Why People Like Trump
People like Trump not for what he says, but for how he says it. Right, wrong, or indifferent, Trump takes a stand. Trump answers questions with abundant self-confidence. Trump does not back down in the face of political correctness. Trump often flip-flops on issues and yet his poll numbers surge. Why? People are not listening to what he says. They are listening to the way he says it.
Politically Incorrect
Political correctness can stifle free speech but it cannot stop people from thinking forbidden thoughts. People who cannot express their true thoughts and feelings become frustrated. The more the forbidden thoughts back up behind the dam of political correctness, the more the frustration builds.
Trump serves as societys pressure valve releasing pent-up frustration. Trump says what ordinary people cannot say for fear of losing their jobs, status in their communities, or their reputations. When built-up pressure is finally released, people feel good about themselves.
The Golden Rule of Friendship states, If you want people to like you, make them feel good about themselves.” When Trump speaks, he makes people feel good about themselves and, as a result, people like him.
Straight Answers
The following excerpt from a 60 Minutes interview with Scott Pelley demonstrates Trumps direct style of answering questions.
Scott Pelley: But there is a North American Free Trade Agreement.
Donald Trump: And there shouldn’t be. It’s a disaster.
Scott Pelley: But it is there.
Would Trumps Support Change If He Were Charged With A Crime
The former president faces a handful of investigations, including from the Department of Justice and the U.S. House select committee on the origins of the Jan. 6 attack, a grand jury looking into potential election interference in Georgia and, most recently, an FBI probe into classified materials removed from the White House and kept at Trumps Florida estate. Some had been recovered or returned earlier this year. But when the FBI executed a search warrant at Mar-a-Lago last month, agents still found more than 100 classified documents and 43 empty folders with classified markings, among thousands of other official records, according to a Department of Justice list of items.
Support for Trumps candidacy in 2024 would not change much if any of these investigations result in Trump being charged with a crime, according to this poll. Sixty-five percent of Americans would oppose another run for the White House. More than six in 10 Republicans would still want to see him launch a campaign. Meanwhile, 73 percent of independents say he should not run again if he is charged.
WATCH:Legal implications of decision to appoint special master to review Trump documents
This poll is just a snapshot of the current political environment. With two months until the midterm elections and another two years until the 2024 presidential election, a lot can still change with the Republican primary field and the investigations.
Graphic by Megan McGrew
There Are 11 Types Of Donald Trump Enablers Which One Are You
A taxonomy of the messiahs, demonizers and tribalist trolls of Trumpland.
Politico illustration / Getty Images / AP Photo
07/01/2022 04:30 AM EDT
Tim Miller is the author of the forthcoming book, Why We Did It: A Travelogue From the Republican Road to Hell.
This week, Cassidy Hutchinson demonstrated in front of the whole world how a political staffer can break free from the rationalizations that lead dwellers of the swamp to enable behaviors we know are evil.
I might be a Cassidy sympathizing Enemy of the People. But as a gay man who contorted himself into defending homophobes and a Trump abhorrer who didnt hesitate when asked to spin for Trumps EPA toady Scott Pruitt,I still know a thing or two about being an enabler.
I have had more drinks where reluctant-MAGA and MAGA-adjacent professional Republicans spilled their guts than I would care to count. Ive heard the lengthy laments from members of the 2 percent about how theyve got bills to pay, a college fund to fill. Regiments of the privately concerned have shared their worries, as have the professionally depressed.
Over time, Tim Miller developed a taxonomy of Trump enablers Republican men and women that kept Trumpland running.|Charles Rex Arbogast/AP Photo
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They all turned out to be much more powerful than I had anticipated.
I divide them into these buckets:
You dont say.
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Donald Trump Isnt The First President To Be Deeply Skeptical Of The Institutions And People He Now Leads
A month after President Trump took the oath of office, his chief strategist offered a controversial description of what Americans, including the 2 million career civil servants Trump now leads in the executive branch, could expect from the new president: Every day would be a battle for deconstruction of the administrative state, said Stephen Bannon, the man frequently described as the mastermind behind Trumps nationalist agenda.
