John Dean article explains Trump voters. REALLY!

[ncgrits]

Dean quotes an extended explanation about Trump voters from psychology professor, Bob Altemeyer:

"We know enough about authoritarian supporters from research, and history, to know it will be very hard to change their minds about the leader they adore."

He goes on with a list of what it is that makes these authoritarian supporters tick.

A little long to quote much here, but it's well worth read. It's the first thing I've come across that provides a credible explanation--especially the bullet list near the end of the article.

https://verdict.justia.com/2017/07/07/altemeyer-trumps-supporters

[Freedomofspeech]

1. Excellent read.

[hlthe2b]

2. Yes... When Dean first wrote about the authoritarian personality, it all clicked...

though it still remains unfathomable...

[Hortensis]

7. Yes, "Conservatives without Conscience" is an excellent read,

as is Professor Robert Altemeyer's preceding alert to electorates everywhere.

For those who haven't read it, it's about a certain, dreadful kind of politician seen only on the right (although authoritarianism can be found among left-wing extremist politicians also), what they're up to, and how they do it. Dean, himself a conservative but not their kind, applies Altemeyer's research to his years of observations in Washington and of American politics and politicians in general.

It's still extremely relevant and eye-opening about what's happening today, many of the same people and their protegees still at their dirty work. $0.01 on Amazon now, but I paid retail and it was so worth it.

[gordianot]

12. We are living John Dean's nightmare.

Conservatives Without a Conscience is the guide.

[mopinko]

14. yup. read it during the w years.

imho, we treat children like cattle, and this is the price.

[Hortensis]

54. I was trying to find out what had gone so wrong with the right

back then and came upon Bob Altemeyer. And, of course, then the writings of Dean, for whom this research explained so much.

[Alice11111]

66. RW radio and Fox peered into their souls& found rich

ground to plant the ideology. Most are very authoritarian.
You don't have reasonable discussions w these people .

[Hortensis]

68. Sadly, no. Especially not after RW radio and Fox grabbed

onto their weaknesses and character flaws and twisted them into a weapon.

They always make me think of the old quote "some people can be fooled all the time"--because they insist on it, but these days they've become a giant weapon being turned on democracy itself.

[Alice11111]

72. Yeah, like robotic monsters, when it comes to values &politics

[Hortensis]

73. Yes. As automatic and unthinking. That's what they do.

It may not be all they do, but politically damned near for many. A while ago I opened a little political forum out of curiosity and saw an OP admiring Rump for picking up a Marine's hat and putting it on his head. Immediately it was used to insult Obama, the first answer claiming he would of course never do pick up a Marine's hat, the next eagerly claiming he'd "spit on it!" And so on. Scary people, our neighbors.

From Altemeyer's online introduction: "Or how about a government program that persecutes political parties, or minorities, or journalists the authorities do not like, by putting them in jail, even torturing and killing them. Nobody would approve of that, right? Guess again.

... how many ordinary people do you think an evil authority would have to order to kill you before he found someone who would, unjustly, out of sheer obedience, just because the authority said to? ... Yes, the research shows they are very aggressive, but why are they so hostile? Yes, experiments show they are almost totally uninfluenced by reasoning and evidence, but why are they so dogmatic?

Yes, studies show the Religious Right has more than its fair share of hypocrites, from top to bottom; but why are they two-faced, and how come one face never notices the other?

Yes, their leaders can give the flimsiest of excuses and even outright lies about things they’ve done wrong, but why do the rank and file believe them? What happens when authoritarian followers find the authoritarian leaders they crave and start marching together?"

Link to free online download for The Authoritarians: https://theauthoritarians.org/options-for-getting-the-book/

[Alice11111]

75. Very scary, bt an least it's validation for us of how they work.

We use so much energy, thinking and discussing that what they do doesn't make sense, not just for us, but even for them. Well, it doesn't. They are lemmings who follow their "strong" authoritarian leaders. We can drive ourselves nuts trying to figure out why they do things agaist their own interests, or flip flop radically in their positions, along with their leaders. They follow that revved up passionate hate , even to protect a leader they know, or should know, is lying. It's a false loyalty and integrity. Naive, but hate filled. They are really threatened by the facts on the left. It is so much easier to follow their cult leader than figure things out.

