Trump’s White Tribal Followers Will Be Extremely Reluctant To Let The Donald Go
In the hierarchy of emotional group commitment the pecking order of humankind is family, tribe, region and far down the line there is the organically vague impression of nation. Indeed, the concept of nation, by the way the human psyche is hardwired, is quite an abstraction for average folks. And when the impression of democracy is layered on top of the concept of nation things really becomes abstract in the minds of many.
Group affinity is extremely organic. That is the basis for saying that all politics is local, not so much in the sense of it being geographically so, although that can play a large part too, but local as to ethnicity, race, religion and language.
Trump’s core tribal followers are of course White, rural fundamentalist, fundamentalists in this instance meaning both religious fundamentalists and non-elite, unsophisticated types somewhat biased to the Southern states of America.
It is because tribe is so much stronger than nation in the soul of Trump supporters that the idea of Russian interference in our democratic system carries so little weight with them. It’s such a remote construct that the Donald has little trouble brushing it aside in the minds of his devotees.
It is for these reasons (with perhaps 80% of the Republican base being hardcore Trump supporters) that the old Republican establishment fears to cross President Trump, no matter how much danger he presents to our national survival. Contrary to much thinking Trump and his followers aren’t really nationalists they are primitive tribalists, super threats to our democracy, and they aren’t going away anytime soon.
