Normal people are baffled that despite everything, Trump holds an unwavering 40% approval rating, and 90% approval among Republicans, essentially unchanged. Despite impeachment and a failed Coronavirus response, leaving the country ravaged with180,000 deaths and millions unemployed, while the virus rages on in America when other countries have brought it under control, it has almost no effect on his approval ratings.

Trump hasn't delivered anything substantive, none of his promises, no infrastructure, no healthcare; he didn't get rid of the deficit; Mexico didn't pay for a wall; he didn't bring back manufacturing; none of it. But none of that ever mattered, really. What he did promise is "We’re going to win so much, you’re going to be so sick and tired of winning." And this he has delivered, from their perspective. He understands that "winning" for them is having license to hate democrats, hate liberals, and be racist, out in the open, spewing right-wing talk radio vitriol as official positions.

When that lady in red told John McCain at a town hall that Obama was a Muslim who wasn't born in this country, they didn't want him to be the fact checker, and tell her she was wrong, to tell them that Obama is a good family man who they simply disagree with about policies. Oh no. That won't do. What they wanted is how Trump would have responded to that lady, how he has responded to all sorts of abhorrent behavior from right-wing media, from far-right groups, white-supremacists, and worse, from birtherism to "they're bringing rapists" to "very fine people on both sides" to "shithole countries" to the new Biden/Harris birtherism, to embracing a 17-year-old murderer as a hero -- this is what "winning" means, as far as his deplorables are concerned.

They don't really care about the rest of it. They pretend to, but they don't really. Until COVID-19 hit, when you talked to a Trumper about morality or lies, they'd say "sure, he says some stuff, but look at the economy!" (the economy he inherited from Obama, by the way). But now that unemployment is sky high, they offer something else; it doesn't matter what. Because it was never about policy, or jobs. When they speak of being "left behind" it's not really about jobs or manufacturing. It's about white-supremacy, or at the very least, white-privilege, even if many would never admit it, not even to themselves. The world is leaving behind these attitudes and "values" (can we call hatred a "value"?). That's what they're pissed off about. They want to be racist, dammit. They want to shit down the throat of liberals because liberals don't share these values. They literally wear "liberal tears" t-shirts, because that's what they really care about. Every time Trump repeats a Fox News or Twitter right-wing crazy lie, they love that stuff. That's "winning" -- and they're getting a belly full of it from Trump, so they love him. Biden, can't fill that need.

They will die on this hill too. Make no mistake. Trump has given them this new license to be "a good patriot" telling them their racism isn't racism, but just being a good American. And now killing liberals, BLM, antifa, is all embraced and admired by the president himself. You think they're going to give that up and go back to being seen as the ordinary folks, on the wrong side of history, they really are?

And it's sad because they're being manipulated to hate liberals, and vote against their own interests, instead of pointing that anger to those who are actually holding them down: Trump and his cronies, along with Democrats too, rake in billions of dollars, while giving out a measly one-time tax deferment here or some one-time payment there to the rest of us. Trump's people will vote for anything if it keeps Trump or others like Trump in charge. They will end social security, medicare, unions, better wages, healthcare, their own rights, as long as Trump sings the Fox News hysteria talking-points and keeps ramping up the cruelty upon their enemies. This is the new GOP. They can't go back from here.

He realized this when no one else did. He gambled that Fox News viewers had turned a leaf, that they had become radicalized. He was right. Everyone else was wrong. Biden can't satisfy this element. He will never get their vote. And if he wins anyway, watch out. This 42% are not going to go quietly. They are the "unpersuadables" and it's almost half of the country.

The difference is the steady disappearance of dissent from the public sphere. Anti-regime bloggers disappear. Dissident political parties are declared “illegal.” Certain books vanish from the libraries.

The transition has been nonviolent, often not even very dramatic. Opponents of the regime are not murdered or imprisoned, although many are harassed with building inspections and tax audits. If they work for the government, or for a company susceptible to government pressure, they risk their jobs by speaking out. Nonetheless, they are free to emigrate anytime they like. Those with money can even take it with them. Day in and day out, the regime works more through inducements than through intimidation. The courts are packed, and forgiving of the regime’s allies. Friends of the government win state contracts at high prices and borrow on easy terms from the central bank. Those on the inside grow rich by favoritism; those on the outside suffer from the general deterioration of the economy. As one shrewd observer told me on a recent visit, “The benefit of controlling a modern state is less the power to persecute the innocent, more the power to protect the guilty.”
- How to Build an Autocracy - The Atlantic 

In a Trump authoritarian regime, for many people, life will go on without much change. Obviously things will get worse for some people, particularly those that have already suffered, such as people of color, women, and immigrants.

Elections won't matter. One could argue that elections haven't mattered for a long time, but in a Trump dictatorship dynasty, they really won't matter. All the power will be centralized in the Trump crime family. There will likely be the appearance of elections but somehow, just like with Putin, Trump always wins in a landslide.

If we look at the recent developments with the impeachment inquiry and the Trump camp's response, they are simply ignoring more and more laws and norms. Their defense is to simply break more laws in the open on live TV in an attempt to normalize it. This is exactly what dictators do.

If this were happening in Honduras, we’d know what to call it. It’s happening here instead, and so we are baffled.

Americans need not look far to see what this kind of boring authoritarianism looks like. As University of Michigan political scientist Robert Mickey has argued, swaths of the US South were effectively under one-party rule during parts of the 20th century.
- Life in authoritarian states is mostly boring and tolerable, Vox

I've accepted that Trump is winning. He controls the military and A.G. Barr controls all law enforcement. What else does he need? He and is legal team are making the case that the law doesn't apply to him. Who is going to stop him? There aren't 20 republican senators with the courage or morals to convict him. They have already said they will settle the impeachment by Christmas in time for the republican primaries, business as usual. They already know how they're going to vote, regardless of the evidence presented at trial.

