In the aftermath of the Trump election, there has been a lot of speculation of what defines his -supporters, – like white, poor, religious, uneducated, or any combination of those characteristics. According to Matthew Macwilliam’s(PhD) research (“The one Weird Trait that Predicts Whether you’re a Trump Supporter”, PoliticoMagazine), the overwhelming characteristic is simply authoritarianism. Since the rise of Nazi Germany, it has been one of the most widely studied ideas in social science. While its causes are still debated, the political behavior of authoritarians is not. Authoritarians obey. They rally to and follow strong leaders, perceived or real. And they respond aggressively to outsiders, especially when they feel threatened. From pledging to “make America great again” by building a wall on the border, to promising to close mosques and ban Muslims from visiting the United States, Trump is playing directly to authoritarian inclinations.
T.W.Adorno et.al.’s monumental work “The Authoritarian Personality” (The Norton Library, 1950), pointed out that authoritarianism is not a new, untested concept in the American electorate. The author’s purpose was to discover the social psychological factors which make it possible for the authoritarian personality to threaten the individualistic and democratic type more prevalent in modern, more progressive civilizations. The strange part is that Republicans, who talk most passionately about personal freedom and individualism, are the ones most vulnerable when it comes to authoritarianism and the ones most likely to be led astray by a leader they perceive as strong. The remaining question is: will we learn from this latest experiment and come out wiser, or will we let a bad piece of history repeat itself? Again?
Thank you, corrected.cialis