A serious take on how MAGAs think. Please read. Thank you.

[DetlefK]

They are vain creatures, obsessed with social status.
Really.
That's it. Thank you for reading.









Still here? Let me put it this way: What do we want? A higher social status than the other guy.

How can we get a higher social status than the other guy? There are two ways:
1. Increase your own social status through hard work.
2. Decrease the other guy's social status through sabotage.

That's why the MAGAs love Trump's racism and all that red-pill-Hillary-Clinton-Seth-Rich-Qanon-deep-state-drain-the-swamp-Obama-is-a-Muslim stuff.

Instead of going through the hard work of being an actual good person, they elevate their own social status by inventing a fictional evil and then declaring themselves the heroes fighting that evil. This way they reduce YOUR social status, because YOU are too stupid to see the truth.

Consider these three choices:

a) You're a boring nobody out of Whogivesashit.

b) After many years of hard work, of service and sacrifices, you have finally earned the right to look down on that other guy.

c) By wearing a MAGA-hat and tweeting "no collusion", you have finally earned the right to look down on that other guy.



What do you think why they make all this trashy Third-Reich-style art depicting Trump as king or as Superman?
What do you think why they grovel before him?
They do not worship him. He is just a tool for them declaring themselves special.
THEY SECRETLY LOVE THE FACT THAT TRUMP IS LYING, BECAUSE HIS LIES ARE THE PERFECT TEMPLATE FOR THE "ALTERNATIVE FACTS" OF THEIR CONSPIRACY-THEORIES.



They love Trump's fascism, Trump's destruction of norms, because being against the system makes them look cool and edgy and special.



Oh, you want a real-life example? Here's one: Evangelicals.
Trump is perhaps the most unchristian President ever, but the Evangelicals support him anyways.
Why?
Because they want his political power. In order to parasitize on his power, the Evangelicals declared that he really is one of their own, facts be damned.



The MAGAs cannot turn against Trump.
They have invested themselves into this.
If they were to admit that Trump in fact is a bad person, that would not only reduce their current social status from "chosen one" to "normie". It would retroactively invalidate all their self-righteous past decisions and lower their social status to someone even below a "normie".

MAGAs cannot interpret the Mueller-report as anything other than a nothingburger, because otherwise they would have to admit that their life is built on a lie.

[ismnotwasm]

1. You know

This is pretty insightful.

[Funtatlaguy]

2. Add in the racists, sexists, and morons.

[DBoon]

3. "Mass Psychology of Fascism" is too Freudian

Reich argued that the reason why German Fascism (Nazism) was chosen over Communism was that of increased sexual repression in Germany - as opposed to the somewhat more liberal (post-revolutionary) Russia. As children, members of the (German) proletariat learned from their parents to suppress nearly all sexual desire and - instead - expend the repressed energy into authoritarian idealism. Hence, in adults, any rebellious and sexual impulses experienced would cause fundamental anxiety and - therefore, instead - social control is used to reduce anxiety. Fear of revolt, as well as fear of sexuality, were thus "anchored" in the 'character structure' of the masses (the majority). This influenced the irrationality of the 'people' and allowed (irrational) 'populistic' ideology to flourish, Reich argued:[5]

Thought it is consistent with repressive religious upbringings generating authoritarian political stances

I think you are on to something by focusing on dominance hierarchies

"The Authoritarian Personality" was onto something: https://www.psychologistworld.com/influence-personality/authoritarian-personality

In 1950, Harper and Row published a book that had all the earmarks of a blockbuster in the field of psychology. The Authoritarian Personality was an attempt by a group of researchers to explain the conditions that allowed Nazi-ism to gain a foothold in Europe. The researchers, led by Theodor Adorno and Max Horkheimer, used various psychological scales to attempt to explain racism and the atmosphere that led to the slaughter of six million Jews and others in psychological terms. The book weighed in at a hefty near-1000 pages, and included contributions from a number of social psychologists who helped to correlate and analyze the data collected.
...

According to Adorno's theory, the elements of the Authoritarian personality type are:

Blind allegiance to conventional beliefs about right and wrong
Respect for submission to acknowledged authority
Belief in aggression toward those who do not subscribe to conventional thinking, or who are different
A negative view of people in general - i.e. the belief that people would all lie, cheat or steal if given the opportunity
A need for strong leadership which displays uncompromising power
A belief in simple answers and polemics - i.e. The media controls us all or The source of all our problems is the loss of morals these days.
Resistance to creative, dangerous ideas. A black and white worldview.
A tendency to project one's own feelings of inadequacy, rage and fear onto a scapegoated group
A preoccupation with violence and sex

[pangaia]

10. Those last seven listed sure sound like you know who....

[Salviati]

4. reminds me of the videos from this thread

https://www.democraticunderground.com/1017536156

[hibbing]

5. I like this post n/t

[HelenWheels]

6. My cousin's daughter is changing

She was a true Trump lover until recently. She has a summer home in Brownsville TX and has become upset over the border idea. She says it is not needed and will destroy the area she is living in. My cousin, her Mom, is elated.

[pangaia]

11. The interesting thing being that only when something affects her does she 'see.'

So common, is it not.

