>the people like the guy you described seem to always start out
>with disclaimers like "look I don't agree with what he said"
>or talking about how Trump wasn't their first choice, but they
>always manage to find a way to take his side, which makes them
>just as cultish as the loons that show up to his rallys,
>because in the end, NOTHING is worse to them than some smug
>liberal being able to tell them i told you so.

I've constantly responded to people on social media the last couple years with "for someone who claims he doesn't actually *support* Trump, you spend an awful lot of your time online finding ways to defend him/make excuses for him" or something to that effect. It's weird. If you know he's trash and don't agree with the things he does and says, why do you spend all your time trying to normalize the shit he does or explain it away ? Makes fucking zero sense. Seems to me that you actually, uh, DO support the guy but are just embarrassed about it.

And like you said, those people are actually WORSE because it's obvious that they know better. They're just not secure enough with themselves (and/or lack character altogether) to feel comfortable aligning themselves with a group of people that includes minorities, gay people, Jewish people, etc. They're cowards.