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How to Argue With a Trump Supporter
It’s not easy but we can break through the deflections
Arguing against Trump supporters is both the hardest and the easiest thing in the world to do. It’s hard because the Trump supporter acts like a cult member.
They’re ready to defend anything the man does, and here’s why: First, he’s a demagogue. He manipulates them by speaking to real problems while offering them fake solutions — solutions that play on instinctual and cultural prejudices. However, by speaking to legitimate problems, he convinces them he’s on their side, and we all want to defend the people on our side.
Second, they’ve become invested in their support. At this point in time, they will have defended so many obviously terrible things that to sustain it they have to develop a protective cognitive dissonance. To admit a single serious wrongdoing would open the floodgates, potentially undoing the entire psychological block that’s necessary for them to keep supporting him. Thus, to defend anything, they have to defend everything.
It’s already challenging to argue with a person who isn’t going to hear anything you say and is just trying to find some justification for their position. However, to add to our difficulties, there’s an entire ecosystem of talking points out there, developed by right-wing media…
