While I was working on my Doctoral Degree, I taught American History at a local High School in Los Angeles, and courses in American Government at UCLA. I was lucky. I usually had inquisitive, demanding students in my respective classrooms. They pushed for answers to their questions, completed their assignments, and rarely let me get bored. Sometimes, though, no matter how hard you tried, a given class would contain ill-prepared and purposefully ignorant individuals.

Those acting in the manner just described, seemed to do so not because of any lack of innate ability. The more I taught, I realized that in most of these cases, failure in class was reflective of poor skill development and little desire to improve. At home, they were not pressed to complete school assignments, didn’t read anything other than comic books, and rarely displayed any ambition beyond “making money” and “having fun.”

For the last few years, I feel like I have been regularly dealing with older versions of my Los Angeles students. I have difficulty in  understanding how people that I believed are intelligent and rational, support Donald Trump for President. They voted for him in 2016 and remain supportive today. Why? That is the $64,000 question.

Putting my social science skills to the test, I decided, in a primarily anecdotal manner, to explore this question. Obviously, I did not undertake an extensive study; but, some logical conclusions were ascertained.

First, ignorance is only one answer. Most people are educated, at least to the point that they understand right from wrong, good from bad.  Other causes are not hard to discover, such as greed and hubris.

An often frustrated Winston Churchill, wrote (and talked) about the “unteachability of mankind.” While true, with the Trump phenomenon I believe a more perfidious and primary explanation for his strong popular support is at work: racism. So many individuals describe feeling threatened by “immigrants,” and “people of color.” Regardless of the “facts,” Trump is perceived as their “defender,” and his administration as their “rearguard.” Whether it is Muslims, Hispanics, African-Americans, or Jews, members of these groups are perceived as objects of opprobrium and the cause of  problems when things go wrong. This is the reality of life in Trump world.

The American Civil War ended in 1865. Trump’s racist comments following the white-supremacist led riot in Charlottesville were uttered only a few years ago. Today, the words and behavior of too many of his supporters—even the “respectable” ones—should leave us in shame and alarm. Unfortunately, a Presidential victory by Democrats in November will only remove the “public face” of this deep-seated problem. But, it’s a beginning. Let’s get on with it.