On understanding the Trump popularity

I think one of the more surprising things about this election to many people is that Trump has received 68 million votes to 71 million for Joe Biden. It's not a blowout. It goes to show that Trumpism is not a one-off phenomenon, but almost half of the population that voted supports it. Why do people support this man, despite his absolutely disgusting human character? Why is he popular? Why can't Democrats win? These are all questions that have been asked recently and since 2016 and truth be told, I really don't know. However, I think I may have identified some of the key parameters that define Trump, and Trumpism.

Trumpism is distinctly different from Conservative, or even Centre-Right - it's more of a cult of personality, hedging various and across the board right-wing ideology, religious ideology, populism, and idolatry. It's characterized by Trump, but it's not driven by him, at all - it's driven by the millions of voters, who have only swelled from 2016. To understand Trump Voters, I think I have them sort of characterized via single-issue voters, religious ideologies, globalization left-behinds, racial supremacy, sociopolitical distrust, and American Exceptionalism.

1. Single Issue Voters - These voters are and will vote for Trump for a single issue that he propagates - whether it be a decrease of taxation, abortion, smaller government, 2nd Amendment, etc. For them, it doesn't matter the methods of how Trump achieves the results, as long they get the results. For them, Trump is a tool, a paid politician through their votes, and as long it gets the job done its good enough. You may be wondering why can and how can they look past his innumerable character flaws? Well, I think the best analogy would be using your hands to peel a hot-potato, at the end of the day, your hands will be burned slightly, but at least the potato is peeled. The limit is how much collateral damage can you take when you use the tool - hence, why we don't use our bare hands when taking things out of the oven but are willing to peel hot-potatoes with them. Trump's collateral damage is not yet significant enough for them to change the votes, because these single issues are so important to them - for various reasons (expanded more below), that they are willing and will take the Trump presidency, despite the flaws. I don't think all of them appreciate Trump's behavior, but to them, the job is more important than the person.

2. Religious Ideologues - This is one is a bit more tricky to explain, but many white evangelical Christians believe that Trump is here to bring the biblical end of times, as well as going with the traditional religious themes such as anti-abortion, faith, and prayer in schools, church-going citizens, etc. White evangelical Christians believe that during Armageddon, the biblical end of times, the ones that have been faithful and true to God, will be raptured and sent to Heaven, and everyone else will go straight to Hell. In order for Armageddon to arrive, there is a checklist of how certain marks will appear, the four horsemen of the apocalypse will appear, the Antichrist will come, and it will begin and take place in Israel. Two parts:

   1. Trump to them is the tool to rapidly harken Armageddon; many believe that either he may be the Antichrist who teaches the opposite of Jesus, or he may be the second coming of God/Jesus to lead them to rapture. Many members of his administration believe this including Bill Barr, the Attorney General, and his fundamental theory of executive power is to use the President of the United States to bring Armageddon through force. Secondly, this ties into Israel, since the rapture and Armageddon is set to begin in Israel (that's where the word Armageddon comes from, the city of Armagh where it is set to begin in Isreal). Evangelical Christians fully support Israel's claims in the Israel-Palestine conflict because to them, it means setting up the scene (i.e inviting war, saving the Jews, and all extremist views associated with it). In fact, the well funded and strong Isreal lobbying firms in Washington is funded by CUFI - Christians United for Isreal, a 9 million-strong member with the largest funding. Trump supports Isreal, Trump supports prayer, Trump supports "Christianity" is all factors. In fact, they describe Trump as an imperfect vessel of God or Jesus to account for his character failures, based on the biblical character of King Cyrus.

   2. Faith, Prayer, and Technology- For many, they believe that Faith and Prayer are necessary to be a good Christian. Even though the separation of Church and State is encoded in the Constitution, they believe that the Church should play an important role to save lives from eternal damnation. For many, this includes putting prayer in schools, and early indoctrination of Christian Faith. Furthermore, many believe that technology, University, and in general higher education is turning people away from Faith because it requires less dependence on God. Let me put this way since our technology can predict the weather, we do not necessarily pray to God for a good harvest. So the further we use technology, the further we are from God because we depend less on him. University and higher education teaches students to critically think, and for many fundamental evangelicals, or even less extremes, critical thinking about the Bible makes it a bit inconsistent that its the word of God, and so they are against it (this is grossly simplified - there are others who both can critically think and still be a Christian, after all Theology in universities was present so that students can critically defend or support the bible). Any norms that are outside of the bible - gay marriage, abortion, gender spectrum, sexuality, is abhorrent through God. Trump represents an opportunity to them as a way of saving America, or even themselves.

