There are a lot of notions about who are Trump's hardcore supporters, and what they see in him. I myself have tended to see his core support as predominantly middle and working class white males who feel the Democrats have abandoned them to head off into the wild, blue yonder of identity politics and intersectionality.
That has seemed a safe bet for me because the people I personally know who voted for Trump have been folks that fit that description, and who voted for him because he was the candidate that most addressed their wallets.
But when I think about it, I'm inclined to that view mainly because I believe the Democrats need to return to their ancient core message of economic prosperity for the middle and working classes. To me, it's the only way they can win, on all levels of government going forward.
However, another idea has occurred to me -- one I should have thought of long ago, because it seems to me it might have some decent odds of being true. That's the notion that Trump's hardest of his hardcore supporters are what psychologists call, "authoritarian followers".
Following World War II, a group of psychologists naturally began studying the psychology of dictators such as Mussolini, Franco, Hitler, Mao, and Stalin. But after a bit of that had been done, a second group of psychologists thought the more interesting subject would be to study the people who followed the dictators.
They rejected the notion of some experiments of the time (which have since been called into serious question) that those people were like everyone else. Instead, they decided to seriously consider the possibility that they formed a distinct psychological group unto themselves.
One of the earliest psychologists to go to work on the subject was Robert Altemeyer. Altemeyer, along with others, found some disturbing characteristics that people who enthusiastically follow dictators seem to have in common. Altemeyer also wrote a short, easy to read, ebook on the subject that's he's made available for free online.
Chapter Three of his book deals with "How Authoritarian Followers Think":
Altemeyer is not offering his mere opinions here. Everything he says is based on decades of research. He goes on:
Altemeyer backs up his statements with footnote after footnote citing and explaining the science in support of his points.
I would urge anyone interested in the mystery of who Trump's hardcore supporters are, where they come from (what shapes them), how they think, and what they want, to read his short ebook. It can be found here:
The Authoritarians.
One note: He wrote the book back when Bush was in office, so the examples are not current, but the science still stands, so far as I know.
If you do read the book, then does it make sense to you that authoritarian followers might be Trump's hardcore supporters? That's a serious question to me because I honestly don't know of any science that supports the notion Trump's hardcore followers are overwhelming authoritarian followers -- but nor do I know of any science that disconfirms the notion.
Comments? Questions? Sly and wicked distortions of what I said? Deeply meaningful tales of love for one's dental braces?
That has seemed a safe bet for me because the people I personally know who voted for Trump have been folks that fit that description, and who voted for him because he was the candidate that most addressed their wallets.
But when I think about it, I'm inclined to that view mainly because I believe the Democrats need to return to their ancient core message of economic prosperity for the middle and working classes. To me, it's the only way they can win, on all levels of government going forward.
However, another idea has occurred to me -- one I should have thought of long ago, because it seems to me it might have some decent odds of being true. That's the notion that Trump's hardest of his hardcore supporters are what psychologists call, "authoritarian followers".
Following World War II, a group of psychologists naturally began studying the psychology of dictators such as Mussolini, Franco, Hitler, Mao, and Stalin. But after a bit of that had been done, a second group of psychologists thought the more interesting subject would be to study the people who followed the dictators.
They rejected the notion of some experiments of the time (which have since been called into serious question) that those people were like everyone else. Instead, they decided to seriously consider the possibility that they formed a distinct psychological group unto themselves.
One of the earliest psychologists to go to work on the subject was Robert Altemeyer. Altemeyer, along with others, found some disturbing characteristics that people who enthusiastically follow dictators seem to have in common. Altemeyer also wrote a short, easy to read, ebook on the subject that's he's made available for free online.
Chapter Three of his book deals with "How Authoritarian Followers Think":
The key to the puzzle [of how authoritarian followers think] springs from Chapter 2's observation that, first and foremost, followers have mainly copied the beliefs of the authorities in their lives. They have not developed and thought through their ideas as much as most people have. Thus almost anything can be found in their heads if their authorities put it there, even stuff that contradicts other stuff. A filing cabinet or a computer can store quite inconsistent notions and never lose a minute of sleep over their contradiction. Similarly [an authoritarian follower] can have all sorts of illogical, self-contradictory, and widely refuted ideas rattling around in various boxes in his brain, and never notice it.
Altemeyer is not offering his mere opinions here. Everything he says is based on decades of research. He goes on:
So can everybody, of course, and my wife loves to catch inconsistencies in my reasoning when we’re having a friendly discussion about one of my personal failures. But research reveals that authoritarian followers drive through life under the influence of impaired thinking a lot more than most people do, exhibiting sloppy reasoning, highly compartmentalized beliefs, double standards, hypocrisy, self-blindness, a profound ethnocentrism, and--to top it all off--a ferocious dogmatism that makes it unlikely anyone could ever change their minds with evidence or logic. These seven deadly shortfalls of authoritarian thinking eminently qualify them to follow a would-be dictator.
Altemeyer backs up his statements with footnote after footnote citing and explaining the science in support of his points.
I would urge anyone interested in the mystery of who Trump's hardcore supporters are, where they come from (what shapes them), how they think, and what they want, to read his short ebook. It can be found here:
The Authoritarians.
One note: He wrote the book back when Bush was in office, so the examples are not current, but the science still stands, so far as I know.
If you do read the book, then does it make sense to you that authoritarian followers might be Trump's hardcore supporters? That's a serious question to me because I honestly don't know of any science that supports the notion Trump's hardcore followers are overwhelming authoritarian followers -- but nor do I know of any science that disconfirms the notion.
Comments? Questions? Sly and wicked distortions of what I said? Deeply meaningful tales of love for one's dental braces?
