Tea Pain: MINI-THREAD on Trump's mysterious appeal.

[Nevilledog]

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Tea Pain
@TeaPainUSA
MINI-THREAD on Trump's mysterious appeal.

1) Tea Pain is still wrappin' his flag-hat festooned head around the mystery that is Donald Trump. America has just witnessed the most disastrous and failure-rich four years of any modern presidency.
8:41 AM · Nov 14, 2020

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MINI-THREAD on Trump's mysterious appeal.

1) Tea Pain is still wrappin' his flag-hat festooned head around the mystery that is Donald Trump. America has just witnessed the most disastrous and failure-rich four years of any modern presidency.

2) By every measurable metric, this election should have been a one-sided, WWE smackdown butt whippin', but somehow it was still relatively close. Tea is left askin' the eternal question, "Why?" What is it that makes Trump unswervingly popular with 47% of Americans?

3) Many people suggest racism as the root cause, but Tea Pain ain't prepared to accept the fact that half of Americans are white supremacists. If you analyze the content of Trump's stump speeches, they're the Holy Trinity of White Grievance: racism, fear and division.

4) But is there a simpler explanation? Is there some finer essence where racism, fear and division find purchase? Have you ever heard a MAGA say "He says what I think?" Once you get past the terrifyin' implications of such a declaration, you start to find the key

5) that unlocks the MAGA mystery. Is there a simpler, more primal reason that allows Trump to kill 250,000 Americans without losin' an iota of support? Tea Pain believes there is.

6) It boils down to a concept so simple, we often overlook it. Trump gives his followers permission to be their "worst selves." Not only does he give permission, he GLORIFIES it. Your failures become successes. Weaknesses become strengths. Wrongs become right.

7) This couldn't be clearer when it comes to the Messiah-like reverence he receives from Evangelicals. Followin' Jesus is hard. Studyin' Scripture, lovin' your enemies, takin' care of the sick and widows and embracin' folks unlike you is a heavy lift for most folks.

8) But here comes Trump sayin' all that Christ-like behavior is for suckers and losers. He casts off the heavy yolk of basic human decency, enablin' the spark of the primal, tribal self to ignite and turn into a bonfire of the vanities.

9) Think about it. How many times have you tried to do the right thing, but secretly fantasized givin' your "id" the car keys and lettin' it go on a morality-free joy ride? Trump doesn't trigger this mutinous meth-high in everyone, just every other one.

10) There really ain't a lot of difference between decent, upstandin' citizens and MAGAs. MAGAs are just regular folks that have decided to let themselves go.

Yeah, it's that simple. Trumpism is popular because it's easy.
• • •

[soothsayer]

1. Yeah. Don't underestimate playing to baser instincts

[FM123]

2. Yep.

Trump gives his followers permission to be their "worst selves."

[vlyons]

3. Trumpsters, like Trump, are just plain SELFISH

Interested only in acquiring money and power by any means. I would be curious to know how many MAGAts are convicted felons, arrested for assault and domestic violence. I'll bet it's not a small percentage. And how many are high school drop outs?

[NRaleighLiberal]

4. right wing media and pulpit created cult. period.

propaganda works.

[Azathoth]

7. They expanded and reinforced it, but they didn't create it

Trump initially had to beat Fox and talk radio into submission during the primaries.

[LearnedHand]

5. That is an extremely astute observation

I’d love to hear more about this from the scientists who study complex systems as applied to group behavior. I think Tea Pain is on to something, this behavior clearly was ready to be triggered, but why? I know, decades of targeted hate radio, but again, why? Why was that huge group swept up into grievances against others instead of the policies and actions that were robbing all of us “the American dream”?

[Azathoth]

6. It's always been a cult of assholism

It's validation and a safe space for every single person who resents the burden of having to behave like "an adult" instead of being the obnoxious irresponsible asshole they were in high school. Truth is, if Trump hadn't doubled down so hard on the white grievance stuff, he might have gotten even more non-white votes, because this mentality cuts across race and culture lines.

We like to pretend that the kids sitting in the back rows of class during high school -- snickering, sleeping, relentlessly making fun of the kids in the front rows -- all grew up and became fully functioning human beings once that diploma was put in their hands. But many did not. When they finally crashed into the real world, a few grew up, but the rest just decided that in order to be accepted by adult society, they would need to imitate the kids who sat in the front row. They've been carrying on that charade most of their adult lives, and they've resented it every day.

[PatSeg]

8. So much of this makes sense

when I look at a broad overview of Trump supporters, but when I look at a few people that I know very well, I think it is more complex than that. There I see a stubborn tribalism. They've made a choice and even when they are presented with logic and reason, they hold on to their original perceptions, because they either won't let go or are unable and unwilling to admit they were wrong, even if they know they are wrong.

A couple family members went through some super rough times emotionally and financially during the early 2000s and that is when they started watching Fox News. Somehow it became an outlet for their grievances and frustrations. They were not alone, it wasn't their fault, and others felt the same way. At their lowest point, they picked a tribe and to let it go now, would leave them isolated and free-falling.

If I contradict my sister, she takes it very personally, as if I am attacking HER, not the ideology she has embraced. She had been wrong about so many things for so long or so it seemed to her, that she just couldn't admit she was wrong this time. She is so stuck and can't let go of what she perceives as a lifeline. I know that on some level she knows the truth, but to admit it now is too frightening. Its hard for many of us to change as we get older.

I haven't given up on her, but without unplugging from right-wing media, I don't know what the answer is.

[Laelth]

9. Seems reasonable. n/t

-Laelth

[secondwind]

10. My goodness, there's logic to this! wow