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Thread: The Psychology Behind the Trump Cult

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    Default The Psychology Behind the Trump Cult

    The human brain does not like cognitive dissonance. Rather than live with contradiction, we figure out a way to reduce it. How far are we willing to go to do this? Pretty far.

    A psychological mechanism inclines us toward consistency, especially when our beliefs and behavior are in conflict. While we often hold contradictory views, obvious contradictions make us feel uncomfortable. By nature we aren’t Walt Whitmans. “Do I contradict myself? Very well, then I contradict myself, I am large, I contain multitudes,” Whitman says in his poem “Song of Myself.” But that’s not how the brain operates. The human brain does not like cognitive dissonance—as social psychologist Leon Festinger dubbed the phenomenon in the 1950s. Rather than live with contradiction, we figure out a way to reduce it. How far are we willing to go to do this? Pretty far.

    In his landmark study of cognitive dissonance, When Prophecy Fails [3], Festinger tells the remarkable story of a Chicago housewife turned mystic who became convinced that the world was coming to an end. A great flood, she predicted, would envelop the globe, ending humanity.

    She learned this, she claimed, via a message from another planet. All but she and her followers would be lost, she said. They would be saved after being flown in a flying saucer to another planet, Clarion. In anticipation of the end of the world her followers sold their belongings: houses, furniture—they sold it all. Then the date of apocalypse arrived.

    It was December 21, 1954. She and her followers dutifully gathered to await their deliverance from the hell that earth was about to become. They expected it to happen as the clock struck midnight. But nothing happened. Perhaps God wasn’t on Central Standard Time. So they waited.

    Minutes passed, then hours. Still nothing. But this did not shake their belief in the prophecy.

    Once they realized that no flying saucer was whisking them away and that no great flood was coming, they concluded that they had saved the world from destruction. Their example of faith had so moved God that he had decided to spare humanity. They saved us all.

    It is easy for us, from our vantage point, to think of these folks as ridiculous believers in magical thinking. But what they fell victim to was a form of thinking to which we are all highly susceptible. We all want to believe what we believe is true. That’s the Perseverance Bias in action. Once we settle on a view of the world, we are inclined to persist in it. If forced to confront inconvenient facts—as the Chicago cultists were forced when life on earth didn’t come to an end—we are capable of going to great lengths to explain them away. That’s because we absolutely hate cognitive dissonance.

    Whether something in our culture and history leads Americans to succumb to magical thinking more than people in other countries, as Edward Simon claims in another article [4] on HNN, it's characteristic of humans in some form all around the world. That in certain times and under certain circumstances more people fall for it is undeniable. It is beyond certain that we are in one such period now.

    By Rick Shenkman


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    Once the Trade War heats up, the Disciples may re-think their Devotion.

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    Trump will destroy the Obama recovery just in time for the November elections.
    We have the intellect to imagine the finality of our own demise but do not have the sophistication to overcome our survival instinct and accept it.
    Solution? Magical thinking and childish promises of everlasting life.
    Ergo, religion.

    rac·ist
    rāsəst/noun
    a person who believes that a particular race is superior to another.
    Ask yourself honestly if this describes what you believe to be true.
    If the answer is yes, you are a racist.

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    Trump supporters are truly deluded people. I'm sure we're all capable of this, but right now, they're the most clear illustration of this incredible weakness we seem to have.

    I continue to be amazed. It's not just people who are glad a Republican in office. They genuinely love (and some worship) this epic boor.

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    Personality cults are a dime a dozen in the U.S. Politicians, celebrities, hell, Americans are even obsessed with that degenerate British royal family. My point is, every time a new politician is elected, there's a personality cult. Trump, Obama, Bush, Clinton. Sometimes it's the Republicans' turn, sometimes it's the Democrats'. The world is truly bizarre.

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    Quote Originally Posted by Thing1 View Post
    Trump supporters are truly deluded people.

    A striking thing is that many (but not all) fundamentalist Christians are willing, even eager to overlook Trump's despicable character. Some say: yes, he was like that once, but he's been born again. There is zero evidence for that but they seem to believe it. Others say it doesn't matter because he gave us Gorsuch, or he's going to fix the Muslims, or whatever.

    There are Bible Christians among Trump fans on this board. How do they justify these moral contortions? Or don't they see the need to?

