dailykos--2020-05-31--Time Is Running Out for At-Home Voting in June 2 Primary States, by Steven Rosenfeld

More time is also needed to verify mail-in ballots and count votes .
This article was produced by , a project of the Independent Media Institute .
In Pennsylvania , a presidential swing state that will hold primary elections on June 2 , some election officials and voters are already expressing concern that time is running out to handle a historic jump to voting from home in the pandemic—possibly disenfranchising many voters .
Tuesday , May 26—one week before the primary—was the last day for voters to request a mail-in ballot .
But “ thousands of Pennsylvania voters might not @ @ @ @ @ @ @ vote , ” the Philadelphia Inquirer reported .
Local election officials had been working “ 16 hours a day to try to keep up ” with processing ballot applications , the Inquirer reported , even as the mayor redeployed city workers to help .
In suburban Montgomery County northwest of Philadelphia , a contractor sent 2,000 voters primary ballots from an opposing political party—prompting a scramble to print and resend ballots on May 26 , the Inquirer reported .
But top postal service officials said that voters should expect a “ two-week round-trip @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to vote from home and the time that their completed ballot is returned to election officials .
Those reports and remarks suggest that the clock may run out on many voters .
Pennsylvania ’ s at-home ballots must arrive by 8 p.m. on June 2 to count , whether mailed in or delivered in-person at a few designated county drop-off sites .
The Inquirer noted that “ Voters who request mail ballots can still vote in person using provisional ballots , which are counted only after county election officials determine no mail ballots @ @ @ @ @ @ @ option is more easily said than done .
Many counties will have half or fewer of longstanding polling places open due to the pandemic , which could lead to big delays at in-person voting sites .
Plus , provisional ballots means a voter must fill out additional paperwork before voting .
The quicker fix , returning mailed-out ballots to any polling place , is not allowed under state law .
These complexities seen in Pennsylvania are not unique .
And they are only half of an evolving national story about how states that @ @ @ @ @ @ @ switching to voting from home in a pandemic .
( In 2018 , only 4 percent of Pennsylvanians voted by mail . )
The other half of this story is that this transition has greatly strained local election officials .
They must process rivers of paper : vetting voters , ballot envelopes and tallying votes .
Under state law , the election ’ s books must be closed in eight days .
Pennsylvania ’ s Democratic governor and Republican legislature did modify some deadlines and voting rules in response to the pandemic .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ week before its primary , early signs have emerged highlighting why those steps are likely to be insufficient .
Meanwhile , election officials from outside the state who have run vote-by-mail elections see more trouble ahead .
“ They made a slight modification , but they still have this problem where they don ’ t have enough time , ” said Amber McReynolds , who ran Denver ’ s elections for 14 years—including transitioning to its vote-by-mail system .
She now is executive director of the National Vote at Home Institute , the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ states to shift from mostly precinct-based voting to mostly voting from home .
“ Many states have voting laws that do not put voters first .
What I mean by that is they don ’ t contemplate the customer interaction ; the process that we [ election administrators ] go through when we serve voters , ” she said .
“ They don ’ t lend enough time and they haven ’ t really adjusted over time.
” “ Michigan and Pennsylvania are good examples , ” McReynolds continued .
“ They allow @ @ @ @ @ @ @ apply ] , but failed to adjust the timelines associated with the election process to accommodate that change .
It ’ s an example of what we see a lot in election policy reform .
There was little consideration of the voters or election officials in those policy decisions being made—and they missed things.
” Voting in Pennsylvania , as with Michigan and Wisconsin , will get extra scrutiny because it is among 2020 ’ s top presidential swing states .
But Pennsylvania ’ s vote-by-mail application deadline , one week before its @ @ @ @ @ @ @ finish all of the counting eight days later , is not the tightest timeline among states holding June 2 elections .
In South Dakota and Montana , voters can apply for an absentee ballot up to the close of business on June 1—one day before their primary—not that their ballot would likely arrive by the next day .
In New Mexico , its vote-by-mail application deadline was May 28 , the Thursday before its June 2 election .
Here , too , people making a last-minute decision to vote from home are unlikely @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Last-minute voters may end up rushing to find an in-person voting option , as mailed-out ballots must be received by Election Day to count in all these states .
Meanwhile , election officials in these and other states with tight timelines face nail-biting pressures surrounding the post-Election Day process .
County officials in New Mexico must finish everything and report the winners three days later .
South Dakota has six days .
Pennsylvania has eight days to certify the official results .
These states face a crunch , in part because they do @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
Instead , their legislatures require that voters first apply for a mail-in ballot .
Local officials must process applications before printing and sending a ballot .
Then , those officials must vet returned ballot envelopes ( to verify the voter ’ s identity ) and then can they open it to tally votes .
Pennsylvania will not allow any processing of mailed-in ballots before Election Day , compounding the backup .
Such timelines exist due to politics and outdated laws .
The politics , as McReynolds noted , includes legislators not thinking @ @ @ @ @ @ @ administrators when they modify election laws .
Or , she said , shorter timelines are “ because of things like , ‘ So-and-so needed to know if they won , ’ or ‘ So-and-so needed to be sworn into office by X-date.
’ ” The historical piece is that many post-election deadlines were adopted decades ago , but remain on the books .
When asked what the National Vote at Home Institute will be tracking in the primaries and statewide elections on June 2 , McReynolds ’ answer revealed how many moving pieces @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
“ We ’ re looking at all of the variables as it relates to the vote-by-mail process , ” she said .
“ What I mean by that is , ‘ Are there postal issues ?
’ ‘ Are there ballot processing issues ?
’ ‘ Do counties have enough equipment ?
’ ‘ Do they need to reconsider their volume assumptions ?
’ I ’ m looking at those operational considerations , [ and ] at voter satisfaction with regards to the mail ballot process… and then certainly at some of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ are showing up to vote in person .
That ’ s telling about what voters ’ preferences are when we start to compare those numbers .
And for more lessons learned.
” As nine statewide elections resume on June 2 , the public official who helped pioneer how most of America will be voting in the pandemic—by mail from home—said that there was one change , above all , that states should enact as they shift to voting from home in the general election .
Why don ’ t all “ states have @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ” asked Oregon ’ s ex-Secretary of State Phil Keisling , who led the first state ’ s transition to entirely mail-based voting and founded the National Vote at Home Institute in 2017 .
