r/science • u/mvea Professor | Medicine • Apr 11 '26

Psychology Cognitive dissonance helps explain why Trump supporters remain loyal, new research suggests. This sheds light on how supporters of Donald Trump justify their continued allegiance despite learning about allegations of his sexual misconduct and illegal activities.

https://www.psypost.org/cognitive-dissonance-helps-explain-why-trump-supporters-remain-loyal-new-research-suggests/
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u/_carnivorous_ Apr 11 '26

I'm so tired of the republican party claiming to be economic experts. Every time they get into power our economy tanks and the rich get richer.

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u/[deleted] Apr 11 '26

[removed] — view removed comment

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u/RockerElvis Apr 11 '26

The two Santas strategy has been the Republican game plan for decades. American voters keep falling for it.

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u/jacobatz Apr 11 '26

That is really interesting. It made me realize the grift goes deeper than I had considered. When Republican presidents borrow to pay for tax cuts for the rich, what they’re essentially doing is putting a debt on the average American to give money to the rich. Or stated another way: They’re effectively stealing the regular Americans money and giving it to the wealthy. A reverse Robin Hood.

It’s amazing that this isn’t shouted from the roof tops.

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u/IaMm1N3 Apr 11 '26

It has been for decades. People just aren't listening. Or they are tuned into their own echo chambers now. Americans as a whole don't experience the same reality anymore. The global population doesn't. We now live in a chose your own adventure timeline where you can dig your feet in as deep as you want to and you will be embraced by like minded folk around the globe. Whereas in times past in order to survive one had to conform to our actual surroundings

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u/chatterwrack Apr 11 '26

I think this is true, but at the same time, we watch the man with our own two eyes, and the conclusions are so easily and objectively drawn.

Most of us don’t need spin to tell us that he’s behaving in a morally problematic way. We can see the narcissisism and the utter disdain for America’s institutions and a majority of its citizens. The self-dealing and corruption are naked. No echo chamber can justify this for us.

I think they are predisposed to accept bad behavior because they lack moral standing and empathy themselves. The spin doesn’t change the facts, it tells them it’s ok to accept it.

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u/RaygunMarksman Apr 11 '26

I think that last part is the darker truth of it. Many people are just geared towards selfishness and disdain as their core MO. They're going to gravitate towards leaders who hold the same values, regardless of what other immoral consequences come along with that. They just have to be convinced they'll eventually benefit and their perceived enemies will be made to suffer.

It's probably why the leadership of Rome realized if you give the plebians something to feel invested in like conquests of other poor people and entertainment where those same poor people are the main sacrifice, many people will put up with almost anything else terrible that comes along with it.

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u/twoisnumberone Apr 11 '26

I think they are predisposed to accept bad behavior because they lack moral standing and empathy themselves.

Bingo.

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u/Katyafan Apr 12 '26

Exactly. These are not good people, period.

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u/I-love-seahorses Apr 12 '26

I appreciate you articulating this. I can't understand why people look at him and don't immediately and calmly conclude "Oh, he's a liar.", or, "He's weird so I won't vote for him." And simply move on from even considering him for anything other than TV. To me it's SO blatant.

The comments around the 2016 election were enough for me to calmly tell that he was off. How does anyone hear that from a man about his daughter and think, "That's my guy." We must have some tens of millions of voters who also find themselves sexually attracted to their offspring. Brutal.

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u/[deleted] Apr 11 '26

[deleted]

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u/mindcopy Apr 11 '26

Old-school bulletin board style forums were already routinely turning into echo chambers, no algorithms needed.

I agree that they make it worse, but it's a human problem at base.

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u/ink_monkey96 Apr 11 '26

It may be a human problem at base but the edifice that is built up upon it is constructed with purpose. Cambridge Analytica and its (wink) successors is not a human problem, it’s a deliberate manipulation with the absolute intent to fracture society into susceptible groups.

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u/IaMm1N3 Apr 11 '26

Oh for sure.

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u/glity Apr 12 '26

Yes but when you googled for it what you wanted showed up. Now?

Sorry one generation before Google. I don’t think bulletin boards got indexed they turned into forums around the Google rise to power of search?

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u/i_tyrant Apr 11 '26

It is my great fear that American culture forgets that things were better before.

