One of the things that I have constantly wrestled with during the Trump administration is why his ‘fans’ are so rabid. The bias of Fox News aside, we have all heard various versions of the same news stories, i.e. Trump’s ‘Muslim ban’, calling Mexicans rapists and murders, the childish name calling of people who disagree with him, and the sometimes not-so-subtle racist dog whistles like after the Charlottesville travesty. So, I have to ask myself, if we are all seeing and hearing somewhat similar versions of the same thing, how can some people so rabidly support Trump while I, and many people I know, absolutely detest the man and everything he stands for? I know that some people I know are Trump supporters and I don’t mean to offend anyone with this post, but these days, I feel like I just need to call it like I see it.
Since the flooring contractor is continuing to work his way through my house, I am still somewhat isolated in my office. I have lots of time on my hands so I thought I would look into this a little further. In digging around a little, I came across an article from Psychology Today that seems to shed a little light on this question. Admittedly, many professionals have looked into this very issue and there is not total agreement, although there are some areas of overlap, but I thought this article provided some interesting food for thought. It is based upon a paper in the Journal of Social and Political Psychology, written by UC Santa Cruz Professor, Thomas Pettigrew. [I checked out the journal and it appears to be a ‘real’ peer-reviewed publication] The link to the article is below.
Pettigrew argues that there are five traits that tend to be prevalent in rabid Trump supporters. These are:
- Authoritarian Personality Syndrome
- Social Dominance Orientation
- Prejudice
- Intergroup Contact
- Relative Deprivation
Authoritarian personality syndrome—”a well-studied and globally-prevalent condition—is a state of mind that is characterized by belief in total and complete obedience to one’s authority. Those with the syndrome often display aggression toward outgroup members, submissiveness to authority, resistance to new experiences, and a rigid hierarchical view of society. The syndrome is often triggered by fear, making it easy for leaders who exaggerate threat or fear monger to gain their allegiance.”1 It turns out that this syndrome tends to be more prevalent in right-wing groups.
Social Dominance Orientation – “which is distinct but related to authoritarian personality syndrome—refers to people who have a preference for the societal hierarchy of groups, specifically with a structure in which the high-status groups have dominance over the low-status ones. Those with SDO are typically dominant, tough-minded, and driven by self-interest.”1 Trump plays on this by engaging in rhetoric that speaks to those who believe that white Americans are higher in status than non-white Americans and immigrants.
Prejudice – “It would be grossly unfair and inaccurate to say that every one of Trump’s supporters have prejudice against ethnic and religious minorities, but it would be equally inaccurate to say that many do not. It is a well-known fact that the Republican party, going at least as far back to Richard Nixon’s “southern strategy,” used strategies that appealed to bigotry, such as lacing speeches with “dog whistles”—code words that signaled prejudice toward minorities that were designed to be heard by racists but no one else.”1 Unfortunately, Trump routinely engages in the use of ‘dog whistles’ and sometimes his race-baiting is not even that subtle. Sadly, a new study has shown that support for Trump is correlated with a standard scale of modern racism.1
Intergroup Contact – “Intergroup contact refers to contact with members of groups that are outside one’s own, which has been experimentally shown to reduce prejudice. As such, it’s important to note that there is growing evidence that Trump’s white supporters have experienced significantly less contact with minorities than other Americans. For example, a 2016 study found that “…the racial and ethnic isolation of Whites at the zip-code level is one of the strongest predictors of Trump support.”1 This particular trait really struck a chord with me, having gone to high school and college in Montana which is not exactly known for its diversity. Perhaps had I stayed in Montana I would have fallen into this trap. Fortunately, I left and was able to travel extensively, experience different cultures, live in many different places and even marry into a Hispanic family. What I found was that diversity is something to be cherished, not feared. I like vanilla ice cream but a constant diet of it is just boring!
Relative Deprivation – “Relative deprivation refers to the experience of being deprived of something to which one believes they are entitled. It is the discontent felt when one compares their position in life to others who they feel are equal or inferior but have unfairly had more success than them.
Common explanations for Trump’s popularity among non-bigoted voters involve economics. There is no doubt that some Trump supporters are simply angry that American jobs are being lost to Mexico and China, which is certainly understandable, although these loyalists often ignore the fact that some of these careers are actually being lost due to the accelerating pace of automation”1
On the whole, this all makes a lot of sense to me. To his credit, Trump has learned to push all of these buttons and, as a consequence, he has a rabid base of fans that will support him no matter what. I do find a bit of irony in the fact that so many of Trump’s supporters have been part of the ‘anti-mask’ campaign under the guise that wearing a mask infringes upon their individual rights and freedoms, when one of the traits discussed above is ‘authoritarian personality syndrome’ in which people have total and complete obedience to one in authority. People say they want to be free and yet they are slavishly obedient to Trump. Doesn’t sound like freedom to me. Hmm?
It is no secret that Trump has done little to nothing to try to expand his base during his administration and Trump still has the support of less than half of the American public. However, if Trump ekes out a second term, he will pump steroids into his existing base and they will likely become even more rabid. Yesterday I talked about how Americans are now scared of other Americans more than ever. If there is any truth at all in Pettigrew’s analysis of Trump’s supporters and Trump is reelected, does that scare you? It scares the hell out of me that there are roughly 40% of the people in this country who will follow Trump no matter what he does and no matter what he says. More bigotry. More division. More chaos. More fear. The Divided States of Trump is not what I signed up for.
Trump supporters have puzzled me too. This article tends to shed light on why Trump supporters think they way they do.