Bannon is no longer in the White House, but his remarks at a conservative political conference in February continue to reverberate through government.
Some interpreted Bannons comment as a reference to Trumps classic Republican goals of reducing regulations, cutting taxes and shrinking government. But in a Manichean speech in Warsaw, Poland, in July, Trump warned of a danger invisible to some but familiar to the Poles: the steady creep of government bureaucracy that drains the vitality and wealth of the people.
As the Trump era has unfolded, the term deep state has come to mean something sinister to some on the far right. More than just signifying an impersonal, inept bureaucracy, it conjures a secretive illuminati of bureaucrats determined to sabotage the Trump agenda.
On the pro-Trump Mark Levin radio show, decried the ongoing investigation of Trumps ties to the Russians during the 2016 campaign, saying, “They want a scalp, and believe me when I tell you the deep state is going to get one.
Question1 Do You Approve Or Disapprove Of The Way Joe Biden Is Handling His Job As President
ADULTS..................................................... WHITE........ 4 YR COLL DEG Tot Rep Dem Ind Men Wom Yes NoApprove 37% 3% 80% 28% 30% 43% 50% 25%Disapprove 52 95 11 56 58 45 46 65DK/NA 12 3 9 15 12 12 4 10 AGE IN YRS.............. WHITE..... 18-34 35-49 50-64 65+ Men Wom Wht Blk HspApprove 31% 39% 37% 43% 26% 40% 33% 65% 33%Disapprove 48 50 55 53 65 53 59 22 51DK/NA 21 11 8 4 9 8 8 13 16
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A Plurality Believe History Will Judge Trump As A The Worst President Ever Less Than A Quarter Of Young Americans Want Trump To Play A Key Role In The Future Of Republican Politics Young Republicans Are Divided
Thirty percent of young Americans believe that history will judge Donald Trump as the worst president ever. Overall, 26% give the 45th president positive marks , while 54% give Trump negative marks 11% believe he will go down as an average president.
Twenty-two percent of young Americans surveyed agree with the statement, I want Donald Trump to play a key role in the future of Republican politics, 58% disagreed, and 19% neither agreed nor disagreed. Among young Republicans, 56% agreed while 22% disagreed, and 21% were neutral. Only 61% of those who voted for Trump in the 2020 general indicated their desire for him to remain active in the GOP.
If they had to choose, 42% of young Republicans consider themselves supporters of the Republican party, and not Donald Trump. A quarter indicated they are Trump supporters first, 24% said they support both.
Question4 Is Your Opinion Of Joe Biden Favorable Unfavorable Or Haven’t You Heard Enough About Him
ADULTS..................................................... WHITE........ 4 YR COLL DEG Tot Rep Dem Ind Men Wom Yes NoFavorable 38% 2% 83% 28% 29% 46% 52% 23%Unfavorable 50 93 8 57 57 44 45 65Hvn't hrd enough 9 3 7 11 10 7 2 8REFUSED 3 1 2 3 4 2 1 3 AGE IN YRS.............. WHITE..... 18-34 35-49 50-64 65+ Men Wom Wht Blk HspFavorable 30% 40% 40% 44% 25% 40% 33% 67% 36%Unfavorable 46 51 52 51 65 52 58 21 49Hvn't hrd enough 17 6 6 3 6 7 6 10 7REFUSED 7 2 2 1 4 1 3 2 7
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Nearly A Third Of Young Americans Say That Politics Has Gotten In The Way Of A Friendship Differences Of Opinion On Race
Thirty-one percent of young Americans, but 37% of young Biden voters and 32% of young Trump voters say that politics has gotten in the way of a friendship before. Gender is not a strong predictor of whether or not politics has invaded personal space, but race and ethnicity are. Young whites are more likely than young Blacks to say that politics has gotten in the way–and nearly half of white Biden voters say politics has negatively impacted a friendship 30% of white Trump voters say the same.
When young Americans were asked whether a difference of opinion on several political issues might impact a friendship, 44% of all young Americans said that they could not be friends with someone who disagreed with them on race relations. Sixty percent of Biden voters agreed with this sentiment, as did a majority of women and Blacks . Americans between 18 and 24 were more likely than those slightly older to feel that race relations would cause a problem with friendships. Differences of opinion on whether or not to support Trump was an issue for slightly more than a third , followed by immigration , police reform , abortion , climate change , and guns .