“ Have you looked at how many days states have before they close their books ?
” “ This is the most glaringly obvious change to make in an era of COVID-19 of any of them , ” he continued .
“ Give us the time to do it right .
What on earth objection [ could there be @ @ @ @ @ @ @ 3 to do your final certification [ of the official winners ] ?
” Keisling said governors should insist that the 2020 general election ’ s certification deadline be extended to allow for all ballots to be processed and counted .
( Under federal law , if states certify their presidential winner by December 8 , Congress must accept that decision under a so-called “ safe harbor ” clause . )
States would “ have to go into a special [ legislative ] session and do it , ” Keisling said .
“ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ every state .
And the Democratic leadership in red trifecta states [ meaning the GOP controls executive and legislative branches ] should demand it… It hurts Republicans and Democrats alike.
” Keisling said that extending the certification timetable would allow election officials to more systematically review problems with mailed-in ballots—such as a signature on a ballot envelope that did not appear to match a signature in other state files—and give that voter a chance to “ cure ” that discrepancy .
Studies have found that typically 1 percent of mailed-in ballots are rejected @ @ @ @ @ @ @ or due to signature- or other data-matching issues , although that rejection rate was 3 percent in Georgia in 2018 .
“ The time for a cure is based , in part , on how much time there is for the whole certification of the entire election , ” Keisling said .
“ It all cascades back from that .
Do you give five days or 20 days ?
You can ’ t have a seven-day cure period if you have to finalize the election in five days.
” Having more time to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ theories about unpopular results , he said , because it would enhance “ the kinds of logistical things that take the steam out of these hyperventilating arguments that write the potboiler ‘ House-of-Cards ’ -like movie [ about stolen elections ] that people like to write because it ’ s so interesting.
” Recent precedents support Keisling ’ s contentions .
In Wisconsin ’ s chaotic April 7 primary , there was an unexpected silver lining .
Last-minute court rulings allowed 79,054 mail-in ballots that were postmarked by Election Day to arrive up @ @ @ @ @ @ @ counted , the Wisconsin Elections Commission reported .
After that weeklong extension ended , only 2,659 more mailed-in ballots were delivered—out of 1.18 million mailed back statewide—arriving too late to count .
( Most June 2 primary states do not permit such an extension for mailed-in ballots . )
The Wisconsin rulings prevented wide disenfranchisement by expanding the state ’ s April primary electorate by 5 percent .
More time to allow ballots to return also helped local officials handle the other paperwork in a historic jump in voting by mail .
In @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , 5.4 percent of Wisconsinites ’ ballots were mailed in , the state reported .
In Wisconsin ’ s more recent April 7 , 2020 , primary , 61.8 percent voted by mail .
Already , there have been reports that Pennsylvania ’ s election officials have been overwhelmed by processing absentee ballot requests .
Postal Service officials have said—one week before the primary—that state deadlines are too short for all ballot applications and ballots to be delivered on time .
Yet current state law will only allow voters who received mailed-out ballots @ @ @ @ @ @ @ drop-off locations in each county , not at any polling place .
And if voters didn ’ t get their mail-in ballot and show up at a polling place to vote , they would have to cast a provisional ballot .
Curiously , these last-minute barriers facing at-home voters have not been targeted by any of the two-dozen lawsuits filed by the Democratic National Committee so far this year .
Nor has the DNC challenged any state certification deadlines .
“ Not yet , but we are always looking at all aspects of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ vote is counted , ” said Marc Elias , the DNC ’ s top voting rights attorney told Voting Booth .
Nonetheless , legal scholars have begun to highlight the need to expand deadlines in the November general election .
These range from the ballot application periods before Election Day to the processes for finalizing official results .
“ States and Congress… need to turn their attention to changing certain key dates in their voting calendars , ” wrote Richard Pildes , New York University Law School professor of constitutional law , in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , mostly fixed by statute , were not designed with this anticipated new flood of absentee ballots in mind.
” “ Changing these dates is important , ” he continued .
“ First , to enable voters to have sufficient practical opportunity to vote under these exceptional circumstances .
Second , these crushing new administrative burdens mean breakdowns in the process will almost inevitably arise ; to give officials and voters time to respond to these problems and correct them , more time needs to be built into the election calendar .
Otherwise @ @ @ @ @ @ @ do not reach voters in time , or similar problems emerge , the legitimacy of a close election might well be thrown into turmoil.
” Whether the remaining 2020 presidential primaries and upcoming statewide elections will prompt states to act before the fall remains to be seen .
McReynolds said that history has shown that election reforms only tend to arise after chaotic elections .
“ If you look at the course of election policy changes , most of it has been about struggle , ” she said , citing Florida ’ s @ @ @ @ @ @ @ federal response .
“ Sometimes it takes massive problems , like Wisconsin or what have you , to encourage people to change .
Which is unfortunate , because there are solutions to these problems that we already know how to fix.
” “ I can tell them exactly what is going to happen , ” she said , referring to the states now taking insufficient steps to shift from precincts to voting from home .
“ I have 14 years of running elections for me to be able to do that .
We @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
The unwillingness to fix it—it could be influenced by a variety of things .
More likely , they don ’ t know how , or they don ’ t know it ’ s a problem.
” Steven Rosenfeld is the editor and chief correspondent of , a project of the Independent Media Institute .
He has reported for National Public Radio , Marketplace , and Christian Science Monitor Radio , as well as a wide range of progressive publications including Salon , AlterNet , the American Prospect , and many others .

rss@dailykos.com (Independent Media Institute)

More time is also needed to verify mail-in ballots and count votes.
By Steven Rosenfeld
This article was produced by Voting Booth , a project of the Independent Media Institute.
In Pennsylvania, a presidential swing state that will hold primary elections on June 2, some election officials and voters are already expressing concern that time is running out to handle a historic jump to voting from home in the pandemic—possibly disenfranchising many voters.
Tuesday, May 26—one week before the primary—was the last day for voters to request a mail-in ballot. But “thousands of Pennsylvania voters might not get their ballots in time to actually vote,” the Philadelphia Inquirer reported. Local election officials had been working “16 hours a day to try to keep up” with processing ballot applications, the Inquirer reported, even as the mayor redeployed city workers to help.
In suburban Montgomery County northwest of Philadelphia, a contractor sent 2,000 voters primary ballots from an opposing political party—prompting a scramble to print and resend ballots on May 26, the Inquirer reported. But top postal service officials said that voters should expect a “two-week round-trip” between the time that they apply to vote from home and the time that their completed ballot is returned to election officials.
