Trump Culture: Threat, Fear and the Tightening of the American Mind

[C C]

http://www.scientificamerican.com/articl...ican-mind/

EXCERPT: . . . Hundreds of journalists and political scientists have tried to explain Trump’s appeal, suggesting reasons that range from the decline of White America to the rise of authoritarianism. Yet even with these insights, the current dialogue around Trump’s ascendancy seems to have hit a “wall.” Every article describes a single piece of the Trump puzzle, but none seems to capture the bigger picture: the cultural movement that has fueled Trump’s success. What is “Trump culture,” and where is it coming from? As it turns out, our group at the University of Maryland has been studying the basis for Trump culture for the last 10 years, something that we call “cultural tightness-looseness.”

[...] We have also found that people in tighter societies tend to prefer autonomous leaders. Such leaders have extreme confidence in their own abilities and make independent decisions without the input of others. These leaders can be successful in high threat environments because of their quick and unambiguous decision-making, which often comes at the cost of more democratic dialogue....

[Magical Realist]

Our survey yielded many other results which confirmed a powerful truth: Donald Trump has built a monopoly on threat, and has used it to steel his coalition against anyone who might look different or hold different views. This monopolization of threat has produced leaders like Mussolini and Hitler, and it is a devastating and dangerous political tool.

It's no coincidence that Trump unwittingly tweeted a quote by Mussolini. "Hey! It's an interesting quote!" lol!

"Donald Trump said on NBC’s “Meet the Press” that he retweeted a quote from Benito Mussolini, the Italian fascist dictator, because he wants to “be associated with interesting quotes.”

“Chuck, it's OK to know it's Mussolini. Look, Mussolini was Mussolini. It's OK to — it's a very good quote, it's a very interesting quote, and I know it,” he said Sunday morning. “I saw it. I saw what — and I know who said it. But what difference does it make whether it's Mussolini or somebody else? It's certainly a very interesting quote.”

Trump posted the tweet early Sunday morning from @ilduce2016: “It is better to live one day as a lion than 100 years as a sheep.”

When asked if he wanted to be associated with a fascist, Trump said: “No, I want to be associated with interesting quotes. And people, you know, I have almost 14 million people between Instagram and Facebook and Twitter and all of that. And we do interesting things. And I sent it out. And certainly, hey, it got your attention, didn't it?”

Benito Mussolini took power in Italy in the early 1920s and ran the nation for more than two decades, until being toppled from power in 1943 as Alliied forces fought their way up Italy. "Il Duce" was allied with Germany's Adolf Hitler during World War II, and his armies invaded a number of nations, including Ethiopia, Greece and Yugoslavia. Mussolini was captured and executed in April 1945.


Read more: http://www.politico.com/story/2016/02/tr...z4742vQbnC
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[Yazata]

I'm leaning towards voting for Donald Trump in the California primary, so I think that I have better insight into what motivates Trump voters than some left-wing university professor.

With me, it's largely a matter of nationalism, I guess, that and my own ethnic and class-interest. Trump is the only candidate in either party who is an unabashed American nationalist. What's more, he unapologetically promotes policies based on what is in the interest of the rapidly declining American middle class, such as opposing the off-shoreing of American jobs and industry to China and the resulting de-industrialization of the United States.

His foreign policy ideas are based on US allies no longer being free-riders on US military protection, while they devote far less of their GDPs to their armed forces than we do to ours. He asks why the US is still defending Europe when the EU's GDP is as large as our own and when Europe faces no credible external military threat. Japan is the world's third largest economy and has a huge industrial base, so they can be doing much more than they are to defend themselves.

He's for the United States finally regaining control of its own borders, opposing the idea that US immigration law is merely optional for those who want to enter the US, arguing that there should be consequences for disobeying it. (If immigration law is merely optional, why aren't tax, labor, criminal, environmental and civil rights laws optional too?) He believes that the rate of legal immigration should be based on what the US can absorb. And he calls for a temporary halt on massive immigration from high-threat countries like Syria, until we figure out how to screen the migrants (who are mostly young males) to determine which ones have radical Islamist connections and/or military training. (We only need look at Europe to see the consequences of not doing that.)

Those are all things that I like about Trump.

On the other side of the equation, I don't like his personality. He comes across as something of a jerk. He doesn't look like anyone that I'd choose as a personal friend, but neither does the smug and haughty Barack Hussein Obama (who won a Nobel Prize simply for... being him) or the regal Hillary Rodham Clinton whose pained attempts to mingle with regular people are actually kind of sad. Trump's experience in some areas like foreign policy is less than I'd like, but he certainly has more administrative and deal-making experience than the Chicago community organizer turned freshman Senator who is currently in the White House.