Mental Health Expert: Donald Trump Is Like A Serial Killer Who Remains A Great Danger To Society
The House Jan. 6 committee’s public hearings have made it increasingly clear that Donald Trump and his confederates attempted a coup to nullify the results of the 2020 presidential election and, in effect, end American democracy. The coup plot involved every branch of government including the courts, Congress, the Department of Justice and the military. It was nationwide and included plans to rig the Electoral College results and alter actual vote totals at the state level. Contrary to what too many public voices have continued to suggest in a collective state of willful denial Trump’s coup plot was highly sophisticated and came very close to succeeding.
It is equally clear that the Capitol attack of Jan. 6 was not spontaneous or purely coincidental. Donald Trump and his confederates welcomed and incited the lethal attack as a central element of the attempted coup. The violence of Jan. 6 appears to have been a pretext for Trump to invoke the Insurrection Act and declare a national emergency as a means of remaining in power indefinitely.
Former CBS News anchor Dan Rather summarized the nature of the threat to American democracy, writing in his newsletter that there “is nothing past tense” about Jan. 6, “even though the date itself is about 18 months ago”:
Donald Trump is not like other human beings, and you can’t treat him as if he is. He is a severe sociopath, and his willingness to see others suffer and die pushes him into the realm of a psychopath.
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The Numbers Are Clear: Its Still Trumps Party
The simplest barometer of whether Trump still dominates the party is the 2024 presidential polls. And by that metric, Trumps grip is pretty hard to question.
The RealClearPolitics poll average has Trump leading the field by an average of 26.2 points. All but one national poll cataloged by FiveThirtyEight in July had Trump beating DeSantis by a similarly large double-digit margin .
Granted, any challenger against an incumbent like Trump probably wouldnt pop up on many voters radars this far ahead of an election. But much of the Trump is slipping coverage skips past all this vital context. For example, the New York Times recently ran a write-up of its poll with Siena College headlined Half of G.O.P. Voters Ready to Leave Trump Behind, Poll Finds. And indeed, the poll did find that 51 percent of Republicans would vote for someone other than Trump if the primary were held today.
Yet the headline is misleading. The Times poll found that Trump still commanded 49 percent support in the party his next closest rival, DeSantis, garnered a mere 25 percent. In the article, reporter Michael Bender notes that the results show that Mr. Trump maintains his primacy in the party, contradicting the pieces headline.
But weve been here before. Remember when Fox famously went to war against Trump during the 2016 primaries, culminating in a fight between Trump and Megyn Kelly? We know how that played out.
Question23 Do You Consider What Happened At The Us Capitol On January 6th An Attack On The Government Or Not
ADULTS..................................................... WHITE........ 4 YR COLL DEG Tot Rep Dem Ind Men Wom Yes NoYes/Attack on gov't 59% 29% 93% 56% 53% 66% 65% 49%No 35 66 5 40 42 29 32 44DK/NA 5 5 3 5 5 5 3 7 AGE IN YRS.............. WHITE..... 18-34 35-49 50-64 65+ Men Wom Wht Blk HspYes/Attack on gov't 63% 64% 55% 56% 46% 63% 55% 83% 57%No 31 30 42 39 49 32 40 13 39DK/NA 7 6 2 5 5 5 5 4 4
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Question9 Overall Do You Think Donald Trump Has Had A Mainly Positive Or Mainly Negative Impact On
ADULTS..................................................... WHITE........ 4 YR COLL DEG Tot Rep Dem Ind Men Wom Yes NoPositive 41% 84% 4% 45% 48% 35% 37% 58%Negative 51 9 94 47 44 58 60 36DK/NA 8 7 2 8 8 7 4 7 AGE IN YRS.............. WHITE..... 18-34 35-49 50-64 65+ Men Wom Wht Blk HspPositive 33% 36% 47% 49% 57% 45% 50% 12% 37%Negative 56 54 47 49 36 50 44 81 51DK/NA 11 9 6 3 7 5 6 7 12
Reasons Why So Many People Still Support Trump
“This administration isn’t just targeting the laws that protect us they are targeting the very idea that we are all worthy of protection.”
