Authoritarian Nightmare: Trump and His Followers

This book was pretty informative, but I simply got tired of reading about how bad Trump was. I dislike him intensely, never did like him, and I'm not surprised at anything he's done or does. And I don't think any of this will help me really understand the people who like him, or help me talk to them in any reasonable manner. We simply don't share a common set of facts or beliefs. So, I gave up.

I did not finish this one unfortunately. I was hoping to read something about the Trump presidency that was academic and objective, and I found Dean's constant verbal abuse of Trump and his followers a little tiring after a hundred pages. I don't disagree with his opinions about the latter but after a while of reading the same things over and over I grew weary.

Around page 180 I believe I got the gist of what Dean and Altemeyer's message was to the American public:

Trump lacks empathy and care towards others, is self-involved and selfish, and most likely has serious issues concerning his self-image. All this may be due to his upbringing; his mother was not loving and his father was very strict, demanding perfection at all times.

His show more followers can be defined as Right Wing Authoritarians, or those who submit to authority, follow blindly orders or statements without question, lack critical thinking skills and are aggressive towards those who challenge their view.

Trump loyalists could also be described as Social Dominators, or persons who enjoy dominating (bullying) a group of people or individuals. They also tend to be prejudiced, nationalistic and aggressive.

I skimmed the remaining chapters and it looks like they focus on how the 2020 election could look like and what tactics Trump would use to win. I think its safe to say, at the time of me writing this, who our president will be for the next 4 years (SPOILER ALERT: NOT TRUMP).

Overall, what I managed to read was enough for me to get a clear picture of the thought process (or lack thereof) of Trump and his followers. show less

"Given my experience working for Mr. Trump, I fear that there will never be a peaceful transition of power" Michael Cohen

It about sums up the book.

The only negative item is that they really needed a grammar Nazi.

Co-author Bob Altemeyer takes the general assessments and science of The Authoritarians to examine Trump and his MAGA followers using the RWA Scale political-psychological assessment scale. The profiling is cutting; from the authors' considered analysis, Trump and his base are a thread to democracy. Published Aug 25, 2020, the conclusion was DJT would not allow for a peaceful transition of power. Which, of course, is what happened.

Those DJT initials are also what he is using on the stock market and this work reminds us of the last time Trump had a DJT ticker symbol.

The authors use social science to examine the behavior of Donald J. Trump and his millions of followers.