8 Reasons Trump Won
Meeting people where they are (not where you think they should be)...
Dear Friend:
As I watched the US electoral race unfold, I had a strong sense that Trump was going to win. The following may be some of the reasons why. I'm a Canadian, so take my thoughts with a grain of snow :)…
(1) MASLOW. You have to meet people where they are, before you can take them somewhere else. Trump spoke to where people are with respect to their basic needs and security concerns. So many disenfranchised and hard working Americans felt validated. If people don't feel seen, they won't vote for you, even if they agree with you about some of the other issues that you prioritize. Food on the table trumps more subtle considerations. Survivalism always comes first when push comes to shove;
(2) PRIMAL SYMBOLOGY. Whether we like it or not, humans are still attracted to the Strong Man archetype. This is particularly true during bewildering times. They are willing to put up with the excesses of patriarchy (and yes, even its misogyny), if they get a feeling that Big Daddy is going to take care of them in their hour of need. This caveman conditioning is deep in our bones. If we want it to shift, we have to stabilize society rather than bewilder it;
(3) BEING YOURSELF. It is fundamental to the American Zeitgeist and its origins to be fully yourself. However you feel about Trump, he is who he is. You can't script him, you can't alter him, you can't get him to adapt to traditional agendas. He is persistently himself, even when it appears to be entirely against his better interest. This gives many people permission to be exactly who they are, in a painfully judgmental world;
(4) KNOWING WHAT YOU ARE GETTING. When things get dicey, people want to know what they are dealing with. This is fundamental to a survivalist consciousness. If there is even the slightest uncertainty about who or what someone is, they turn away. Trump satisfies their need to know what something is. He is consistently defined. The left no longer is. Too many celebrities, too many costumes, too many identities, too many relational adaptations. It leaves a bewildered population even more confused about what they are getting if they vote for them;
(5) PEOPLE WANT REAL CHANGE. The populace has grown deeply tired of the same old political patter, the same old gap between what is said and what is hidden from view. They just don't trust it anymore. Every single politician says that things are going to change. And then, they don't. Trump said that he is going to turn things upside down for real. And they know that he means it. He will surely effect change. Quite apart from whether they will actually be happy about those changes later, they were so hungry for a shift that they voted for it. They want something radical to happen. They can't live with the status quo any longer;
(6) PACE OF CHANGE. One of the things that 'progressives' often do — and I have surely been guilty of this — is to assume that their evolution is everyone else's evolution. I call it "the narcissism of progress." It’s when you grow and evolve, and then project the assumption of growth onto others, as though they are you and see the world through your eyes. Big mistake. We must never assume that someone else shares our idea of evolution, and we must always move in step with the natural pace of change. Humans can only integrate so many new ideas and shifts in their consciousness over a period of time. This is particularly true during chaotic times, when they are just trying to batten down the hatches and do what has worked for them (and our species) over time. If you don't strike the just right balance between chaos and order, there will be a backlash. Over the last 4 years, the left has pushed hard on a variety of new perspectives. I agree with some of them, but it is too much, too soon. For the purposes of preserving their mental health, the populace has pushed back to a more familiar, comforting, conservative way of being.
(7) INTELLECTUAL SUPERIORITY. Both sides call each other names, but the left has a habit of scolding and chiding the electorate in a way that makes them feel inadequate and inferior. They aren't. When you talk down to people, you confirm that you are not in service to them, and you deepen the polarization that is destroying our species. We all stand on each other's shoulders. Any party that doesn't transmit that understanding to the electorate will inevitably lose them. Simply put, nobody cares who your famous friends are, or if you know where to get the best avocado toast in the Hamptons. They care about what you are going to do FOR THEM.
(8) THE THREAT TO DEMOCRACY ARGUMENT. People are no more likely to believe that the right is a threat to democracy than the left. They fear the extremes of both in equal measure, as they should. They also know that tyranny always masquerades as benevolence. Those who seek power are simply not the same as those who seek service. There is always a risk of democracy being undermined when the stakes are that high. We know that now. We won’t forget anytime soon.
