I agree that Republican voters don't always value what they claim to value. Many of these voters claim to believe in traditional Christian sexual morality, but I don't think they really object when a man they admire has sex outside of marriage, as long as it's heterosexual and there are no obvious consequences. I think Christians who preach sexual purity have no problem with Trump's sex life.
In some cases, I think their values come with obvious exceptions. For decades, Republicans have claimed to value the military and U.S. troops -- but it didn't surprise me when Trump got away with attacking John McCain in 2015. McCain was widely reviled on the right for supporting immigration reform. At Free Republic, where I lurked regularly at the time, he was frequently referred to as "Juan McCain." So the GOP rank-and-file respected the troops -- but not him.
Nevertheless, I think these voters are sincere about many of their beliefs. I think they're still pro-military. I think they sincerely oppose abortion. And I think they're extremely anti-vaccine.
Yet Trump brags about how quickly COVID vaccines were developed on his watch. He's been backing away from support for strict abortion bans. And he routinely denigrates the troops.
Yet his voters love him anyway. Why? Because even if they hate abortion or COVID vaccines or disrespect for the troops, they hate us more.
They love Trump even when he violates their principles because no one seems to hate liberals, Democrats, the media, LGBTQ people, Blacks, Hispanics, and feminists as much as he does. No one seems to enjoy hating all those groups as much as he does. So his transgressions are forgiven.
Republican voters aren't lying about their values -- they simply value their hatred of their enemies more than anything else. And there's no one in politics right now who shares that value more clearly than Donald Trump.
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