Here's what I now think.Vast majority of trump supporters are a cult experiencing Stockholm Syndrome

[NRaleighLiberal]

Think about it - his core of support come from those who gain nothing from his presidency (quite the opposite) - he is their captor. And they've fallen in love with him.

Classic (and huge) case. Now...how to deprogram a cult of damaged individuals???

[blm]

1. I just posted this

"There was no point in seeking to convert the intellectuals. For intellectuals would never be converted and would anyway always yield to the stronger, and this will always be 'the man in the street.' Arguments must therefore be crude, clear and forcible, and appeal to emotions and instincts, not the intellect. Truth was unimportant and entirely subordinate to tactics and psychology." –Joseph Goebbels

[hlthe2b]

2. yup... that is it...

[Claritie Pixie]

3. Shared victimhood. A white man of extraordinary privilege paints himself as a victim.

His followers see themselves as victims, as persecuted, and that's how they get hooked by him.

[uponit7771]

7. +1, Trump is saving them from the not-wight walkers

[Solly Mack]

4. A shared psychotic/delusion disorder, maybe - the madness of many.

Centered around Trump, his followers take on and take up Trump's delusions.

They were already suffering from their own delusions (from years of manipulation from politicians, religious zealots, and assorted other lies and liars) but now those delusions have coalesced around Trump and his own enabling delusions - that feed his ego - an ego that proclaims Trump is the salvation and proof of their rightness - which feeds the crowd who cheer, which feeds Trump's ego. And on and on and on. Each high - and they are getting high - requires more stimulus to reach that moment of elation. It's a very volatile cycle. Continually building toward violence. At first sporadic and then on a wider scale.

I know some think people will pull back but I'm not sure about that.

[dawg day]

5. New Republic article about 'Escape from the Trump Cult'

https://newrepublic.com/article/152638/escape-trump-cult


i find myself in sympathy, because we can't just let them all stay angry and feeling abused. But I also am impatient-- why should we try so hard to be nice to these people who hate everyone but Trump?

[uponit7771]

6. Nixon and Hitler had around a 22% approval when they left, sunk cost fallacy and true believers will

... always stay with them

The sunk cost guys eventually give up thier egos