and it's taught me that the Republican party is like a cult - many support the GOP unquestioningly and with total devotion irrespective of facts. They'd vote for the worst person imaginable over a saint as long as the former was a Republican.

classic projection, all the time.

Trump supporters are low self esteemed (We suck, everyone is beating us) and terrified (all the brown people are going to kill us) folk.

Fear just cuts off rationalization so well. It's why religion is so powerful, fear of God, fear of hell, fear of persecution in your community.

What's the only thing we have to fear kids?

Look at what TV has to offer. It is geared toward the mentality of a child. Stupid is glorified. American History is no longer a subject in schools. Heck, when I went to school if we spelled something wrong on a test in Geography, it was marked wrong because of the spelling even if the answer was correct. Before I even went to high school I had had one year of American History, including how our government works and one year of Pennsylvania History because that is where my school was located. If people are not fully educated, they can be brainwashed easier. I live in a rural area where like you, if there is an R after the name, they vote for them. It could be Satan and it would not matter. And they believe anything that person tells them even if it is something impossible because of how our government functions. They seem to think that if a president wants something, all he has to do is snap his fingers. I have no idea what they think we have a Congress for. And because of the mandated formula for schools, really good teachers are no longer allowed to teach the way they want to. They have to follow the formula. I have lost both friends and relatives over this election. They just don't understand that Trump is a bag of hot air that has no clue how our government works or even respect for it and voting for him is like digging a grave to put our democratic form of government to rest.

It was very ugly, and my blood pressure went up. Their shallowness goes very deep. They will need some sort of psychological debriefing after the election; but they won't get it; and the media won't suddenly turn into educators. The manufactured hate will not go away. This is going to be a very dark time for our country, even after Hillary wins. Friendships, marriages, family ties, and community relations will be fractured almost irreparably. It will be as if 35% of our population have morphed into an entirely different species. It will be an "Age of Unreason." So much hate driving away compassion, thought, and scientific method... The Republican party has created these monsters, and Trump is merely the "head monster." The only genuine cure, in the long run, will be reform of both education and the media. I don't see that happening. So many people have turned into dumbed-down hating machines. I wish we could leave the country; but that is impossible for many reasons, including our poverty.

I guess he thought they could rebuild their homes with it?

Really useful...

That much I can tell you.

:/

... a month or so ago from a Trump-supporter I know/knew. It appears to have morphed into some tale of a Super-Trump with rolled-up sleeves, waist-deep in water personally handing out huge box loads of supplies to the needy.

Utter bullshit of course. But I swear, if Trump supporters has been told that he flew off, defying gravity, caped like Superman: many of his supporters would have believed that too. I'm serious (unfortunately).

I doubt if there's much that can be done to get through to his hard-core base, I'm sorry to say.

-P

"Das war ein BEFEHL!"

This is a very dangerous situation. We have perhaps 2/5th of the country who seems to be very volatile. Perhaps Trump will disappear, but these people are not going to disappear, they are only going to get worse because they have nothing to lose. This is clearly a pre-fascist government kind of situation and it's not going to go away just by laughing at it. There are reasons why such a huge proportion of the population is in this dangerous state of mind.

Bill Maher was right on.

It's a dangerous situation.

You don't see him as much of a force in the GOP or anywhere else now, especially with their base.

Oh, they'll go a little nutz after his defeat but I doubt it will amount to anything truly serious in the large scale of events. There will be a few violent incidents I'm afraid, but not enough to launch the fascist revolution they desire or think will happen. It will be fairly easily put down just like with the Bundy crowd and those idiots at the wildlife preserve. Death during or jail afterward for most of them .

Besides, many of the older ones are now, or soon will be - in poor health and on their way out and there aren't as many young, healthy people in the alt right to mount any type of serious insurrection.

Now, if we retake the Senate (and dare I hope) the House we need to stop playing nice with the RW and defeat, dismember, destroy and drive a stake through its heart afterward to make sure these type of people never get into power again. Ever.

Yes that was quite interesting.

I really like the idea of democratic sovereign wealth funds - provided outright theft by those running them could be avoided. Otherwise it will end up like privatizing social security. Or the Federal Reserve with the banks.

Trying to get the disparate groups within the precariat to realize their commonality is the challenge now. The salariate, or some of them at least, might feel somewhat connected to this struggle, as the author point out - but the proficians here in the USA contain a lot of Trump supporters from my observations.



'While the affluent have access to an education enabling them to liberate the mind and be
innovative, the precariat is relegated to a commodified ‘human capital’ schooling, designed to
prepare them for jobs and habituate them to a life of unstable labour, with plebeian minds.'

and often going into debt to obtain this "education" as well. ITT Tech, etc..

I'm going to go looks for works by this Standing fellow in the references.

Thanks for a good read!

I don't see the fanatic Trumpsters like many of you do. I feel for you and wish you the best after the election. There will be a lot of sore losers out there and they will want someone to take it out on. Be careful and good luck.

Our's is the only house in the neighborhood with a Hillary Clinton sign. We are literally surrounded by Trump supporters.

