That’s the impression I have, Charlie, and which I’ve been trying to express: that people who are defending Trump are willing to put with the negative stuff since they (and you) think the positives might outweigh it.
As you say, The reason why Trump voters overlook, forgive, forget about all of those things you listed is this: Trump made promises to them and made them believe he would make good on his promises. It's that simple.
I still haven’t heard, though, why those promises outweigh the imminent and actual damaging effects. Why Trump has not already gone beyond the pale by being Putin’s friend, having a Cabinet of billionaires including several Goldman Sachs people (and thus not really being “anti-establishment,” as he was touted to be), denying climate change and suppressing scientific data about it, and so on.
There are two possibilities: (1) either Trump supporters/defenders feel that the negatives are not really as dangerous and damaging as many feel they are, and therefore that the good of Trump at least potentially outweighs the bad; or that (2) Trump supporters/defenders are willing to deny or turn a blind eye to things that in their heart of hearts they know are dangerous and irredeemably negative in order to let Trump “make good on his promises.”
In other words: those negatives I listed are dealt with either by disagreeing that they are really that negative, or by denying their existence.
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