Those reports and remarks suggest that the clock may run out on many voters. Pennsylvania’s at-home ballots must arrive by 8 p.m. on June 2 to count, whether mailed in or delivered in-person at a few designated county drop-off sites. The Inquirer noted that “Voters who request mail ballots can still vote in person using provisional ballots, which are counted only after county election officials determine no mail ballots from them were received.”
But that option is more easily said than done. Many counties will have half or fewer of longstanding polling places open due to the pandemic, which could lead to big delays at in-person voting sites. Plus, provisional ballots means a voter must fill out additional paperwork before voting. The quicker fix, returning mailed-out ballots to any polling place, is not allowed under state law.
These complexities seen in Pennsylvania are not unique. And they are only half of an evolving national story about how states that previously mostly voted at polling places are switching to voting from home in a pandemic. (In 2018, only 4 percent of Pennsylvanians voted by mail.) The other half of this story is that this transition has greatly strained local election officials. They must process rivers of paper: vetting voters, ballot envelopes and tallying votes. Under state law, the election’s books must be closed in eight days.
Pennsylvania’s Democratic governor and Republican legislature did modify some deadlines and voting rules in response to the pandemic. But, as the Inquirer noted one week before its primary, early signs have emerged highlighting why those steps are likely to be insufficient. Meanwhile, election officials from outside the state who have run vote-by-mail elections see more trouble ahead.
“They made a slight modification, but they still have this problem where they don’t have enough time,” said Amber McReynolds, who ran Denver’s elections for 14 years—including transitioning to its vote-by-mail system. She now is executive director of the National Vote at Home Institute, the foremost national nonprofit organization trying to assist states to shift from mostly precinct-based voting to mostly voting from home.
“Many states have voting laws that do not put voters first. What I mean by that is they don’t contemplate the customer interaction; the process that we [election administrators] go through when we serve voters,” she said. “They don’t lend enough time and they haven’t really adjusted over time.”
“Michigan and Pennsylvania are good examples,” McReynolds continued. “They allow no-excuse absentee ballots [any voter can apply], but failed to adjust the timelines associated with the election process to accommodate that change. It’s an example of what we see a lot in election policy reform. There was little consideration of the voters or election officials in those policy decisions being made—and they missed things.”
Part of Bigger Pattern
Voting in Pennsylvania, as with Michigan and Wisconsin, will get extra scrutiny because it is among 2020’s top presidential swing states. But Pennsylvania’s vote-by-mail application deadline, one week before its 2020 primary, and post-election deadline to finish all of the counting eight days later, is not the tightest timeline among states holding June 2 elections.
In South Dakota and Montana, voters can apply for an absentee ballot up to the close of business on June 1—one day before their primary—not that their ballot would likely arrive by the next day. In New Mexico, its vote-by-mail application deadline was May 28, the Thursday before its June 2 election. Here, too, people making a last-minute decision to vote from home are unlikely to get their ballot on time. Last-minute voters may end up rushing to find an in-person voting option, as mailed-out ballots must be received by Election Day to count in all these states.
Meanwhile, election officials in these and other states with tight timelines face nail-biting pressures surrounding the post-Election Day process. County officials in New Mexico must finish everything and report the winners three days later. South Dakota has six days. Pennsylvania has eight days to certify the official results.
These states face a crunch, in part because they do not mail out ballots to every voter. Instead, their legislatures require that voters first apply for a mail-in ballot. Local officials must process applications before printing and sending a ballot. Then, those officials must vet returned ballot envelopes (to verify the voter’s identity) and then can they open it to tally votes. Pennsylvania will not allow any processing of mailed-in ballots before Election Day, compounding the backup.
Such timelines exist due to politics and outdated laws. The politics, as McReynolds noted, includes legislators not thinking first about the impact on voters and administrators when they modify election laws. Or, she said, shorter timelines are “because of things like, ‘So-and-so needed to know if they won,’ or ‘So-and-so needed to be sworn into office by X-date.’” The historical piece is that many post-election deadlines were adopted decades ago, but remain on the books.
When asked what the National Vote at Home Institute will be tracking in the primaries and statewide elections on June 2, McReynolds’ answer revealed how many moving pieces are involved and could become choke points.
“We’re looking at all of the variables as it relates to the vote-by-mail process,” she said. “What I mean by that is, ‘Are there postal issues?’ ‘Are there ballot processing issues?’ ‘Do counties have enough equipment?’ ‘Do they need to reconsider their volume assumptions?’ I’m looking at those operational considerations, [and] at voter satisfaction with regards to the mail ballot process… and then certainly at some of the in-person voting considerations—like how many people are showing up to vote in person. That’s telling about what voters’ preferences are when we start to compare those numbers. And for more lessons learned.”
As nine statewide elections resume on June 2, the public official who helped pioneer how most of America will be voting in the pandemic—by mail from home—said that there was one change, above all, that states should enact as they shift to voting from home in the general election.
Why don’t all “states have 30 days to certify their elections?” asked Oregon’s ex-Secretary of State Phil Keisling, who led the first state’s transition to entirely mail-based voting and founded the National Vote at Home Institute in 2017. “Have you looked at how many days states have before they close their books?”
“This is the most glaringly obvious change to make in an era of COVID-19 of any of them,” he continued. “Give us the time to do it right. What on earth objection [could there be] to waiting until December 1 or 3 to do your final certification [of the official winners]?”
More Time Matters
Keisling said governors should insist that the 2020 general election’s certification deadline be extended to allow for all ballots to be processed and counted. (Under federal law, if states certify their presidential winner by December 8, Congress must accept that decision under a so-called “safe harbor” clause.)
States would “have to go into a special [legislative] session and do it,” Keisling said. “The governor needs to demand it in every state. And the Democratic leadership in red trifecta states [meaning the GOP controls executive and legislative branches] should demand it… It hurts Republicans and Democrats alike.”
Keisling said that extending the certification timetable would allow election officials to more systematically review problems with mailed-in ballots—such as a signature on a ballot envelope that did not appear to match a signature in other state files—and give that voter a chance to “cure” that discrepancy.
Studies have found that typically 1 percent of mailed-in ballots are rejected when envelopes are not properly filled out or due to signature- or other data-matching issues, although that rejection rate was 3 percent in Georgia in 2018.
