There have to be some people who are so under Trump’s spell that no matter what they hear , even with irrefutable proof more compelling than the Nixon tapes, about things he did or is doing will still support him. These are people who will either deny the evidence or just don’t care because they worship him, or both.
Prosecutors are moving closer and closer to proving in court beyond what a jury would be likely to see as Trump’s being guilty of crimes beyond a reasonable doubt. It is important to be reminded that potential jurors in a normal court can be removed by prosecutorial challenges because they are obviously biased or unable to understand judicial instructions and evidence. If Trump’s fate rests with the Senate, we can assume that his jurors there will be competent to hear and evaluate the evidence.
I couldn’t find a poll that actually asked questions attempting to drill down into whether a Trump supporter would still support him if they knew without a shadow of a doubt that he, to use his own example, saw him shoot somebody on Fifth Avenue (or more likely an anti-Trump protester at a rally) for no particular reason other than he felt like proving a point.
My disturbing sense is that Trump has a core of supporters who see him as a deity, as someone who they would follow to the ends of the earth, and would blindly follow his orders no matter how cruel, or even drink the Kool Aide if he told them it would grant them everlasting life as an honored guest at a Mar-a-Lago in the sky.
In Sept, 2017 Bobby Azarian, Ph.D. wrote “The Psychology Behind Trump’s Unwavering Support” despite what he called his “shocking behavior.” This article and the references it sites have been discussed many times by those trying to understand the “why.”
An Article for the The Atlantic in 2016 asked “Who are Donald Trump Supporters.” This was before he had the primary locked up but one observation is important to consider; It is that the “typical Trump buyer was simple: These were poorly informed voters, swept up by a modern circus act orchestrated by a mass-media-age P. T. Barnum with arguably worse hair.”
In May, 2016 Jonathan Chait opined in New York Magazine that Trump supporters are merely idiots.
However, the “why” and “who” about these supporters aside, just how much can be revealed about Trump’s transgressions, and how far can Trump go in his unhinged behavior and lies, and not have loose members of this core of his base?
Because people don’t want to look bad and they would lie in a traditional poll, it would take a poll where subjects were asked questions about unquestioned worshipful support of and their loyalty to Trump while on truth serum to find out what the percentage of such people were.
If researchers went to a Trump rally and offered, say $500 per randomly selected people to sit down for a sodium pentothal interview, perhaps we could we get an idea of how deep support for Trump went.
Would if be 5%, 10%, 15% or more?
I shudder to think of the answer.
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