Fascism and right-wing populism are by definition a political con job.
Such movements and their leaders manipulate the emotional vulnerabilities of their followers as a way to amass political power, financial resources, and other forms of influence and control.
In the end, these followers are usually disillusioned, used up by the movement, and then cast aside. In the worst such examples, both leaders and followers of such false populist movements suffer literal destruction. Leaders of these fake populist movements almost always have unbridled contempt for their followers and anyone so gullible as to trust them.
In the climax of Elia Kazan’s memorable 1957 film “A Face in the Crowd”, Andy Griffith, in his iconic role as “Lonesome” Rhodes, a gregarious down-home populist entertainer who combines elements of Father Coughlin, Rush Limbaugh, Glenn Beck and many other right-wing pop culture figures, inadvertently tells the truth about how he really feels about his followers:
Those idiots out there? Jeez, I could take chicken manure and sell it to them as caviar. I could make them eat dog food and think it was beef. Sure, I have them like that… Do you know how the public is? A cage with guinea pigs. Good night you stupid idiots. Good night, you miserable slobs. They are a lot of trained seals. I throw them a dead fish and they will flap their flippers.
As others have observed, Donald Trump is a more dangerous real-life version of Lonesome Rhodes. (Griffith’s character is deeply cynical and amoral, but not actively malevolent.) In fact, Trump is an almost ideal example of the cult leader and self-righteous man: He is an apparent narcissist and sociopath, deeply Machiavellian and without any moral core or basic decency.
The confidence man (or woman) is by definition a hands-on expert in human psychology. In a widely read 2019 interview with psychologist Maria Konnikova at the Harvard Gazette, she explained this:
Every single con, no matter what the con is, has the same backbone. You have to tell a story. Scammers, at the end of the day, are confident storytellers. They are the best storytellers in the world, the good ones. They tell us the stories we want to hear, not the stories that are true. But we believe them because that is what we already believe to be true and the way we already see the world.
Not a single human sees the world objectively. We have all kinds of self-serving biases. Scammers understand what yours is, they are able to figure it out, and then that’s what they use to sell you scams. And because it’s a story, it engages you emotionally. The moment you are emotional, you are no longer logical, you are no longer rational. And the moment the scammer is able to engage you emotionally, the scammer has won because you’re already in, you’re already part of the story and it’s going to be very difficult, if not impossible, for you to disconnect. So: Storytelling to engage emotions, to create a link, to create rapport. That’s how all cons, with different variations on that theme, will work to sell you your vision of the world that you already believe.
The reason cons are successful has nothing to do with intelligence, nothing to do with integrity, nothing to do with anything other than a very basic human tendency to hope and to be optimistic and to believe that tomorrow is going to be better than in day was. . Scammers prey on hope. So it’s great that scammers exist because it means we’re still hoping and still willing to believe. The moment scammers cease to exist is the moment humanity dies.
Konnikova’s insights provide an important guide to understanding Donald Trump’s dark charisma and his control over his followers. Those who are most vulnerable to the disadvantage usually have unmet emotional needs: they are lonely and long for family and community, they are overly trusting and naive, they are struggling financially or facing mental or physical illnesses, they are going through an identity crisis and a crisis of meaning, or they experiencing another existential or personal crisis. Other victims of the scammer are, of course, simply greedy and too ready to believe that a simple act of trickery or opportunism will make them wealthy and successful.
What is Trump’s latest scam? Last Thursday, in what he billed as a “major announcement,” the former president told his followers that he was selling a series of “limited edition” NFTs, or “digital trading cards,” that can supposedly be traded on cryptocurrency markets. These cards feature poorly executed cartoon images of Trump in heroic or ultra-masculine garb — as a wrestler or boxer, a fighter pilot, a superhero, an Old West sheriff, and various other fantasy depictions. His angle here is twofold: an appeal to greed and the desire of Trump’s followers to gain approval from (and potential access to) their cult leader. Matthew Sheffield, writing at The Young Turks, explains the source and quality of these images, which he suggests “appear to have been assembled randomly and automatically by a computer program from a predefined collection of backgrounds, costumes and heads”:
“These cards feature some of the truly incredible artwork that pertains to my life and career, it’s been very exciting,” Trump said in the video, also noting that only a limited number of the virtual cards would be released. He also offered several raffle incentives to people who bought, including a dinner and a chance to speak with him on the Zoom video conferencing service.
