Why Do People Continue Supporting Trump No Matter What He Does?

Note: I am shocked and saddened by the demeanor and tone of Tuesday night's Presidential debate. More than being a train wreck for both candidates, it was a strong blow to our democracy. I found some thoughts by a gentleman named Mark Falge from the South on this subject that might help to explain my confusion about the subject of this blog. Stay with me until the end - I have some personal experience from his "neck of the woods." Enjoy. Previous installments of my weekly blog from 2013 can be found on my website at https://stevemarshallassociates.com/steves-blog/

Why Do People Continue Supporting Trump No Matter What He Does?

"Y'all don't git it. I live in Trump country, in the Ozarks in southern Missouri, one of the last places where the KKK still has a relatively strong established presence. They don't give a shit what he does. He's just something to rally around and hate liberals, that's it, period. He absolutely realizes that and plays it up. They love it. He knows they love it.

The fact that people act like it's anything other than that proves to them that liberals are idiots, all the more reason for high fives all around. If you keep getting caught up in "why do they not realize this problem" and "how can they still back Trump after this (or that) scandal," then you do not understand what the underlying motivating factor of his support is. It's f#%k liberals, that's pretty much it.

Have you noticed he can do pretty much anything imaginable, and they'll explain some way that rationalizes it that makes zero logical sense? Because they're not even keeping track of any coherent narrative, it's irrelevant. F#%k liberals are the only relevant thing. Trust me; I know firsthand what I'm talking about.

That's why they just laugh at it all because you all don't even realize they genuinely don't give a f#%k about whatever the conversation is about. It's just a side mission story that doesn't matter anyway. That's all just trivial details - the economy, health care, whatever. F#%k liberals.

Look at the issue with not wearing the masks. I can tell you what that's about. It's about exposing fear. They're playing chicken with nature, and whoever flinches just moved down their internal pecking order, one step closer to being a liberal. You've got to understand the one core value that they hold above all others is hatred for what they consider weakness because that's what they believe strength is, hatred of weakness. And I mean passionate, sadistic hatred. And I'm not exaggerating. Believe me.

Sadistic, passionate hatred, and that's what proves they're strong, their intense hatred for weakness. Sometimes they will lump vulnerability in with weakness. They do that because people tend to start humbling themselves when they're in some compromising or overwhelming circumstance, and to them, that's an obvious sign of weakness.

Kindness = weakness.

Honesty = weakness.

Compromise = weakness.

They consider their very existence to be superior in every way to anyone who doesn't hate weakness as much as they do. They believe liberals to be weak people that are inferior, almost a different species, and the fact that liberals are so weak is why they have to unite in large numbers, which they find disgusting. Still, it's that disgust that is a true expression of their natural superiority. Go ahead and try to have a logical, rational conversation with them. Just keep in mind what I said here and be forewarned."

Editor's Notes: I realize that the above diatribe is an oversimplified view of a more complex issue, vis-a-vis the current President's psyche, but having lived in the South a few times, some of it does resonate with me.

During the summer of 1974, I was pursuing additional flight certifications/licenses in fixed-wing aircraft. I was able to land a job as a ferry pilot with a used airplane broker in Arkansas. My job was to fly used airplanes that he bought and sold all over the South, including Arkansas, Alabama, Mississippi, Georgia, Louisiana, and Tennessee.

The owner of the business was a frugal operator. Whenever I had to stay overnight on an outbound leg of a pickup or a delivery of an airplane, he arranged for me to stay with one of his relatives at their homes. A typical landing at some remote airport would include me being greeted by someone in a pickup truck who gave me a simple question, "You Steve?" and when I nodded in the affirmative, we were off to his home where his wife had already prepared a delicious dinner of the south's best cuisine.

After dinner, he and I would usually retire to the front porch to chat about the world and current events. This was when I had some shocking revelations about how sheltered I was living in the northern part of the USA. Also, this is where my resonance with the above dialogue by Mark Falge would come into focus - 46 years ago, the conversations differed little from what is being portrayed from the present in the above. At times I felt like the Civil War was still being fought and that the 1863 Emancipation Proclamation hadn't made it into print in the South. I always got glancing blows about my northern heritage, but sometimes tempered by a backhanded compliment of, "You're not that bad for a Yankee, Steve."

I remembered that I was a guest in this person's home and would listen but usually not offer too much rebuttal; I knew that it would be pointless to argue my viewpoint, so I would typically mumble some pleasantries and say goodnight. In the morning, after a breakfast of biscuits and gravy or grits and runny eggs, I would be shuttled off to the local airport for my next flight and was grateful for the solitude I would have during the next leg of my journey.