The Psychology* of It Can't Happen Here

* - I am not a psychologist. This is a layman's view.

D Sharon Pruitt - Creative Commons License

Depending on who you ask, we as a nation are either teetering on the brink of the abyss, staring into the harsh reality of the failure of our democratic experiment, or have already toppled from that point. Either way, there are no folks that are paying attention who feel that things are in any way “normal” right now.

I could spend several paragraphs explaining all of the ways that we are in a really dark place, but David Rothkopf over at Need to Know did it far better than I ever could have. Check it out, then come on back to discuss.

It is Happening Here.

Things are most certainly far more dire than they were in 2017, so where is the concentrated outrage? Where are the protests? Where is the opposition party? I hope to address some of these questions with this piece.¹ Just a note: I am not making excuses here, nor am I condoning a lack of action. Instead, I am just positing that there are many emotions that people may be feeling right now, and how that may make it appear that there is not an appetite for resistance. I expect most folks reading this will likely identify with at least one of the categories that I explore, I know that I do. Several of them in fact. I just want to let people know that it’s ok to feel overwhelmed, and by identifying it you can address it.

Let’s Dispense with the Obvious

We have to realize that there is a group of our fellow Americans who want this lawlessness. Whatever their reasons, they feel that America has “lost her way” and is in need of an autocratic “strongman” to right her course. This group includes the MAGA True Believers, the Christian Nationalist extremists, and the Tech Broligarchy. Each of these factions wants this chaos, they want the system to be burned to the ground. They each have different motivations for this and at some point their desires will diverge, which could be quite interesting. Let’s acknowledge that they exist and move on, most of them are unreachable and this isn’t about them. After all, there were a LOT of people cheering during Tucker Carlson’s bizarre “Daddy’s home and he’s pissed” speech during the campaign.

Apathy or Ignorance

I would venture to guess that a significant percentage of the population, perhaps a majority, fall into this category. I am not making a judgement; life can be hard. Balancing a job (or jobs), kids, responsibilities, etc., can leave little, if any, time to stay up to date on current events. Couple that with the fact that a lot of people simply don’t pay attention to politics and it’s not too hard to imagine that there are a lot of people out there who simply don’t know, or don’t care, about what is going on.

Additionally, I believe that in an effort to maintain what limited access they have, the legacy media is not reporting the severity of the situation. If things get as bad as I fear they will, historians will likely point to the journalistic malpractice of the media, not only in this moment, but throughout the interregnum between Trump administrations where they chose to normalize his errant behavior, as a significant catalyst to the fall of the nation. Without an accurate reporting of the severity of the situation, how can “normal” Americans be fully aware of the dangers we now face? To exacerbate the issue is the steady stream of disinformation and misinformation, both through legacy media channels but also, and far more prevalent, through social media. A great many people, especially younger people, get most or all of their news from social media and through their friend groups. Unfortunately, the most populated social media spaces are dominated by far-right content creators and run by executives who have nearly all aligned themselves with T2.0. False narratives are pressed continuously in an attempt to quash any resistance before it starts. In some cases and with some issues this is working. All you need to do is ask the average Joe what he thinks of DOGE. They will likely respond that it’s good that they are getting rid of “all that waste, fraud, and abuse in the government”. If you ask them what waste, what fraud, what abuse, specifically, they will likely not have an answer, because such details are not part of the GOPMAGA narrative. ²

Please note that when I say ignorance, I don’t mean it as a pejorative. I simply mean that folks are unaware of the dangers that we face. This even applies to those of us who are paying closer attention. As well explained in this article in The Intelligencer, it is hard to see the forest for the trees.

Most people living through history don’t realize they are inside a moment of collapse because each event, taken alone, does not seem like the end of democracy. The shock of one ruling being ignored does not feel catastrophic. The Supreme Court deciding a president is immune from prosecution feels like just another legal controversy. Congressional inaction feels like business as usual. The media’s treatment of this moment as just another chapter in the ongoing Trump saga makes it easy to assume the system will self-correct. But when viewed together, it becomes undeniable that the system has already failed.

I realize that I am addicted to this shit. I subscribe to multiple podcasts that cover politics. I pay for several political Substacks. I will be the first to admit that I am probably too close to all of this, as it is most certainly affecting my mental health. Hell, having a place to try to brain dump this shit was the inception of this very site. But I also know that I am in the minority, that far more people do not pay attention at the level that I and others do. Obviously if things continue down the path that they are, this group will dwindle as its members transition to another of the categories described here.

Indifference

There is another group of people who can best described as being indifferent to the situation. These are likely persons of privilege, either due to their race, religion, economic status, or geographic location. They feel that they are not the targets of Trump 2.0, and they likley are not. Right now.

Again, I don’t say this to be antagonistic, but privilege exists, and I am sure that there are some folks who are seeing the news, but really only think it’s “terrorists” or gang members being denied their rights. They don’t think that anything bad is going to happen to them.