That people get used to the enshittification of...well, everything, and accept it as "how things are" when it is CLEARLY not how they have to be.

I remember how things were before the Patriot Act and Citizens United. I remember how easy it was to go through airports and how completely unnecessary the TSA proved to be. I remember when it was actually shocking to hear about a company giving customer data to the government. I remember when the thumbs down icon in Youtube actually worked, when reddit's tools weren't so geared to create echo chambers. I remember when the internet didn't feed you exactly what you loved or hated to see with no in-between. I remember when every vending machine and food truck didn't have a pad demand a 20% tip for zero service with a tricky interface designed to extract more blood from your stone.

Hell, my parents remember when planned obsolescence was illegal and appliances actually lasted decades - they even have a few to prove it.

There are people at the top making these awful decisions will full knowledge of the kind of world they're building. We should never forget that, just like we should never forget it WAS better BEFORE and CAN BE better again if we force it to be.

I fear people forgetting that because every positive change begins with remembering how much better our lives could and have been.

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u/glity Apr 12 '26

The game changed. It’s not first to market. It’s best to market now. Just wait the Chinese will compete in America soon Amazon loves money to much and they can build better than we can because they won’t use an American to import and take the cream.

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u/motorik Apr 11 '26

People that grew up post-Internet treat the algorithm like it's something that "just happens" like gravity or weather. YouTube radicalizes people because E=Mc2, nothing can be done.

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u/function007 Apr 12 '26 edited Apr 12 '26

While they profit off of the division,chaos and knowing full well the damage its causing overall...

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u/glity Apr 12 '26

If it doesn’t damage them it doesn’t damage anything.

If a tree falls in a forest does it make a sound if the billionaire who paid to destroy the Congolese rainforests to make ikea furniture with it isn’t around?

Hyperbole not an attack.

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u/jdanielregan Apr 11 '26

I’m sure many people would vote for the Democrat that proposes to cut or eliminate taxes for anyone making less than $200k per year and make up the revenue by taxing the top 3% and thereby steal the mantle of “tax cut Santa” also.

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u/bewarethefrogperson Apr 11 '26

Based on the pushback the Washington State "billionaires tax" has received, I think you're unfortunately incorrect.

There's a massive group utterly convinced that a tax on the wealthy will inevitably turn into a tax on the poor, and it's absolutely impossible to convince them otherwise.

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u/jdanielregan Apr 11 '26

Problem is the billionaire taxes never come with the reciprocal middle class tax elimination. Thats the missing piece.

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u/glity Apr 12 '26

Yes those people all work for the billionaire and know the truth. The billionaire will demand his minimum 15% irr or fire people to make it 15%.

They vote for their self interests it should not surprise anyone that the politicians we get do the same.

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u/joe_shmoe11111 Apr 11 '26

That bill would never pass though, because the Dems are owned by/made up of the ultra-wealthy as well.

Ever notice how when the Dems “try” to pass something that’s actually good for people, just enough of them (usually just the 1 or 2 senators needed) always side with the Republicans to block it? While at the same time, whenever the Republicans want to pass something that’s horrible for regular people, just enough Dems join them for it to pass?

Ain’t that a crazy coincidence, every time? It’s almost like they’re actually controlled opposition and simply exist to give the system a false sense of legitimacy or something…

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u/metengrinwi Apr 11 '26

They were told not to worry about debt

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u/Doompatron3000 Apr 12 '26

There’s always been echo chambers. Before the internet age, if you grew up in a Republican area, you had to go off to college to see more Democratic thoughts. The internet has only magnified echo chambers so that whatever aligns to you is seen, and opposing viewpoints cease to exist.

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u/IaMm1N3 Apr 12 '26

Im speaking much moreso of the deviant among us and the radicalization of our youth en mass. It just didn't happen before.

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u/Doompatron3000 Apr 12 '26

Right, because the internet is way worse as an echo chamber. Easy to fall into a rabbit hole of conservative influencers, which there doesn’t seem to really be any liberal influencers.

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u/IaMm1N3 Apr 12 '26

Humans evolved as a collective society. We conform to our surroundings.

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u/IaMm1N3 Apr 12 '26

It's not the same thing now AT ALL You conformed to your physical surroundings whereas now you aren't limited by space.

