It seems like a lot of Trump support is based on people not believing him entirely [View all]

[In It to Win It]

Trump talks in such exaggerated terms all of the time. Everything is "the biggest," "the most beautiful," and "the best" that it gives everything he says a bit of deniability.

If he doesn't do what he says he's going to do, his supporters will say "oh you believed him? Tariffs on every single import? You had to know he wasn't serious. He knows that would likely crash the economy. He's not gonna do that" or "End the Russia-Ukraine war in 24 hours? he was just joking. You libs can't take a joke."

Then, if he does the thing he says he's going to do, his supporters will say "well, he promised he was going to do it, and now he's doing it."

They've been covering for him in this way since he floated his dumb ass down that escalator in 2015.

I just posted a WSJ article about Trump's oil donors not wanting to drill to the degree that Trump has promised. They donated and supported him for the deregulation, but they won't drill more on-demand just because he says so. They hope he wasn't serious about the tariffs. That's why they pushed an oil executive for DoE Secretary in the hopes that they can get what they want in deregulation and exports, not have to deal with tariffs and falling oil prices.

I also read an article in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution about mass deportations. Immigrant communities and undocumented immigrants that support Trump and would support Trump if they could vote don't believe he's serious about deporting everyone. Instead, they think "I'm undocumented but I'm not a criminal so he's not talking about me. He's only deporting the criminals." Then, I think to myself "well, in their view, being undocumented or an illegal immigrant is the criminal offense, so that makes you a criminal to them."

You also see it on cable news channels. Every news network has their Trump defender and they always handwave everything as "he's just joking," "he's being sarcastic," or "he's not serious and you just can't see it."

Trump bullshits and exaggerates so much that actual voters are able to sell themselves on which parts of Trump not to take seriously. In politics, that's dangerous. We've seen this story before. When Trump does something that is detrimental, the first thing they say is "I supported him but I didn't think he was going to actually do [X thing] and now my life is ruined." So, if you thought he was being truthful, you wouldn't have supported him but you thought he was full of shit and you didn't believe him... and you supported someone you thought was full of shit and didn't believe??? Not very rational.

This seems like a healthy amount of Trump voters. They delude themselves on particular parts they think he's bullshitting because he's speaking in his usual hyperbolic way that it sounds so unlikely. Then, they take the gamble and vote for him hoping he was really full of shit on the parts they didn't really like.