Who are the MAGA Trump supporters who show up at his rallies? After listening to video clips of what rally goes are saying about themselves and Donald Trump, and by observing their reactions to Donald Trump’s colorful commentary, a picture emerges of who these fans are.
Trump’s fan-base appears to be mostly low information voters who have avoided politics their whole life, who maybe never voted before 2016 or paid any attention to who was running. They are people who feel they have been ignored, people for whom politics had no relevance to their lives. Now, in DONALD TRUMP they have found a politician who loves them unconditionally. He embraces them. He doesn’t care that they don’t know much. He is rich and powerful and he is going to take care of them.
Donald Trump talks to his fans like no other politician before. He doesn’t talk down to them or try to teach them stuff they don’t care to hear. He says amazing and unexpected things, things that thrill them and excite them. He is very entertaining. He makes them feel politically alive for the first time in their life. He doesn’t have to be accurate or truthful in his comments because they get what he is saying. They don’t have to work hard to connect the dots. No dog whistles are required!
Donald Trump has turned politics into this incredibly entertaining blood sport and his fans love it. They have taken political sides for the first time. They are standing up against the old guards of both political parties who have ignored them in the past. They are standing up for their race, their religion and their traditional “American” values. They only support the Republicans today because the GOP itself has gotten fully on board with their champion, and THEIR GUY IS GOING TO WIN because he does what he says and keeps his promises. He has made America Great Again.
This is what the American majority is up against. A very large, cult-like block of highly motivated Trump followers who have no faith or trust in anyone who isn’t Donald Trump. No amount of facts or logic can dislodge Trump's loyal followers. The best hope we have of defeating Donald Trump is to overwhelm his supporters at the polls. For that to happen we need to put up the most exciting slate of Democratic candidates. We need candidates with visionary messages that rekindles hope and expectation in every ELIGIBLE voter, not just likely Democratic voters within the Party. We need to reach into the giant pool of those folks who don't normally come out to vote and get them as excited about our candidate's vision for America's future as Trump's supporters are for his outsized personality.