The below is my expansion of a thought originally introduced by a stranger.
This is my version, molded to represent my views...
Donald J. Trump's supporters do not care about jobs. It was never about jobs.
So, stop talking about jobs to Trump supporters to seek some sort of middle ground. Do not believe his representatives when they speak on "Meet the Press" about the unemployed white laborer suffering without a job and without opportunity, because...
The vast majority of Trump supporters could not care less about what Trump does as president.
His supporters don't care if he repeatedly lies to them (he has), raises their taxes (he must), cuts their health insurance benefits (Trumpcare Round 2), cuts funding to their schools and libraries (DeVos), makes homeownership inaccessible (Carson), cuts food programs (Mulvaney), dirties their air and water (Pruitt), allows poisoning of their food (Gottlieb), uses the presidency to make billions of dollars for himself and his family (Kushner & Co.), passes laws to allow his billionaire friends to take suck even more money from middle and lower income families (his Heritage Foundation-penned budget.)
So do not believe that posting a long-form opus (like me and many others before me) will help them see the light. Trump supporters do not care about any of these things, and Trump knows this very well.
In fact, Trump has hired people who also know this. What does his administration have in common? They are all propagandists. They have succeeded in one form or another at making some cluster of persons believe something that is not true but could not easily be proven false.
Example? Dr. Ben Carson, who said poverty is a state of mind.
DJT was elected and continues to be supported because of 1 thing; he dislikes the same people his supporters do.
Do not try to overcomplicate this: DJT hates many kinds of people and is unafraid to say so. He tapped into these fears and convinced a decreasingly white America that they're now the minority, they're under attack, they're going to have to change, they're going to have to endure a not-even-remotely similar world, and their personal freedoms are being threatened.
He elevates THEIR anger, validates THEIR fears, and bonds them together. He puts his base in stadiums and shows up two, three hours late. All of that hate and otherizing just bubbles up to the top of a thinning glass bottleneck, with a cap not built to contain it.
Trump's campaign rallies constantly focused on the threat to white America and however veiled, his supporters heard the message loud and clear. And Trump successfully gathered millions together that previously had no champion of their underlying fears and hatred.
This shared dislike, jealousy, fetishizing and often hatred, isn't limited to Muslims, Mexicans, refugees, foreigners in general, but also includes fellow Americans. Black people, any low-income person that isn't white, the entire LGBTQ community, and, of course, progressives, liberals and Democrats are included. Notice the patterns, notice how his base use language. They will remove the human element and make YOU the villain. YOU don't belong. Mexicans will become rapists and gang bangers, black people will become looters and freeloaders, LGBTQ people will become bathroom predators, progressives, and liberals... snowflakes.
Basically, anyone that looks or thinks differently from themselves.
This is exactly why Trump continues to hold rallies and public events. He MUST.
His followers need to hear the same message of fear, hatred, threats, and the salvation only he will ensure. He is their Champion. And this works perfectly for him.
Trump can take anything and everything he wants from his supporters, and they won't care, as long as he continues to get out there and tell them what they want to hear and remind them of their shared enemies.
Every time we hear about something Trump has done, is doing, or is planning to do that will obviously hurt the lives of his supporters, including their health, safety, education, earnings, and savings, every time he lies about the freedoms he is taking from them, all the lies about what he is going to do that he can't possibly accomplish, the lies about the safety he will so easily provide, we must remember that none of this matters to his supporters.
Not at all.
It was never about the jobs, folks.
Very beautiful =) follow me to help us
Although I do not agree with your theory, thank you for sharing. It gives me some more insight into the mind of a self proclaimed Liberal.
Thanks for giving me space and reading all the way through! I can't speak for all liberals, but this has been something I've been seeing in my world a lot, and I felt it was worthy of a response. :)