Tag: fear

Chaos, Fear, And Shared Irrationality: Why Supporters Still Cling To Trump

A looming question in today’s political climate is: Why do Donald Trump’s devotees continue to support him despite the carnage of his well-documented failures? Although we are in the middle of a deadly pandemic that is surging and not contained, Trump seems to maintain a base support of 35 percent to 40 percent. What are the psychological factors that influence or underpin his supporters’ attraction to him? And might this provide some perspective on how to change these supporters’ minds?

Multiple psychological factors seem to influence and explain his supporters. We have divided these factors into four major categories: Rebelliousness and Chaos; Shared Irrationality; Fear; and Safety and Order.

Rebelliousness and Chaos

Some Trump supporters have a strong desire for rebelliousness and chaos, and view Trump as the perfect vehicle for achieving their personal goals. These supporters tend to become “anti-establishment and anti-government,” even when it is against their best interest. Many are unhappy with their station in life and believe chaos in the political system will bring them important gains. They seek immediate and sweeping changes and believe a rebellious attitude and rebellious behavior are what is necessary. They would rather have chaos, even dangerously or regressively so, than the status quo. Continue reading.

Democrats are going for laughs in their midterms ads. Republicans are going for fear.

Why 2018 candidates, parties, and PACs are getting creative with their political ads.

Bad political ads are everywhere. You know the ones — footage of a candidate walking down a quaint Main Street, touring a construction site wearing a hard hat, or shaking hands at a senior center while a disembodied narrator intones their life accomplishments.

Those ads make veteran political filmmaker Mark Putnam’s eyes glaze over.

“Without singling out any particular — I don’t need to — there are so many like that,” Putnam told me in a recent interview.

View the complete October 11 article by Ella Nilsen on the Vox.com website here.

Another big Woodward reveal: Trump’s bottomless bad faith and nonstop lying

President Trump’s Labor Day tweet about Attorney General Jeff Sessions is even more atrocious than usual, columnist David Ignatius says. (Gillian Brockell/The Washington Post)

Today Bob Woodward’s book gets released, and much coverage of it is framed around revelations of President Trump’s raging, volatile temperament, his erratic mind-changing, and his startling lack of knowledge or curiosity about complex domestic and global policy problems.

In this framing, the alleged “adults in the room” wage a daily struggle against all these terrible traits. A portrait emerges of a man who is mentally and intellectually unfit to serve as president — the top-line revelation that has been widely discussed for days now.

But there are other key revelations in “Fear” that illuminate a different set of traits — Trump’s nonstop lying, his utter contempt for legal and governing process, and his bottomless bad faith in developing rationales for extremely consequential decisions. These sorts of traits — unlike Trump’s temperament and incuriosity — are not usually looked at as evidence of his unfitness for this office. But they should be.

View the complete commentary by Greg Sargent was posted on the Washington Post website September 11, 2018 here.

The two most overlooked, inexplicable stories from Bob Woodward’s Trump book

The following article by Aaron Blake was posted on the Washington Post website September 5, 2018:

President Trump reacted on Sept. 5 to Bob Woodward’s new book, “Fear,” saying the journalist “likes to get publicity.” (TWP)

President Trump’s denials of the stories in Bob Woodward’s new book on Wednesday turned to tacit admission: Trump may be an unwieldy boss, he seemed to admit, but that’s part of why Americans elected him.

“I’m tough as hell on people & if I weren’t, nothing would get done,” Trump tweeted. “Also, I question everybody & everything-which is why I got elected!”

Donald J. Trump

✔@realDonaldTrump

Almost everyone agrees that my Administration has done more in less than two years than any other Administration in the history of our Country. I’m tough as hell on people & if I weren’t, nothing would get done. Also, I question everybody & everything-which is why I got elected!

Twitter Ads info and privacy

It’s an interesting spin. But Trump’s defense here doesn’t actually line up with what we know about Woodward’s book. Woodward doesn’t just paint Trump as a president who ruffles feathers, you see, but also as a man who struggles with very basic facts about very important matters — including on things about which he should definitely know better.

View the complete article here.

Transcript: Phone call between President Trump and journalist Bob Woodward

The following article by Aaron Blake was posted on the Washington Post website September 4, 2018:

President Trump and Bob Woodward discuss Woodward’s new book, “Fear,” before its publication. (The Washington Post)

Bob Woodward, an associate editor at The Washington Post, sought an interview with President Trump as he was writing “Fear,” a book about Trump’s presidency. Trump called Woodward in early August, after the manuscript had been completed, to say he wanted to participate.

Over the course of 11-plus minutes, Trump repeatedly claimed his White House staff hadn’t informed him of Woodward’s interview request — despite also admitting Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) had told him Woodward wanted to talk. He also started the phone call by saying Woodward had “always been fair” to him, but by the end he said the book would be “inaccurate.”

This is a transcript of that call, with key sections highlighted and annotated. To see an annotation, click on the yellow, highlighted text.

View the complete article here.

