Damn. This article is EXACTLY what I've been thinking but couldn't find the words for. The abused people I know frequently defended the righteousness of their abusers, just like these Trump supporters are doing now.

What I've learned is that for many people in abusive relationships, NOTHING is good enough reason to leave their abuser (including knowing they've been abused and are likely to be abused again). There's a sort of cozy familiarity in abusive relationships that makes the outside world seem so cold. (I think it's actually that warmth is so hard to find from abusers that you take what you can get and even the tiniest pebble of decency feels like a tremendous gift). ...Trump smiles at them and flatters them for this reason.

Of the victims I've known who did break away, it was usually someone who could normally respond to critical thinking who was temporarily swept up in (in this case, anti-Hillary) passion. But once the novelty wore off, they fled.

I'm not making a jab at the intellectual abilities of Trump supporters, I'm just saying that there are some who will probably flee simply because the passage of time erodes the novelty of Trump's profane theatrics. (And bonus: they'll avoid this type of personality in the future.)

TL/DR; some Trump supporters will forever exist in the comfy, familiar warmth of their abusive authoritarian father. Others will tire of their one-trick pony and ditch the brand forever.

...we don't need that many to change their minds to have numbers on the side of sanity in 2018. Give them a little more time.