This perfectly describes my parents. They absolutely cannot hear objective truths if they don’t align with what they already believe, or if they threaten their loyalty to trump (which they believe is patriotism). Every bit of this article felt like an A HA to read.
It also allows me some clarity, and freedom from my previous hope that maybe one day they’d see the truth. They’re not going to. 😔
As a person that has grown up in an inner-city, listening to the culture war narrative pretty much my whole life, and watched as the warrior culture instituted over-policing, using warrior culture training and mass incarceration strategy... I wonder how long until the military will be turned on us to complete the whole founders nightmare, in the name of supporting "real" America's version of the founders ideal.
When it happens, listening to the narcissist's prayer read by America's craven surviving fourth estate will be the actual final betrayal, after watching the justifications for all the other methods of urban pacification to save the union in the name of rural idealization of agrarianism.
Still listening to America's craven fourth estate as they make up excuses, justifications or rationalize and, in some cases, pay millions in tributes to be allowed to keep pretending this is OK.
Prof. Timothy Snyder describes “Cryptofascism,” where leaders push for Fascism by describing their opponents as Fascists. That is why Russia calls Ukrainians Nazis (and Fascists). If their opponents are sufficiently awful, certainly extraordinary measures must be taken.
It’s more than mere Whataboutism and projection. It’s a propaganda technique that destroys all counter arguments by having you and your opponents arguing the exact same thing and each seeing the other side with the exact same villainy.
Trump’s whole initial appeal was that he would do things no one else would do and ignore all the rules. He would say the things “we’re all thinking,” and gain laughter and applause by shocking the sensibilities of Normies with suggestions of committing violent and illegal acts.
Trump’s greatest weapon is laughter. When the crowd is laughing, hormones are released that give pleasure. Being in a crowd where everyone feels good normalizes the situation and disarms notions that what Trump is saying is extremist. When questioned about what Trump has just said, they will insist it was just jokes. And you have no sense of humor.
The “Con” in “Con Artist” is Confidence. When the Con artist seems confident in their behavior, the Mark is more likely to favorably judge their Character.
With the Crowd judging Trump favorably, locked together by dynamics of the Crowd, high on endorphins from the laughter and shared outrage, they are given a sense of purpose. They start believing that everyone in the crowd is of good character. Thus, everything they are feeling is Right, because they feel that they themselves are moral people, so their cause, though unseemly, must be morally correct.
And people who do not relate to this sense of unity of outrage are incorrect. The more they indoctrinate themselves in MAGA, the more they start to see outsiders as immoral. Then, they find being around non-MAGA alienating. Then, they are in full Cult mode.
How do we break the authoritarian mirror? How do we reach these people?
How do we talk to them to make them see the identity they've constructed and the virtues they've projected into authoritarian leaders are... fundamentally false?
My question as well. It’s good to be able to understand the MAGA mindset & why they won’t or can’t move from that thinking but what the hell then can we do about it? Is there a way to reprogram them?
they are morally reprehensible and not worth saving frankly...You can't fix morals that are THAT degenerate, debased and vile...OUTSIDE of psychological definition of authoritarianism, theirs ultimately is a MORAL failing...Quite simply they are bad people. Despite what might have 'caused' their authoritarianism...That they can't help themselves doesn't get them off the hook. We have the FUNDAMENTAL right (and obligation when vulnerable people are their targets) to protect ourselves from people so reprehensibly immoral. THESE are the people that make excuses for their church leaders who rape children...They can all FOAD as far as I'm concerned
Okay, there are some things I can understand and sympathize with, such as “east coast liberals” looking down on those without college degrees, and country folk scorning city folk for all their “book learning”, because as a country girl myself with no degree, I’ve come up against this. I can also sympathize with workers who lost their jobs due to outsourcing by greedy corporations (that is, shareholders). All these things need to be addressed and, somehow, solved and I wish I knew how this could be achieved. I’d love to see everyone have good food, a roof over their heads and meaningful work with wages that allow them to live good lives.
