Besides, the middle ground is what got us here.
I intented a middle ground between me and Blind_Io
Everybody assumed the Republicans would see through his mountain of B.S. What happened is it got pointed out and they all chanted "Fake News" in unison.
The same that happened with Berlusconi, the same that is happening in Italy, in Britain, in France. Actually, BSters have now discovered they can go as boldly and shamelessly as they want, because nothing is "too much" anymore.
Extreme freedom of expression together with extreme individualism, extreme relativism, extreme isolation and uselessly big amounts of messages and information means everybody builds up their own reality, and detachment from reality is not only not punished or frowned upon, but even encouraged. Clearly, for liars, conmen, manipulators, this is like candyland.
It will end up in the loss of these freedoms.
The Republican defending every single thing that Trump does is not acting rationally. They "want to believe", and as long as they are in this state, they expect "the bad guys" to criticize and get angry. They expect each of those criticism to be "fake news" because Trump cannot be wrong (by default) and they are sure that the more the critics will be angry and detailed and numerous, the more it will mean that Trump is acting well, so this will reinforce the idea of being right.
There is no -rational- way out.
Two things will change their mind: 1) When Trump's actions will bite their a** and they will suddenly and personally discover that he actually doesn't listen, doesn't care, doesn't keep his word. 2)If the reaction to Trump words is different (much, much different) than what they expected.
It's the same that happens on the road: if the other guy expects anger (thus fear or frustration) in return for his actions, an answer showing a dominant calm and openness will startle them (even if the answer is a well-played ironic or jokingly stupid one), because their brain will start seeking for the hidden elements that are giving the edge to the other person).