It is happening here. Make peace with it. 

It's a good time to review this: How to Survive an Authoritarian Government which contains this list:

1. Assume all communications and activities are monitored.
2. Do not trust any information released by the government.
3. Support the production and dissemination of independent media.
4. Move banned activities and observances underground.
5. If necessary, change your identity.
6. If you are able, shield those more vulnerable than yourself.
7. Have a hiding place or escape plan ready.
8. Make room for culture, even in dark times.
9. Support labor unions and work stoppages.
10. Keep the spirit of resistance alive and never lose hope.

When liberals say America is not great, they are accused of being unpatriotic. But the MAGA folks are saying it right on their hats and T-shirts. I think America is pretty great. But there are a few places where we are not doing so great on the world stage.

First on this list is education. A 2015 study placed the U.S. an unimpressive 38th out of 71 countries in math and 24th in science.

Next is healthcare. The Commonwealth Fund rates the U.S. health care system as the worst among developed nations. America is at or near the bottom across the board: access, administrative efficiency, equity and health care outcomes. To make matters worse, there is how much more America spends on health care relative to other nations.

These are big problems, complex problems with continued long-term negative consequences on America and the American people. But are these the priorities for the MAGA folks? Probably not..They're more concerned about immigrants stealing their jobs and which bathrooms people use.

For his part, Trump made a lot of (sometimes conflicting) promises during his campaign, but in his first address to congress he laid out six pillars of his MAGA agenda: Immigration, ISIS, Trade, Tax reform, Infrastructure, and Healthcare.

None of these include education. On education, he has given us Betsy Devos, a billionaire who is universally opposed by civil rights advocates and education groups. Devos and the policies she advanced in Michigan are credited with decimating that state's education quality. In the mean time, Trump has filled his administration with anti-science zealots and taken an anti-science, anti-education stance at every turn.

On healthcare, Trump promised an amazing healthcare system, with lower rates and great care, but it appears he has no idea how to actually do that. His first plan was a tax cut for the wealthy wrapped in a "healthcare" bill and upon that failing, all he can offer now is repealing ACA as part of his mission to erase the Obama legacy but with no new plan to replace it.

The third priority where I consider America to be not so great is far more controversial and that is our imperialism run amok, the "military industrial complex" what we're now perhaps calling the "deep state." This is even more challenging given this really comes down to monied interests but I think we can begin to take this down, one small bit at a time. We interfere way too much in other countries' business and it seldom is good for America in the long run - in some cases, this is directly responsible for creating the exact terrorist movements that MAGA folks are so concerned about. Draconian immigration bans don't really do anything for this problem and, when it comes to foreign policy, besides a lot of "America first" bluster, it's not clear where Trump really stands and it certainly seems to be the place he is least qualified - and that's saying something, given how unqualified he is at pretty much everything, except being a con man.

So when I say America could be greater, those are my priorities, education and healthcare first and being quite easily justified by empirical fact. My third priority, imperial overreach, is admittedly hard to quantify. But in what ways is America not great for the MAGA folks? And when was it great before? Do they even know?

Hi. This is to Trump supporters.

You dislike Hillary. You're not alone. I get it. But if you really hate Hillary, you need to hate Trump even more.

He stole your nomination and now he's giving the election to Hillary. Think about it.

If I was a strong Hillary supporter, I suppose I should say "Thank you." Because there probably isn't another person on the planet that could make people that were otherwise against Hillary, vote for her. For Trump's part, there probably isn't another democratic candidate either that would have enabled Trump to actually be a remotely viable candidate, to say nothing of actually leading in legitimate polls at one point.

This presidential election is the biggest mess in my lifetime. The whole thing smells of a rat.

John Oliver captured it best when he pointed out the parallels between Trump's situation and a 1996 children's book "The Kid Who Ran for President," where the kid ultimately gives a rant speech rebuking the electorate for voting him into office.

I have a question for the grown-ups of America ... Are you out of your minds? Are you expecting me to enforce the constitution? I never even read it. I was absent from school that day. Would you really want me as Commander In Chief of the armed forces? What if somebody attacked the United States? Would you really want me in charge? America must be in really bad shape if you elected me president. You better get it together and find some qualified people to run this country or we'll all be in big trouble.

And South Park's "Giant Douche vs Turd Sandwich" series has been brilliant.

Forgetting for a moment that, under a Trump presidency, the economy would crash like ...



... and he probably would start world war three.

As John Oliver pointed out, and as I've said from day one, Trump would be miserable as president, when he finds out what the job is really about.

... because then he actually has to run the country. And that means living in government housing, conversing with fully clothed women, and traveling in a plane that doesn't even have his name on it.

And South Park's version:

The second Mr. Garrison (The Giant Douche, Trump) realizes he has an actual shot at winning this election, he panics over his lack of a plan and starts self-sabotaging

2. The look on Hillary's face would be even better

If she lost this election, maybe she would finally give America the rant she thinks we deserve for not letting her have it in 2008 like we were supposed to.

We all know what he his - a self-promoter first and foremost - but that is not the important thing. With Trump's support surviving this deep into the election cycle, we have to look beyond the obvious.

What his support speaks to is a great disdain for the corruption and dysfunction of proper politics. Nobody is going to stop supporting Trump because they catch him in a lie. That would be like telling them that pro-wrestling is fake. You miss the point. Of course Trump lies - his supporters know it and they don't care.

Democrats sit on a high horse but they're just doing the same thing with the pretense of protocol and decorum - they are lying and stealing and pandering the old-fashioned way. But really, they are more alike than different.

I sent Bernie money. But is he really even close to what we think he is, or what we want him to be? Probably not.

I don't have the answers either, of course.