Carl Sagan Predicted The Rise Of Donald Trump 25 Years Ago.

Carl Sagan Predicted The Rise Of Donald Trump 25 Years Ago.

For many, 2016 was a year to forget – a year when people eschewed the views of somehow maligned “experts” in favor of soundbites and populist rhetoric. If only we’d seen it coming, eh?

Well, it turns out that the late astronomer Carl Sagan may have predicted this era of distrust in authority figures – of sorts. As a number of people have picked up online, Sagan made an eerie prediction in his 1995 book The Demon-Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark that seems to echo the events of the past year.

Here’s the quote in full:

“Science is more than a body of knowledge; it is a way of thinking. I have a foreboding of an America in my children’s or grandchildren’s time – when the United States is a service and information economy; when nearly all the key manufacturing industries have slipped away to other countries; when awesome technological powers are in the hands of a very few, and no one representing the public interest can even grasp the issues; when the people have lost the ability to set their own agendas or knowledgeably question those in authority; when, clutching our crystals and nervously consulting our horoscopes, our critical faculties in decline, unable to distinguish between what feels good and what’s true, we slide, almost without noticing, back into superstition and darkness.”

https://youtu.be/xG-XUbXg_TU

Sound familiar? Thought so. In addition to this, Sagan also made some similar comments (around the 3.50 mark in that link) in an interview with Carlie Rose in 1996:

“Science is more than a body of knowledge. It’s a way of thinking. A way of skeptically interrogating the universe with a fine understanding of human fallibility. If we are not able to ask skeptical questions, to interrogate those who tell us something is true, to be skeptical of those in authority, then we’re up for grabs for the next charlatan, political or religious, who comes ambling along.”

Most people know Carl Sagan for his TV series “Cosmos” where he successfully explained scientific phenomena to common people. This astronomer first worked as an associate professor at Harvard and later became a book author. He received many awards: the NASA Distinguished Public Service Medal, the Pulitzer Prize, and two Emmy awards, among others.

https://www.iflscience.com/carl-sagan-sort-of-predicted-the-rise-of-donald-trump-20-years-ago-40014

Americans behind bars tell us why they love Trump.

Inside prison, reasons for supporting Trump vary. Some of the reasons reflect the particular circumstances of prison life: Most prisoners share a cell, making it difficult to tune out conservative cellmates or right-wing media, or to even control which channel is on. Prisons are also notoriously segregated and can be a breeding ground for white nationalists.

https://conspiranon.blogspot.com/2023/12/many-incarcerated-white-people-said.html

MAGA Pastors: Trump Was Indicted for Your Sins.

Many Trump supporters believe God has chosen him to rule.

Many prophesied that he would win re-election in 2020, and their followers believed them. In a survey conducted by Mr Djupe shortly before the election, three in ten Americans believed Mr Trump “was anointed by God to become president”

https://conspiranon.blogspot.com/2023/12/maga-pastors-trump-was-indicted-for.html

The ‘Shared Psychosis’ of Donald Trump and His Loyalists

Forensic psychiatrist Bandy X. Lee explains the outgoing president’s pathological appeal and how to wean people from it

The violent insurrection at the U.S. Capitol Building last week, incited by President Donald Trump, serves as the grimmest moment in one of the darkest chapters in the nation’s history. Yet the rioters’ actions—and Trump’s own role in, and response to, them—come as little surprise to many, particularly those who have been studying the president’s mental fitness and the psychology of his most ardent followers since he took office.

One such person is Bandy X. Lee, a forensic psychiatrist and president of the World Mental Health Coalition.* Lee led a group of psychiatrists, psychologists and other specialists who questioned Trump’s mental fitness for office in a book that she edited called The Dangerous Case of Donald Trump: 27 Psychiatrists and Mental Health Experts Assess a President. In doing so, Lee and her colleagues strongly rejected the American Psychiatric Association’s modification of a 1970s-era guideline, known as the Goldwater rule, that discouraged psychiatrists from giving a professional opinion about public figures who they have not examined in person. “Whenever the Goldwater rule is mentioned, we should refer back to the Declaration of Geneva, which mandates that physicians speak up against destructive governments,” Lee says. “This declaration was created in response to the experience of Nazism.”

