Lemmings over the cliff. Why people follow Trump?

Myth
Lemmings jumping off cliffs is a myth. It is not a deliberate act of suicide, but a result of their migratory behavior. Some lemming species may migrate in large groups when population density becomes too great. During migration, lemmings travel downhill which leads to the ocean. They may jump off the cliffs with the intention to cross the ocean, but they eventually die. The myth was popularized by a Disney film that allegedly herded lemmings off a sea cliff.

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Lemmings over the cliff': Arizona GOP official wonders why people follow Trump

Former President of the United States Donald Trump speaking with supporters at a
© provided by RawStory

An Arizona Republican elections official who has faced threats over the 2020 election on Friday lamented that his party would even consider nominating Donald Trump for president next year.

Maricopa County Recorder Stephen Richer delivered his comments during an appearance on CNN’s “Erin Burnett OutFront” during a discussion over whether 14 Amendment could be used to keep the former president off the ballot.

Legal scholars argue that Trump’s role in the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol precludes him from holding public office.

“So you're talking about these (election) lies, right, Trump is continuing with this day in and day out, right, and yet, he's got a 34-point lead, a commanding lead,” Burnett said.

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“In fact, in our latest poll it's a dead heat between him and President Biden. What does it tell you about American democracy that this is still embraced so overwhelmingly, by Republican voters?” she asked

“It's incredibly disheartening, and you would think that, you know, in the world's beacon of democracy, no way could this happen here but clearly in can,” Richer said.

Related video: Trump needs Arizona voters; some are done with him (Reuters)
Despite 4 indictments amounting to 91 criminal charges in New

“Now, I still have confidence in the American public, but it's shocking to me that some of these conversations, some of these actions could go on and still that percentage of people could be willing to contemplate going down that road.”


Richer acknowledged that the Grand Canyon State has been at the center of threats to election officials, noting that last week “I was in a sentencing at a federal district court where someone who threatened to kill one of my colleagues because of the elections in 2020, the elections in 2022, and so how many more people like that have to be locked up because of the falsehoods that they're following like lemmings over the cliff.”

Asked Burnett: “How are you still dealing with this? I mean, I know you had a there was a man, a Missouri man who was indicted last month after threatening you. You talk about your colleague. This is three years after the election. How do you deal with the fact that you're still dealing with this, death threats to you, your family?”

“You see things that are happening in Ukraine, you see things that are happening throughout the world, and it gives you a real sense of an arc of history, and so without being too melodramatic about it, I feel privileged to play a role in this incredibly important conversation,” Richer said.

He added: “I'm going to continue that fight. I know a lot of my colleagues are going to continue that fight. I know a lot of them have chosen not to continue that fight and I can't blame them for all the stuff that we've had to go through, but I'm trying to look at the positive of it.”

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Don’t blame the 'dumpster cult' for banal evil | Opinion
Story by John Stoehr •
September 2023

Peter Navarro was one of the criminal former president’s top advisors. He’s now the second one, following Steve Bannon, to be convicted of contempt of the Congress. A jury handed down a verdict yesterday. It found him guilty of refusing to cooperate with the J6 committee that investigated Donald Trump’s attempted paramilitary takeover of the US government.

Michael Cohen, who is perhaps the only former Trump aide to seem truly regretful of his association with him, was on MSNBC the night before Navarro’s conviction. Chris Hayes asked why people like Navarro don’t realize they’re in trouble before throwing their lives away for Trump.

The part of Cohen’s response that’s getting the most attention is this: “The extent of the damage that Donald Trump causes for those people who get caught up — like myself — in this cult of Trump, this dumpster cult, it so far-reaching that Peter Navarro has not yet contemplated the full extent of it.”

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But there’s another part that deserves attention.

“It’s stupidity,” Cohen said. He said that Navarro could have shown up for witness testimony, answered some questions, pleaded the Fifth on other questions, thus satisfying his legal obligations. Instead, he did nothing.

Which is it, though? Are these people throwing their lives away because they are ensnared by a “dumpster cult” of Trump’s making? Or are they just stupid, careless, lazy, arrogant and convinced of their own invincibility?

I get that there’s overlap between these two aspects. Cohen’s own reply, which featured “cult” as well as “stupidity,” exemplifies that. But I think the difference is important. One of these represents an extraordinary evil. The other doesn’t. It’s evil that’s so banal as to be invisible – and that’s frightening.

So frightening that we may not want to see it for what it is. We may want to see something else, something that can’t be explained by ordinary human psychology, to wit: people like Peter Navarro are throwing away their lives not because they are foolish or proud or blinded by ambition. They are throwing away their lives because they are involved in a “dumpster cult.”

Actually, Navarro seems keen on encouraging that view. The night after being found guilty of contempt of the Congress, he took to social media to say that he’s “guilty” of “doing my duty to God, country, the Constitution, and my commander-in-chief. Standing tall, thanks for your prayers.”

