What I Can't Process is the number of people who fell for the

[malaise]

biggest Con of their lives. How could anyone who had done basic research about Don the Con sign on to have anything to do with him or his administration?

[warrior1]

1. Greed is mighty powerful drug.

[Proud Liberal Dem]

5. And hatred

So many people had been stoked and prodded into developing an irrational hatred and fear of Hillary Clinton, so much so that she was, bizarrely, viewed as more unacceptable than Trump.

[renate]

59. Hatred is the reason, IMO

Well, that and its close relative, blind anger.

[shanti]

66. Yes, hatred

We aren't technically at war with anyone outside, and they have to have someone to hate, so they go inside for their hate and anger.

[Texin]

68. And fear. And people hate whom they fear.

It doesn't take much for a demagogue to stoke up the worst by blaming The Other.

[malaise]

8. Greed? What was his record related to bankruptcies, debt, not paying

people, treatment of women, lying, low life behavior. etc., etc. Seriously I don't get it.

[el_bryanto]

31. I don't think they thought he would make them any money

Rather he would stay out of the way of regulations and exploitive business practices that will allow them to make make even more money at the expense of the working class.

Bryant

[malaise]

32. OK that makes sense

for the predator group

[2naSalit]

36. +1

[WhiteTara]

37. I think it's about Power which is

a part of greed.

[yellowdogintexas]

45. Power, Greed, Hate and Abortion

the new 4 horsemen of the apocolypse. Or maybe it is Golf Carts of the Apocolypse?

[WhiteTara]

52. I'd say Envy rather than abortion

Of course, the beginning link is ignorance and then followed by all the above, according to Buddhists.

[LiberalLovinLug]

55. Power is a big draw

Especially in that all of these appointees know they would never, obviously, be appointed under a Democratic administration. But more than that, most of these incompetent sycophants know they would be way down the list even for a moderate Republican administration. I wouldn't doubt many were surprised to get the opportunity.

[Meadowoak]

38. SUPREME COURT!

[tblue37]

57. And innumerable federal judges. nt

[bdamomma]

2. hope they choke on

it too. Greed.

[onecaliberal]

3. I'm sorry but the Access Hollywood tape would have done it for any of them with a modicum of

brainpower.

[Proud Liberal Dem]

7. There are so many points at which he could have/should have been stopped

but, surprisingly, wasn't. And it's mystifying.

[Unbelievable]

4. Ask Occam

It almost always works.

[CanonRay]

6. The answer lies in the term "basic research"

This whole concept is foreign to Trump supporters.

[empedocles]

9. trump was, and is, shrewd at making and using anti-elitism as far rw issue

There is a strong undercurrent of distrust of elites across the entire political spectrum, which accounts for some of the support Dem purists cannot figure out.

[lapfog_1]

10. People who feel like they are victims

that the "elites" run things... people who used to be middle class (mostly white middle class)

they all wanted to "be on top" and "stick it to those coastal elites who make way more money"

they are largely high school educated... non professionals... and they wonder where the large house paid off, the RV and 2 weeks of vacation... where all of that went because they can't afford it.

And while they blame immigrants and trade deals and outsourcing, mostly they are jealous of the rest of us.

So Trump was the guy that said "I'll be President of YOU and not the liberals in California, I'll stick it to them for you, I'll reverse things and bring back the 1960s and you will be on top".

And they believed him.

[malaise]

16. That's what I don't get - they believed him

Last edited Tue Oct 15, 2019, 12:32 PM - Edit history (1)

Why would anyone believe such a discredited scoundrel?

[Meadowoak]

40. They didn't/don't care, they weren't voting for a President, they were voting for a Supreme court.

[yellowdogintexas]

46. they are afraid a group they have looked down on for decades

is going to take away from them things they have considered belong to them Control, power, supression, etc

[democrank]

11. The people around Thug Trump had no hard-core values to begin with.

They came at a very cheap price....little extra cash, a “power” position, imagined prestige. In truth, they were/are all willing to sell out their country for personal gain using an inflated sense of self.

