Seriously, what kind of (Bad? Dumb? Evil?) person supports Donald Trump?

All hail our future Divine All-Powerful Permanent Benevolent God-King for Life ©

With less than six months remaining in Indecision 2024, I’m still gobsmacked that the presidential race is more or less tied. Sure, Joe Biden isn’t an ideal candidate, but does he have 88 felony counts pending against him? Is he currently on trial in New York City for paying off a porn star and then trying to camouflage that payment to influence the 2016 election illegally? Is he on trial for ANYTHING?

No, no, and no. Joe Biden may be many things, but corrupt, venal, and criminal are not among them.

It does astonish me that otherwise seemingly good and decent people can support a man whom one could never describe as “good” or “decent” under any conceivable circumstance.

When I’m back in rural Minnesota, the number of Trump signs I see is jarring. I grew up around good, solid people who work hard and have high standards for themselves and those around them. Yet they support a sociopath with morals lower than a snake’s belly and a narcissistic streak a mile wide. Not only do they support him, they celebrate him.

What is it about a man so amoral, arrogant, hateful, and aggressively ignorant that there’s no papering over who or what he is? There’s no way to explain away the coarser aspects of his character—his character flaws ARE who he is. His egomaniacal, narcissistic, and sociopathic self-importance would be off-putting in anyone else, but the hold Trump has over his followers is astonishing and defies explanation.

May the forces of evil become confused on the way to your house.

- George Carlin

Many MAGAnauts know precisely who and what Lord Stumblefuck is—and they don’t care. They love him as he is. Sure, he’s an asshole, but he’s their asshole, and everything was better when he was President, right?

Was it? It’s as if the drooling hordes who pack his rallies have entirely forgotten about the pandemic and his ham-handed, self-serving handling of it. Never mind that the Brookings Institution estimated that Trump may be responsible for nearly 800,000 COVID-19 deaths because of his ineptitude and negligence.

What’s the appeal? What would cause someone to drop any pretense of rational thinking when it comes to someone I’ve recently heard described as “Al Capone in a Fat Elvis suit?”

If you deliberately set out to do so, you couldn’t improvise a worse, more amoral, or less sympathetic humanoid. It wouldn’t seem possible to create a personality so egomaniacal, narcissistic, and/or sociopathic. Trump seriously believes the world revolves around him and that those who don’t accept that premise aren’t worth acknowledging.

I’ve heard it said that compassion is making a comeback in America. But as long as Lord Stumblefuck remains a part of the American political landscape and as long as MAGAnauts continue to worship him, I find that difficult to believe. MAGA is not a doctrine with any basis in love or compassion. It’s an ethos firmly based in a brand of “Fuck Your Feelings” selfishness—a “me, me, me” belief system that has no room for compassion or consideration of others. It’s all about the individual and how the world exists to serve #1—and fuck everyone else.

MAGA Nation is also rooted in the belief that America should be the property and playground of good, God-fearing White Conservative Christian Cisgender Heterosexual Patriots. All others need not apply. Of course, there’s no compassion in that belief. Then again, MAGA isn’t about appealing to the better angels of its adherents. More than anything, it’s about fear—the deep, abiding, and unshakable fear of those who aren’t good, God-fearing White Conservative Christian Cisgender Heterosexual Patriots.

When I despair, I remember that all through history the way of truth and love have always won. There have been tyrants and murderers, and for a time, they can seem invincible, but in the end, they always fall. Think of it—always.

- Mahatma Gandhi

If you listen to MAGAnauts, crime is out of control, immigrants are pouring over our wide-open southern border, and good, God-fearing White Conservative Christian Cisgender Heterosexual Patriots are no longer safe on our streets. That none of that is even remotely true matters not all to MAGA Nation. Their fearless leader has drilled the propaganda into them; they’ve internalized it, so to them, it’s Gospel.

That sales job will deliver the planet to Big Oil so they may buy him the Presidency and the ability to declare himself Divine All-Powerful Permanent Benevolent God-King for Life ©.

In MAGA Nation, truth is relative, and if Donald Trump says it, it’s the truth, if even it can be debunked by conventional means, which is often all too easy.

In 2016, there was reason to suspect that Russia was conducting disinformation and misinformation campaigns on behalf of the Trump campaign. In 2020, it was common knowledge. Now, in 2024, it’s accepted that the Russians (and possibly the Chinese) are playing even more prominent roles in deploying propaganda to sway undecided voters to vote for Trump.

With much of the Right-wing Echo Chamber also playing the propaganda game, the truth can and very often is taken quite a beating. For example, Joe Biden has had one helluva time getting the message across that the economy under his watch has significantly improved over when Lord Stumblefuck was President. Yet, most Americans (and almost all MAGAnauts) believe the economy was far better under Trump.

WTeverlastingF??? Most polls still show that most Americans still trust Trump over Biden when it comes to handling the economy. NOW do you believe that the vast majority of man-on-the-street Americans are, by and large, are fucking morons?

Truth can be hard to communicate whenever Donald Trump is involved. Still, by virtually any indicator, today’s economy is far better than when Trump was soiling the Oval Office. Unemployment, productivity, the trade imbalance—all those numbers and more have improved significantly. Not only that but the recession many economists had predicted never happened.

Yes, inflation has proven to be sticky, but that number is the lowest in the industrialized world. The fact is that the American economy during the Biden Administration is hitting on pretty much all cylinders. Does that mean this rising tide has lifted all boats? Sadly, no, but improving economies are always imperfect. They never pick up everyone along the way.

The American economy is doing pretty well in a macro sense. In a micro sense, where individuals experience their own personal economy, some are doing pretty well while others struggle, but that’s how it always is in America. It’s the product of many factors that are out of the President’s control and rest far more on the shoulders of the individual.

The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.

- Edmund Burke

Not every individual economic difficulty can be blamed on the President. Nor can every success be credited to them. A President receives far too much blame when things break down and not nearly enough credit when things are humming along smoothly—but that’s human nature.

Sadly, just as was confirmed in 2016 and 2020, this Presidential contest will come down to whether Democrats can effectively combat the propaganda and the bullshit peddled by Trump, his acolytes, and whatever foreign powers—primarily Russia—decide to lend their assistance and muddy the waters.

If Democrats can get enough of their message across to counteract the lies, propaganda, and avalanche of pure, unadulterated bullshit directed at undecided voters, Joe Biden will win re-election. If not—well, then who knows what will happen? We may wake up on January 21, 2025, to find ourselves living in Gilead.

Then again, maybe if Donny Diaperfull keeps ruminating about Hannibal Lecter, undecided voters might finally come to understand just how batshit crazy and unfit to be President the man is.

And perhaps if we can convince enough good and decent Americans to vote, we’ll dodge a bullet. This time. But what happens the next time? And the time after that? How long can American democracy survive the constant onslaught from those on the Right who hate democracy and want nothing more than to destroy it?

I suppose we’ll keep fighting, one battle at a time, eh? What else can we do but stand up for democracy whenever a threat comes?

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