Almost everyone I know is asking the same question in utter disbelief: why did so many vote for evil to continue?!
While there are many causes, I want to propose some underlying dynamics that I believe strongly contribute to racism, misogyny, greed, authoritarianism, white supremacy, unfettered violence, and worshipping a maniac — someone who has caused widespread death, destruction, needless stress, and then promised more of it.
First, I want to bust a myth. Many argue that Trump is just a symptom of something deeper. But this black or white thinking is dangerous: Trump is both a symptom and a cause. He instigated and propagated plenty of evil on his very own, getting help from his cabinet and corrupt GOP. To view Trump as merely as a symptom is to exonerate him, and that is both an injustice and, again, dangerous.
A Death Wish
No, so much of Amerika did not vote for Trump because they are all stupid; you and I know smart people who are morally bankrupt. That said, being deprived of a decent education doesn’t help one discern facts. Nor is the reason simply tribal-minded identity politics; people justify backwards republicanism for deeper reasons.
I propose that Trump tapped into the shadow of so many, those who live disenfranchised lives due to many complex and unfortunate circumstances (financial, racial, gender, being soullessly American, etc.). Many of these circumstances are systemic and not individually generated. Willful ignorance, laziness, and personal irresponsibility also factor in.
Trump is Hades embodied. He appeals to so many because he has a shadow aspect for every disgruntled human. If you’re a seething misogynist, racist, nihilist, solipsist, xenophobe, narcissist, sociopath, or suffer from ecocidal derangement syndrome, Trump has a little slice of attraction for all of you.
Unreckoned shadow, when it gains enough power, becomes a death wish — a death movement. If we can get Trump and his posse out of office, we will have stunted the massacre, for the time being. Since our innate drive is to thrive, a death-wish signals disease. How and why have so many become death-wishing, and then want more?
Shadow Champ
Trump doesn’t just embody evil, he makes it look great. He champions shadow. Trump helps his followers feel good about what they secretly hate about themselves, and even makes it fun.
So many bigoted Americans have finally had permission to release, and flaunt, their stifled darkness and unjustified hatred. And the emotionally depraved acting through this brainwashed, death cult (yes, we have just barely averted losing our democracy and we are not out of the woods yet) have been to blinded by their backlog of ugliness to even notice what they do, much less the propaganda that fuels it.
The negative shadow is extremely potent, like a deadly serpent. When skillfully and compassionately worked with, it can lead to the great beauty, to healing. But when unleashed unconsciously and without both critical thinking and emotional integrity, it’s lethal. This is why untended shadow is a death-wish, a death-drive. And this is exactly what those of us centered in truth have been so afraid of.
Trump is a symptomatic shadow spreader of the highest order and therefore a highly virulent human pathogen. Under Trump we have been headed to autocracy and demise, just like Europe was under Hitler or Italy under Mussolini’s fascism.
None of Trump’s — or other fascist’s — wrath could happen in the face of facts. One has to ignore truth, and science, in order to be maniacally unhinged. So Donald championed lying, science-denying, and attacking good journalism so that facts became relative and seemingly non-existent. Many spiritual folk, who also deny science and facts, have naturally been swayed by these conspiracy theories, especially QAnon, as I dive into here.
Deluded Trump supporters accuse of the same. So we have explained, debated, and argued the facts, to little avail, because the denial is driven by deeper forces: by shadow hatred.
The yeast to make this sick-bread rise is emotional volatility. So Trump showed them and made it okay to act out through unhinged emotional reactivity, which gives Trumpers permission to ignore reality and what is true. He encourages knee-jerk reactivity (tribalism) to act out old wounds, biases, and stifled hurt. Those who exhibit such violence are touted as “very good” or “very fine” people.
Donald has shown us how much unreckoned pain we have. This is good, but not the way he did it, which leads to death by way of shadow instead of healing from shadow. When we don’t deal with this pain, we hurt others.
Blissful Denial
I suspect many have jumped onto the Donnie Train to Nowhere for another reason too, which technically also falls under the emotional shadow category. It is the desire to remain in denial — a denial that anything is wrong, that we have to feel badly, so that we can continue full-steam ahead, living the self-centered, suicidal, American dream by which we have defined and denied ourselves. The underlying cause of this denial is a fear, and thus an avoidance, of feeling pain and revisiting old hurts and traumas that the current crises trigger. In the face of widespread fear and injustice, the divide amongst us has been fueled by the triggering of our old traumas.
Donald Trump doesn’t just deny; he does it with bravado, with gusto. He disdains fear, which translates to a death wish because fear signals us to danger and to right action that saves our lives (when it’s helpful fear). This is why a fear of helpful fear is a death sentence. I have to imagine that many cling to Donald to perpetuate their denial of our many crises. They jump onto Donald’s coattails to enjoy a false superiority over reality, a deluded conquering of the natural world, a world in which we think we can do whatever we want without sacrifice. This ends in death.
