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“Trump's supporters want chaos and destruction. When their bad drug high finally wears off, it won't be pretty.”
@KremlinAnnex @hr_indivisible @RepDonBeyer
New research on right-wing psychology points toward big trouble ahead salon.com/2019/09/17/don…
@KremlinAnnex @hr_indivisible @RepDonBeyer
New research on right-wing psychology points toward big trouble ahead salon.com/2019/09/17/don…
“Trump is unapologetic and unabashed in his contempt for American democracy and the rule of law. Many mental health professionals have concluded he is unwell. He lacks impulse control and evidences sociopathic behavior.”
“Trump acts like a self-styled mob boss — a corrupt bully who forces his subordinates to ‘kick up’ to him.
America’s own spies do not trust our unpredictable president to act responsibly with the country’s secrets.”
America’s own spies do not trust our unpredictable president to act responsibly with the country’s secrets.”
“Trump is mercurial in his cruelty, waiting until people are in dire need to punish them, often based on sheer bigotry and racism. Most recently he has refused to let desperate people from the Bahamas enter the United States after their homes were destroyed by Hurricane Dorian.”
“[Trump] tells his subordinates to break the law as they execute his plans and promises to pardon them if they do so. He fires people on a whim in order to ensure their loyalty. He ignores any restraints on his power as mandated by the Constitution.”
“Progress is under assault in America as Trump and his allies are overturning the human and civil rights of nonwhites, women, LGBT people, the disabled and everyone else he and his movement deem to be ‘less than’ and the Other.”
“Trumpism is a form of backlash politics fueled by white rage at a perceived loss of privilege and power in a more diverse and cosmopolitan world. Trumpism is a temper tantrum along the global color line fueled by anxieties about power and social dominance.”
“Trumpism is doing the work of...an ideology which holds that the destruction of the existing social order must be hastened, regardless of the human cost.... [It’s] a means through which a right-wing, reactionary version of accelerationism is being enacted in the United States.” 
“Predictably, white supremacists and other right-wing terrorists have embraced accelerationism because they understand it to be a viable strategy for destroying multiracial society.”
“[N]ew research shows how backlash politics and accelerationism are lived through and experienced by Trump’s supporters — and make clear that Trump’s hold on them will be difficult if not impossible to break.”
LK: Ie, a cult.
LK: Ie, a cult.
Research: “Trump’s supporters are attracted to chaos and want to inflict it on others. They reached this conclusion by surveying a representative sample of approximately 6,000 people in Denmark (a country with comparatively low political polarization) and the United States.”
Qs:
“• I fantasize about a natural disaster wiping out most of humanity such that a small group of people can start all over
• I think society should be burned to the ground
• Sometimes I just feel like destroying beautiful things
• There is no right and wrong in the world”
“• I fantasize about a natural disaster wiping out most of humanity such that a small group of people can start all over
• I think society should be burned to the ground
• Sometimes I just feel like destroying beautiful things
• There is no right and wrong in the world”
“The answers...do not bode well.... Nearly one in four respondents...agreed that society should be burned to the ground, while a remarkable 40 percent agreed with the statement, ‘We cannot fix the problems in our social institutions, we need to tear them down and start over.’...
...”Similarly, 40 percent agreed with the statement, ‘When it comes to our political and social institutions, I cannot help thinking “just let them all burn.”’”
“People who measure high in ‘Need for Chaos’ are also more likely to circulate conspiracy theories online. This is done not out of sincere belief but rather from a desire to cause chaos and confusion.”
“Right-wing authoritarians—a group that strongly correlates with Trump supporters and Republicans—are also emotionally immature....[concludes] social psychologist Alain Van Hiel [et al. in] ‘The Relationship Between Emotional Abilities and Right-Wing and Prejudiced Attitudes.’”
“‘People who endorse authority and strong leaders and who do not mind inequality — the two basic dimensions underlying right-wing political ideology — show lower levels of emotional abilities.’”
Other research: “Trump supporters and other conservatives...likely...exhibit what psychologists call the ‘dark triad’ of human behavior—Machiavellianism, psychopathy and narcissism[. W]e must consider the possibility of significant political violence if and when [he’s] removed.’”
They “see Trumpism as their best chance to destroy America’s multiracial democracy, profit from environment disaster, gut the social safety net, destroy the commons, slash taxes on the wealthy and large corporations, or (in extreme cases) install a Christian nationalist regime.”
Trump’s political body: “his coalition of white right-wing evangelicals, white suburbanites who do not care about democracy or the country’s overall health as long as their 401(k) accounts continue to grow, and bigoted, rage-filled members of the infamous ‘white working class.’”
“Does Donald Trump’s political body and fascist movement have a heart? Yes. But it is an organ incapable of caring, concern, empathy or concern for human dignity. Nevertheless, the Trumpist heart beats hard and fast.”
“[T]he beating heart of Trump’s political body...are his superfans, people who have attended dozens of Trump’s political rallies, traveling all over the country to show devotion to their Great Leader.
Donald Trump is their drug.”
Donald Trump is their drug.”
“Trump is their drug...
‘All of them describe, in different ways, a euphoric flow of emotions between themselves and the president, a sort of adrenaline-fueled, psychic cleansing.’”
LK: Ie, cult.
‘All of them describe, in different ways, a euphoric flow of emotions between themselves and the president, a sort of adrenaline-fueled, psychic cleansing.’”
LK: Ie, cult.
“Trump delivers human cocaine for his followers. He is is both a cult leader and a political drug dealer. Inevitably, Trump’s voters will come crashing down from their political cocaine high. Unfortunately, they will not suffer alone in well-deserved and hard-earned misery.”
“[W]e can expect them [to] lash out against the rest of the American people and the world in a fit of destruction and chaos.”
