Many are bewildered by the unwavering loyalty of Trump’s disciples. Fortunately, six psychological principles can help us understand why someone so self-serving and antithetical to American ideals commands such support.
1. America's Id: Trump Rouses our Inner Brat
As young children, we struggled to balance our immediate selfish impulses against those behaviors that would best serve us in the long run. Although calling other people names and throwing tantrums felt good, negative consequences often resulted. Sigmund Freud labeled this selfish part of our personalities the id and emphasized the necessity of wielding control over it for the ultimate benefit of ourselves and others. As adults, our ids contain forbidden impulses such as racism and sexism, as well as short-sighted desires for immediate gratification such as "I want it now" and "Don't tell me what to do."
Donald J. Trump is popular in part because his childish tantrums and violations of social norms give people permission to let their ids have free rein. In the short-term, this freedom feels good, and people may feel justified because they are modeling our President. However, the world is paying a heavy price for this impulsive behavior as the US grows more divided, weaker, and incapable of leading a world in crisis. Rather than rally together to fight the COVID-19 epidemic, some Americans disobey social distancing rules, scream that they don't want to wear a mask, and promote rallies in which they shout for freedom while trying to silence mature adults who recognize that rights come with responsibilities.
2. Lying Can be Advantageous: Trump is a Champion Prevaricator
At the same time that we learned to manage our ids, we also learned that we could sometimes get our way if we lied. Although our parents punished us when we were caught, we continued to tell lies and got much better at not getting caught. As adults, when lies help us get what we want, we are good at justifying those lies. However, we usually are not so generous when we catch others lying to us. Does that mean we always condemn other people when they lie? No. We will tolerate, and even embrace liars who direct their fables to issues or situations that we think will benefit us. For example, Oliver Hahl (2018) and his colleagues at Carnegie Mellon University, reported that when Trump supporters were told that his tweet “about global warming was a hoax had been definitively debunked,” they “were more likely than Clinton supporters to see the tweet as not literal but as a challenge to the elite." Thus, rather than being upset that Trump was lying to them, they perceived this deception as evidence of his willingness to take on the status quo.
Most of us can understand overlooking an occasional deception by a politician we support. So, we may be able to understand that some of Trump’s followers justify their tolerance of Trump’s prevarications as the price to be paid for getting what they want (e.g., tax breaks, immigration bans, ending a woman’s right to choose, etc.). What many do not understand is how someone could support a person who has told more than 20,000 lies between January 2017 and July 13, 2020 (Washington Post). However, it may be that he is believed because he keeps repeating the same lies. Psychologists call the tendency to come to believe a lie if it is repeated often enough the illusory truth effect. As Joe Pierre (2020) notes, “This illusory truth effect can occur despite being aware that the source of a statement is unreliable, despite previously knowing that the information is false, and despite it contradicting our own political affiliation’s ‘party line.’”
Thus, psychologists are not surprised that, according to some polls, the oft-repeated lie that President Obama was born in Kenya is still believed by most Republicans, or that reliable news sources like The New York Times, or The Washington Post are now seen by many as “fake news.”
3. We are Susceptible to Cons: Trump has Mastered the Art of the Con
Before we condemn all Trump’s supporters for embracing his blatant lies, realize that we can all be conned—and that many Trump supporters fit the profile of people who con artists target—the rural, uneducated, elderly, and ignorant. Ironically, people are more ignorant, and thus more vulnerable to Trump’s cons, because of “information” presented from certain “news” sources. Consider, for example, "The Fox News Effect"—first reported in 2007 by David Brock and Art Rabin-Have, referring to the finding that once people started watching Fox News, they became less informed about current events than people who didn't follow the news at all. Similarly, a 2020 poll by USA Today and the University of Suffolk found that among Fox News viewers, 78% say Trump is honest and trustworthy. Unfortunately, more biased news sources than Fox exist, and those sources promote conspiracy theories like Trump’s accusation that Ted Cruz’s father helped assassinate JFK and 2017’s Pizza-gate, as well as disputing legitimate theories such as evolution and climate change.
Although we all can be deceived by misinformation, David Thrilling (2016) found that conservatives are more likely than liberals to endorse conspiracy theories. For example, conservatives are more likely to believe that the COVID-19 pandemic is a hoax. They are more likely to have tried dangerous "therapies" like injecting bleach or taking hydroxychloroquine at the President's suggestion.
Dr. Thrilling reports that some conservatives who endorse conspiracy theories are knowledgeable about politics, but they do not trust institutions. These individuals were especially susceptible to Trump's battle cry to "Drain the Swamp," and to believe that the best strategy to protect our freedom is to disrupt and dismantle our governmental institutions. While we are horrified by the harm that Trump's policies are wreaking on our democracy and human decency, these anarchists are celebrating "Mission accomplished."
