I have been a fan of Kareem Jabbar’s since way back when we went to different universities together. And I enjoy his writing. But I disagree with something he said in his last column. He observed that the fact that huge number of Republicans continue to support Trump in spite of his legal woes ”defies logic” But it’s not simply Kareem’s opinion. Many have thrown up their hands and relegated the phenomena to mass insanity .
But I believe there is a logic. A twisted logic resulting from deep cultural changes in the decades since Kareem and I were young. Here are three factors I believe constitute a perfect storm for the proliferation of attitudes that will support trump-like candidates
1 Role models. When a character in the mass media commands or possesses something we want, (power, friendship, respect, esteem, money, freedom, etc) we tend to want to act like that character acts to get what that character has – this is a role model. When Kareem and I were teens, the role models were the good guys, and the bad guys got their comeuppance. Everyone desired the esteem, security and love that Jim and Margaret Anderson got on Father Knows Best. So the roles they modeled were emulated. Being a kind, understanding, and tolerant father was the greatest good.
Gunsmoke’s Matt Dillon was courage tempered with fairness. Andy Griffith was dedication to job and family. Because of what the characters possessed, we wanted to act like they acted so we could lead the good life like they seemed to live.
But things changed. TV executives found they could gain ratings by appealing to the baser instincts. The Jerry Springer show accidently found that when a fight broke out on the set, contrary to their fears, the ratings went up. Thoughtful writing was replaced by voyeurism. Shows like Hannah Montana found a valued formula: the Put-Down- plus- canned laughter, with the laughter to show how cool and witty it was. The show titles alone were telling. From ‘Father Knows Best’ to ‘Sex in the city’.
One of the whispers of the 2016 election cycle was that Trump got someone to take his SAT tests. wow, cheating on SAT’s? But why bad? On an episode of Seinfeld, Elaine agrees to take an IQ test for George. Why? Because hahaha. Dishonest? Yes, but it’s okay because hahaha. The canned laughter rolls and the whole thing is hilarious.
In the last 10 years it became worse as more studios churned out more competition. Now the bad guys became the role models as in ‘Breaking Bad’. In ‘House of Cards’ the US president was depicted as a conniving, self-serving demagogue. With the most popular computer game, Grand Theft Auto, the player is rewarded by beating the police and stealing a car. A new game has the player killing hundreds of humans, en masse with machine guns, that are chasing him. My pick for the worst role model is a beautiful sexy assassin for hire in a Netflix serial that tells an American in Europe, “My first kill was in America – a police officer who was an excellent tango dancer.” So the role models have changed. To get the needed things and to obtain the needed goals the role models are acting much differently now – more viciously and selfishly. Learning good from bad is replaced by learning that a W is better than a L. After being suffused with these role models, is it such a leap that many trumpers linger on after his
crimes have been revealed?
2 A more personal identification. There are a multiple of studies that show that many people vote for candidates whom they percieve as having characteristics and values similar to their own. So many people find common ground with Trump. He values money and power, but he also has obvious flaws – dishonesty, bragging, intolerance, rage. So people can believe that their own flaws, with the arrival of Trump, are forgiven or ignored or forgotten or – maybe they weren’t even flaws at all. Then Trump aid Roger Stone creates the idea of the trump rally, an intimate meeting of Trump with the working class man. Where he tells them , “My voice is your voice” This convinces them that this man is their saviour – his money and power are behind them. Only he elevates them.
3 Cognitive limitations. The most quoted child psychologist to date is Jean Piaget who developed a model of human cognitive development. He described four stages of development experienced by all humans. The fourth stage, Formal Operational, is characterized by the development of deductive reasoning, the ability to abstract and understand abstractions, and the ability to create solutions for hypothetical problems. After his research was considered, his model was universally lauded – until – further research led to social scientists revealing one flaw in the model – the contention that not all humans got to the fourth level – not all humans developed abilities to deduce and abstract and apply these skills to problem solving. Piaget, in his later years came to agree.
