Trump is Trump. No argument there. But as long as people in positions of power hem and haw about how they wish he wouldn't talk like that but that beating Biden is more important, he will continue to be the choice of a majority of the party base. If you want him to not be the choice of the base, you have to tell them why he is bad very explicitly. You have to convince people that supporting him goes against their personal values and that supporting him hurts America. Make them think about how voting for someone who IS deplorable makes them seem deplorable as a result. Because from my perspective, it was tragic that Trump got a single vote in 2016 and every election thereafter.

For a lot of TDSers like me, the derangement is not that Trump is awful. That has been obvious for 40 years. The derangement is that someone would look at him for more than a second and say "Yes, that's what I want from a US President." Even if they aren't deplorable, supporting Trump degrades them morally (witness the crowds at his rallies and the link below as a further example). So yes, showing the awful things he posts is half the battle. Make them own it morally and start to change their perspective. That's a great strategy for Joe Biden's campaign, but a terrible one for Nikki Haley's campaign. You aren't going to change the minds of the base with my approach, you're going to change the mind of the independents and the non-MAGA crowd. The MAGA base is the majority and their minds are made up until someone changes them.

In terms of changing minds, his base has been told that the things you mentioned are politically motivated hit jobs. They've been told that it was a "Russia Collusion Hoax". They've been told that the impeachments were completely unjustified. They've even been told that the election was stolen from him and that January 6th was an FBI inside job. From my perspective--and I'd like to think it is from a more fact-based perspective than folks who watch Fox News--his base has been told things that are untrue. Many of the GOP elected officials know that. Romney, Cheney, Christie etc have said as much. If his base hears things that are untrue and people that they trust, whether it's Tucker Carlson or their pastor or their representative, encourage them to believe said things, they're going to believe it. On the other hand, if those same people said, "No, this was actually really bad. Just because we agree on policy doesn't mean this was ok. We should impeach him and let Mike Pence take over." Guess what? Most would've believed that instead. Nobody is trying to change these people's opinions on whether Trump's actions are ok!

Until the opinions of the base change on Trump's actions, they're going to keep voting for him. And as long as every single action that Trump takes is deemed to be ok by the powers that be, whether it's encouraging/condoning a crowd to storm the Capitol to keep him in power or refusing to turn over classified documents that you have no right to possess (something that would've landed my father in jail the day it happened; his words) or quoting Hitler, his base is going to keep voting for him.

Put a different way, a lot of people feel like they have permission to vote for him without being a bad person because people they view as good say it's ok. If those people take away their permission, things will start to change.
[Post edited by CMUHoo at 01/25/2024 2:14PM]