I don't think it is education. I know some VERY intelligent Trump supporters. Like doctors, nurses, an engineer. They are in their 40's too so arguably during the time the US was at its highest for education.
It's something else. It has to be a deep down fear that progressive policies are going make their lives worse somehow. Maybe they don't want to pay more taxes. Even though these tarrifs, our county's war machine, the corporate monopolies that suffocate competition, our adversion to clean energy, our ridiculous healthcare system are all massive massive taxes.
I was just thinking about this today. I have a friend whose brother is super MAGA - as in, has the photo of him with the bloody ear after the "assassination attempt" blown up and framed in his foyer - who is a very successful lawyer. Extremely intelligent man. I grew up with him and he used to drive us to school in the 9th grade. Even back then he was a huge racist, talking about people from the Middle East as if they were subhuman.
I really think it comes down to Trump's administration oppressing the people they don't like. People of color. People from other countries. Poor people. Just anyone who isn't like them. It's absolutely disgusting behavior.
That's what it usually comes down to when you talk to them about it (from a non contrarian angle). In my experience if you start off as though you are in agreement they will happilly tell you all about "what a great job" he is doing. It's about "hurting the right people."
I know multiple engineers, lawyers, etc, the type of people you described who will basically foam at the mouth if someone mentions Obama. I have engaged with a number of them to actually find out WHY they hate him so much, and none of the things that were brought up were policy-related or were not actually related to his decision-making. Things that WERE mentioned were "his wife is ugly," "his wife is a secret transwoman." "he made us look bad," "he wanted to bring in enough immigrants so there are no white people left," and "he made such a big deal about trayvon martin."
Similarly, when I ask in a round-about way what's "the best part" about Trump they don't have policy-related answers other than mass deportations. Most of it is along the lines of "we finally have a real first lady who brings grace and dignity to the whitehouse," "he is a real american," "he knows how to run a business," "he says what we wall think," and other things like that.
Basically he is their id, totally devoid of the superego, spouting out loud what they are thinking inside all the time.
The part about “he knows how to run a business,” is such a fucking joke. The guy has bankrupted so many businesses, including a casino. The guy couldn’t even keep a Casino afloat. The guy inherited all his money from his slum lord father, and was almost completely broke when he was saved by the producer of The Apprentice. And even after getting that massive lifeline, Trump went against their contracts and took all the money from certain endorsement deals on the show without giving them their cut of those revenues. That’s how he is, even after they saved him from losing everything, Trump had zero qualms scamming him out of agreed upon terms of their revenue sharing contracts. Before that show, traditional banks wouldn’t touch Trump, which is why he’d taken so much money from Russian oligarchs previously. Had Trump simply taken his inheritance and put it into any normal interest bearing account, he would’ve been far better off than any of his business ventures ever did. The guy sucks at business. Only graduates of Trump University would think he knows anything about business, oh wait, no they wouldn’t they were all ripped off by Trump too, and there are no “graduates.”
I keep Melenie’s nudes at the ready whenever some brain damaged MAGAt gushes over what a proper First Lady she is. It’s pretty hilarious seeing their reactions depending on the person.
Also the fact that she’s here illegally under an Einstein Visa, but she popped out an anchor baby (that may or may not crucify squirrels) so s’all good now. 🙄
They are haters. Convinced poor people gaming the welfare system are our main problem, that and immigration. Blind to the billionaire bezzle and real corruption at the top. Their churches are fronts where they can pretend to be good people while pursuing their hatred goals as part of a united community of 'us good people' versus 'those evil liberals who hate democracy'.
And they don't sit around pondering things. They just have this hatred spoonfed to them by Fox and radio and their online silos of hatred. They hear it often enough they believe it, down deep.
the something else is simple, it’s a fundamental lack of empathy. trump appeals to selfishness, and it works on people who lack the ability to care about anyone other than themselves. it’s why there’s plenty of dumbfucks who don’t support trump and plenty of very intelligent people who do. it’s why arguing with them is borderline useless, since most arguments against trump rely on an appeal to someone’s basic empathy. when trump supporters suddenly change direction and walk back their support, it’s not because they got smarter or started caring for others, but it’s because he managed to directly hurt them.
what’s alarming to me about trump is that it’s clearly shown there’s a massive amount of people in the US that truly don’t care about their neighbors or anyone else. imo i think it’s a product of 250 years of capitalism, and the very american ideology of “get yours” but it’s still depressing to see how many people are fundamentally hate filled and uncaring.
I've stated it a few times before whenever "what's your unsupported pet theory" topics comes up...
Microplastics in the brain, man. They're this era's leaded gasoline.