It sickens me.

[malaise]

15. These are the ones I meant

Forget the base - which sane person would accept an appointment from this kakistocracy led by this unethical buffoon? Forget the racism and everything else - who would want to be associated with this idiot?
He reminds me of a road side three card trick man believing he could enter the black jack competition. He just uses the same old tired tricks, noise, bullying, projection, lies, blame others. I am so tired of this madness.

[calimary]

12. Beats me. It was all right out there in the open.

And it was talked about. And warned against. Hillary’s got a better track record for predictions than Jeane Dixon - about this guy.

[mopinko]

13. there was a very sophisticated psyop going on.

i am close to one of those obama/trump voters.
he 100% fell down the breitbart/info wars/zerohedge rabbit hole.
imho, it's about poking people's paranoia.

he thinks he found the key to the truth by reading between the lines of msm. by picking things apart w a big dose of whataboutism.
i think once you crack someone's trust like that, they are at your mercy unless they unplug.

i dont think many will ever snap out of it, but i have some hope for this one. he is very dear to me.

[shanti]

67. Putin was a former spy

and he knows all about psyops. He tried it on several other countries at first, and it worked. Voila.

[mopinko]

72. it's not lost on me that

cambridge took tools meant to identify people who were on a path to being radicalized, so that they could be stopped/saved, and put it to use to do just the opposite.

i'm watching a good person start to sound like an isis recruit, and i cant believe my country.

[ooky]

14. Research wasn't even necessary. Anyone with a functioning brain could see

he wasn't fit to hold any kind of public office, much less POTUS.

[unblock]

17. there are many elements of effective propaganda in the foxnews/hate radio/republican party network

they agree to tell the same lies on a regular basis, so cult members hear the same line from multiple sources without realizing they're coordinated. this makes them seem very credible.

they all dismiss any source out of that network as illigitimate, biased, fake news, etc., so they really don't get a contrary opinion; or if they do, it's instantly branded as the enemy.

the legitimate media has failed miserably in calling out this propaganda network and has only recently barely started to suggest that foxnews may be biased. by failing to treat them as propaganda, they granted them legitimacy they didn't deserve.

most important, they've been doing this for *decades*. this is not a new thing with donnie, it's merely gotten worse and more obvious, at least to those of us who aren't caught under their spell.


remember that donnie has said virtually nothing that hasn't already been on foxnews. he is, in many ways, just your typical foxnews viewer. if you've ever had a conversation with a foxnews addict, you know they always sounded much like donnie, ever before donnie stole the oval office.

in 2016, even the non-foxnews media gave 80% of their news airtime to donnie, and 80% of the hillary airtime was fake scandals.


so, really, why *wouldn't* they fall for it?

[BlancheSplanchnik]

84. This.

[Botany]

18. One of the big reasons is that Trump scratched an itch that "they" all had

Hillary is a b***h d**e with a liberal agenda.

I am no longer politically correct and it feels good to say the word n****r too.

He will let me keep my gun.

[malaise]

21. So they couldn't find someone who could fulfill their bigoted dreams who was

not an abysmal failure and an unethical piece of shit.

[Botany]

28. I think Trump had Russian help in the primary too

n/t

[malaise]

29. I agree

[Botany]

30. alexander torshin (maria butina's handler) examining a voting machine in 2013

Link to tweet

Torshin was very busy in PA in 2016

[Hortensis]

19. To oppose Democrats. Seriously, they've been trained as attack dogs,

with their full compliance, but to the point that opposing anything that whiffs of liberalism is their strongest, really only remaining ideology. Conservatism is a gut reaction without an established intellectual basis, very unlike liberalism. What few conservative principles people like Bill Buckley tried to establish were destroyed by the plutocrats they got in the way of.

But it's important to realize:

Most did NOT fall for the con.

Most pretended/believed voting for him was about reestablishing responsible courts and stopping runaway liberalism that threatens democracy and freedom.

