Amen. 7@=e

I think his supporters fall into several basic camps:

1. Actual racists, Fascists, and other hate-filled people.

2. Uneducated people, full of unfocused anger against the "elite", who have been duped by pseudo-populist right-wing smear campaigns.

3. Butthurt millennials who, after seeing their ideal candidate lose (note: I did vote for Bernie in the primaries), are throwing a tantrum (These are probably a minority: the rest are going for Jill Stein or Gary Johnson).

4. Cynics who just want to watch the world burn.

I neglected to mention another category:

5. Trolls who just want to piss everybody off (I sincerely hope they are the greatest percentage here, and are not sincere). 7@=e

Read a recent Cracked article by David Wong... sums up the issue pretty good... a county-by-county breakdown of who votes which way shows people who vote Republican live in sparsely populated areas.

The recent recession hit hard... and all of the recovery we've had has been... in the cities. Rural Americans... yanno, the folks in dying towns who can't afford to leave? Which is a thing. I mean, especially when you own a home you can't sell, and the only jobs in the land are at the nearest McDonalds. Living below the poverty line means they can't possibly pay first & last months and deposit to GTFO.

And the big community gathering place in a tiny town? It's the church. They have no choice. It's the only game in town.

And they're a proud people. Believe in working hard for everything. Believe it's virtuous to earn everything and it's implied that it's almost a sin to accept or ask for help. And the redneck stereotype? Yeah, we get to mock a bunch of people born into poverty, with underfunded schools, and no socialization options but the church... and we mock 'em for being ignorant religious hillbillies.

Don T. promises these folks a return to the life they knew. Not all of them are going "Yay, roll back the social progress! Yay Racism!" Most just want the part where their town had an economy. And they weren't life's biggest losers. They're VERY invested in this, and will jump through a lot of mental hoops to justify his awful behavior. Some vehemently argue that him bragging about sexually assaulting women is "just as bad" as pop singers who dance on stage and touch their crotch. Because to them, both of these things are unthinkable things that must only happen in "The City" where all morality goes to die. They get their morality from small town churches... not a philosophy course. And they don't deal with or believe shades of grey exist.

And yanno, if you had to adapt your brain to religion to survive in your community... you're FINE with denying facts. You have Faith. You can say "Yeah, he said those things, but he didn't mean 'em. And the other lady's full of lies anyway." And not connect the dots.

Also, yes, this is a population that's watched little else besides fox news and evangelists. Of course they believe every lie about Clinton. They've been sold that shit for four decades in a row without relent.

And their schools leak. This is what happens when education funding is tied to local property taxes. The property value takes a hit and the schools suffer. It's what keeps ghettos shitty and it fucks rural America.

And we know Don T. doesn't honor promises. These are folks who would, if they could be honest about their non-racist reasons for insisting on following such a total pustule... it'd be because smashing the state is, to them, a good thing, because they have lost everything and are likely to lose everything else. The suicide rates apparently double for 'em, and self-destructive behavior...

All of it's depressing as fuck.