“The time for a cure is based, in part, on how much time there is for the whole certification of the entire election,” Keisling said. “It all cascades back from that. Do you give five days or 20 days? You can’t have a seven-day cure period if you have to finalize the election in five days.”
Having more time to verify votes also would undercut partisan conspiracy theories about unpopular results, he said, because it would enhance “the kinds of logistical things that take the steam out of these hyperventilating arguments that write the potboiler ‘House-of-Cards’-like movie [about stolen elections] that people like to write because it’s so interesting.”
Recent precedents support Keisling’s contentions. In Wisconsin’s chaotic April 7 primary, there was an unexpected silver lining. Last-minute court rulings allowed 79,054 mail-in ballots that were postmarked by Election Day to arrive up to a week later and still be counted, the Wisconsin Elections Commission reported. After that weeklong extension ended, only 2,659 more mailed-in ballots were delivered—out of 1.18 million mailed back statewide—arriving too late to count. (Most June 2 primary states do not permit such an extension for mailed-in ballots.)
The Wisconsin rulings prevented wide disenfranchisement by expanding the state’s April primary electorate by 5 percent. More time to allow ballots to return also helped local officials handle the other paperwork in a historic jump in voting by mail. In its April 2, 2019, primary, 5.4 percent of Wisconsinites’ ballots were mailed in, the state reported. In Wisconsin’s more recent April 7, 2020, primary, 61.8 percent voted by mail.
Already, there have been reports that Pennsylvania’s election officials have been overwhelmed by processing absentee ballot requests. Postal Service officials have said—one week before the primary—that state deadlines are too short for all ballot applications and ballots to be delivered on time.
Yet current state law will only allow voters who received mailed-out ballots to turn them in at a few drop-off locations in each county, not at any polling place. And if voters didn’t get their mail-in ballot and show up at a polling place to vote, they would have to cast a provisional ballot.
Curiously, these last-minute barriers facing at-home voters have not been targeted by any of the two-dozen lawsuits filed by the Democratic National Committee so far this year. Nor has the DNC challenged any state certification deadlines.
“Not yet, but we are always looking at all aspects of the voting process to ensure every lawful vote is counted,” said Marc Elias, the DNC’s top voting rights attorney told Voting Booth.
Nonetheless, legal scholars have begun to highlight the need to expand deadlines in the November general election. These range from the ballot application periods before Election Day to the processes for finalizing official results.
“States and Congress… need to turn their attention to changing certain key dates in their voting calendars,” wrote Richard Pildes, New York University Law School professor of constitutional law, in a forthcoming paper. “Those calendars, mostly fixed by statute, were not designed with this anticipated new flood of absentee ballots in mind.”
“Changing these dates is important,” he continued. “First, to enable voters to have sufficient practical opportunity to vote under these exceptional circumstances. Second, these crushing new administrative burdens mean breakdowns in the process will almost inevitably arise; to give officials and voters time to respond to these problems and correct them, more time needs to be built into the election calendar. Otherwise, if tens of thousands of ballots do not reach voters in time, or similar problems emerge, the legitimacy of a close election might well be thrown into turmoil.”
Whether the remaining 2020 presidential primaries and upcoming statewide elections will prompt states to act before the fall remains to be seen. McReynolds said that history has shown that election reforms only tend to arise after chaotic elections.
“If you look at the course of election policy changes, most of it has been about struggle,” she said, citing Florida’s presidential election in 2000 and the ensuing federal response. “Sometimes it takes massive problems, like Wisconsin or what have you, to encourage people to change. Which is unfortunate, because there are solutions to these problems that we already know how to fix.”
“I can tell them exactly what is going to happen,” she said, referring to the states now taking insufficient steps to shift from precincts to voting from home. “I have 14 years of running elections for me to be able to do that. We know exactly what is going to happen. The unwillingness to fix it—it could be influenced by a variety of things. More likely, they don’t know how, or they don’t know it’s a problem.”


dailykos--2020-06-01--Tomgram: Engelhardt, How the Roof Fell In

This article originally appeared at TomDispatch.com .
To receive TomDispatch in your inbox three times a week , click here .
Donald Trump May Not Be Herbert Hoover A Graduation Speech for an Age of Collapse By Tom Engelhardt Class of 2020 , wherever you are , I had planned to address you on this graduation day .
But how can I ?
Yes , I know that former President Obama , Oprah Winfrey , and Tom Hanks all took part in elaborate online graduation ceremonies , offering commentary , advice , and encouragement in our now campus-less world , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ guy with a flip phone from another age .
And , of course , you ’ re not here on this glorious , sunny graduation day .
There ’ s no verdant campus .
No gowns .
No caps to toss in the air .
No gate to walk out of into a future that many of you mortgaged your lives to be part of .
Nor is there a crowd of joyous parents and grandparents , some of whom may even have grown desperately sick and possibly died in these last months @ @ @ @ @ @ @ catastrophic response to a global pandemic .
Nor are there other more eminent speakers to give you hope or inspiration .
Just me .
Just here .
Just now .
All alone in this room -- and you there , wherever you are , perhaps alone or with family , brooding about a world that may never be , about a future that , it seems increasingly likely , can ’ t be and won ’ t be .
Your future , as previously imagined , is -- not to put too fine @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
In a sense , it has already become my future and since , at almost 76 , I really don ’ t have much of a future , that ’ s a terrible thing for an old man to have to say .
Still , since I ’ m here and you ’ re there , let me address you in my own way by starting with the obvious : You deserved so much better than this .
I ’ m ashamed , deeply so .
Every adult in this country ( @ @ @ @ @ @ @ who have sacrificed so much in this pandemic moment for the rest of us ) should be similarly ashamed .
And that brings me to one obvious question : Why aren ’ t so many of us , especially those in that deeply loyal base of Donald Trump ’ s , more ashamed of the world they ’ re preparing to leave you , even as their own worlds crash and burn around them ?
In the end , we could be talking about nothing less than the destruction of the planet as @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of years .
To put matters bluntly , that base helped elect , and continues to support , a president who aims to be nothing less than a planet destroyer .
That 's been an obvious goal of Donald Trump and his Republican allies and sycophants since his election .
It ’ s what they were clearly dedicated to ( however they explained it to themselves ) even before the coronavirus arrived to offer such a helping hand .
