Psychiatrist: Trump Supporters think like 5 year olds

[crimycarny]

Last edited Thu Apr 23, 2020, 01:58 PM - Edit history (1)

I apologize if this video has been posted before, but I just stumbled across it and thought I'd share. It gave me some real insight into why Trump supporters continue to support Trump no matter what. Basically their thought process and the way the view the world is akin to how a normal 5-year old sees the world. It's just that most people develop beyond that.

EDIT: Many are pointing out that the advice given at the end for how to combat Trump seems completely wrong. I absolutely agree! While the explanation from the psychologist re: Trump voters and why they support him no matter what made sense to me, the advice the video maker gave at the end for how to deal with Trump seemed exactly opposite of what needs to be done. Hillary DID give a lot of policy, maybe too much even. You can't combat people who are driven by emotion with "boring" policy. That made zero sense.

[SheltieLover]

1. Absolutely!

K&R

[elleng]

3. Too bad the 5 year olds vote.

[rzemanfl]

4. Bookmarking for after Rachel. n/t

[captain queeg]

5. I've read posts about the alpha male syndrome or something to that effect

Not sure of the right term, but people who support someone just because he exudes power and that’s why trump can never admit he is wrong. It’s all beyond me how an adult can survive believing this crap. I wait for the day when his colossal failure is so obvious and he breaks down and cries on TV. I hope the news don't let that slide; they need to show it fully. That might show his devotees what a loser they have been embracing.

[Wounded Bear]

7. That's at the heart of authoritarianism...

after all, authoritarian leaders cannot succeed without the flip side, authoritarian types who follow.

[chia]

10. +100

Right-wing authoritarians want society and social interactions structured in ways that increase uniformity and minimize diversity. In order to achieve that, they tend to be in favour of social control, coercion and the use of group authority to place constraints on the behaviours of people such as political dissidents and ethnic minorities. These constraints might include restrictions on immigration, limits on free speech and association and laws regulating moral behaviour. It is the willingness to support or take action that leads to increased social uniformity that makes right-wing authoritarianism more than just a personal distaste for difference. Right-wing authoritarianism is characterized by obedience to authority, moral absolutism, racial and ethnic prejudice and intolerance and punitiveness towards dissidents and deviants.

[smirkymonkey]

9. We need to do a media blitz to show his weakness.

We need a really good agency with expertise in mass psychology to produce media that can convince the loyal masses that Trump's bravado is really just a mask for his massive insecurity, incompetence and weakness. We need to portray him as the whiner and the cry-baby that he is. Humiliate him, laugh at him, show his failures and cowardice. Attack his character.

[captain queeg]

14. I agree. They keep treating him way too nice. Supposedly out of respect for the office

But he has proved he is not worthy of any respect. Unfortunately even for the office if he is the occupant. Respect is earned.

[bdamomma]

18. Those

Press people who questioned him need to be more aggressive with him, needle the hell out of him, let him have a meltdown.

The Press should not back down and NOT let him have the last word. Bullies can be handled he's a idiot boy.

[VOX]

22. "Stern Daddy" issues. n/t

[Warpy]

24. There is a TED talk about alpha males

that will make you rethink nearly everything you have heard from the media about who they are.

The wingnuts aren't following an alpha male as much as they're engaging in cult groupthink. What they get out of this is a sense of community and purpose. What they lose is autonomy and the ability to think critically, things either go along with the cult or they're outside it, and that is somewhere they will never go since it will leave them without the community. That they're following the leader over a cliff is no surprise, think about how many cults have ended in self destruction.

[Yavin4]

25. They don't survive.

That's why they are dying off early.

[crimycarny]

28. It is so baffling to anyone "normal"

This video cleared up one thing, sort of, and is why so many males see Trump as "strong" when he behaves like a spoiled brat. But if you look at Trump's bullying behavior from the perspective of a 5-year old, I can see how that sort of behavior could be mistaken for strength. Thankfully most of us grow beyond that

[Under The Radar]

6. They are giving him way too much credit.

For when my children acted dishonestly, aggressively, and selfishly, they would receive memorable punishment, long before they reached the age of 5.

[Baitball Blogger]

8. Now you know why most of us minorities are livid that our lives have always faced

limitations from that kind of thinking, since, let's face it, they have been defining every aspect of our lives. Or should I say, they have been allowed to define every aspect of our lives.

Have we all had enough, yet?

[betsuni]

11. I don't get it.

She says the only way to combat Trump when he lies and repeats empty slogans is with policy substance, that people susceptible to following a leader based on emotion and empty words went for Trump rather than Hillary because "Stronger Together" and "When they go low, we go high" were also empty slogans, but positive emotion instead of negative.

What? Is she under the impression that Hillary didn't talk about policy? Hillary said herself that there was a lot of angry ranting in 2016 and maybe she should've done more of that and not what she always does, go right to the solutions of policy. Does she mean Joe Biden shouldn't have a slogan like "Yes, We Can"?

