Photo by Elvert Barnes

I’ve long suspected that Republicans are secretly contemptuous of their followers. They know the majority of Republican voters are shallow, low-information voters who disdain higher education and critical thinking. Of course, there are the people in the 1 percent who vote GOP because they want them to cut their taxes. But a large group of Republican voters are truck driving, pro-wrestling and football-loving people who consistently vote against their interests.

These people are easy to fool. It’s easy to dazzle them with meaningless buzzwords like “Make America Great Again” and “family values.” These phrases were widely repeated by a president whose policies have benefitted Russia and who is on his third marriage.

Last week at a Trump rally in Mississippi the crowd launched into a “lock her up” chant directed at Hillary Clinton. Trump promised to do this in 2016 and yet Hillary is still walking around scot-free, even though the commander-in-chief, has the power of the U.S. government at his fingertips. However, several Trump campaign workers, such as Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn, George Papadopoulos and Paul Manafort, have been convicted. Federal prosecutors have a much better track record of locking up Trump campaign workers.

My suspicions have been confirmed by reviewing the GOP‘s’boot-licking defense of Trump’s brazen lawbreaking. The Republican defense is a non-stop barrage of gaslighting, doublespeak and mendacity.

Here are a few examples:

House Democrats are moving towards impeaching the president because he continues to break the law. Bribery, extortion, treason, wire fraud, witness intimidation, he’s done it and continues to do it. But in the eyes of Republicans and the right-wing noise machine, it’s the Democrats who are out of control.

Some of the most egregious lies are told on the 24-hour propaganda network known as FOX News. Lou Dobbs is one of the worst culprits. He recently stared into the camera and said Trump had been largely honest and wasn’t self-centered. This is the same president who has told more than 13,000 lies and is steering tax dollars to businesses owned by him and his cronies.

Last week at a Trump rally in Mississippi the crowd launched into a “lock her up” chant directed at Hillary Clinton. Trump promised to do this in 2016 and yet Hillary is still walking around scot-free, even though the commander-in-chief, has the power of the U.S. government at his fingertips. However, several Trump campaign workers, such as Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn, George Papadopoulos and Paul Manafort, have been convicted. Federal prosecutors have a much better track record of locking up Trump campaign workers.

After Trump was booed at a baseball game and a MMA fight, he tried to dismiss these stories, which included video, as “fake news.” Trump’s moronic sons also said the booing never happened.

Erik and Don Jr. Trump, who have traveled around the world promoting their family businesses on the government dime, are currently accusing Hunter Biden of trading on his father’s name!

These easily-disproved lies would be laughable, but the critically-thinking averse GOP crowd laps this stuff up. There are many people in this country who believe whatever the president says and don’t fact check his comments. I’ve seen videos of Trump supporters who say, “What has he done wrong?” FOX News over-the-top propagandist Jeanine Pirro recently demanded the media ignore what the president was doing and stay out of his business.

Unfortunately, a significant part of the population does not think deeply and can’t distinguish facts from spin and blatant lies. Trump and the GOP are counting on them to give the president a second term. But at the heart of this strategy is a cynical ploy that’s counting on Republican voters’ ignorance. The people pushing this propaganda know it’s BS, they just need low-information voters to keep believing it.