2) @ThePlumLine has already limned the authoritarian nature of the behavior of both Trump and his minions in searing detail. I urge everyone to read this thread so they can understand the dynamic at work here.https://twitter.com/ThePlumLineGS/status/1060498595659558912 …
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3) This is hardly the first time Trump has attempted to assert that his version of reality is the only legitimate one, and that all others are “fake.” It’s been a trademark of his tenure. He uses the gap as a wedge to drive his followers closer. https://bit.ly/2JOX8Tb
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4) This chaos is by design, something Trump positively cultivated, following the pattern set by authoritarians throughout history – using the turmoil to create so much uncertainty that his rigid positions eventually come to define the general consensus.https://nyti.ms/2OhVqdN
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5) On Wednesday, you could also see Alt-America – the epistemological bubble the American right has built, an alternative universe comprised of “alternative facts” and conspiracy theories – asserting itself. This is part of the authoritarian creep.https://bit.ly/2hVtzSQ
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6) Now, when most of us hear the term or think about authoritarianism, we usually do so in the context of the leaders throughout history who have headed up authoritarian regimes – everyone from Napoleon to Hitler and Stalin to any number of petty banana-republic dictators.pic.twitter.com/t8CR7AuxIz
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7) But that’s not what makes authoritarianism work, or not the whole story. No authoritarian regime has ever existed without a substantial portion of the population it rules actively supporting and preferring it. They all have large armies of followers who sustain them in power.pic.twitter.com/7khoDXzySZ
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8) So to understand authoritarianism, it’s essential first to understand the distinctive personality types that are attracted to it and support it. Because this what is keeping Donald Trump’s presidency afloat, and what makes it a threat to democracy itself.pic.twitter.com/2EdC1Ldpxz
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9) What follows is largely derived from two essential works on the subject: Robert Altemeyer’s _The Authoritarians_, and Marc Hetherington and Jonathan Weiler’s _Authoritarianism and Polarization in American Politics_. https://bit.ly/2JRXMiH https://amzn.to/2DbAGSU
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10) As these psychologists have explored, most people have some level of authoritarian tendencies, but these are often leveled out by such factors as personal empathy and critical thinking skills, which tend to lead to a less black-and-white view of the world.pic.twitter.com/ydrGJhgSH4
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11) Nor is authoritarianism relegated just to the right side of the political aisle. There are also left-wing authoritarians, as any survivor of Stalinist Russia can attest. Theirs is a variation wherein the desired utopian rule becomes the objective.pic.twitter.com/lNuoXhxWf3
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12) Current Fox propaganda notwithstanding, these authoritarian tendencies on the left remain comparatively muted. Most mainstream Democrats fall well into the zone of personality types that are resistant to authoritarianism, even if they underestimate it.pic.twitter.com/8npStC8yIN
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13) I say “comparatively” mainly because we are currently awash in a flood tide of right-wing authoritarianism. As I document in
#AltAmerica, it has been growing steadily in the USA since the 1990s, and is now reaching a zenith never seen here before. https://amzn.to/2FdHrpPShow this thread -
14) Are right-wing authoritarians born or made? Probably a combination of both, though it’s clear that people’s authoritarian tendencies increase the more fearful they are. Identifying a threat and forming a focus on it are essential to shaping these personalities.pic.twitter.com/0vKuFRkCHB
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15) Some are wired this way from birth. Early theories on authoritarian personalities, now largely discredited, argued for a Freudian model in which harsh rearing environments and traumas produce people who insist on a world in which strong authorities produce order and peace.pic.twitter.com/neTzTJ8wIE
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16) Most analysis today finds that it usually depends on circumstances. Because it is innate to human personalities, it can remain latent during periods when people do not perceive a threat, and increase when they do.https://bit.ly/2pNWt9N
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17) Periods of intense social change also can produce authoritarian backlash, as such changes are often perceived by some personalities as a kind of threat. This is why civil-rights advances, such as
#BLM, have so often been perceived as an attack on whites.pic.twitter.com/TU49cKrRN0
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18) Right-wing authoritarian (RWA) personalities are built around three behavioral and attitudinal clusters, which are closely related groups of human psychology that essentially shape our worldviews.
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19) First: Authoritarian submission. This is the eager adherence to edicts, rulings, and opinions of the authorities and leaders who are deemed legitimate, built around the belief that a civil, ordered, and secure society requires such submission.pic.twitter.com/ncnS5JpaFm
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20) Next: Authoritarian aggression. This is the physical, verbal, and social aggression displayed toward anyone or any trend that runs counter to those authorities, or in the case of leadership, is deemed illegitimate.pic.twitter.com/q3a7lJY0AB
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21) Finally: Conventionalism. The adamant embrace of what is perceived as the social norm and the “real” national identity, and the belief that oneself reflects that “real” identity.pic.twitter.com/ePvjgWqvfO
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22) These three clusters interact in myriad ways, and produce a long list of identifiable traits. Altemeyer in particular has identified about a dozen such traits.
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23) They are highly ethnocentric, inclined to see the world as their in-group versus everyone else.pic.twitter.com/pvgmoyRvxk
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24) They are highly fearful of a dangerous world.https://twitter.com/DineshDSouza/status/1054106626318192640 …
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27) They are highly prejudiced against racial and ethnic majorities, non-heterosexuals, and women in general.pic.twitter.com/vlt5pvLql6
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28) Their beliefs are a mass of contradictions, dependent on compartmentalized thinking.pic.twitter.com/Mr97iBekQ2
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29) They reason poorly, and they are prone to projection.pic.twitter.com/dEmNzH2iW8
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31) They are very dependent on social reinforcement of their beliefs.pic.twitter.com/elSo7VfKu6
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