I don't know what motivated the Italians to follow Mussolini, but I think the Trump followers are emotionally disenfranchised. They may also be financially disenfranchised, but I don't think that's the real underlying impetus. I think that right-wing radio and news and social media have whipped up a kind of false insecurity that plays particularly upon men who already feel one-down by lack of education or poor upbringing. It also plays upon women, but more upon the men. I see this as a crisis of individual confidence preyed upon by the far right. As LBJ said, convince the lowest white male he is better than the best black man and he won't notice you're picking his pockets (paraphrasing). I believe the white male who is not involved in Wall Street, the tech industry or other grand, high-earning occupations, is existentially angry and doesn't know why. So, he blames it on anything put into his mind by outside forces. I believe, unless the left can get in and re-educate the populace, these people are lost to us. I believe they will resort to violence first, listening last. I see no hope except efforts like Marshall Rosenburg's Non-Violent Communication on a large scale, or a vast change in demographics rendering this group small enough to be inconsequential. I'm not hopeful.

Tsultrim - I think your analysis is deeply insightful. Having grown up around these people - working whites at the top of the lower class or just barely into the middle class - I can add this more colloquial take. These are people who made do with their position in society, always with the knowledge that they were not part of the professional or upper class, and many of them did quite well. Many are skilled tradesmen, many used to have good union jobs, some own small business, and many participate in the cash only underground economy in addition to their hourly jobs.

One thing most of them believe is that, in the framework of their world, they can do what they want. Out here in the sticks, doing what they want means shooting their guns for hours at at time, open burning their trash, driving gigantic tricked out pickup trucks and generally treating the environment like crap. They chafe at any restrictions imposed on them. My neighbor down the road was towing junk cars to his place, dismantling them and selling them for parts. Some of us had to go to the county government and get him to stop because he did not have and could not get a permit for this. His attitude was 'how can they tell me what to do on my property?' Now they are seeing through the fog something that scares them to the bone - that the neoliberal economy basically views them as no different than the uneducated nonwhite people at the bottom of the heap. The one thing that comforted them was the knowledge that there were people who by dint of their ethnicity were lower on the economic rung. Now they see themselves slipping into the abyss.

It does no good to call these people racist because that is not the whole story. Yes some are openly racist but most are resentful and this resentment was exploited by Mr. Trump, who has goaded them into an ongoing temper tantrum. Many of them could have been reached by a true populist like Bernie Sanders, but that ship has sailed. If they could have been reached they could have been reasoned with. They are not all bad people. They saw a choice between a candidate who will shake things up and a candidate who they viewed as part of the elite that doesn't give a damn about them.

Drain the swamp! We can argue about who's a fascist later.

Recently on the Rachel Maddow show on MSNBC Rachel pointed out that Russian diplomats claimed that they were in touch with Trump and his organization all through the election campaign. Seems to be a major security risk if it's true? Does anyone know if the FBI is investigating Trump on this issue?

So much for the Giuliani and Comey scandal...not a word anymore. ISIS, Russia, and the wiki jerk all thank them.

How can anybody possibly predict what Trump will do when he lied 91% of the time. I think that he will be molded by Ryan and McConnell, but that is a guess.

You say "And, when that happens, what are they going to do about it?" I say, they will do nothing. Just like they did in this election cycle forgetting that the Republicans obstructed anything and everything Obama could possibly do to help them. For eight years they obstructed. And what did the Republican base do? They voted the Republicans back in. These are people who vote against their own best interests as far as I can tell.

The last Progressive Radio in Wisconsin is no more: 92.1 The Mic is now 92.1 The Best. I started listening to Thom Hartmann, Ed Schultz, Stephanie Miller, Randy Rhodes and Bill Press 15years ago when, I believe, it was still Air America. I was driving to work at 4:00am in the morning when I found Thom Hartmann. I listened to Bernie Sanders every Friday. This was where I, at the age of 48, first started learning about politics and what Progressive politics meant. I was raised a Goldwater Republican and was ignorant of politics for most of my adult life. If The Mic, in the heartland of Progressive Wisconsin, can be bought out, then everyone better realize how, now, even mainstream radio is dead. I thought that our main problem as Progressives was to learn how to communicate with the likes of rural Wisconsin. The take over of our country is almost complete except for within our hearts. I must believe that there is a spirit alive within us transcending the physical boundaries of our lives, connecting us to each other and that the good within all of us will somehow prevail.

All of Trump's appeal will look rather thin in short order. He is already surrounding himself with some of the lowest forms of life on the planet. Looks like your 'great economy' will be built with telecom monopolies, eternal petro-chemical dominance, and the ultimate and expedited destruction of all aspects of the environment you, I, and our children need to live in. Add an exponential growth of our 'for profit' prison systems, the inevitable back alley abortions that will follow reversal of Roe vs. Wade, and the continued seperation of those able to afford a college education and those who can not (regardless of their intellectual potential) and you have what those of us who can 'think' and 'chew' at the same time knew from the beginning. Trump represents the straw that breaks this planet's back. Good luck finding (and keeping) a decent paying job Kend.

#Dianereynolds: I'm having trouble with your conclusion that people would be upset if Trump were wildly successful. Why would that be? The only reason for upset would be if Trump's wildly successfulness pivots around an agenda guaranteed to do irreparable damage to the environment or take us deeper and deeper into the New World Order. You have to be out of your mind to want either and all that it stands for; pure insanity on the part of short-sighted, conscienciousless zombies.

How can the Democrats get their message out when media outlets ignore them? TV commercials all year not just during election season. Each representative should create a weekly 60 second commercial that will play during the week on local TV during prime-time. Call it Washington Catch-up. They should use this 60 seconds to let their constituents know what they accomplished and what the Republicans attempted to take away from the 99% or give to the 1%. Make it positive and personal to their constituents. They should also have monthly, well publicized town halls with all their constituents. Getting the word to the voters should not just occur during elections.