When people vote for someone, or donates to their campaign, they feel invested in that candidate.

[kentuck]

The people that voted for Donald Trump are no different. Perhaps a few have changed their minds, but very few.

Over 62 million people voted for the Cheeto in the last election. We should not deceive ourselves into thinking that all those voters are going to desert him. They won't.

Forget the polls. They were wrong the last time and they will be wrong again. We need every vote we can muster to defeat this scourge.

Those voters that voted for Trump are invested in him and they will rationalize anything to keep their investment intact. That is the psychological reality of voting.

What we need to do is to remain vigilant and stay strong. More and more we will recognize that the only way we are going to get the change we need is at the polls. Even with Mueller, there is not going to be any huge change in the status quo.

Our country has been diminished by Trump and his supporters. We are less in the eyes of the world and toward progress for humanity. That is the price we pay for taking our democracy for granted.

I see a lot of posts that believe in some sort of fantasy world where Trump supporters will see the light and will desert the Russian comrade in the next election. It's not going to happen. I'm not trying to be a downer about it. I just want us to live in the real world.

[dalton99a]

1. Trump could shoot them tomorrow and they'd die praising his name and clutching their stupid red hats

[Hortensis]

5. No, but he could shoot YOU and over half would praise his

name, etc, etc. They'd need no excuses to rally around their leader, and within a day your name would be so besmirched with hate and lies that your family would have to go into hiding.

THIS is a brief and fascinating, and horrifying, explanation of this roughly 25% of American voters by someone who studied them for years.

Donald Trump and Authoritarian Followers

... While the leaders get the headlines, social scientists have long thought that the deeper problem lay in the crowd that would lift a dictator on high and carry him to power. ...Wanna-be tyrants in a democracy are just comical figures on soapboxes when they have no following. So the real…threat lay coiled in parts of the population itself, it was thought, ready someday to catapult the next Hitler to power with their votes.

... Research indicates that a bed rock 20-25% of the adults in North America is highly vulnerable to a demagogue who would incite hatred of various minorities to gain power. These people are constantly waiting for a tough “law and order,” “man on horseback” who will supposedly solve all our problems through the ruthless application of force. When such a person gains prominence, you can expect the authoritarian followers to mate devotedly with the authoritarian leader, because each gives the other something they desperately want: the feeling of safety for the followers, and the tremendous power of the modern state for the leader.

I would not say that all of the people trying to surge Donald Trump into the White House are authoritarian followers. But they almost certainly compose his hard core base. Where are the rest coming from? ...

We know a lot about authoritarian followers, but unfortunately most of what we know indicates it will be almost impossible to change their minds,... Here are some things established by experiments. See if you recognize any of these behaviors in Trump supporters. Compared with most people: ...

https://theauthoritarians.org/

There are more of us than them, though, and we'll be fine if we get out there and shoot this threat to democracy down with our votes.

[Vinca]

2. I wonder if the evangelicals realize they paid off a porn star.

You know Don didn't use his own money.

[kentuck]

3. Reportedly, he had about $130 million left over in his campaign funds.

That he was going to donate to "charity". There is no accounting of that money at this time?

Would he pay off his porn fling with campaign money?

[Vinca]

4. I bet over the past couple of weeks they scraped up a large chunk of change for her

in order to shut her up. Suddenly she decided not to go on a network show. Bet she got wind of the $7 million+ Wynn payoff.