A single question has been rolling within my mind since 2016. “What would lead someone to vote for a man like Donald Trump?” In this short post I try, and largely fail, to answer that question.
That question was at the forefront of my thinking that led to my posts, “The Moral Vote” and “On Tacit Consent”. Four years on and I am still bewildered by those that so openly support a man who is completely unfit for office.
These people proudly announce that come Election Day they will place their mark for Donald Trump. They preach the greatness of the man. Yet, when pressed to give an example of what he has done that makes him so great, most people draw a true blank. Due to this they often fall back on either giving invalid answers, or spewing Trumps layered hate speech and attempt to call in patriotic.
I fully understand there is no good answer to the question. This is because those that truly support the man are either living in denial, or are so morally corrupt, that no argument could possible change their mind. No reasoned stance that seeks to find a middle ground will find purchase within the mind of a true Trump supporter. The absolute lack of moral grounding, that the total consent of his supporters, demonstrates a deep and troubling fact about conservatives that I touch on in “On the Structural Racism of Conservative Politics”. That is, simply put, that conservative politics is, at its deepest core, racist and generally prejudicial. It is because of this fact, that none of his true supporters can give an answer. It is also why those that are ashamed of voting for him, but still do, will not talk about it for fear that their support for racism and prejudice will be exposed. Donald Trump is the glaring representation, and living embodiment, of this core structure of conservative politics in the 21st century.
Because of all this, and more, I genuinely cannot understand how any rational citizen could support the man, or the GOP, or let alone vote for either.
Rocky Mountain Musing 