Trump's supporters see his 'depravity' as the selling point: conservative

"The cruelty is the point" isn't just an idle phrase, argued conservative former Naval War College professor turned Atlantic commentator Tom Nichols — it's the fundamental reason why, no matter how much "depravity" comes from former President Donald Trump, it only makes his most devoted supporters like him more.

This comes amid new reporting on how Trump privately sang the praises of Adolf Hitler's generals to his former chief of staff, retired Marine Gen. Mark Kelly, and tried to renege on his offer to pay for the funeral service of a fallen Latina soldier. These things might turn off wavering moderate Republicans Vice President Kamala Harris needs to win — but don't count on Trump's hardcore believers growing any conscience over it, Nichols wrote.

"The belief that at some point Trump voters will have finally had enough is an ordinary human response to seeing people you care about — in this case fellow citizens — associate with someone you know to be awful," wrote Nichols. "Much like watching a friend in an unhealthy relationship, you think that each new outrage is going to be the one that provokes the final split, and yet it never does: Your friend, instead of breaking off the relationship, makes excuses. He didn’t mean it. You don’t understand him like I do."

But that analogy doesn't accurately describe how Trump supporters see him, Nichols argued.

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The problem, he said, is that "it’s based on the faulty assumption that one of the people in the relationship is unhappy. Maybe the better analogy is the friend you didn’t know very well in high school, someone who perhaps was quiet and not very popular, who shows up at your 20th reunion on the arm of a loudmouthed boor — think a cross between Herb Tarlek and David Duke — who tells offensive stories and racist jokes. She thinks he’s wonderful and laughs at everything he says. But what she really enjoys, all these years after high school, is how uncomfortable he’s making you."

It's well established, he wrote, that the appeal to Trump from his hardcore fans is that he disgusts all of the people they hate — and if Trump does more of that, all it does is make them cling to him tighter. And if Democrats don't understand this, they could well help propel him to another victory.

"I genuinely want to be wrong about all this," Nichols concluded. "I hope that many of the people now supporting Trump will have an attack of conscience on their way to their polling station. But as Trump’s running mate, J. D. Vance, once wrote for The Atlantic, Trump is 'cultural heroin,' and the hard choice of civic virtue will never match the rush of racism, hatred, and revenge that Trump offers in its place."