The phenomena is underscored occassionally – famously by Jay Leno – by asking people on the street to answer questions for a prize. One question was “If half a dozen donuts cost $6, how much do a hundred donuts costs.” The people shown on the videos didn’t have the cognitive skills to produce an answer.
So what does this mean for a political campaign? It means that some people cannot discriminate between rational thought and demagoguery. When Kevin McCarthy said, ” It is unconscionable for a President to indict the leading candidate opposing him,” many Trump supporters didn’t have the mental machinery to think, The justice department selected an independent prosector, the prosecutor presented the cases to a grand jury, and the grand jury of 12 Americans decided to indict Trump. Instead they think, Biden indicted Trump. The speaker said so. Biden is a bad man.
Considering these and several more factors, it is a bit more understandible that trump supporters continue to support him.
To be finished
trying to finish
Next reason to explain why they continue to support trump. Because everyone in their neighborhood or bowling league or family or dinner club are supporting trump and despise Biden. It isn’t even a matter of fear of not being accepted. It is because of the concept of ‘cognitive dissonance’. This is a defense mechanism that is ubiquitous across
all characters regardless of race, creed or Netflix serial preference. It is better described as a preventer of cognitive dissonance. ….To be a member of their social group or groups, many simply must support Trump. The social group demands it. So when confronted with facts that descriibe trumps poor character they go into dissonance mode Did not say that…. what about…. thats just trump…….only locker room talk. Locker room talk at 77?
Shidenfroida – where it fits in in my Anthropology and Social Psychology Model of Motivation and Behavior — aka Fences, Doors and Allies
Trump provides even another form of gratification that historically has not been provided much by politicians. Fear and hate mongering, yes, of course. Appeal emotionally – patriotism and everything else-. sure But the sheer joy of hearing about the lessening or humiliation of another – shidenfroida – a special word for it in German – is all together different, if only in intensity. The picture of Robert Dole falling from his hustings or President Ford falling down the jet gangplank or Biden in fake video falling asleep evoke a special giddy joy. Trump did this many times with Lyin Ted, Little Mario,
Biden, who ”doesn’t know what day of the week it is,” pencil neck Adam Schiff. “He buys the smallest shirts and they’re still too big”
And shidenfroida is addictive.
First and least important is the name. Companies do not need 20 directors to run their business. Some are ostentatiously serving a ceremonial position. Shaquille O’Neil is on the board of directors of Papa John’s Pizza, Emma Watson is a board member of Gucci, and Oprah Winfrey is on Weight Watchers’ board. The list of celebrity board members is extensive.
Biden’s name alone, in this corporate universe, qualified him to be a board member, but here are a few thing that he possesses that the aforementioned do not. He has a business law degree from Yale and has executive, business and internationl experience. Far before his father was vice president, he was a legal consultant to MBNA, a financial sevices corp, and worked his way up to executive vice president. He was on the board of World Food Program, a non-profit charity which supported the UN World Food Program and became vice chairman. In 2008 he started his consulting firm Seneca Global Consultants. They offered help in expanding their clients oversees exports. Here is what Reuters News Service wrote in Oct 2019 about Biden’s role at Burisma. “Interviews with more than a dozen people, including executives and former prosecutors in Ukraine, paint a picture of a board member who provided advice on legal issues, corporate finance and strategy during a five-year term on the board, which ended in April of this year.”
Reviewing the claim that Joe Biden pressured for the prosecutor Shokin to be fired in order to protect his son: The chief of Burisma was investigated for issues in the period of 2010 – 2012. Biden jr was hired in 2015.. Shokin became Prosecutor General in 2015. The investigation from the former prosecutor remained dormant while Shokin remained prosecutor. International pressure was applied to remove Shokin, the Ukrainian parliament voted to dismiss him. Hunter Biden, apparently qualified to be a board member, was never accused of any wrongdoing, and needed protection from no one.
It is convenient to dismiss the issue as just more disinformation . But, sadly, the massive effort that went into this venture to discredit the Bidens – by Americans – well known and hidden from sight – was costly. By the taxpayer dollars that it cost and in the way Americans became a little bit more inured to demagoguery by people they seem to have no control over. It was an unfortunate chapter in American politics.
