When studying politics in the Trump era, one must concede that Trump’s brain is often an enigma. Until just now, I have been completely baffled why he still clings to his campaign to relitigate the 2020 election — even though many otherwise normal (i.e. non-MAGA) conservative voters are growing impatient with the same old garbage and want him to stop.
Doesn’t Trump realize that most of his MAGA base will remain faithful (and under his control) to the very end? Isn’t he worried some on the fringes will abandon him out of sheer boredom? Does he really think he’ll gain new (and more ardent) followers by simply replaying his Big Lie nonsense over and over?
Hannah Arendt has given us some insight into this phenomenon through her definition of masses and her illustrations of how they can be exploited by demagogues.
Totalitarian movements are possible wherever there are masses who for one reason or another have acquired the appetite for political organization. Masses are not held together by a consciousness of common interest and they lack that specific class articulateness which is expressed in determined, limited, and obtainable goals. The term masses applies only where we deal with people who either because of sheer numbers, or indifference, or a combination of both, cannot be integrated into any organization based on common interest, into political parties or municipal governments or professional organizations or trade unions. Potentially, they exist in every country and form the majority of those large numbers of neutral, politically indifferent people who never join a party and hardly ever go to the polls.
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In an ever-changing, incomprehensible world the masses had reached the point where they would, at the same time, believe everything and nothing, think that everything was possible and that nothing was true. ... Mass propaganda discovered that its audience was ready at all times to believe the worst, no matter how absurd, and did not particularly object to being deceived because it held every statement to be a lie anyhow. The totalitarian mass leaders based their propaganda on the correct psychological assumption that, under such conditions, one could make people believe the most fantastic statements one day, and trust that if the next day they were given irrefutable proof of their falsehood, they would take refuge in cynicism; instead of deserting the leaders who had lied to them, they would protest that they had known all along that the statement was a lie and would admire the leaders for their superior tactical cleverness.
One of the obvious reasons why Trump continues to keep the Big Lie alive is to test GOP political candidates to see if they are worthy of his endorsement. Candidates that stray from the Big Lie are unworthy — not because they don’t fully support Trump’s ideology, but rather because they haven’t fully comprehended the value of loyalty over ideology.
As we well know, a comprehensible “party line” no longer exists in Trump’s GOP. The only things that matter to their voters are (a) loyalty to dear leader and (b) steadfast support for the nebulous, yet nostalgic slogan Make America Great Again. Their reward for their loyalty, is the privilege of being involved in something greater than themselves.
But mob bosses also know that talk is cheap and today’s statements of support could turn into tomorrow’s broken promises. They know they must test their deputies to see how dutiful they really are. Are they loyal enough to commit acts (often illegal, always norm-busting) that demonstrate their solidarity with the boss?
Here are two examples of how this played out recently.
- Two GOP members of the Michigan State Board of Canvassers voted against putting a proposed constitutional amendment enshrining abortion rights on the November ballot, even though the promoters had obtained more than 500,000 signatures.
- Just weeks prior to the 2022 midterms, Lindsey Graham introduced a bill into Congress that would ban abortions nationwide after 15 weeks, which divided MAGA and non-MAGA Republicans.
These two actions are undoubtedly anathema to voters who decry the idea of taking away a right that has been afforded to all Americans who can become pregnant for nearly 50 years. But they demonstrate the fealty of these policy makers to the MAGA movement and to Trump. These followers passed Trump’s omnipresent loyalty test.
We should never forget that for these loyalists, garnering Trump’s approval is seen by Trump’s base as an act of worthiness.
Whenever it appears Trump is being illogical (or stupid), look for the underlying calculation he is ciphering — what can this outlandish position I’m taking help me learn about other people’s loyalty to me?
For many like Lindsey Graham, that loyalty is absolute.