Because they are bullies at heart and the look at the current and past administrations and think they don't bully people enough so when someone offers to be a bully, and represent their interests in a violent manner, they get a hard-on.
I was raised to believe that we're all decent people at heart but to be honest the last 10 years have changed my mind about that. I think some people are just bad eggs now. I'm not proposing to do anything about it but it's just depressing to realize that some people suck beyond the reach of society.
Great comment, and I share a lot of that sentiment. What always confounded me was what portion of these people are textbook evil (eg, psychopathic, greedy/selfish, etc.) versus gullible and ignorant. That is, what percent if we had enough time and educated them enough could we reach? I say this as someone who grew up in a rural Appalachia republican household. My family voted for Bush. My parents marched in pro-life rallies. But fortunately thanks to a couple different factors, my entire family pivoted 180 to become progressive Dems. So they're out there...
Regardless I don't believe it's worth the time to try changing them. I think efforts are better utilized in appealing to the newcomers of politics and fence sitters who haven't been fully sucker into the right-wing echochamber.
We seem to share some similar vectors here, beyond the point of coincidence IMHO. Upstare NY raised. I still remember mom taking the 3 of us out to picket. Ill never ever ever forget how it felt holding the picket signs of fetus remains, while standing outside abortion clinics heckling young women as they scurried past sobbing. I'm still trying to forgive myself for it, even though I was too young to have any say in the matter.
Sadly, most if my family is still grazing the fatty grasses of self indulgent politics. A lifetime of obvious hypocrisy was enough to sour my tastebuds on the matters at hand.
I don't see it as a equation about "is the effort worth it", it's really more that I don't feel I have a right to tell others how to feel or act or exist. It's half the issue I have with their stance; they feel they do have that right.