They don't need another reason.
For the past few months I have been wondering why so many people support Trump even in the face of his repeated gaffes, immaturity, and exposed scandals. Here is a man who is demonstrably unfit for public office (I see no need to insult dogcatchers here). Some observers point to the Dunning-Kruger Effect, noting that Trump and his supporters don’t know enough to know they are ignorant. Some point to studies showing that conservatives have a larger amygdala, the brain structure that is responsible for fear responses. I think all of these ideas have some validity. But there is something else, something very childish, that motivates the Republican base: Pissing Off Liberals!
I noticed this several years ago when I started seeing bumper stickers like these:
Liberals, evidently, don’t like employed people.
Republicans, on the other hand get upset over having to press 1 for English (get back to me if you ever have to press numero dos, whiners).
Who says America isn’t great? (A case of projection?)
But vote for politicians who refuse to fund the VA, because thanking veterans is literally the least you can do.
Set phasers to “annoy”!
I get where they’re coming from, sort of. I feel a sense of schadenfreude every time the Buffalo Bills lose because of one particularly annoying Bills fan I know (who also happens to be a Trump supporter). And I think that people have increasingly come to see politics the way they see team sports due, in part, to horse-race type coverage in the media and the Reagan idea that government is a problem rather than a potential solution. Therefore, elections have become more like votes on a reality show and political allegiances are similar to our affinity for our favorite team (Go Team Red!).
The desire to offend, among right-wingers is one of their salient personality traits. They seek to offend and then, ironically, get offended that someone is offended. Trump’s lines about how “political correctness is ruining America” plays well with them. Interestingly, they don’t realize that “political correctness” is in the eye of the beholder. For example, when Ted Cruz offended Trump by casting aspersions on “New York values”, no one on the right noted the irony. (Again, the Dunning-Kruger Effect might apply.) The right-wingers’ desire to offend can be found almost anywhere.
Now that’s the Christmas Spite!
They get off on offending people. That’s why, even in the North, we see them waving Confederate flags. It doesn’t matter if Trump’s tax policies only benefit the very wealthy. He will offend those liberals! It doesn’t matter that his business is built on meaningless shit and cheating people. He will offend those liberals! As Paul Krugman wrote back in 2009, "The Republican Party is guided by spite." This is even truer today.
If anyone has any more examples or possible explanations, please let me know.
