The sad thing is that most of them aren't (as cruel, vindictive, hateful and evil as he is, that is). Most of the people I know who voted Republican and live in the Right Wing infobubble (just as many of us live in the Left Wing infobubble) would, if confronted by an actual real person of the sort that Republican politicians rail against, who needed help would attempt to help them. By and large though, they live in parts of the country where they never (or very rarely) encounter a black person, much less a latino. All they have to inform them is the fears about the menace of the other fed to them by people whose job it is to lie to them, but whom they trust because they are saying things that they believe in their gut to be true.
The real problem is that they have been told over and over again that the Democrats are going to come and take their guns away and make their daughters have abortions and that they are responsible for everything bad that happens in the economy that affects "Real Americans". When you try to point out that while Republican economic policy over the last generation (possibly two) has been good for the bottom line of big corporations and the ultra-wealthy, it has been not great (arguably bad) for the country as whole, and disastrous for the sort of small town folks who vote them into office.
And when you try to tell them that, they pull out the same old stories that they have been told over and over again, and believe that you must be lying to them, because that not what the people they trust tell them.
The real problem is that they have been told over and over again that the Democrats are going to come and take their guns away and make their daughters have abortions and that they are responsible for everything bad that happens in the economy that affects "Real Americans". When you try to point out that while Republican economic policy over the last generation (possibly two) has been good for the bottom line of big corporations and the ultra-wealthy, it has been not great (arguably bad) for the country as whole, and disastrous for the sort of small town folks who vote them into office.
And when you try to tell them that, they pull out the same old stories that they have been told over and over again, and believe that you must be lying to them, because that not what the people they trust tell them.