Several of the paper doll-style images used in the cards appear to be barely modified copies of widely available images seen at clothing retailers and stock photo websites.
One image of the ex-president wearing a formal tuxedo appears to have been constructed from an oversized Trump head superimposed over a model’s body appearing on the website of clothing retailer Men’s Wearhouse.
Another image depicting Trump as a cowboy sheriff appears to be based almost entirely on a photo of a model wearing a duster-style jacket made by Scully Leather currently available for sale at Walmart and Amazon.
A third Trump NFT showing an imaginary scene of the ex-president as a fighter pilot standing on a globe appears to be derived from an image offered for sale by stock photography company Shutterstock. On Twitter, several users discovered that some of the NFTs used wallpapers that were freely available.
How did professional pundits and many in the public react to Trump’s NFT auction and “big announcement”? With the usual sneers and laughter, calling Trump a “joke” and a “loser” and suggesting this latest fraud provides further evidence that he is a has-been who is “desperate for attention.” That attitude was widely shared across the political spectrum from former Trump adviser and coup maker Steve Bannon to President Biden.
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As I have demonstrated throughout the age of Trump and beyond, such reactive mockery and defensive disdain may feel good in the moment, but ignore the most obvious fact: Trump and his movement remain an existential threat to American democracy, and Trump still has tens of millions of loyal followers who love to give him money.
On Thursday, Trump continued to threaten his critics with censorship or other forms of punishment if he manages to return to power in 2025. In an essay on the Mary Sue, Julia Glassman issues a warning:
Now that we’re all done (or not) laughing at Trump’s collection of NFT trading cards, let’s move on to a second announcement he made on Thursday: a deeply troubling promise to “smash the left-wing censorship regime and reclaim the right to free speech for all Americans.”
In a six-minute video posted on Truth Social and shared with The New York Post, Trump engaged in conspiracy theories about a secret group of shadowy figures stifling conservative social media posts.
“In recent weeks, bombshell reports have confirmed that a sinister group of deep-state bureaucrats, Silicon Valley tyrants, left-wing activists and corrupt corporate news media have conspired to manipulate and silence the American people,” Trump said in the video. ….
While Trump’s trading card reveals what a clown he is, his second announcement is a stark reminder that he is merely the visible face of a thriving white nationalism movement in the United States.
Trump’s NFTs reportedly sold immediately, netting his operation nearly $4.5 million. Those who continue to mock Trump and his movement have failed to understand, even after seven years of doing so, that they are not his target audience.
In fact, Donald Trump and the MAGAverse in general thrive on mockery and contempt for “elites” and those they don’t consider to be “real Americans” – which only feeds their collective sense that they have been oppressed, disenfranchised, and robbed of their true birthright . .
It may be true that Trump’s popularity is on the decline, at least for the moment. But he remains the de facto and symbolic leader of the Republican Party, the larger neo-fascist movement, and the global white right. His millions of followers have collectively given him hundreds of millions of dollars, and at least some of them are willing to actively participate in or support acts of political violence and terrorism.
Donald Trump knows his public. The secret of his power is his ability to tap into their bottomless rage and resentment against a society they feel has passed them by and rendered them obsolete. Trump himself may be fading, though we can’t take that for granted. But the angry white Americans (and a not inconsiderable number of blacks and browns too) eager for a demagogue who gives them permission to be their worst possible selves and who promises simple solutions to complex problems are not going away.
Derision and liberal schadenfreude against the “rubbers” who bought Trump’s fraudulent card may be fueled in part by wonder and envy of his continued power over his followers. It will do nothing to address the cultural power of American neo-fascism, which is sure to outlive Donald Trump and his shenanigans.
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