Politics seem to have an overwhelming grasp on attention of the U.S. right now. So much so that it is impossible to turn anywhere without seeing examples of our divisive times.
Why do President Trump’s supporters blindly follow him into any political battle he decides to take on? Trump doesn’t represent the little guy, the coal miner who lost his job, the plant worker or the farmer. He represents the elite, the upper 1% and the cocktail parties that so few of his supports will actually have the opportunity to attend. 
The main reason I think so many people support him is the tax cuts that his constituents and he ushered in. The marginal tax rate was cut for many Americans. Some of us felt that in our pockets directly, and others where left paying more in their owed taxes come tax season. Not to mention the fact Republicans, under former President Barack Obama, constantly criticized the debt and deficit.
Recently, our deficit has risen past the trillion dollar mark. The last time it was that high was in 2012 under President Obama, but his was reducing not rising. I can understand why upper class American’s support him, they get to see extra zeros in their bank accounts. For the majority of his supports in flyover states, they don’t see an inkling of change in their day to day lives.
Wages are stagnant, climate change is destroying the world around us and we have a treasonous president leading us into irredeemable mistakes at a global level. Trump’s tenure as president has been two years of an abusive relationship, one in which Trump supporters are waiting for something tangible, but he’s cheating on you with Russia, China, Turkey, Saudi Arabia and North Korea. The farmers waited for months to sell their crops, only to have them spoil and get payed on the tax payer’s dollar.
The only thing I have been able to come up with is that Trump supporters at a fundamental level are infatuated with his persona. He symbolizes what they wish they could be, a business man with the highest power in the world only to squander it to bully the people they don’t like. You can say it’s for taxes, abortion, immigration or even limited government, but at the end of the day all of that has been disproven by facts.
I’m tired of this failed argument where Trump blows smoke and expects us to defend it. It’s insulting to have to defend the truth. I want to hone in on why people like his personality, because I will admit he is fascinating. 
Trump’s cult of personality is only really comparable to a train wreck, where you don’t want to watch it but you are forced to. He can conjure a crowd and rile people up. The tea party turned Trumpists have been the party of obstruction since 2009. Upsetting liberals is all they want to see. Trump supporters don’t want to see real action or actually care about governing. They want to be empowered by someone else. Someone who says and acts the way they wish that could act in day to day life.
His bully-like mentality appeals to people who feel like they have been “losing their rights,” but in actuality he’s hurting any real chance of us as citizens to have intelligent compromise. 
Trump can conjure a crowd and rile people up, but he can’t seem to get other actions done. The only thing he has is his personality. Trump’s supporters have come to identify with his personality rather than any policy position he has. The majority of his supporters could not tell you anything other than keeping Mexicans out by building a wall.
His attitude should not stand and I don’t know why we let it. It is honestly embarrassing to watch this man make a mockery of the oval office when their are actual global threats across the world. He fights and betrays our allies and then bends to the will of our enemies while claiming to be a “stable genius.” He has no concept of reality and his support’s should support candidates that can actually represent their ideals.
We can sit and have political banter about Trump, but this won’t change a Trump supporter’s mind because Trump uses his platform to promote alienation and ignorance. 
Grant Wilkinson is a 20-year-old computer science junior from Vinton, Louisiana.