Thread by @Nick_Carmody

@BarbaraHaysSmi1 @susanmddem @WalshFreedom @LindseyGrahamSC Well, to begin with, the premise….that all Trump supporters are hateful, racist, etc.,…is not only inaccurate but at a minimum it prevents any chance of functional coexistence….and at worst it exacerbates an already opened, festering societal wound….1/

@BarbaraHaysSmi1 @susanmddem @WalshFreedom @LindseyGrahamSC Are there hateful, racist Trump supporters? Absolutely. And I’ve written about and analyzed them extensively. But here’s where we have to practice that which Trump & his supporters are criticized (often by me) for failing to observe: Nuance…2/

https://twitter.com/Nick_Carmody/status/1120877175953956864

@BarbaraHaysSmi1 @susanmddem @WalshFreedom @LindseyGrahamSC There are many contributing factors why people support Trump. I’ve written many threads trying to understand and explain the underlying dynamics (more than two dozen threads are “unrolled” here)…..3/ threadreaderapp.com/user/Nick_Carm…

@BarbaraHaysSmi1 @susanmddem @WalshFreedom @LindseyGrahamSC Yes, hateful racists have found refuge, acceptance, & legitimacy in Trump’s narcissistic need for adulation because, aside from his own amorality, he’s pathologically incapable of declining attention, regardless of the source (“very fine people”): 4/

https://twitter.com/Nick_Carmody/status/969025175432785920

@BarbaraHaysSmi1 @susanmddem @WalshFreedom @LindseyGrahamSC For others who are less overtly hateful, but more susceptible to following orders, or to following a figure head or organization to which they have a dysfunctional level of personal investment (identity), a “moral authority” component comes into play: 5/

https://twitter.com/Nick_Carmody/status/1147859570020081669

@BarbaraHaysSmi1 @susanmddem @WalshFreedom @LindseyGrahamSC This appears to be especially true of Trump’s evangelical support: 6/

https://twitter.com/Nick_Carmody/status/1103256587391578112

@BarbaraHaysSmi1 @susanmddem @WalshFreedom @LindseyGrahamSC In some cases, the toxic, zero-sum, purity test-induced castigation has caused or even forced relatively moderate/objective people into a defensive, resentful partisan proxy war against those who have disparaged them & their effort to remain impartial: 7/

https://twitter.com/Nick_Carmody/status/1110154304508166144

@BarbaraHaysSmi1 @susanmddem @WalshFreedom @LindseyGrahamSC For others (reluctant Trump voters), the intensity of the judgment they receive for having voted for Trump has backed them into a corner, and has created a situation where their continued support of Trump has become a defense of their morality: 8/

https://twitter.com/Nick_Carmody/status/1075344897832452096

@BarbaraHaysSmi1 @susanmddem @WalshFreedom @LindseyGrahamSC The media is also a huge factor. One of the overarching forces behind the political polarization of society is the polarization of media outlets. This has allowed the political narrative to be dominated by egomaniacal, narcissistic media authoritarians..9/

https://twitter.com/Nick_Carmody/status/1101852013527105536

@BarbaraHaysSmi1 @susanmddem @WalshFreedom @LindseyGrahamSC …who have staked their entire career/reputation on the infallibility of the Republican party, and, by extension, Trump. 10/

https://twitter.com/Nick_Carmody/status/1071388915137822720

@BarbaraHaysSmi1 @susanmddem @WalshFreedom @LindseyGrahamSC In the tweet below, I mentioned people being uninformed and misinformed. Although, an argument can be made about the level of personal responsibility/culpability that people assume for being willfully or lazily ignorant….11/

https://twitter.com/Nick_Carmody/status/984753449488211968

@BarbaraHaysSmi1 @susanmddem @WalshFreedom @LindseyGrahamSC …..being misinformed or uniformed does not in itself make someone a bad person…or hateful, or a racist. Especially, as explained below, when they are being preyed upon by Right wing media: 12/

