Understanding Trump’s Appeal

The great mystery of our time, for me, is why a third to nearly a half of Americans continue to support our president, regardless of his statements or actions. It has become more and more obvious that the sneering, belittling persona he projects at his rallies is central to his appeal, as his core supporters experience joy and validation by cheering him on. How can this be?

I have come to understand that the mystery of the Nazi’s rise to power in 1930s Germany was similarly based on this group-membership-validating contempt for the “other” among those who felt aggrieved by their poverty and loss of status after WWI. Some, but by no means all, of contemporary Trump supporters share their predicament, and show us that it could in fact, and in its own way has, happened here, but it still doesn’t explain why.

I’ve now come to believe an evolutionary explanation. We are, after all, pack animals, much more similar emotionally to dogs than to cats. What if the pack leader led through engendering fear in and contempt for his rivals? A skilled leader would have a powerful tool to remain in power and ensure the spreading of his genes. Pack members would be afraid to confront him lest they be subject to his contempt and the hostility of his followers. Enthusiastic followers would do better than reluctant followers in surviving and procreating under those conditions.

When we hear rally-goers say it just feels good or right, we know instinctively that it’s true. When we hear terms like gut feelings, see the mindless frenzy of his crowds, watch his ruthless allies feed off his fans on Fox News, even when we see and hear the fawning of his enablers in congress, afraid to confront him lest the rage of the pack be turned against them, we are witnessing powerful evolutionary forces in action. Because his appeal is entirely to his supporters’ emotions, no rational arguments seem able to touch it. It remains to be seen whether reason and enlightenment, respect for science, order, our painstakingly-developed institutions and hard-won humanism, can prevail against them.