I live in very Republican East TN.

[TNNurse]

I know many many Republicans. I know that many are not racist. I know that many do good work and help those in need. They do good work in the community. They were raised Republican. What I cannot understand is how and why they remain Republicans in this atmosphere of bigotry and hatred.

I just do not understand. Even if they believe in the 2nd Amendment as it has been twisted....isn't the National Guard that well regulated militia?? Even if they believe the economics that make no sense will help them even though it hasn't.

HOW DO PEOPLE WHO CONSIDER THEMSELVES CHRISTIANS TOLERATE THE HATRED AND BIGOTRY???

I am not going to address the ignorance....I have chores to do.

[greymattermom]

1. It's part of their identity

like being Baptist. Many of my family are from East Tennessee. The Presbyterians and Methodists are usually democrats, the Baptists are usually Republican.

[pangaia]

2. They are asleep. Literally.

[uponit7771]

3. This is a good question, I've asked myself why are people tolerating such racism from tRump and its

... mostly people who aren't hurt by it personally.

That's about it, no empathy no matter if they're good people

[morningglory]

6. I was raised Baptist in rural north Florida.

The people I grew up with were very Christian in their outlook. They were Democrats in the old days and a lot remained so. Until the "southern strategy" when racism screwed up concepts of morality. Divorce was a terrible sin, for instance. I believe any 6-yr-old child in the old days would be able to see Trump as a phony Christian.

[Arkansas Granny]

4. My boss is Republican and has voted that way all his life.

He has stated that he votes Republican because of his Christian values. He is a good, honest, caring person who attends church regularly and genuinely lives his beliefs without being preachy about it.

We haven't discussed it (we know that our opinions on many matters are diametrically opposed), so I don't know who he voted for in the primaries or if he can support Trump in the GE. I just cannot imagine how he could without going against his beliefs.

[Sheepshank]

9. I honestly believe the end game for The Christian Republican, is about abortion

All the other Christian values the RW embraces is non existent when compared to this one issue.

[brer cat]

5. Same here in NE GA.

Some that I know seem to identify republicans as being well-to-do and intellectually superior while dismissing dems as old ragged hippies, still hugging trees and protesting for more "free" stuff. The condescending attitude tells me much about how they perceive their elevated status. As for the Christians, they simply deny, deny, deny: "Of course, we don't act that way. He doesn't really mean that. I'm not a racist/bigot but I have worked to help those people, and you know they bring a lot of this on themselves."

[NutmegYankee]

7. It's their team - politics is often like a professional sports team.

And people stick with it even if their side disappoints them.

[Hortensis]

11. Yes. More, conservatives feel an acceptance

of and responsibility toward members of their own group that is very different from what they feel is appropriate toward "outsiders." Examine those good behaviors and bad behaviors, and see what direction they fall according to whether they relate to what is inside their accepted world or what is seen as coming from the dangerously different outside world.

Then there is conservative morality, which is quite different from liberal morality... It was the conservative conviction that using coarse language was not merely a personal "style" but immoral behavior that was endangering the very stability of society that got me reading. I just didn't get what their big effing problem was, especially when a group preferred complaining passionately about that to discussing child prostitution discovered in our community. But, once you understand where they're really coming from, turns out they're not nuts or even necessarily hypocritical.

[DavidDvorkin]

8. Hatred and bigotry have always been a big part of Christianity

Never mind the fictional speeches by the mythological founder of the religion. Real Christianity has been suffused with hatred and bigotry from its start.

[ms liberty]

10. Because the GOP co-opted Jesus, and the greedy pastors ate it up

I live in the foothills of NC, in a small rural county. I see the exact same thing; people who are (or were) not evil racist haters, but good, honest people who would do anything to help a neighbor in need - no matter what their race, creed or color. Even now many of them are great people - until the hot button issues they've been brainwashed about come up in a discussion.
I blame Newt Gingrich and the GOP, and the relaxing of media regulation that led to Faux News; as well as campaign finance laws that led to the uber rich John Birch Society types who have corrupted our landscape. It started being seen in the 80's; we have nearly reached the logical conclusion of this arc, which is the destruction and end of the middle class. And the religious leaders (pastors, church deacons and leaders, not to mention the teevee snake oil salespeople.) ate it up, and still do...because it accrues power and money to them.The baptists are the worst; and I say this as a person who grew up baptist, but no longer believes in any organized religion. There is one baptist preacher in our community that went to high school with mr liberty, and he's one of his FB friends. Based on the church's size, he is making about 160k a year in a county where the median income is less than 29K a year. He continually posts photos of his guns, or the hotel suite he stays in when he goes to a nearby city to use his season ticket holder seats for a football game and more such nonsense. He was a big party boy in high school and is now a straight arrow republican after finding Jesus and going to Baptist preacher college. The hypocrisy is stunning. The only reason mr liberty hasn't unfriended him is because it is so funny to see the shit he catches from the people who knew him way back when.

But, the political pendulum continues to swing. In the 90's we reached the highest point of the swing to the right; 9/11 unfortunately delayed the swing, and the momentum of the swing down and leftward. Most of America has swung left to the point that they're farther along than our politicos in the Democratic Party, who swung right themselves to try to accommodate the middle and continue to be relevant and get elected during the rightward swing of the pendulum.
Unfortunately I think the entrenched power of the billionaire class may prevent us from regaining what we've lost. When I see the response of the Trumpet crowd to his awful hate speech, I worry that we can never fix this.

I really didn't mean to write an essay, lol, but your comment tripped me like a light switch!

[OnDoutside]

12. Because they has been in(bred) to HATE the Clintons. It will sustain them too for the next 8 years.

By that time the Republican leadership will have created a new Democrat bête noir.

[TeddyR]

13. I grew up in Asheville, NC

Which isn't particularly republican now but was when I was growing up, and the surrounding counties are certainly Republican. One reason I think a lot of those folks will vote Trump is because the Internet/news coverage has increased the polarization in this country. If you only get your news from Fox News, Drudge or World Net Daily then you have every reason to think Hillary is a liar who compromised national security. For example, when the Benghazi report was released last week there were two dramatically different takes at Fox and the Washington Post. The Fox headline said something about the Benghazi report being "damning" for Hillary while the Washington Post said "still no smoking gun." Pretty amazing to me how two news organizations come up with diametrically opposed takes on the same report. And of course, Republicans don't trust the "mainstream media," so for many Fox is the sole source of news.

With respect to the Second Amendment/militia issue, gun ownership is something that most Americans view as a constitutionally protected right, and one that existed before this country was formed. This view is especially strong (I think) in rural America, which is still the vast majority of this country, be it eastern Tennessee, Montana, all of Virginia outside Richmond/NOVA, the Midwest, Vermont, etc. So while those same folks would (largely) support universal background checks or certain other restrictions, Democrats do themselves no favors when they start talking about gun bans or confiscation.