[Hortensis]

76. Agree. "Personalities" are always criticizing Dems

for not bothering to get our message to them. Ridiculous. They're OUR fault? Well, yes, apparently.

[duhneece]

55. And what we really need is the way to influence them toward our position...

however difficult that is. We need our best minds sharing THAT.

[yallerdawg]

3. "Isn't all this true of Obama/Clinton supporters, too?"

"Answer: Yes, to a certain extent, but the studies show it’s much more prevalent “on the right.” If you want a generalization about generalizations, these things are about 2-3x as true among right-wingers as among left-wingers. Research has shown that “progressives” are much less ethnocentric, much less prejudiced, much more likely to be guided by logic and evidence, much more likely to have consistent ideas, much less likely to conform, much less likely to trust someone just because he says he agrees with them, have much more self-insight, and so on."

Forget about the brain-washed deplorables, the 'conservatives without conscience':

"With that information in mind, from someone who may understand Trump supporters better than Trump does, it is clear that to prevail in 2018 and 2020, Democrats must focus on getting sympathetic non-voters to the polls, and bring back into the fold the anti-Hillary folks, who suffered from Clinton exhaustion—voters who are clearly not right-wing authoritarians."

[Achilleaze]

4. Right Wing Authoritarians & Enemies of Freedom

[JustAnotherGen]

5. Excellent op!

A few paragraphs to entice people to read the link:


*******
Will Trump supporters never change? Answer: Some will, if their personal experience shows them Trump has misled them or caused them grief, such as a loss of medical coverage. And if you anticipate a close election in 2020, these people are worth pursuing. But Trump will blame others, and his supporters will give him the benefit of the doubt more than most people will.

Isn’t all this true of Obama/Clinton supporters too? Answer: Yes, to a certain extent, but the studies show it’s much more prevalent “on the right.” If you want a generalization about generalizations, these things are about 2-3x as true among right-wingers as among left-wingers. Research has shown that “progressives” are much less ethnocentric, much less prejudiced, much more likely to be guided by logic and evidence, much more likely to have consistent ideas, much less likely to conform, much less likely to trust someone just because he says he agrees with them, have much more self-insight, and so on.

********

How he thinks we can prevail in 2018:

"with that information in mind, from someone who may understand Trump supporters better than Trump does, it is clear that to prevail in 2018 and 2020, Democrats must focus on getting sympathetic non-voters to the polls, and bring back into the fold the anti-Hillary folks, who suffered from Clinton exhaustion—voters who are clearly not right-wing authoritarians."

[octoberlib]

6. I highly recommend reading Altemeyer's

book The Authoritarians. It's available for free at the link posted in the article.

[Duppers]

26. I have so much respect for Altemeyer.

Was introduced to his book here on DU many years ago.



There's another person who adds to Altemeyer's ground work and that's Prof. George Lakoff. I posted a small excerpt from his recent article yesterday:

The Conservative Moral Hierarchy
...

Why do conservatives love Trump (who harms them) and hate healthcare (which helps them)? It makes more sense when you consider the conservative moral hierarcy.

The Conservative Moral Hierarchy:
• God above Man
• Man above Nature
• The Disciplined (Strong) above the Undisciplined (Weak)
• The Rich above the Poor
• Employers above Employees
• Adults above Children
• Western culture above other cultures
• America above other countries
• Men above Women
• Whites above Nonwhites
• Christians above non-Christians
• Straights above Gays

On the whole, conservative policies flow from the Strict Father worldview and this hierarchy. Trump is an extreme case (he wants to be the ultimate strict father), though very much in line with conservative policies of the Republican party.

https://georgelakoff.com/2017/07/01/two-questions-about-trump-and-republicans-that-stump-progressives/

[warmfeet]

59. Did that years ago.

We have much work to do. Things are not as easy as reading an article, unfortunately. We have much work to do - oh, I said that already.

[YCHDT]

8. So basically say to his supporters "... Trump hugged a non - white person ..." and they'll leave him

... or think he's joined the other side?

[tblue37]

16. Christie lost a lot of RW supporters when he hugged Obama after the hurricane. Though he would

have lost some just for hugging a Democrat, even if the Democrat had been white, the fact that Obama is black compounded Christie's offense in their eyes.