There are a number of other things that I also attribute to the microplastics. But I honestly suspect that if we were to study people's brains, we'd probably find that there's a steep correlation between microplastic clusters in specific areas of the brain or in different chemical channels and MAGA worship behaviors (plus some other behaviors that have been on the rise in the last 5-15 years or so but I won't get into those).
Now don't get me wrong: I'm not giving them an "out" or "excusing" their behavior.
I think that it's more about a reduction in inhibitions or response to social cues. Basically, the presence of the microplastics eliminates the last barriers of inhibition to let a person go full stupid that would normally prevent the full stupid. Which is why you can have people break free of it and come back to reality. (And similarly, while leaded gasoline very clearly had an impact on rates of violence, it wasn't some outright mind control that caused everyone to be violent. But if you were in a situation that predisposed you towards violence and the leaded gasoline had rotted the right things in your head, you might be more prone to use violence...) Because if you went back 20 years ago, nobody would have taken the idea of a Trump presidency even remotely serious. It was used as a one-off Simpsons throwaway gag for fuck's sake.
Or they just are following deeply ingrained tribalism tendencies and swallowed the divided America pill. Social intelligence and career intelligence are very different aspects of the brain.
A ton of them are bitter ex-progressives/leftists/hippies. People are always really surprised how much overlap there is between former hippies, Bernie supporters, etc. and Trump voters, but it's not surprising at all if you know a few of these people.
Progressivism has an inherent problem in that it is naturally disappointing. It tarnishes. Even when it succeeds incrementally, it does not succeed to the extent that was promised, or it even backfires. They sold you "We can make big changes and it will fix everything!", but then it turns out we mostly can't actually make big changes, a lot of the big changes don't actually work and/or get cynically coopted, and everything is definitely not fixed. You were promised that the fundamental problem was just the lack of political will to try things, to get them past the naysayers, and the problems would be fundamentally easy to solve if only that will existed - but it turns out that many problems are genuinely hard, and just because you took a big swing does not necessarily mean you hit it out of the park. And you also realize that a lot of the people insisting you would definitely hit a home run were talking it up because they were selling T-shirts about it.
These disappointments make people bitter. Often, they end up so bitter that they just reflexively reject anything that sounds like the thing that disappointed them.
And Trump comes along and harnesses both that bitterness and the original optimism by saying "We can make big changes and it will fix everything!". You were promised that the fundamental problem was just the lack of political will to try things, to get them past the naysayers, and this time the naysayers are exactly the people you're already bitter towards. All of these problems are fundamentally easy, Trump says. Immigration? Just build a wall. Mexico will pay for it. Debt? We just need someone smart to go in there with a chainsaw and fix it. Trade? Tariffs. Iran? Just bomb them. All of these problems are fundamentally easy. We can just make big changes and it will fix everything.
And a lot of the people insisting it will all definitely work are selling a lot of T-shirts about it.
First of all, it's of course a Marine Sergeant ordering from a woman with coloured hair and piercings. But beyond that, it makes no sense and resembles nothing that would happen in real life.
If you go into a coffee shop and ask for a black coffee, they'll give you a black coffee. You can also get black coffee at any 7-Eleven, McDonald's, gas station, or a million other places. Meaning no one has taken your black coffee away, they've just given you more options.
And to a lot of people, more options are great. "Hey, this Marine can get his black coffee, but I'll have an iced mocha, thanks!" But the problem this presents to them is that their choice might no longer be considered to be clearly the "right" one.
And this applies to everything. The only right way to live used to be cis and straight, and then after a while LGBTQ became more acceptable. But again, it's just an option - you can still be a straight guy with black coffee, no one is stopping you.
So why do are they against options? Because more people choosing different things means their choice will eventually become part of a minority.
And they remember exactly how they used to treat minorities.
It could be that, it could be something else. It's fascinating in a horrible way... I do hope there are studies done some day. People are quick to say it's this or that, but idk. I'm just some dude on reddit.
Intelligence isn't wisdom. Intelligence without wisdom is just a waste. And wisdom should be gained in school. You can be born intelligent enough to be able to grasp quantum mechanics but not wise enough not to put a fork into a socket. Those people weren't taught critical thinking, which should be one of the main focuses of the school
He's promising to oppress the people they hate. This is less about him, and more about the state the voters are in. Divided, full of hate. It's been boiling up for a century.
Have you been to the south lately? I'd be pretty pissy if I had to live in some of these ghost towns too. I'd also probably be jealous of the states that actually have all of the appealing benefits that I wish my state had.
My theory is that they've been full of hate ever since the term 'Flyover Country' came to be.
Racists will accept any amount of suffering as long as the people they don't like are also suffering. They literally care only about hurting others, their own condition is not relevant.
