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Trump is an adept politician with an innate sense of what will sell. A sense is finely tuned to a portion of the population many of us have not much in-common with so it's easy to miss how he is appealing.
I just listened to a rambling word salad from him on abortion. And yet he managed to give an answer that would be acceptable to both the radical pro-life, people who don't care about abortion and people who think it should be legal "in some cases" 1/
Trump's "base" isn't a monolith, that they seem to exist politically as a monolith is precisely the result of his skill in speaking to their feelings in a relatable and reasonable way ... despite the diversity of opinions in that group.
Trump fans don't have as much in common with each other as we sometimes think. The only real uniting theme is anti-intellectualism.
They were called "Know Nothings" because of the secrecy, but that name's other implications are not an accident. 2/
"anti-intellectual" isn't just a fancy way of saying stupid. Intellectualism can be
elitist, corrosive. Productive critique is possible. Such a critique could lead to a more authentic, inclusive (effective) practice in the sciences.
Of course, this isn't what Trump offers. Not an empowering "you can know! You CAN understand the world." but rather "the people who said you didn't know aren't worth respecting (even if they are right, heck BECAUSE they are right)" It's all emotional. 3/
More importantly his answer on abortion, rather than outline policy expressed the way republicans *feel* about abortion. He expressed religious righteousness, but also ambivalence "some women don't know they are pregnant at 5 weeks." He reaffirmed that "we are the good people" by pivoting to how Democrats are evil "HRC wants to rip the baby right out!"
This helps his audience regain a sense of moral clarity on an issue that can be morally difficult for them. 4/
People will know and love people who have had abortions-- people will have had abortions *themselves* and still be anti-choice. They know this isn't a simple issue. The stories about women nearly dying, the little girls forced to have their rapists babies disturb pro-lifers as much as anyone. But if they can imagine that the issue is less complex: if it's about "ripping the baby out at 8 months" the distress caused by the complexity of the issue is gone. It feels good to "know" you are right.
5/
Gotta be exhausting how Democrats keep making it complicated again.
Factually he said nothing. (Worse, he contradicted himself.) Emotionally? Ah! There he said much. He recognized the chaotic spectrum of feelings but then refocused those feelings as narrow white light, a laser-focused pure beam of righteous anger and of disgust. 5 weeks? 7 weeks? Heartbeats? Exceptions? Who knows. (who cares?) What really matters is: the other side is WRONG. We are the good people who know what is right. 6/6
@futurebird There we go, yes, exactly. It's something he has in common with other scammers--words that are there to evoke and manipulate emotions, not convey literal meaning.
@futurebird
So much of what he is selling is Control, to people who thought their place was fixed, knowable, and predictable, in a good way, and now find that society doesn't value them in the same way they were led to expect was their birthright.