Trump struck a nerve with a lot of people who don't like to admit that in public. That includes many normal people who aren't redneck losers in the Kazanski mold. The fact that he monopolized them and they are his loudest and proudest supporters doesn't mean that's how he won - he won by flipping some middle class suburbs in places like Ohio, PA, MI, WI, and FL that voted for Obama before. Mostly due to the factors I outlined above, which aren't entirely malevolent although they sure as shit aren't positive.

Call it dark, cynical, fatalistic, ugly, whatever but his rhetoric on these topics certainly was not positive or uplifting. He did a great job of identifying what those areas were and demogoguing on them. He even struck a nerve with you on a few of them, apparently, although not enough of one to get you to vote for him. For a lot of others striking that nerve plus disdain for Hillary or cynicism about government, etc. was enough to tip the balance and vote for this horrible candidate we now have to call president (at least until he's impeached).

One last thing but I'm sorry -- but if you're really going to argue that dislike for Hillary Clinton wasn't a major factor in people voting for Trump it is going to be hard to take the rest seriously. Put Biden, Obama, or even Bill Clinton against Trump and it isn't even a contest. People HATE Hillary and the exit poll shows a large swath of voters who liked neither but considered Trump the lesser of two evils. That is consistent with people I know too.

You and I felt the same way, tbh, but we both considered Hillary the lesser of two evils. That was the kind of election it was, and a YOOGE part of why we have Trump now.