[WhiteTara]

9. Great article and worth the read.

[mountain grammy]

10. Good post, good article.

Planning on reading the book. We must understand the enemy, and make no mistake, trump supporters are the enemy of any and all progress.

[kerry-is-my-prez]

60. Yep - Don't forget the Repugs use all kinds psychological tricks to get their voters. We need to

start understanding voter psychology.

[G_j]

11. K&R!

[riverbendviewgal]

13. The German adored Hitler in 30s and 40s

They have changed their beliefs.will it take a war on American soil to change the beliefs of those who adore trump?

[mopinko]

15. clearly some still do.

but i do worry about the long term if cheato is removed. there will be a hard core who will support him till they die, and will feel robbed if he is removed or resigns under pressure.

[tblue37]

17. A lot of Republican true believers are still furious that Nixon was removed from office.

Also, there are some (Ann Coulter, for example!) who still think Joe McCarthy was admirable and just doing his patriotic duty.

[WinkyDink]

19. LATER generations "changed their beliefs." Where is the same evidence about Hitler's contemporaries?

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

21. It might.

It took what amounted to the total destruction of that country to undo what Hitler did.

What Trump is doing here, gutting the sorts of institutions that actually help people, putting in place things that actually hurt, will not be easily undone.

[lastlib]

18. Is it possible to breed these traits out of the population?

We may have to resort to some form of eugenics. Or beatings with dimensional lumber.

[Hugin]

20. "These seemingly incongruous testing results testing high as both followers and leaders"

"have been explained as the social dominators envisioning the type of follower they want as leaders, or their willingness to be good followers until they get their chance to become leaders."

Eureka... We've just found that 19% of Americans polled who believe they are in or soon will be part of the top 1%.

I've got small hint for these idiots. YOU.WILL.NEVER.BE.IN.THE.1%... EVER!

So, start making the middle class a better place to be and stop believing the lies and get rich quick scammers. THEY.WILL.ROB.AND.RAPE.YOU! REPEATEDLY!

This explains their stand on taxes and so many other things like their falling for every self-styled evangelical huckster who blows into town.

On Edit: Damn Russian Hackers breaking the Tags. :|

[Mr. Ected]

22. It seems that some human beings are hard-wired to be drawn to authoritarianism

It explains why La Pen drew an audience, and Wilders in the Netherlands. There appears to be an element in many (all?) societies that innately wish to be ruled and not governed; told what to do and not allowed to deviate from the standard; to exert the pressure of the State on others in the population not willing to succumb. The Trump sycophants have been there all the while; they've been nurtured and a kind of mitosis has taken place as a result of generational hyperbole and propaganda from right wing media outlets.

[TexasBushwhacker]

23. They are also susceptible to authoritarian religious leaders

I've seen multiple Trump supporting posts that include "my pastor said". It's not surprising that authoritarians like Pat Robertson continue to support Trump. Meet the new boss. Same as the old boss.

[Duppers]

28. +100

That's exactly where this authoritarian crap begins - in their authoritarian religious brainwashing. Generation after generation of it.

[KingCharlemagne]

24. Bernie supporter here, but you know something? Fuck all those people (voters)

Last edited Sat Jul 8, 2017, 11:05 AM - Edit history (1)

with so-called "Clinton exhaustion" (whatever the fuck that is). Their white privilege allowed them to feel 'Clinton exhaustion' and so now minorities, LGBTQ and women have to suffer and possibly die (if ACA is repealed)? Fuck that and fuck them. They need to grow the fuck up.

I'm really sick of the American electorate and how it masks its white privilege under the guise of insipid ideas like "Clinton exhaustion".

[eppur_se_muova]

31. More like "Clinton straw man exhaustion". People are tired of the caricature of Clinton ...

... presented by the radical right, and don't do the homework needed to distinguish "FOX facts" from reality. Clinton's strength was her lifetime of experience with government and the law; the right considers anyone too familiar with government or law to be "elitists" and "DC insiders" (but THEIR guys are OK, because they hate gov't even while being part of it). Thus being well-trained for the job becomes a liability with mis- and underinformed voters, rather than the asset it should be.

