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Because an obviously incompetent hustler feels like the lesser of two evils compared to a well qualified snake who's secretly stabbing you in the back.

Not saying it's rational, or correct, or wise. Just saying that I'm pretty sure that's how people feel.

For many people, voting for an insider felt like voting for the status quo. Hillary was definitely an insider, and was from the same party as the sitting president. If your current conditions are terrible, why vote for more of the same?

Note well: I agree that electing Trump won't actually help these people whatsoever. But honestly, I'm not sure that electing Hillary would have helped them very much either...

economic self-interest is not even close to the top priority of people when making their voting decisions.