The afternoon of his conviction, outside the courtroom, he also suggested that he’s a martyr. “The day Judge Mehta ruled that I could not use executive privilege as a defense, the die was cast,” he told reporters. “This was pro forma. We knew going in what the verdict would be. That’s why it’s going to the appeals court. … I’m willing to go to prison to settle this issue.”

(The issue in question is whether Navarro, as the president’s aide, could defy a congressional subpoena on grounds that his testimony would violate executive privilege. Judge Amit P. Mehta said that there’s scant evidence showing that Navarro’s conversations with Trump were privileged.)

Isn’t this curious? On the one hand, here’s Michael Cohen, saying that Peter Navarro is throwing away his life because he was trapped by a “dumpster cult.” “Navarro has not yet contemplated the full extent of it,” Cohen said.

On the other hand, here’s Peter Navarro, suggesting, “Yeah, I was trapped by a ‘dumpster cult.’ I didn’t commit these crimes because I willingly joined a conspiracy to overturn a free democratic election for the purpose of installing a natural-born monarch by the name of Donald Trump. I committed these crimes, because he duped me into committing them.”

We don’t have to do this. We don’t have to reach for something like “cult” to explain what appears to be the inexplicable behavior of ordinary criminals, only to have those criminals try exploiting “cult” to dodge accountability.

Instead, we should just listen to him.

“I get a House of Representatives controlled by Nancy Pelosi trying to put me in prison,” he told reporters. “Why? Because I’m a Trump guy! I get a Biden White House and a Biden Department of Justice. Does anybody want to tell me I’d be here if Republicans had held the House? Or if President Trump was in office? No! No! So a little bit of righteous indignation.”

In other words, he’s where he is, because the J6 insurrection failed. If it had succeeded, there’d be a Trump White House and a Trump Department of Justice. There’d be no accountability for him, “because I’m a Trump guy!”

Yes, that’s stupid. That’s the point.

Stupidity is obvious and boring. It does not get the attention that “dumpster cult” does. Neither do ambition, risk-taking and hubris. Neither does the belief that criminal accountability is for the little people. Neither do all those sins of the human psyche that are unleashed once you believe that anything’s justified in “taking your country back,” even betraying it.

We already understand this evil.

We don’t need “cult” to explain it.

READ MORE: 'A song about cheating': What the GOP candidates’ playlists reveal

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A neuroscientist explains why MAGA supporters refuse to accept Trump's 91 felony charges
Opinion by Bobby Azarian, Raw Story
12/9/23
Supporters of Republican presidential candidate former President Donald Trump begin arriving at the Monument Arena on September 08, 2023 in Rapid City, South Dakota. Trump is scheduled to speak at the arena during the Monument Leaders Rally hosted by the South Dakota Republican Party. Scott Olson/Getty Images
Supporters of Republican presidential candidate former President Donald Trump begin arriving at the Monument Arena on September 08, 2023 in Rapid City, South Dakota. Trump is scheduled to speak at the arena during the Monument Leaders Rally hosted by the South Dakota Republican Party. Scott Olson/Getty Images
© provided by RawStory
When delving into the perplexing world of politics and the enigmatic figure of Donald Trump, we often encounter a peculiar phenomenon amongst his supporters: a staunch refusal to accept any criminal allegation or felony charge against him, no matter how compelling the evidence.

There are many neurological and psychological reasons for this irrational behavior. But today, we will focus on the mental phenomena I feel are most urgent to explore ahead of the 2024 presidential election.

First, a disclaimer: I am not a psychiatrist or a clinical psychologist — I am a cognitive neuroscientist with a research focus in clinical psychology (in particular, anxiety’s effect on attention). In fact, much of my published work has appeared in psychology journals. As a science journalist, I have been covering the psychology of Trump and his supporters since he emerged on the political scene in 2015.

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Now that Trump is running for president again while facing 91 felony charges, I feel a moral responsibility to illuminate all the mental factors that are driving Americans to support a man who is a master manipulator, and incapable of telling the truth. Unfortunately, these are qualities that are too common among presidential candidates, but Trump is a particularly egregious example, and therefore we must be vigilant. This article is meant to inform but also to warn voters of what is to come.

Cognitive challenge of disbelief
In 2009, a study published in PLOS ONE challenged our understanding of belief systems.

Researchers placed participants into the confines of an fMRI scanner and presented them with a mixture of factual and abstract statements. The results were illuminating. Disbelief, it turns out, is cognitively demanding. It requires more mental effort than simply accepting a statement as true. From an evolutionary perspective, this preference for easy belief makes sense; a perpetually skeptical individual questioning every piece of information would struggle to adapt in a fast-paced world.

ALSO READ: How Trump could run his campaign – and the nation – from behind bars

What does all this have to do with Trump supporters? Well, it’s far less cognitively demanding for them to believe anything their leader tells them. Any challenge to what Trump tells them is true takes mental work. This means there is a psychological incentive for Trump loyalists to maintain their loyalty. (I wrote about this phenomenon in a slightly different context in the Daily Beast article "Religious Fundamentalism: A Side Effect of Lazy Brains?")

