Polls keep showing that President Donald Trump is hitting historic new lows in favorability. One new poll on his economic policies indicates only 26% of voters think he is doing a good job. Other surveys put his approval rating in the low thirties.
The baffling thing is that those numbers are not even lower.
Given the mountain of evidence that grows almost hourly proving the president is incompetent, mendacious, delusional and focused only on self-enrichment and self-glorification, it is rather amazing that a quarter to a third of Americans still support the man.
These are the true MAGA faithful whose continued admiration for Trump is testament to the power of tribalism, fear and ignorance to block reality from entering certain human minds.
During the Republican primary campaign in 2016, my editors at the Los Angeles Times sent me out to interview Trump supporters to find out why they believed a reality TV star was worthy of the presidency. One woman said she admired his family because they were “humble and down to Earth.” Her husband said Trump “isn’t bought out by the money people.” Many said they supported Trump because he was “on their side.”
Those early illusions about Trump have been proven utterly misguided. And, over one-and-a-half terms in the White House, most of his campaign promises have never been fulfilled. Yet, the MAGA faithful remain faithful.
And I suppose it is faith that explains it. They believe in a concept they have of Trump, not in the reality. And the more that belief comes under assault by the facts, the more they cling to it because to do otherwise would be to admit they let themselves be duped.
For some people, that is the hardest thing to admit.
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