Do you ever find it a struggle to discern what is real from what is fantasy? Do you feel a temptation or an urge to recede from the struggles and evils of real life, into an unreal world which is arranged more to your liking? Is the inability to stay rooted in the real world a recognized psychological malady? Is there a diagnostic term for it?
I ask these questions earnestly and seriously, because (perhaps ironically) I am struggling to make sense of what seems to be afflicting many millions of my fellow Americans. According to a daily newsletter I received this morning from The Dispatch, a conservative outlet which practices responsible journalism and opinion making, the following are true, some six+ months after the last presidential election, and five+ months after the assault on the Capitol Building:
In January, just after the attempted insurrection, 48 percent of Republican and lean-Republican voters reported in an Echelon Insights survey they would definitely or probably support Trump in the 2024 GOP presidential primary. That number has steadily rebounded as the events of January 6 have faded, and it now sits at 63 percent. In the same poll, 45 percent of Republicans classify themselves as “primarily” supporters of Donald Trump, compared to 44 percent who consider themselves “primarily” supporters of the GOP.
Earlier this week, an Ipsos/Reuters poll found that 61 percent of Republican voters believe “the 2020 election was stolen from Donald Trump” and 53 percent “think Donald Trump is the actual President.” Just over half agreed that “the Jan. 6 riot at the Capitol was led by violent left-wing protestors trying to make Trump look bad.”
I am not thinking of a precedent in American history in which so many millions of Americans remain so detached from reality.
One disconcerting possibility is that this unwillingness to accept what is real, always has been a mark of Americans (and humans?); but until Trump came along, there wasn't a leader of a major party who was willing to indulge and exploit it.
At any rate, I think we're looking at a colossal failure in formation and education. I also expect that America's enemies are taking note, and are busily planning to exploit this.
It would be a little bit understandable if Trump had been this handsome, charming, golden-tongued orator type of person. Where people could overlook his flaws because he was just so mesmerizing. But he was anything but that. All the warts and flaws are out there in plain sight. Apparently there is a type of negative, bad energy type of charisma. He told people what they wanted to hear. That so many people wanted to hear it is the disturbing part.
ReplyDeleteYou said, "I am not thinking of a precedent in American history in which so many millions of Americans remain so detached from reality." And that is somewhat reassuring, because I don't bthink Trump's "special sauce" is easily duplicated. There are a couple of his kids, and some tv personalities who would like to give it a try. But they don't exude the right kind of magnetism. I have to stop myself from wishing something would happen to him in the next four years which would take him out of the running. Because I don't think the Republicans can stop him from getting the nomination if he decides to run. I'm sure it's unchristian to hope for something like that.
There is a good article by Jennifer Rubin about whether Republican voters should be taken literally or seriously? https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2021/05/25/should-we-take-republican-voters-literally-or-seriously/
ReplyDeleteShe says that at least some of them know in their heart of hearts that the Big Lie is false. They know Biden won, but they don't like it, and want to indulge their resentment. Then there are others who apparently have been reeled in, hook, line, and sinker.
Both currently and around the world, and throughout history there have been many dictatorial leaders that impressed a substantial portion of the people. It might have been nice to think that it would never happen here in America. However Merton in his writings was not impressed that we Americans are so different from Nazi Germany.
ReplyDeleteA dictator does not have to have all the people or even the majority of the people he just has to have a very committed minority that is fanatic about him. Trump has had from the beginning about a third of Americans. He has used those to control the Republican party and be very competitive in elections.
Certainty in Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union there were extensive propaganda machines that helped keep an alternative reality in place. That is still true today in many countries. The difference today in American is that the right has its own media, and people are willing to go along with it.
As for Trump winning the election, in some ways it makes sense. Biden did not defeat Trump; the virus defeated him. If he had either managed the virus well enough that it was going down rather than up in October or if he had gotten a vaccine by October he would be president. While most Americans vote party, and a few vote issues, the swing votes are basically people choosing the lesser of two evils. In 2016 they thought that was Trump, in 2020 they thought that was Biden.
I'd like to think Biden won, at least in part, because he's not batsh*t crazy. Plenty of voters were tired of the constant drama.
Delete"The difference today in American is that the right has its own media, and people are willing to go along with it."
DeleteYes, I am with you in suspecting the right wing media is a major contributor, perhaps the major contributor, to the construction of this unreal alternate reality. And you're right: "propaganda" is the precise term for it.
Jim I also expect that America's enemies are taking note, and are busily planning to exploit this.
ReplyDeleteI’m less worried about America’s foreign enemies exploiting this than I am about the GOP exploiting this. They are the biggest threat to our country right now. Our foreign enemies must be gloating because America is destroying itself. They can just sit back and watch.
Someone - may have been Paul Waldman - made a cogent point recently, in regard to the voting-restrictions bills making their way through various Republican-controlled legislatures. The point is that the most dangerous provision in those bills is not the restrictions; they are the provisions which give legislatures (which should be presumed to continue to be Republican-controlled) the right to override the decisions of election officials.
DeleteI also saw a piece yesterday that the Trump political organization is targeting races for statewide election officials. Can't have pesky, honorable people like that Republican in Georgia deciding the outcome of races by such arbitrary and capricious criteria as the number of votes cast for each candidate.
Delete"The point is that the most dangerous provision in those bills is not the restrictions; they are the provisions which give legislatures (which should be presumed to continue to be Republican-controlled) the right to override the decisions of election officials."
DeleteJim, I agree that these are the most dangerous provisions. It seem to me that these provisions would be likely to face court challenges. Of course if the courts were stacked that would also be an issue.
I’m not sure the country can be saved. As Katherine points out, if the courts are stacked too, it’s all over. But I cling to the hope that there is still some shred of integrity left in the judicial system. Trumps frivolous lawsuits aimed at overtraining the election got nowhere - more than 60 cases, many presented to judges appointed by Republicans, even some trump appointees.
DeleteThere are so many people that are under the Trump spell, it makes me worry if I'm under the same Gaussian curve as they. If they can be THAT wrong, maybe I'm not all that right. Maybe I have my own set of American self-delusions. I believe that solutions, if they exist, lie outside the doctrines of the two parties. For that reason, I share your pessimism about our making it out of this mess, Ann. I don't think we can get to where we have to be from where we are fast enough to beat the fascism.
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