Just who are the the Trump supporters? I see three general groups.

I was thinking about the latest poll (above on Morning Joe) which shows Biden five points ahead of Trump in a national election and wondering who those who would vote for the later are and why?

By Hal Brown

I was just thinking about the latest poll (above on Morning Joe) which shows Biden five points ahead of Trump in a national election and wondering who those who would vote for the later are and why they'd do this. I've broken them down into categories.

There are, of course, many dyed in the wool Trump supporters, but they seem to fall into several groups. 

I'll try to break them down into general categories here.

One are the actual Trump worshippers who are often considered members of his cult. 

They swallow hook, line, and sinker all of the propaganda that he is some kind of savior whether religious or secular, or a combinaiton of both. They look at the images on the digital trading cards and think that this somehow his the "real" him as if the evidence of their own eyes decieves them. It's as if they are watching a Superman TV show or movie and see Clark Kent and know that under his suit is a iron-muscled super hero (who as in the photo of ⅓ scale statues you can own for $4,379, below, is actaully a few inches taller than the Daily Planet reporter).

The question about what may be wrong with these people has been asked and answered - I'm not going to bother citing references from noted mental health professionals - except to say the usual conclusion is that they are engaging in wishful thinking which is, in some instances, suggestive of their having a clinical deusional psychiatric disorder.

You have to add to this that some of these Trump supporting zealots, whether or not they have a mental disorder, is that they have IQ's below the national average. 

Everyone, whether they were on the honor roll or D students is suspectible to propaganda, especially when the message supports what they want to believe. If you're reading this you probably know what confirmation bias is and understand it's power:

Confirmation bias is the tendency to search for, interpret, favor, and recall information in a way that confirms or supports one's prior beliefs or values. People display this bias when they select information that supports their views, ignoring contrary information, or when they interpret ambiguous evidence as supporting their existing attitudes. The effect is strongest for desired outcomes, for emotionally charged issues, and for deeply entrenched beliefs. Confirmation bias cannot be eliminated, but it can be managed, for example, by education and training in critical thinking skills. Read more here.

This group may include members of the first, but among them are people with no impairments in mental health, intelligence, or ability to engage in critical thinking. They are those with deeply held racist, and/or bigotted, and/or fascist beliefs. The "and/or's" are improtant since there are those who are mostly or exclusively racists, which would include anti-Semites and members of the LGBTQ+ community, and those who are fascists who believe the country should be an autocricy run by a dictator who shares their beleiefs.

These people don't need demographic predictions to know that the country is becoming less White. All they need to do is look around them. From watching pop culture to walking down Main Street they will see that Americans who have assumed jobs and had roles usually held mostly by Whites now come in all shades of skin color.

They look at a version of the Pride flag we celebrate through a decidely dark lens:

The flag on top includes black and brown stripes 
to represent marginalized LGBTQ+ communities
 of color, along with the colors pink, light blue
 and white, which are used on the 
Transgender Pride Flag.

Another way to depict them and their reaction is with a decidely White version I made of The Scream (original here):

Again, none of these groups are mutually exclusive. However, I do see a fairly descrete group which for want of a better term I'd call "the enemy of my enemy is my enemy" contingent of Trump supporters.

They will align themselves with anyone no matter how dumb they are or outrageous their behavior is as long as they also support Trump.

These are people who hate the Democrats, whether President Biden in particular or any Democrat, with a visceral passion. They may or may not buy into the notion that Democrats are some kind of demon communists or socialists. The smart ones know full well this isn't true and the uniformed couldn't even define the terms. 

Some of the savvy group are hard-core capitalists who think that having a safety net for less the fortunate which costs taxpayer money (noting some of these eople avoid paying their fair share of taxes) takes money away from their bottom lines. 

Some may be those who feel that because they worked hard to get where they are, owners of small businesses for example, nobody deserves to get a leg up from the government. It doen't matter to them that they might have benefited from low interest small business loans or other help from the government. 

In this group you'll find that there are some whose businesses or investments are effected by government regulations. 

These people would rather vote for the Devil himself rather than vote for a Democrat.

Adapted by Hal Brown from Tacosunday Public Domain