This is the cognitive dissonance I have with Trump

[RandySF]

Donald Trump is a Manhatten real estate tycoon with a Jewish daughter and son-in-law who's rubbed shoulders with politicians and celebrities from all walks of life. He should be the epitome of the cosmopolitan New York socialite., but he's attracted Russian Ultra-nationalists, White Nationalist, KKK sympathizers, Nazi sympathizers and other anti-Semites from every slimy corner the globe. How? Why? I know it's stupid to ask this question, but I still want to know how he got to this point from what we thought we knew about him decades ago. Any ideas?

[Emilybemily]

1. Easy.

Many repukes are white nationalist, KKK, Nazis, anti-Semites, xenophobia, misogynists, and completely ignorant about the Constitution and ideals this country is based on. Dump is the cumulative result of decades of repuke lies, slander, fomenting hatred and violence, and dumbing down. They just finally put one of their own up there.

[RKP5637]

4. Well said, agree. The others hide it, but Trump puts it on display being proud of it and his

deplorables follow. And more and more this is the mantra of the new GOP.

[Snake Plissken]

2. He's a trust fund baby who never grew up and is very insecure

He'll never be accepted by the people we wants to be associated with because he doesn't understand what class and dignity are all about. He's basically a wealthy lowlife who goes through life being an angry pick and blames others for his anger, that's why he gets off on degrading people especially women and people of color, just like the White Nationalist, KKK sympathizers and Nazi sympathizers.

[sofa king]

6. That leads me to an observation.

If I go through life saying, "we're better than them," rather than, "what is it like to be them?," I'm not better than them and I can never hope to be like them.

That's a tiny part of Donald's problem. By pretending "I'm the best and you're a loser," he's become the worst and he can never win.

[Johnny2X2X]

3. Trump is a white supremacist

His dad was at least a KKK sympathizer.

Donald is deeply damaged, he is a frightened little boy who has been trying to impress everyone his whole life because of how pathetic he views himself. He's a truly damaged person.

[Cha]

5. It's not stupid.. it's a good question.

He most certainly has attracted lot of scums of the Earth.. and he did hang out with a better class of people years before it would seem.

Looks like he ran them away being who he is and getting worse as he got older. More people finding out just who the real Donald trump is.

I'm sure it would make a fascinating book.. the rise and fall of the real trump/Trash with Money.

[duncang]

7. He's a con artist

And always been one. The only way he has survived through out the years was by conning others. This is just a extension of that.

[pnwmom]

8. He's a racist who's had a lot of contact with the blue collar white guys

working on his buildings. So now he's drawing most of his support from people like them.

[True Dough]

9. If you're wondering about his former support for the Clintons

I think that can simply be chalked up to opportunism. When Bill was in power, it was in Don the Con's interest to kiss ass, in hopes of currying favor.

Now he wants to seize power for himself and his true colors are showing.

[Cresent City Kid]

10. Frontline had a pretty good biography a few weeks back

He never fit in the socialites and carries resentment of them to this day. I guess the people he attracts like that he boldly spews the socially regressive world view that they in their own lives catch hell for.

[wishstar]

11. Hates taxes, regs plus his father was KKK and discriminated against minorities in rentals

Also he has been a greedy, totally self-centered narcissistic bullying sociopath his whole life

[Bernardo de La Paz]

12. RW Authoritarian Followers are such ignorant suckers. Claim to be "informed" but get taken often.

They have very compartmentalized thinking, for one thing.

Researched analysis of RWA and RWAF: http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1002&pid=8065442

[tribe-time]

13. I think he's just Bat Shit Crazy

[Princess Turandot]

14. While he harbors a vast amount of prejudices, I'm not sure that...

his prejudices are his daily reason for being, the way they are for the Alt-Right. He seeks to gratify his own extreme narcissism and his wants/needs every minute of the day, and his methods to achieve that are completely Machiavellian. He's stoking up the white nationalists with outrageous harmful rhetoric, without a moment's thought for the greater impact of those words, to get votes. He deserves to be reviled for everything that he's doing, but I don't think his goal is to establish the American 3rd Reich.

In past decades, actively associating with any of these throwbacks provided him with no personal benefit, the way it does now, so we didn't see it. His attitudes towards women were out there to a large degree, but no one seemed to care about that.

And of course, he's having a very hard time dealing with criticism/polling losses etc, especially with them being on a very public stage, so he lashing out even more crazily. And in turn, the crazys scream and cry for him, filling the void where most of us have souls.

I've wondered (a very little) about the Adelsons' support for him, given that he brought the Alt-Right into the fold. The only thing that I could come up with is that Trump privately assured them that the crazies are just a means to an end, and that if elected, he would enthusiastically support/defend Israel, which seems to be the only thing that they really care about.

I could be completely wrong.

[etherealtruth]

15. He is a narcissist / megalomaniac/ vulgarian first and foremost

... his ignorance and bigotry follow