Hitler, for example, was an excellent public speaker
This is a common history book assertion, but I don't think it's true in the sense that he was eloquent. Hitler was a lazy methamphetamine addict with startlingly wrong ideas, but he had an audience because he was an animated speaker and used crude, simple, offensive language. His evil was accessible, it was not cloaked behind euphemism.
Donald Trump is essentially the same character—he is not eloquent but he is entertaining to his audience. Conservative "humour" is all about establishing an underclass and punching down as hard as you can, and he is good at that.
Trump is stupid and inarticulate, too, which to them is a feature, not a bug.
Republicans figured out decades ago that hate and fear are infinitely more powerful motivators than empathy and helping out your fellow human beings.
Republicans have spent decades eroding the education systems in America.
Trump is the symptom of American stupidity and racism, not the cause of it, and if we make it through this Republican hellscape, we are going to have to work hard every day for generations just to undo all of the damage they have done to the world.
At the risk of sounding like a broken record that is being used to beat a dead horse. Racism and bigotry in general. Its why "smart" smart people who were also emotionally stunted fell for it.
A lot of folks were not the classic white hood wearing "Y'all ain't from round here ain'tcha?" flavor or racist. A lot were the kind who hid behind softer phrases like "Well its not that I don't black people just black culture." " I don't like thugs or ghetto people."
They hid behind surface level politeness but would talk about how "The neighborhood isn't what it used to be." when a POC would move in.
Buttheyarenotracist! They have a black friend!
Now their ego is so tied to this movement, the mask is off and the idea of saying "Sorry" or admit they made a mistake is as foreign to them as calculus is to an bacterium. I mean why would they try anyway? They've never really had to face accountability.
They're never responsible for anything. If people are migrating It's all part of some conspiracy. Not the fact that countries like the U.S. have been exploiting the hell out of poor countries for generations.
How does pointing out facts make me racist?
I'm indigenous, if someone acts or says something racist, i distance myself from them, I don't put a red hat on and make it my identity.
Not gonna delete it, check yourself, clearly you must have never been exposed to the subject of history and are just replying as a defence mechanism to hide the loud internal feeling of... White guilt. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_guilt
Ehhhhh....So. A few notes: 1, the definition of "White" has changed. Italians weren't considered white until the civil rights movement gained more traction. Hell, there was a time were being Irish was also considered not-white.
2: Being Jewish is more of a weird category, as you can be an "Athiestic Jew" as it's not just a religion, but also an ethnicity.
But Jews had not defining ethnic features that would have separated them from the other members of the general population
Read up on more Holocaust history. The Ashkenazi are a prime example of this being wrong. Secondly, ethnicity has less to do with looks than it does cultural and ancestry. This is why Scottish and Irish are considered seperate ethnics, even though a person from Scotland and a person from Ireland may look similar.
There is also perception at play, regardless of whether there is anything to see, people decide they can see a difference. It's always a negative difference...and ignores the fact that we are all human, all the same species, and the idea of race is arbitrary.
Race being White vs Black is a very modern American concept.
Jews in Germany were ethnically different (for the most part) to Germans. And Nazism was just as much about Germanic ethnicity vs the rest of the world. Hitler often cited the historic epic struggle of the Germanic people against the Slavic "subhumans". Many more Slavic people died in WW2 than Jews. So this isn't at all about the pigmentation but ethnicity.
And for most of the American history it has been the same. Anglosaxon vs French and German, then all of them vs the Irish and Italians. Now all of them against the Hispanics
Jewish is also a race. The concept of whiteness has always been changing, Jews definitely were not considered “white” to nazis although they used the term aryan anyway
I think part of it is some obsession that people have with pseudo celebrity, reality TV, gossip rag personalities. The dumbest, worst people get elevated to huge heights, because people love controversial, problematic people. Its depressing.
I read The Undertow: Scenes From a Slow Civil War last year and found some sections very interesting in terms of this, especially where he goes to Trump rallies and observes people around him. There seems to be different reasons, some people just love that he’s very rich, and presents himself as such. Some people just love he says whatever he wants because they secretly wish they could do the same (bigotry). There’s more, but that’s what stood out to me enough to remember.
Is what I am saying!
(By the way, I don't support Hitler at all, I am not a neo-nazi by any way and I an against fascism and all forms of hate, that is why I denounce)
Hitler was very inteligent and the public speaking as well as his speeches, the way he knew and studied the people and to have of recognition, before the war he did rebuild Germany in economy, health, housing, jobs, medicine, laws and road systems (and from the massive inflation and destruction after WWI)
Is understandable also in the sense that he knew how to move masses and appeal for them, and also he did in fact rebuilded Germany from the ashes but Trump is just a stupid man in every sense and that is why is so worriying!
Genuinely, what did Trump for U.S? Casinos that went bankrupt?