https://twitter.com/Nick_Carmody/status/1119564190706835456

@BarbaraHaysSmi1 @susanmddem @WalshFreedom @LindseyGrahamSC And…..: 13/

https://twitter.com/Nick_Carmody/status/1119564435058593792

@BarbaraHaysSmi1 @susanmddem @WalshFreedom @LindseyGrahamSC The polarization of media is a huge problem because: 14/

https://twitter.com/Nick_Carmody/status/1058377446578315265

@BarbaraHaysSmi1 @susanmddem @WalshFreedom @LindseyGrahamSC and....15/

https://twitter.com/Nick_Carmody/status/1058377578300370944

@BarbaraHaysSmi1 @susanmddem @WalshFreedom @LindseyGrahamSC For many people, leaving their party is analogous to losing their religion, or leaving the church. This is a difficult process/decision that requires questioning *everything* they knew & believed up until that point, and potentially admitting it was wrong or inaccurate. 16/

@BarbaraHaysSmi1 @susanmddem @WalshFreedom @LindseyGrahamSC That is extremely unsettling, and an incredibly difficult thing to do. And like, shedding a religion, it negatively affects many, if not most, of their relationships, because we’ve reached a point where most of society associates along partisan lines. 17/

@BarbaraHaysSmi1 @susanmddem @WalshFreedom @LindseyGrahamSC This is especially true since Trump’s election…… 18/

https://twitter.com/Nick_Carmody/status/1112031498331254784

@BarbaraHaysSmi1 @susanmddem @WalshFreedom @LindseyGrahamSC To be fair this has been metastasizing well before Trump: 19/

https://twitter.com/Nick_Carmody/status/1137344730662965248

@BarbaraHaysSmi1 @susanmddem @WalshFreedom @LindseyGrahamSC But political polarization/partisanship problem actually goes even much deeper because research has shown there may be a physiological component: fMRI scans were used to show that neuroanatomical regions that are associated with physically painful experiences… 20/

@BarbaraHaysSmi1 @susanmddem @WalshFreedom @LindseyGrahamSC …exhibit increased activity when people experience social exclusion or social separation. These findings indicate that it can literally become a *painful* experience when people disagree or speak out against groups of which they consider themselves to be members. 21/

@BarbaraHaysSmi1 @susanmddem @WalshFreedom @LindseyGrahamSC This would seem to indicate that there are physiological components at play that cause people to prefer to be comfortably wrong (incorrect/uninformed), rather than uncomfortably right (correct/informed),….22/

@BarbaraHaysSmi1 @susanmddem @WalshFreedom @LindseyGrahamSC …..when being right or correct would put them in contradiction with a group with whom they share an identity, or if being right or correct would threaten their group membership. 23/

@BarbaraHaysSmi1 @susanmddem @WalshFreedom @LindseyGrahamSC If motivation or incentive for pain avoidance exists, it not only could conceivably create an aversion to objectivity or moderation, but it would incentivize groupthink, “collective narcissism”, etc. 24/

https://twitter.com/Nick_Carmody/status/1101899482948546561

@BarbaraHaysSmi1 @susanmddem @WalshFreedom @LindseyGrahamSC This is why it's so important for people to invest their identity into values, and values-driven ideas, rather than political leaders or political parties.... Because if your values remain constant,....25/

https://twitter.com/Nick_Carmody/status/1124467992018898944

@BarbaraHaysSmi1 @susanmddem @WalshFreedom @LindseyGrahamSC ….you can fluidly and flexibly disavow or relinquish membership or allegiance to people/parties/groups that run contrary to your values, rather than abandon your values in order to continue to justify your membership in and loyalty to them....26/

https://twitter.com/Nick_Carmody/status/1111278830528794626

@BarbaraHaysSmi1 @susanmddem @WalshFreedom @LindseyGrahamSC To use a slightly modified, but analogous, sports cliché: It's not the name (team/party) on the front of the jersey that matters, what matters is the name on the back of the jersey (yours),…..and the values it embraces and promotes.

Justin Amash is an example of this. 27/

@threadreaderapp please unroll