Quote Originally Posted by PSRB View Post
Quite, it's also a clearly deliberate ploy just to annoy his detractors. He's clearly pretty confident that his core support will see him through
I don't think he actually has any really significant core support, at least, certainly not in the pejorative way his critics imply. In fact, the opposite is more likely true; he enjoys fairly broad appeal.

In politics, "base" is a term used to suggest your opponent's support is fully made up of lunatic extremist true believers and is utterly devoid of any wider, mainstream appeal.