Making Sense of the Inexplicable

In response to a friend's request to try to understand Trump' abiding appeal I'm afraid that applying logical constructs to the Trump campaign and the motivations of his dwindling ranks of supporters can only result in futility. His appeal, in large part, is to a base that has felt disenfranchised both culturally due to the changing demographics of the country over the past two decades and economically as a result of the decline of the manufacturing sector and its accompanying lack of well paying jobs. Trump has capitalized on this through a crude appeal to fear of the other as reflected in his extremist and rather far fetched (I mean, really...a wall?!) immigration 'policy', pronouncement that a massive tax break to the 1% will somehow magically trickle down (where have we heard that before?) to the working class, and the notion that through his (and his alone) leadership, we will return to some mythical time of past greatness...presumably, a time when women were obedient to patriarchy, people of color knew their place, and we were free to utter xenophobic and racist epithets with impunity. One can almost here the chorus of Trump supporters crying out for those bygone days of yesteryear when they were unburdened by the ugly restraints of 'political correctness' and therefore released to exercise their 'God-given' privilege in order to spread hate and vitriol wherever they damn well pleased.  Trump has fostered, nurtured, and exploited this mythology at the exclusion of real policy considerations and, in so doing, has  rendered his base with a visceral and distinctly anti-intellectual attraction to nothing other than his own inflated and rather grotesque public persona. Of course, we've seen all this before...the angst of a powerless segment of society used by a charismatic (although Trump's claim to this label is seriously losing credibility) leader to further his own personal ends reminds one of Mussolini's rise to power in Fascist Italy in the 1930's.
All of the above and an abiding, virulent, and irrational hatred of his opponent in this election seemingly has conspired to make an impartial judgement regarding Trump's fitness for office a matter of complete, utter, and total indifference to his most ardent supporters. I hope this helps to better understand the possible motivations of those who are casting their lot with someone who they might otherwise find wholly unacceptable and who we both suspect will wreck havoc on our already challenged country and troubled world. It gives me no pleasure to report that Trump's support like so many other considerations in this political cycle defies logic.