They've always suffered from his policies. They suffer from tax policies which makes them poorer, they suffer when they don't have health care, etc.

But they love him because he tells them beautiful lies. He tells them they're the top of the hierarchy . . .

1/ https://twitter.com/WajahatAli/status/1327776787670110209

. . . he tells them the reason they are not doing better is because 'others' (minorities, migrants at the gates) are taking what rightfully belong to them.

He promises to take them back to a mythic time when all was well and America was great and they were happy.

2/

Timothy Snyder coined the term "sadopopulism" because the policies of leaders like Putin and Trump actually hurt their own constituents while enriching and empowering the leaders.

3/

Snyder pointed out (in one of his lectures) that 20th century fascists like Hitler did things that enriched ordinary Germans (like giving them the spoils when the Jews were robbed.)

Hitler and Mussolini didn't care about personal wealth . . .

4/ https://twitter.com/Thepriusguy/status/1327825439788765196

. . . they just wanted power.

21st century fascists, though, want both wealth and power.

The only way to get that is to hurt their own supporters, and the only way to get away with that is to tell lies.

5/

6/ Precisely. It's self-perpetuating. The more he hurts them, the angrier they get, and the easier it is to manipulate them.

That's why Trump (and people like Marjorie Taylor Green) stroke outrage on the left.

It entertains and thrills their followers. https://twitter.com/JTsOnline/status/1327831259377143808