
<p>At this moment, we can concede that former President Trump is cast as the political black hole that influences the entire political galaxy. ; He is elevated to that status by three forces of political nature – that portion of the political universe that supports him to some degree … those on the left who have a visceral and obsessive hatred for Trump … and finally Trump himself. ; I will address each of these forces in a three-part series that hopefully will put Trump and his influence in a more realistic perspective than what we get from the national news media. ; Part one deals with the Trump supporters.</p>



<p><strong>Trump voters – from the loyalists to the pragmatists</strong></p>



<p>The first force that props up Trump is obvious. ; It is composed of the 74 million folks who cast their ballots for Trump in 2020 – and others who might have if they had voted. ; They are not a monolithic group. ; And they are not the two-dimensional monolithic cultists that the left portrays. ;</p>



<p>A small minority of them represent a solid base for Trump. ; They love the guy and will support him at every turn. ; They even love his personality. ; Mystifies me. ; ;</p>



<p>However, that subgroup is not nearly as large as the left contends. ; I put them at less than 15 percent of the Republican voters. ; I am talking about those who will not vote if Trump is not on the ballot. ; But there is a much larger group devoted to Republican and conservative principles. ; Republican&#8217;s turnout will be massive in 2022 because most Republican voters are … REPUBLICAN voters. ; They are not Trump-only voters. ;</p>



<p>Many independents and even some Democrats will vote Republican for a lot of offices even if they are not fond of Trump. ; Even if they hate Trump. ; When he is not on the ballot, he is not on the ballot for most voters – no matter how hard Democrats try to make every election about Trump. ; We saw how well that worked in Virginia – and to some extent in New Jersey.</p>



<p>The cadre of Trump super-loyalists looms larger than life because they are the most vocal and active – and that they are given unwarranted publicity because the left-leaning media wants the American public to see all Republicans in that light. ; But, we also have conservatives (like me) who will support Trump when the binary option is between a Republican in the White House – mostly pursuing conservative policies – and the radical policies that the Democratic Party has come to represent. ; ;</p>



<p>Millions of conservatives, like me, voted for Trump in the 2016 presidential election because that was the binary choice – Trump leading a more conservative administration or the disaster of Democrat governance – as we saw it. ; Not only were those voters vindicated in the choice, but most of us made the same binary choice in 2020 – albeit with less favorable results.</p>



<p>Trump was not my pick on the GOP primaries. ; In fact, I have often said that of the 16 Republican primary candidates, he was my 17<sup>th</sup> choice. ; I never liked his pugnacious personality, and while I was happy to see many of his appointments and the administration policies, his personality was always a problem – a huge problem.</p>



<p>In the 2016, 2020 and 2021 elections, there was more support of Republicans and conservative policies than there was for Trump. ; That is why it is likely that the Republican PARTY will do quite well no matter what Trump does or does not do – says of does not say. ; His electoral fate is his own. ; When voters go to the polls, they do not see Trump in every office on the ballot. ; That is what happened in Virginia, New Jersey and across the nation in 2021. ; That is what happened to all those down-ballot Republican candidates who did so well in 2020.</p>



<p>Republican voters – despite all the reservations about Trump – will not join the political lynch mob. ; Some of that is the result of the dishonesty and viciousness of the Trump haters &#8212; and because the left has spread their Trump hatred across the GOP brand. ; Consequently, many Republicans feel that THEY are being personally attacked in the daily newscasts. ; Because they personally see and feel the dishonest of the assaults on them – as Trump voters – they are more likely to defend Trump from the assaults directed at him.</p>



<p>Republican voters will be supporting Republican candidates across the nation in November despite Trump – not because of him. ; But they will keep Trump in the center of the political galaxy as a push back against the mendacious assaults they feel from the left. ; Republican voters are not the demonized caricature that they left alleges in their constant propaganda narratives. ; They are not the gullible cultists that the left wishes them to be. ; They are good people trying to do good things for America. In many ways, they are the mainstream of America’s center-right nation.</p>



<p>In Part Two, we will deal with the second major force that keeps Trump in the political limelight – the Trump haters.</p>



<p>So, there ‘tis.</p>

Getting it straight on Trump – Part One
