Way too many people bought the bullshit, hook, line and sinker, that Trumpy was a "successful businessman", a complete farce created and sustained by producer Mark Burnett. It proves that a society enthralled with television and reality shows can be convinced of almost anything, including the idea that Trumpy was worth voting for.

the unwashed and incurious public were convinced that John Wayne was a war hero and Ronald Reagan was a person with ethics and principle.

In actuality, they just hated the same people. Racist pricks all.

Khrushchev said (about 75 years ago) that assholes could bury the west without firing a shot. That almost happened and may yet.

What you said.

They also believed the wars and incursions we initiated were justified, women "asked" for it when raped, and POC were guilty unless proven innocent.

Oh - and reefer madness!!

I do think The Apprentice had a lot to do with his popularity & of course the birther crap.

Same with H. Walker.

which was the topic of my Master's Thesis. People are more likely to say yes or vote for someone familiar to them.

I can just see republicans explaining to Walker: "You don't have to do anything--just show up to vote and we'll tell you how to do that."

Dems should look for some well-liked personality in Arizona to run against Sinema.

and keep 'em in positive news cycles to build "familiarity".

The Apprentice's gullible audience believed that it was real. There are many people who seldom watch anything other than reality TV and of course, Fox News which is just reality TV in a different format.

A "reality" that isn't real, but it's the one the right-wing propaganda masters want to create in the minds of their gullible listeners, so they can control them & use them.

It was a mini series about Roger Ailes and it was so disturbing. I read the book as well. It really is hard to understand people like that, but they often have considerable power over the rest of us.

The number of people in America who believe in a "reality" that is far from the truth makes the US nearly ungovernable. How is consensus on a path forward ever reached?

Who says red don has no talent?

David Cay Johnston calls him the greatest conman in American history. Hard to argue with that--he conned his way into the presidency.

To him, it is an accomplishment.

Hard to believe someone that stupid could have fooled so many people. I'd always thought of conmen as smart.

since such "news" has been fed to RW outlets since the 1980s. Those "advocates" haven't gone away and aren't going away.

(R) stands for "RICH" (racist) and that's the crowd they want to be part of. Enter TFG with his name on a jet and on tall buildings and golf courses and his own game show and the crowd went wild over the really, really "RICH" guy!!!!!

Coates explains it pretty well and lets you know why he wasn't shocked at all. Spoilers: it's racism.

Rethuglicans didn't give a second thought to abortion until someone pointed out that it was mostly white women getting the abortions and that the white people were going to be in the minority in the future. It's all about White Supremacy. Gawd, I wish those ingrates would EVOLVE already!

he gave them explicit permission to be the very worst versions of themselves, to stop faking empathy and kindness and just be racist and ugly, to show the hate they had hidden under masks of civility.

He gave them permission to be monsters and know that they were not alone in being monsters.

They love him for it and they aren't going to put those masks back on, they are going to make sure everyone knows who and what they are.

Certainly there are are rumors that Trump studied Mein Kompf and geared his speech to mimic that of "strongmen". As you said however, the ground was more than fertile for this to happen as Conservatives had been looking for ways to energize their smaller base of voters. While authoritarians reside on both right and left of the political spectrum, right wingers are typically more susceptible to the lure of the "strongman".

A good con man knows what his mark wants to hear.

Roger Stone told him, circa 2015 or so, that Alex Jones had figured out how to sway and hold people and Trump should watch/listen to him. I suspect Trump did and fashioned his persona around the likes of Jones.

He had also "figured out" how to attract attention through his TV shows. When he decided to run, he started watching Fox and the media and the GOP made him after that.

A friend from work used to come over and we would get stoned and watch Alex. I used to laugh my ass off at Jones's stories and the voices he used when he would imitate the globalists and Deep State and such. But my friend swallowed it all hook, line, and sinker. Then it stopped being funny anymore.

