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This… even my own dad who voted for Trump refused to vote for him in 2020…. I think he sat out or voted third-party.
Unfortunately, he voted for Trump again in 2024. He’s a reasonable guy with a lot of things related to politics, yet still blames Obama for health care costs. We agree on things like how Newsom is an incompetent governor and is too spineless to call out Israel, and he’s all show. We’re both anti-government unions ( I argue it creates a privileged bureaucratic class that abuses public funds for pensions, and puts a tremendous burden on the state budget), but pro-private unions (ones that aren’t bought off by the establishment). I don’t get it all, it’s frustrating AF.
trump appeals to one thing. Every speech he gives, every facial expression he makes, every raise or drop in tone, conveys to people "I will hurt others. I will bring them pain and suffering." And then, he couples that with "but not you, my friend".
The only people who can "fall for trump", are those who deeply want to hurt others. Deeply like, it is a main pillar of their being, even if it doesn't show most of the time. "Others", as in faceless groups, not specific people. My guess is that your dad previously always pointed that at "the right people" from your viewpoint.
Or, you don't realize how much of that urge he has pointed at the people trump purports to want to destroy, POC, queer folks, women, bureaucracy. Regardless of which one of those roped him in, he doesn't care enough about the others if he ignored that they were going to be destroyed too.
Festering, loved, tended hate kept deep inside a person, is what trump uses to get his votes.
The bizarre part is my dad doesn’t hate any particular group. Being a boomer, I wouldn’t say he’s openly accepting of lgbtq+, but he wouldn’t disown me or my kids if they came out. He’s Puerto Rican and they are often very economically conservative and pro-capitalism. He’s identifies politically as an independent and if a leftist has a good idea to his judgement, he’s for it.
He actually cringes and shakes his head at some of the stuff Trump is doing. But conservatives feel some compelling need to vote red no matter what.
He’s one of those people that say, “I had to bust my ass to support my family, I was miserable working 14 hours a day sometimes, so that’s what it takes to be successful and everyone else should have to do that too.”
As a queer person from a very red place, I can tell you that this is the most common. Very few people are open about the harm they want to inflict on the "other". Most will "except" the queer or black skinned neighbor or cousin, but still promote their destruction through the people and policies they support. Then, when the gestapo come, they will turn and look away.
They are ashamed of the filth they culture in their bellies, and have not the spine to look at it. I prefer an open nazi to a neighbor who will turn away when they come for me.
You see it yourself. You just brought it up. Your father was abused by the system, and now he needs to see that abuse put onto others. He saw trump saying "I will hurt people" and he made every excuse to vote for it.