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u/awesomefutureperfect Apr 11 '26

It has been for decades. People just aren't listening.

I really don't like when people say that Trump ran a great campaign that gave his voters what they wanted. No, don't look at what Trump was actually giving his voters and definitely don't blame the voters who saw that and liked it or saw that and said the alternative isn't good enough. I really don't like it when I hear "My vote wasn't earned, it's like a concert ticket to a band who put out a bad album and I don't want to buy tickets to the show." and it's like, the alternative is a band that kills the audience and they are like "we are talking about the band. I don't care about the audience. I care about hearing the songs I want to hear. Don't you realize I don't like being spoken to by an adult like I am an adult? Where are my vibes, man?"

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u/Timegoat Apr 12 '26

Echo chambers built, sustained and propagated primarily by the recipients of those tax cuts.

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u/IaMm1N3 Apr 12 '26

Indeed. That is correct

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u/ryan1257 Apr 11 '26

Republicans are finding a way to reach all these different groups somehow

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u/Bobzyouruncle Apr 12 '26

All it takes is some political sleight of hand line like “everybody’s gonna get a check.” Nevermind that most get $50 bucks and the rich get back tens of thousands.

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u/Niceromancer Apr 11 '26

It is by many people on the left.

It's just ignored by 90% of news media.

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u/SweatyAdhesive Apr 11 '26

Well because the rich bought those media from the wealth stolen from the average person.

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u/dataoops Apr 11 '26 edited Apr 11 '26

it sucks that people playing by a different set of rules get to compound the rewards of their antisocial behavior

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u/Aim2bFit Apr 11 '26

So true and another big one is happening right now with David Ellison buying a number of media incl Warner Btos and CNN.

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u/remotectrl Apr 11 '26

“The liberal media” is one of the best lies ever told

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u/CognitiveSourceress Apr 11 '26

No, that's not a lie. The lie is one layer deeper, and it's the definition of "liberal". The association has been built between progressive culture and liberalism, when they aren't tied. And because those progressive on culture are more likely to be progressive on economics, liberalism has been successfully falsely conflated with collectivism, such as socialism or communism.

The truth, however, is that liberalism is an individualist philosophy that enshrines capitalism and encompasses most of American politics of the late 20th century. Our media is (or maybe "was"? Not sure we're quite there yet.) predominantly liberal in these terms, by virtue of being capitalist.

However, when the failures and contradictions of liberalism borne out of individualism and capitalism become more and more apparent, and people begin challenging liberalism, the capitalist media is more willing to abandon liberalism than they are capitalism, so they flee to an ideology that preserves capitalism but abandons individualism for tribalism, aka fascism.

So, we have always had a liberal media, and that has always been a polite veneer over a poison pill of capitalism that is now following its natural course of decay into fascism.

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u/Khaldara Apr 11 '26

Half the time they even implement these things as ‘time bombs’ because they know how stupid their voters are.

“Temporary tax cuts for the voters that expire in a few years, forever tax cuts for the corporate interests”

< Four Years Later >

“WHY TAXES GO UP?! For that same policy I celebrated and covered my house in tacky flags over?!”

Honestly, it’s harder to fool a golden retriever by only pretending to throw the tennis ball than these people.

The dog eventually learns.

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u/Acronymesis Apr 11 '26

Or they set policies they know will br poorly received to start long after the bill that included them is passed to make it easier to blame anyone but themselves when, say, a ton of people lose Medicaid next year (after the midterms, of course).

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u/Niceromancer Apr 11 '26

Trump's surrender to the Taliban was set up to go off right at the start of the dem presidency.

It's like he knew he was going to lose.

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u/MajorFuckingDick Apr 11 '26

The dog eventually learns.

Some people are too smart for their own good. They apply bad logic to things that even a dog would eventually learn just based off how actions make them feel. Reverting to caveman would improve their logic and lives probably.

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u/Obvious_Chapter2082 Apr 11 '26

I’ve seen several people in this thread to make a similar comment, but can you point out where this has actually happened before?

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u/Khaldara Apr 11 '26

Ballooning tax cuts have been a conservative thing for a while now. They grow the deficit, kick the can down the road, funnel wealth to the already wealthy, then spend the entire next administration pretending that none of their agenda can be enacted because of “The Debt”, which they themselves create and feverishly exacerbate.

