Understanding
Trump’s Base
The great mystery over the past three years (as of this
column’s posting) has been why Donald Trump’s “base” have been so
loyal to him. From a wannabe contender
to being President of the United States, Trump has had a steady group of
followers that support and defend him no matter what he says or does. Trump himself once
boasted proudly that he could shoot someone in the middle
of 5th Avenue in New York and not lose a single voter, and, ever
since then, he and his “base” have been proving him right.
They know that Trump lies. They
don’t care. He lies to their faces. They don’t care. He says the most outrageous, exaggerated,
self-aggrandizing things in the world.
They don’t care. He is a
hypocrite. They don’t care. He behaves like a pampered, impetuous child
in the company of world leaders. They
don’t care. He screws them over, he
screws the nation over, he even jeopardizes the country’s security and
stability. They do not care! They love him and worship him and defend him
to the absurd extreme just the same.
And that blind loyalty has been driving the rest of the world crazy! They see what Trump is doing and they wonder
how the hell the people aren’t just rising up and getting rid of him.
Well, it’s easy to point to history and make the parallels between Trump
and his American “base” to a certain Austrian painter and his German supporters
in the 1930’s, but it still does not explain Trump’s base and what makes them
different from their German predecessors.
That failed Austrian painter had to win over his fanatical base, and it
took several failed elections – not to mention the onslaught of the Great
Depression – for that to happen.
And it is equally easy to say that Trump’s base is a “cult”, given their
fanatic devotion to him and whatever it is he says or does at the moment. Except that a cult forms around a charismatic
leader. The leader has to be there
first. With Trump and his base, it’s the
other way around.
Plenty of people, including myself, have pointed out that Trump is not the
real problem. It is his base that is the
real problem. The people that support
him and defend him no matter what he says or does are the true problem in
America. They are the real danger.
So... who are they? What are they?
First of all, what I’m going to say about them comes from decades of
observation. Yes, decades. Because I’ve seen these people over the
years. They are my neighbors, my
relatives, and some of them are even friends.
They’re your neighbors, relatives, and friends as well. They’re the ones that you talk to just as
long as the talk is not about politics.
Second, not everything that I say about them will reflect the whole
base. Not everyone that supports Trump
does so for the same reasons. Some
people are just plain unrepentant jackasses, to put it mildly. Others will contradict what I say because
they are either in denial about themselves or because they’re afraid that I’ve
exposed the truth about them. Just
remember that knowledge is power, and knowing your enemy gives you the edge
over them.
Third, while I refer to them as “Trump’s base”, they’re not really
Trump’s. They actually pre-date any kind
of political aspirations that Trump may have had. They’re just easier to identify now simply
because they’ve latched onto Trump.
The best way to describe Trump’s base can be summed up in two words:
divine entitlement.
This can be traced back to the wave of evangelical thinking in the 19th
century that went hand-in-hand with the rise of the Industrial Age. It is the personal conviction that they are
“God’s chosen people”; that America was personally given to them by God; and
that all the freedoms they claim to cherish were given to them by God to use as
they see fit.
This the same thinking that led to the delusional doctrine of “American
Exceptionalism”, that America is somehow “special” and that we have an
obligation to spread that “exceptionalism” everywhere. It was the justification that led to us
forcing out the indigenous tribes off their lands so we can turn them into
homes and cities and states. It also led
to the notion set by
President Teddy Roosevelt that America should be the
world’s policeman.
But it is that personal notion of divine entitlement that exists in
Trump’s base today. That delusion that
they are “chosen” and “special” and “exceptional” – by God – is what defines
not only their political view but also their worldview. They blindly support Israel because of its
biblical connection, but otherwise, it’s “U.S. versus them” and “With U.S. or
against U.S.”. And, yes, that includes
our longtime allies.
And by “they” seeing America as given to them by God, I do not mean all
Americans. Only them. Only the people that are currently Trump’s
base. They believe that *they* are God’s
chosen people. Not you and me. Them.
That America was given to *them* by God – and only to *them* - to use as
they see fit. That the freedoms that
*they* enjoy are only given to *them* by God but *they* decide whether the rest
of us would be *allowed* to use them, and under which circumstances.
Oh, and if you or I don’t like that, then *they* insist that we leave,
because they firmly believe that we are the intruders in *their* country. There is no inclusion in their delusional
notion of divine entitlement. There is
no tolerance. There is only *their* will
and *our* submission or removal.
