I've known trump-like kids.They say anything(lie), do anything (cheat), simply refuse to admit 'defeat'. Any humility is fake, to get something. But they aren't really menacing, more like everything is a game and they have moral deficiencies and some pretty gaping flaws to hide (shame) - trump's facade and self-delusion of stern dignity but toddler behaviour.
Some people like trump because he seems 'real' (I've heard sane ppl say that). They can't see that he lies and is also dim.
IMO Thiel etc are smart - professional risk assessors who rose to the top. They wouldn't ordinarily bet on trump, which is why they weren't behind his first election win. This is the big bet for them - showing their hand to the world. If they lose, they lose everything. If they win they think they'll have 'true freedom' (complete control). What to chase after money?
trump has been manipulated by russia for years, all his tough man stuff is just an act that I doubt he believes.
@DrALJONES
1.Agreed except Vance is also trump's minder - the MAGA masters know what a disaster trump was last time... Remember all the petty insanity? Injecting bleach, horse dewormer etc? Seems kinda innocent now it's Gulags. Also trump is important as MAGA's prophesied figurehead. So much of the movement's power came from Q conspiracy theories etc - that's all trump. MAGA's delusion rests on trump and if you remember, the masters pushed back on trump, but dropped it when MAGA insisted.
I'm sure I'm preaching to the choir, just that I can't see a plausible path out of this and I usually can see that kind of thing, which either means there's something I dont know or there isn't a plausible path.
People are resisting, just not enough of them, and generally people are too afraid to lose what they have. They need to understand - that will happen anyway if this isn't stopped, plus a lot worse.
trump is going to destroy the world (eg. global heating), or he will let the christofascists do so (to fulfil their prophecies). Maybe he believes his magical thinking about global heating being fake, but that doesn't matter. If every non-MAGA protested, would trump leave power?
I didn't underestimate it. They actually told us what they were going to do in project 25, and then half assedly lied about it. Also check out 'dark Gothic MAGA' on YouTube if you haven't. Nothing (plausible) could stop them, which is why nothing has.
What I'm saying is that the 'normal' response isn't going to work. Unless some agency etc has a secret plan to save the world, we are going to have to fix this, by hook or by crook. Something extraordinary has to be done.