The problem is that this didn't start with Trump. He is just the perfect type of candidate to harness the lightning.

That mentality started with Lee Atwater and has slowly mutated into what it is today. All of the signs were there. It's why John McCain had such a hard time and why he had to have a "firebrand" as a running mate

The group at the center of a lot of the mutation is Fox News. Without their dedication to creating an alternate universe of reality, I don't think things would be as bad.

There's a pretty good documentary on Lee Atwater called Boogey Man and it's on Prime right now.

There is a deep schism in America. One that conservatives have slowly been losing. Progress is made and the conservative ideal of life (which has served them very well and they are quite comfortable with) has been chipped away at for decades. Obama becoming President brought it all to a head. The country was taken over by folks who don't look like them and don't think like them. They are just as afraid of losing their country to the left as the left is afraid of Trump's fascism.

Trump, regardless of any flaws he could have, has basically made the cold war that they'd been slowly losing hot, and they think that's their ticket to turning things around and winning. And he'll turn on a dime to attack anyone, so they just need to be on his side and wait for the left to be effectively destroyed and that will preserve their way of life. And so they are fanatically loyal to him and to a large degree will bear any pain as long as it hurts the right people more.

So they won't turn away from Trump no matter what and he's made it easy for them by providing the lie that he's under attack by a vast conspiracy so they can believe all his legal woes are purely political if that makes them feel more comfortable. They believe in him because he is their champion. He is their Goliath. Their Achilles. Their god-appointed savior.

They don't want the status quo, because progress was slowly happening under it. They want a hot war and Trump will deliver. And they're too willfully blind to see the cost that must eventually be paid.

all they need to do is stay home one election cycle to give a clear signal

Perhaps they too have constant messaging from their party to hold their noses and vote for him this time or joe "will destroy their way of life"

There is a saying: Democrats fall in love and Republicans fall in line.

I'm convinced that the majority of the Republican party are held hostage by a disproportionately influential alt-right voting bloc. The alt-right is pretty much about 5-10% of the party but because they are loud and violent, they get 90% of the coverage.

Republican candidates, however, know that Republicans will vote Republican no matter what so they cater their message to the alt right, knowing that come the general election, even the most liberal Republican will still vote Republican.

The sad, sad thing is....Democrats are now there too. Liberals and democracy loving Americans have to vote Democrat. But the Democrats have a different problem. Because their voting bloc is more diverse, it's harder to have a coalition. Many Democrats have to cater to moderates, and not progressives, in order to get the majority to vote. Not only that, but many moderates value "bipartisanship" whereas Republicans don't and the Republicans know that. It's why we get shit deals on bills and Republicans consistently going back on their word.

I would say all republicans.

I think “Some” is fair, there’s a good number who are all in on authoritarian fascism.

Even a guy who believes

The Mormon, the Scientologist, and the 7th Day Adventist all making fun of those silly QAnoners. 🤣

Trump supporters are out of touch with reality

The aide said that guys like me were 'in what we call the reality-based community,' which he defined as people who 'believe that solutions emerge from your judicious study of discernible reality.' [...] 'That's not the way the world really works anymore,' he continued. 'We're an empire now, and when we act, we create our own reality. And while you're studying that reality—judiciously, as you will—we'll act again, creating other new realities, which you can study too, and that's how things will sort out. We're history's actors...and you, all of you, will be left to just study what we do'

~ attributed by journalist Ron Suskind to an unnamed official in the George W. Bush administration who used it to denigrate a critic of the administration's policies as someone who based their judgments on facts

These idiots and assholes have always been with us. Trump's really piled on the clown make-up, but you can find like-minded delusional assholes going straight back to the administrations of our nation's founders.

The title of the article doesn't align with what he said (which is "a lot").

Yeah, I imagine the rest know exactly what they're doing.

Yeah, and he said MAGA chuds are too

Broken clock, blah blah blah

[note: I do know Mittens is highly educated]