Here is an experiment on perception. What colors are the shoes and laces?
Some people are quite certain about what they see: a pink shoe and white laces.
Others see a gray shoe with mint green laces.
This astonishes me. I myself see gray and green, and I see no possible way for people to see pink and white. They are mistaken, I think. They must be deluded, in a cult, in a silo of alternative facts.
This astonishes me. I myself see gray and green, and I see no possible way for people to see pink and white. They are mistaken, I think. They must be deluded, in a cult, in a silo of alternative facts.
Meanwhile, according to Gallup: 44% of Americans think that President Trump has the right personality and temperament to be president.
The question did not ask if they agreed with Trump on issues--49% did, compared to 46% for Biden. Nor did the question ask if they approved of Trump's handling of the job of president generally--46% did, in a poll just before the presidential debate. This question focused on the suitability of Trump's personality and temperament.
The question did not ask if they agreed with Trump on issues--49% did, compared to 46% for Biden. Nor did the question ask if they approved of Trump's handling of the job of president generally--46% did, in a poll just before the presidential debate. This question focused on the suitability of Trump's personality and temperament.
For five years this blog has attempted to discern what is the "magic sauce" that elevated him into the presidency. Many people--particularly ones with a college degree, people who consider themselves moderates, centrists, or leftist in their politics, and people whose media consumption consists of sources generally considered "mainstream"--have a hard time believing that other Americans could like Trump's personality and temperament.
Sure, voters who don't like Trump might grudgingly admit that they, or others, might think immigration has gotten out of control, and they can see how Trump might have appeal to some people on that issue. They might think our international interventionism has been incautious and gotten us into quagmires, and they know that position has some appeal generally. They might be frustrated with the puritanism and intolerance they see in woke political correctness, and see how Trump might get political traction there. Even people on the populist-progressive anti-establishment left saw things to like in his talk of cleaning the swamp of corporate cronyism. In short, even strongly anti-Trump voters see how Trump might win some votes on issues--the judges maybe.
But to think that his personality and temperament are suitable? His grandiosity. His divisiveness. His narcissism. His partisan tribalism. His exaggerations. His casual dishonesty. His crudeness. His astonishing self-centeredness. His lack of empathy. These traits are not hidden or disguised. Trump does not apologize for who he is. Could people possibly look at Trump's personality and temperament and see someone remotely suitable to be president?
Yes, a lot of people. Not quite a majority, maybe, but 44%.
A retired orthopedic surgeon in Southern Oregon sends me e-mail chains and links that reiterate his belief that Trump is carrying out the great work of Jesus Christ. He wants to share the truth. He says Trump has the " stamina, wealth, personality, and now passion and perseverance to do so, but he is one of the few individuals in history who may be able to do it and unite this country again." He sees Trump as a national uniter. Really.
He linked a recent e-mail to this campaign speech by Trump. He said the "only course" for America might require "an open revolution." The video is included in an article that says that the gloves have come off and that citizens are "throwing down the gauntlet for all out war" and warning the 2020 election would be the "most violent" of elections.
His perception of this speech was favorable. I see the speech as the dangerous talk of an authoritarian nationalist. People see different things. Some perfectly intelligent people see those shoes as pink.
Click below to see what stirs the heart of some Americans.
3 comments:
I think that something like Maslow‘s Hierarchy is at work here.
People whose lives are insecure tend to want to have some sort of group loyalty working on their side. This can express itself as tribalism or nationalism. Non-college-educated white people in deindustrializing rural areas fit this definition.
People whose lives are very secure don’t need this orientation, and can “rise above” it. They often view feelings like tribalism and nationalism as “primitive,“ not realizing that those people are living down a level in the hierarchy, a level where those feelings are appropriate and adaptive. These mostly college-educated folks often direct contempt downward, at their “unevolved” and “deplorable” fellow citizens.
The people on that lower level are very aware of the contempt coming down at them. They rightfully resent it, and react with great joy when someone comes along who can articulate their feelings about that contempt and throw it right back in the faces of those who are sneering down at them.
This is the appeal of Donald Trump, which is so incomprehensible to the cultural elites, who look down their noses at the world beyond the blue cities.
Wow anonymous way to prove Peter’s point. I thought the crook was Donald Trump.
I posted the shoe color thing on my page, and it seems that the people who see the pink shoes are either shade or color blind. (nothing to do with left-right brain dominance).
The trump lovers are not so color blind.At least in one sense.
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