Most understand that much of what they're promoting is lies, but they regard them as footballs that are handed off to them to loyally grab and run with.

Everyone should read about conservative personality and how it plays out and is used in politics. The conservatives' typically darker view of humanity and of the world and fear/resistance to change must once have been very valuable in providing ballast to societies, to protecting villages from predators in tall grasses and strangers carrying diseases.

But it's far less compatible with the cooperations required by liberal democracy and a crowded, very diverse world where strange people flow around the planet by the millions every day. Our world and ways of living are now changing more each decade than they did for 20,000 years, so for conservatives constant uncertainty and anxiety is also a way of life.

A Conservative is a fellow who is standing athwart history yelling 'Stop!' ~ William F. Buckley, Jr.

[NoMoreRepugs]

20. Bush Jr was RE ELECTED.....what else does anyone need

to understand about a Rethug voter and why they may vote for tRUMPY......brain scans would show NOTHING for the lot of them.

[malaise]

22. Did Bush ever win a Presidential election?

Gore won in 2000 and Mike Connell died in a mysterious plane crash
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/the-intriguing-death-of-t_n_153518

[NoMoreRepugs]

27. Touche.

[Blue_Tires]

23. They hated Hillary and "establishment" Dems

more than they feared Trump...

[Meadowoak]

74. They wanted pro life justices on the SCOTUS

[malthaussen]

24. I'd guess you aren't disaffected enough...

.... to grasp at the slenderest reed of affirmation.

Perception is everything. I believe that most of Mr Trump's supporters perceive that they have been ripped off six ways to Sunday, to the point where the wish to "get back" at those who have taken from them receive their just desserts is overwhelming. Along comes someone who gleefully gets away with destroying all the conventions which they, themselves, no longer respect because they see them as part of the mechanism keeping them down. His biggest promise is to screw "them" royally. It takes examination of the fine print to realize that he's also going to screw you just as bad, or harder.

And that screwing is not so obvious, and is mediated by the great validation one receives for his own hatred, and his own perception of having been wronged. As Mr Trump continues to feed those perceptions, indeed to inflame them more and more, some never even notice the knife being slipped into their backs.

Anyway, that's my guess.

-- Mal

[philly_bob]

25. A thirst for liberals' tears.

Also: some people just want to see the world burn.

[LanternWaste]

26. I think they were more invested in what they stood against at the expense of what they stood for.

I don't think they fell for anything other than the end-result of their own anger at non-white, non-male success.

My guess is that his base voters were more engaged in what/who they hated ("Clintoon", 'libtards', 'furners' etc.) than what they actually wanted, and that that hatred and desire to defeat the opposition was a much greater priority to them. The end result (i.e., a petulant man-child as their de-facto leader) became inconsequential if it meant another notch in the belt.

And in the here and now, they are forced to either justify and rationalize the unjustifiable and the irrational, or admit they made a mistake. And never look to anyone with that much anger in their hearts to admit errant choices. Hate radio gave them the rhetorical tools they needed to defend the idiocy and bufoonery of this administration as some sort of 'stable-genius.'

[Kaleva]

33. "The Confidence Game: The Psychology of the Con and Why We Fall for It Every Time "

"he Confidence Game: The Psychology of the Con and Why We Fall for It Every Time by Maria Konnikova
I would especially recommend this book to people who think they are too smart to be taken by a confidence trickster. If this book tells us anything, it is that regardless of social status or level of education, a person can willingly become a victim of a confidence game. Human beings seem to have inbuilt psychological vulnerabilities. Con artists are people with a highly developed capacity to spot these vulnerabilities and exploit then, usually for personal gain. Konnikova moves easily from case studies to psychological theory, building a picture of the dynamics in the relationship between the ‘con-er’ and the conned. She ranges across the entire spectrum of fraudulent behaviour. In so many instances, it is remarkable to find how some victims are so willing to ignore the warning signs that they are victims of a scam. Even more remarkable are some cases where victims refuse to believe the perpetrators are guilty. An important lesson to draw from this book is just how vulnerable people are to being taken for a ride. The con artist exists in many fields, and not just to defraud people of money or their possession. Those who recruit terrorists for suicide missions for example -exploiting religious and personal vulnerabilities- are players in the confidence game.
29/08/2016"

https://www.amazon.com/Confidence-Game-Psychology-Fall-Every/dp/1782113916/ref=sr_1_2?keywords=The+Confidence+Game%3A+The+Psychology+of+the+Con+and+Why+We+Fall+for+It+Every+Time&qid=1571153932&s=books&sr=1-2