Of course, there are those counted in this number who voted for T2.0 because they memory-holed T1.0, or they couldn’t vote for a black woman, or they believed the media spin that the economy was bad… whatever. The point is, they are not concerned right now because they are not facing any repercussions and likely feel that they won’t. In fact, they are probably supportive of some of the things that are happening, especially if they are only tangentially paying attention through legacy media stories.

This group also includes people who have an aversion to all things political. In fact, this group likely spans several of my categories here in that they may be apathetic, ignorant, or indifferent. These are people who have never gotten into politics because they don’t see the point or they feel that politicians are all a bunch of lying grifters, so why pay any attention? This group doesn’t follow politics and doesn’t discuss their politics, such as they are, publicly. Since they don’t follow, they likely don’t realize the gravity of the situation, or they dismiss dire warnings as “same old, same old”. Obviously, things may get to a point where a good many members of this group actually does find themselves in a precarious position, and at that point they may take action. If it’s not too late.

Fear Based Denial

It is human nature to try and pretend that things are not as bad as they seem, to try to tell yourself that everything is going to be fine. For many, that is the only way they can get through significant traumatic events. It’s a very normal defense mechanism for us to deny things that are quite apparently happening. There is a part of our brain that truly believes that if a problem is ignored or denied that it will, eventually, go away on its own. Sometimes that may even happen, but not often, and certainly not in this case.

Obviously it is not very mentally healthy to dwell on the current situation, and only each individual can know what their limits are. We can’t expect anything more than that, from anyone. That said, burying your head in the sand in an attempt to ignore the situation isn’t going to make this particular issue go away.

There is another consideration in this space³ and that is that people who do realize what is happening have a fear that they are the crazy ones. I can speak directly to this, as I have had these very thoughts myself. I will look upon a crowd, whether at the mall, a sporting event, at my work, wherever, and everything looks so… normal. People are going about their lives, laughing, crying, loving… as if the threats don’t exist. I fully realize that there is no way for me to know what is in the hearts and minds of the people I see and engage with on a daily basis; for all I know they could be just as concerned as I am, but either better at hiding it or better at trying to put on a brave face and living their lives. Even with this knowledge, I sometimes feel like I need to shout How are you so happy right now? Don’t you realize what is going on???

See, maybe I am the crazy one. At least a little. Kinda hard not to be though, at least for me.

Waiting for a Savior

Faith is a very strong motivator for a great many people, so it would not be a stretch to imagine that a great many people are relying on their faith that this is “all going to just work itself out”. This faith can come in many forms. It can be a religious faith, that their Higher Power will sort all of this out. It can be based on a faith in the institutions of our government which, after all, have lasted for nearly two and a half centuries.

In this case, there is a group that is counting on someone else, anyone really, to swoop in and save us from tyranny. The founders intended for our three-branch system of government to provide a bulwark against a unitary executive. That has, for the most part, held up for nearly 250 years. The issue here is that these checks and balances rely on each of the three branches applying their power equally. For nearly six decades the Legislative Branch has been ceding power to the Executive, and we are now facing the bill for that. When one leg of a three-legged stool caves in, the person on the stool will soon be on the floor. And cave is precisely what the Republican party has done over the last nine years. Therefore, I wouldn’t count on the government as a savior.

I have also heard that perhaps if the markets lose enough value Trump’s billionaire benefactors may attempt to reel him in. We even saw evidence that this may in fact be the case when Trump first threatened draconian tariffs on Canada and Mexico. When first announced on a Friday afternoon, the Dow tanked to close the day, and weekend futures numbers were dismal. Unsurprisingly, Trump backed down before the tariffs even took effect, and the markets quickly recovered. When the initial 30 day “pause” was about to end, and Trump confirmed that the tariffs would go back into effect, the market dropped again. The selloff this time was much farther and faster, wiping out the entirety of gains made since Trump won the election in less than a week. Once again, Trump backed off on most of the tariffs, but the market has yet to bounce back this time. It remains to be seen if a prolonged market downturn would cause this administration to reassess its plans, but I do not see that happening. If anything, it may cause T2.0 to rework the tariffs yet again⁴, but I don’t see market forces alone significantly changing the overall trend of illiberal acts by T2.0.

I have heard many people say that “it’s up to the courts now” as another potential savior. We have seen just that happening, with a record number of cases filed against the wanton illegality of T2.0⁵. There are issues, however.

First, the courts are slow, by design. There are only so many judges, and legal procedures are quite deliberate, for good reason. T2.0 is moving with remarkable speed, across multiple vectors of attack, to disrupt and destroy the structures of the Federal Government. When hundreds of thousands of people are losing their jobs, they literally cannot afford to wait for the outcome of court cases and appeals. So even when the People win a case against T2.0, the damage has been done, and in some cases it is irreversible.

