A takeover of the Republican Party? A get-in-via-the-Republican-Party and then

[janx]

essentially make it into a new party? Because something's going on, and I'm not into conspiracy theories. What is Trump doing?

And how many congressional Republicans know what he's doing? Does McCain know? How many "establishment" Republicans has he humiliated, harmed, or kicked out of his administration/circle? His hardcore base seems to like this idea, from what I've read of their cult like comments on message boards.

Can anybody help me out here? Thanks in advance.

[Dustlawyer]

1. They are sick of the Establishment sending money to rich people and not

ever doing anything for them. They are tired of them not keeping promises to punish "moochers" or stop Obama when he was in office. They know their Party sold them out and believed Trump would really drain the swamp and bring back their old higher paying jobs.

[janx]

2. Right, and thanks, but those were the people who voted for him.

They seem to think that the rich "businessman" can telepathically produce change and make them rich. But what is Trump's end game (aside from Russia)?

Most Republicans, especially legislators, have to be wondering about this by now. The ouster of Priebus should have woken them up, if nothing else.

[marylandblue]

3. He wants to be an authoritarian populist dictator

That's his end game, such as it is. But he hasn't really thought it out, the way his idol, Putin has. He got his followers thinking he is a great leader. That's step one, and he did that in the campaign. But he didn't do the rest. Putin rewarded his allies and punished his enemies. Putin put together a competent and loyal team. Putin is loyal to those that support him. But Trump does none of these things.

So the question is: Do you need to be competent to become a dictator, or do you just need an adoring base of supporters? We don't know for sure yet, but it starting to look like a wannabe dictator actually has to be competent.

[janx]

4. Thank you. It looked that way to me, too, but as I said,

I'm allergic to conspiracy theories and want to get other people's opinions. Like most of us, I've never encountered anything like this before.

The wannabe dictator has to be competent, yes, but Trump has another problem: the people in the party he pretends to belong to. There's no way that some of them haven't figured it out.

[Egnever]

5. Dont be too moved by what you see on message boards

The Russians have not stopped the bot war on our democracy. Thousands of paid russians posting on message boards pretending to be Americans supporting trump.

http://www.businessinsider.com/russia-internet-trolls-and-donald-trump-2016-7

It looks like Russia hired internet trolls to pose as pro-Trump Americans

[janx]

6. Thank you for the reminder. Yes, I am aware of it.

But I don't always remember it. In any case, these were the usual (one ancient) message boards.