To beat Trump, we need to know why Americans keep voting for him. Psychologists may have the answer

[Caliman73]

51. They feel the same grievances but misattribute the causes AND solutions...

Here is what you said:

Foreign wars? Helps the rich who own stock in military companies. The average American fights those wars and their taxes go to pay it. Illegal Immigration? Free trade? Both taking jobs from middle america. Again, helps the rich by suppressing wages. Deficit spending? Poor and middle class pay in the resulting inflation. The rich get richer because inflation increses hard asset value. Covid rules? Attack on freedom. The elites lied about the how bad it was and the prescription of staying inside cratered the economy and didn't do any good. Rich got richer with massive subsidies aimed primarily at businesses.

It is a crooked game run by a bunch of con artists. Democrats are the worst, but RINO's are right behind them. Everyone is getting rich off the government teat at the expense of average hard working Americans. Trump, for all his flaws, is better than that lot. Can't be worse.

Democrats are the worst? Why? I am a Democrat, but primarily because the Democratic Party might be more workable, not because they are flawless. I do see a problem with money capturing some within the entire system. Here is where they go wrong however. Donald Trump couldn't be worse? He is the epitome of the corruption within the system. Conservatives WANT inequality because they see inequality as the "natural order" because some people are inherently BETTER than others. With humans there is no NATURAL ORDER, while we are animals and live within nature (like bears, tigers, chimpanzees, etc...) our fundamental NATURE is to adapt our surroundings around us. Civilization isn't natural. Capitalism, Communism, Monarchy, Democracy, etc... none of it is NATURAL.

People with power tend to want to stay in power and increase that power and wealth. What right wingers tend to get wrong is they think that Democrats are playing this elaborate game where they bring in immigrants, give them benefits, in order to create "voters" even when people who come in without documentation CANNOT vote and DO NOT vote. There is a much simpler answer that they refuse to see. Wealthy people influence everyone to legislate in ways that will keep them wealthy. They try to capture BOTH sides, but because Democrats/Liberals/Progressives have a deeper notion that everyone deserves equal dignity and a chance to succeed, Democrats try to work within the system to distribute the benefits of society more equitably and to try to remove some of the barriers for people who are marginalized.

Trump is not trying to change the system. At all. He is trying to capitalize on the system to enrich himself and people who are loyal to him. He doesn't give a damn about anyone but himself. Everything is a transaction.

I agree with you that calling people names is silly and unproductive. I also think that these people are FUNDAMENTALLY WRONG about the root causes of the problems. They are falling for the framing that "there is not enough to go around" and that Democrats see it only as a game of power. Democrats for better or worse are trying to solve problems. In my opinion, they are working within a system that is flawed and which will always lead back to inequality, but they are at least trying while the other side, including Donald Trump thinks that inequality and suffering are "just fine" and are actually setting the disadvantaged against each other while they hoard all of the wealth and benefits of society.