By Hal Brown, MSW
Retired after a 40 year career as a psychotherapist and a mental health center director, who was a reserve police officer for 20 years, and also a cranberry farmer in Massachusetts.
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I was just thinking about the latest poll (above on Morning Joe) which shows Biden five points ahead of Trump in a national election and wondering who those who would vote for the latter are and why they'd do this. I've broken them down into categories.
There are, of course, many dyed in the wool Trump supporters, but they seem to fall into several groups.
I'll try to break them down into general categories here.
One are the actual Trump worshippers who are often considered members of his cult.
They swallow hook, line, and sinker all of the propaganda that he is some kind of savior whether religious or secular, or a combinaiton of both. They look at the images on the digital trading cards and think that this somehow his the "real" him as if the evidence of their own eyes decieves them. It's as if they are watching a Superman TV show or movie and see Clark Kent and know that under his suit is a iron-muscled super hero (who as in the photo of ⅓ scale statues you can own for $4,379, below, is actaully a few inches taller than the Daily Planet reporter).
You have to add to this that some of these Trump supporting zealots, whether or not they have a mental disorder, is that they have IQ's below the national average.
Everyone, whether they were on the honor roll or D students is suspectible to propaganda, especially when the message supports what they want to believe. If you're reading this you probably know what confirmation bias is and understand it's power:
Confirmation bias is the tendency to search for, interpret, favor, and recall information in a way that confirms or supports one's prior beliefs or values. People display this bias when they select information that supports their views, ignoring contrary information, or when they interpret ambiguous evidence as supporting their existing attitudes. The effect is strongest for desired outcomes, for emotionally charged issues, and for deeply entrenched beliefs. Confirmation bias cannot be eliminated, but it can be managed, for example, by education and training in critical thinking skills. Read more here.
There are also a what I lament may represent a large percetange of the population who are just plain gullible. Some may believe in outlandish QAnon claims, others may think that most of the X-Files TV shows were based on facts, and no doubt since they still advertise, numerous people believe that Prevagin really inproves memory. I wrote in some depth about those I'll call the "Prevagen People" here:
This group may include members of the first, but among them are people with no impairments in mental health, intelligence, or ability to engage in critical thinking. They are those with deeply held racist, and/or bigotted, and/or fascist beliefs. The "and/or's" are improtant since there are those who are mostly or exclusively racists, which would include anti-Semites and members of the LGBTQ+ community, and those who are fascists who believe the country should be an autocricy run by a dictator who shares their beleiefs.
These people don't need demographic predictions to know that the country is becoming less White. All they need to do is look around them. From watching pop culture to walking down Main Street they will see that Americans who have assumed jobs and had roles usually held mostly by Whites now come in all shades of skin color.
They look at a version of the Pride flag we celebrate through a decidely dark lens:
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| The flag on top includes black and brown stripes to represent marginalized LGBTQ+ communities of color, along with the colors pink, light blue and white, which are used on the Transgender Pride Flag. |
Again, none of these groups are mutually exclusive. However, I do see a fairly descrete group which for want of a better term I'd call "the enemy of my enemy is my enemy" contingent of Trump supporters.
They will align themselves with anyone no matter how dumb they are or outrageous their behavior is as long as they also support Trump.
These are people who hate the Democrats, whether President Biden in particular or any Democrat, with a visceral passion. They may or may not buy into the notion that Democrats are some kind of demon communists or socialists. The smart ones know full well this isn't true and the uniformed couldn't even define the terms.
Some of the savvy group are hard-core capitalists who think that having a safety net for less the fortunate which costs taxpayer money (noting some of these people avoid paying their fair share of taxes) takes money away from their bottom lines.
Some may be those who feel that because they worked hard to get where they are, owners of small businesses for example, nobody deserves to get a leg up from the government. It doen't matter to them that they might have benefited from low interest small business loans or other help from the government.
In this group you'll find that there are some whose businesses or investments are effected by government regulations.
These people would rather vote for the Devil himself rather than vote for a Democrat.
Update/adendum
Below is a comment from someone who read this blog on anther platform. I don't know where they fit into my three categories but it is clear to me they buy much of the GOP propaganda (against Joe and Hunter Biden for example) and don't understand how the special proescuter is not "throwing indictments" at him without good cause, and there is a rigorous process for how such judicial procedures are conducted.
It seems that you and some Democrats are the haters. The four years we had under Trump wasn't so bad. And if those same 4 years were under by a different president, Biden, Clinton, or another Republican, there would be a good chance that person would be reelected in 2020.
But the name Trump makes some people go nuts and he wasn't reelected.
Yes, he's a bombastic egotistical, loud mouth self promoter as well as other things.
I didn't vote for Trump in 2020, or Biden. And there's no way in hell can I vote for Biden in '24.
Yes, Trump is a jerk and all, but the way they are throwing one indictment after another against him all in the name of hoping he will not run is not what this country is about.
You don't try and lock up a possible political opponent by any means. You don't threaten lawyers who want to represent Trump with the possible loss of their law licenses or if they are up for a judgeship by squashing it.
John Adams said, "Even a scoundrel has the right to consul." And he defended the British soldiers who shot at Americans at the Boston Massacre.
Come '24, if I vote for Trump, it won't be because of his policies and such. It will be a protest vote on what is going on with the Justice Department and Attorney General in this.
And Biden had better look over his shoulder. He and Hunter and the rest of the Biden clan might be in deep shit as day after day, more evidence is coming forward on what they have been doing.
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| Adapted by Hal Brown from Tacosunday Public Domain |
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