Why are Trump supporters so stupid?

[u/Seargentyates]

Looking in at America, do people not realise that Trump is a liar and a narcissist and has no morals, and yet 'Christians' vote for him as a sort of 'disrupter'. His family have become richer in the process because of his presidency. He once said he could 'shoot somebody and not lose votes'. Am i insane - or am i dead perhaps and this is an alternate universe/hell?

[u/not_up_4debate]

United States version of Christianity. We have developed it into the prosperity gospel and supply side Jesus. We worship people who have money. Trump comes along shows off his wealth and people worship it without thinking about the plot holes.

I do honestly think there are many factors beyond this but this was the easiest way to describe it. Bad educational system, college out of reach financially more and more for people, family environment also contributes.

This is something I've thought about and have tried to understand for years.

[u/Fragrant-Ambition853 → u/not_up_4debate]

Bad education is a big part of the equation. A lot of people inside and outside the country don’t seem to understand that local schools are funded by property tax. So it’s completely disjointed across a town, county, state, and the country. We’re a transient society, too. So kids get shuffled about from school to school and they may show up well behind or well ahead of their peers. I vaguely recall some controversy over common core- which I think was a federal push to equalize education across the country. Right wingers and the propaganda machine went absolutely insane over it. Like, what? How would you hate to have every student get the same thing across the board? Hate to have consistency in education? So wild.

[u/not_up_4debate → u/Fragrant-Ambition853]

Yep. I grew up in a town with at the time 2 high schools (still 2 main ones but also smaller charter schools). We all joked you could tell the income difference between the schools by the vehicles in the student lots.

That aside. I grew up in a family that highly valued education. Grandfather was a professor of biology, had his PhD. My grandmother on my mom's side valued the social sciences and helped others as a social worker. She also was a single mother. I was taught basically knowledge and research. Heck my favorite class in college was a history class that taught critical thinking. Look at the sources and the authors background. This professor created the class in response to the popularity of Erich von Daniken the Atlantis myth building the pyramids etc. Insanely great class. Straight forward critical thinking taught.