Authoritarian voters pushed Trump to victory. Can they do it again?

[arenean]

From The Guardian:

Trump took advantage of American’s authoritarian streak in 2016 and has been busily eroding democratic norms ever since

As Donald Trump’s celebration speeches, tweets, and interviews sound increasingly authoritarian, should we be worried?

The answer, of course, is yes.

Trump has routinely relied on authoritarian appeals to keep his followers attentive and engaged with his messages. Those authoritarian appeals – like the rest of his rhetoric – violate democratic norms and endanger democracy.

In 2016, researchers found that the Republican party had an “authoritarian voter” problem that it could not control, even if it had wanted to. “Trump, it turns out, is just the symptom,” wrote Amanda Taub in Vox. “The rise of American authoritarianism is transforming the Republican Party and the dynamics of national politics, with profound consequences likely to extend well beyond this election.”

Research found that authoritarian voters tended to support authoritarian leaders “as a response to experiencing certain kinds of threats”. If a political candidate could “make people believe that the threats exist”, then they could “activate their authoritarianism”.

A Vox/Morning Consult survey found that “44% of white respondents nationwide scored as ‘high’ or ‘very high’ authoritarians”. There were authoritarian voters in both political parties, but “more than 65% of people who scored highest on the authoritarianism questions were GOP voters”. They asked respondents what made them fearful and found that they “most fear threats that come from abroad” but they also feared internal threats that they viewed as undermining the stability of the social hierarchy. These internal threats could be “in the form of rising diversity” or “any changes, political or economic, that disrupt social hierarchies” or were viewed as threatening authoritarian voters’ “status quo as they know it”.

Full story: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/jul/15/authoritarian-voters-donald-trump-election

[AZ8theist]

1. Ridiculous.

His "base" is shrinking.

He is almost universally HATED by every NON-imbecilic, NON-racist, intelligent, thinking American.

His only hope is his OWNER Vlad stealing the election for him through outright fraud.

[Bernardo de La Paz]

2. Not ridiculous. An authoritarian following tRump might actually be intelligent & more dangerous

If you ignore authoritarianism at our peril.

If tRump is not de-elected in November and ousted in January, democracy is dead in the US and it will look like what Putin's Russia has become.

Those are the stakes. Minimizing the stakes is very dangerous.

[Locrian]

3. not to mention....

that those 44% (millions of people) are not going to go away.

One of the (many) things trump has done is to enable and make them bolder.
I can't imagine what we are going to see if he (hopefully) loses - it' s going to be a continuous whining and over the top fearmongering, hate, and likely actions by them.

The likely scenario for the next probably decade is continued disasters with the virus, healthcare fallout, economics (millions out of work, homeless, repression/depression, etc), and climate change heating up more problems. Perfect petri dish for a "smart" racist / authoritarian like Tucker Carlson or whomever to emerge.


And yes - if he does manage to win it means we are literally "done" as any kind of democratic experiment. The behavior now - with pretty much ZERO consequences and restraint is terrifying. Short of the election removing him from power - VERY LITTLE is being done to control him. "Rule of Law" and "Consequences" have pretty much been suspended for 4 years.

We have a huge problem when millions are perfectly fine with having a dictator. We have an authoritarian problem - both short term and long term

[ms liberty]

4. This. And while his base has been reduced

It's more because he's shown himself as an erratic, unstable and unsuccessful leader than because authoritarianism is on the decline. Enough of his base has had that light bulb moment over the one thing or another he's done that touched them personally, and once a person has broken that spell it's hard to go back to being a true believer, IMO.
We cannot become secure and complacent even though the signs are looking good for us right now. I'll never forget 01, 04, and 16.

[brewens]

5. It's "my way or the highway" when they are in charge, "you're not the boss of me!" like

a snotty little kid when someone tells them what to do. I've seen it all my life with authoritarian types. It has nothing to do with their freedumb.

[beachbumbob]

6. aa mere minority of voters and trump has lost vast swaths of support that will not return

I have zero concern and article made me chuckle