Upset
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What Are Trump Supporters So Afraid Of? The voice inside that tells them how wrong they are.

As more truths about Donald Trump and his attempted coup come out, I fear there will be more irrational anger and threats from people who cannot bear the truth.


Secret Doubt

As the January 6 hearings restarted today after the long weekend, I was thinking about the weird, psychotic fear that has overtaken millions of Americans. I include in those millions people who are near and dear to me, friends I have known for years who now seem to speak a different language, a kind of Fox-infused, Gish Galloping, “what-about” patois that makes no sense even if you slow it down or add punctuation.

Such conversations are just part of life in divided America now. We live in a democracy, and there’s no law (nor should there be) against the willing suffocation of one’s own brain cells with television and the internet. But living in an alternate reality is unhealthy—and dangerous, as I realized yet again while watching the January 6 committee hearings and listening to the stories of Republicans, such as Arizona House Speaker Rusty Bowers and others, describing the threats and harassment they have received for doing their duty to the Constitution.

And the threats don’t stop with political figures; families are now in the crosshairs. Representative Adam Kinzinger, for example, tweeted Monday about a letter he received in which the writer threatened not only to kill him, but to kill his wife and infant son.


There have always been unstable people in America, and they have always done frightening things. But there seem to be a lot more of them now. Some of them are genuinely dangerous, but many more are just rage-drunk nihilists who will threaten any public figures targeted by their preferred television hosts or websites, regardless of party or policy.

The more I think about it—and I spent years researching such problems while writing a book about democracy—the more I think that such people are less angry than they are terrified.


All true. But I think there’s more to it.

I think the Trump superfans are terrified of being wrong. I suspect they know that for many years they’ve made a terrible mistake—that Trump and his coterie took them to the cleaners and the cognitive dissonance is now rising to ear-splitting, chest-constricting levels. And so they will literally threaten to kill people like Kinzinger (among others) if that’s what it takes to silence the last feeble voice of reason inside themselves.

We know from studies (and from experience as human beings) that being wrong makes us feel uncomfortable. It’s an actual physiological sensation, and when compounded by humiliation, it becomes intolerable. The ego cries out for either silence or assent. In the modern media environment, this fear expresses itself as a demand for the comfort of massive doses of self-justifying rage delivered through the Fox or Newsmax or OAN electronic EpiPen that stills the allergic reaction to truth and reason.

These outlets are eager to oblige. It’s not you, the hosts assure the viewers. It’s them. You made the right decisions years ago and no matter how much it now seems that you were fooled and conned, you are on the side of right and justice.

This therapy works for as long as the patient is glued to the television or computer screen. The moment someone like Bowers or Kinzinger or Liz Cheney appears and attacks the lie, the anxiety and embarrassment rise like reflux in the throat, and it must be stopped, even if it means threatening to kill the messenger.

No one who truly believes they are right threatens to hurt anyone for expressing a contrary view. The snarling threat of violence never comes from people who calmly believe they are in the right. It is always the instant resort of the bully who feels the hot flush of shame rising in the cheeks and the cold rock of fear dropping in the pit of the stomach.

In the film adaptation of the Cold War epic Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, John le Carré’s fictional British intelligence officer George Smiley describes his opposite number, the Soviet spymaster Karla. Smiley knows Karla can be beaten, he says, because Karla “is a fanatic. And the fanatic is always concealing a secret doubt.”

What this means, I regret to say, is that there will be more threats, and more violence, because there will be more truth. It’s going to be a long summer.

https://www.theatlantic.com/newsletters/archive/2022/06/what-are-trump-supporters-so-afraid-of/661346/
One more time for the daft :

I am not the topic personal attacks will be deleted.
Posts that have nothing to do with the topic will also be deleted.
Any posts calling for killing of people and or bigoted racist crap will be deleted.
deadgerbil · 26-30
A lot of them seem to lack the humility that they are wrong and just double down on their ignorance. It doesn't even have to involve political subjects. They are just in possession of defective personalities
And unarmed insurrection..
like the first in history…

SubstantialKick · 36-40, M
They don't want to face the reality that their lord and savior Trump is not so almighty after all.
@Ferise1 But they don't control facts. There has been no evidence of voter fraud. This has been confirmed even by republicans. You have been duped. Get over it.
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SubstantialKick · 36-40, M
@Ferise1 Yeah, I've been hearing that for a year and a half, and nothing has come of it.
I dont think anyone that favors Trump is concerned. Theyve moved on to more important things, than the lefts fairytales
@Spunkylama Did you know Rep Adam Schiff is from Massachusetts?
Don't deflect
This message was deleted by the author of the main post.
There was a thread posted an hour ago with people literally calling for hanging of Fauci. I reported it. Maybe the FBI needs a heads up...
This message was deleted by the author of the main post.
This message was deleted by the author of the main post.
Ynotisay · M
I referenced this story earlier. I think there's a fair amount of truth to it. Admitting they were lied to, and fell for it, would be too big blow for their egos. It would blow up their beliefs which are far more powerful to them than the truth. So many of them live in a world of enemy and persecution. They can't admit they're fighting the wrong enemy and the persecution is coming from the people they support. It's a total mind fuck.
smiler2012 · 56-60
i have said this all along since i encountered trumpsters on here that they are so brain washed and blinkered . they will never ever accept a guilty verdict if it so in this january 6th trial . they will say it is whitewash and a fraudulent attempt too silence trump once and for all . they believe no wrong of the man and far as they go he is there messiah and walks on water .basically they need too wake up and have a reality check trump is a fraud and crook [spunkylama]
"We found that greater liberalism was associated with increased gray matter volume in the anterior cingulate cortex, whereas greater conservatism was associated with increased volume of the right amygdala. These results were replicated in an independent sample of additional participants. Our findings extend previous observations that political attitudes reflect differences in self-regulatory conflict monitoring and recognition of emotional faces by showing that such attitudes are reflected in human brain structure."

- Ryota Kanai, Tom Feilden and Geraint Rees
Political Orientations Are Correlated with Brain Structure in Young Adults

Current Biology Volume 21, Issue 8, P677-680, April 26, 2011
Ynotisay · M
@canusernamebemyusername I've read those studies before. It's fascinating. Clearly environment plays an enormous role. But it's interesting that there's a biological component too. I'm just curious if the brain changes due to environment or if people are born with it. Maybe a combination of the two.
Nanoose · 61-69, M
Yeah I also fear that things are going to get violent in the US in the next couple of years. Not sure if you saw the election ad by Republican Missouri Senate candidate Eric Greitens - he told MEGA supporters to take up arms and go out and hunt RINO's. Cheers!
I'm watching a documentary called 2000 Mules.
I read this, but I'm not sure sure most Trump supporters have fully developed egos or superegos.
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LordShadowfire · 46-50, M
It's the only reason I can think of why they are so violently angry with people who tell them the truth.
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@Ferise1

*yawn* yes, yes. I'm sure there's some cultists who are getting ready to be shot by the police...but you didn't answer my question, son.

Go on, don't be shy. Share with the class🤭
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@Ferise1

The South will rise again!🤣

lol your cult lost. Your first attempt to turn traitor on American democracy was slapped down.
Your second attempt will be too, if it ever comes....

But thanks for announcing to the public that your on the side of violent attacks on Americans.
Didn't realize you considered domestic terrorism an admirable goal.😆
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