But I digress, Jones used to say that Trump called him just about every day to discuss politics and the news. I think Jones was actually telling the truth about that. He also used to say that Tucker Carlson talked to him and discussed stories. I believe that, too, because some of Tucker's stories were obviously borrowed from Alex. And Roger Stone was a regular contributor to Alex's show as well. So Jones was in a sense Trump's Goebbels. Alex Jones is the brain of the cult of Trump.

There is nothing he won't do for attention. SUPERHERO!

It's easy to fool people who want so desperately to have their false beliefs "validated".
When it comes to lies and manipulation, Trump is a master craftsman...like Hitler.
He knows how to play people, and there are 10's of millions of Americans out there who were not just willing to be played, but anxious for it.

There should be a return of the Fairness Doctrine. And yes, this would mean "truth policing" by opposing voices on both Fox and MSNBC. I'm confident that the truth, over time, can win out. But you've got to let it get into the arena first.

He called it "Executive Time", which is a rather Orwellian title that actually means "sitting on my ass watching Fox 'News' for eight hours at a stretch".

https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2018/01/05/trump-media-feedback-loop-216248/

Grievance and Anger.

That's all.

And then when they say they’re not then ask them why they can no longer think for themselves and watch them get angry and sputter! They no longer believe truth when it’s right I front of them and that is a definition of brainwashing. Then say to them, I hope you don’t end up like one of a jim Jones supporters.

There was already bunches of them in Congress. The right wing media lures them in with the notion that you the white people are the victim. Once they are hooked, they believe everything they tell them. They have created a mass of racially minded children with no critical thinking skills.

and I don't think he was particularly interested in it until relatively recently, when his buddy Putin started to groom him for the glorious takeover of the great American bogeyman. That means around 2010, when TFG was already outraged that there was a black family in the White House and they weren't there as slaves, he was easy to manipulate on that account, alone. Throw in how much he was in hock to Putin's oligarch buddies, and he became the perfect candidate.

I don't think he watched wingnut news as much as he watched televangelists, ignoring what they had to say but paying close attention to the speech patterns. He picked those up perfectly, it's one reason fundagelicals were such willing suckers and why they continue to stand by him. He doesn't speak their language, but he sounds like he does.

Word salad and flight of ideas in a preacher's voice sucked them right in.

It created a situation where the right-wing dupes found a leader that was just as duped as they were.

learn how to talk to their followers, and it is their followers who became the diehard MAGA cult. They were already programmed. Trump just needed to push their buttons.

to benefit his own will-to-power is one of the oldest and most dangerous tendencies on earth.

Beware of populist demagogues.

"Boorish hateful man who watches Fox News popular with boorish hateful men who watch Fox News. "

So true!

Let them express it freely.

Explains another thing…him believing he’s a stable genius…”Lookie I got gullible people to believe me”.

1 word racism.

I think you're right.

On the plus side, Rush Limbaugh is still dead. I checked.

responded to. Trump didn't like "Drain the swamp" but his audience did, so that became one of his slogans. He became what they wanted.

a branding genius over and over.

fox and son media, and internet are part of the free speech spectrum - the RW radio monopoly has eliminated and excluded competition and alternatives in political talk radio

fox gets most of the blame but radio has a much bigger audience and most people can't watch tv while driving and working. and it can't do the repetition radio can. and it can't lie as blatantly or be as blatantly racist or sexist without being noticed, if not called out.

trump was known to listen to the radio and limbaugh was his neighbor, attack dog, defender, and most important ally. when he wanted to keep republicans in line he's just do a photo op with limbaugh at the golf course.

fox followed limbaugh

fox wasn't around for the first 10 years of the RW radio monopoly when it deified reagan, got the GOP congress for the first time in decades, started a 30 years record partisanship, and so on

if we hadn't been ignoring the real problem and blaming fox all this time bush jr and trump would never have gotten anywhere near the WH

than we think. You don't broadcast fascist propaganda 24/7/365 for over 30 years and not get some takers. Especially when you are posing as a legitimate news network feigning the "you can't say it on TV if it isn't true" bullshit. Many of us saw this coming when it started, but we were often dismissed as conspiracy theorists or were given misguided platitudes as to why it was okay.

