According to John Dean’s “Authoritarian Nightmare – Trump and his followers”, there are authoritarian leaders, who may very well know what they are doing, and there are authoritarian followers, who usually have no idea what they are supporting. Nor do they care, as long as they have someone telling them what to believe, what to do, and how to behave, just like religious movements. They are immune to facts and logic, no matter what. Coherent arguments or scientific studies, have no impact, and will rather reinforce their stand. Even if their leader is headed for a cliff, they’ll follow blindly, like sheep. And upon their leader’s instruction, they are ready to swallow the most ridiculous lie, like Trump’s Big One, a good example of authoritarianism. His big lie about losing the election due to voter fraud, is against all logic and common sense, contrary to facts and polls and what his closes advisors told him beforehand. And why should he be given a second term, after a miserable first? Isn’t it enough that some 70 million were unpatriotic, slow learners? If anything, we may wonder if Trump “won” in 2016 due to voter fraud, or perhaps foreign help.
As John Dean summarizes numerous psychological studies, authoritarian followers are highly compartmentalized in their thinking, using double standards, they believe many contradictory and conflicting things, have trouble deciding what is sound evidence and what is not, their thinking is highly ethnocentric, dogmatic and prejudiced in what they think about others.
The Republican party has a long history of attracting the religious, especially after Ronald Reagan, but nothing like what Trump did, despite being the antithesis of what Christian ministers preach about the qualities of a good person and living a righteous life. Some Evangelicals even believe he was sent by God, a miracle of biblical proportion!
We have seen what authoritarianism did to Germany in the 1930s, and eventually to the rest of the world. Both Catholics, Protestants and the Pope supported Hitler, while US Evangelicals strongly supported Trump, – and still do, as unbelievable as that sounds! But, have they learned from it?
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Jorg,
My comment here is intended to be a mirror that will help you see yourself and the irony in what you have posted.
It isn’t clear in this post which words are yours and which are John Dean’s, but since you are paraphrasing him it seems reasonable for me to think that what you have written is what you think.
You say that Trump supporters are dogmatic and prejudiced in what they think about others.
Now, take a look in the mirror as you read what you have written about others, those others being Trump supporters.
Here you say that Trump supporters are “unpatriotic slow learners” which is actually much kinder than most other things that you have consistently said dozens of times on this blog and in LTEs.
I know of no one who is more dogmatic and prejudiced than you regarding Republicans and Trump supporters in particular
Irony is often a source of humor.
I wonder if any other of your readers have sufficient wit to get a chuckle from your blog.
I strongly recommend you read John Dean’s book: “Authoritarian Nightmare – Trump and his followers”. He explains it more thoroughly and convincing than I can, heavily supported by extensive research, – to underscore what is so obvious to the majority of us. And, no, – Dean doesn’t pay me for the recommendation! I do it as a much needed social service.