I realize this is obvious to most but allow me to rant: At the core of Trump's base love for him is a simmering resentment over their mediocrity and gratitude for him making it permissible to be arrogant whilst mediocre. Everything in this cult can be traced back to that. (thread) They are furious that things aren't simply handed to them. They are enraged that there are other people who work harder, have higher standards, and achieve excellence, etc. that they could possibly achieve but are too lazy and incurious to do so. Trump's base is the rotten'd TV masses. They grew up on fantasies of heroes: cowboys and generals and astronauts and rock stars. Their brains are entirely shaped by easy television and film. Bread-and-circuses on meth. And at some point, they realized that doing any of these things takes, at minimum, hard work. And at some point, they gave up. Whether out of intimidation or laziness or insecurity or whatever else, they called it quits on doing hard things. And then, many (most?) of them watched as people they felt are inferior (Black Americans, women, LGBTQ folks, etc.) did those hard things. As long as it was people who looked like them--or those whom they were conditioned to believe are superior--were doing these things, it was mostly fine. Resentment existed, yes, but it was palatable. The white, straight guy is the hero? Fine. Fuck him, but they're resigned to it. I say all this because I watched the astronauts of Artemis II stand awkwardly behind Trump in the Oval Office today as they were being honored, and this insufferable, unremarkable prick said: "I would have had no trouble making it. I’m physically very, very good." Because of course he did. Trump is a folk hero to the dipshits of America because he is a living retribution against a world they deem unfair for not rewarding their laziness and willful mediocrity. They need an excuse for not succeeding in life, but in lieu of that, they'll accept mockery. You want to know why Trump has loyalty from his base? It's certainly racism and sexism, etc. But it's primarily powered by their rage at the world for not accommodating their slack-jawed, drooling ineptitude These people grew up conditioned to believe that the world is their oyster. Because they're male. Because they're white. Because they're nominally Christian (ha). Because they're American. Their mediocrity is the fault of everyone else. It's never them. They are never to blame. They have a blazing rage for anyone who asks them to meet a higher standard. And that's the real and very dark tragedy in all this: They know they'll never get what they really want. They are resigned to struggling for the rest of their days. The American Dream is permanently out of reach. But their consolation prize is having the world's most powerful idiot in the Oval Office, always mocking the "elites" they hate (people who work hard), always oppressing communities they hate (minorities who work hard), always winking at them and giving them a circus of schadenfreude. They love Trump because he validates their rage and mediocrity, and even though they understand there will never be more than that, they've accepted it, deep down, as a worthy prize for the loss of everything else. It's really fucking sad and dark.