But let me say this : at my age , I ’ m still @ @ @ @ @ @ @ these last months .
It wasn ’ t that I didn ’ t know about the Black Death and the destruction it wreaked on Medieval Europe or China in the fourteenth century or even the devastation and death caused by the Spanish Flu barely a century ago .
Still , never for a second did I actually imagine this happening to us in the here and now , with the dead and dying , the sick and desperate , jobs lost by the tens of millions , businesses destroyed .
I never thought @ @ @ @ @ @ @ us or that it would do so with such a president and crew in power in Washington .
I mean , what else do you need to know about our world at this moment than that a series of countries led by democratically inclined women ( Denmark , Finland , Germany , Iceland , New Zealand , Norway , and Taiwan ) have more or less suppressed the coronavirus ( at least for now ) ?
Meanwhile , in the viral sweepstakes presently engulfing parts of the Earth , the three leading lands @ @ @ @ @ @ @ cases are Donald Trump ’ s America , Jair Bolsonaro ’ s Brazil , and Vladimir Putin ’ s Russia .
In other words , it ’ s no happenstance that three autocratically inclined right-wing “ populists ” who give more of a damn about themselves than anything else imaginable are winning the race to hell .
There ’ s something about our world growing ever worse amid a Covid-19-induced instant Great Depression that makes you -- that is , me -- feel so small , so inconsequential , which is , of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ what just about any of us is in this coronaviral moment .
But why me or you and not him ?
That question 's been preying on my mind -- and you know just who I mean .
In these last weeks , only Donald Trump ’ s most devoted followers , those at the heart of his base , could really do anything they wanted in public , because , following him as they did , they did n't believe in shutting themselves in , social distancing , wearing masks , or @ @ @ @ @ @ @ might help slow down this deadly virus or bring it under control .
So they ’ ve felt free to mix and match and destroy ( themselves above all ) .
The question is : how did we get here ?
How did we make it to such a leader and such followers in such a crisis ?
We ’ re talking about a man who , unlike President Herbert Hoover , may usher us into a true Great Depression and possibly not suffer a staggering defeat at the polls in November , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ( Of course , to put things in perspective , Joe Biden isn ’ t exactly Franklin Delano Roosevelt , is he ? )
If you ’ re wondering how all this could have happened in such a fashion , and why that base of the president ’ s remains so remarkably faithful amid the rubble of our world , I offered my own answer years ago .
After all , there never was much of a question about Donald Trump himself .
He was , without a doubt , a self-aggrandizing , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and -- to give him full credit -- he never made the slightest secret of who he was .
Nonetheless , in the middle of election season 2016 , when it became increasingly obvious to me that he had a real shot at beating Hillary Clinton and becoming president of the United States , I started wondering why that might be so .
That June , as the presidential race was heating to a boil , I offered my own pre-answer to all such future questions .
In a piece at TomDispatch , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of already grotesque inequality , Yes , even if it collapses on them .
I also pointed out that “ The Donald represents , as a friend of mine likes to say , the suicide bomber in us all , ” adding that a vote for him would be “ an act of nihilism , a mood that fits well with imperial decline.
” Nihilism indeed .
Donald Trump , the birther king , was then visibly the opposite of great , despite that MAGA slogan of his .
He was , from @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , if you prefer , de-greated ) personification of imperial decline .
And now that the roof has indeed collapsed on his base , among so many others , his personal responsibility for the severity with which it ’ s happened should be obvious enough .
Still , don ’ t kid yourself : everything about this America of ours suggests that , for a significant minority of the population , it ’ s not .
Not yet , perhaps not ever .
And here ’ s the weirdest thing for me : @ @ @ @ @ @ @ but all these years later , as I address you on graduation day 2020 , I have yet to fully accept it .
At some level , I still can ’ t believe it and I ’ ll bet you can ’ t either .
What It Means to “ Transition to Greatness ” in 2020 America One thing is now clear enough to me .
If Covid-19 hadn ’ t helped that roof collapse , something else would have because , even before the pandemic broke out , even before he was @ @ @ @ @ @ @ crew-to-be were already intent on the destruction of the world as we ’ ve known it .
Don ’ t think , by the way , that I ’ m speaking figuratively .
Imagine the three obvious ways our world could be desperately degraded -- climate change , nuclear Armageddon , or massive environmental destruction -- and in the years before Covid-19 arrived on our shores , Trump and crew were hard at work on all three .
This was , after all , the man who called climate change a “ Chinese @ @ @ @ @ @ @ near the White House .
And erratic as he may look , he ’ s been remarkably steadfast in a deeper way ever since .
Note , for instance , that even then he was already blaming every problem in the world on two things : China and Barack Obama , as he is now .
( “ Wuhan virus !
” “ Obamagate !
” ) And long before the pandemic hit , he and his crew were deeply engaged in ensuring that this planet would become the hothouse from hell .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ or opening the way for methane gas releases , expanding offshore drilling or encouraging Arctic drilling while freeing coal plants to release more mercury into the atmosphere , he and his associates have engaged in a grim version of “ make it so , ” the famed line of Jean-Luc Picard , the captain of Star Trek : The Next Generation ’ s USS Enterprise .
In these years , largely in the service of Big Energy , he and his crew have transformed themselves into so many pyromaniacs .
In a similar @ @ @ @ @ @ @ turned their attention to ensuring that this planet would once again be swept up in a nuclear arms race .
In these years , from the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty to the Open Skies Treaty , his administration has systematically withdrawn from Cold War-era nuclear pacts .
At the same time , they ’ ve been pouring money into what ’ s euphemistically called the “ modernization ” of the U.S. nuclear arsenal in amounts only matched by the other eight nuclear powers combined .
They are now reportedly even considering restarting underground @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ) and possibly pulling out of the final significant Cold War nuclear agreement , the New START Treaty , early next year .
Similarly , as with climate change , his administration , especially the Environmental Protection Agency , has worked with striking intensity to roll back environment rules and regulations of every sort -- the New York Times recently toted up 100 of them -- again largely in the service of the desires of Big Energy .
In other words , they 've focused on ensuring that this country has significantly dirtier @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and wetlands , while far more toxic chemicals are floating in our all-American world .
Meanwhile , he and his people have been similarly hard at work endangering the Endangered Species Act .