"I can understand and sympathize with, such as “east coast liberals” looking down on those without college degrees"
That's more of a self loathing thing I think. I'm a "country boy" without an advanced degree too but while I've been TOLD that east coast liberals look down on folks like us, I've never actually SEEN it. Educated liberals on the whole are really nice people...It definitely helps that I don't lean into presenting myself as a countrified redneck hick. Most of the folks I grew up around DID present that way, and its MEANT to send a F-U message out to 'city liberals'...its a DELIBERATELY antagonistic 'uniform'
And its THEIR loss...remember that. Non-Maga and non-authoritarians are a stabilizing force in their rudderless joyless lives...They need YOU...You don't need THEM
this one is NOT a brief read...essentially a 'book' online, but well worth nibbling through over time. Don't be fooled by its casual approach...His research is highly respected in the psych world
When MAGA voters begin to feel the real personal pain of Trumps policies such as losing Medicaid coverage is there a possibility of a mind shift ? That's what I keep saying to myself....things will change when reality begins to hit home....
You're absolutely right to hope that reality might eventually break through, but the research complicates that hope. Decades of political psychology suggest that people high in Right-Wing Authoritarianism (RWA) aren’t always authoritarian in practice. Their tendencies are often dormant until activated, usually by social upheaval, perceived threats to tradition, or fear of losing status.
We have seen shifts, like growing conservative support for same-sex marriage, which shows change is possible. But the danger is that these same voters can just as easily be pulled back into hardline stances if a leader stokes the right fears. When that authoritarian switch is flipped, they can support deeply harmful policies, even those that hurt them personally.
The real solution isn't just waiting for pain to create clarity. It's systemic. We have to fix the conditions that allow ultra-conservative populists to rise in the first place: disinformation, economic insecurity, and political structures that reward fear-mongering over policy. Only then can we lower the temperature and reduce the appeal of the authoritarian strongman.
Use this spreadsheet as a resource to call/email/write members of Congress, the Cabinet and news organizations. Reach out to your own reps, as well as those in other states on a specific committee important to a topic you’re sharing. Use your voice and make some “good trouble.”
So basically people turn to authoritarianism because they feel like a need to keep their group identity preserved and then they tie their identity to a leader. So would that mean getting authoritarians to change their identity would help break it?
Yeah—I wish I could understand why someone who lives thousands of miles away from me thinks my way of life affects them in any way. Actually, I now live a very quiet low-profile life but when I was younger, I didn’t. How, for instance, can the life of a gay Black person on rhe west coast, have any effect on the life of a white supremacist christian, while the latter does nothing but complain and condemn the former. It’s beyond me!
The hypocrisy is overwhelming! The absolute refusal to check claims and policies against reality is sickening. This is social psychosis. You are describing a commitment to "sameness" and victimhood over democratic plurality and equality. I thought understanding would bring compassion. Not this time. I'm more appalled than ever.
good catch...like narcissism and sociopathy which are almost impossible to treat, authoritarianism 100% shares that resistance...All that's lacking is an official DSM-5 acknowledgment and classification. LOL!
An absolutely brilliant analysis. What I find so fascinating is the intractable nature of hoping that MAGA looking in the mirror will change nothing. Our traumas define us.
Its nice to have a better understanding of them, but that still doesn't EXCUSE them. And if you took the internet away from them 90% of their BS would dry up and blow away...They aren't CAPABLE of navigating a world with the internet in it. They would be SO MUCH HAPPIER without it, but like heroin for a junkie, you'd have to TAKE it away from them. They wouldn't give it up on their own...you know...like a junkie
This perfectly describes my parents. They absolutely cannot hear objective truths if they don’t align with what they already believe, or if they threaten their loyalty to trump (which they believe is patriotism). Every bit of this article felt like an A HA to read.
It also allows me some clarity, and freedom from my previous hope that maybe one day they’d see the truth. They’re not going to. 😔
This article is my husband, spot on.
As a person that has grown up in an inner-city, listening to the culture war narrative pretty much my whole life, and watched as the warrior culture instituted over-policing, using warrior culture training and mass incarceration strategy... I wonder how long until the military will be turned on us to complete the whole founders nightmare, in the name of supporting "real" America's version of the founders ideal.
When it happens, listening to the narcissist's prayer read by America's craven surviving fourth estate will be the actual final betrayal, after watching the justifications for all the other methods of urban pacification to save the union in the name of rural idealization of agrarianism.
Well that rubicon was crossed in LA.
Yeah.
Took a little over a week.
Still listening to America's craven fourth estate as they make up excuses, justifications or rationalize and, in some cases, pay millions in tributes to be allowed to keep pretending this is OK.
