American Cultism

      During the Cold War, we tried to understand how so many people in the Soviet Union could fall for the lies of their leaders.  Their only media sources were controlled by the government so that the only information they heard were the lies the government wanted to have them hear.  We now have seen how this can also happen in our Country.  We have a range of choices in our media for information but the followers of Trump only listen to those channels that tell the lies that the Trump supporters want to hear.  I have heard from family and friends who support Trump that they have stopped listening to the mainstream media because it is so biased.  What they really mean is that they don't want to hear anything that isn't filtered in the way that supports their beliefs.  They would no more listen to a mainstream media source than they would give up their guns.

     For most of us not in the Trump cult, we wonder how people who are so normal in other ways can be so foolish in this regard.  We examine if we are guilty of only listening to our own biased news sources. While I recognize that I tend to mostly listen to liberal channels like MSNBC, I do occasionally listen to the Fox News channel and read opinion pieces from conservative commentators just to hear what they are saying.  I doubt that Trump supports ever do this.  The only reality that I have come to is that Trump supporters are so threatened by the demographic and social changes that are happening in our country that they are willing to support people like Trump who promise to take them back to a country that is more like what they want---white-controlled.  Make America Great Again is only thinly veiled as Make America White Again. The racism in the Trump support is the strong undercurrent in what is happening.  The first Civil War was about slavery and our current "civil war" is still about white racism. The other Trump issues like control of the borders are just a mask for racism.  Sometimes Trump supporters bring this out in the open like in Charlottesville and the Capitol attack. The Republican Party invited the racists in, now they have to own them.

P.S.

      Why do they support Trump?

P.S 1

     The problem of having racists in your political party was one the Democrats had in the past until the 1970s when the racist politicians moved to the Republican Party.  When the racists were part of the Democrat Party they were never the majority as they appear now to control the Republican Party of Trump.  It took a while for this to happen but it is where the Republicans have decided to be.  Not all Republicans are racist but if you are a racist you are a Republican.