Living in Trumpland

I live in semi-rural Maine, in what's called Mid-Coast, not the vast interior hinterlands.  This is Trump country.  Before the election, Trump banners, signs, constructions, icons, and of course the American flag, were everywhere.

What has surprised and disheartened me is that after 3 months in office, wreaking havoc on the country, doing nothing that helps the economic situation of the Trump voter and actually increasing his difficulty, fulfilling none of his promises other than those that relate to the deportation of illegal immigrants and fighting wokeness, the banners and signs, etc. are all still there.

That is a pretty clear indication that Trump's actions in office have done nothing to lessen his core supporters' enthusiasm towards him. 

Supposedly many who voted for him—certainly the formerly Democratic middle-class voters and the more traditionally conservative Republican voters who held their noses when they voted—were primarily moved  by economics; they thought their situation would improve more under Trump than Harris.  I would imagine that a poll of those voters would find that many if not most have seen that they have been deceived and that Trump is not going to deliver for them.

But as to his core base, the truly committed Trump supporter—those are the ones who display the symbols of Trump allegiance—his actions seem to increase their support; they love it.   They love the chaos, the way he is dismantling the Federal government.  They love the way he is going after his enemies, be it law firms or individuals.  They love his defiance of the courts.  They love the deportations.  And they love his leading the culture wars against DEI.  Their economic status seems to be irrelevant to them.

How did so many Americans become besotted with Trump?  For one thing, they must have had plenty of anti-establishment feelings that Trump tapped into.  People who were left behind by the American dream.

But beyond that there is the question of how they could believe his preposterous claims, his huge lies.  I read recently that data shows that 30% of adult Americans can only read at a 10-year-old level.  At that level, one has a limited capacity to critically think or to analyze.  I would hazard to guess that a large percentage of Trump's base falls into that category and that that helps explain why they accepted anything he said with such enthusiasm, without any questioning.

I fear that absolutely nothing will dissuade his base that Trump is king, messiah, their hero all rolled into one.  Our country's only hope is that the more mainstream Republicans who voted for him as well as the Black and Latino Democrats who voted for him have already or will soon see the light that he has deceived them and is not doing anything to improve their economic position.