There's a long road ahead, but the only way the fever breaks is if they see their god fail.
He did fail on November 3rd, but Trump insulated them from the epistemic consequences of that failure for two months. On the 20th, it'll crash down on them, delayed like a sonic boom.
He did fail on November 3rd, but Trump insulated them from the epistemic consequences of that failure for two months. On the 20th, it'll crash down on them, delayed like a sonic boom.
https://twitter.com/parlertakes/status/1349509459219890179
Trump's currency with the MAGA crowd was, in part, embodying impunity. An impunity they all aspire to--freedom from restraint, consequences, law, ethics, or norms. The ability to act like the main character of your own video game; total solipsism.
And Trump has never seriously been told "no" in his life by anyone he cared about until November 3rd. He got away with everything, had everything handed to him, made everyone cower in fear of his childish caprice. His fans want the same power for themselves.
When, at last, he *fails* and suffers consequences for that failure, it shatters the illusion. Not a god-emperor, just a pathetic man who's been running a con this whole time. And many still believe somehow, magically, on January 20th, he'll still be President.
Because Trump doesn't fail. He can only *be* failed. Except that failure will become apparent; he lost, he'll no longer be President. His business and brand are imploding all around him. He's rapidly becoming a pariah for cheerleading sedition. What then for his fans?
Only when they see their god fail can they even begin to have a hope of reckoning with the painful truth. And then *their* long road begins. But many of them will be hoovered up into other precincts of right wing/white supremacist politics and other conspiracy theories.
But so far as the Trumpian cult goes, it fails when the illusion of impunity is shattered. When he is no longer the avatar of "do whatever you want because the rules don't apply to you" the shine will come off.
The next phase of the threat is, of course, a "lost cause" myth and our version of the Dolchstoßlegende. White nationalists and neo-Nazis will find willing recruits. But there will be, in the immediate term, wailing grief and rage as millions realise at once there is no "plan."
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