that Trump voters are knuckle dragging idiots from the backwoods who don't understand the smart folk in the big cities and are just too stupid to see Trump is a real bad dude is lazy and useless.

If the left keeps trotting this out, they will lose again.

It's more likely the majority of Trump voters don't care that he is a flawed person, perhaps a conman and a cheat but he sure as hell represents their ideals better than anyone on the left and there were only two people on the ballot. Not that hard to understand.

I agree on the second camp. The tired argument that Trump voters are knuckle dragging idiots from the backwoods who don't understand the smart folk in the big cities and are just too stupid to see Trump is a real bad dude is lazy and useless.

If the left keeps trotting this out, they will lose again.

It's more likely the majority of Trump voters don't care that he is a flawed person, perhaps a conman and a cheat but he sure as hell represents their ideals better than anyone on the left and there were only two people on the ballot. Not that hard to understand.

So you trust the person possible conman and cheat? How do you trust he would be actually representing your ideals and not just conning you? Maybe he is just telling you what you want to hear and no doing anything to actually address your issues?

Cliff notes in quotes from Elizabeth Bruenig opinion piece in today's Wapo. Again I need help to link, sorry. Although there is already a covert thread about CPAC and Trump from last Saturday, I thought to share this in it's own light.

So many threads and much discussion has there been on the who and the why to the make up of the President's base given the inherent conflict with messenger to the message. This article enlightened.

"He seems to intuit that decent swaths of Americans struggle not only with poverty of material resources-which his own policies have worsened- but also with a poverty of dignity and with emotional destitution that comes with being thought little of, mocked, ignored and dismissed by mainstream culture."

"Trumps brand of loving approval..... for those people....how powerful must that affirmation be, Trump doesn't just promise to change their conditions, but emphatically insists that they're good, that they're worthy, that someone as important as the president of the United States sees and loves them..."

And that is why the man hugged the flag. Most of us saw and heard the comedic meat in the 122 minutes of rambling babbling. Others who feel "stigmatized, ignored, and made fun of" probably heard and felt that love and bought it as genuine.

Now no way in hell do I think it was genuine. He owns no empathy or love of anything not him, but he sure can play act some false lovey dovey. I do think Steve Bannon remains the Donald whisperer.

If the left keeps trotting this out, they will lose again.
For sure.

It's more likely the majority of Trump voters don't care that he is a flawed person, perhaps a conman and a cheat but he sure as hell represents their ideals better than anyone on the left and there were only two people on the ballot. Not that hard to understand.

No trust required. You see what he is doing and make your own decision about if its closer to your goals. To argue Hillary would have been a better option for a traditional republican is a non-starter. How is this hard to understand?

do you think republicans are all crying in their soup that they did not vote for Hillary instead of Trump? that she would have better done the things conservatives or republicans wanted done? Trump could fart and fall down for 4 years and he would be better for republicans than what Hillary campaigned on.

Yes, he's basically a useful idiot. I get that.

The one's I don't get are the one's who fall for his BS. I mean it is just so obvious I don't get how anyone can think it's legit.

It's more likely the majority of Trump voters don't care that he is a flawed person, perhaps a conman and a cheat but he sure as hell represents their ideals better than anyone on the left and there were only two people on the ballot. Not that hard to understand.

Yes, you are surely not being conned. I mean, marks always know they are being conned.

Yes, trump the notorious conservative. Doing conservative things like, giving billions of dollars to failing businesses, or increasing taxes, increasing regulations, ignoring the constitution, and so many of those normal conservative positions. Lets not forgot all the conservative moral positions, you agree he does not follow the normal conservative moral requirements for leader?

It's more likely the majority of Trump voters don't care that he is a flawed person, perhaps a conman and a cheat but he sure as hell represents their ideals better than anyone on the left and there were only two people on the ballot. Not that hard to understand.

It's more likely the majority of Trump voters don't care that he is a flawed person, perhaps a conman and a cheat but he sure as hell represents their ideals better than anyone on the left and there were only two people on the ballot. Not that hard to understand.

Does he represent their ideals better than any of the other 15 republican candidates? The, "he's not Hillary" argument only goes so far. The right should own the fact that they got who they wanted.

The real question I have is why are low-income blue collar workers or lower middle class workers earning less than, say, $70k a year, hitched to Republican ideals? Why are unemployed middle-Americans supporting a man who has promised much but delivered little for them? Why are they not supporting a democratic-socialist model that would tax higher income earners more and provide a better social safety net for themselves?

I think the answers are varied and complicated (guns, religion, suspicion of "liberal elites", etc.), but on the face of it, it doesn't make sense.

you cite to an article about a Trump aide that said Trump is "thinking" about putting restrictions on Google Search engines when searching for articles about Trump as evidence that Trump is a big increase regulations guy? Nice support for your argument.

You still miss the point, traditional republicans and those that voted for Trump and hold conservative values are not now wishing if only I had voted for Hillary...

Trump could lie, cheat steal and have 10 women in the white house everynight and as long as he votes or pushes the agenda of conservative and republican ideals he is better than any DEM for republican voters.

It's possible that some folks that voted for trump did so because they thought he would help them out of their low lot in life but is true of any election...remember Obama phones and the poor sap that was happy when he got elected because he was going to take care of all her bills.

And how was trump more conservative then Ted Cruz?

The irony of it all is that capitalism has ardently failed these people as the wealth gap has widened and middle America has been hollowed out. These are the people who should be embracing the "European democratic socialist" model, for it is that model that would meaningfully improve their lives. But yet they think that it is a dirty word and the likes of Bernie Sanders are akin to the devil.