Column: What is it about Trump that has turned so many Americans into lemmings?

A retired construction lawyer in Bozeman, Montana, observes that the area construction sector skews politically conservative and anti-immigrant, even though it relies on the labor of undocumented immigrants. One of his comments captures in a nutshell what makes this year’s U.S. presidential campaign so maddeningly frustrating: “Among the bigger companies,” reports this lawyer, “they would say things to me like, ‘Buzz, you know I want the biggest wall between us and Mexico, because I love Donald Trump. But by the way, could you get me some guys?’”

Here are two clues to recognize the crux of the craziness in the politics of the day. First, significant segments among Trump supporters are not behaving rationally, as generally understood. In this instance, cheap immigrant labor, including undocumented workers, serves the interests of the construction industry.

Much of the pool of readily available labor consists of such workers. And yet many construction company owners favor a candidate for president who promises to deport millions of said immigrants back to where they came from, thereby depleting the labor pool needed for their construction industry.

Really! The construction lawyer’s pithy summarization of what construction company owners say also provides the second clue: it’s all because they “love Donald Trump.” They do not love Trump because he wants to finish building a wall to keep new immigrants out while also massively deporting those already here. To the contrary, they want the wall — and doubtless also the deportations — because they love Trump, and that’s what he’s promised to do. They want whatever he wants. They believe in it because they believe in him.

In short, they’re hooked on the personality, not the policy. If Trump pushes it, they’ll buy it, even though it will probably work against their own economic interests. Their support of Trump is not driven by rational support for his policies. They support his policies because of some primal attraction and fealty for the man himself.

This helps explain a lot that many news analysts and political pundits argue over and often fail to grasp. Why is the current economy viewed so negatively, especially by Trump supporters, despite all the positive statistics about low unemployment, higher wages, growing productivity, corporate earnings, and the rest? To be sure, inflation and price gouging have taken a toll, and may have hit blue collar workers and their families harder than most.

Still, polls also show a disconnect between personal circumstances and views about society at large. Workers do not report feeling as bad off personally as they view the economy at large. A similar phenomenon exists with perceptions about crime and a host of other issues. Conversely, most Trump supporters barely perceive the existential crisis presented by global climate change — unlike scientists, educators, and political progressives who follow what is happening to the planet these days. The explanation should be obvious: Trump tells his MAGA faithful the economy is the pits, crime is rising, and there’s nothing to worry about regarding global climate change.

Some say that were it not for Trump there would be someone else with a similar political agenda who would command the leadership of MAGA Republicans and the like. I’m not convinced. Policies are not insignificant, but remember — the Republicans adopted no political platform the last time around. The GOP has become a cult. The real question demanding further attention is why some 40% of the American public and most national Republican leadership are held in thrall to a convicted felon who presents as a dishonest, malicious, sociopathic demagogue. What about his charisma has perniciously beguiled so many hearts and minds?

Byron Bangert is a retired parish minister and former research associate with a Ph.D. in religious ethics from Indiana University.