And this was all before the president ignored his own scientists and advisers on the coming pandemic , ensuring that tens of thousands of extra Americans ( or , in his terms perhaps , extraneous Americans ) would die by shutting down the country significantly too late and remarkably ineptly .
He then guaranteed that yet more would die by @ @ @ @ @ @ @ swearing , while he was at it , that no matter what hit this country next , he would never “ close it down ” again .
All of this he recently termed a “ transition to Greatness.
” And imagine what will happen when any of these areas of destruction begin to reinforce one another .
Consider , for instance , that in a climate-changing world , the intensity of storms is now on the rise and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration ’ s Climate Prediction Center expects an “ above @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
So check out the cyclone of record intensity that only recently hit India in the midst of the Covid-19 pandemic , leaving desperate people anything but socially distanced in shelters , and then think about the coming fall here on the East Coast of the U.S. or , for that matter , what will happen when you combine the coronavirus with intensifying wildfires in the West .
So that roof I was thinking about in 2016 has indeed come down to varying degrees on just about every American and yet Donald Trump @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
Or put another way , on this , your graduation day , I ’ m sending you out into his world and that of the Mitch McConnellized party that hitched its wagon to his horse .
( Imagine that , once upon a time , the Republicans were considered the party of the environment ! )
On such a planet , there is just one thing that matters to those in power -- and no , I ’ m sorry to say that it ’ s not you .
It ’ s @ @ @ @ @ @ @ more than life , liberty , or the pursuit of anyone ’ s happiness other than his own .
If his numbers weaken the slightest bit among aging evangelicals , for instance , then it ’ s time to open the churches NOW !
!
If , however , your numbers weaken , as indeed they have , tough luck .
If he wants a full-scale in-person convention ( and so the televised extravaganza that will go with it ) for that reelection bid , then make it so and to hell with @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Charlotte , North Carolina ( or wherever it ends up ) .
And good luck to the Democrats keeping Joe Biden in a basement somewhere and potentially holding a virtual convention !
Donald Trump 's base elected a planet destroyer and he ’ s never let them ( or himself ) down .
In that sense , he ’ s been fulfilling his duties big time .
So , on your graduation day , welcome to a world in which the ceiling 's on the floor .
I know I ’ m supposed @ @ @ @ @ @ @ encouragement today , but how can I ?
Not when we ’ ve now reached the true moment of Trumpian nihilism .
Why not golf while scores of Americans die even if you did criticize the previous president for his golfing habits ?
( “ Can you believe that , with all of the problems and difficulties facing the U.S. , President Obama spent the day playing golf ?
” ) This is the moment when I would normally say : class of 2020 , gather yourselves together and , arm in arm @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and off this beautiful campus where you ’ ve just spent four years of your life .
It ’ s time for you to enter our world and make it a better place .
Today , however , there is no path ; there is no gate ; and you can ’ t join hands ( not unless you ’ re fervent supporters of Donald Trump ) .
You ’ re graduating not into a world but into a conundrum .
I know you ’ ll do your damnedest .
After all , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ that ?
Still , my heart goes out to you , though little good that ’ s likely to do .
I ’ m sorry .
I truly am .
You didn ’ t deserve this .
Tom Engelhardt is a co-founder of the American Empire Project and the author of a history of the Cold War , The End of Victory Culture .
He runs TomDispatch.com and is a fellow of the Type Media Center .
His sixth and latest book is A Nation Unmade by War .
Follow TomDispatch on Twitter @ @ @ @ @ @ @ out the newest Dispatch Books , John Feffer ’ s new dystopian novel ( the second in the Splinterlands series ) Frostlands , Beverly Gologorsky 's novel Every Body Has a Story , and Tom Engelhardt 's A Nation Unmade by War , as well as Alfred McCoy 's In the Shadows of the American Century : The Rise and Decline of U.S .
Global Power and John Dower 's The Violent American Century : War and Terror Since World War II .

This article originally appeared at TomDispatch.com. To receive TomDispatch in your inbox three times a week, click here.
Donald Trump May Not Be Herbert Hoover
A Graduation Speech for an Age of Collapse
By Tom Engelhardt
Class of 2020, wherever you are, I had planned to address you on this graduation day. But how can I?
Yes, I know that former President Obama, Oprah Winfrey, and Tom Hanks all took part in elaborate online graduation ceremonies, offering commentary, advice, and encouragement in our now campus-less world, but I’m a hapless old guy with a flip phone from another age. And, of course, you’re not here on this glorious, sunny graduation day. There’s no verdant campus. No gowns. No caps to toss in the air. No gate to walk out of into a future that many of you mortgaged your lives to be part of. Nor is there a crowd of joyous parents and grandparents, some of whom may even have grown desperately sick and possibly died in these last months thanks to the Trump administration’s catastrophic response to a global pandemic.
Nor are there other more eminent speakers to give you hope or inspiration. Just me. Just here. Just now. All alone in this room -- and you there, wherever you are, perhaps alone or with family, brooding about a world that may never be, about a future that, it seems increasingly likely, can’t be and won’t be.
Your future, as previously imagined, is -- not to put too fine a gloss on it -- no more. In a sense, it has already become my future and since, at almost 76, I really don’t have much of a future, that’s a terrible thing for an old man to have to say.
The Pandemic Shock
Still, since I’m here and you’re there, let me address you in my own way by starting with the obvious: You deserved so much better than this. I’m ashamed, deeply so. Every adult in this country (except perhaps the front-line caregivers and workers who have sacrificed so much in this pandemic moment for the rest of us) should be similarly ashamed.
And that brings me to one obvious question: Why aren’t so many of us, especially those in that deeply loyal base of Donald Trump’s, more ashamed of the world they’re preparing to leave you, even as their own worlds crash and burn around them?
In the end, we could be talking about nothing less than the destruction of the planet as we humans have known it for thousands of years. To put matters bluntly, that base helped elect, and continues to support, a president who aims to be nothing less than a planet destroyer. That's been an obvious goal of Donald Trump and his Republican allies and sycophants since his election. It’s what they were clearly dedicated to (however they explained it to themselves) even before the coronavirus arrived to offer such a helping hand.
But let me say this: at my age, I’m still shocked by what’s happened in these last months. It wasn’t that I didn’t know about the Black Death and the destruction it wreaked on Medieval Europe or China in the fourteenth century or even the devastation and death caused by the Spanish Flu barely a century ago. Still, never for a second did I actually imagine this happening to us in the here and now, with the dead and dying, the sick and desperate, jobs lost by the tens of millions, businesses destroyed. I never thought that such a pandemic would descend on us or that it would do so with such a president and crew in power in Washington.
