Why You can't Get Through to a Trump Supporter

[Boxerfan]

https://youtube.com/shorts/Y7_4anDHfL4?si=FtEM2Hv6AZUMOoZa

[Karadeniz]

1. Yep !!!!!

[PatSeg]

2. "Stupid people are easy to program"

Sadly, however, they aren't all "stupid people". Intelligent, well educated people can be vulnerable as well. Often there are other factors involved.

[ananda]

3. Don't I know this.

I think it has more to do with grooming and indoctrination.

[PatSeg]

5. Yes, not thinking can be come a bad habit

And it is easy if you have Fox News or right-wing radio turned on most of the time.

A few people I know were going through some rough personal issues and combined with listening to right-wing crap everyday, they became very vulnerable. On some level, they were looking for someone to blame - "Hey it must be those damn liberals and their elitist ways."

[ananda]

6. And don't forget, since Reagan and the fall of fair media...

Democrats have been bashed to the gills... and certain kinds
of vulnerable people have wanted to be on the side of the
bashers, thinking they are morally superior or better at
business and economics.

I know some very intelligent and successful people like that.

[PatSeg]

9. That is true

Reagan won over a lot of Democrats. And that was after Franklin Roosevelt, Harry Truman, John Kennedy, and Lyndon Johnson. Republicans were afraid they would be the minority party forever, so they changed their tactics and they're still at it. Apparently all that "bashing" worked for them and FDR Democrats started to disappear.

My daughter worked at an exclusive country club some years back and one customer she knew well told her that being a business owner, he probably should vote republican. I think she set him straight, but who knows. Greed can have a blinding effect.

And yes, vulnerable people often tend to want to be on the side of the winners (in this case the bashers). It doesn't usually work out well for them, though I'm not sure they can see that.

[wnylib]

8. I was just about to say the same thing.

Some very smart, well educated people have fallen for cult programming. Timing in a person's life and emotions are two of the factors that make people vulnerable. There are others.

Once someone has fallen into the cult programming, you can't reason with them. But sometimes you can break through to them by addressing their feelings. Many male MAGAs have experienced an abusive or absent or indifferent father. They identify with Trump because they have some similar emotions underneath the surface. Sometimes those feelings are in the open. They bond with Trump as a buddy, or a father or brother figure.

Ask them to talk about their father. Get them to open up. Many will initially say how great their father was. "Tough guy. Real strict. Taught me to be strong." Keep them talking. Ask what was their favorite activity with dad. Eventually, something will slip indicating neglect or abuse. They learned to live with it by denying it or imagining it into something positive in order to cope.

I worked with a guy like that. He was a registered Dem. Had a degree. Had compassion for people. But he fell hard for Trumo as a "good person." One incident was sadly pathetic. He had a health issue and could no longer work. His disability approval was taking forever. I ran into him at a
convenience store. I suggested he contact our House Rep.

He said that he was writing directly to Donald Trump. He was like a child in his hope, admiration, and enthusiasm. Trump would help him. He showed me the handwritten letter. I knew that this guy's father had been an abusive alcoholic. He had mentioned that to me back when we worked together, how he kept hoping that his father would become a kinder, more caring person and visit sometimes because his father never even came to see his grandchildren.

I looked directly at this guy's face and said, "Donald Trump is not your father. He is similar, but will not help you any more than your father ever did." He objected to the comparison that I had made. He was not looking for a daddy. I said to think about it.

Next time I saw him, he said that I was right that he was always looking for a father figure, but not convinced that he saw Trump that way. I said to think more about it. That was in the early part of Trump's first term. Have not seen the guy around since then so I don't know how it turned out for him.

But that gave me insight into Trump cultists. Trump taps into their deep hurts and psychological injuries, gets them identifying with him as victims, tells them who to blame for their hurts, and promises to make things better. They hang onto that hope.

[Diamond_Dog]

4. How do you explain the fact

I am a Liberal when I grew up in a right wing republican family and heard all that racist b.s. constantly as a young person.

[Warpy]

7. Same reason I'm an atheist after surviving Catholic school

All it takes is that first nagging doubt that just won't go away, no matter hwo many times your brain says the magic words, whatever they are. Eventually, the doubts envelop even the magic words and the world gains another critical thinker.

Or someone in a liberal family is freaked out by too many choices and a lack of certainty and heads off to the nearest megachurch, it can happen both ways.

While much of it is hard wired and predictable, it's not yet predictably inheritable.

It's just a shame that at least a quarter of our citizens find cutoff points in their heads comforting and protective and that a bunch of unscrupulous shitheels are using that to manipulate them into making such bad decisions.