Poverty is fueling Trumpism — and there’s a sinister reason why

Before he died on Sept at the age of psychologist Robert Jay Lifton left us with stark warnings about President Donald Trump and the American right One of the country s leading experts on how societies succumb to authoritarianism and collective cruelty Lifton s theory of totalism an extreme absolute devotion to a particular group or ideology is essential for making sense of our present moment Writing about Lifton s passing New York Times columnist M Gessen noted his observation that totalism propels participants toward acting in the name of their ideology Lifton saw Trumpism Gessen wrote as a totalist movement that promised to envelop its participants in a secure closed universe of lies But the psychologist knew that totalism encompasses more than authoritarian tendencies It can help to explain social inequality the way of life of cruelty and how individuals treat one another in a society Trump and the larger right-wing s revolutionary project has been called Robin Hood in reverse where general money and materials are taken from the poor and vulnerable and given to the rich and powerful through rule such as the Big Vile Bill and other policies that will make poverty homelessness hunger and other forms of social inequality worse According to a new poll distributed by the University of Chicago and The Associated Press-NORC Center for General Affairs Research Americans are sharply split along partisan lines over what causes poverty and homelessness and what responsibility if any the federal regime bears in addressing them Republicans are more likely than Democrats to cite personal choices as major factors for both poverty vs and homelessness vs the survey uncovered In contrast Democrats are more likely than Republicans to cite lack of regime assistance as major factors for both poverty vs and homelessness vs Related Amid mass deportations Democrats cling to bipartisan solutions This divide is stark and it backs up a current observation by New York Times columnist Jamelle Bouie that the American right sees the field as the ultimate decider of survival The maintenance of a particular moral order in which survival to say nothing of comfort is earned in the territory he wrote Those who can t swim or at least float will sink Since Trump s return to power this right-wing moral financial system has become even more hard-hearted In the present day s conservatives and members of the right increasingly view human empathy as a weakness something wholly alien This attitude was reflected in Fox News host Brian Kilmeade s suggestion on the Sept episode of Fox Friends that mentally ill homeless people should be executed After facing widespread condemnation he apologized on Sunday for what he called his extremely callous remarks Decades of social science research shows that poverty especially intergenerational poverty is driven largely by structural and institutional forces beyond an individual s control A person s family wealth their access to guidance and even the zip code they re born into shapes their chances at economic mobility The myth of individualism and pulling oneself up by the bootstraps rarely stands a chance against those realities But there s another issue at play that s not addressed in the survey at least not in the form of a question Whether the American people are capable of connecting poverty inequality and homelessness to the collapse of democracy and civil society under Trumpism But there s another issue at play that s not addressed in the survey at least not in the form of a question Whether the American people are capable of connecting poverty inequality and homelessness to the collapse of democracy and civil society under Trumpism Sadly the aggregate findings from the poll and decades of other research suggest the answer is no Americans have historically been hyperfocused on individualism which can make community-oriented thinking intricate Europeans by comparison are better able to connect their individual troubles to larger systems of power and institutions For example while of those surveyed including of Democrats and of Republicans believe the federal executive should be responsible for addressing poverty in ten cite personal choice as why people remain in poverty or are homeless Summarizing the findings of the new poll Bruce D Meyer a professor at the University of Chicago Harris School and one of the lead researchers on the project explained the Associated Press that people are a little conflicted about the complexity of what leads people to get in trouble in terms of their economic circumstances And I think a lot of people are generous at heart and will help people out and think the authorities should as well even when individuals aren t blameless This conflict is shown in other research including a latest Pew poll that exposed approximately half of American adults want a bigger ruling body that provides more services But desire a smaller executive that does less There are huge partisan divides of Republicans want a smaller authorities and want a bigger leadership Democrats want the opposite aid a bigger authorities and want a smaller cabinet At present s Republicans are driven by a small executive ethos President Ronald Reagan famously articulated this vision I think you all know that I ve inevitably felt the nine the bulk terrifying words in the English language are I m from the establishment and I m here to help But as Trump expands his power and control over all areas of American life those same so-called principled conservatives who spent decades howling about states rights and big regime have fallen deafeningly silent When Democrats like Barack Obama and Joe Biden were in office these people waved their pocket Constitutions and wrapped themselves in the American flag as patriots and defenders of individual rights and liberties Now their values have been revealed as a sham and about obtaining power to impose their will on other people Want more sharp takes on politics Sign up for our free newsletter Standing Room Only written by Amanda Marcotte now also a weekly show on YouTube or wherever you get your podcasts Research shows that in the modern day s Republicans especially the white working-class people who form the base of Trump s MAGA movement hold certain alarming ideas when it comes to the social safety net They encouragement regime assistance primarily for white people like themselves whom they deem deserving and to be real Americans When they use programs like welfare or food stamps they see it as temporary and justified But when Black and brown people especially women use the same programs they are labeled lazy undeserving takers or welfare queens They are ready if not eager to elect leaders who are willing to break the rules to get things done Federal power they believe should be wielded to punish those they dislike Undergirding these notions as well as Trump s appeal to the white working-class is how that group resents professionals but admires the rich as Joanne C Williams pointed out in a much-cited article published in the Harvard Business Review The dream is not to become upper-middle-class with its different food family and friendship patterns the dream is to live in your own class milieu where you feel content just with more money While noting that p rogressives have lavished attention on the poor for over a century Williams argued that the regime s focus on means-tested programs to alleviate poverty have excluded the middle class and are a recipe for class conflict But a society s values are in large part reflected by how it treats its the greater part vulnerable members and America in the st century is growing increasingly Dickensian In a great number of cities in the present day it is a crime for the homeless or poor to use constituents spaces In recent days Trump signed an executive order directing the federal regime to use its information to forcibly place homeless people in camps institutions or otherwise remove them from society Under Trumpism America s prisons and mental fitness facilities are in danger of becoming de facto poorhouses Ugly laws could soon follow We need your help to stay independent Subscribe in the present day to patronage Chauncey DeVega s journalism As American society continues to fracture the inhabitants and their leaders must broaden their understanding of how poverty and other forms of social inequality are directly linked to structural and political violence W hen a pregnant woman dies of sepsis in a hospital that could have helped her but is legally prevented from doing so that s political violence author Jessica Valenti lately wrote It s political violence when a child is shot in their classroom because lawmakers refuse to take action on guns An abortion provider being assassinated after years of conservatives calling them baby-killers is political violence as is the death of a person who had their therapeutic claim denied by companies more interested in their bottom line than people s lives She concluded We live with this kind of violence we experience it every single day We just don t call it political To conservatives it s not even violence Healthy democracies have a strong social safety net that helps to prevent and alleviate poverty and other forms of social inequality Autocrats authoritarians and demagogues though have little if any sense of obligation to the society good They view power as a way of accumulating more wealth and support for themselves and for their loyalists These leaders have an interest in keeping their constituents vulnerable Economic insecurity breeds malleability and an increased willingness to seek out the protection of a strongman Inequality they know is a dagger to the heart of democracy and it s one they enthusiastically wield Read more about this topic America is in danger of becoming numb to violence MAGA s plan for a white Christian America is unfolding before our eyes Why is it so hard to stop Donald Trump The post Poverty is fueling Trumpism and there s a sinister reason why appeared first on Salon com