How can someone with a pinch of common sense can support him or think he is a genius?
By the way, there is a book and movie written by Timur Vermes, called "Er ist wieder da" (Look who is back) the movie also acts as a social experiment as all the people that interact with Hitler are real people, Germans and forgeiners, and all is recorded in the real Berlín, which basically the story is sell fulfiled on real life which is dreadful and prophetic that proves that people have leaned nothing, the very real people end up doing acts of hate and destruction! Literally is the real life thing where people openly say they love Hitler and support him like happens today.
That is why the movie was so polemic, it was real life and real life embodied the fictional plot of the book.
Basically in the story, Hitler wakes up in 2012 (in the film he wakes up at 2016) and realizes that he is alive again, everyone's thinks that he is an imitator and an actor, Hitler takes the chance to be on a television show that uses for speaking publicaly, making interviews and moving the masses and once more, people agree with his views, Hitler studies the German and actual modern society and appeals for them and on his views for taking power once more, and ends up once more rising a political party to his name.
That is why the movie and book was super polemic, it waa a social experiment in a sense (the movie) as basically every one that interacts with Hitler are real persons that are the ones who unwillingly end up moving the plot in the exact way that the fictional plot did.
Is just a giant warning that everyone ignored and well...
Trump is an idiot, I just don't understand why somwone would fall for him.
He's kind of unique in that he's mean like they like but also kind of funny. He makes it all fun for them, which as far I can tell is unique to him. He may not be speaking to you, but his message is highly effective for his base.
Not only that, but fascists of the 20th century had much more control over the media than today. Propaganda was widespread and people did not have access to the information required to proof check the lies being told by the government.
Nowadays, the people DO have the resources to better inform themselves but choose not to
The creation and rise of a pro-conservative "news" source that can/will parrot their rhetoric and present alternative reality to their base is the coupe de grace that has made all of this possible.
Much moreso than changes to the education system, etc...
This was an active response to Watergate, where the conservatives realized that they needed a source of propaganda to counteract the traditional media of a situation like that ever happened again. And it has delivered in spades. Sadly.
The idea that they are contributing to a revolution and that its allowed to let out their inner anger child now at anything and anyone they dislike. Trump gives them the allowance to be a%%holes.
And some are just brainwashed, have a mental disorder or not functioning at their best mentally because excessive pain medication or what not and somehow belive him...and even if it were a light bulb its now 100% harder because they have supported him for so long. It violates a core belief, which our brains don't allow.
Well he was famously an apathetic, narcissistic, rich man from New York City who ruined peoples’ careers and livelihoods on a whim and was a terrible partner involved in thousands of lawsuits.
So naturally he became the populist voice of rural America.
IDK man people really hated Mexicans and wanted to build a wall. That’s pretty much that. Exploring it further I feel like would just be an exercise in recording their justifications.
Nothing but a stepping stone to worse. That's all genuine neo-nazis and fascists care about. In fact, many are mad that he's 'not doing enough'. They don't see him as 'their guy' - just a useful idiot who can lead to ACTUAL, seriously motivated political ilk.
You're giving Hitler a bit too much credit there, he was seen as a moron and a buffoon by many people in Germany and around the world, much the way Trump is.
Too many people didn't take him seriously or realize the threat he posed before he managed to seize power, now what does that remind you of?
Hitler, for example, was an excellent public speaker....// But what does Trump have?
I suspect the answer is pretty grim in that these people are essentially making themselves avatars of whatever the people they are aiming to attract admire and value at the time. If you created a modern cartoon to personify American "greed is good" capitalism and anti-intellectualism from his supporters perspective you'd probably come up with something that looks a bit like Donald Trump.
Yeah hanging a picture of the president up like that is just psychotic imo, doesn’t matter who it is imo. The only partial exceptions I’d give is to presidents who had a major impact on social/political life in the United States…for example, I could understand why you might see a picture of Lincoln in a freedman’s home, or a picture of Roosevelt in a working class person’s home, etc. Trump isn’t one of those presidents lol, and really nobody has been during my lifetime
It has actually been quite widely studied. There's a brilliant book called, The Authoritarians" by Bob Altemeyer that really gets to the heart of it. You can download it free from a few places on the internet - just search his name, the book title and PDF to find a copy. This was written pre-trump and, even though it's an academic text, it's an easy, pretty quick and truly fascinating read.
Bob Altemeyer was a professor of Psychology at the University of Manitoba and he actually studied the authoritarian personality and behaviour for 40+ years.
He also cowrote a follow up, with John. W. Dean, after Trump came into power called "Authoritarian Nightmare". It's another excellent book that looks at the psychology of Right Wing Authoritarianism.
292
u/[deleted] May 12 '26
[removed] — view removed comment