Thank you, I appreciate this perspective and tend to largely agree with it although IMHO it has some blind spots that make it not as penetrating and helpful as it could be. Before i get to these blind spots I would first like to humbly point out that the corporate-capitalist pro-billionaire pro-empire pro-Wall St. pro-war pro-military-industrial-complex ultra-zionist pro-ethnocide pro-Big Pharma anti-workers right-wing DNC and harris are NOT anywhere remotely 'left wing', and this is largely why the people hate them, they're representitives of the billionaire class, not of the people.
Yes, even though the narrative managers in the billionaire-owned propaganda media constantly lie and present them as "the left", right-wing DNC and Harris have nothing even remotely to do with the left and in fact hate and viciously attack the non-billionaire anti-imperialist Left relentlessly and do everything in their power to destroy the left. I don't mean to belabour this point and i wouldn't normally mention it, but since you (along with the billionare-owned propaganda media) insist on calling the leftist-hating ultra-capitalist pro-billionaire pro-war pro-Wall St. pro-ethnocide DNC "the left" then something in me felt it had to speak up to counter that profoundly harmful misrepresentation that misguides us so deeply and prevents any real left alternative to the two pro-billionaire right-wing factions of the empire (liberal and conservative).
IMHO there seems to be a profound misunderstanding and ignorance about the nature of the two factions of the elite who are fighting among themselves for domination over humanity and the planet's resources. See here https://chrishedges.substack.com/p/the-choice-this-election-is-between for a very insightful and eye-opening essay that breaks down exactly the nature of the two elite factions that were competing in the billionaire's "elections", by the wise Chris Hedges. In my view this is one of the most important essays published in recent times for anyone who wishes to understand what is actually happening in the west today, the internal struggle within the elite between the two factions of the ruling class, the two faces of capitalism fighting among themselves for supremacy (who will be the elite group who will be the top dog, plunder the planet and dominate humanity), which is what this billionaire's sham "elections" is all about.
IMHO, the nature of the two factions of the elite really should be basic knowledge for all americans and westerners, because there is so much mislabelling of the elite's two capitalist factions that are fighting for supremacy among themselves (even going as far as labelling the ultra-capitalist pro-billionaire pro-militarized empire pro-Wall St ultra-zionist right-wing DNC and Harris as far-left communist!!!) and so much misunderstading of what is actually going on, misunderstanding which is fully capitalized upon by both factions of the ruling class and their propagandists to sell us their fake narratives as if this or that faction of the corporate-capitalist elite is on the side of the people. Really a very important and highly recommended essay.
I would also highly recommend this profound essay by the brilliant Caitilin johnstone that skillfully breaks down both the trumpism and anti-trumpism echo-chambers (or 'reality filters') that we're funnelled into by the billionaire ruling class. Half the population into this echo-chamber and half into the other, and pitted against each other by the ruling class and their propaganda media, to make sure we are identified with one or the other of the billionaires' factions, with one or the other of their puppets that they allow us to choose between in their sham ruling class "elections" https://www.caitlinjohnst.one/p/both-trumpism-and-anti-trumpism-are
Then there is this very important essay from wise elder John Spritzler that shows how trump is part and parcel of the ruling class and how we are being played by the manipulative narratives that have been carefully crafted around him that paints him as an "anti-elite rebel" when he is anything but that, but is IN REALITY just as pro-billionaire and anti-humanity as all right-wing american presidents (liberal or conservative) https://johnspritzler.substack.com/p/the-billionaire-class-is-no-more
IMHO, americans are being profoundly propagandized, emotionally-manipulated, kept ignorant (of the empire's global mechinations), distracted by the partisan theatre and directed to fight over the question of what should be the color of the shoes of the person who rapes, plunders, enslaves, exploits and mass-murders humanity, should it be red or blue? That's the only question we get to have a say over in the american billionaires' sham "elections", to decide over the color of the shoes of the global murderer, thief and rapist. Not whether the murder, theft, enslavement and rape should take place, that's not within the realm of allowed "debate", but only whether he should wear red or blue shoes while on his global exploits..
