Thread by @DrGJackBrown

1/ THREAD: What explains Republican's behavior in their defense of Trump?

It's multifactorial and overlapping:

• Cult Behavior
• Kompromat (via Russia)
• Kompromat (via Trump)
• Job security (general election)
• Job security (Fear of being Primaried)
• Job prestige

2/

• Love of Power/Fear of losing power (Power both real and perceived. This is a form of addiction.
• Peer-pressure (Professional/political, Friends, Family)
• Secondary financial gain of being office holder
• Political polarization

3/

• Bribery
• Lower empathy
• Low value placed on education
• Low value placed on objectivity
• False dichotomous world-view
• Need to be led by a strong-man figure
• Living lower on Maslow's Triangle
• Fear of self-actualization ("I'm not good enough")

4/

• The tendency to stay with the familiar ("The devil you know is better than the devil you don't know")
• Increased racism/tribalism/"othering"
• Fear of physical harm for self and family
• Cowardice

5/

• Failure to admit past errors in judgment — This phenomenon occurs both consciously/openly and subconsciously/internally. The more we defend them, the more we subsequently double down, despite ample evidence to the contrary.

6/ This previous point can be restated by the following quote:

"No one defends a conman more adamantly than he who has been conned."

Piper Anne Twain

END