Prof. Timothy Snyder describes “Cryptofascism,” where leaders push for Fascism by describing their opponents as Fascists. That is why Russia calls Ukrainians Nazis (and Fascists). If their opponents are sufficiently awful, certainly extraordinary measures must be taken.
It’s more than mere Whataboutism and projection. It’s a propaganda technique that destroys all counter arguments by having you and your opponents arguing the exact same thing and each seeing the other side with the exact same villainy.
Trump’s whole initial appeal was that he would do things no one else would do and ignore all the rules. He would say the things “we’re all thinking,” and gain laughter and applause by shocking the sensibilities of Normies with suggestions of committing violent and illegal acts.
Trump’s greatest weapon is laughter. When the crowd is laughing, hormones are released that give pleasure. Being in a crowd where everyone feels good normalizes the situation and disarms notions that what Trump is saying is extremist. When questioned about what Trump has just said, they will insist it was just jokes. And you have no sense of humor.
The “Con” in “Con Artist” is Confidence. When the Con artist seems confident in their behavior, the Mark is more likely to favorably judge their Character.
With the Crowd judging Trump favorably, locked together by dynamics of the Crowd, high on endorphins from the laughter and shared outrage, they are given a sense of purpose. They start believing that everyone in the crowd is of good character. Thus, everything they are feeling is Right, because they feel that they themselves are moral people, so their cause, though unseemly, must be morally correct.
And people who do not relate to this sense of unity of outrage are incorrect. The more they indoctrinate themselves in MAGA, the more they start to see outsiders as immoral. Then, they find being around non-MAGA alienating. Then, they are in full Cult mode.
Very well said!
How do we break the authoritarian mirror? How do we reach these people?
How do we talk to them to make them see the identity they've constructed and the virtues they've projected into authoritarian leaders are... fundamentally false?
My question as well. It’s good to be able to understand the MAGA mindset & why they won’t or can’t move from that thinking but what the hell then can we do about it? Is there a way to reprogram them?
they are morally reprehensible and not worth saving frankly...You can't fix morals that are THAT degenerate, debased and vile...OUTSIDE of psychological definition of authoritarianism, theirs ultimately is a MORAL failing...Quite simply they are bad people. Despite what might have 'caused' their authoritarianism...That they can't help themselves doesn't get them off the hook. We have the FUNDAMENTAL right (and obligation when vulnerable people are their targets) to protect ourselves from people so reprehensibly immoral. THESE are the people that make excuses for their church leaders who rape children...They can all FOAD as far as I'm concerned
Okay, there are some things I can understand and sympathize with, such as “east coast liberals” looking down on those without college degrees, and country folk scorning city folk for all their “book learning”, because as a country girl myself with no degree, I’ve come up against this. I can also sympathize with workers who lost their jobs due to outsourcing by greedy corporations (that is, shareholders). All these things need to be addressed and, somehow, solved and I wish I knew how this could be achieved. I’d love to see everyone have good food, a roof over their heads and meaningful work with wages that allow them to live good lives.
"I can understand and sympathize with, such as “east coast liberals” looking down on those without college degrees"
That's more of a self loathing thing I think. I'm a "country boy" without an advanced degree too but while I've been TOLD that east coast liberals look down on folks like us, I've never actually SEEN it. Educated liberals on the whole are really nice people...It definitely helps that I don't lean into presenting myself as a countrified redneck hick. Most of the folks I grew up around DID present that way, and its MEANT to send a F-U message out to 'city liberals'...its a DELIBERATELY antagonistic 'uniform'
you don't. you cut them out of your life...
And its THEIR loss...remember that. Non-Maga and non-authoritarians are a stabilizing force in their rudderless joyless lives...They need YOU...You don't need THEM
Am I the only one who sees parallels with narcissistic personality disorder here? It’s basically collective NPD enacted on a societal scale.
collective narcissism is a real phenomenon addressed by the psych world...just been reading about it lately
Could you share links for some of the things you’ve been reading? I’m interested.
https://therationalleague.substack.com/p/they-dont-see-it-because-they-need
that one^ recently...And DEFINITLY this:
https://theauthoritarians.org/
this one is NOT a brief read...essentially a 'book' online, but well worth nibbling through over time. Don't be fooled by its casual approach...His research is highly respected in the psych world
Thanks! 😊
(:
When MAGA voters begin to feel the real personal pain of Trumps policies such as losing Medicaid coverage is there a possibility of a mind shift ? That's what I keep saying to myself....things will change when reality begins to hit home....
