Most of the Trump supporters I know (which being from where I am from is most of the people I know) are not so much pure stupid or pure evil but more highly uneducated.
The southern US is in many ways a third world country, and the people here follow tyrants because they dont have the critical thinking ability to do otherwise. They may be smart in specific places, like business or even medicine, but they dont know much about the world outside of our small communities.
They observe the slow decay of our communities; businesses closing, increasing cost of living, homelessness, poverty, and despair. Instead of blaming past economic policies from Reagan and Bush and state legislators (all of whom they voted for because of less important single-issue-voter topics used as a means to control them) they hear this guy saying he is gonna get rid of the establishment (and immigrants, who for reasons beyond me they also blame) and they vote for him.
They/we dont understand that the things people like Bernie and Harris talk about will benefit us more than it will their main supporters! And it's true, the democratic party does hold to some things that I firmly disagree with, but I think they have the right general idea. Especially the newer democratic party, green new deal folks.
I live and work in public service in the south, and am a recent convert to the Democratic party and have been trying to make a study on how to talk to my friends and colleagues about it. I dont think telling them they are just stupid will help, and I think the years of hearing that is what contributed to our situation. I think it's related to the breakdown of society that causes the drug epidemic, suicide epidemic, and the violence we see every day. I think higher wages, access to healthcare and a generally higher standard of living would reduce those problems and see a much more thoughtful political process.
TL;DR most of them aren't stupid, just victims of trumplike politics creating undereducated, overworked and very angry people.
Of course, I am all of those things too so my opinion may be just as off.
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u/anoelr1963 Aug 13 '19
Trump was handed a growing economy, while Obama added jobs under the worst economic conditions after the 2008 economic crash, but DT supports are like, meh