[KingCharlemagne]

34. Well put! My compliments to you! - nt

[LiberalLovinLug]

45. This is true

It is sadly astonishing that Hillary's, laughed off statement, back in the ninetys about there being a "vast right wing conspiracy" was so correct. That was the start of Fox News. And it grew from there. With Clear Channel buying up all the talk radio, the insolvency of Air America. They have been slowly gaining ground, DESPITE, the country electing Obama. Obama was such a likeable, family guy, that they could find no dirt on, and they tried. But he was a blip to them.

The Clinton's have been a lightening rod for backroom strategists like Rove for decades. Because their name represented so much for the Democratic party. I am disgustingly impressed that they not only stained Bill's legacy (although he had a part in it of course) but that they were able to make Hillary into a criminal evil witch. She was for years coming out on top of most admired woman in America polls. But they were able to, through their increasing lions share of talk radio, and a sensationalist TV "news" network, slowly chip away at her reputation. Keeping alive old conspiracy theories from her and Bill's past like Whitewater and taking advantage of every little mistake she made when she did make them by exaggerating and pounding home day after day how serious of an offense she was committing.

You are right. After decades of this kind of treatment, they successfully reduced her into damaged goods. Damaged enough, combined with Crosscheck, gerrymandering, ID laws, Putin, etc etc.. to barely beat her. She should have won handily, but they had successfully created a monster. Many who voted for Trump thought "I am leary of Trump as president, but I cannot in good conscience vote in such a proven criminal in Hillary Clinton, who I have been told for years now how she will destroy the country, and turn it into a Godless libtard utupia, with no gun rights".

[not fooled]

69. Yep

The GOPee realized 20 years ago that Hillary was likely to run for president one day, and so set out to poison the well against her with years of phony, blown-up scandals. A cowed media played along by giving this garbage air time.

The result was that for the average 'Murican, years of hearing about Hillary's supposed wrongdoing worked to create a negative perception of her. I've spoken to many voters before and after the election who disliked her, but when I asked why, could only respond with vague negative statements and generalized dislike of her.

This whole sorry episode just shows that if you repeat something long enough and often enough, a lot of people will be persuaded that there's truth there. Most people are highly susceptible to propaganda and don't have or exercise their critical thinking skills to understand that they're being fed a lie.

[TexasProgresive]

25. Very good read.

We should focus on the voters we can win over and not try to change minds carved in stone.

[ananda]

27. I also like this one I found on Kos:

"Nice people made the best Nazis. ... They got along, refused to make waves, looked the other way.... They were lovely people who turned their heads as their neighbors were dragged away. You know who weren't nice people? Resisters." -- Naomi Shulman

[KingCharlemagne]

35. To put a finer point on it: Communists and Socialists. Hitler got rid of them first before

he turned to the untermenschen.

[dem4decades]

29. Good but doesn't make me feel any better.

[RKP5637]

30. K&R! n/t

[First Speaker]

32. In his quiet, understated way John Dean has become one of our best political observers...

[LAS14]

33. Is there something we can do to reduce the numbers of these people in the future? nt

[Orrex]

36. Fuck them. Fuck every last one of them.

I used to write them off simply as idiot racist fuckheads, but now I see that many might be functionally insane, well beyond the capacity to care for themselves. And their insanity is contagious.

For this reason they should be confined, not least because they've clearly demonstrated that they are a threat to themselves and others.

We have tried to empathize with them, but the do not want our empathy.
We have reached out to them, but they scorn our outreach.
We understand them, but they do not want their understanding.

What's left? Fuck them. Fuck every last one of them.

[BeekeeperInVermont]

41. I worked at the polls last November in our tiny Vermont village.

We have about 300 registered voters here and, after the election, I checked the vote outcome: about a third of our village voted for Trump. Regardless of their political affiliation, all these people are my neighbors. I work with them on village issues, help them when they need it, and accept help from them when I am in need. Is the woman who volunteers to look after our livestock when we visit my kids a Trump voter? The guy who passes our house every day and checks in if he sees something amiss? The young guy who knows my husband is waiting for a knee replacement and comes over every few days to see if there's something we need done? You can call them deplorables, "functionally insane", and claim that they should be confined, but I do not. I know just about everybody in this village and, except for the one guy with the Trump sticker on his farm truck, I would not be able to identify anybody here as a Trump voter based either on their behavior or their language; I'm certainly not going to treat all of my neighbors with suspicion just in case they are part of the 1/3 who voted Republican.

