APP - Donald's Appeal

[midcan5]

An excellent review on the appeal of Donald Trump to the republican base, a few democrats and independents. Long but well done.

"I went, first and foremost, to answer a deceptively simple question: How has Trump defied pretty much every rule not just of electoral politics, but of contemporary civil discourse to lead the race for the Republican party’s nomination for president? Set aside for one moment the economic conditions that we know have made Trump’s rise possible. What about those of the human psyche? What does Trump’s improbable rise reveal about how Americans understand themselves, what they imagine for their country, what they crave in their leaders?"

...

"In a paper called “The Psychology of Propaganda,” Money-Kyrle describes the mechanisms of what he saw:

“To me, at least, the speeches themselves were not particularly impressive. But the crowd was unforgettable. The people seemed gradually to lose their individuality and to become fused into a not very intelligent but immensely powerful monster… under the complete control of the figure on the rostrum. He evoked or changed its passions as easily as if they had been notes of some gigantic organ. The tune was very loud, but very simple. As far as I could make out, there were only three, or perhaps four, notes; and both speakers or organists played them in the same order."

A similar sequence—which Money-Kyrle described as first melancholia, then paranoia, and finally, megalomania—runs through Trump’s rhetoric, says Smith.

“If you swallow the first two movements, you’re feeling helpless and then frightened. And then you’re offered the fantastic package of magic to solve all your problems,” he explains. “Trump does that very, very well—I think he has a gut understanding of the psychology of persuasion.”

To test Smith’s case, I went through the many reams of observations I scribbled down reflecting on the Trump rallies. Nearly every paragraph fit Money-Kyrle’s sequence."

http://qz.com/645345/inside-the-tru...hology-of-americas-newest-political-movement/


“Resentment is a much-understudied but critical factor in much right wing populism. The idea is that ‘they’ have taken away something that is rightfully ours. They have stolen ‘our’ America,” he says. “Trump binds people together around this core perception. He makes himself emblematic of this resentful America and promises to put people in a position where the tables will be turned and they will get their own back on the carpet-baggers.”

 

[Mott the Hoople]

Trumps appeal is not simply a psychological aberration. Much of the anger infused by his supporters is justified nor is it unique to the GOP.

Our nation has been drifting from an aristocracy of money to an oligarchy for a generation now. Much of the policies implemented in that time have largely protected the prerogatives of the oligarchy and corporate interest.

The GOP for years has promised to defend social traditions, despite changing demographics, and a promise that economic prosperity will lift all ships. They have failed their constituents on both counts. They have failed on both because the change in demographics make social change inevitable and they have failed them on the economic prosperity front because the tremendous growth in prosperity has ended up mostly in the hands of a few. All ships have not been lifted and often they have systematically worked against the economic interest of their constituent while rationalizing that there increased economic prosperity is in everyone's best interest. That falsehood is clearly seen when the economic prosperity doesn't reach them despite their efforts to work hard and play by the rules when the few that prosper keep changing the rules.
Those constituents are justifiably angry.

The same is occurring to a lesser degree with Democrats where there is obviously a large degree of disaffection with a Democratic Party where out of touch political elites are more concerned about balancing the agendas of often disparate social cliques, while tamely submitting to the economic status quo, and ignoring the root causes of inequality that are driving political unrest.

What we are seeing is a realignment of angry voters who are fed up with a status quo which on both sides represents special interest at the expense of the people.

The anger and disaffection has grown load enough that establishment politicians have heard the voices but not load enough to cause any real change within the political establishment. The establishment does so at their own risk because in the absence on any substantive actions on their part to address these issues in a manner that materially benefits their constituents than the anger and disaffection will only continue to grow until a critical mass is reached.