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MAGA NATION

The Psychological Factors of a Trump Supporter

By Sarah DickinsonPublished 4 years ago 6 min read
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If you’re anything like me it’s hard to find your place on the political spectrum. Never really identifying or fitting in with either party. Maybe the world of politics never held your interest or attention. Maybe politics is the bane of your existence as it fuels a hate fire deep in Your soul whenever the topic is bought up.

Despite your affiliation or beliefs one thing that is undeniable is the omnipresence of Trump supporters. Perhaps, if you like me, you find yourself scratching your head and wondering were Trump supporters always this angry and loud? Were they masking hatred as passion and selfishness as patriotism even in 2016?

The answer isn’t the resounding yes, we all want to believe, as there has always been a clear line between a Trump voter and a Trump supporter. In fact, the majority of people who gave Trump their vote didn’t particularly like him. They were voting against Hilary or voting against the system itself. About 35% of Trump voters are the very heart and soul of MAGA nation, and with the actions and words of the POTUS they are the only men standing.

Reason and logic tells us that the reason Trump supporters seem more extreme, loud, brutal and aggressive is because the die hard, hard core ones are all that’s left. And honestly with a president and administration that openly mocks intelligence and devalues education so brazenly how can we even be surprised. What might be surprising is that this small percent of the population that makes up MAGA nation have some striking similarities shared by all ardent Trump supporter.

So, lets take a moment to examine the psychological aspects that lead people to support a POTUS with a recorded 20,000 verified lies told to the public since taking office. (The Fact Checkers Database has a recorded 19,127 established lies as of July 1st, with an average of 16 false claims per day)

1) TRUMP SUPPORTERS HAVE THE EMOTIONAL MATURITY OF A TODDLER

A surprise to no one, ardent Trump supporters are very much like Trump himself, they simply lack the power and money to get away with the same behavior. They are predominately bullies, racist, misogynistic, and undereducated. Yes, Trump may have millions, but that is all thanks to his Daddy, as he merely holds a bachelor’s degree in Economics.

As noted, what his supporters lack is money and power, and this contributes to an overwhelming feeling of powerlessness. This feeling of helplessness is a key to the emotional hold Trump has over them and why facts are impenetrable to their support.

Election campaigns are based on tapping into our emotions. Sometimes they aim is a positive feeling, and sometimes like Trump’s election it’s a negative one. Tapping into fear and anger the campaign trail hit the jackpot when they triggered the “primitive morality” of their core supporters.

Primitive morality is commonly known as “might makes right” and is part of normal emotional development that the average person grows out of by 5 years old. When you are emotionally stunted and full of feelings of powerlessness displays of exaggerated force are more important to you than either truth or ability. So, with Trump’s grandiose omnipotence on full display when he lies in the face of truth or responds with criticism to facts, he is appealing to his emotionally needy followers. Truth and character don’t matter, it is the perception of winning that does.

2) AUTHORITARIAN PERSONALITY DISORDER

Authoritarian personality disorder is a state of mind that is characterized by a belief in total and complete obedience to that authority. People afflicted by this personality disorder have many traits. They carry a blind allegiance to conventional beliefs about right and wrong and respect submission to acknowledged authority. They believe in aggression towards any who do not subscribe to their sense beliefs. They have a negative view of people in general. (all people lie, steal, etc) They have a belief in simple answers as well as a need for strong leadership that displays uncompromising power. They hold a black and white worldview and are resistant to creative ideas. They also have a tendency to project their own feelings of inadequacy, rage and fear onto scapegoated groups, as well as a preoccupation with violence and sex.

Unsurprising studies done in the fields of social and political psychology has found an overwhelming number of supporters of both Donald Trump and Adolf Hitler suffered from this personality disorder.

3) SOCIAL DOMINANCE ORIENTATION

Social dominance orientation is a personality trait that predicts both social and political attitudes and is a widely used social psychological scale. People in this category have a preference for the social hierarchy of groups (the powerful rule the weak, the rich dominate the poor) specifically within the structure with the high-status groups having dominance over the lower status ones. People with this personality also tend to have dominate personalities, are tough-minded, and driven by their own self interests.

4) PREJUDICE

It is fairly obvious at this point, especially when the POTUS doesn’t even attempt to hide his racism or sexism anymore. If he ever really did. January 2018 inn an oval office meeting with lawmakers he referred to immigrants from Africa & Haiti as coming from “shitholes”. In fall of 2017 during a briefing from a Korean American Intelligence analyst he referred to her as. “that pretty Korean lady” before asking her where she was from. New York was not an acceptable answer and he continued to bully her of her “real “origin. He refused to publicly denounce the rally organized by white supremacists or the one who ran over a woman with his car in August of 2017. As well as picking advisors and cabinet officials whose careers are spotted by accusations of racism and anti-Semitism. The examples of obvious and wanton racism runneth over with this president and they are sentiments echoed by his most loyal of followers.

5) INTERGROUP CONTACT THEORY

Intergroup contact theory is the hypothesis of psychology and other social sciences that prejudice between a majority and minority group can be effectively reduced through repeated exposure. Repeated contact between members of different groups is an effective means of reducing mutual prejudice as well as increase trust, forgiveness and empathy. A 2016 study found that Trump’s white supporters had significantly less contact with minorities than his adversaries. The study specifically quoted that “the racial and ethnic isolation of whites at the zip-code level is one of the strongest predicators of Trump support.”

6) RELATIVE DEPRIVATION THEORY

Relative deprivation is the belief that a person who feels deprived of something considered inherently valuable in their society believes they are entitled to it. It is this discontent one feels when they compare their station in life to others that they feel are inferior to them but have more success than them. This kind of deprivation is specifically referred to as relative and not absolute because the feeling is based on the skewed perception of what they are entitled to.

When we consider the psychological traits shared by Trump’s most loyal of supporters it’s much easier to make sense of the behavior, we are continually being forced to bear witness too. The best we can hope to achieve with this understanding is to recognize it is not worth our breathe to argue with or try to educate or explain. Instead we must carry on and focus on saving our society, democracy and country by doing all within our power to remove this man from office. Once he loses this aspect of his power and influence, we can begin to rebuild and heal, both our country and society.

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About the Creator

Sarah Dickinson

I'm a lifelong resident of beautiful upstate New York. Mother of two amazing humans and three equally awesome rescue dogs. I'm the author of Silver Spoons : One's Journey Through Addiction, and I'm currently working on my follow up novel.

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