Sounds like a horror movie!

back in time. It is all about their unwillingness to compete. There was a time in their lives when they did not have to compete with women who were financially self sufficient. Women had few options inside or outside of a relationship. African Americans and Latinos are showing up in places that these folks are not used to seeing them. Same can be said about homosexuals. The tipping point seems to be foreign competition. The world was our oyster after WWII. The major economies of the world were in ruins, except America. Americans could achieve an upper middle class living with a high school education. But, technology has leveled the playing field. Now we must up our game to compete against labor around the world. These Trump acolytes don't believe they should have to compete with anyone, either domestic or foreign. They would like their 1950's and 1960's back please. Unfortunately, their expectations will never match reality. Thus, their constant state of self loathing.

only game in town for the most part. ... but now the playing field has been leveled.

They want the '50's back culturally and the 60's back economically (when Daddy went to work at the factory and made union wages and jobs were iron-clad). No competition-Bingo!

Something that we all should be concerned with. What will they do after Hillary wins? With Donald refusing to acknowledge acceptance of this elections' result, it appears as though they have a plan "B" to me.

I would hate to see it. We as a people and a country are better than that. What happens in 4, 8, 12 years from now or in the off year congressional elections? Will they try to block any progress with Hillary as they did with Obama and with Bill? We need to stay strong and united for Hillary and for our country.

The other day I watched a video with Steve Schmidt, who was John McCain's campaign manager, almost at the point of tears. He stated that what happened in Germany in the 1930's was not because Fascism was strong, but because democracy was weak. He's spot on. We all need to remember this every day, stay strong and fight for our democracy in the years ahead.

Here's a link to the statement by Steve Schmidt. Sorry for the grainy video and audio, but it's the best I could find at the moment.

The poster who said that Trump supporters have low self esteem nailed it. Trump and his entire base suffer from low self esteem.

It manifests itself in many ways and thats why you see some poorer people and some more affluent people in his base. They all have different manifestations of very low self esteem. Some have always been bullies, others always hated people different than themselves, others made some money and want to pull the ladder up so others can not succeed, others did not make great live choices along the way and can not accept that they made any mistakes...its got to be someones fault, and still others are very insecure and scared people who want to think a big tough mean daddy figure will come protect them.

But in the end the only people who could be left supporting Trump have very low self esteem.

horse with Putin. I just watched an interview concerning Trump and how beneficial he would be to Putin, to destabilize Democracy in the US. A serious problem is some Americans are so blinded by hatred they can't comprehend what is going on, and sadly some are not educated enough to comprehend what is occurring because they lack an understanding of history.

*groping* at anything to avoid losing bigly. Not going to work.

But they endeared themselves with the lower-educated rural set, and the authoritarians amongst the middle class industrialist types who were smarting from the end of WWI thought they could control the Brownshirts and use them as a personal militia.

Along with economic hardships, there was a social divide between classes, urbans, and rurals.

Anti-Semitism was casually accepted at that time, just as casual racism and sexism is now in this country. And of course, amongst the more traditional people who "worked hard" but weren't getting anywhere - or amongst those "hard businessmen" who were more interested in their personal finances and properties rather than the welfare of nation as a whole, looked down at those "effete" liberals who thought too much, were "communists" who believed everyone was equal, were artistic or were otherwise suspect because of their involvement in helping the useless and moral degenerates in society...

Haele

So yes it is going to make the news more. He is too stupid to understand that.

His relief supplies of playdoh. Yes that was nice for the kids. But I wouldn't doubt if he either got them as a donation from Playdoh, at least got a deep discount, paid from his opm foundation money, or found a abandoned truck along the side of the road.

Know a couple of people who escaped the right wing disinformation system years ago. It is cult-like. The first message they give you is not to trust anyone else-- the "mainstream media is biased", "experts are biased", "education is biased", and so on. From there they have lots of overlapping "facts", slogans, and handshakes.

I don't engage these type people. They don't analyze what they're fed. I don't learn anything I couldn't have found out from AM radio. They are increasingly hostile and intolerant.

What's the solution here? I don't know. Will it get worse before it gets better?

an excellent control mechanism for peoples minds and actions.

I know some individuals that have lived in these areas saying they are fearful of everything. It's so sad and pathetic. It's like they need to be deprogrammed from a cult, literally much the same. Hopefully the older ones will die off, eventually, and the youth will be less cult-like. I think key to helping this happen is education. That said, it won't go away easily. There is big money in hatred in the US, be it politics, religion, hate media and on and on.

When I listen to AM radio in this area it's horrific, the hate media AM stations. Some days, it seems like Germany WWII. Trump, is a scary individual, a sociopath, who has become a galvanizing force for the Nazi-like hatred in the US.

The three pillars of religion and the three pillars of the Republican Party.

Although I am new to Facebook. It really opened my eyes on how wacked out some of my acquaintances are, even those who seem well adjusted and 'normal'.

They are on a train whose tracks I didn't even know existed!

released there was so much hatred in the US. I knew it was there, but not in so many areas and in peoples minds. And so many want to suppress and persecute people, it's horrible.

be impeached, because he did not have "character" and a President should have a moral character. So when did they change their minds? They should be against the Talking Yam for his marital history alone. It completely goes against their "family values." This proves to me they are never sincere. They really don't care about the President's moral character. They will use it against a Democrat, but they don't really sincerely care about that issue.

With these people, it's like they're rooting for their favorite football team. Just win baby. The end justifies the means.