There are right-wing conservatives whose impartial view of society is so repugnant that I would never want to discuss politics with them, and yet whom I respect for their opposition to Donald Trump. Dick Cheney is an example. It wasn’t so long ago that it would have been unthinkable to talk about my respect for Dick Cheney.

I bet I would praise numerous others from the bipartisan collection of “741 former senior national security leaders, consisting of over 230 generals and flag officers, including 15 retired four-star generals and admirals, 10 Cabinet secretaries, 10 service secretaries and 148 ambassadors” , quoted in a recent press release, recently supported Vice President Kamala Harris and the many former Republicans who have left the party.

I don’t find their behavior mysterious at all. For many of them, country was more important than partying. Another group that doesn’t confuse me are undecided voters. If they haven’t seen and heard enough of Trump by now to scare them away, and instead want to hear more from him and more from Kamala, they obviously can’t process simple information or think coherently.

Trump tells them that I’m in charge no matter what Congress says, and I’m not going to tell you what I’m going to do because you know you can’t rely on anything I say. And they think: Now I have to hear what Kamala thinks about Hezbollah. Hopeless.

What remains are those who want to vote for Trump and his allies, like the self-confessed liar Vance, “Black Hitler” Robinson, and Trump’s insurgent army of vote thieves who are rigging elections, suppressing votes, and plotting fraud.

I confess. The Trump crowd amazes me. You listen intently because he finds it difficult to stay on topic. He has an almost empty backpack of topics that he draws from at random, no matter what he or anyone else asks. He recites. Is distracted. Draws another random sample and makes dropouts. He closely resembles a Don Quixote, but without the charm or noble devotion.

In his effort to emulate Hitler, he tries to be charismatic, but falls flat on his face because he forgets his train of thought. He flirts with racial purity and white nationalism, but wins votes by hypocritical lies about his love for Jews and people of color. If elected, he promises brutal and authoritarian rule, but then backs down.

What do they see in him? Is it really nothing more than that he is out of office and changes are needed?

Sometimes I imagine that it’s not about him at all. Are they so lost in a scary world that they desperately need a strong man who will promise to take care of them? I think that’s the way Trump reads them, because his message is always about what terror there is, why they should be terribly afraid, and how he’s going to save them.

For example, Trump repeatedly shouts about the millions upon millions of illegal immigrants pouring across our southern border, bringing disease and crime with them wherever they settle. But the actual numbers are far lower. In 2023, U.S. Customs and Border Protection recorded 2.4 million encounters at the U.S.-Mexico border – or apprehensions of migrants who entered the U.S. without authorization. It is estimated that around 1.7 million “getaways” have entered the United States undetected from all borders since 2021. A safe estimate is that about two-thirds of the escape attempts came from Mexico, about 1.1 million. But even if every “refugee” came from Mexico, we still don’t get to millions, let alone millions upon millions.

Ah, there I am again, foolishly thinking that facts matter.

Trump’s message is: Be afraid, be afraid of death, and only I can save you. So buy my signed gum. Be afraid of immigration. So buy my signed t-shirts and believe in me. Be afraid of crime, especially in cities run by Democrats. So buy my new red MAGA light bulbs for $50.

Freeze in bed at the socialism that is taking over this country, even if no one remembers what a real political left looks like. So send me the pink slip for your car. Only I can protect you from China, with my signed tariffs that you will happily pay to defend our country. And know that only voter fraud can bring me defeat. So send me the purchase certificate to your home.

And they follow him. Like lemmings. They buy the crap he sells and the crap he spits out.

I can’t imagine this will change anyone’s mind. But it felt good. Somehow.

Richard S. Bogartz is Professor Emeritus of Psychology at the University of Massachusetts Amherst and Amherst Justice of the Peace.