MARK KARLIN, EDITOR OF BUZZFLASH AT TRUTHOUT

Trump's tweets are a conversation with his base. (Photo: Gage Skidmore)

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Sorting through Trump's bellowing and bombastic Twitter storms raises the question of whether there is any method to his lie-filled messages on social media. To many progressives, Trump appears to be acting more like a strident Fox News pundit than the president of the United States. However, some recent polling suggests that his brazen missives are working as an attempt to shore up his base.

According to a YouGov poll from May, for instance, 61 percent of Republicans answered "yes" to the question, "Do you believe Donald Trump is being framed by the FBI and the Department of Justice?" In contrast, only 7 percent of Democrats thought that Trump was being framed in the survey of 1,500 adults. Meanwhile only 14 percent of self-identified members of the GOP somewhat or strongly approve of Robert Mueller's investigation.

Although the YouGov poll is only a snapshot, it does offer credence to the theory that Trump is brashly sending calculated messages to his supporters. Although Trump's overall favorability ratings have recently hovered near 40 percent, the conservative site Town Hall ran a June 3 story touting Trump's high approval by the Republican rank and file as measured by Gallup. It was entitled, "Trump Has Second Highest 'Own Party' Presidential Approval Rating Since WWII at 500 Day Mark."

Government relations consultant Bruce Mehlman ran a chart comparing 'own party' approval ratings that presidents had on their 500th day in office:

President Trump has 2nd highest "own party" job approval rating since World War II at day ~500, only behind Bush43 (after 9/11) (Source: Gallup) pic.twitter.com/cNhEAjMObO — Bruce Mehlman (@bpmehlman) June 3, 2018

While progressives may be dumbfounded by the president's accusatory tweets, he is remolding the Republican Party into the party of Trump. In doing so, he is revving up his core supporters in preparation for the 2018 and 2020 elections.

As impetuous and cruel as Trump may appear to those who find him reprehensible, he has an intrinsic understanding of how to appeal to his Make America White Again constituents. A May 27 NBC News article discussed an important new research paper on this topic:

A new study... suggests that the main threat to our democracy may not be the hardening of political ideology, but rather the hardening of one particular political ideology. Political scientists Steven V. Miller of Clemson and Nicholas T. Davis of Texas A&M have released a working paper titled "White Outgroup Intolerance and Declining Support for American Democracy." Their study finds a correlation between white [Americans'] intolerance, and support for authoritarian rule. In other words, when intolerant white people fear democracy may benefit marginalized people, they abandon their commitment to democracy.

Miller and Davis used information from the World Values Survey, a research project organized by a worldwide network of social scientists which polls individuals in numerous countries on a wide range of beliefs and values. Based on surveys from the United States, the authors found that white people who did not want to have immigrants or people of different races living next door to them were more likely to be supportive of authoritarianism. For instance, people who said they did not want to live next door to immigrants or to people of another race were more supportive of the idea of military rule, or of a strongman-type leader who could ignore legislatures and election results.

While constitutional experts are aghast that Trump -- and his sock puppet, Rudolph Giuliani -- can toss out assertions that Trump is above the law, the study confirms that Trump's supporters will, in large part, give him a pass on being held legally accountable for his actions. This should make those who uphold a robust democracy extremely vigilant and active in resisting an executive branch government that teeters between authoritarianism and fascism.

The NBC article notes, "In practice, the GOP has increasingly been embracing a politics of white resentment tied to disenfranchisement." This explains the myriad roadblocks put up in states to keep non-whites, the poor and students from voting. Limiting enfranchisement of non-white or marginalized voters goes hand in hand with supporting an authoritarian president such as Trump.

Along with the increased Republican willingness to embrace authoritarianism, another Gallup poll released on May 29 found another wide chasm between Democrats and Republicans on the question of moral leadership. The Republicans appear to give a pass to Trump's moral lapses.

Although polling only represents an approximation of public opinion, the above polls, when combined, indicate that Donald Trump has a hold on his supporters and keeps feeding them a narrative that benefits his position among Republicans. That he is so successful at it may explain why so few congressional Republicans dare to criticize Trump. House members, in particular (all of whom are up for re-election this year), fear putting much distance between themselves and fervent Trump supporters.

Democracy takes second place to supporting the "strongman" when it comes to keeping the United States white.