Yeah, Trump supporters are brainwashed alright, but they were already there when Trump came along. He simply tapped into them because he is unrestrained by any concern for this country, it's principles or its people.

Well said!

Flimflam developer.

White Europeans good, everyone else bad.
I am convinced it is just that simple.

Clearly, Fox News is the biggest force in US politics -- dwarfing anything on the left. The decades old battle cry of "liberal media" is now the centerpiece of rightwing politics.

Can anyone beat these stable genius supporters' reasoning?

Though I wouldn't have given TFG credit for thinking ahead.

That's how I once heard a pundit describe it, and it was a great analogy.

I watch a lot of Fox News, for several reasons. One of which is to see what kind of a suit they're tailoring for the 'conservative' sheep to support.

'News' outlets like Fox see their main purpose as to PROGRAM the conservative voting robots. Basically, they're the North Korean brainwashing institute from THE MANCHURIAN CANDIDATE. They program millions upon millions of their viewers to believe certain things, and respond to certain catch phrases. Then, all the GOP has to do is give the QUEEN OF DIAMONDS CARD to their candidate before the election. Republican candidates are simply pushing buttons on robots that have been programmed by Fox (on TV), and a dozen Murdoch print products.

I watched Trump at the beginning, and noticed that he used all the catch phrases he'd learned from Fox. Best example is claiming he'll be able to 'fix' Medicare by addressing 'Waste, fraud, and abuse.'

"Waste, fraud, and abuse" is one of the pre-programmed catch phrases that any GOP candidate can use to win elections, thanks to Dr. Rupert and his brainwashing techniques.

plausible.

I also believe he cleared the way for - normalized - all their bigotry to spew out. Haters, that they are.

Every RW preacher that has ever existed understands that bunch loves a circus and needs to believe the unbelievable.

they fell for it like a ton of bricks. Trump's created by Fox News, and that's why they stuck to him for so long. Trump stars openly campaigned for Trump, and actually gave him political "advice." Merdoch has a special place reserved for him in Hell.

desperately wanted someone to confirm their bigotry and ignorance as being OK. It goes hand in hand with their anti-education/anti-science beliefs. Education and science challenge the views of ignorance and bigotry. So they must attack those who are educators and scientists or else have to do the uncomfortable hard work of personal reevaluation and face the uncertainty of change. So it makes them angry that anybody or any information/view/policy would shake them from their world where they comfort themselves in their absolute certainty that it is "those people" who are causing all of the problems in the world.

Even to the point of encouraging their own deaths, as they did with their Covid nonsense, they will rail against what would save their lives, improve their financial condition and break down their wall of constant fear and hate of others who are different. Right on through to the end, they have and they will stand and insist that the emperor is wearing the most magnificent clothing of all.

That is what they mean. They have swallowed Fox News Station's lies.

It is pathetic and pitiful to watch these people.

Excellent points you make and the only reasons I can think of as to why millions of Americans are so gullible to fall for their (GOP, tRump) crap.

I do think though too that tRump voiced a lot of what those that follow him were thinking but afraid to say. He removed that fear, made it mainstream and here we are today.

it started in the 1970s.

n/t

I've always said this about Trump, who imo was more democratic. He studied them. He knew what they wanted to hear and it worked.

Trump isn't the first cult of personality to appeal to the weak minded en masse and he won't be the last. As long as the stage is set, the show will go on with or without Trump.

hate CNN, but when I watch it I don't see the right spin. (I'll kept looking for it.) I think it's Fox News and right wing talk radio that does that big time. When I inner act with MAGA righties they spout those talking points. Talking with a MAGA rightie about how the young voters favor the Dems, he said how they just want free stuff (health care for all) and it's socialism/Communism pure and simple. Young folks helped Michigan get a huge Blue Wave. Give them a reason to vote (abortion and voting rights) and they will vote.

You know, so he’d have the last word on the Sunday shows. He prepped them with what they hear all day. Just as your explanation says.