Molding of belief: neuroplasticity at play
Now, let's consider the unique predicament faced by individuals who staunchly support Trump and want him to again become president. From the moment Trump began his political career and his social engineering career, his supporters have been exposed to narratives — Trump doesn't lie, Democrats are communists, the media is an enemy of the people — that emphasize loyalty and trust in their political idol. These narratives often steer away from critical examination and instead encourage blind faith. When coupled with the brain's inherent tendency to accept rather than question, it creates an ideal environment for unwavering allegiance. No matter that Trump, time and again, has been revealed to be a serial liar, habitually misrepresenting matters of great consequence, from elections to economics to public health.

Related video: Former President Trump Warns Supporters: 'Fight Like Hell or Lose Your Freedom’ (Benzinga)

ALSO READ: Trump is embracing five ‘fake news’ outlets he supposedly hates

For example, in the Psychology Today article "Why Evangelicals are Wired to Believe Trump’s Falsehoods," I explain that the children of Christian fundamentalists typically begin to suppress critical thinking at an early age. This is required if one is to accept Biblical stories as literal truth, rather than metaphors for how to live life practically and with purpose. Attributing natural occurrences to mystical causes discourages youth from seeking evidence to back their beliefs.

Consequently, the brain structures that support critical thinking and logical reasoning don't fully mature. This paves the way for heightened vulnerability to deceit and manipulative narratives, especially from cunning political figures. Such increased suggestibility arises from a mix of the brain's propensity to accept unverified claims and intense indoctrination. Given the brain's neuroplastic nature, which allows it to shape according to experiences, some religious followers are more predisposed to accept improbable assertions.

A neuroscientist explains why MAGA supporters refuse to accept Trump's 91 felony charges
A neuroscientist explains why MAGA supporters refuse to accept Trump's 91 felony charges
© Raw Story
In other words, our brains are remarkably adaptable and continuously evolving landscapes. For ardent Trump supporters, residing in an environment that prioritizes faith over empirical evidence can reshape the neural circuits within their brains.

Imagine these neural pathways as trails in a forest. The more one traverses the path of unquestioning belief, the clearer and more entrenched it becomes. The path of skepticism, however, grows over with doubts and becomes difficult to navigate. This cognitive reshaping primes individuals to accept, and even defend, far-fetched statements and suggestions presented by manipulative politicians.

The Dunning-Kruger effect
This cognitive bias occurs when individuals with low ability at a task overestimate their capability. Translated to the context of understanding complex legal matters, some Trumpists might believe they have a superior grasp of the former president’s predicament and dismiss expert opinions, thinking they're immune to being misled.

The Dunning-Kruger effect becomes especially concerning in the context of polarizing issues, such as climate change. A research study from the University of New Hampshire in 2017, for example, revealed that a mere 25 percent of those identifying as Trump supporters acknowledged the role of human actions in climate change. This is in stark contrast to the 97 percent consensus among climate scientists on the issue.

This troublesome cognitive bias could be making it easier for Trump to deliver unchallenged falsehoods to his more uneducated followers. In some cases, not only are these individuals uninformed, they are unlikely to seek new information on their own. In their minds, they have nothing to learn because Trump and his acolytes have already told them what they need to know.

Reevaluating our cognitive reflexes
It is important to state that these phenomena are not exclusive to Trump supporters or any particular political group; this article serves as a broader reflection on the cognitive shortcuts that our brains favor.

If we aspire to build a society less susceptible to misinformation, we must embark on a paradigm shift. Our educational approach should pivot from passive acceptance of supposed “facts” to the exhilarating pursuit of questioning authority and healthy skepticism (as too much skepticism can also lead to irrational thinking). Recognizing that belief, in many ways, is the brain's default mode rather than a conscious choice, can serve as the first step in this cerebral revolution.

In conclusion, the unwavering belief in Trump, despite the felony charges against him, is not solely a political matter but, for some, a manifestation of our brain's intrinsic tendencies. Understanding this cognitive dynamic is pivotal in addressing the challenges posed by misinformation and fostering a more critical and discerning society.

Bobby Azarian is a cognitive neuroscientist and the author of the new book The Romance of Reality: How the Universe Organizes Itself to Create Life, Consciousness, and Cosmic Complexity. He is also a blogger for Psychology Today and the creator of the Substack Road to Omega. Follow him @BobbyAzarian.

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Former Republican blasts “Trump Cult” and claims his defenders are on an “anti-constitutional crime spree”
Story by Milla •
09/20/23
Donald Trump’s Wild Ride: Can He Find His Way Back To The White House?


Former Republican blasts “Trump Cult” and claims his defenders are on an “anti-constitutional crime spree”
Tom Nichols, who spent 40 years in the Republican party and soon after Trump became POTUS, spoke about the “Trump Cult” mentality and how some will never reject the former president despite the charges.