I am truly bewildered by reasonably intelligent people's support of DT, and I suspect that those of them who stop to think must be bewildered by the rest of us, who loathe him. I believe that life is a Rorschach, and I wonder what it says about Trump supporters, that they can watch his ink blots (as it were) and feel a positive response. (Please spare me your "reasons", folks. This is not about the rational part of the brain. Nor is most of politics, unfortunately.)

In a healthy democracy is there not something childish about our obsession with the profile and " fitness " of the president of the United States ? The basis of this presidential anxiety is a very dysfunctional Congress and very political Supreme Court. The majestic LAW , it seems, is not above the class strife below.
We let a shadow government decide foreign policy . Does any ordinary American have a quarrel with Russia's Vladimir Putin ?
Can we, without blushing, recommend our " democracy " , our " way of life " to the world ?

As a gay American I'm surprised none of your Trump supporters mentioned his truly noble support of the LGBTQ community, especially the threat to our community from a certain fundamentalist sect.

As a gay American you might also ask why the Dark Age has made an encore in this 21st century . As a democratic socialist I think this is most rationally explained by decaying capitalism. " Identity politics " will not save the good earth or the human species from future catastrophe.Nor will our New Colonialism in the Middle East check the growing darkness.

One of the people I interviewed did mention it. I left it out because I was aiming for a story that would be no longer than 7:20 on the radio, and I wanted to include other points.

Trump supporters can't wait to have the PC Police disbanded - not gonna happen. Being respectful, using good manners and politefulness never goes out of fashion. Mimicing a disabled reporter underscores my point. I can only hope tha DT gets an election thrubbing the likes of which have never been seen.

Are you suggesting chemotherapy or radiation?

Yes! and maybe a little bit of education in history!

It seems these Trump supporters have invaded the NPR playpen and the majority of listeners are demanding that their usual diet of pablum and cant be restored immediately.

So true. The tenor of most responders is the usual virtue posturing so beloved by Leftists.

If it's not too long for you to follow, I suggest you read "Wait, I See Something" 's response to "Mark", posted a day ago. Your attempt at an insult is feeble.

A man who has disparaged women, poked fun at a person with a disability, who has no room for anyone who disagrees with him, who called for physical violence against his protesters, who ran away from a debate because he was afraid of the moderator, who called his debate participants names, who used dick jokes in a national debate, who has yet to tell the truth about anything, or exhibit the inclination to want to obtain even a passing knowledge of the office he wants to hold....this is the guy who is going to "restore that respect?"

You have to understand the world in which Trump supporters live - the world created by conservative media.

They live in a world where there is a "war on Christmas" being waged by liberals who "don’t believe in Free Speech." They think that they are "in a war for religious liberty" as Christians are forced to "stay in the closet because [they] are being robbed of [their] dignity and respect" – claiming persecution despite being overwhelmingly in the
majority.

They live in a world where mass-shooters are "always liberal," and where mass-killings are really elaborate "false flag operations" - planned by the Obama administration, of course.

In their world, Global Warming is not only *not* a threat to humanity’s existence, but rather the "greatest hoax ever perpetrated on the American people" – and one concocted by liberals like Al Gore (who is "like Hitler") to benefit scientists who are scamming the system by funding their oh-so-glamorous lives with government grants. They think Global Warming can be disproved by a snowball, and that people only think it’s really hot out because we’re used to air-conditioning. They believe that we shouldn’t trust scientists because they "predicted Global Cooling in the 1970’s", and that science itself is 'lies straight from the pit of hell."

They live in a world in which the Black Lives Matter movement isn’t about the
alarming number of unarmed black teenagers and adults being gunned down
in the streets by some racist police officers who are systemically protected from any negative repercussions - but instead is about "thugs" with "a list of grievances that do not exist" who want to murder police officers because they’re "cop haters." They think traditional racism is over, which is why we no longer need the Voting Rights Act, and the only form of racism that still exists is "reverse racism" – that is, racism against white people (and, of course, Obama totally exhibits it). To them, there’s nothing racist about flying the Confederate flag, and those who want it taken down are "destroying the South." And yet, Obama is the "Race-baiter In Chief" because he addressed Trayvon Martin’s murder.

They live in a world where Obama stole the 2008 election through ACORN, and then stole the re-election in 2012 through ACORN again even though it no longer existed. They think he planned the Fast & Furious program to intentionally give guns to drug lords - either because he's a terrorist-lover, or because it was an elaborate double-switch to trick American into thinking that guns should be outlawed. They think he directed the IRS to target conservative groups, and that he planned (or bungled and covered up) the consulate attack in Benghazi. They think he went on an "apology tour" because he isn't proud to be American and "doesn't have American values" - possibly because he wasn't actually born in the US.

So, yeah - to them, Donald Trump is going to "restore" the office of the President.