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    Quote Originally Posted by Tranquillus in Exile View Post
    A striking thing is that many (but not all) fundamentalist Christians are willing, even eager to overlook Trump's despicable character. Some say: yes, he was like that once, but he's been born again. There is zero evidence for that but they seem to believe it. Others say it doesn't matter because he gave us Gorsuch, or he's going to fix the Muslims, or whatever.

    There are Bible Christians among Trump fans on this board. How do they justify these moral contortions? Or don't they see the need to?
    ... just my opinion.

    They (Evangelicals and other Believers) think Trump will stack the Judiciary with 'Christians', thus ... this will eventually roll back 'Abortion', 'School Prayer', 'Gay Marriage', etc.
    (... and they may be right)

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    Che Obama: the new cult of personality
    Why does no one else find it creepy that Obama’s image now adorns everything from t-shirts to hats to train tickets?

    http://www.spiked-online.com/newsite...0#.WyaR48opA0M

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    Quote Originally Posted by Zarathustra View Post
    Personality cults are a dime a dozen in the U.S. Politicians, celebrities, hell, Americans are even obsessed with that degenerate British royal family. My point is, every time a new politician is elected, there's a personality cult. Trump, Obama, Bush, Clinton. Sometimes it's the Republicans' turn, sometimes it's the Democrats'. The world is truly bizarre.
    Yeah. I feel the same about the phrase "identity politics".

    Gimme a phuggin' break, it's all identity politics, always has been.

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    The last one to figure out a con, is the one being conned. They believe until they are absolutely forced to learn. The Repubs are in deep con right now. Trump was amazed when he figured out how easy it was. That speech about shooting someone on 5th avenue and not losing votes should have insulted his followers. It told how conned they were. I can do whatever i want and they will still be there. Being taken for granted like that would insult me. You guys think you are in a special club.

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    Quote Originally Posted by volsrock View Post
    Che Obama: the new cult of personality
    Why does no one else find it creepy that Obama’s image now adorns everything from t-shirts to hats to train tickets?

    http://www.spiked-online.com/newsite...0#.WyaR48opA0M
    Like MAGA hats.

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    Quote Originally Posted by Nordberg View Post
    The last one to figure out a con, is the one being conned. They believe until they are absolutely forced to learn. The Repubs are in deep con right now. Trump was amazed when he figured out how easy it was. That speech about shooting someone on 5th avenue and not losing votes should have insulted his followers. It told how conned they were. I can do whatever i want and they will still be there. Being taken for granted like that would insult me. You guys think you are in a special club.
    I'm sorry, but the con began back around 1492 and has never let up.

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    this explains the global warming fanatics lol. I think they have predicted end of the world scenarios for 5 dates that have passed now and the cult still follows them.

    Cognitive Dissonance indeed.
    is on twitter @realtsuke

    https://tsukesthoughts.wordpress.com/

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    Quote Originally Posted by Tranquillus in Exile View Post
    A striking thing is that many (but not all) fundamentalist Christians are willing, even eager to overlook Trump's despicable character. Some say: yes, he was like that once, but he's been born again. There is zero evidence for that but they seem to believe it. Others say it doesn't matter because he gave us Gorsuch, or he's going to fix the Muslims, or whatever.

    There are Bible Christians among Trump fans on this board. How do they justify these moral contortions? Or don't they see the need to?
    I was listening to Christian radio on a long drive I had last week. It's really weird how they talk about Trump - definitely deluded. It means a LOT to them that he is so committed publicly to being pro life.

    But many have fallen into a deep state of denial. They were talking on the show about how humble he has become since taking office, and how wonderful his values are. It's just a disconnect from reality.

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    Quote Originally Posted by Zarathustra View Post
    Personality cults are a dime a dozen in the U.S. Politicians, celebrities, hell, Americans are even obsessed with that degenerate British royal family. My point is, every time a new politician is elected, there's a personality cult. Trump, Obama, Bush, Clinton. Sometimes it's the Republicans' turn, sometimes it's the Democrats'. The world is truly bizarre.
    Yet the op stands. Other personality cults you mentioned, if they indeed were, do not involve such a loathesome human. Trump is the most obviously dispicable miscreant ever to hold this office. They voted for this piece of excrement despite that.

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