Calling Trump backers cultists misses the mark
But — and this is key — they believe he cares about them and so they are willing to forgive his past personal indiscretions and current lies because they think his policies and the more positive direction of the country benefit them more than it does the political and media class.
Cultists reject any evidence that proves their faith is wrong. Trump supporters believe he is taking the country away from elitist snobs who care little about Middle America, except at election time. He is channeling their anger and frustration about broken government and dysfunctional Washington. They are glad he has an opportunity with his Supreme Court appointments to undo some of the judicial activism the Founders never intended for the court to practice and to again make the Constitution central to the nation’s governing life.
They have grown tired of being stereotyped as yahoo hillbillies and uneducated Bible-thumpers who, according to Barack Obama, “get bitter” and “cling to guns or religion or antipathy to people who aren’t like them ... ”
Trump is their revenge and they are enjoying it. Look at the crowds the president continues to draw from his base as he travels. Their level of enthusiasm for him is at the level of a presidential campaign.
The support the president is receiving isn’t just about him. It appears to stem from a sense of gratitude from people who have been ignored by many politicians and now believe they have a champion who listens to and speaks for them.
Is he a perfect champion? Of course not. What politician, what human, is perfect?
But Trump supporters believe his policies are far better than those advocated by Hillary Clinton and the Democratic Party, which seems to be trending more socialist every day.
People who embrace socialism after its demonstrated failures all over the world — Venezuela and Cuba are two examples — are more like cultists than Trump supporters.
And labeling them as cultists will only serve to drive more of them to the polls in the next two elections.