Cognitive Dissonance

After listening to Morning Joe for a few minutes this morning I came away with the feeling our *president is on a long slow slide into dementia and we better get him out of office asap.  Then I read Paul Krugman's column decrying the use of the word "populist" to describe the orange desperado.  Krugman believes tRump is consciously implementing policies and appointing officials who are deliberately hurting his base, working class voters.  These voters, Krugman opines are the racist scum on the bottom of America's shoe and they support Cheeto Jesus because he gives them permission to fly their racist freak flag.  However, as polling data has shown, much of the GOP support tRump has enjoyed comes from a relatively well off slice of the party and among the elderly.  So, what is it;  do we have a demented commander in chief who is leading us willy nilly to annihilation or a crafty demagogue who is playing the racist Pied Piper to millions of otherwise rational 'Murcans.  I'm not sure which explanation is the correct one, but neither is in the best interest of our country.  The elections are 3 months away at this point and the sentient portion of the country needs to make its voice heard, before it is too late.