You can’t con a con man, but apparently, Trump can con plenty of GOP voters | Opinion
There are so many strikes against Donald Trump now, it’s hard to keep track: refusing to admit he lost the election, multiple indictments, including on charges of keeping classified documents. And on Tuesday, perhaps the biggest yet: charges over his role in trying to overturn the 2020 election.
Yet by nearly every measure and every poll, Trump is the leading favorite to be the GOP presidential nominee in 2024. He’s ahead of Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis by a significant margin and other contenders, like Mike Pence and Nikki Haley, by light years. Why? How can voters stand by someone with so much baggage?
They’ve given us some clues — and so has Trump.
For starters, Trump is a con man at best and a narcissist at worst. Con artists are charming, affable, charismatic, and appear to be strong leaders, even if they have no idea what they’re talking about. Everyone has met this kind of person — they’re salesmen and husbands, pastors and wives — and it can take years to realize that this person is actually a fraud, a manipulator and a fake.
Trump has easily communicated all these traits in rallies, during interviews and while president. He’s constantly telling lies and bragging about himself, all while never doing exactly what he says he will do. When he lost the presidency, he whined about it while retaining an air of charming confidence that bordered on arrogance. A lot of people can be drawn to this. History shows it.
According to polls, these characteristics have manipulated voters. Even while 45% think DeSantis is more moral than Trump, 54% think Trump is more fun, 58% think he’s more able to beat Biden, and a whopping 69% think Trump is a “strong leader.” Just what we want in a party leader —- someone “fun.”
Because of the way the last 10 years have gone, the Republican party has split in many ways, including class lines. According to a New York Times poll, 37% of Republicans are hard-core MAGA Trump voters. They are also the least educated, and 70% earn less than $100,000 a year.
Eighty percent of these same people think America is in danger of failing, and not a single Trump loyalist polled believe Trump has committed serious crimes. These are both clearly lines directly from Trump’s mouth. Of the 25% not open to voting for Trump, only 37% think America is in danger of failing, and half think Trump has committed crimes.
An intelligent person would not knowingly elect a criminal to public office and yet, MAGA supporters are hardly swayed by any negative news that comes out smearing Trump. They’ve so bought into his charisma and charm, that even his misdeeds and whining are forgiven.
Trump’s convinced them that he’s being hunted down and indicted because the corrupt establishment is out to get him — not because he’s done anything wrong. So they give him the benefit of the doubt. Trump even believes himself. Trump continues to behave as he has and he gaslights along the way, reassuring his base he’s more saintly than he is, that the offices investigating him are merely partisan, and that only he can restore America.
It’s such an obvious grift that the only way one can explain why his base still loves him is that they’ve been conned by one of the best, and that’s an addiction that’s hard to break, as anyone who has been fooled by a lover, or a substance, knows. At this juncture, the MAGA base acts more like a committed cult, following their leader wherever he might go.
A level of emotional intelligence is required to poke through the lies of a cult-like politician, but MAGA voters don’t seem even interested in this. They’ve embraced him as their warrior-leader for so long, who else will stand up to Washington, D.C.?
Much of the MAGA fanbase bought into the belief that somehow this brash New Yorker who resides nearly full time in the gauche glamour of Mar-A-Lago wants to stand up for them in the White House. He doesn’t really, of course, but it’s enough that he says he will. They also believe America is broken enough, that it needs Trump to Make America Great Again.
The MAGA base only listens to Fox News and the like, which continues to feed them only information that confirms their previous bias. The same occurs with the other side. Smartphone algorithms and dedication to one television channel of a particular ideology explains why every side thrives in an information bubble partly of their choosing. So they truly believe Trump is innocent, while Biden’s base believes “Bidenomics” is working.
These factors combine to make for a devastating combination of belief.
Even still, the bond must loosen, for the sake of the Republican Party and the good of the country. The only person now who can beat Trump is Biden. Do we really want four more years of him, either?
This story was originally published August 1, 2023 at 12:37 PM with the headline "You can’t con a con man, but apparently, Trump can con plenty of GOP voters | Opinion."