The second, and far more serious, issue with relying on the courts is that they do not have any method to enforce their orders. We have already heard members of this admin, including the Vice President, opine that Trump can and should ignore any court order that he does not like. They can hold this attitude because the resources to enforce court decisions rest within the Executive Branch, and there is no scenario in which this Justice Department is going to uphold any findings of contempt, nor will they dispatch US Marshals to affect any arrests. This is the Rubicon: if T2.0 openly ignores or defies a court order, then that is the end of our constitutional democracy. I realize how hyperbolic that may sound, but people far smarter than me have said much the same thing and, like I, they do not have an answer when asked “if that happens, then what’s next?”

The answer to that question, as provided by the Founders, was Impeachment and Removal. The issue there of course is that this president has already faced this threat, twice, and his party did not have the courage of character necessary to do the right thing and remove him. Because of this, the final legal option is toothless.

Exhaustion

For the last eight years, people who follow politics have been fed a steady stream of Donald Trump and Trumpism. We have dealt with the petulance, the victimhood, the stupid, childish nicknames. We have watched as friends and family members, some of whom are very intelligent and “normal”, have slid further and further into the MAGA cult. We have seen lies, gaslighting, and daily insults to our intelligence, and tried valiantly to combat all of this. And it is fucking tiring.

We have literally had to live through The Most Important Election In Our Nation’s History in nearly every General and Midterm election cycle since 2016. We have had countless arguments with friends, colleagues, and family, trying to express to them the dangers of Trump and Trumpism. We have had to watch as the media and the American electorate memory-holed the events of the Big Lie and January 6th. We have had to look on in terror last November as Trump won despite appearing as if he was mailing in the last half of the campaign, despite promising poll results for Harris, despite a horrific rally at Madison Square Garden that invoked memories of a similar night at that same venue in the 1930s and despite being the first felon to ever run for President.

For those of us who live in the political world, even if only as observers, this carried a cost. The totality of all of these events led to a feeling of despair, and a bone-weary exhaustion. Perhaps people needed to rest, if only for a bit. Perhaps no one assumed that T2.0 would hit so hard and so fast that such a rest was not in the offing. And yet there are already people fighting back. The thing is, when compared to protests around the globe, it looks like American protests are lacking. There is also an obvious lack of coverage in legacy media for many of these protest actions. Either way, there is a deleterious effect on those trying to organize if they feel that they are not gaining traction, that perhaps they are on their own. It’s another form of exhaustion, and it’s debilitating.

Resignation

The final group I would like to discuss are those who have already given up hope. They have resigned themselves to autocratic rule, they believe that there is no longer anything that can be done, so they may as well put their head down and try not to cause any trouble. I get it. I really, really do. Hell, there are days where I certainly wonder if we are all just screaming into the void, that we are up against a monolithic enemy that has all of the money, the media, and the guns. It is my greatest desire that this is the smallest group out there right now, and that we are able to keep it small. Unfortunately, a lot of this has to do with geography. I have friends who live in Florida and Texas, and they seem far more resigned to this fate than my friends here in Connecticut or New York. I get it, as they are far more immersed in MAGA bullshit. Hell, it’s still odd for me to see a Trump sticker on a car or a MAGA flag on a house up here, and those are things that folks in more rural areas or in red states have to be around every day.

So What Do We Do?

A long time ago I was introduced to the aphorism “How do you eat an Elephant? One bite at a time.” It’s a simple concept that I try to keep in mind whenever I am trying to tackle a large and complex task. I would suggest that we need to get out our forks and start eating this ginormous MAGA elephant. No one of us is going to lead some grand revolution. Hopefully we will not need to “man the barricades” or some other such romantic notion of resistance. What we can and should be doing though is getting involved. Just by reading this diatribe, you are getting involved. Hell, if you got all the way down to this sentence, you are supremely dedicated!

In all seriousness, I will reshare a piece that I put together a bit ago, with a reminder that every little action helps. If nothing else, feeling like you are making a contribution will help your mental health.

My mother once gave me a ceramic tchotchke that read “No Snowflake In An Avalanche Ever Feels Responsible”. While the meaning of that isn’t what we are going for here, it does paint a picture: Back in T1.0, the right loved to call those of us who were fighting back “snowflakes”. Well, if you get enough snowflakes together, give them direction, and give them inertia, you get an avalanche. And an avalanche does not give a fuck what you put in front of it. Let’s start building that inertia.

Take Care and Stay Strong

1. While I may link to articles to further describe or clarify certain points, this piece is more from my brain… just things I think. Or think I think. Make of that what you will.

2. One thing I will always give the GOP credit for: they are very good at devising a simple message then hammering it home at every opportunity.

3. I really didn’t know where else to categorize this one.

4. At some point the tariff threat may become a case of the Boy Who Cried Wolf though.

5. Over 100 cases are currently pending against the Trump Administration at the time of this writing.