Originally published at: https://boingboing.net/2024/02/26/jimmy-kimmel-reveals-trump-cultists-blind-devotion.html
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It’s not just the fact that they flip that is scary, it’s the speed and complete and total acceptance of an opposite that is full on horrifying.
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Obligatory: “We have always been at war with Eurasia!”
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Yeah that was the part that stunned me. There really wasn’t any hesitation. Just complete and instant reversal. Well…sometimes there was a brief pause while their brains tried to recalibrate, but they very quickly just rejected that option.
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“Could I have been wrong? No, impossible.”
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I really hope I don’t have such blinding double-think opinions.
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I definitely see this more from the right, so you might be safe. I’m sure some people of all bents do it to some extent, but the difference is that the left-leaning USians have some kind of moral compass, whereas the right-leaning currently have none, just a gross “team” mentality where “my side is good and your side is bad.”
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Wait, that’s ungood… We have always been at war with Eastasia.
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Doubleplusungood! Crimethink!
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There was always talk about the double standards around Trump, but it was clearly more than that. This, more than anything, shows how the facts fundamentally don’t matter and aren’t the basis for Trump’s support (nor attacks on Biden). I mean, we already knew that, but it’s nice to have a clear illustration of it.
I think it’s pretty clear, at least in the case of Trump and Biden, that the dynamic doesn’t exist when things are reversed. Biden supporters are willing - eager, even - to acknowledge his faults and be troubled by them. And it’s not just Biden - there’s really no one on the left where you see similar dynamics to what’s going on with Trump and his supporters. Generally speaking, people are going to have double standards and hypocrisies - but this is such an extreme example, to the point of pathology.
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I suppose it’s a necessity to be able to switch critical positions in an instant when everything you believe and want to believe is based on lies instead of reality.
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Defending the indefensible is hard!
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Exactly. Because one side has a moral compass, and the other side does not.
Trump supporters, by and large, have no moral compass. It literally does not matter what Trump does, if it’s him doing it, it’s okay.
It’s scary and gross, but that’s what we’re working with.
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I keep thinking of George Monbiot’s article pinning down Trump’s appeal as being about intrinsic vs. extrinsic values:
People with a strong set of intrinsic values are inclined towards empathy, intimacy and self-acceptance. They tend to be open to challenge and change, interested in universal rights and equality, and protective of other people and the living world.
People at the extrinsic end of the spectrum are more attracted to prestige, status, image, fame, power and wealth. […] They are more likely to objectify and exploit other people, to behave rudely and aggressively and to dismiss social and environmental impacts. They have little interest in cooperation or community.
Trump’s a manifestation of their extrinsic values and that’s all that matters to his followers - everything else is just pesky, inconvenient facts.
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These are such softball questions.
They should ask the Trump cultists, “If Donald Trump murdered your children right now in front of your eyes, would you still vote for him?”
Bonus points if the children are standing right there.
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They would probably just say Trump would never do that.
In their minds, if Trump does horrible things it’s only to people who deserve it, and clearly they don’t.
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I wish I had your optimism, but something tells me a good number of them would say, “Well then my kid must have done something to deserve it.”
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