Trumpism and “againstism”
In trying to understand how come so many people support Trump, who appears to be such a despicable and dishonest person to so many others, it might be useful to understand what Trump represents to his supports. I have spoken to many Trump supporters and this is what I have learned from these conversations:
1. Trump supporters are quite different among themselves. They are not all the same; they have very different reasons for supporting Trump. So, treating Trump supporters as one big mass of people who all think alike would be a big mistake.
2. Many Trump supporters are simply supporting his ideas of being AGAINST certain things. This attitude of being against something is a big part of American culture, since it has often been described as a culture of confrontation, or a “Contest Culture” (a culture where people assume that life is about competition and viewing all others as enemies or contestants in a tournament).
3. Trump is against the established political institutions; many people support him simply because they are also against traditional politics and institutions. They don’t care much about what Trump is in favor of; they just care about being against certain stuff.
4. Trump is against SJW’s, Liberals and Political Correctness. Most of his supporters are also against these sort of people and ideas.
5. Trump is also against too much involvement of the US in foreign issues; most of his supporters agree with that stance.
6. Trump is against scientists, intellectuals and people who are portrayed as experts. Most of his supporters also dislike these so-called experts who make them look ignorant.
7. Trump is against “the Establishment” (whatever that means to different people). Many of his supporters are also against the Establishment, often for contradicting reasons.
8. Trump represents “being against”; many of his supporters want a license to expressing being against all kinds of stuff: immigrants, diversity, homossexuals, minorities who complain, modern life, foreigners… there is a lot out there to be against.
So, bear in mind that all social revolutions have been started by people who came together to express that they were AGAINST something… and not necessarily converging towards being in favour of something else. Also, it is much easier to gather people against something (an enemy) than it is to gather people to support a common cause.
Still, Trump might lose the election only because there are more people AGAINST HIM, compared to people supporting him.
