Putting all the religious stuff aside ...
I just don't see where the appeal is from the Republican electorate on Carson or Trump.
I mean .... are the voters nuts !! Why all the support for these wacky nut-jobs ?!?!
Yes they're different, but I mean they are really, really "different" !
It just scares me, thinking of where the Republican party is heading.
There seems to be too many desperate, un-educated individuals, and their support for these crazies is just mind-boggling.
The more stupid things the candidates say, the more wood people seem to display (in this party).
Ugggggggggggg !!
I think its a positive-feedback loop that's gotten out of control. For decades, the Republican faithful have been hearing that the the Democrats are all anti-American traitors out to destroy civilization and ruin the children, and similar nonsense. As the GOP has become more focused with their propaganda, the way Americans consume information has also become more stratified, so there is less and less moderating discussion to bring internal models of the way the world works (or should work) towards some sort of acceptable medium. And the sources of that information are driven further and further down the path of their own narrative in order to keep getting attention (and revenue). This isn't helped by the fact that said sources either appear to be true believers with minor mental disorders or unprincipled and greedy SOBs (sometimes both).
By now, we've reached the point where the positive feedback loop is almost self-sustaining: the ideas that circulate as acceptable and normal in the social-conservative, religious and Tea-Party parts of the GOP are so alien and offensive to people on what used to be the moderate left of the political spectrum that they react as though the Republicans are insane and evil, which just reinforces the Republicans' narrative about Democrats.
It's become so bad that a classic Republican politician who is slightly out of date (Jeb), or who is truly somewhat right of center, but wants to actually do his job (Kasich) seems like a RINO on the verge of selling out the party. But the Republican base isn't completely stupid, just deluded and/or ignorant. They know that the politicians in DC aren't on 'their' side (which, to be fair, they're not) and so the voters go with the non-politicians who echo what they hear on the radio, read on right-wingish forums, or watch on Fox NEWS. Their decisions appear irrational because they're coming from an information sphere that is founded on irrationality, but good luck convincing them of that.
There is a similar process going on on the left side of the isle, too, but I don't think its as out of control (for a whole host of reasons I won't get into here).