[JohnnyRingo]

7. I believe it.

This "demean others to raise my status" mentality is the same motive behind those who would cut social services to the poor. I guess it's no fun being the working poor unless one has a massive base of less fortunate to spit upon. It certainly doesn't make them better off.

Extrapolating that mind set to Trump supporters in general seems reasonable. They'll never get tired of "all the winning".

[Blecht]

8. I see this as an expansion of what LBJ once articulated

"If you can convince the lowest white man he's better than the best colored man, he won't notice you're picking his pocket. Hell, give him somebody to look down on, and he'll empty his pockets for you."

[Butterflylady]

17. I can just hear Johnson saying that, too

[irisblue]

9. Add in a growing sense of victimization and anger

Because increasing the educational/social/political/cultural status of 'the other', both POC and women.

[a kennedy]

12. MSNBC just asked some Americans about the report.......

out of the 3 that were asked.....2 out of 3 said they will vote for tRump again.....and one even said even tho tRump was a despicable person, he’d still vote for him.

[DetlefK]

20. They have to say that. They can't admit that they are leaving Trump.

Only roughly half of republican voters is actually hardcore Trump-voters. Democrats can peel away a slice of the rest.

And there is the question how many people say in public that they would vote for Trump but can't bring themselves to actually vote for him after everything he has done. If just 1% of republican voters feel that way, that's already big.

[ScratchCat]

13. Great thread

You put it to better words than I have in my attempts.

Also want to point out that the "raise my status by demeaning others" is like the crux of modern christiantity with their "look at all those evil people" silliness while they are molesting children, fooling around on their wives, are drunkards, etc...

[OMGWTF]

15. These days whenever someone feels compelled to tell me what a great Chrisitian they are

I say "Thanks for the warning" and run the other way.

[Hortensis]

14. Or to put it differently, MAGAs mostly believe in a natural order,

position determined by a person's worth or lack of it. Thus, the humanitarian, liberal beliefs in equality and equal rights that are inborn instead of earned don't really ping with them. They believe that using government to guarantee equality leads to degradation of society as people aren't forced to live with the consequences of their actions.

We all believe this to a degree because there is a measure of good sense in it.

But these days under the influence of anti-tax and anti-government interests, the typical strong conservative takes it to a great degree that trumps all the teachings of modern morality and even those of their religion. In fact, for some it's replaced the traditional teachings of Jesus and for nonbelievers has taken on the conviction of religious belief.

No surprise. Versions of belief in a natural order are ingrained in the teachings of all great religions. Being shut out of heaven, hellfire, are only the ultimate punishment for failing to be worthy, a deity's favor and grace here on earth and beyond the rewards.

What did surprise me was learning that social conservatives are not just comfortable with inequality and resulting problems of those "below" them but also of themselves being in the same position compared to those above them. A certain amount of exploitation and foot-on-neck in both directions is only a natural part of a stable, healthy order and therefore right.

And as for social status, basically yes. Conservatives aren't stupid enough to assume prosperity and position always prove worth, but they believe they usually do. Outer signs like well-kept lawns and clean, newish cars are considered pretty reliable indicators of lives lived properly.

[jayschool2013]

16. Where is it?

Consider these three choices:

a) You're a boring nobody out of Whogivesashit.

That's just north of Little Rock, right?

[Karadeniz]

18. I sure wish I could find an article I read, probably here. A study was done about the choices people

make. It involved financial choices which were subconsciously spurred by social status. Unfortunately, those choices were so contrary to my logical and liberal brain, the details of the choices were rejected. All I remember is that people were actually willing to sacrifice their own wellbeing to put others in a financial hole, just what you're talking about.

Does anyone remember that study? I've tried to locate it, unsuccessfully.

[louis-t]

19. Or you can kick the other guy's golf ball into the sand.

[TrishaJ]

21. Excellent analysis....and I agree

I've always believed "christians" hated LGBTQ and women because being a good "christian" put them in favor with god and that special favor makes them feel superior because they are not "second class" or "sinful" like LGBTQ and women.

[lunatica]

22. Psychologically he is just like them

They lie, cheat and swindle just like he does. They invent a delusion of themselves as good people by using all the stereotype labels like “Christian” to describe themselves. They will claim to be good parents when in reality they snarl at their kids, or neglect them, or punish them for being different. They will claim to be your friend when in reality they are envious and resentful, or they will bully you if you’re different, brown, Black or Gay.

They completely ‘get’ Trump because they see themselves if they were rich. They love him because he can do the nasty things they want to do and would do if they had his power. They are sadistic, vengeful and angry because they can’t just hurt you on a whim.

[defacto7]

23. Sounds to me like you have an excellent take on it.

Martin Luther once said, what harm is there in a lie, a good lie... as long as it's for the good of Christ and the church. The Roman historian Eusebius (Constantine's biographer) said the same about lies for the church although he called them his "medicinal fictions". Thomas Aquinas and St. Augustine said lies for the Christ are forgivable. The idea of brainwashing the masses and controling the message through lies in the name of ideology is entrenched in our society. No wonder people fall for ficticious memes that bolster their egos so easily and completely.