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I'd offer that if you spoke to Trumpers, most or all of them would hold opinions about Trump and his positions that seem paradoxical, totally incorrect, contradictory, impossible, or just flat out idiotic. Trump, despite having served as president for four years and remained politically loud (if not exactly active) for four more since, remains a cypher. Ask eight people what exactly Trump believes you will get eight different answers. There's a temptation, on all sides of the political compass, to treat Trump like an empty vessel and hope that he will favor your cause. He's really a Red-Brown Strasser-ist fighter for the white working class, or he's really a Christian crusader (or for the more biblically sophisticated a Cyrus figure), or he's going to cut government spending and fix the deficit, or he's going to gut the MIC and usher in peace.
There's a standard format that goes: "He just says X to get votes, he really doesn't believe X, he believes Y." He just makes saber rattling noises about Iran to placate the GOP, he's really anti-war. He says anti trade things to appeal to the rubes, he's really pro business. He has a secret plan to fix immigration policy or he has a secret plan to empower a Immigrations and Customs NKVD, he is actually in favor of police reform or he's going to crack down on criminals, he's going to restrain Israel or he's going to let Israel off the leash, he's going to cut regulations and he's going to prevent chemical train derailments.
And the bitch of it is, somebody has to be right. Trump has said so many contradictory things about so many topics that you can easily put together a series of quotes that paint him as anything. He's just so out there and he talks so much, I could put together a photo series and quotes that paint him as Ibram X. Kendi's best friend or as a budding Caudillo. And there are people who hope he is each of those. He's a real person, he has to believe something. But I'll be damned if I could tell you what it is with any confidence.
Just in the last few days I can recall this. I've seen leftists joking about how Trump is going to dominate the debates by calling Biden "Genocide Joe" for supporting Israel. I've heard friends tell me Trump will bring back prayer in schools. I've seen people on here claim that he will drain the swamp.
So the steelman of Trump is that they believe he is a different Trump than you believe he is.
ETA: I literally closed my laptop and my father immediately told me that Trump planned to declare OPEC a terrorist organization and confiscate their funds from the banking system.
Maybe the appeal is this: the default politician behavior is to converge with the establishment hive mind on all issues, either actively or passively. A politician who has no firm principles, but who has a proven ability to thumb his nose at the establishment hive mind and to go with his common sense or his gut, would be a huge improvement from the point-of-view of a anti-establishment voter.
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