I just don't entirely know why posters here affect to not understand why voters support him

It’s a very old reason - one that I didn’t fully grasp until you mentioned it here.

Is an inability to empathsize with others, to put yourself in their shoes. We’re all guilty of that from time to time - some are guilty of it more often than others, and taken to an extreme it is considered a mental illness.

Trump and his supporters are not really FOR much of anything. Their focus is on what they are AGAINST. They are against immigration. They are against abortion. They are against criminals. They are against higher education. They are against certain kinds of government spending. Sure, there are some things that they are FOR, but they’re generally defined by what they are against.

On the other hand, most democrats are defined by what they are FOR. They are for women’s rights. They are for inclusivity. They are for government spending on social services.

If a democrat is too focused on what people stand FOR, they can lose track of the fact that republicans are focused on being AGAINST issues.

To over-simplify into a cliche, democrats see the friend of my friend is also a friend. For republicans, the enemy of my enemy is a friend.

So rank and file republicans support Trump not because they like him, but because he hates the things they hate.

—Peter