[Initech]

34. What kills me is that Obama was/is a man of the people.

He went out in public and actually did stuff. Trump golfs at golf courses with his name on them. Yet, Obama is the elitist? GTFO!

[malaise]

35. What kills me is that this uncouth piece of shit is the stereotype they created for

the African-American male, but they accept it as down home behavior - as in who needs politically correct behavior. They would have lynched Obama for less.

[WhiskeyGrinder]

39. People have trouble letting go of white supremacy. It feels like a loss.

[JHB]

41. Continuous axe-grinding is highly addictive, powerfully hallucinogenic...

...and very, very lucrative to its purveyors.

Snort lines of axe-grindings for a couple of decades, and you're all for the guy who promises to "legalize" it.

[machoneman]

42. Honestly, the further away from NY city, the less folks knew or cared about Trumpy!

I kid you not.

[mudstump]

43. How could they?....they agree with him. They're just like him.

It's a mental disorder and I know people who have it.

[Cosmocat]

44. Decades of hate framing "liberals"

And a country stupid enough to indulge it.

[defacto7]

47. The GOP needed a tool for their long range agenda.

Where they misjudged is how much pliability and stupidity it would take to reach their goal. They gave tRump's background too low a priority and underestimated his ignorance.

[Hassler]

48. Remember, Hoover got nearly 40% of the vote against FDR--4 years into the Great Depression!

[Kaleva]

56. And all Southern states went for liberal egghead Adlai Stevenson II over war hero Ike

[matt819]

49. And still do

Call it the biggest cult in American history.

[gordianot]

50. I blame those who gave him his reality show Apprentice.

The impression it gave was Donald Trump something he has never been. His only real accomplishment in life is he has managed not to be incarcerated for crimes too numerous to mention.

[AllyCat]

51. I have a family member that everyone in the family believes

Has “the sight”. Yet she fell for the Con and 3 husbands out to deceive her from the start. Always swindled by the Carney barker and the slimy salesman.

[qazplm135]

53. owning the libs

about 25 percent of the country has that as a primary goal. It feeds their pleasure centers.

The rest wanted conservative judges, or tax reform, or simply bought into how evil and crooked Hillary was and so voted for Trump hoping that he was just acting a role.

He's never going to lose the first group. I don't think he loses the "want conservative judges" group either.

But he might lose the folks who were more about pure economics (since it's clear the economy is about to take a turn) and those who hated Hillary more than liked him.

And that will be enough to beat him given the razor thin margin he won by last time.

[marybourg]

54. "anyone who had done basic research".

There’s the problem right there.

[BigmanPigman]

58. Many Americans are fucking morons AND apathetic about politics.

I knew this and it is why I said he would win, even though I hoped he wouldn't. They aren't much interested in politics now but may be slightly less apathetic. Many people are just plain tired of this shit by now.

[Grasswire2]

60. 40 years of hate AM radio. nt

[OkSustainAg]

61. Not just uninformed support Trump.

All these corporate "Educated" Wall streeters did too. They own this also.

[hibbing]

62. racism n/t

[dchill]

63. They didn't fall. They dove headlong...

They still want to MAGA.

[OMGWTF]

64. Authoritarian Personality Disorder

That's why the Rethuglicans joined forces with the Evangelicals -- the leaders who are largely corrupt evildoers and the followers are braindead robots with no conscience, who do what they're told to do by their overlords in the church. The followers have no curiosity or thoughts of their own and most likely, have unresolved childhood issues. IOW, they're easy marks.