I mean, what else do you need to know about our world at this moment than that a series of countries led by democratically inclined women (Denmark, Finland, Germany, Iceland, New Zealand, Norway, and Taiwan) have more or less suppressed the coronavirus (at least for now)? Meanwhile, in the viral sweepstakes presently engulfing parts of the Earth, the three leading lands when it comes to record numbers of cases are Donald Trump’s America, Jair Bolsonaro’s Brazil, and Vladimir Putin’s Russia. In other words, it’s no happenstance that three autocratically inclined right-wing “populists” who give more of a damn about themselves than anything else imaginable are winning the race to hell.
There’s something about our world growing ever worse amid a Covid-19-induced instant Great Depression that makes you -- that is, me -- feel so small, so inconsequential, which is, of course, exactly what I am, what just about any of us is in this coronaviral moment. But why me or you and not him? That question's been preying on my mind -- and you know just who I mean.
In these last weeks, only Donald Trump’s most devoted followers, those at the heart of his base, could really do anything they wanted in public, because, following him as they did, they didn't believe in shutting themselves in, social distancing, wearing masks, or anything else that the scientists tell us might help slow down this deadly virus or bring it under control. So they’ve felt free to mix and match and destroy (themselves above all).
Collapsing Roofs
The question is: how did we get here? How did we make it to such a leader and such followers in such a crisis? We’re talking about a man who, unlike President Herbert Hoover, may usher us into a true Great Depression and possibly not suffer a staggering defeat at the polls in November, as that president did in 1932. (Of course, to put things in perspective, Joe Biden isn’t exactly Franklin Delano Roosevelt, is he?)
If you’re wondering how all this could have happened in such a fashion, and why that base of the president’s remains so remarkably faithful amid the rubble of our world, I offered my own answer years ago. After all, there never was much of a question about Donald Trump himself. He was, without a doubt, a self-aggrandizing, narcissistic, self-absorbed monster of a man and -- to give him full credit -- he never made the slightest secret of who he was. Nonetheless, in the middle of election season 2016, when it became increasingly obvious to me that he had a real shot at beating Hillary Clinton and becoming president of the United States, I started wondering why that might be so.
That June, as the presidential race was heating to a boil, I offered my own pre-answer to all such future questions. In a piece at TomDispatch, I suggested that, in a country of already grotesque inequality,
“a significant part of the white working class, at least, feels as if, whether economically or psychologically, its back is up against the wall and there’s nowhere left to go. Under such circumstances, many of these voters have evidently decided that they’re ready to send a literal loose cannon into the White House; they’re willing, that is, to take a chance on the roof collapsing, even if it collapses on them.”
Yes, even if it collapses on them. I also pointed out that “The Donald represents, as a friend of mine likes to say, the suicide bomber in us all,” adding that a vote for him would be “an act of nihilism, a mood that fits well with imperial decline.”
Nihilism indeed. Donald Trump, the birther king, was then visibly the opposite of great, despite that MAGA slogan of his. He was, from the beginning, a degraded (or, if you prefer, de-greated) personification of imperial decline. And now that the roof has indeed collapsed on his base, among so many others, his personal responsibility for the severity with which it’s happened should be obvious enough. Still, don’t kid yourself: everything about this America of ours suggests that, for a significant minority of the population, it’s not. Not yet, perhaps not ever.
And here’s the weirdest thing for me: I answered that question in 2016, but all these years later, as I address you on graduation day 2020, I have yet to fully accept it. At some level, I still can’t believe it and I’ll bet you can’t either.
What It Means to “Transition to Greatness” in 2020 America
One thing is now clear enough to me. If Covid-19 hadn’t helped that roof collapse, something else would have because, even before the pandemic broke out, even before he was in office, Donald Trump and his crew-to-be were already intent on the destruction of the world as we’ve known it. Don’t think, by the way, that I’m speaking figuratively. Imagine the three obvious ways our world could be desperately degraded -- climate change, nuclear Armageddon, or massive environmental destruction -- and in the years before Covid-19 arrived on our shores, Trump and crew were hard at work on all three.
This was, after all, the man who called climate change a “Chinese hoax” long before he ever got near the White House. And erratic as he may look, he’s been remarkably steadfast in a deeper way ever since. Note, for instance, that even then he was already blaming every problem in the world on two things: China and Barack Obama, as he is now. (“Wuhan virus!” “Obamagate!”) And long before the pandemic hit, he and his crew were deeply engaged in ensuring that this planet would become the hothouse from hell. Whether by leaving the Paris climate accord or opening the way for methane gas releases, expanding offshore drilling or encouraging Arctic drilling while freeing coal plants to release more mercury into the atmosphere, he and his associates have engaged in a grim version of “make it so,” the famed line of Jean-Luc Picard, the captain of Star Trek: The Next Generation’s USS Enterprise. In these years, largely in the service of Big Energy, he and his crew have transformed themselves into so many pyromaniacs.
In a similar fashion, Trump and his team have turned their attention to ensuring that this planet would once again be swept up in a nuclear arms race. In these years, from the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty to the Open Skies Treaty, his administration has systematically withdrawn from Cold War-era nuclear pacts. At the same time, they’ve been pouring money into what’s euphemistically called the “modernization” of the U.S. nuclear arsenal in amounts only matched by the other eight nuclear powers combined. They are now reportedly even considering restarting underground nuclear testing (abandoned 28 years ago) and possibly pulling out of the final significant Cold War nuclear agreement, the New START Treaty, early next year.
Similarly, as with climate change, his administration, especially the Environmental Protection Agency, has worked with striking intensity to roll back environment rules and regulations of every sort -- the New York Times recently toted up 100 of them -- again largely in the service of the desires of Big Energy. In other words, they've focused on ensuring that this country has significantly dirtier, more polluted air, water, and wetlands, while far more toxic chemicals are floating in our all-American world. Meanwhile, he and his people have been similarly hard at work endangering the Endangered Species Act.
And this was all before the president ignored his own scientists and advisers on the coming pandemic, ensuring that tens of thousands of extra Americans (or, in his terms perhaps, extraneous Americans) would die by shutting down the country significantly too late and remarkably ineptly. He then guaranteed that yet more would die by reopening it too soon -- and by swearing, while he was at it, that no matter what hit this country next, he would never “close it down” again. All of this he recently termed a “transition to Greatness.”