3. Failure of Globalisation - Globalisation starting in the 90s was a pivotal moment combined with rapid technological advances in the Information Revolution. It raised many people out of their environments and gave many economic benefits; at the same time, it destroyed most if not all opportunities many had in old industries. For example, the manufacturing industry is one of the hardest hits in America through globalization, most of what Americans buy or consume is made in China. This represented a massive loss of jobs away from manufacturing centers. Furthermore, with loss of manufacturing, it also represented an impact to the coal miners for energy production which was compounded with Global Warming, and Climate Change awareness. For many, stuck in the so-called flyover states, this was their livelihoods, and for generations, they had worked in the same plants or even mines, docks, etc. So when globalization came, and these opportunities were taken away, they were stuck both economically, socially, and physically. Young to middle-aged folks who couldn't go to the cities for University education, those who lost their jobs and don't have qualifications to compete in the job market anymore, are all examples who look to Trump to bring jobs back, to keep the immigrants from "Stealing their jobs", etc. They believe that immigrants are here and stealing their jobs, which was rightfully theirs; however, the answer is more complex with automation taking over. The easier answer is immigrants, and it's easy to blame them - Trump capitalised on that sentiment of being left behind. In their minds, city liberal elites cannot and do not fathom how their policies (i.e Green New Deal, Paris Accord, Wind Energy) affect them, and the fact that they do not do anything to help them out but focus on immigrants (illegal especially) to help them integrate and get jobs. Equivalently, immigrants can also be frustrated and don't want other immigrants to come in and end up supporting Trump.

4. Racial Supremacy - There is no doubt that racial elements play a role. America has a very dark relationship with black Americans through slavery, civil rights, protests, etc. They have always been treated as second-class citizens, and the recent protests show how inequal the application of justice by police officers is to them. Many Americans believe that Blacks should be kept inferior, and should not occupy high-places of power (Obama was the subject of racist comments, ridicules over his 8 years). Trump represents to them that white supremacy is tolerable in America, and should be the case. As the saying goes - all you need to do is to convince the poorest white person is better off than the Negro, and it still holds true to this day. I think that this is partially due to how the education system in America fails to teach them how recent Civil Rights is (textbooks have them presented in black and white when many were in color), or what the Civil War was about (it was about slavery, not state's rights or other thinly veiled bs), and also how segregated urban and suburbs are. The suburbs were created as a place of white flight from the inner cities, and the racial hegemony is taken as the norm, probably why so many Americans are surprised at the notion of racism even exists. To give you an example, when we lived in the suburbs of Memphis, my elementary school had only one black student. When the Memphis school district (predominantly black) decided to combine with the suburban school district, the suburbs created their own school districts. Hence, BLM is controversial, because they believe that it's threatening their own racial superiority.

5. Sociopolitical Distrust - One of the main talking points is the cultural war - everyone is easily offended, SJWs, privilege, etc. One of the main talking points is how the white-cis able-bodied male is the most privileged when it comes to opportunities. Social Justice Warriors, a derogatory name for social activists, have been prominent in advocating for a myriad of social issues. It is offensive to make jokes, is one of the main talking points in such circles. This also includes groups of extreme gender ideologies such as the incel, The Red Pill, MGTOW cultures, but basically, they promote the idea that the male should not be afraid of the left-culture, and SJWs are curtailing personal liberties. Trump basically blew that entire culture war apart - he is racist, chauvinist, cheating liar, offensive, and many of them support it or just love it. Many of them just have blind hate, and that hate is so boiled over, that they support Trump taking them out, or making the liberals cry. This is one of the main selling points of conservative talk shows such as Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, and even Ben Shapiro who capitalizes on debating college students on left culture (his prominent slogan is Facts do not care about feelings). Part of it is afraid of change, many of these supporters feel threatened by the change of the culture, and use Trump as a guide or as a way to return to their own culture. And for some, it's not even about winning, it's about making the other side lose, and if it means a pyrrhic victory let be it. They want the other side to suffer, and they want all of these new ideologies of SJW from feminism, gender spectrum, the privileged point to be removed. Hence, why they believe in calling Antifa a terrorist organization, because even though its anti-fascist, the fact that it is against it is an attack on the personal liberty of free expression (never mind that fascism is an awful ideology). Trump's championing of the white male is amazing for them.

6. American Exceptionalism - The big bogeyman of America is Socialism/Communism, and this stems from the Cold War with the Soviet Union. Communism and Socialism is grossly misunderstood, and to those who lived during the Cold War (read Boomers) are easily impressioned into believing that anything socialist is bad. Trump labels most of his opponents as socialist, and this propaganda has been so effective since the Cold War (ex. The Red Scare, Joseph McCarthy) that it works to this day. Furthermore, these voters have a strong belief in the American Dream, that they can all be millionaires or billionaires, never mind that they are much closer to being homeless than ever making a million dollars. They think that taxation and other forms of so-called "socialism" will lead to them losing all their hard-earned money. Furthermore, they are opposed to regulation, controlled markets, and strongly promote capitalism laissez-faire style. In their eyes, Trump is like an Ayn Rand hero, disregarded by the political elite, yet he is a billionaire, he is taking the stick back to the elite who have so far made fun of them. To them, Trump represents an opportunity to make it big in America, never mind that Trump was born into privilege that over 90% of them do not have. They believe that a strong social-safety net just breeds dependence, and too many people are dependent on welfare currently. Hence, even when faced with universal healthcare, they don't want to be paying for a "freeloader." Trump cutting social safety programs; trump easing up on market regulations, reducing taxes are all factors to support him.

This became a long blog, but it's a simplified view of Trump voters. I think so far the Democratic party has been focusing on the personal qualities of Trump, and not enough about their own policies. Its really not surprising that Trump gained votes; the more fundamental and hard question is how can these voters be turned away from Trumpism. For that, I have no answer - but I believe that expanding education and healthcare is critical, it must be made free because many of these issues can be helped if financial constraints are removed and people's horizons are broadened.