[Orrex]

44. Yes, fuck them too.

Because, at the end of the day, they said "the idiot racist fuckhead is the best choice." These clinically insane deplorables made an idiotic choice, and they will be idiot racist fuckheads until the day that we no longer have to deal with the consequences of that choice.

I'd say that I'm sorry that this upsets you, but honestly I'm not. I have no interest in excusing or coddling or enabling these people who--no matter how swell and how neighborly--made an unambiguously stupid decision with catastrophic worldwide consequences.

Fuck them. And you can tell them that I said so.

[BeekeeperInVermont]

49. Why in the world would I be upset?

I don't know you.

Since I can't tell the local Trump supporters from the Clinton voters from the small handful of Stein voters, what do you suggest? An inquisition? Or should I treat all of my neighbors as pariahs because I don't know who has the correct beliefs?

Anyway, I won't be using your suggestion, because I don't use vile language and I avoid the company of people who do, regardless of their political position. I have never checked anybody's political views before I decide whether or not they're deserving of common courtesy and I've got no plans to change that. Perhaps you would disagree.

[Orrex]

58. Well, goody for you.

Last edited Sun Jul 9, 2017, 07:09 AM - Edit history (1)

If an idiot racist fuckhead votes directly and deliberately against the basic liberties of other people, then the idiot racist fuckhead has forfeited any expectation of common courtesy.

If my vile languages offends your delicate sensibilities, then I encourage you to continue to associate with those who live in a G-rated notion of reality.

[PatrickforO]

43. As the noose tightens around Trump and his treasonous cronies,

be ready for him to use Breitbart, Fox, Drudge, Red State, and the newly minted Sinclair Broadcasting Group to incite his heavily armed supporters to rise up against the 'entrenched bureaucrats in the swamp.'

When this happens, and it will, there are two broad possibilities.

The first is that our military leaders and soldiers will remember they swore oaths to uphold the Constitution, not a particular leader. In this case, our republic will be saved.

Worst case scenario: an ultra-conservative bloc of soldiers, marines, airmen and sailors upholds the right wing and keeps Trump in power by force. Trump becomes a dictator. The resist movement becomes a resistance movement. Russia continues to support Trump and in effect, he becomes Putin's puppet.

Ultimately, war breaks out and our species becomes extinct. The earth becomes a smoking cinder upon which nothing can live.

Aeons pass. The earth heals. Another species, perhaps less destructive than ours, gains intelligence and awareness. Civilization begins again.

So...which will it be?

Tune in next week...

[not fooled]

70. Hey donnie

have another bucket of KFC. Avert dictatorship. Besides, just think about how much attention you'd get as a martyr.

[Marengo]

62. What do you mean by "confined"?

[Orrex]

63. It was a sarcastic comment on the fact...

that they've demonstrated that they are a danger to themselves and others.

The law generally allows involuntary confinement, at least briefly, for people demonstrating the capacity and willingness to commit serious self-harm. So that.


And, for the idiot racist fuckheads lurking from Conservative Shithole and/or Jerkoff Ridicules, go fuck yourselves twice.

[Grammy23]

37. Shared with several friends. Sobering reading for sure.

Those on the left have their work cut out for them if they hope to have a fighting chance in 2018-2020. If the Russians are allowed to intervene, we're toast. We cannot be complacent that now that the Russian interference has been revealed we will be okay. Not so. They are still working diligently to hack our elections, our power grid and anything else they can do to disrupt our naive little lives. To those who are ignoring the threat or minimizing it, the shock when they strike again is going to be unsettling, to say the least.

The people need some concrete evidence presented in gory detail, if possible. Even then a core group won't believe it, but the ones who only voted for tRump out of frustration or disappointment in the candidates they were offered on the left might sit up and listen. Call it Clinton fatigue combined with the hatchet job conducted by tRump with the help of the Russians, they were skimmed off and persuaded to vote for a man CLEARLY unqualified for the job. So they are not part of the hard core, and may be persuadable to reconsider their vote.

I understand that an investigation is under way and secrecy is necessary to do the work to make sure they catch the guilty and gather all the details necessary to purge them from our government. But the dirty deeds continue and the tRump administration is doing damage every day they are allowed to remain in power. Our governing bodies, our way of life, the things we hold most dear about country are at stake. Every day that things are allowed to remain as they are, we are at risk.