Believing there is no Covid, no racism, and no climate crisis relieves one of existential angst (and compassion), as well as the responsibility to do one’s part, go out of one’s way, and make sacrifices to help the healing. Denial allows one to remain status quo, without having to change, or give up any privilege. This is selfish America at its worst.
Image: David Geitgey
Death Delusion
To learn that their fearless leader has lost and won’t be in power anymore threatens Trump supporters’ very identity, and by association, their sense of survival. Yet they won’t actually die if they believe the truth, but (ironically) better survive! The misapprehended fear of death (which in reality is only an identity structure) they temporarily allayed through denial has become real, just as the pandemic has hit home as real.
So the denial of facts and conspiracy theories must increase to allay a misinterpreted fear of death. This may be why post-election, diehard Trumpers are posting pictures of food, kitty cats, and other random stuff. Or they are exiting bipartisan social media altogether and congregating on the q-ulty, far-right, Twitter-like social media platform Parler, which is a right-wing disinformation hub that thrives on real fake news and hate speech. The cognitive dissonance of reality is too much for them, so they enclave in this confirmation bias bubble.
Denial is also why we get only a laugh emoji from Trumpers and conspiracists in response to well thought-out comments and facts on Facebook. There’s no reasoning from them, just reflexive, sardonic condescension. This is in chorus with chants of a fraudulent election and refusal to concede, or to acknowledge with dignity our new president-elect Biden. When fear becomes too much, the fear lashes out in anger and violence, which is the threat we have faced from Trump’s militia base as the reality hits hard that their shadow and denial-championing cult leader has indeed lost. The fear of having to face what they have denied riding back-seat with their kamikaze leader is becoming undeniable, just like the fact that Covid doesn’t go away just because we pretend it doesn’t exist.
Other contributing dynamics that fall under shadow, denial, and general ignorance (no pejorative connotation here) as to why so many sided with suicide, which I don’t have space to dive into here, include:
1) The need to feel special by believing intel other than the oh-so-boring “status quo”
2) Projecting a protective daddy image onto Donald, thus trusting him implicitly
3) A way to ignore the abuses, real corruption, and conspiracies occurring in broad daylight
A Multi-Pronged Cure
Just as Donald is not merely a symptom of our times, he is also not merely revealing “what is already present in others.” This said, those that follow him are likely to have been vulnerable to his pathological lying all along.
So, Trumpers may be dealing with both (a) deeper emotional shadow dynamics of projected heroism by which Donald champions and makes their malevolent shadow dynamics seem “great,” which is tantamount to pioneering death and (b) susceptibility to superficial brainwashing and emotional manipulation.
To address the former (a) emotional shadow work is in order, which includes being honest with oneself and cultivating emotional intelligence: how to manage emotions, especially anger and fear (mainly through cognitive behavioral therapy, somatic awareness practices, and lifestyle adjustments to curb projection), and eventual grief work. Enrolling in psychotherapy would also be most helpful! For the latter (b) empowerment is through education, building critical thinking skills, and emotional tolerance practices (learning to be with difficult emotions and realize that they pass and one survives), finding more genuine meaning and purpose in life (which is also connected to justice issues) as well as emotional transformation (using difficult emotions to grow more integrity).
The above is a cognitive-emotional treasure trove for becoming a true champion, for dealing with all manner of crisis, which I outline in my new book Climate Cure. While these avenues of self-integration may offer a cure for immunizing oneself against Trumpism, and all manner of conspiracy thinking and being gaslighted, I don’t think many of his supporters have interest in pursuing these paths of self-development. This leaves us in a quandary for how to bring a sense of unity to our country. And no, tolerating the pathological behavior is not an option because it does real harm to real people, especially marginalized populations.
Some Hope
Donald didn’t make America great; he made it feel great for some to hate, lie, steal, and violate. And this maelstrom has caught up with, just like Covid.
On election day, we slayed the leader of lies and his cabinet of crooks, or at least disempowered them, for now. Yet the underbelly of American hatred and soul-impoverishment persists. Healing will take decades if not generations, even if people want to heal. But currently they don’t think anything is wrong with them. Because we share the same country, grocery stores, and government, we’re stuck with each other.
But it’s like being in an abusive marriage with a delusional spouse. Honestly, I just don’t see a path forward for getting so many millions the mind-body education they need to align with facts and to desire goodness.
Despite this, there will be some who do want to change. Each day, those called to the work can heal to any degree to make life more enjoyable for all. Post-election, the possibility for such healing becomes more possible. The sudden disappearance of QAnon from the public scene and the imminent departure of Trump and his cabal, if we can also defeat any coup, offer some hope.
Jack Adam Weber, L.Ac., is a licensed Chinese medicine clinician, climate activist, organic farmer, and celebrated poet. His new book is Climate Cure: Heal Yourself to Heal the Planet, also available at Amazon. More of his work is at jackadamweber.com