[thesquanderer]

17. I had the same reaction. Hillary put forth plenty of policy. (n/t)

[StevieM]

20. Yes she did. But after the election was over the media began to rewrite history.

People like Joe Scarborough called it the campaign about nothing.

It was all total nonsense, of course. But it made them really happy to say it.

[Warpy]

26. She did, but most people never heard it

because most people get their information from broadcast news and broadcast news has been shitting all over Democratic candidates for decades. What they do is report where the candidate is, maybe some poll numbers, who a shot of the candidate and the crowd, and jabber over him or her so that nothing the candidate says can be heard. I got sick of it in the summer of 2004 and turned the bastards off. "Simpsons" reruns had more news content than those assholes did. Oh, I check on YouTube to see what they're up to once in a blue moon, but they haven't changed.

Oh, there are the debates, but ask people what they remember, they'll usually talk about the Orange Pendejo's antics when Clinton was speaking, not anything she said.

That is what we're up against. I'm hoping Biden goes on the attack, and I think he will, poking pins into that fake overinflated ego until it explodes, if Pendejo can be persuaded to show up for one. My guess is that he won't.

[crimycarny]

29. Agree

Yes, I don't agree at all with the conclusion. In fact I felt almost the opposite, that perhaps Hillary put forth too much policy for those "emotional" voters.

I hope Joe Biden does what Michael Bloomberg did which was to hire a bunch of psychologists to advise him on how to respond to Trump. Bloomberg's tweet responses to Trump were brilliant (and hilarious). Bloomberg managed to make Trump look ridiculous in ways no one else has been able to do. I hope Biden's team is going to learn from Bloomberg as far as how to combat Trump. You can't be a "nice guy". Hell, you can't even point out the obvious lies---it doesn't matter!

[niyad]

12. That is an insult to 5-year olds.

[OhNo-Really]

13. Nice compliment. I was thinking 2 ye olds

[captain queeg]

15. Take heart. We know he didn't really win the election, by 3 million votes

Turn out wasn’t great and many people voted against Hilary, not for trump. I predict much greater turnout and many people showing up to vote against trump. I believe that is a given. What’s important is that people realize any rethug is the same as trump and we throw the bastards out.

[coti]

16. I agree you have to appeal to emotion, but "substance" won't do it.

Or he wouldn't have been President to begin with.

You have to bully him back and humiliate him. Call him out for his weakness, his neediness and his continual dishonesty and corruption. Hit him as hard as you can on an emotional level, and don't bother arguing factual points or even policy. Call him out for being Putin's...servant.

[scarletwoman]

21. Exactly! I think her advice at the end of the video is totally wrong.

Policy and rational argument are NOT going to win the day against irrationality.

[smirkymonkey]

30. +1000

[IronLionZion]

19. They like simple memorable messages

over complex policy proposals and nuanced plans to implement change

[burrowowl]

23. Kick

[VOX]

27. Per Rick Wilson: "Heart, guts and being great on TV beat brains and policy over and over again."

I know, I know— he’s a Republican! But he’s also one of the savviest political animals out there today. And he wants to see Trump beaten as soundly as any Democrat does.

This article is six months old (a lifetime in the Trump era), but much of what Wilson says is truth couched in some (very) hard lessons. They may seem glib and shallow, but sad to say, the American electorate isn’t what it used to be.

https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.usatoday.com/amp/2209609001
Policy papers are a delusion, Democrats. This is a Trump referendum and you're blowing it. Tough love for my Democratic friends: All their 2020 nominee needs is a short, pithy slogan and the ability to cure the infection Trump has given us.
USA Today
RICK WILSON
September 5, 2019
<snip>
The referendum on Trump will be based on his actions, his affect, his character, his corruption, and how he is reshaping this nation into a statist personality cult and away from our best values. It’s not like he doesn’t give Democrats something to work with.

To win, your candidate needs to be the most effective counterforce to Trump, a remedy for the disease with which he has infected our body politic. That’s it. Heart, guts and being great on TV beat brains and policy over and over again. Every aspect of the Democratic campaign's communications effort from grassroots door-knockers to earned and social media to paid advertising must be focused on creating this referendum.

Next, if you’re not focused on the Electoral College and only the Electoral College, resign yourself to a decade of Trumps in the White House. Two big realities obtain: The first is that in 35 states, the election is already over. The Pacific Coast states are blue, and that’s not changing. Ditto New York, Massachusetts & company on the East Coast.

Electoral College is the ballgame
No, Democrats aren’t going to win Texas and Alabama and Oklahoma. There are roughly — and the number will vary based on the economy, Trump’s trade war lunacy and other drivers — 15 states in play in either direction. If your campaign isn’t building its operations in Florida (the big prize with 29 electoral votes), Michigan, Pennsylvania, Arizona, Ohio, Wisconsin, North Carolina and the handful of other swing states, you’re wasting time and resources.
<snip>