These days when someone tells me they're a Christian, I tell them "Thanks for the warning" and run the other way. For the last several years, my New Year's resolution has been to avoid all religious jerks, idiots and assholes, and my life has never been better!

[Politicub]

65. A large portion are entertained by Trump's destruction of people's lives.

Others think he is some messianic figure bringing about the apocalypse. And the rich supporters gobble up his tax policy since it lets them off the hook for paying their fair share. Some think he is funny, and that's enough for them.

If any conning is happening, his supporters consent to being conned.

Hillary was right.

[OhZone]

69. I think I have figured out how a lot of these people think-

I know some Rump supporters and they have a very different set of morals than I do and I bet most of us do.

We think that what's right is right.
What is wrong is wrong.
We feel a deep centered sense of fairness, and it's to be applied to everyone.
Or that's how I think.

They don't. They are tribal and hierarchical.
They think they're doing right. But it's only for their clan, their tribe. That's how they can be sociopaths, but only to outsiders (most of humanity).
And a lot of cons think that right and wrong are what they are told is right and wrong.
It isn't felt in their core like a lot us feel it.

What do you all think?

[BajaDoll]

73. It hit me square between the eyes

Hi everyone. This is my first post ever so here goes. I had the TV on the other night and here comes a promo for a WWE "Main Event" and that's when I saw it. The audience had a uncanny similarity to the people who still go to see you know who. That is who we are up against, I even remember seeing a video of him at a WWE "Bash". He was there doing the same act he is doing now and they were loving it. I don't think we will ever get those people back. Sad.

[OhZone]

75. Welcome to DU!

I am honored your first post is a reply to me!

You're right about the similarity.

I think there are a lot of people we will never get or get back.

They do not feel empathy for anyone outside their small tribe.

[malaise]

79. These are the same folks who would have turned out for a lynching back in the day

Welcome to DU

[lunatica]

70. I really don't get it either

I still can’t reconcile how much hate there is out there. I can’t get past the cavalier and casual indifference and dismissal of putting little children in cages. Now that extends to the murder of Kurdish children. If you don’t feel even a pang of pain or anger you must be a monster.

We all live with monsters as our neighbors and our co-workers. It chills me to the bone.

[Skittles]

87. so they actually respect someone like Kavanaugh

I don't get ANYONE who votes for racism, misogyny, anti-worker, etc.....which INCLUDES repuke SC folk

[Polybius]

93. They don't believe Christine Blasey Ford

One said something to the effect of "even if it's true, what happens at 17 stays at 17." I pointed out that the other accuser (who claims Kav wagged his penis in her face) happened when he was in his early 20's. His answer was "Show me something in the past 10 or even 20 years. People grow up."

Both of these guys seem to like Gorsuch better though.

[Skittles]

95. so they also believe sexual attacks are A-OK

they're fucking DISGUSTING

and Gorsuch took a seat STOLEN from someone else

[dawg day]

76. From what I can tell from Trumper relations--

The ones who aren't just yellow dog Republicans ("I'd vote for a yellow dog if that's the GOP nominated&quot , are personally devoted to Trump. Nothing he says or does bothers them. He says it, he does it, so it's good. They don't care if it's contradictory or false or a lie or slanders people that last week they liked. They don't care if it's against America. They wouldn't say it this way (They'd say, "Trump is the only one on America's side&quot , but they are for Trump far more than they are for America, and they would argue that everything about America is wrong if it's against Trump-- the law, democracy, free elections, free press, the FBI, their children, their former friends...

It's completely irrational. I would say the ones I know best love Trump more than they love anyone in their lives. They'd never defend from a child of theirs what they defend Trump doing. So when we say, "What would you think if Obama had solicited and taken help from Putin to get elected or to trash a competitor?" once they get past the obligatory "But Obama did!".... they'd probably think and try to say in some "acceptable" way-- "Well, no one else should do it. But it's good that Trump did it because it got him elected and that saved us all."