Want to Know More About: Bob Woodward

Jamie Gangel: “What’s Different About Woodward’s Book Is These Are Not The President’s Critics. These Are Not Democrats. These Are Not Never-Trumpers. These Are His Inner Circle.” JAMIE GANGEL: “We have seen a lot of reporting from day one about chaos and dysfunction. What’s different about Woodward’s book is these are not the President’s critics. These are not Democrats. These are not never-Trumpers. These are his inner circle.” [New Day, CNN, 9/5/18; Video]

Jamie Gangel: “Woodward Reports This Constant Fear That The President Bluntly Was A Danger To National Security. That He Didn’t Understand What Was Going On.” JAMIE GANGEL: “That is the theme throughout this book. Woodward reports this constant fear that the president bluntly was a danger to national security. That he didn’t understand what was going on, we hear, you know, chief of staff John Kelly has now denied saying he called the president ‘An idiot.’ But there are other quotes that woodward has that he has not denied, where he says that the president is unhinged. has dangerous impulses, is erratic. So This is something that you see throughout the book.” [New Day, CNN, 9/5/18; Video] Continue reading “Want to Know More About: Bob Woodward”

Trump’s $5 Trillion Attack On America’s Values And Reputation

The following article by @LOL was posted on the National Memo website February 27, 2017:

Donald Trump wants you terrified.

If you’re Muslim, he wants you to expect to be harassed every time you take a plane, even if you’re Muhammad Ali’s son. If you have family or friends who are documented, he wants you to think they can be snatched away at any time, even when seeking protection from a potential abuser. If you’re a legal immigrant, he wants you to know that if you’re shot and killed in cold blood, the president will not even bother to mourn you with a tweet.

This week, Adam Purinton reportedly shot Srinivas Kuchibhotla and Alok Madasani at a bar in Olathe, Kansas. Kuchibhotla died. Continue reading “Trump’s $5 Trillion Attack On America’s Values And Reputation”

This Der Spiegel Trump cover is stunning

The following article by Callum Borchers was posted on the Washington Post website February 3, 2017:

Edel Rodriguez came to the United States from Cuba as a political refugee in 1980. Like many immigrants, he was angered by President Trump’s executive order temporarily banning entry to the United States for travelers from seven Muslim-majority countries and refugees from around the world.

“I was 9 years old when I came here, so I remember it well, and I remember the feelings and how little kids feel when they are leaving their country,” Rodriguez said. “I remember all that, and so it bothers me a lot that little children are being kept from coming to this country.”

Unlike most immigrants, however, Rodriguez channeled his anger into a piece of art that is now on the cover of one of the world’s leading magazines.

The German news magazine Der Spiegel on Friday unveiled its latest issue, bearing Rodriguez’s striking work. In the illustration, Trump wields a bloody knife with which he has beheaded the Statue of Liberty. His orange face is featureless, except for a hollering mouth. Two words appear beside him: America First.

“It’s a beheading of democracy, a beheading of a sacred symbol,” Rodriguez said, noting that the Statue of Liberty represents the United States’ history of welcoming immigrants. “And clearly, lately, what’s associated with beheadings is ISIS, so there’s a comparison” between the Islamic State and Trump. “Both sides are extremists, so I’m just making a comparison between them.”

In December 2015, after Trump called for a “total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States,” the New York Daily News pictured him beheading the Statue of Liberty.

nydn trump

The New Yorker on Friday revealed a new cover illustration called “Liberty’s Flameout,” in which the statue’s flame has been extinguished.

The New Yorker

✔@NewYorker

An early look at next week’s cover, “Liberty’s Flameout,” by John W. Tomac: http://nyer.cm/jZ9jWiu 

Rodriguez, a freelance artist, did not draw those covers, but you might remember two memorable illustrations he did for Time magazine during the presidential election.

Frank Thorp V

✔@frankthorp

New @TIME with illustration of a melting Donald Trump:

Meltdown.http://time.com/magazine/ 

· Florida, USA

Why does Rodriguez draw Trump with missing facial features?

“That’s the way I see him,” Rodriguez said. “I see him as someone that’s very angry, and it’s pretty much his mouth that’s moving all the time, so that’s how I tend to show him in some of my work.”

Rodriguez added that the Der Spiegel cover is a statement about the kind of country he wants to live in.

“I don’t want to live in a dictatorship,” he said. “If I wanted to live in a dictatorship, I’d live in Cuba, where it’s much warmer.”

View the original post here.

A New Presidency Of Disrespect And Disinformation Begins

The following article by Cynthia Tucker Haynes was posted on the National Memo website January 20, 2017:

President-elect Donald Trump addresses the “Make America Great Again! Welcome Celebration” at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, U.S., January 19, 2017. REUTERS/Mike Segar

It begins.

We have officially entered the Age of Trump, an era that may be the most contentious and most dangerous to the health of the republic since the Civil War. We are two nations of nearly equal count, divided by opposing views on race, religion, pluralism, sexual orientation, feminism and even science. Each side believes the other is corrupt, mendacious and malicious.

This troubling divide would be difficult to bridge for a personality more temperamentally suited to the task. The imperturbable Barack Obama was sorely tested by the challenge of appealing to critics who insisted he was illegitimate. Hillary Clinton, had she become his successor, would have been confronted with a disloyal opposition that had already promised to embroil her in partisan investigations and spurious lawsuits. She, too, would have been pushed to the limits of her patience. Continue reading “A New Presidency Of Disrespect And Disinformation Begins”