You're absolutely right to hope that reality might eventually break through, but the research complicates that hope. Decades of political psychology suggest that people high in Right-Wing Authoritarianism (RWA) aren’t always authoritarian in practice. Their tendencies are often dormant until activated, usually by social upheaval, perceived threats to tradition, or fear of losing status.
We have seen shifts, like growing conservative support for same-sex marriage, which shows change is possible. But the danger is that these same voters can just as easily be pulled back into hardline stances if a leader stokes the right fears. When that authoritarian switch is flipped, they can support deeply harmful policies, even those that hurt them personally.
The real solution isn't just waiting for pain to create clarity. It's systemic. We have to fix the conditions that allow ultra-conservative populists to rise in the first place: disinformation, economic insecurity, and political structures that reward fear-mongering over policy. Only then can we lower the temperature and reduce the appeal of the authoritarian strongman.
"t's systemic. We have to fix the conditions that allow ultra-conservative populists to rise in the first place"
spot on...We would LITERLLY have to completely ban the entire RW 'news' media...Like literally literally...
"people high in Right-Wing Authoritarianism (RWA) aren’t always authoritarian in practice. Their tendencies are often dormant until activated"
fascinating...I've been saying for a while that conservatism is the sleeper cell phase of all fascist uprisings...LOL! looks like I was right
"begin to feel the real personal pain of Trumps policies such as losing Medicaid coverage is there a possibility of a mind shift ?"
No...that's what makes them 'them'...Its rather the deciding factor in fact
IOW, you can treat outbreaks but there IS no cure
Well researched and enlightening article. Can you write a Part 2 on what sane citizens can do to stop what you have described please?
Not a part 2, but a whole article on what can be done. I released it last night.
https://therationalleague.substack.com/p/breaking-magas-spell-a-strategy-to
thanks!
Once again...NAILED!
This is the single best post I’ve ever seen on Substack. To its authors: thank you.
Use this spreadsheet as a resource to call/email/write members of Congress, the Cabinet and news organizations. Reach out to your own reps, as well as those in other states on a specific committee important to a topic you’re sharing. Use your voice and make some “good trouble.”
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/13lYafj0P-6owAJcH-5_xcpcRvMUZI7rkBPW-Ma9e7hw/edit?usp=drivesdk
So basically people turn to authoritarianism because they feel like a need to keep their group identity preserved and then they tie their identity to a leader. So would that mean getting authoritarians to change their identity would help break it?
Yeah—I wish I could understand why someone who lives thousands of miles away from me thinks my way of life affects them in any way. Actually, I now live a very quiet low-profile life but when I was younger, I didn’t. How, for instance, can the life of a gay Black person on rhe west coast, have any effect on the life of a white supremacist christian, while the latter does nothing but complain and condemn the former. It’s beyond me!
In the absence of racism, the concept of whiteness loses its significance.
their rigidity and predictability makes them vulnerable to scammers and con artists.
The hypocrisy is overwhelming! The absolute refusal to check claims and policies against reality is sickening. This is social psychosis. You are describing a commitment to "sameness" and victimhood over democratic plurality and equality. I thought understanding would bring compassion. Not this time. I'm more appalled than ever.
good catch...like narcissism and sociopathy which are almost impossible to treat, authoritarianism 100% shares that resistance...All that's lacking is an official DSM-5 acknowledgment and classification. LOL!
When what you believe is more important than the truth.
exactly. their belief, no matter how cruel and full of hypocrisy is stronger than facts:(
And THAT is their biggest moral failing
An absolutely brilliant analysis. What I find so fascinating is the intractable nature of hoping that MAGA looking in the mirror will change nothing. Our traumas define us.
Perception is everything.
Lucid, comprehensive, frightening analysis.
So how are you going to save yourselves?
In other words, self justifying , narcissistic NAZIS.
QED
bingo.
Its nice to have a better understanding of them, but that still doesn't EXCUSE them. And if you took the internet away from them 90% of their BS would dry up and blow away...They aren't CAPABLE of navigating a world with the internet in it. They would be SO MUCH HAPPIER without it, but like heroin for a junkie, you'd have to TAKE it away from them. They wouldn't give it up on their own...you know...like a junkie