A Bully in the Bully Pulpit vs. the Hillary Monster and Feminization.

This project, which examines support for Trump, fundamentalist childrearing, and the social trance, assesses how Donald Trump won and maintains his presidency against the opposition of more than half of the country. Focusing on Christian fundamentalists and those influenced by them, it is suggested that support for Trump is sustained by a network of conservative groups, institutions, and individuals charged with molding and coordinating religious and political interests to maintain and extend GOP governance. Psychohistorically, it is argued that conservative voters, especially fundamentalist Christians, are immersed in a group-trance that sustains the Trump presidency. The dynamism and rudimentary components for the trance originate in childhood, when children are traumatized by biblical teachings and the utilization of corporal punishment. It is asserted that the response to trauma is the formation of social alters, which are mobilized into group-fantasies and harnessed in adulthood for the benefit of conservative political interests. At the macro level, the article argues that fundamentalist religion propagandizes believers with the Big Lie, a group-fantasy that Donald Trump is an emissary of God; with God in control, Christians need not worry. At the micro level, the Big Lie succeeds because fundamentalist parents' childrearing practices create authoritarian personalities, who obey authority and are susceptible to trance induction. Such individuals are thus easily-influenced targets for manipulation by the network of institutions that promote and support Donald Trump. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]