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I get depressed when I think about the number of people who are willing to support Trump. I feel like I must be missing something.

I think this is weighing down the campaign:

Not everyone is highly vulnerable to the 'charisma' effect, though many are.

Bizarre as it may seem, Trump has some, Clinton doesn't.

One of the first thoughts I had about Trump, when he stepped into the race, was, "Would you but a used car from this man?", which I tried out on a Rightie blog. To my dismay, the response was a puzzled, "Sure, why not?"

Long ago I studied a psycho-philosophical school of thought that presumed humans generally live in a state of 'waking sleep', a condition of being able to walk around and do seemingly normal things, but all the while mentally in mostly a dream state.

I warned early.

Just listened to Pres Obama, and he feels good about the future despite the rhetoric coming from Mr Trump.

I think either Pres Obama is missing something or he was being overly gracious.

In my community, make no mistake. The support is real and based on multi-faceted reasons or feelings. They hate Muslims .... they hate Mexicans .... beside hating the blacks .... if Mr Trump included one more item to cure his dystopian landscape i.e. deport all people on welfare/unemployed/etc to anywhere, he would have rock solid support .... of course none of this is racist or bigoted or xenophobic .... tough love for America

It is amazing to watch a Trump supporter's intellectual contortions trying to explain their support. He "tells it like it is" unless "he doesn't really mean it." He's "trustworthy," even though everything he spouts is demonstrably false, and has a very lengthy record of deception and fraud. It's the media's fault for bringing in "facts." The US has 30% of Bizarro World's denizens, and they're ALL voting for Trump.

You might find this article interesting, NW_P. I found it last night.

I personally think that Trump's strategy of trying to have it both ways: running to Mexico to play at being "Presidential" then giving an anti-immigration speech the same day; going to a black church to appear "humble" and insulting the African American polity constantly, etc., is deliberate. And it seems to be working. Here's why I think it does: Those that want to see something good in his approach can find examples (e.g. "softening"), even if he is inconsistent, to support their view of who he is. Those, like Clinton, who think he's an absolute (fill in the blank) are baffled, because they don't know "which Trump" will appear.

That's a good article, Rick. It's a realization I come to slowly because I believe that language matters. Trump either clearly doesn't mean what he says, or he is delusional. His followers clearly don't care what he says, which is what I find so baffling, they just care about what he "represents" - which is someone who is against the status quo. They don't care that he is completely unqualified for office, they like that his existence "sticks it to the man." They don't grasp that "they are the man" he'd stick it to.

I still believe the majority of Americans will reject him, but I am still depressed that there are so many that care so little about it. That's my problem, I care, and I think that a difference CAN be made.

Indeed, it is the use of language favored by con men. You have to make your "mark" feel that he/she is important.

Kellyanne "Con"way gets Donald Trump because they speak the same language. What is important is understanding that, and being able to respond to it. I think Clinton's ads do that, as they paint a "visceral" picture, but could backfire, since it reinforces the low bar that Trump has to clear. If he doesn't wet his pants at the first debate, he seems "Presidential" - just like standing at a podium lying about what the President of Mexico just said. It's the picture, not the content, that counts. Same with the Detroit church - it doesn't matter if it is empty, he's in a black church.