How could 70 million people vote for Trump? Here's how, from the perspective of an ex-family therapist. There is one thing I always taught my parent-clients: Whatever you pay more attention to, you get more of. This isn't mystical, it's just human behavior. Attention is power.

(This rule about attention is also why social media is such a mixed bag of wonderful interconnectivity and "oh god we're so fucked and can't get anything done." It's why video games are addicting. Attention is power.)

The only true skill Trump has is getting attention. He does this by being outrageous. It makes no difference whether that attention is positive or negative, whether people love him or hate him. He is hands-down the most proficient attention-getter on the planet.

As long as Trump is getting enough attention, there will always be a significant number of people who will support him simply because his garbage view of the world will validate theirs, and the more amplified his message, the more he will find and draw those people to him.

There are many people out there who support Trump simply because smart people hate him and they're intimidated by smart people - and so is Trump. He validates the anger they feel due to their own insecurity and makes it Your Fault because you are elitist, socialist, atheist etc.

So please don't be shocked by how many people support Trump. It is basic human behavior that people need validation, and Trump is very, very skilled at validating the awfulness in all of us, because he is so desperate to be validated in his own garbage world view.

Combine Trump's message ("shitting on people is cool, YOU are the victim") with his stellar attention-grabbing skills, and we were never going to escape this trashfire of a presidency. We are so damn lucky we deprived him of 4 more years of the biggest stage on the planet.

It's also basic marketing principles. There truly is no such thing as bad press, so if you want to blame the media go right ahead. Nobody has been more skilled at manipulating the American media than Trump. It's all he's good at, but he is the best in the world at it.

So how do we get out of this? IDK but I think the answer may have something to do with how much we fuel his popularity by hating him so fiercely and so publicly. He gets power and mileage out of that because his supporters are so motivated/validated by that hatred.

Whether Trump supporters ultimately care about babies in cages, racism, COVID or not, they're not thinking about it. Trump and his supporters are paying attention to how awful we are and much they hate us, not issues. Look at the messaging. It's been consistent the whole time.

People do not like to think about hard and painful things! Trump says, "you don't have to think about COVID - it's going away. Those libs are hysterical dummies who are ruining the economy!" And his supporters go YAY!!!! It's validation of that avoidance they need.

When you try to point Trump supporters to the truth, they can't tolerate the reality and pain of it and get angry and blame you for being a jerk. Because for years now, they've had the most powerful man in the world validate that avoidance and anger and self-centering.

Here is the worst part: you can't change other people. Here is the best part: you CAN change the way you treat other people, and they often change in response to that. Here's the real part: it's not always worth it.