President Donald Trump’s political supporters have long been described as cult-like, from their willingness to change their ideology based on Trump’s whims to their reflexive distrust of established experts. In light of the Republican leader’s politically devastating losses in the 2026 midterm elections, these same true believers are now angry at every voter who did not stand by their man, at least according to a recent in-depth study.

“Last week we assembled a focus group of Republicans who voted for President Trump in both 2020 and 2024, and who, except for some local elections, voted straight-ticket Republican in this year’s midterms,” wrote polling expert Sarah Longwell in The Bulwark on Sunday.

“In my conversation with these voters, one thing became abundantly clear in their cacophony of cope: They were not blaming Trump,” Longwell added. “Instead, they were blaming the GOP candidates on the ticket for being terrible. They were blaming social media for pushing Trump Derangement Syndrome. And they were blaming their fellow Americans, who they insisted were just too brainwashed and emotional to just hold their noses and vote for the terrible candidates that Republicans offered them.”

  • switcheroo@lemmy.world
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    6 hours ago

    None of us give a shit what the pedo protectors think and we seriously doubt they are actually able to think in the first place…

  • TrackenDaKracken@lemmy.world
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    16 hours ago

    The 30%. So, either the neighbor to your left, or the neighbor to your right.

    Nextdoor in my neighborhood is full of people crying. This is New Mexico, did they really think we’d vote for an R for Governor this year? They screamed about it for a year, and the state went ahead and quietly voted D. I used to tell them to move back to Texas, but, OOPS! LOL.

    • GiantChickDicks@lemmy.ml
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      14 hours ago

      I’ve been having a ball on Nextdoor since the election. Their tears of impotent rage sustains me. It’s been a challenge getting in on the comments before the whole post gets nuked, though.

    • CharlesDarwin@lemmy.world
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      15 hours ago

      Reading Nextdoor since the election has been crazy. It was full of stupid conservative stuff before (seeing their thoughts on water usage is about as stupid as you might imagine) , but now it’s them crying about the election.

  • kreskin@lemmy.world
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    1 day ago

    These are the same people who cheer for pedophiles, grift, and war crimes. Nobody cares what they have contempt for.

  • Mulligrubs@lemmy.world
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    1 day ago

    Wah, it’s so crazy, it’s almost as if whenever you promise “no war” and “Epstein files release”, and then you go to war and sit on the Epstein files, you lose.

    Who knew?

  • Catoblepas@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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    2 days ago

    Speaking with AlterNet in August, University of Bristol cognitive scientist Dr. Stephan Lewandowksy argued that one can understand supporters of President Donald Trump by understanding their psychology as analogous to that of internet trolls.

    “We know that trolls take pleasure in trolling, which means getting other people upset,” Lewandowsky told AlterNet. “And I think that’s what we’re observing here — this is basically trolling behavior. So would these people score high on the dark triad? I would think yes, but I don’t know of any data that’s done a personality profile specifically of MAGA voters. We do have it for trolls, though — I have data on that. People have published research on it, and the similarities are just overwhelming. So I’d be very surprised if these were well-adjusted, nice people.”

    Absolutely bang on, and anyone that’s spent any amount of time with hardcore Trump supporters knows this.

    • imadethis@fedinsfw.app
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      1 day ago

      I think the world has heard enough of the idiotic “own the libs” phrase to understand what motivates a great deal of the MAGA members. Bloody cunts that are making it their defining political desire, is what they are.

    • funkless_eck@sh.itjust.works
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      2 days ago

      What I feel this analysis omits, probably to land sympathetically to a reader, is that all people are capable of trolling in some degree and occasionally indulge.

      Similarly, all voters engage in tribalism. Was i glad to see KLB win GA? Yes, because of tribalism, honestly. Dispassionately, I’m personally frustrated by her lack of willingness to legalize Marijuana, but it doesn’t feel like the time to raise that - again, due to tribalism.

      • nilloc@discuss.tchncs.de
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        16 hours ago

        Are you sure you aren’t mixing up you pragmatism about supporting candidates that meet more of your goals and standards over another with tribalism?

  • CharlesDarwin@lemmy.world
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    2 days ago

    If anyone is emotional, it’s the right wing. Most emotional bunch I’ve ever seen.

    Naturally, they think only having empathy is “emotional”. Naturally, they don’t count the emotions of jealousy, bitterness, anger and fear as emotions.