I don't have a clue exactly how we should proceed at this point but just hinting at the Russian interference and not informing the people that this was real and not a minor thing (or minimizing its impact on the election) is not helping at all. The ones who support tRump can continue to think it's all a made up thing---a hoax. The rest of us are held hostage by tRump and his minions, even though, clearly, there are MORE OF US than there are of the deluded tRump gang of the faithful.

[PatrickforO]

38. That's why we had 'de-Nazification' in the last half of the 1940s and into the 50s.

And STILL, by the mid-sixties, there were still Germans who hated Jews and other 'non-Aryan' peoples.

This is why, after the survivors crawl out of the ashes of our upcoming civil war, they will have to engage in a 'de-Trumpification' campaign.

Too bad there won't be another rich country in the wings like the USA was for Post-War Europe. There won't be a Marshall Plan for us, I fear.

Plague, starvation, lawlessness. Much like Missouri was after the first Civil War.

This doesn't cheer me up much.

[longship]

39. This is a tremendous thread.

I heard Dean talk during his book tour for "Conservatives Without Conscience". He is a very impressively intelligent person. He is also quite soft spoken. That's a very good combination. I'd like to use the adjective "kind" when I think of him. He is a very kind individual. I think.

He is also sharp as a tack.


R&

BTW, article at link quotes Altemeyer extensively and is a highly recommended click-through.

[klook]

64. Dean is wryly funny, too.

I saw him speak during the waning months of the Cheney-* presidency, and he said that Cheney allowed W* to believe he (W*) was actually the president.

He also said a very reliable source had told him that Cheney had engaged a private shredding service that was carting away truckloads of incriminating documents every day.

I like Dean very much, too. He has done much to atone for his time with the Nixon cabal, and he's an important voice in the current resistance.

[JHB]

40. The first comment (at the site) illustrates he problem...

Someone who swallowed every horseshit claim that came down the pike and accepted them as "facts" because they were promoted by his in-group sources and despised the people he liked to despise.

-------------------------
It is much more difficult to change the minds of Obama supporters and liberals, despite the facts; during the Obama administration: real wages declined during the eight years; the U.S. economy grew at its slowest pace since the Great Depression; millions more were on welfare; millions more were on food stamps; unemployment was stagnantly high for years at and very near 5 percent (fueled in large part by over-regulation that held the job creators down); the racial divide widened; the class divide widened; law enforcement was denigrated too often; America's leadership in the world slipped; ISIS was allowed to develop and gain strength after the pre-announced withdrawal of most of American troops from the Middle East; Americans were targeted by the IRS because of their political beliefs; health insurance premiums and deductibles skyrocketed; Iran was given a path towards nuclear armament; four Americans were killed at Benghazi because a stand-down order to the U.S. military and then a lie was told repeatedly to the American people about what caused that terrorist attack; Fast and Furious; and charges were dropped against the New Black Panthers for blatant voter intimidation.
------------------------------

There ain't no reaching people like this.

[GrapesOfWrath]

48. This just killed me

The very first reply was from somebody who embodies exactly the description of an authoritarian Dump follower... wow

[DDySiegs]

42. Altemeyer's Work Has Always Seemed Spot On

I have been touting Altemeyer's The Authoritarians for many years. It explains so much about "conservatives without conscience".

One of my take aways from Altemeyer's work is that authoritarian followers do not believe everything their chosen leader says; much more importantly they believe the LAST thing the leader says. Others have noticed this characteristic - think of George Orwell's 1984 where when Big Brother suddenly decides to go to war with a country after having been its booster, public attitude changes from friendship to total enmity literally over night.

But Trump is the real "master" of this belief of the LAST word. He realizes, whether wittingly or unwittinly, that regarding his followers he can utter blatant lie after blatant lie, day after day, without concern of losing his followers. After all they believe every LAST thing he says.

[Amaryllis]

46. This explains very well why facts are irrelevant to them.

[yonder]

47. "these things are about 2-3x as true among right-wingers as among left-wingers"

Great post, thanks ncgrits. I just put Robert Altemeyer book on my list. Other than his book, does anybody have another handy source or two which would reference that +/-"2-3x" figure?

