There has been a spirit of maliciousness going on in American political conservatism for a long time. Trump is just another in a long line of verbal 'bullyboys' that the American right seems to universally support and admire. The question in my mind has always been what's fueling all this bile toward their fellow Americans? Why are they so keen to insult and humiliate fellow citizens, and fellow humans?
I think it's an expression of their own fear and personal loss of autonomy, dignity, and self-respect in a culture that has become only and all about money, under a government that treats it's own people like nothing more than serfs and slaves to a corporate oligarchy that seeks only to subjugate and exploit everyone and every thing for their own profit. In the same way that abused children grow up to become angry, resentful, and abusive adults, the American right has become the personal identification umbrella for many adults who are feeling abused by their own government and culture and want to abuse someone else to try and gain back some sense of their own power. It's why scapegoating others, especially anyone they perceive to be weaker or lesser then themselves has become such a high priority for the new American right. They watched and hooted their pleasure and agreement every time Bill O'Rielly verbally humilited some guest he'd labeled a "liberal" on his show, regardless of the ceapness of his tactics, his ignorance of the facts, or the actual cultural/political affiliation of the 'guest'. He was the favorite verbal gladiator of the American right for a long time. And there were and still are many others. It's also the reason the American right is so obsessed with their loathing of "political correctness". Which is in reality any instance where their vitriol and bile and bullying toward their fellow citizens is being publicly exposed for what it is, and called into ethical and moral question.
As the corporations have gotten better and better at turning us all into their 'abused children', those among us feeling that abuse most keenly, and not wanting to face the truth of their humiliation, are seeking to abuse and humiliate others, to get back some sense of their own power and self-worth. And the republican party, the party most aligned with the oligarchy of abusers, have realized that they can use that bile and desire to bully others to their own advantage, just as the radio and TV networks have also realized they could cater to it to gain many loyal viewers and listeners. So that now we have a whole industrial strength conglomerate feeding off of, and feeding into this desire to abuse and humiliate those they label as being of lesser value. We have become a culture of bullies and bullying. And Trump is the current mascot for it, riding that wave of fear, anger, resentment, and bile in the hearts of those who are being subjugated and abused, but are too confused and frighted to actually identify and fight back against their real abusers. And of course he's doing it, like all the other people riding that self-propelled wave of bile and abuse, for his own personal advantage.
