The Trump voters who believe Trump is honest.

[fightforfreedom]

This is proof Trump voters have completely shut down the frontal lobe of their brain. The part of the brain that is used for reasoning, decision making. Trump voters are pretty much functioning with their Brain stem and the emotional part of their brain only.

[fightforfreedom]

1. Here's a question that needs to answered.

Does propaganda cause people to shut down the reasoning, decision part of their brain, letting the emotional part of their brain to take over. Or, does propaganda easily infect people who already think this way?

[MissMillie]

2. I think the data shows that people seek out propaganda that supports their "reasoning" (n/t)

.

[fightforfreedom]

3. There has to be more to it.

Reasoning is not what they are doing. In order to believe Trump is honest you have to ignore reality completely.

[MissMillie]

4. precisely why I used quotes (n/t)

.

[Chainfire]

6. Yes

Some people need to "believe" in something, be a part of something, and they will shut down anything that gets in the way. It is the reason that there are clubs, religions and various other cults. If you wear blinders, and closely follow the person in front of you, you can avoid seeing things that may disturb you.

Sometimes I envy those types of folks, they have an uncomplicated life. Monkey see, monkey do.

[Buckeye_Democrat]

5. Most of them are right-wing authoritarians, and...

Last edited Sun Mar 20, 2022, 11:24 AM - Edit history (1)

... that kind of cognitive dissonance is supposedly common among them.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Right-wing_authoritarianism
Right-wing authoritarians tend to accept what their leaders say is true and readily comply with their commands. They believe that respecting authority is an important moral virtue that everyone in the community must hold. They tend to place strict limits on how far the authorities can be criticized, and believe that the critics are troublemakers who don't know what they are talking about. RWAs are extremely submissive even to authority figures who are dishonest, corrupt, and inept. They will insist that their leaders are honest, caring, and competent, dismissing any evidence to the contrary as either false or inconsequential. They believe that the authorities have the right to make their own decisions, even if that includes breaking the rules that they impose on everyone else.


Article from January 2016, months before the general election:
https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2016/01/donald-trump-2016-authoritarian-213533/
If I asked you what most defines Donald Trump supporters, what would you say? They’re white? They’re poor? They’re uneducated?

You’d be wrong.

In fact, I’ve found a single statistically significant variable predicts whether a voter supports Trump—and it’s not race, income or education levels: It’s authoritarianism.


Their brains work like the loyal Nazis in Germany decades ago.

EDIT:
I scored a ZERO on this supposed RWA test a few years ago (which was criticized by someone at DU for being a ridiculously simplistic test), so I don't understand the behavior.
https://openpsychometrics.org/tests/RWAS/

My evangelical Christian sister is a Trump supporter, and I know with certainty that she'd answer many those questions differently than I did. I'd never ask her to try that test because she'd refuse anyway, not trusting it since it's not Bible-related. I should try taking it again, but answering the questions how I'm almost certain she'd answer them -- to get a better idea of where she lies on the RWA spectrum. (I just did it, and my best guesses of how my sister would answer those questions resulted in a score for right-wing authoritarianism at 79.55%. Higher scores indicate more right-wing authoritarianism.)

[UncleTomsEvilBrother]

7. Humble, Gentle Question...

...: Why does it seem so easy to point at the mental deficiencies of rightwing voters? Is it an attempt to marginalize them from being "normal"? Does their "shut down frontal lobe" make us cope better?

Why is it so hard to simply call them regular human beings who are hateful, racists, bigots, and misogynists - similar to the ones who have always made the most noise in this country? As a person who is a descendent of American slavery, it's almost insulting to think the people who speak the same language of the Confederacy are now mentally incapable human beings. (Mind you, this same language was also in the US Constitution when it came to Black "personhood" and women voting).

I am in deep red Georgia (sometimes hopelessly) canvassing for candidates who run against forced pregnancy, anti-science, and anti-freedom of religion. The republican candidates are the same ones who are clerks at Walmart, run the local laundry mats, and deliver the mail. They don't seem mentally diminished at all. I can tell you, though, if I looked deeper in their lives, they stand against everything that represents freedom for anybody other than themselves.

We cannot call these people mentally inefficient when they sit across the table from us on holidays.

[Buckeye_Democrat]

9. You're absolutely correct!

Just like there were very mentally competent Nazis in Germany long ago, not to mention the numerous examples of that kind of behavior in this country which you already cited.

Right-wing authoritarianism personality seems to be the best explanation that I've yet seen, as I described previously in this thread. It's something that appears among humans all over the world, although it doesn't make it any easier for me to truly understand how some people can think that way.

[modrepub]

8. When You've Been Constantly Conditioned That Dems Are Evil

you are left with no other alternative but to believe whatever "your side" decides is the narrative.

And to be honest, I think a lot of what comes out from the Rep side is just projection.

[OAITW r.2.0]

10. Politics as sport.

My team - good; Your team - bad.

[old as dirt]

11. If Trump voters had believed that Trump was honest, they wouldn't have voted for him.

There's a reason why Trump initiated his presidency by complaining about Crowd Sizes.

It's called "Vice Signaling".