Ted Babbitt

It’s easy to understand what Donald Trump is but I think the more interesting question is why Donald Trump is creating such a following?

The What is pretty simple. He is exactly what he appears to be, an ego maniacal bully with extraordinary thin skin like most bullies and a horrible temper with a petulant child’s personality in an adult’s body.

I was talking to a service provider and a friend who is a Trump supporter and getting in the usual argument about my dismay as to why someone like her would support Trump. Her response was do you think that  all these millions of people that like him are just stupid? My knee jerk reaction was to say they are both stupid and uninformed but that is not the answer. Why do you seemingly normal people like Donald Trump?

It is simply not enough to say they just don’t like Hillary Clinton. That’s all well and good but any analysis of Trump’s qualifications or ability to be president has to intellectually come up short so why  would so many people really like him? Even if you factor in the current polls 35% of the  millions of potential voters plan to vote for him. It’s not that they are not looking at the news and seeing the stories. Trump is absolutely correct when he says he could shoot somebody on fifth Avenue and they would still support him. That is pathological but all these people can’t be crazy…

So here is my analysis. If you go back to Sigmund Freud we all have an id and an ego. Freud is not currently in vogue because  his method of psychoanalysis is far too lengthy and complicated. Nevertheless the underlying principle of a built in personality whether by nature  or nurture is still sound.  We all have a primitive reptilian brain that is self protective and primitive. It gives us the fight or flight that results from an adrenaline rush and it was very useful to caveman.  It has a downside in modern times. It can result in prejudice against anyone who threatens our way of life.  This self protective mechanism has been exploited by Republicans since Ronald Reagan. Appealing to our baser instincts the Republicans created an opportunity for Roger Ailes to start Fox news and for talk radio  to be one of the major sources of news for a lot of people. In fact it is estimated that nearly 40% of the US population gets all of their news from either FOX News and or talk radio. On top of this Republicans figured out  that they could exploit the misinformation supplied by these sources by appealing to our reptilian instincts of self protection. It is so much easier to blame someone of another color another  religion or just someone who has different beliefs than us for our problems. The Republicans were able to package just about anything by simply using misinformation.  So, if they wanted to take away the rights of children they would call their bill no Child left behind. If they want to make it impossible to bring a class action against responsible corporations they would call the bill the class action fairness act.

Trump is an idiot savant. He is not a particularly good businessman and certainly has the kind of personality that if he were not who he is you would not want to be around. No one wants to talk at a cocktail party to someone who talks about nothing but himself and is only interested in self adulation.

But what he is very good at is language manipulation to set off our caveman instincts. The things he talks about our things that a good  portion of the population has been thinking for years but it was socially improper to speak them out loud. Trump has changed that. We can now openly blame our problems on Muslims or Jews.  It worked in Nazi Germany and it is working here. Adolph Hitler exploited the economic downturn in Germany and was able to unleash deadly hatred against the Jews. In modern day America it was not socially acceptable  for people to openly exhibit hatred until Donald Trump came along. When you see the kinds of things Trump supporters say at rallies it is strikingly  similar to what German citizens were saying about Jews. Trump, after all, has openly said kick the crap out of them, tell them to go blank  themselves.  That has unleashed the primitive hatred of these people to say incredibly anti-feminine, anti-religious and anti-race things that they never were permitted to say out loud before.  Trump has given his followers the opportunity to hate out loud and they are taking it. If you are a coal miner and coal is no longer acceptable fuel no amount of rhetoric is going to get your job back but isn’t it easier to unleash  your frustration on someone of a different religion or race them to accept the fact that you are either going to have to be retrained or go on the dole?

I don’t think Donald Trump will be elected. At the current time Nate Silver who is the best pollster we have and has been correct in predicting almost every election gives Hillary an 85% chance of becoming president. Nevertheless, my fear is that  Donald Trump has sown the seeds of hatred so deeply in a large portion of the population that he has set back civil society in this country decades.  When Trump loses I just can’t see his followers going softly into the night. I fear for this country.  This maelstrom of hate will not go away easily and we still have nearly 3 months to go. I am not fooled by the pivot. He cannot control himself  and the hatred of his followers is palpable. It is scary.