I don't think any amount of evidence would sway them. Their devotion is totally to him. I don't know why they worship him, what they see that we don't. But it's truly like a cult. What did the Rajneeshis see in the little old SILENT Bhagwan? Whatever they needed to see to worship him. Trumpers need to worship, and Trump is the one who demands it-- no other politician, frankly, would do that.


it's scary, because when he leaves office, they will not see it as a triumph of democracy or even just the general way of things, that every four or eight years there is a change of president. They'll see it as an outrage, because whatever Trump wants, he should get absolutely.

They aren't going to go quietly.

[Thomas Hurt]

77. Many on the right never really know if God hates the same people as they do...

that don't have that problem with Trump.

[MFGsunny]

78. A witch's brew of fear, anxiety and stress were the 3 rock-bottom bedfellows of MF45's voters.

BUT we all experience those 3 feelings at various times. And usually only very small minds and very small hearts form behavioral catastrophes from those feelings.

Far from Christian in practice.
Far from American in values.
Far from Educated in civic engagement.

And far, far, far, far from acting on FACTS.

[maxrandb]

80. They didn't "fall" for shit!

This is exactly what they fucking wanted. They knew who this fuckstick was from the second he came down his gilded escalator.

This absolute waste of orange skin promised to hurt the people "they" most wanted to see get hurt.

They "fell" for nothing... they knew precisely who they were hitching their wagon to.

Listen to 5 fucking minutes of Hate Radio and you'll see I'm telling the truth.

People that supported, voted for, or agreed to work for this amphibian turd, cannot now say; "oh well, guess he fooled me".

Fuck them all to hell. They've lost their souls.

I laugh when some fucknut says something like; "oh, I wish he wouldn't tweet..."

What they are really saying is that they're all onboard with the rest of the evil corrupt shit he does.

Don't let these fuckers off the hook by suggesting they "fell" for something.

[malaise]

81. Wow - this is scary

Damn!

[JonLP24]

82. Check out The Forgotten by Ben Bradlee Jr

It is about an Obama - Trump county in Pennsylvania

"This is a book that should be absorbed by millions of Democrats who still cannot understand how Donald Trump won in 2016. Bradlee did what the brightest editors in New York and California did not assign their reporters to do: he spent months talking to white working-class Americans in a rural county in Pennsylvania--a nominally blue state--and learned the hard way on the job, that Trump was a far more viable candidate than the elite thought. This is a real reporter's book." - Seymour M. Hersh

I think Moore's Farenheit 11/9 explained why there was a huge turnout drop off from prior Presidential elections in Flint, MI which contributed to Trump's win.

[malaise]

83. Thank you

Moore's 11/9 is the only one of his documentaries we haven't purchased. Will sort that out by Christmas.

Are there any books on how he stole those close states?

[Claritie Pixie]

85. He feeds an emotional need for them.

Either because they felt abandoned or less than, or because they are just like him, or because they are benefitting financially.

Facts, basic research and his own vile behavior mean nothing to them.

[Skittles]

86. everyone who actually VOTED for that fascist buffoon utterly DISTRACED America

I will NEVER forgive them

[spanone]

88. K&R...

Frightening how many still support him after observing him for three years.

[obamanut2012]

89. They didn't fall for it, they embraced it

[Martin Eden]

90. Some MAGAts see Trump for what he really is

And they LOVE him for it.

They love the racism.

They love the cruelty.

And they ABSOLUTELY LOVE the constant stream of invective that drives the libruls to despair.

Truly a basket of DEPLORABLES.

[kentuck]

91. It was an unprecedented propaganda campaign, perhaps a propaganda war?

Led by Putin and a useful idiot.

He was a salesman.

He believed in his power of persuasion.

But, he was unsophisticated.

He was arrogant and narcissistic.

He had little concept about right or wrong or the rule of law.

[NCLefty]

94. 30 million more voters didn't even show up than voted for Donald Trump. (92 million total)

And Fox News IS research to his supporters. :/

All of it certainly is disheartening but Putin+GOP wins again if we lose our energy.