Why?
Yes, the news is grim for Trump and his “administration,” commencing its fourth month. Not only has Trump failed to deliver on his campaign promises — end the Ukraine war on day one, fix “Biden’s inflation,” lower the cost of gas and “groceries” (according to Trump an obscure and seldom used word), etc. — Trump has launched a series of insane measures that has people so worked up that they have taken to the streets by the million to protest his “presidency” no less than four times in three months.
According to the latest polls, Trump’s approval ratings are down. What’s that you say? Surely that means they’re at least worse than Harry Truman’s or Jimmy Carter’s approval ratings, which fell to the twenties at their lowest? Nope. According to the latest Gallup poll 47% of respondents approve of Trump’s job performance. Some polls have him slightly worse, some slightly better, but let’s not quibble over small numbers.
In other words, the verdict is in. The American people think the greatest disaster in the history of the American presidency, a convicted felon who has taken a tariff-shaped wrecking ball to the economy, defied court injunctions, alienated America’s allies, ordered his thugs to kidnap people off the streets and send them to a foreign gulag is merely “below average.”
My question is the same one you have, brothers and sisters. My question is: WHY? Why don’t people see through this bastard? How is it possible that so many people don’t understand how awful this man is? Why do so many people continue to support Trump no matter what he does?
Once you eliminate the one or two percent who foolishly believe Trump will make them richer and the apolitical who don’t follow the news and respond to polls with a mental coin toss, you’re still left with a hell of a number. Who are these people, and what’s wrong with them?
The answer isn’t complicated. First, some of them get their “news,” if they follow any at all, exclusively from Fox News, Newsmax or OAN. Their comprehension of political realities is at variance with reality itself.
Second, the mainstream media, the New York Times, the Washington Post, and so on, have spent the last ten years normalising and both-sidesing Trump, so much so that many people are no longer capable of understanding how disastrous and dangerous he is.
Third, they’re stupid. Remember George Carlin’s law: “Think of how stupid the average person is and realize half of them are stupider than that.” They hear the name “Trump” in the news all the time and figure he must be good. It’s what you might call Shiny Object Syndrome.
Fourth they are full of rage and hate and bigotry and they positively adore the fact that Trump is just as full of rage and hate and bigotry as they are. They want to “own the libs.” They hate immigrants. They are members of a cult, and therefore their cult leader is never wrong. Their name is Legion, for there are many of them.
For these people mercy is weakness. One might even go to Orwellian lengths and say that for them war is peace, freedom is slavery and ignorance is strength. Sadistic, passionate hatred, is the glue that binds them together. Hatred of foreigners, immigrants and liberals. Some of them would murder us all if they had the means.
Fully 30% of the American population are MAGA cultists. That’s why that number will probably never shift until it’s much too late. Remember, Berlin lay in mouldering ruins before formerly hardcore Nazis finally turned on Hitler. And some not even then.
If Trump’s tariffs ruin the economy and make them unemployed, MAGA will find a way to blame Biden and the Democrats. They are bulletproof against logic, and will often double down if you try to convert them, so don’t bother. These are people so dumb they actually get misty-eyed when they imagine how much Trump loves them. No kidding. They have endless visions of sugar Trumps dancing in their wee little heads.
Sure there’s the odd outlier and conspiracy theorist — which is its own special brand of stupid — non-MAGAs who think Trump is really playing three-dimensional chess and his genius will be revealed. But for the most part Trump voters are stupid cultists, and they are beyond reach. We can only get rid of them by attrition, and hope the next generation understands how to think critically.
Robert Harrington is an American expat living in Britain. He is a portrait painter.