Spiral Of Silence And Trump Nazism

There is a reason for Trump’s anger.  There is a reason he encourages the exhibition of this same anger in those who surround him.  Only by creating fear and intimidation of the majority can the minority cause them to become silent.  Trump has figured this out, either on his own or with the help of a teacher.  The Spiral of Silence is the name for this theory and the name of the same book by Elizabeth Noelle-Neumann.  It seeks to explain how Hitler gained and maintained power.  In a nutshell, it is a manipulation of democracy.  It leverages extreme emotions so that democracy can’t exist because individuals become too afraid of being singled out when they support what they believe.

Trump won on the distribution of votes. He won just enough support in just enough states using online tools which facilitated this social manipulation. Of course, the Russian bots helped as well.  Trump's anger, conviction and proxy death threat towards Hillary Clinton helped him in his strategy of silencing and instilling fear in the majority.  It is what Hitler did.  It is why Trump invited the "Bikers For Trump" group to the White House.  Not for their support, as they are not large in number, but for their ability to intimidate the majority.  Perhaps what has happened to Lindsey Graham has been largely because Trump needs to create more like this.  Trump sought to trigger violence in the mid-terms in 2018 if the Republicans did not maintain control and for that reason said he thought violence would happen. He needs violent, angry support in order for his minority to maintain control.  This is why he squints, scowls and yells insults and spews hatred at every opportunity and this is why he attacks each of the democratic presidential candidates for things that should not matter in an election contest between adults.  Trump doesn't seek to appeal to adults, he seeks to appeal to the primitive hatreds of people who don't seek knowledge or personal improvement.

It is a very dangerous thing when someone with this much hatred and anger is able to cause the majority to become silent.  Although we in the majority have had good successes in forcing Trump to stop (or pretend to stop) some of his most vile and horrific actions, such as family separations, we have not done a very good job of standing up for the people who have tried to shield us from these same types of incidents.  As a result, there have been a number of resignations of people in the Trump Administration who attempted to stop or slow the Nazism marching through the White House.  Some of them we know about from Bob Woodward.

As the number of "acting" positions increases in the Trump Administration, our collective vulnerability increases as a country.  We are slowly losing our firewall against Trump's most damaging desires.  We can't continue this way.  The people who know enough to protect us from the damage this man seeks to cause can't hold up indefinitely.

Vote for the Democrat in the 2020 presidential election on November 3rd, 2020.  If you're not registered to vote, you can register here.

If you really love your country, do a little more than merely vote.  Convince others to vote for the Democrat on November 3rd.  Sign up to take action here.  Trump is not going to give up the Presidency peacefully.  It is going to take the entirety of citizens to show him that he has no choice but to leave office.  Your country is counting on you.