If you are actually looking for a serious answer, I will do my best to offer objective views on some of the many factors contributing to the rise of Trump.
- Bigotry. As JCMore said, there is a lot of bigotry. The old white male demographic is shrinking. That's scary to them and Trump speaks to their fears.
- Marketing. Trump is a master at branding. From his own name to Lyin' Ted, he does an exceptional job of figuring out a message that sticks and hammering it repeatedly. Human brains are very bad at dismissing messages that they hear over and over. This is why those who listen to a single news station and heard the same POV over and over again come to believe that POV is FACT, even if evidence is later offered to the contrary.
- Change. When one party has been in power for 2 cycles, for a variety of reasons, Americans start to feel the grass might be greener on the other side. In any other time you should expect the White House to change party after two terms. This year that change just happens to favor Trump.
- Media. Following on the repetition theme above, the more media exposure a candidate gets, the more people will feel they trust that person. Trump is great for ratings. So the news networks give him enormous amounts of time. There is zero sense in the media of being responsible for informing the public. Media is 100% driven by money and attracting eyeballs. Like him or not, when news shows feature Trump, they draw more eyeballs.
- Prom. Just 16 years ago we elected a man, many of whom voted for him because he seemed like a guy they could have a beer with. While many in this country vote based on the knowledge skills and abilities that would make the best President, many others based on a gut feel about the candidate. There's little doubt that Trump is winning the "have a beer with" contest.
- Clinton. I don't think there has ever been a candidate who stoked so much hate from the other side. So while you have "anyone but Trump" voters, you also have "anyone but Clinton" voters.
- FOX. Related to the Clinton topic and the change topic. A lot of people have spent the last 8 years watching FOX News. For eight years they have heard a story of how the US is in decline and how Obama and Clinton are to blame. And I would say "decline" is putting it mildly. This is a network that has done all it can to stoke hate and fear over the total destruction of "Conservative America."
- Fear. Dark emotions sell. Trump is selling a lot of fear and hate. The human brain, when placed in a state of anxiety, stress, fear stops effectively processing logical, factual information. It moves into fight or flight protective mode. Trump portrays the role of the father figure, the protector. Again there's psychological research that in fear state, humans seek a father/protector figure.
- Party. Americans root for their political parties like we root for our sports teams. As a sports fan I have struggled many times with the question how can I root for these athletes who are (depending on which team I was following at any time) rich spoiled brats, criminals, wife beaters, etc. Most of the time I still found a way to root for my team. We do the same with politics. 80-90% of the votes are determined by whether the voters have a D or an R on their jersey.
- Promises. Trump has promised to fix everything. And not just fix everything, but make it great. Make it the best it's ever been. And he's claimed in various ways that no one else can fix things the way he can. That he's the best fixer. If you believe him, that's a compelling message.
- Policy. I think this is a pretty small subset on both sides of the aisle. But there are those who have looked at the actual policy suggestions he has offered and think these will make their lives better.
For the record I consider myself an Independent. I register either Republican or Democrat depending on the election and which primary I want to influence. As I said at the top, I did my best to keep this objective.
ETA: One significant piece I missed.
- Jobs. There are a significant number of Americans who are feeling economical pain. While our official unemployment rate is low right now, there are many ways the stats on the economy can be manipulated to make it look like either a great economy or a lousy economy. As with so many topics, people will believe what they want to believe. On the left people believe that the economy is burdened by the diminishing value of a minimum wage that hasn't kept up with productivity or inflation and by the Republicans killing infrastructure projects in Congress the last eight years. On the right people believe the economy is burdened by Obamacare and the wealthy being unable to hire more people because the taxes they pay are too high. Add to that issues like international trade agreements that economists with PhDs have difficulty parsing and there is plenty of room for any candidate to sell a message of their economic plan being better for anyone feeling financial pain. It just so happens that the jobs issue favors the Republicans in this cycle because, again, you would expect this to be a change election after 8 years of one party in the White House. (Consider the fact that this issue massively favored the change candidate within the Democratic primary and you start to see the power of this dynamic.)
