AWMP - the Angry White Men Party
To be sure, The Donald does have followers in addition to the large number of Angry White Men that form the base of his party, but they are relatively rare.
Of course, not all angry men are members of the AWMP. I, for one, am an angry white man, but not nearly for the same reasons as his acolytes. I am angry because progressive ideas on gun control, global warming, energy policy, and single-payer health insurance don't get anywhere on the national agenda. And I am also very angry because of all the other angry white men that exist. I am disgusted with the influence they have on political discourse in this country, but I am DELIGHTED that The Donald is bringing them out in large numbers and possibly destroying the Republican Party in the process.
Many religious conservative males also do not belong to this party. They too are angry, but mostly because of abortion and the gays. Erick Erickson at RedState, for example, is not a Trump admirer. Many vitriolic comments against The Donald have been voiced at RedState, and for good reason. They have a deeply rooted wariness of The Donald due to his past support of liberal causes and politicians. The Donald has had a late-term awakening to his pro-life (their words) position, but RedStaters openly suspect that it is just a fig leaf because he had to be pro-life to run in Republican primaries. They fully expect a complete 180 from Donald should he be elected president. They think that there is a veritable cornucopia of wonderful, truly Conservative (yes with a capital "C") candidates running for president this year, and The Donald is currently spoiling it all.
So, excluding angry white liberals, and angry white fundamentalists, lets talk about the rest - the true heart and soul of the Angry White Men Party. I know these people. I work with them on a daily basis and I want to focus on them for awhile and explain what they are thinking and why they are so in love with The Donald.
Succinctly stated, they are Angry, they are White, and they are men.
AWMP Demographics
AWMP members are found in every state, every town, every workplace and in a large fraction of households. They have jobs that range from company presidents to janitors. In short, they are everywhere. They are most often 40 years of age or older, but there are adherents in the 30 - 40 y.o. age group. They are very often married to women who do not share most of their political beliefs. They have children that largely reject their misogynistic, racist, homophobic attitudes, and this is but one of the many things that makes them angry. The less education a man has, the greater the probability that he is a member of the AWMP but there are members from the ranks of the highest in educational achievement.
AWMP Theology
AWMP members believe that their perception of things is THE correct perception of things. Of course many people have that attitude, but AWMP members generally find it impossible to consider that other people's perceptions and attitudes could be just as valid as their own. More than anything else, they lack empathy. To the extent that they can recognize that others have different perspectives, they reject those perspectives.
Everything can be solved very simply: Force everyone to think and behave as they do and ALL the worlds problems would be solved. PERIOD!!
These are NOT religious conservatives. They might nominally be involved in church, but they have no particular deep attachment to it. They don't care about abortion because they have never had one nor are they ever going to need one. Never mind the abortion their teenage girlfriend got - that was her dumb fault for not being on the pill. They don't even think about the child support they would have been paying had that abortion not been available to her.
What are they so angry about?
More than anything else, they are angry with people who have not worked as hard as they have (remember this is as they see things). Despite their hard work they are not where they want to be economically. They have been held back by the laziness of others. The Takers have made it more difficult for them to get ahead in the workplace. Affirmative action in particular has made their path to success much harder while members of the privileged classes have skated by on the color of their skin or their penile deficit. And on top of all that, they pay taxes so that lazy people can get more welfare.
The easier it is to identify a person as NOT being like them, the easier it is to identify what it is about that person that they don't like. Women are... Well, they're women and that means that they don't think right. If only women would think like they did, life would be much better. Their wives are their prime examples of this.
They are angry at all the brown people in this country. Brown people are lazy, AND they are out to steal their jobs. Yes, there is obvious contradiction in that, but that seems to escape them completely.
They are angry at black people. Black people are criminals and welfare leaches. We've even managed to elect one as president and that is especially annoying as that has made it easier for blacks to get more welfare. And taxes have been raised by him to pay for this redistribution of wealth.
Never-mind that they have no facts to back any of this up. They don't need or want facts. Facts are things that people just make up anyway. Facts aren't facts, they are mental constructs with a particular philosophical outcome designed into them. Truth is found in the way things ought to be, not in the way numbers are manipulated to say whatever someone wants them to say (now there's a Greek idea).
They are angry at the educated elite and at the education process that taught their children that being gay is OK. Most educated people have been taught how to make up facts that run contrary to what is known to be the truth. To be highly educated usually means that a person is more prone to lying, cheating and stealing.
They are angry that homosexuals now have the right to marry each other. Religion has nothing to do with it: Homosexuals are a threat to their manhood. Every man should have the right to call them whatever derogatory thing they want. Besides, what will our society be like if homosexuals become mainstream? How can we insult someone by calling him a "fag" if that isn't universally recognized as being a bad thing?
They are angry at the government for almost everything. In addition to taxation, the government is out to deprive them of their right as white men to do whatever they damn well want to do.
They are angry because the government wants to take away their guns.
They are angry because the EPA wants to take away their God-given right to dig in any ground they want even if it is a wetland area.
They are angry because the Department of Education wants to educate their children that being gay, or having two mommies (or 2 daddies) are OK.
They are angry because the Department of Labor wants to prevent them from working at a job without being in a union.
They are angry at the unions for deducting dues from their paychecks and then getting nothing in return.
They are angry that the government wants to take away their pickup truck and force them to drive a Prius.
They are particularly angry that the government wants to force them to have health insurance, because God has given them the right to not have health insurance if they so choose.
The Future of the AWMP
There is no amount of reasoning that will change these people's attitudes. They will be forever entrenched in their bigoted, unenlightened ways.
They are the greatest argument in favor of more education for all people. Their ignorance is their greatest liability, both to themselves and to the larger society that we share with them.
The Donald is so delightful because he might very well be able to pry them away from the Republican fold but this will be a short-lived benefit. In the long-term, our greatest hope is that they will get so turned off to politics that they stop participating in it. Of course, the danger is that as they become more marginalized they become more radicalized than they already are and start seeking "extra-constitutional" solutions to their venomous anger and hate (e.g. Timothy McVeigh).
The Donald appeals to them on every level. They abhor political correctness and throwing it away in favor of rank belligerence is the perfect solution. Donald puts voice to their cretinous nature and legitimizes them at a very deep level.
These are people that political parties ought never try to recruit. They should be marginalized and political parties ought to seek to win favor with the electorate by attracting the very people that AWMP members are not. It would be a sad day for humanity if they ever prove to be enough in number to win elections outright.