Read on Twitter
A lot of discussion about Trump's attempts to steal the election rest on the assumption that his voters believe him when he say the election was "rigged". That assumption, I believe, is false. https://www.salon.com/2020/12/09/trump-voters-dont-really-believe-biden-stole-the-election---but-they-do-want-a-coup/
An important thing to understand about modern GOP voters is that they don't have beliefs, so much as rationalizations.
During Obama's presidency, polls measuring "birtherism" beliefs among Republicans varied widely depending on how the question was asked — showing that conservatives knew full well he was born in Hawaii, but liked to deny it as a racist troll.
The reality is, like Trump himself, his supporters know he lost. They are denying it, because it sounds better than just telling the truth: That they want to steal this election, that they have been radicalized against democracy.
Lotsa dudes out there eager to tell a lady she's wrong without knowing her argument today.
Part of the problem here is that it *feels* better to believe that Trumpers are stupid and easily misled, rather than accept that they are arguing in bad faith and trolling. The former makes one feel smart and superior. The latter is disheartening.
And so there's a rush of know-it-alls who are like, "nuh-uh, Trumpers really are that stupid!" That makes them feel smart in comparison. But while there are some Trumpers (such as hard core QAnoners) who are truly delusional (mentally ill or plain stupid), most are just trolls.
The problem is the price of feeling superior to "stupid" Trumpers is that you aren't noticing that they're arguing in bad faith — and therefore are harder to manipulate than you're assuming. It's not that Trump is some mastermind Svengali. It's that his followers are malicious.
