Even at the best of times, understanding what goes on in the minds of Trump supporters and conservatives in general is a puzzle. They profess beliefs that are disconnected from facts. They embrace behavior that puts them at risk. They turn a public health issue into a partisan culture war fight. They swallow down absurd statements without a qualm. They embrace dangerous conspiracy theories. There is nothing you can say that can change their minds. What, if anything, can unravel this mystery?
ICYMI, Spocko, over at Digby’s place, explains what is going on in their heads. You would think that Trump repeatedly modeling behavior that can get people killed would make a difference among his followers — but too many of his followers demand more of the HCQ-laced KoolAid. Spocko links to three articles that go a long way in laying out the psychological mechanisms at work. The easiest thing to do would be to go right to Spocko (always a good idea), but here’s some of the highlights from the links followed by some of my own interpretation FWIW.
How do people come together to handle disaster — or not?
There’s a Chris Hayes podcast to start: Why Is This Happening? Finding solidarity in a disaster with Rebecca Solnit.
I recommend people listen to this not just to understand why conservatives are acting this way, but also because she describes all the good ways ordinary people in communities normally respond to disasters vs how movies and media portray them.
She uses her research into the 1906 earthquake and then talking about the flooding from levy failure after Katrina for the book:A Paradise Built in Hell: The Extraordinary Communities That Arise in Disaster. (5:00)
Why are liberals and conservatives so far apart on a common threat?
Spocko then touches on an article at Vox by Ezra Kline, “Why are liberals more afraid of the coronavirus than conservatives? Covid-19 and the complex politics of fear.” Liberals are more open to change, to new experiences; they are readier to adapt in light of new information. Conservatives are more likely to react by seeing threats in the world around them. They resist change. There’s some speculation that there’s a certain evolutionary bias at work.
So why are conservatives walking around flaunting their lack of fear while liberals stay in and wear masks in public? Why do people who like to walk around flaunting firearms for “self protection” refuse to take basic health precautions? Why, after so many ways Trump has repeatedly failed at his promises, even contradicted himself, do they still give him their trust?
Why aren’t conservatives afraid? How It Works.
Spocko turns to a 2018 article by Bob Altemeyer: Why Do Trump’s Supporters Stand by Him, No Matter What? Among the discussion, several points are raised.
Compared to most people, studies have shown that authoritarian followers get their beliefs and opinions from the authorities in their lives, and hardly at all by making up their own minds. They memorize rather than reason…
...One consequence of the followers’ strong need for consensual validation, experiments have found, is that they will trust someone who says things they believe, even if there is a lot of evidence that the person does not really believe what he says. They’re just so glad to hear their views coming back to them, they ignore solid reasons why the person might be insincere or outright lying…
emphasis added
There are two factors that come into play: dogmatism and fear.
Dogmatism comes rather naturally to people who have copied other people’s beliefs rather than figure things out for themselves. When you don’t know why your beliefs are true, you can’t defend them very well when other people or events confront them….
...That is dogmatism, and experiments show that authoritarian followers have two or three times the normal amount of it because they believe many things strongly, but don’t know why. When the evidence and arguments against their beliefs becomes irrefutable, they simply shut down.
...Thus they agree with the statement, “There are no discoveries of facts that could possibly make me change my mind about the things that matter most in life.” That says it all.
emphasis added
If you’ve ever tried to reason with one, you probably know how that turns out. As for fear:
...[authoritarian] Followers report that they were taught the world is a dangerous place much more strenuously than most people are taught—a fact confirmed by the parents. Some of this is quite predictable, such as fear of attacks by racial minorities. But the fearing parents super-sized their children’s fear of being hit by a car, or kidnapped as well.
Accordingly Donald Trump was well-placed to gain the support of authoritarian followers as he was a large and seemingly fearless, powerful man. All he had to do was say he saw the dangers the followers felt and he would fight to protect them…
...“I am your voice,” he said. He would fight for them with all of his great might. And that was just what threatened people who felt powerless wanted.
emphasis added
To summarize and extrapolate:
Normally, these are the people you’d expect to be totally paranoid about the Covid 19 pandemic — but the man they have chosen to follow and supply them with beliefs is telling them the opposite. You can’t reach them with facts; you can’t convince them with arguments. Their brains shut down rather than accept anything that challenges what they have internalized. They are not mentally equipped to question anything from those they accept as authorities.
Trump tells them what they want to hear — that they’re right — and in return they accept everything that he and those who repeat his messaging tell them unquestioningly. It takes something that feels like a direct betrayal on a personal level they can’t deny for them to even think of questioning the relationship.
Otherwise, they know what they know even if they don’t know why or how, and that’s all they need or want. They don’t do nuance. They rationalize like crazy and get angry if you call them on it.
It’s like something out of the Minions Movie. Minions are small, relatively helpless, and seemingly not all that bright. Their evolutionary solution to dealing with a world where everything is a potential threat is to seek out the most powerful (evil) figure they can find, and give him (or her) their unquestioning loyalty in exchange for protection and doing all their thinking for them.
They take unthinking joy in carrying out their master’s schemes. They eat up his every word. And while the movie versions can be cute, the real world human versions can be deadly. Cartoonish as Trump can be, he gives them what they crave: a seemingly strong leader to watch over them. They’ve handed over their brains and their consciences to him. He can do no wrong, and in exchange neither can they while they serve him.
He won’t wear a mask because it would make him look like a wuss, and that would be fatal to his image as a strong leader. And so it may be fatal to them.
There’s also an additional nasty aspect to it all, so long as the pandemic seems to hit blue states and big cities hardest, all places they’ve been taught to distrust, even hate. The fact that the pandemic seems to hit the old and weak, the poor, people of color, native Americans harder than “God-fearing, hard-working red staters in the heartland” confirms their world view of who is finally getting what they deserve.
It looks like a de facto biological ethnic cleansing, making them even less likely to support group efforts if they feel it infringes on their ‘freedom’. It’s why they are so ready to accept conspiracy theories that the pandemic is a liberal plot to force a socialist agenda on the country, just like the climate crisis ‘hoax’.
There is evidence the pandemic is now spreading into the red states. What will happen when they see people around them, family members, neighbors, co-workers, getting sick, some of them dying, is a question. Denial is strong in these. How will they deal with a virus that does not care what they believe or who they vote for? If past behavior is a predictor of future behavior, the answer is that many of them will double down.
This is one minions movie that better not have a sequel. Remember in November.
post script:
If you want to see what the NY Times front page looks like, and the story behind it, here you are.