Donald Trump and the Religion of Misery
Low self-esteem and lack of confidence drives people to fascism, where they then must kept in such a mindset to continue supporting the fascist.
Unrelated, before I start: I joined Substack because I thought, at first glance, that writing newsletters was a growth industry in which people could, if not support themselves outright from it, at least garner a decent following. That idea has since been proven false. Newsletters are something people do when they’ve already become known for something else, not the other way around. Writing in today’s world doesn’t pay. For those of us who have spent much of our professional lives trying to make it as a writer, we’re still out there with day jobs and a dream that seems less realistic each year.
All of that is to say that those of you who subscribed expecting regular posts, I’m sorry but that won’t happen. I’m only going to write here when I feel like it. And I’m only going to write for myself. Several years of being treated like dirt as a freelancer followed by almost five years in a bad work environment at a local media company has taught me there aren’t any good writing jobs except for those that come as a side effect of fame or achievement someone has already done.
From now on, I won’t ask for subscriptions, donations, or article shares. I’m not going running on the hamster wheel any longer. I’d rather take a nap.
For today, I thought I would mention a few thoughts rolling around. The support Donald Trump continues to enjoy looks inexplicable in the face of all the evidence against him. Accordingly, to understand the support he enjoys, one must look outside of the evidence of the man himself, who is a bloated, out of shape, lazy, deadbeat, sociopathic violent narcissist. His supporters have already been exposed to all the information about him. They’ve just chosen to ignore it.
They instead prefer to rely on a concept that is only too familiar each Sunday as I take my dog though an open door and have her sit next to me on a pew to hear the latest homily and listen to the week’s chosen hymns. Trump’s supporters are relying on faith.
It’s their faith their drives them forward, keeps them supporting him. Trump himself has become a religion. His most dedicated adherents choose to believe him instead of any news reporting about him. They decline to observe objective reality and instead let the reality they perceive become shaped by the authority they have chosen to worship. They are, quoting a song by a Christian band called Petra, not of this world.
It’s not that Trump supporters are inherently stupid, though almost all of them act that way. Before Trump, they demonstrated at least enough intelligence to survive in a difficult, chaotic world. After Trump, life might be harder for them, having supported a fascist movement for so long. They will, however, still be capable of learning and growing as individuals.
What makes them appear stupid is their rejection of knowledge in favor of authority. They reject any information that doesn’t come from sources they already approve of. Unfortunately, when Trump supporters narrow down their world view this way, they tend to get lead around by the nose by anyone who takes advantage them as a captive audience.
Captive is a word I use deliberately. Hostage might also apt. Trump supporters, and more broadly speaking, those who continue to support the American Republican party, are being held hostage within their own lives by a mountain of misery that continues piling on top of them over and over again until misery is all they know. They’ve lost all perspective except for one: the leader can do no wrong, no matter what he does or says.
Keeping his supporters in a state of misery is the best way to ensure that Trump gets continued support from whatever dwindling base he has. This is the same tactic many megachurches employ: make a person feel worthless, diminish their self-esteem, and then tell them the religion they follow has the answer to their problems. For both Trump and megachurch adherents, those who develop sufficient self-worth such that they no longer need to lean on someone else’s ideas for emotional satiation are gone.
Looking at the American economy from a macro level alone would suggest that the economy is doing better under Democrats than Republicans. This same goes for human rights at home, infrastructure investment, and adherence to the rule of law.
The problem is, for today’s Trump supporters, it’s not about the economy. They don’t support Trump because they’re concerned about migrants or a weaponized justice system or election fraud or gay marriage or abortion- or any of it. These are simply the issues Trump has chosen to use to stimulate individual misery.
The worse he makes people feel about their country and their circumstances, the more he incites misery in his supporters. This is the reason Trump sounds like someone making a never-ending list of complaints and grievances, rather than proposing anything positive. If he did achieve any of his objectives, his support would vanish.
If Trump were more of a clever man and less of a career criminal whose only achievement in life was being born into a wealthy family, he’d be able to create a movement that would last instead of one that’s on its last legs. The leader of any religion has to be strong, unshakeable, and beneficent. Most religions portray the figures of worship in this manner.
Instead, Trump’s character flaws, which are legion, are leading to his own downfall. Trumpist fascism, which has become a religion of misery, is a self-destructive ideology in which people deny themselves personal growth and advancement for the sake of supporting a man who only cares about them to the extent they can help him.
Of the three people crucified on Calvary in the first century A.D., most don’t remember the names of the two thieves who met their end. Most symbology in churches only shows one cross, that upon which Jesus died, rather than three.
The thieves, it turns out, did not inspire lasting devotion in those who witnessed their end.