Why they don't trust Democrats.

The system has worked against them for so long, they see all established government as the threat.

You can’t blame them for not trusting you. It is why Trump was able to rise to power. He could see how a large chunk of the society felt. They were struggling in different ways. They felt the world was changing too much, too fast, all while there were serious problems being ignored. Republican President, then a Democrat, then back again, and the same problems existed or even got worse. 

The system was rigged against them.

That was Trump’s entire platform. No policy goals, no details, simply the fact that all of Washington was corrupt and America needed someone from the outside to get in there and work for the people. To drain the swamp.

Who ran against him? Hillary Clinton, as insider as it gets. Part of a political dynasty that had been in the thick of American politics for decades. The very thing to rile up a base that is anti-establishment. 

Trump had, well a trump card, anything and everything that went wrong was the “Deep State” fighting against him. He was the outsider, he was the force of change, so everyone in Washington was fighting against him.

It was a natural fit for his narrative to suggest that there was corruption intended to steal the 2020 election from him. His base, who had already bought into the rest of his narrative, bought into this too, despite the overwhelming evidence to the contrary.

Who did Trump face that election? Joe Biden, someone at least, if not more so, entrenched and corporate as Hillary Clinton. When Trump lost, MAGA’s worst fear came true. The one person who could save them was ousted. The Deep State had rigged the election to take their power back.

You don’t storm the government’s highest legislative building because you find it funny to own the libs. You don’t join an insurrection because you delight in spreading outrageous lies to troll people on the internet. You join a coup because you fully believe in the cause.

Just as those who voted Trump out of office felt that Trump was the greatest threat to America and our Democracy. Those who voted to keep Trump in believed the Deep State government was the biggest threat to their freedom.

Only one of those two groups was right. The other had been indoctrinated into a political cult. That is the difference between bothsidesism and proper factual accounts of a situation. Trump was a threat to democracy. The Deep State was a myth conjured up by Trump and his crew.

But, we have to look at why so many were willing to believe those lies. Why they were able to be sucked into a tangled mess of conspiracy theories, each more outlandish than the last. That is where both sides actually are to blame. 

Cults prey on people who feel lost, confused, or that have a hole in their life. The two parties made a significant portion of Americans feel that the system was set up in a way to keep the elite in power and punish people like themselves.

Some of the disenfranchised latched onto Trump, others went independent and either stopped voting, or voted for third party candidates such as Jill Stein. All of that allowed Trump to rise to power and win a presidential election. 

Pundits, and people who simply couldn’t believe that Trump actually won, needed reasons as to how that could happen.

• Russia helped with propaganda.

• In key states, Jill Stein was a spoiler effect who took just enough votes from Hillary.

• Even the classic notion of the Electoral College blocking the true will of the people. 

While all of those were actual factors, they are the results not the reason. Why were people so susceptible to believing misinformation? Why were they willing to vote for a third party in such a crucial election? Why were they willing to support a misogynist, corrupt, profane, immoral candidate?

Struggling to make a living while politicians from both sides grow their wealth to become multimillionaires. Seeing the same people running the federal government for decades upon decades while nothing improves. Watching companies bring in record level profits while so many are desperate to get food on the table for their families. 

It erodes trust in our government and in our democracy.

Democrats have a habit of telling Conservatives not only that they’re wrong, but why they’re wrong. When you feel you are on the side of good, it can be hard not to lecture. But that does nothing to change someone’s mind, it only serves to entrench their views deeper.

Why does it matter how they feel in the end? There are only two ways to accomplish what you want on a federal level; compromise, or have full control. 

Either the Republican representatives have to feel comfortable that they can vote bipartisan without getting ripped to shreds by their base. Or districts that are red have to turn blue. To achieve either of those will require bringing far right Republicans out of the cult they’ve been sucked into. 

If someone is in a cult, telling them that they're in a cult doesn’t make them open their eyes, it makes them distrust you. That is how a cult mindset works. Aggression won’t work, lectures won’t work, streams of data won’t work. What does work is listening, questioning, and messaging.

You first need to listen to their plight and what they believe. Get an understanding for where their mind is currently at. Then question the most fictional claims and beliefs. Don’t be accusatory or patronizing, show you are trying to understand. 

By having them talk through their different logic, they will find the holes. The fictitious reality will slowly unravel. But it takes patience and time.

Messaging is how you show that the Democrat party is trying to help with their problems, and is trying to solve their issues.

Don’t explain why a position or policy is morally right, or ethically right. Explain why it matters to that individual, to that group. What difference will it make in their lives? Why is now the right time to pursue that policy when other issues need attention too?

How do we combat corrupt politicians willing to manifest conspiracies and lies for their own power and greed?

• If their claim is outlandish: Ignore it. Don’t give it airtime or you will help it spread.

• If their claim is an outright lie but has traction: Dispute it with simple, direct, easy to understand facts/data and then move on to other topics. The quicker and easier it is to dismiss, the more powerful the dismissal is.

• If their claim is more complicated using some facts, some lies, and spin: Now is when you dive deep, explain all the elements and angles, and make the complex topic easier to understand.

Democrats have been struggling with the framing of issues and messaging, even more so in the Trump era of completely fabricated lies created at a rate which overloads the news cycles. But the framing is almost as important as the policy/stance itself. The messaging is what makes Americans either for or against an idea.

The most important message right now is to admit that the system is broken.

Everyone, from all sides, across the political spectrum, agrees that the system is broken.

• Corporations have more influence than people. 

• The rich have more influence than the poor. 

• The older generations have control and the youth are ignored.

• The political parties care more about their own power than the welfare of their people. 

• Independent voices and third parties are silenced, pushed out of the way.

• The budget is exploding our debt. 

• Illegal drugs are ruining our communities.

• The American Dream feels further away than ever before.

The question is: what are we going to do about it? 

That is what the people want to hear. That is what will usher in the next era of progress in America. That is what will remove the authoritarian element from American politics.