And imagine what will happen when any of these areas of destruction begin to reinforce one another. Consider, for instance, that in a climate-changing world, the intensity of storms is now on the rise and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Climate Prediction Center expects an “above normal” Atlantic hurricane season this fall. So check out the cyclone of record intensity that only recently hit India in the midst of the Covid-19 pandemic, leaving desperate people anything but socially distanced in shelters, and then think about the coming fall here on the East Coast of the U.S. or, for that matter, what will happen when you combine the coronavirus with intensifying wildfires in the West.
A Conundrum Planet
So that roof I was thinking about in 2016 has indeed come down to varying degrees on just about every American and yet Donald Trump may not be the new Herbert Hoover.
Or put another way, on this, your graduation day, I’m sending you out into his world and that of the Mitch McConnellized party that hitched its wagon to his horse. (Imagine that, once upon a time, the Republicans were considered the party of the environment!) On such a planet, there is just one thing that matters to those in power -- and no, I’m sorry to say that it’s not you. It’s his reelection, which means so much more than life, liberty, or the pursuit of anyone’s happiness other than his own. If his numbers weaken the slightest bit among aging evangelicals, for instance, then it’s time to open the churches NOW!! If, however, your numbers weaken, as indeed they have, tough luck.
If he wants a full-scale in-person convention (and so the televised extravaganza that will go with it) for that reelection bid, then make it so and to hell with the delegates themselves or their hosts in Charlotte, North Carolina (or wherever it ends up). And good luck to the Democrats keeping Joe Biden in a basement somewhere and potentially holding a virtual convention!
Donald Trump's base elected a planet destroyer and he’s never let them (or himself) down. In that sense, he’s been fulfilling his duties big time. So, on your graduation day, welcome to a world in which the ceiling's on the floor. I know I’m supposed to offer you words of wisdom and encouragement today, but how can I? Not when we’ve now reached the true moment of Trumpian nihilism. Why not golf while scores of Americans die even if you did criticize the previous president for his golfing habits? (“Can you believe that, with all of the problems and difficulties facing the U.S., President Obama spent the day playing golf?”)
This is the moment when I would normally say: class of 2020, gather yourselves together and, arm in arm, take this path through that gate and off this beautiful campus where you’ve just spent four years of your life. It’s time for you to enter our world and make it a better place.
Today, however, there is no path; there is no gate; and you can’t join hands (not unless you’re fervent supporters of Donald Trump). You’re graduating not into a world but into a conundrum. I know you’ll do your damnedest. After all, what can any of us do but that? Still, my heart goes out to you, though little good that’s likely to do.
I’m sorry. I truly am. You didn’t deserve this.
Tom Engelhardt is a co-founder of the American Empire Project and the author of a history of the Cold War, The End of Victory Culture. He runs TomDispatch.com and is a fellow of the Type Media Center. His sixth and latest book is A Nation Unmade by War.
Follow TomDispatch on Twitter and join us on Facebook. Check out the newest Dispatch Books, John Feffer’s new dystopian novel (the second in the Splinterlands series) Frostlands, Beverly Gologorsky's novel Every Body Has a Story, and Tom Engelhardt's A Nation Unmade by War, as well as Alfred McCoy's In the Shadows of the American Century: The Rise and Decline of U.S. Global Power and John Dower's The Violent American Century: War and Terror Since World War II.
Copyright 2020 Tom Engelhardt


dailykos--2020-06-01--Another Take on Why Trump Supporters Love Him

This is a follow-up to a recent post I made regarding this article published in The Atlantic : The short summary of the article is the question of why so many men support Trump when he embodies the exact opposite of how most of them would define masculinity .
He ’ s always whining complaining , always blaming others , never taking responsibility bully who preys on the weak , sucks up to whomever he believes is powerful & generally irresponsible person with the maturity of a badly behaved 5 year old .
Pretty much the exact opposite of what @ @ @ @ @ @ @ value .
I suspect that a lot of their support comes from the following : We all have a little child inside of each of us .
Most of us develop a certain level of maturity as we age , at least to the point of controlling some of our worst emotional reactions to circumstances .
I believe a lot of Trump supporters see Trump expressing all of their repressed rage .
While few of them would ever actually act out in the ways Trump acts , they fantasize about it .
They @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to them ever treated a woman or a minority the way Trump does , but a part of them would like to be able to get away with it .
Trump embodies that misbehaving pre-adolescent brat child which most of us have either matured beyond , or at least have learned to repress .
His supporters love them because he acts out in ways that they wish they themselves could act out .
It ’ s kind of like how most little boys go through the “ enamored with dinosaurs ” phase .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ because dinosaurs represent entities with great power during a period in their lives when they feel relatively powerless .
Trump represents the Tyrannosaurus Rex to these people & they are reliving the immaturity of their early childhood .

This is a follow-up to a recent post I made regarding this article published in The Atlantic:
www.theatlantic.com/…
(The Atlantic has a paywall but you should be able to get 3 free articles a month)
The short summary of the article is the question of why so many men support Trump when he embodies the exact opposite of how most of them would define masculinity. He’s always whining complaining, always blaming others, never taking responsibility bully who preys on the weak, sucks up to whomever he believes is powerful & generally irresponsible person with the maturity of a badly behaved 5 year old. Pretty much the exact opposite of what most of these men would claim they value.
I suspect that a lot of their support comes from the following: We all have a little child inside of each of us. Most of us develop a certain level of maturity as we age, at least to the point of controlling some of our worst emotional reactions to circumstances. I believe a lot of Trump supporters see Trump expressing all of their repressed rage. While few of them would ever actually act out in the ways Trump acts, they fantasize about it. They would act properly horrified if someone close to them ever treated a woman or a minority the way Trump does, but a part of them would like to be able to get away with it.
Trump embodies that misbehaving pre-adolescent brat child which most of us have either matured beyond, or at least have learned to repress. His supporters love them because he acts out in ways that they wish they themselves could act out. It’s kind of like how most little boys go through the “enamored with dinosaurs” phase. I believe most little boys love dinosaurs because dinosaurs represent entities with great power during a period in their lives when they feel relatively powerless. Trump represents the Tyrannosaurus Rex to these people & they are reliving the immaturity of their early childhood.