Psychologists and anthropologists have spent years observing the president-elect and being baffled by voters who say he “tells it like it is.”
Supporters are seen cheering in bulletproof glass as Republican presidential nominee former president Donald Trump speaks at a campaign rally held in Lititz, Pennsylvania on Nov. 3.
Some of the faith in the new president-elect and his economic promises comes from a sense that he “tells it like it is” — that he speaks with blunt honesty, even as he insists he won the 2020 election and propagates numerous other fictions. This paradox has confused pundits, pollsters and other observers since Trump’s rise to political prominence over a decade ago.
The certitude can make Trump sound like he’s in the know. And some enjoy the insults hurled at other people — a part of the show that can be entertaining, and also flattering, since there’s an implication that Trump’s supporters aren’t among the morons. And focusing on categories of people such as undocumented immigrants gives some people a target on which to blame their own problems. That particular group also inspired outrage among immigrants who went through all the hurdles to enter the U.S.
For a three-hour interview, it was weirdly uninformative — but people I know who get their news from Rogan’s podcast say they only consume it passively while doing other things, or they see snippets later. That represents a radical change in the way people consume media. With people half tuned in, Trump’s ability to speak with confidence about so many topics might look impressive — if you’re not listening too closely, he might sound knowledgeable.
Trump won with surprising decisiveness, despite his evasiveness and failure to justify his extraordinary claims. It’s tempting to conclude that we live in some kind of post-truth society. Perhaps, instead, we live in a society obsessed the truth, but we’ve lost our appreciation for explanatory depth and different perspectives. At the same time, we’re just as persuaded by a speaker’s confidence as ever.
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