Donald Trump, Authoritarian? ... by Bob Nelson
Almost two weeks ago, an article was put online by Politico, and then echoed by all the dingbat red-meat sites:
The One Weird Trait That Predicts Whether You’re a Trump Supporter
original article by Matthew McWilliams
If I asked you what most defines Donald Trump supporters, what would you say? They’re white? They’re poor? They’re uneducated?
You’d be wrong.
In fact, I’ve found a single statistically significant variable predicts whether a voter supports Trump—and it’s not race, income or education levels: It’s authoritarianism.
It's an interesting read... but I hesitated about a full-fledged seed. Politico is no my favorite source, and the author found this result during work on his Ph.D. thesis. Meaning that he doesn't have his doctorate yet. Now... I'm not one to put too much credit in diplomas -- having one or not -- but I decided to wait a few days. Mr McWilliams's article was mentioned several times, including by Krugman, but never with full-on enthusiasm. That could mean two things: that the leading progressive pundits are wary of the backblast that would come with any labeling that carries an image of goose-stepping parades... or... that they don't really credit the idea.
(Personally, I find Mr McWilliams's thesis seductive. It explains why Mr Trumps say anything, anything at all, without angering his followers. They don't care what he says because they are "his followers". They follow, regardless of where he leads. This thesis also explains Mr Trump's success among Christian fundamentalists, who are accustomed to following their preacher without question. But! I am wary of anything so perfectly agreeable to my progressive instincts. Am I seduced by Mr McWilliams's thesis because it is solidly presented, or because it allows me to feel so-o-o-o superior to Mr Trump's sheep?)
I wanted to learn how the Politico article was greeted on the wingnut sites... but frankly I don't frequent many of them, and found nothing at all. Perhaps someone will be able to provide a link or two...
Googling "Trump authoritarian" did give me two interesting results:
Ron Paul doesn't care for dangerous, 'authoritarian' Donald Trump , Washington Examiner (hardly a flaming liberal hotbed!)
"And [Trump] comes across this very well, and people listen to him, and I believe he may be raising white horses someplace and he's going to ride in. Because he is almost the opposite of a libertarian, because it's not like 'I want to give you your freedom and your liberty to run your life as you choose. Your civil liberties are absolutely yours, you can't hurt anybody, it's your own money you can spend it any way you want.' But he sounds like the person, 'I know the answers and I'm going to do this and I've done this, I've done this, this and this,'" Paul added.
"He's an authoritarian and that's the way he claims he made all his money. So I see that as dangerous," the former congressman said.
It's from 2015, but still...
Trump, the Anti-Constitutional Authoritarian — Liberty Lovers, Beware , National Review (stalwart among conservative stalwarts)
Indeed, if the current Republican front-runner is any indication of things to come, large swathes of the party have already abandoned their talk of “constitutional conservatism” and “limited government” and embraced a flat-out authoritarianism, at least as preached by “The Donald.” Whatever else he might be, the idea of Trump as a paladin of civil liberties should make one howl with terrible laughter. Since he announced his candidacy, Trump has threatened to ignore those who are carping about free speech and shut down parts of the Internet; he has promised to summarily deport those who are suspected of being illegal immigrants, without due process of law; he has endorsed extensive campaign-finance regulations that fly directly in the face of the First Amendment; he has vowed to restrict the Second Amendment rights of those on the terror watch list, again without due process; he has praised Franklin Roosevelt’s internment of American citizens, suggested that natural-born Americans can be deported against their will, and proposed that American Muslims be barred from reentering the country; he has described as “wonderful” a Supreme Court ruling that obliterated the “public use” limitations on the invocation of eminent domain; and he has refused to rule out registering Americans on the basis of their faith.
There are lots of links in this December 2015 article.
So... what do you think? More importantly, ( Red Rules apply and this is the subject: ) WHY do you think that Mr Trump's appeal is authoritarian, or not?
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Somewhat, intertwined , let's say, with this analysis is the idea that Trump's popularity is directly related to "conservative" hatred of Barack Obama.
I think there is more than a little truth to all of it.
Trump's supporters want a return to a simpler, more patriotic, more Christian , and more "western" nation, somewhat similar to pre 2008, lol.
And there definitely is an authoritarian aspect to such wishes.
I think conservatism has almost nothing to do with it. Tribalism, certainly. Racism, perhaps. And now there's this authoritarianism, that explains so much. None of those motives are mutually exclusive, of course.
Liberalism seems to embrace bigotry while pretending to preach tolerance.
Off-topic
AUTHORITARIANISM …
Let's start with a definition …
"Favoring or enforcing strict obedience to authority, esp. that of the government, at the expense of personal freedom."
For himself … Trump, in terms of his wealth and how it's been amassed … is not in any way in favor of authoritarianism … for those he can manipulate and control using his wealth, he's for it!
And that makes him (IMO), both dangerous as a candidate for office, and, a hypocrite who has mesmerized angry whites who have been the victims of the "divide and conquer" tactics of Organized Wealth.
“Power is not a means; it is an end. One does not establish a dictatorship in order to safeguard a revolution; one makes the revolution in order to establish the dictatorship. The object of persecution is persecution. The object of torture is torture. The object of power is power.”
― George Orwell , 1984
The Orwell quote is brilliant.