Trump isn't a religious fundie like Ted Cruz and isn't always waving the Biiible and calling on Jeeezus. Trump isn't motivated by the organized religious right's anti-abortion agenda, just as he isn't driven by the Republican donor-class' obsession with lower taxes on the rich and on free-trade. More positives.

It isn't a mystery and it isn't rocket science why Trump attracts supporters. He's in favor of policies that are in the American people's interest, not the interest of the elites of the New York City - Washington DC axis, the interests of other countries, or some idealistic post-nationalist globalist agenda. And most important, he's speaking to the besieged American middle class. Nobody else is.

[stryder]

I can't really say much about what goes on in the US since I'm not American, however looking at how people react in general over time in relationship to politics and policies it's understandable why Trump has gained votes. It's very similar to how the UKIP lot in the UK gained votes and seats in the EU.

It's not about them being the right candidates or saying the right thing, it's actually about the public reaching a point where they are fed up with a system that doesn't evolve dramatically or change in such a way where it can actually be observed. In a sense it's the nature of people to want to push back against Authoritarianism or Apathy and sometimes the way to do that is literally not doing the right or rational thing, in fact it's to make a statement of picking the wrong thing like it's a kind of Sarcasm.

Some might consider from the Ashes from the political fallout from the spin that's going to be caused, that perhaps some people might eventually work out a better way of putting it all back together... of course that could be naive.

(I'm really tempted to write a passage on how Hitler's rise to power was done so through the very same problem of people wanting to see gross changes and how that panned out, however I don't want you thinking that I'm suggesting Trump is going to become another Hitler.)

I couldn't tell you if Trump is going to be a good president, that's one of those things that you'll find out in time. (Of course it will mean Trump can tick that off his bucket list)

If it all goes to shiznet over there, you've always got the potential for your states to act independently, I just hope it doesn't get that bad.

[Yazata]

I can't really say much about what goes on in the US since I'm not American, however looking at how people react in general over time in relationship to politics and policies it's understandable why Trump has gained votes. It's very similar to how the UKIP lot in the UK gained votes and seats in the EU.

Yes, I was thinking that too. Trump's popularity in the United Stated is analogous to the rising popularity of parties like UKIP in the UK, the National Front in France, AfD in Germany and the many similar parties in other European countries such as the one that just did very well in the Austrian elections. The motivations for all of them are similar and they attract similar kinds of voters. I think that the current BREXIT controversy in Britain illustrates it too.

[Magical Realist]

On the other side of the equation, I don't like his personality. He comes across as something of a jerk. He doesn't look like anyone that I'd choose as a personal friend, but neither does the smug and haughty Barack Hussein Obama (who won a Nobel Prize simply for... being him) or the regal Hillary Rodham Clinton whose pained attempts to mingle with regular people are actually kind of sad.

Many times likeability is a strong factor in who gets elected for our president. I find Obama very likeable and admire his intelligence and passion on issues. I'd also enjoy having coffee with Hillary and hearing about her views and life experiences. But Trump? Not a chance. If I saw him coming on the sidewalk, I'd cross the street. The man is first of all not very intelligent and certainly not an intellectual. That's a huge factor for me. I want someone leading my country who is at least smarter than I am. I want someone who is interested in ideas and who has the ability to articulate well his own thoughts. With Trump it'd be like I was talking to an inferior, putting up with his vulgar speech, his embarrassing bigotries, his sheer ignorance on the issues, and his self-serving egotism. It'd be like I was talking to a crude and narcissistic boss of mine, politely letting him rant on about himself while I pretended to be interested. And Trump's ethics I altogether question. The man owns casinos for christ's sake. What kind of shady business is that? Do I want that sort of mentality running my country? A greedy powermonger who only knows how to generate huge profits for himself? Do I want a man with zero experience in public service presuming to tell America what it needs? No..Never! Hillary all the way!

[C C]

Trump's a big hit in Russia, probably in no small part due to the "affection" he's wafting that way. What a strange reversal that would be: The US's traditional allies being alienated by his rebukes and "fend for yourself" policies while a close relationship is forged with the Brown Bear. If the traditional republics continue to stagnate from the excessive ideologue attitudes and factious behaviors of their political parties -- with rampant terrorism, economic collapses, cultural incompatibilities, and disruptions of resource availability threatening them with a Middle Eastern like chaos -- then a trend of mitigated dictators or "strong men" that can force national coherence and order upon their populations might be back in vogue in places where they haven't been in some time (or ever been).