This information is not intended to educate Trump followers. I don’t think they’d be interested in this information. It is written for those who struggle to understand Trumpsters’ way of thinking and making decisions. This is support for those who tend to live in the real world but also feel stressed out dealing with those who seem to prefer living in world of falsehoods and disrespect that costs so much money, so much in relationships, and so many lives.
Not since McCarthyism in the1950s has the United States faced the broadness of mass hysteria we see in the MAGA movement today. The fact that it is so rare leaves many at a loss without experience in how to deal with those who cannot seem to live in the real world. It’s dumbfounding and perplexing.
Research shows that less than a 1/3 of republicans are MAGA supporters. This is important to realize, as I have seen many commentators lump all republicans in with Trumpism, which would be unfair to many republicans who themselves want to recover the conservative views of the republican party that seem lost to the extremists.
The MAGA crowd seems unable to see the world as it is and is remarkably disconnected from their hearts and a moral compass. It helps to understand that the MAGA Movement is a cult, which explains the mind-set that cannot seem to grasp what the rest of the world sees as obvious. If you want to know why Trump followers are in a cult (and don’t know they’re in a cult). Note below for common characteristics of a cult:
MAGA followers are dominated by fear and thus are attracted to the fear that dominates their leader. (Like attracts like and helps people feel comfortable). Some of these fears are: fear of the truth, fear that the truth is dangerous, fear of history, fear of facts, fear of the unknown (particularly the unknown of how people different from themselves might hurt them), and fear of the known. They are afraid of science, of reasoning, of thinking. They are afraid of being out of control, of disaster that could occur if they don’t get their way. The are afraid of change, of diversity, of being wrong. They are afraid the world will go to hell if they can’t control it. They are afraid of disappointing God for not 'saving those who disagree', and fear being held responsible for failing to reach them. They live in an illusion that differences between people are bad, rather than being able to see that diversity enriches life. They want what’s familiar and are frightened of what they don’t understand. They are afraid of understanding itself, as it would require seeing things in a new way, which they have predetermined has less value that what they already “know”.
MAGAites major in minors because they need things to be simple to be comfortable. Here are some common examples:
1) They are afraid of voter fraud, when it is extremely rare. In studies like that of the Heritage Foundation, double-checking nearly 40 million votes in general elections since 1982, only 1 in every 30 - 40 million votes has was cast by a non-citizen. In other words, a person is more likely to be struck by lightning than to sneak through and vote illegally. The preoccupation with this is strange to many of us who value fairness, and makes no sense to people who care about facts.
2) Fewer than 1% of people are trans, yet this tiny percentage becomes their focus to stand against instead of being upset that 40% of Americans struggle with poverty or 35% of America’s children are hungry and need food. They are afraid to learn about sexuality and afraid of facing the pain of others created by their negligence.
3) They are more frightened of immigrants that are 64% less likely to commit a crime than their American citizen neighbor or the more than 1900 convicted criminals that have been released to the streets by their guru. Hearing the truth would make them question their prejudices and shatter a bubble of a world they have created to shield themselves from reality.
Majoring in minors keeps their life simple and helps them deal with their imagined fears. They may not be as capable as you to handle a complex world.
The fear of change and the fear of being wrong are so strong that MAGAs avoid learning what most educated people on the planet know. Some things they avoid learning are
1) the well-documented reality of climate change, supported by hundreds of studies world-wide covering decades of research. It’s easier to assume climate change is made up than to actually learn about it.
2) taking care of people’s health is good for the economy (18% of non-working people are prevented by illness from working, people who would increase tax revenue substantially, easing the nation’s financial problems if we would care enough to provide medical care so they could work and pay taxes). Realizing the pain of others calls people forth to do something, and changing to help people takes effort.
3) Gay people are pre-occupied with loving and serving others, and that hating them just exemplifies gays know a kinder, more respectful way to live than their MAGA straight buddies.
4) that history educates us as to how to avoid creating human pain in the future, but that denying (eliminating books, defunding education, etc.) creates more misery.
5) that research shows that even though someone carrying a gun believes they are safer than someone who doesn’t. In reality, they are 3 times more likely to killed by one than those who do not own guns. Education requires thinking, and thinking is difficult when you’re in fear.
Avoiding learning is an easy way to maintain discrimination without the effort to learn what’s real.
How to deal with those who are consumed by fear and non-sense.
We would do well to be advised that our relief comes not from changing or convincing MAGAs to join reality, but to accept most do not have the power, the awareness, the courage, or the ability to see things differently.
Effectively dealing with crazy thinking does not focus on changing the crazy thinking, but in seeing our peace comes from not joining the circus.
The temptation is to blame or judge or, at the very least, get angry at those who choose denial as a way of life. This touches our fear that if others don’t change, life will get worse for the rest of us. Nonetheless, none of this helps, and attempting to do so is what creates our own angst.
Each of us much realize we are in charge of our own feelings, which are not caused by other people’s behavior, but by how we think about their behavior. When we resist, complain, pressure others to change, i.e., we are trying to change what is outside of us, when the answer lies in changing what’s inside us.
Accepting the following is helpful:
1) People believe what they need to believe to ease their anxiety. When the thinking is crazy, it is usually stimulated by some unmet emotional needs that may not be in the thinker’s consciousness. Fears are always at the core, and if the fears are not faced, no amount of logic or reasoning will change their position. In other words, you can’t fix them. You can’t make them care about people. It’s pushing upstream to think they value reality like you do, or caring to learn is valuable to them.
2) Each one of us has a unique spiritual path designed to help us learn what we need to learn. Just because your path is working for you doesn’t mean others should follow the same path. Since they are assigned different lessons than you, their paths must be different than yours. Accepting this is crucial to experiencing peace. To have peace, we do not criticize people’s paths, but bless them on their way.
3) Just because we bless people upon their way doesn’t mean we give up acting on basic human values, protecting those around us from being hurt, and loving the vulnerable. People don’t have to be like you for you to do your job. Every time you share love into the world, you make a positive difference. This is what those coming after you are seeking. At any given moment, fewer than 3% of people are actively seeking to change themselves. It’s crucial you do not base your “feel good” on other people changing, but trust staying on your path is more important than changing others’.
Love those in the dark. Love the people they hurt. And keep loving, because ‘perfect love casts out all fear’. Love, not manipulation, is what will bring us back to the world where everyone wins.