We're propagandized, deceived and distracted into fighting over which of the billionaire's representatives we prefer to lead the global capitalist militarized empire and its plunder, mass-murder and rape of life on earth to enrich the few ultra-rich and cement their domination over life...
TRUMP AND HARRIS ARE TWO FACES OF THE SAME GLOBAL CORPORATE-CAPITALIST BILLIONAIRE'S MILITARIZED EMPIRE, THAT TURNS THIS PARADISE PLANET INTO A DIVIDED WARRING HELL, TO BENEFIT NO ONE BUT THE CONTROL OF A FEW ULTRA-RICH OVER HUMANITY AND THE PLANET'S RESOURCES.
Yes, they have differences in temperament, one is a psychologically-undeveloped wounded narcissist bully (who buys his trophy wives off of the playboy catalogue and has fake loveless abusive "marriages" with them until they get wrinkled and are replaced by the next trophy wife that this wounded man-child buys) and the other speaks more of compassion and caring, but beyond their differences in temperament, both of their administrations acted in almost identical ways when it comes to securing the narrow selfish interest of the few ultra-wealthy and the control of their global corporate-capitalist empire over humanity and the planet's resources
Both trump and harris continued 99% of the pro-empire pro-billionaire global terror, plunder, mass-murder and domination policies of their predecessors. Yes, despite the massive and intense QAnon/MAGA marketing deception that falsely sells trump as "anti-elite rebel", trump's admin was NOT a deviation from these policies, but a continuation of them. If one looks at his ACTUAL actions (not the fake narrative that was carefully crafted around him but his ACTUAL actions) then it's plain to see. And yes, despite the propagandists in the billionaire's liberal media selling us the corporate-capitalist pro-war pro-empire right-wing democratic party as supposedly more compassionate and caring, if one looks at the ACTUAL actions of the administrations headed by a capitalist right-wing liberal then it is clear that they are just as murderous as conservatives are and work just as much as conservatives to advance the narrow interests of the ultra-rich corporate-capitalists and their domination over life on earth.
And if there's an interest, I wrote a bit about how the capitalist billionaire's global empire functions (regardless of whether it is the empire's conservative or liberal in the white house) here https://substack.com/home/post/p-150090964
Religious fundamentalist tribalism, hatred & war, coupled with billionaire greed, cruelty and relentless attack on workers & the poor to squeeze as much as possible out of us for the ultra-rich republican billionaire predators, all of it infused with a bullying fascist mentality of brutality, cold-heartedness and lack of empathy inspired by the infantile emotionally-stunted narcissist in chief - that's the AntiChrist trump presidency in a nutshell.. (though it was cleverly marketed to the people as something very different). And unfortunately the right-wing DNC don't offer a much better alternative, but are nothing more than right-wing republicans who use a politically correct language, they simply use the right pronouns as they carpet bomb humanity and squeeze every last drop out of us for their billionaire ruling class..
The entire corporate-capitalist two-party system (the two factions of the ruling class) is corrupt to the core and is not here to serve life but only to serve psychologically-undeveloped unconscious God-ignorant Loveless capitalist billionaire abusers..
I see what you're saying.. and it's good to hear an outside perspective.. I agree with much of it. However, there's a turn you take and build on that I think is a major flaw or omission in your hypothesis. 'Meeting people where they are' is a logical.. or rather psychologically and emotionally smart place to start.. likely the only place. However, as to each individual's "idea" of evolution and their "natural pace of change": It's becoming more clear- that pace isn't sufficient to counter the pace of ecological degradation- which is, of course, in part caused by denial and misinformation.. and, sure, out of discomfort and fear of chaos.
Yes, it's a delicate and clearly difficult task to help them see the precariousness of OUR dilemma without them closing off or running into the woods (or at me!) with their guns. But, myself and 150million others (in this country) are not willing to wait through their "pace" while things become more severe and irreparable. And catastrophe is an unpleasant motivator. A solution needs to be found. Politically, financially, nothing of consequence happens without their consent and votes.