No, they won’t tell you that right to your face. At least, not unless they are in an argument. But they sure as hell will say as much in
social media. Or they’ll gladly share it
and re-tweet it.
Much like a cult, the base believe that their supposedly God-given nation
and God-given freedoms are always under attack.
There is *always* an enemy to fear in their minds. For all their talk about God and his “grace”
and his “blessings” and his “protection”, they are the most insecure lot around.
The threat that they believe exists, though, is supposedly *their*
country not being led by and reflecting *their* views. Much like that certain German group in the
1930’s, Trump’s base believe that the only way America would be “great” is if
they are the ones in charge of things.
So they latch onto anyone and anything that will give them that. Political parties don’t really matter to
them. Only whomever would give them that
power. They thought they had that with President
Ronald Reagan. They didn’t. They thought they had that with Speaker Newt
Gingrich and the GOP Congress. They didn’t. They thought they had it with President
George W. Bush. They didn’t. They thought they had it with the so-called “Tea
Party” faction of the GOP. Again, they
didn’t. And that frustration has been
building over the decades. I have seen
it grow and fester like an infected wound.
I’ve heard it in talk radio calls and letters to the editor and social
media posts. I’ve even been warning
people about it all.
Now this is where Trump actually comes in.
As anyone who ever saw enough episodes of the CNBC series “American Greed”
will tell you, one of the ways that a con-artist will get your money is that they
tell you a story that plays on your wants and your dreams. Because the people that the con-artist will
sucker in are those that believe that there is an easy way to make money that
somehow eludes them. They “know” that it
exists. All the con-artist has to do is to
convince them is that he or she knows that secret, and they will gladly turn
their money over and pledge their support.
And they will blindly support that con-artist, even if the truth comes
out about that con-artist, up until the moment when they realize that their
money is gone.
Likewise, Trump was able to see these people who would become his base and
he told them what they wanted to hear. They
wanted a political savior. They believed
that God would give them someone who would deliver unto them exactly what they believe
that they are entitled to. Power and
control over America, as they believe that they were entitled by God to have. All Trump had to do was to tell them that he’s
their guy. That he – and only he – will give
them everything they want. All he needs from
them is their blind and loyal support.
And he got it.
Oh, and by the way, this same faction is extremely politically
active. They vote in every election. And they know that if the rest of us don’t,
that they end up winning.
Now here’s the disturbing part about Trump’s base... a lot of them are sadists. They love hearing about people in misery
because of Trump’s policies or actions.
They love it because, in their minds, they’ve been in “misery” because
they haven’t had their way in politics up until now. So if their “savior” causes some misery and
pain and torment and even some deaths, so be it. That’s payback in their minds.
They love hearing about Trump saying out-and-out lies and exaggerations
and make dog-whistle statements, because they know that, right now, there is no
consequence for any of it. Trump
lies. So what? Trump is a hypocrite. So what?
Trump boasts about being a nationalist.
Yup. So what? Trump throws out treaties and voids past
agreements. Boo-hoo. Cry the base a river. That’s all part of that “owning the libs”
thing that Trump’s base so love to see. Trump
has managed to weaponize his double-standards and use them to feed the sadism
in his base, which, in turn, feeds their love and devotion to him.
Let’s get brutally honest here... the real threat to America is not
President Trump, but, rather, that mass of self-entitled sadists that he has
managed to sway to his side. They are
the true bulls in the country’s glass shop.
He exists in a symbiotic relationship with them. He feeds his base and they feed him
adoration. These are not “great”
people. They are everything that America’s
founding fathers and even our ancestors used to oppose.
And getting rid of Trump – either through the ballot box or impeachment
or even with the 25th Amendment – would not be the end of his
base. They’d still be around, only now
pissed and wanting payback. We actually saw
this in Iraq after Saddam Hussein was removed.
His “Revolutionary Guard” simply took off their uniforms and began sabotaging
the reformation. Even when Saddam was convicted
in court and executed for his crimes against humanity, his base continued to
enact payback on the nation. Could Trump’s
base be like that? We can only hope that
they won’t.
Trump’s base would like to think that future history would be in their
favor. That we are in the middle of some
gilded age, where America is strong, their enemies are defeated, and, soon
enough, everything would be in their favor and it would be beautiful. Except, as a student of history, I know from the
past that it is yet another delusion from those whose reign is about to turn to
ruin. Our challenge is to ensure that it
won’t take the rest of us with it.
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