CommentsMY TURN-If you have the stomach for it, you need only visit a few of the pro-trump social media sites to get an idea of how far gone these people are.
The sheer volume of hate and conspiracy theories is enough to have your head spinning. As I have written about in the past, the trumptrolls exhibit every characteristic of a cult, which includes the repetition of shared rhetoric that they take up as a banner as if it is unique. Beyond denying any facts that are presented to them, these individuals act like the supporters of every fascist regime of the past. There is a sickness that permeates through their minds and it is revealed in every vitriol word they speak.
There isn’t any way that those of us who have critical thinking abilities can truly “understand” trumptrolls. The only thing we can do is observe and compare to what we know about hate mongering and cult behavior. The psychology of these followers in one of extremism. These are often people who, in one way or another, felt abandoned and live in a constant state of fear. Their desire to blame everyone else quickly rolls into a nonstop existence of hate, and if there’s one thing we know, this hate cannot be quenched. This condition leads them into a situation where they can feel a part of something; gathering together with other like-minded people who escalate their animosity and create their own “hate language.”
Human beings may be social creatures, but when you create an evil mix of resentment and revenge against specific races, cultures, and religions, it becomes a formula for disaster. The trumptrolls like to think of themselves as “aware,” and yet they are some of the most ignorant of all. Limiting themselves to sites that spew everything from conspiracy theories to disgusting images, they develop a constant state of malevolence.
Striking out with accusations and lies is standard trumptroll behavior. They sneer and laugh as they call anyone who dares to defy their limited lens of existence with truth and information. They laugh when they hear or see someone who is abhorred by trump’s racism, bigotry, and sexism and love to refer to those as “triggered.” This is a form of control for people who have felt helpless due to their own bad decisions.
You can almost tell from the get-go, what and how a trumptroll will be speaking. Some may approach a conversation with “well, you may not like him, but the economy and jobs are strong,” while others come out of the gate with the statement “we lived through eight years of Obama.” It is so incredibly easy to anticipate what the cult members will say and how they will respond. From their cut and paste “he is a millionaire,” to “he has given up his salary,” they seem to see Trump as some form of answer and refuse to look or even acknowledge the damage that he is doing to the country.
These people usually have a steady diet of Fox for all their sources, although if they are on social media, they exchange hate-filled rhetoric with their fellow trumptrolls. They seem to feel that only the Republicans and Trump are exempt from any of the previously held standards. When you tell them flat-out that they would have been screaming down the street, ripping their hair out if any Democrat had done even 1/100th of what Trump and the Republicans have done, they go completely silent and change the subject.
The trumptrolls have a specific knee-jerk response to a variety of topics. When they have made the rounds of all their Fox parroted subjects, they will quickly jump to their obsession with President Obama and Hillary Clinton. They fill their heads up with the Russian bot propaganda, the deep fake videos, and the outright lies that continue to permeate the sources they turn to for information. However, when you drill down to the heart of it all, they are jealous of the fact that both individuals are respected around the globe and by more Americans around the country.
I have baited and monitored the responses to many of the trumptrolls, and when aligned with other liberals who bring fact-after-fact to the forefront, the inevitable final comments include that “we” are causing problems or “that’s just your opinion.” Investigating how they think is almost an effort towards insanity, but curiosity has pushed me to areas that I can only compare to what it must be like to walk through a sewer. A majority of these people aren’t very bright, so removing the onion layers of their front-identity can be done rather quickly. What you uncover is a dark core filled with their own self-loathing that is redirected outward in the form of hate and racism.
Anyone who has listened to the bizarre ranting of the orange dictator wannabe recognizes that he is using the same brainwashing techniques that many of the fascist leaders of the past have used. Repetitive rhetoric, in easy to understand terms, blaming one race or religion for their woes is standard propaganda 101. In the case of the trumptrolls, they have also incorporated twisted versions of their own pseudo-Christianity. Supporting slime-buckets such as Trump has no correlation to anything that involves Christian teachings and is, in fact, most of what the Bible instructs against. Yet there they are, lined up in almost religious devotion, listening to every piece of word salad that Trump says and exalting the bigotry while elevating the understood message of white supremacy/nationalism.
Christianity is a religion of love and acceptance, while Trump is a petty, racist bully who uses power as a vindictive weapon. They support his over 9,000 lies and seem to think that it’s ok to blame everyone else instead of being accountable. There is a blurred line between religious fervor that encompasses the cult mentality and mental illness, however, we are witnessing the crossing of that line every day.
The reality of trumptrolls is that their blind devotion to a man who so obviously represents everything that is wrong with humanity and our country is, to them, an answer to the hidden vitriol hate that they have been required to remain silent about. Every social condition that we have established as a mature society has been a barrier for them and Trump has given them permission to tear them down and yell out all the resentment and animosity that has been building up within them and passed from one generation to the next.
Trumptroll speak engulfs a variety of avenues but it always comes down to trying to excuse, gaslight, or redirect away from what they really know is absolutely wrong. The behavior of Trump and the spineless Republicans who are supporting him represent all those who we instruct our children as being part of the unacceptable in our society. Attempting to show them information to alter their thinking is a complete waste of time. They simply will not do it.
In the trumptroll world, just as with Trump himself, everything is centered around them as an individual. They approve of racist and bigoted speaking and actions as long as the economy and jobs look good. They have no problem with alienating from our allies if we can keep the U.S. job market strong. They understand little in the way of global community requirements, and instead fall back on the conservative psychological base of fear of everyone and everything that is different from them.
As Americans, we have been watching one third of the country step over the line of sanity in support of the worst that mankind can show. We are hearing statements from friends, relatives, and neighbors who have made our mouths drop. How did we not know that they were as hateful as they are? How can they support a man who is so obviously unhinged because he complies with their economic beliefs? How can they actually believe some of the disgusting things they spew and then turn around and go to church?
What began as a slow rumble of objection is growing on a daily basis to become a landslide. Most Americans know we cannot survive much more of the totally deranged and delusional leadership. If we make it out of this murky cavern to see the light of day, we must recognize that all of the lines of honor, dignity, and respect have been destroyed. We will be required to establish laws to keep anyone as disparaging as Trump and his supporters from pushing the country to destruction again.
(S. Novi is a journalist who worked in the media and continues to seek out truth and integrity. A liberal and one who is suspicious of cults and empty promises. She is a member of Medium.com and a contributor to CityWatch.) Edited for CityWatch by Linda Abrams.