All true. I do try to understand where their collective head is, in as much as I'm able. I even understand their anger on some points. What exasperates me is their failure to see that one guy can't magically change their lives, or the hypocrisy in the way they're trying to effect their change. They think "respect" will come back from the actions of a man who has the inability to show any. They're sick of immigrants and big money ruining the country, but they'll vote for a billionaire businessman (whose business practices have reportedly hurt countless people) who has an(other) immigrant wife. There's a war on Christianity and they long for a return to the times where traditional family values rule the day, yet their hero has children from three different women (all eye-candy-of-the-day), none of whom he had a loving relationship with. On and on and on. It's mind-blowing.

It just makes it so much more real to see it in print but this is absolutely correct.

This is absolutely not surprising - you just have to realize that today's Republican party and conservative movement has been shaped by 20 years of conservative media.

Most people who do not get their news from conservative media hear Trump say awful things, and they think "well, this is it for Trump - no one can possibly support him anymore," and then they are *shocked* when Trump continues to have support. They do not understand that Trump supporters have been conditioned by years of exposure to conservative media to already think the things that Trump says.

When Trump disparaged John McCain, that was already something that conservative media audiences were familiar with.

When Trump disparaged Muslims, that was already something that conservative media audiences were familiar with.

When Trump disparaged Mexican immigrants, that was already something that conservative media audiences were familiar with.

When Trump advocated violence - both at his rallies and toward Hillary, that was already something that conservative media audiences were familiar with.

When Trump said that Obama and Hillary were the "founder and co-founder of ISIS," that was already something that conservative media audiences were familiar with.

When Trump disparaged Elizabeth Warren for her Native American heritage, that was already something that conservative media audiences were familiar with.

When Trump makes sexist comments, that is already something that conservative media audiences are familiar with.

Just in the past few days, Trump has brought on both Roger Ailes (created and ran FOX News until a couple weeks ago) and Breitbart's Stephen Bannon; FOX News' Greg Gutfield said that "all [Trump] did was watch FOX News" for his policies because "illegal immigration and terror and race and law and order has been the staple of FOX News for 10 years," and Info Wars' Alex Jones said on his radio show that it's "surreal to talk about issues here on air, and then word-for-word hear Trump say it two days later."

Those who wish to deny that Trump is simply a reflection of the FOX News'ization of the Republican Party will continue to be *shocked* when Trump supporters continue to support him after every crazy thing he says. The way to understand Trump is to understand that his supporters live in an alternate reality created by conservative media where this stuff is not considered outrageous; it's considered normal. He won't lose support for "saying what we're all thinking."

http://waitiseesomething.co...

My "stereotype" of the typical Trump supporter boils down to "unsophisticated", and nothing I have seen prompts me to amend that assessment. These people are simply childlike in their understanding of democracy and democratic governance.

The good college-educated people in this article who nonetheless support Donald Trump are proof that college, at best, only makes one educated. Intelligence is something we are born with, not something bestowed upon us by a college degree.

Your understanding of "democracy" amounts to emoting and disparaging anyone less infantile than yourself.

Funny you say that, I hold the same stereotype for progressives. BTW, It's a Republic... not a Democracy. Keep telling yourself it is.

The USA is a plutocracy, not a democracy. A good read would be "Propaganda" by Edward L. Bernays, the "father of spin." Also, Larry Tye's biography of Bernays is a telling account of how public opinion is manipulated.

I'm familiar with Edward Bernays' work. I haven't read his biography. I'll add it to my Amazon reading list. Thanks for the heads up!

Which rights are those?

Actually, I don't want the government involved in marriage at all.

Sounds like what the egalitarian Democratic nanny state is doing, treading all over all of us!

Which is why I believe in geographic separation of political ideologies. :-P

Are not they already?
But then what geography would you put followers of a man who wants to relocate 11 million people, build walls with neighbors, disallow US citizens to return to their own country (or yes, he repudiated that later... slip of the tongue), refuses to publish his tax returns as all previous nominees did, and on every question about the detail of his plan, he screams, "Believe me!!!" He also wants to "re-negotiated" ratified treaties, choose which NATO partners to support and when, and naively believes that others will pay for all his initiatives... I suggest, Antarctica...

Funny how you don't see that almost 100% of the media doing everything they can to give H.C. the election, as something that happened in 30's Germany not to mention Russia,China and almost every other authoritarian state. We also know that The DNC rigged the process to help H.C. defeat Sanders. Not something uncommon in authoritarian states that you claim Trump would give us. So please spare me.
Trumps an idiot. but he didn't try and rig the election as your beloved Dems have done. That alone makes him a more honest than H.C. and her group could ever hope to be.
please don't fear with the help of NBC,ABC, CBS, MSNBC, NPR,PBS, Google, Facebook, Twitter, Amazon,Almost every major paper in the country, not to mention other assorted media outlets, HBO,Comedy Central, Hollywood etc etc The list is massive.( How any republican could ever get a fair shake is beyond the realm of possibility.) You have the election in the bag.