As someone who was once under the right wing spell:

Tr*mp supporters will do all the mental gymnastics necessary to protect their perception of him, b/c he and the idealology are their only source of self worth and purpose.

He makes them feel special. They fear losing that.

I didn’t have great self-esteem. I was isolated. Not a ton of friends. No compelling hobbies. I was a kid and an easy target.

I was frustrated with my situation.

When you’re isolated from a sense of purpose, you’re an excellent target. If you think there’s nothing going for you, a sweet talking asshole will say you’re special for your race, your religion, your class, or for the fact that you listen to them.

And then when someone else shows up to tell you than the institutions you’ve taken for granted, or grown to love, are harmful, you violently reject it because you think, “that can’t possibly be true. It’s never hurt me!”

And if the institutions that helped you are bad, you begin to wonder if everything you’ve done that was helped by it now means nothing. But you again reject it. You won’t consider the notion, even with nuance. To accept it on any level attacks the already-brittle identity.

So the sweet talker comes back. “They’re attacking all of your hard work! They’re saying you’re evil by virtue of your birth! How can you let it stand?”

So you dig your heels in when injustice occurs in front of you, b/c you’re think that acknowledging it revokes all you have.

So now your whole identity revolves around putting down those who object to the institutions you worship & taking pride in your loyalty to them. If you’re a token, often you’ll learn that the praise you get is so conditional.

But at least you get to avoid that hard conversation.