[Bernardo de La Paz]

50. Yes, I've been posting Altemeyer research on DU for years. Here is my post a year ago

from during the election:

https://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1002&pid=8065442

(Excerpt; much more at the post)

See the research by Robert Altemeyer.

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2006/3/1/190887/-

RWA is defined as the convergence of three attitudinal clusters:

Authoritarian submission: A high degree of submission to the authorities who are perceived to be established and legitimate in the society in which one lives.
Authoritarian aggression: A general aggressiveness, directed against various persons, that is perceived to be sanctioned by established authorities.
Conventionalism: A high degree of adherence to the social conventions that are perceived to be endorsed by society and its established authorities.

[JHan]

51. thanks for those links Bernardo +++++

[yonder]

52. from my end, thanks too! This is fascinating. nt

[Tatiana]

53. There is a strong right-wing contingent in Chile that still supports Pinochet.

Sadly, these authoritarian rulers will always have their "fans."

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-24014501

"I don't believe the dictatorship was that bad," Karen told me. "It was a safer time on the streets for normal people. Now you go to the outskirts of Santiago and there are lots of drugs. There weren't back then.

"Some young people who didn't live through the dictatorship think that everything about it was bad. People of my age, who experienced it, can remember the good and the bad."

[not fooled]

71. People are the same

all over the world, in some respects.

Apparently about 1/3 of humans anywhere on the planet have the authoritarian bent.

[BigmanPigman]

56. I encountered several of them at the Impeach Trump March last weekend.

I chose not to engage them in conversation related to 45. Others attempted to speak to them calmly, rationally and realistically and of course it was like talking to a wall. It is a waste of time and energy.

[applegrove]

57. Trump is a muse to his voters. He makes them feel smarter and he allows them their

frightened tribalism and racism. He gives them wings like any muse would.

[Alice11111]

67. He makes them feel like winners.

[burrowowl]

61. K&R!!!!!!

[klook]

65. Thank you! We've got to write off these voters.

This is so important:
"...it is clear that to prevail in 2018 and 2020, Democrats must focus on getting sympathetic non-voters to the polls, and bring back into the fold the anti-Hillary folks, who suffered from Clinton exhaustion—voters who are clearly not right-wing authoritarians."

Please, Democrats, heed this! Going after voters who will never in a million years vote for you is a losing strategy. We've got to court the groups identified here to flip the narrowly won states and districts that went for Trump.

[markpkessinger]

74. Interesting so far as it goes, but I don't see it as being especially helpful

This explains Trump's core supporters very well. What it does not explain -- and what, from a political standpoint, is far more urgently in need of explanation -- is that small, but significant, slice of voters who voted for Obama in 2008 and 2012, but went for Trump in 2016, as well as the similarly small group of Sanders supporters who voted for Trump. (I was and am a very strong supporter of Bernie Sanders, but for the life of me I cannot wrap my head around a Sanders supporter who would throw his support behind Trump.)

What's more, I personally know a number of Trump voters who simply don't fit the nice, neat little package that John Dean presents. During the campaign, I had conversations with a number of Trump voters whom I know well. In those conversations, most of them would acknowledge that Trump says and tweets a lot of crazy stuff, but they dismissed that as mere campaign rhetoric intended to garner media attention. They had convinced themselves -- based on what I'm not exactly sure -- that, if elected, the demands of the office would surely cause a more sober, measured Trump. Said one of them, "I'm convinced most of the crazy stuff he says is just for effect; I mean, he couldn't possibly be that crazy and have been the successful businessman that he is." (a statement that also told me the person who was speaking it was ignorant of the exact nature of Trump's business 'success').

Look, Trump has his true believers, to be sure, and nothing is going to persuade these folks. So why expend energy trying to understand them? Better to focus on understanding those of Trump's voters who can potentially be moved rather than on those who cannot. To be sure, moving even these voters is apt to be quite difficult, not because they are unable to be moved, but because it will be difficult to get them to be willing to admit to themselves, let alone anybody else, that they got it so horribly wrong in 2016.

Honestly, I think tribalism explains Trump's victory better than authoritarianism does (not to say that Trump and his hardcore supporters aren't authoritarians). But regarding the tribalism explanation, I'd really love for someone to figure out how it is that so many working- and middle-class Americans imagine themselves to be part of the same 'tribe' as a billionaire who himself was born into great wealth.