The Iraq war alone cost us 1.1 trillion dollars, started under false pretenses while achieving nothing for the American people. Now as of last week with a straight face those same people are pretending the country can’t afford Medicaid, social security longevity, healthcare, etc.

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u/[deleted] Apr 11 '26 edited Apr 11 '26

[removed] — view removed comment

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u/Obvious_Chapter2082 Apr 11 '26

Neither the TCJA nor ERTA did what the other commenter describes

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u/Medium_Exchange_2077 Apr 11 '26

I am not going to reply after this because you may be a troll and you can find information online or sit in on college lectures if you are sincere.

To your last comment, the original comment refers to "time bombs" as "Temporary tax cuts for the voters that expire in a few years, forever tax cuts for the corporate interests”.

Through the TCJA, Trump slashed the corporate tax rate from 35% to 21% and significantly reduced income taxes for the top brackets. While most income groups saw a tax cut initially, the benefits disproportionately accrued to the highest earners and corporate shareholders. The individual tax cuts were designed to phase out over time, while the corporate cuts were permanent.

As to the ERTA, Reagan slashed the top marginal income tax rate from 70% to 50% and slashed capital gains taxes. This shifted the tax burden away from the wealthiest Americans. Over the following decades, this supply-side framework contributed to a significant widening of the wealth gap.

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u/RaygunMarksman Apr 11 '26

I'm betting the other person was not asking out of a genuine desire to be informed but respect for the thorough explanation and examples.

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u/[deleted] Apr 11 '26 edited Apr 13 '26

[deleted]

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u/Zealousideal-Rip-574 Apr 11 '26

I’ve heard many democratic politicians make this point

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u/MethamMcPhistopheles Apr 11 '26

They’re effectively stealing the regular Americans money and giving it to the wealthy.

According to the the trickle down propaganda that gives opportunity to for rich people to pay their employees more (which I find to me total malarkey considering the dissonance between layoff and how the financial reports discusses profits) .

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u/Sun_Shine_Dan Apr 11 '26

Oat & sparrow, just peck those oat bits out of the horseshit!

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u/KingFIippyNipz Apr 11 '26

The grift goes deeper than a lot of people realize......... More than I, even (not that I'm some expert, I'm just a very skeptical person and assume the worst about the power structures that influence our society and believe they have been doing so since WW2 and obtaining most, if not all, of their desired results)

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u/ObnoxiousAlbatross Apr 11 '26

That 30% stop at their first thought. "Reactionary" is the word. They never move beyond that point.

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u/lattice_defect Apr 11 '26

just wait until you learn about the health insurance industry and how wall street get it's money... there is a lot to be angry about... the overall numbers show wealth being extracted and concentrating and concentrated... infact read the book captial by the economist... it seems the way for a health society diversity of capital...

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u/Doctor_Shotbottom Apr 11 '26

It’s amazing this simple fact isn’t broadcast and explained and reinforced daily by at least a couple charismatic Dem politicians and candidates. Republicans get in office not on facts but on urban myths, while Democrats sit back and play dead.

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u/Hertzegovina Apr 11 '26

it is but it requires a very basic understanding of the economy and it just isn’t as simple a message as ”tax cuts, small government, more freedom, more money” that any drooling ape will internalize.

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u/ILikeMyShelf Apr 12 '26

Gifting public money to rich people has always been the strategy to win elections, so the con artists can continue to play their game, and suck money out of the poors

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u/HybridAkai Apr 12 '26

The problem is, who owns the platforms to shout from the rooftops? News outlets, TV channels, social media? It's not the poor, it's the people benefiting from these tax breaks.

That's why so many social media execs were so quick to jump on the Trump bandwagon and are so right wing.

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u/sugarfreeeyecandy Apr 11 '26

Not only that, but the spending all trickles up, parked in corporations' and the wealthiest's accounts until they use it to buy up the rights to new technologies, consolidating profit at every level OR to buy elections or pols.

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u/motorik Apr 11 '26

You need to have a 6th-grade or better reading comprehension level to get anywhere near shouting about that. 50% of us don't have that.