Ordinary republican voters appear not to understand the history of the GoP since the 1968 Nixon campaign. This was the first time in history that the newly-developed techniques of market segmentation were applied to vote-garnering. The marketing gurus understood that ordinary people (i) understand nothing, and (ii) believe whatever they're told. Thus they realized that (i) crafting simple-minded messages around emotions was the way to go, and (ii) no one would fact-check any claims. The Republican Party thus claimed to be "for the hard-working little guy, small government, and responsible finances" while simultaneously pandering to the rich & powerful (86% of GoP votes over the last 23 years have been exclusively on measures that enrich the ultra-rich and add to the tax burden of ordinary people), enlarging the Federal government, and racking up endless deficits (the last non-deficit Administration was Clinton's). As a result of ever-finer segmentation and ever-more-emotional messages, the GoP has secured its electoral base: foolish ignorant people. Not surprisingly, Trump appeals to the vast majority of Republicans because he's just like them (stupid, ignorant) only in Technicolor and with the (false) claim of being rich. Trump isn't an aberration: he's the inevitable outcome of a clever but toxic strategy. Much worse is soon to come, as the GoP now is merely a neofascist Party determined to do whatever it takes (gerrymandering, voter suppression, breaking the law) to cling onto power. Sadly, no Republican voters will ever make the slightest effort to seek out hard facts & data; they'll be happy to wave their little flags and believe conspiracy theories because after all the lies they've been told by Republicans over the decades, these conspiracy theories fit right in.