4. Conservatives Want a Strong Leader: Trump Models Autocrats
Do you remember the 2015 video of Donald Trump, with his celestial wife Melania by his side, gliding down the Trump Tower’s golden escalator, like gods from Olympus materializing to announce the Don’s Presidential bid? This image of an omniscient god, who alone is in possession of the knowledge and skill to transport us back to a simpler and happier America––“Make America Great Again,” has great appeal to many conservatives. Political scientist Lasse Lausten (2018) found that conservatives, like Trump’s base, are more fearful than liberals, and thus “like dominant, uncompromising leaders.” Such leaders are common in the developing world because when uninformed and afraid, people will follow tyrants like Russia’s Putin, China’s Xi Jinping, and Brazil’s Bolsonaro. Historically, authoritarian leaders have been the rule—not the exception. Thus, it should not be surprising that, even today, many people want the country’s leader to be a strong, authoritarian, father figure.
5. Perceived Similarity
Chances are Donald Trump is nothing like you, nor does he resemble his followers. Unless you are the child of a wealthy real estate tycoon who showered you with millions of dollars, deeded you control of the lucrative family business, and bailed you out of numerous personal and business failures, you don’t have much in common with him. His own niece, Mary Trump, proclaims that he despises the type of people who make up his base, but basks in their adoration and is dependent on them to remain in power. If Trump doesn’t identify with his base, why do they identify with him?
Shortly after Trump’s 2016 victory, a friend told me that he voted for Trump because Trump sounded just like him, a truck driver from rural Pennsylvania. I was surprised by this declaration because my friend is not exceptionally racist or sexist, and he seems to genuinely care about other people. But, just like Trump my friend’s speech is unpolished, he swears, and he “says what he thinks.” This perceived similarity was enough for him to feel a connection. He also identified with Trump's anger and indignation about being ignored and disrespected by "elite liberals," and like many rural people was concerned that immigrants might be criminals who will also steal their jobs and get government handouts. Although the evidence refutes this view, Trump has inflamed fears that rural Americans are becoming obsolete. A return to a fantasy past is his promise and the rural dream.
Admittedly, Trump supporters are right that many, urban and suburban liberals have little interest or understanding of rural America. For those who want an illuminating view of what rural Americans value and think, read Jennifer Sherman’s (2009) book, Those who work, those who don’t: Poverty, morality, and family in rural America. Although written before Trump’s rise to power, her ethnographic study of a financially challenged rural community provides a plausible explanation for why physically and socially isolated people would bond with a charismatic leader who promises a return to a more prosperous time. The rural emphasis on physical labor (“real work”), family loyalty, and religion, combined with increasing poverty and a sense of not being valued by society at large, provides a clear path to their eventual conversion to the cult of Trump. Who wouldn't want to be transported to a more prosperous time!
So, although his followers are not similar to Trump, they are similar to each other. They see themselves as the disrespected survivors from a time when every American was like them—and they actively want to enforce 1950’s conventionality, such as punishing anyone who would kneel during the national anthem, protest for Black Lives Matter, support LGBTQ, warn about climate change, tolerate immigration, or endorse the theory of evolution.
6. The Power of Association
If two things appear together repeatedly, we will learn that they are linked. Product advertising takes advantage of this by associating good things (attractive, prosperous people in beautiful homes) with their product. Negative political advertising takes advantage of this by associating bad things with one’s political opponent. For example, two negative ads are credited with having enormous effects on Presidential Elections: the 1964 “Daisy” ad in which an atomic explosion was paired with Presidential candidate Barry Goldwater and the 1988 “Willie Horton” ad that paired Michael Dukakis with a murderer--even though those ads are notorious for being misleading and unfair.
Because of the power of simple association, what some consider weaknesses—Trump’s meandering “sentences” and limited vocabulary—may really be his strengths. He repeatedly pairs himself with the word “great” while pairing his opponent with the word “horrible.” Similarly, due to association, what could be considered childish—coming up with nicknames like “Lying Ted” and “Crooked Hillary” for his opponents—has been effective (e.g., even though, objectively, Hillary tells fewer lies than Trump or Biden, she has been seen as less honest than either). In short, we all learn through association, whether we intend to or not.
Summary
These six psychological principles explain much of why certain people identify and support the President. Although it is easy to make fun of and condemn those who champion a tyrant like Donald Trump, remember that this feeling of division is exactly what Trump strives for. Our future depends on our ability to resist division—when we lose our compassion, we lose hope.
Authors: Dr. Janina M. Jolley and Dr. Mark L. Mitchell