It's charisma to people who were abused by their own parents, are stuck in pre-adolescent rebellion stage, always wanted to stick it to them, and now they feel like they are. All that yelling and investigation and name-calling--middle-school assholes.
Wow, thanks for this link! I almost didn’t see it. I didn’t realize how desperate I was for answers/explanations about Trump’s followers - even though, thankfully, I don’t have any in my immediate circle.
Removing exposure seems to be the only answer to breaking the dysfunctional link between the mentally ill leader and his followers; hopefully soon? With Trump campaigning it feels like a very fragile hope. Maybe we are too deferential to our political process; what was intended to protect us seems more likely to harm us.
Yes, how indeed? I don’t think prison would do it. Not even death, probably. It feels like we are sliding towards a martyr cult. Maybe some unrelated national catastrophe will change the subject. How unfortunate. But Biden is working diligently on mitigating inequality, by ginning up manufacturing jobs for people without a college degree, which she identifies as a cause in his supporters being so fragile. I just downloaded her book on Kindle.
Yes, Biden IS working on addressing the economic causes as in the bipartisan Infrastructure bill he signed. I hope those jobs start coming through and soon and Dems make the most of it in their messaging.
However, the social cause is the change in our culture - the acceptance of sexual deviants, as their Bible paints them, whites becoming a minority, and women outpacing men in achievement. Why does that make them anxious? My theory - they know how minorities and women in the US have been treated.
It would take a herculean effort on the part of the center right and center left Dems to convince them they Blacks and recent immigrants are Americans because they believe in the Constitution. That's what makes us Americans, not our color.
Another theory: Allowing non-whites into the US economy makes their chances for success less. Especially legal immigrants. It is well known that legal immigrants are job makers in the economy. And the less educated whites are not.
Thanks for that video link; I got a message to try again later, so hopefully it’s just temporarily unavailable.
Yeah, the problem with making big changes, like ramping up manufacturing, is that there’s a significant time lag, and Americans are very impatient. That’s a big problem from so many perspectives - we’d never get the interstate highway system built today.
The trajectory for whites to become a minority is a huge factor. I remember when I first heard that projection over 20 years ago, I felt unmoored, and I’m in a family with a lot of intermarriage. Now I think it can’t happen soon enough!
Immigrants are tough competition, partly because they hustle! About 15 years ago I had a prefabricated shed added to my property and one of the workers lamented that too many “locals” (whites) couldn’t pass drug tests which is required by insurance because they come on your property. And I’m amazed at their entrepreneurship; I’m too scared to start a business, and imagine doing it in a strange country!
Women outpacing men is huge. It’s alarming to see the misogyny, especially online, that feels almost mainstream now.
All those disruptions to white male dominance were analyzed in the book “Deaths of Despair”. It was so interesting, I was highlighting almost every word!
Ah yes, the listening tour. I did my own small scale version by getting to know a couple who were Trump supporters, who temporarily hosted in our local park. One takeaway was that they didn’t really believe all the baloney they regurgitated; one mildly delivered rebuttal by me and they instantly dropped it. They were poorly educated and debate wasn’t in their skill set - just repetition. It ended badly, but that was due to lurking mental illness in one of them from a very rough childhood. And they did have a lot of honorable traits; very dedicated to family and community. But overall it soured me on trying to understand MAGAs.
It's charisma to people who were abused by their own parents, are stuck in pre-adolescent rebellion stage, always wanted to stick it to them, and now they feel like they are. All that yelling and investigation and name-calling--middle-school assholes.
Well said! Take a look at "The ‘Shared Psychosis’ of Donald Trump and His Loyalists" (https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/the-shared-psychosis-of-donald-trump-and-his-loyalists/) by forensic psychiatrist Bandy X. Lee. She says exactly that.
Wow, thanks for this link! I almost didn’t see it. I didn’t realize how desperate I was for answers/explanations about Trump’s followers - even though, thankfully, I don’t have any in my immediate circle.
Removing exposure seems to be the only answer to breaking the dysfunctional link between the mentally ill leader and his followers; hopefully soon? With Trump campaigning it feels like a very fragile hope. Maybe we are too deferential to our political process; what was intended to protect us seems more likely to harm us.
You are welcome. I came across it a few months ago. Explains a lot!
How is removing exposure to be done?
Yes, how indeed? I don’t think prison would do it. Not even death, probably. It feels like we are sliding towards a martyr cult. Maybe some unrelated national catastrophe will change the subject. How unfortunate. But Biden is working diligently on mitigating inequality, by ginning up manufacturing jobs for people without a college degree, which she identifies as a cause in his supporters being so fragile. I just downloaded her book on Kindle.
Yes, Biden IS working on addressing the economic causes as in the bipartisan Infrastructure bill he signed. I hope those jobs start coming through and soon and Dems make the most of it in their messaging.
However, the social cause is the change in our culture - the acceptance of sexual deviants, as their Bible paints them, whites becoming a minority, and women outpacing men in achievement. Why does that make them anxious? My theory - they know how minorities and women in the US have been treated.
It would take a herculean effort on the part of the center right and center left Dems to convince them they Blacks and recent immigrants are Americans because they believe in the Constitution. That's what makes us Americans, not our color.
Another theory: Allowing non-whites into the US economy makes their chances for success less. Especially legal immigrants. It is well known that legal immigrants are job makers in the economy. And the less educated whites are not.
When Trump was first elected, I had the idea that American liberals and progressives needed to go on a listening tour. Van Jones tried. See https://www.cnn.com/videos/tv/2016/12/06/exp-van-jones-special-cnntv.cnn. It didn't make a dent. It needs to be a wide-spread effort.
Thanks for that video link; I got a message to try again later, so hopefully it’s just temporarily unavailable.
Yeah, the problem with making big changes, like ramping up manufacturing, is that there’s a significant time lag, and Americans are very impatient. That’s a big problem from so many perspectives - we’d never get the interstate highway system built today.
The trajectory for whites to become a minority is a huge factor. I remember when I first heard that projection over 20 years ago, I felt unmoored, and I’m in a family with a lot of intermarriage. Now I think it can’t happen soon enough!
Immigrants are tough competition, partly because they hustle! About 15 years ago I had a prefabricated shed added to my property and one of the workers lamented that too many “locals” (whites) couldn’t pass drug tests which is required by insurance because they come on your property. And I’m amazed at their entrepreneurship; I’m too scared to start a business, and imagine doing it in a strange country!
Women outpacing men is huge. It’s alarming to see the misogyny, especially online, that feels almost mainstream now.
All those disruptions to white male dominance were analyzed in the book “Deaths of Despair”. It was so interesting, I was highlighting almost every word!
Ah yes, the listening tour. I did my own small scale version by getting to know a couple who were Trump supporters, who temporarily hosted in our local park. One takeaway was that they didn’t really believe all the baloney they regurgitated; one mildly delivered rebuttal by me and they instantly dropped it. They were poorly educated and debate wasn’t in their skill set - just repetition. It ended badly, but that was due to lurking mental illness in one of them from a very rough childhood. And they did have a lot of honorable traits; very dedicated to family and community. But overall it soured me on trying to understand MAGAs.
Well, it’s going to be an interesting summer!