Its incomprehensible to many of us that people could support a president who, in Bernie Sanders words, is compulsively dishonest, who is a bully, who actively represents the interests of the billionaire class, who is anti-science, and who is trying to divide us up based on the color of our skin, our nation of origin, our religion, our gender, or our sexual orientation.
Based on various trusted sources and a dab of cognitive science, its fair to conclude that there are three main reasons for this unlikely phenomenon.
1. Trumps followers believe theyre better than other people
Nationalism, exceptionalism, narcissism, racism. Theyre all part of the big picture, although its unfair to simply dismiss Trump people as ignorant racists. Many of them are well-educated and wealthy. But well-to-do individuals tend to feel entitled, superior, uninterested in the people beneath them, and less willing to support the needs of society. Thus many wealthy white Americans are just fine with Trumps disdain for the general population.
Poorer whites also feel superior, in the sense that theyre reluctant to give up their long-time self-assigned position at the top of the racial hierarchy.
2. Theyre driven by hatred for their perceived enemies
3. They refuse to admit they were wrong
So now what?
FALL FUNDRAISER
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Question6 Overall Do You Think The Country Is Better Off Or Worse Off Today Than It Was A Year Ago
ADULTS..................................................... WHITE........ 4 YR COLL DEG Tot Rep Dem Ind Men Wom Yes NoBetter 41% 5% 76% 38% 37% 45% 53% 25%Worse 52 94 14 56 56 48 44 70SAME 5 1 7 4 4 5 1 3DK/NA 3 - 2 2 3 2 2 3 AGE IN YRS.............. WHITE..... 18-34 35-49 50-64 65+ Men Wom Wht Blk HspBetter 44% 43% 37% 40% 30% 38% 34% 67% 42%Worse 44 51 58 56 65 58 61 24 50SAME 8 4 4 2 2 2 2 7 4DK/NA 4 2 2 2 3 2 2 2 4
Question22 How Much Of The Responsibility If Any Do You Think Former President Trump Bears For The Storming Of The Us Capitol On January 6th: A Lot Some Not Much Or None At All
ADULTS..................................................... WHITE........ 4 YR COLL DEG Tot Rep Dem Ind Men Wom Yes NoA lot 42% 5% 81% 36% 33% 50% 53% 27%Some 15 15 11 19 18 13 11 14Not much 13 21 1 17 16 10 14 18None at all 27 56 5 26 31 25 20 37DK/NA 3 3 2 2 3 3 3 4 AGE IN YRS.............. WHITE..... 18-34 35-49 50-64 65+ Men Wom Wht Blk HspA lot 39% 42% 42% 46% 28% 43% 36% 77% 42%Some 23 17 12 8 13 13 13 9 20Not much 13 10 13 16 20 14 17 2 12None at all 23 25 30 29 36 27 31 10 25DK/NA 2 5 2 1 4 3 4 1 1
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Nancy Mceldowney Former Director Of The Foreign Service Institute
Democrats generally understand they will need federal employees to implement their policies, though they may believe that those employees need to be liberated from rules, Light added. Republicans have the same hierarchy, but are motivated by a different goal. Both parties in the past have come in saying, Weve got an agenda weve got four years, maybe eight, so we cant wait for action.
In the Trump administration, Light noted, many may agree with Bannons concept of a deep state, but are uncomfortable with that language.
Former White House chief strategist Steve Bannon steps off Air Force One on April 9, 2017, at Andrews Air Force Base, Md.
Others are skeptical that many in Trumps circles actually buy into the notion of a deep state. If they had this theory of the deep state and were worried, the first thing they would do is appoint a lot of political appointees, said Donald Devine, who headed the Office of Personnel Management in the Reagan administration.
Norm Ornstein, a longtime observer of Washington at the American Enterprise Institute, is appalled at what he sees as Bannons promotion of a conspiracy theory of lawless people trying to undermine American values for their own warped sense and defying laws and property.
