Trump has tapped into very real working class anger in the US. They see (Quite rightly) a liberal media that scorns them for who they are, whilst minimizing or outright dismissing their grievances, which when you cut through the misplaced anger, boils down to 30+ years of economic stagnation and a decline in prospects and living standards.

Trump of course gives no shits about the working class and has probably never spared them a single thought in his entire life, but he has a team of crypto-fascists around him that are expert in manipulating that anger into something far darker. Trump himself is not a fascist, he is incapable of loving anything outside of himself, but he can be manipulated into being its mouthpiece.

Remember Germany was the height of sophistication before World War 1. It only took a decade or so of harsh economic conditions to go from that to worshipping at the altar of Fascism. The slide of the US is nowhere near as severe but it's steady and happening over a much longer period. Trump is a symptom of a deeper problem in the United States, and I fear that the liberal left in the US will continue to ignore/scorn this issue to their peril. It may not be this Trump that sinks the US, but it's the next one we need all worry about. He has laid down a blueprint for other more savvy fascists to now follow.

Look at how Obama laughs off the crazy shit coming out from far right groups. This stuff is seeping into a lot of people who are legitimately angry, twisting into something much, much worse. That's the sign of a man who has a blind spot in his vision. Like a lot of the liberal left does. Obama talks a lot about helping the middle class, but lets face it, the working class is just as big, with a declining middle class, it doesn't make for a rosy future. Will Hillary have those same blinders? Probably, which is why the fight for progressive politics cannot end with her election, she may steady the ship, but she won't change it from its current long range course heading toward the rocks.

The republican voters see Trump as an extension of themselves, and he's expert at injecting himself into them, making them feel like he's one of them, as outraged as they are. His winning or losing is so important to them because they see themselves in him, in some weird warped and manipulated way.

You may mock them, but remember, there are many of them, and their numbers will grow if the US continues to ignore the bottom half of its population.