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/the-shared-psychosis-of-donald-trump-and-his-loyalists/

Messianic Trump Syndrome: The “Shared Psychosis” of Trumpianity

“I am your voice.”

“I am your warrior.”

“I am the chosen one.”

“I am your retribution.”

“I’m being indicted for you.”

The “I am” statements keep coming from the self-proclaimed messiah who in reality is a malignant narcissist, pathological liar, sexual predator, career conman and America’s biggest criminal—and a man that millions of white American Christians actually believe is their messiah. His dark charisma is so appealing to so many that for much of white American Christianity today, being a follower of anti-Christ Trump is their very identity.

Millions, dismissing Jesus’ inclusive, compassionate and peaceful life and teachings, hang on their extremist political messiah’s every word. So widespread is Trump’s messianic following that some mesmerized adherents of Trumpianity have been known to praise their savior’s divinity on billboards and in books.

There is a backstory to this madness: Much of white American Christianity—from enslaving Black people to racial apartheid to violent resistance to human rights—has long marinated in white pride and an overriding lust for power. Anti-Christ Donald Trump is the historical dark side of white American Christianity on steroids: unquenchable authoritarianism with an endless capacity to punish anyone who stands in his way of obtaining ultimate power.

Today, a seemingly endless army of white Christian extremist organizations are hard at work rallying a Trumpian army to the cause of overthrowing our democracy and implementing a theocracy with Trump as king. Having discarded Jesus of the gospels, they retain “Christian” language in service of their new savior. One of these organizations—the Family Leadership Summit, representative of the many—speaks for Trumpianity at large in falsely claiming to “embrace Christian values and a God-honoring vision for America.”

How extremist are the alleged “Christian values” and “God-honoring vision” of Trumpianity? They place lies over truth, corruption over justice, hatred over love, cruelty over mercy, violence over peace, death over life.

As messiah of this extremist political religion, Trump has: lied tens of thousands of times to cover up truth; brazenly committed crimes rather than obey the law (91 felony charges and counting at this moment); endlessly pretended that hatred and persecution of people of color, women, LGBTQ+ persons and liberals is love; routinely called for cruelty against persons who do not bow down to his wishes; bragged that he could personally murder someone and get away with it; and called on his followers to harm and even kill others at his will, most notably on January 6.

https://goodfaithmedia.org/messianic-trump-syndrome-the-shared-psychosis-of-trumpianity/

A Complete Psychological Analysis of Trump's Support

Science can help us make sense of the president's political invincibility.

KEY POINTS

A 2016 study found that “…the racial and ethnic isolation of Whites at the zip-code level is one of the strongest predictors of Trump support.”

A 2017 study found a direct link between national collective narcissism and support for Donald Trump.

A 2016 survey of 406 US adults found that those who scored high on both SDO and authoritarianism were more likely to vote for Trump.

Whether we want to or not, we must try to understand the Donald Trump phenomenon, as it has completely swept the nation and also fiercely divided it. What is most baffling about it all is Trump’s apparent political invincibility. As he himself said even before he won the presidential election, “I could stand in the middle of 5th Avenue and shoot somebody and I wouldn’t lose voters.” Unfortunately for the American people, this wild-sounding claim appears to be truer than not. It should also motivate us to explore the science underlying such peculiar human behavior, so we can learn from it, and potentially inoculate against it.

In all fairness, we should recognize that lying is sadly not uncommon for politicians on both sides of the political aisle, but the frequency and magnitude of the current president’s lies should have us all wondering why they haven’t destroyed his political career, and instead perhaps strengthened it. Similarly, we should be asking why his inflammatory rhetoric and numerous scandals haven’t sunk him. We are talking about a man who was caught on tape saying, “When you’re a star, they let you do it. You can do anything. Grab them by the p*ssy.” Politically surviving that video is not normal, or anything close to it, and such a revelation would likely have been the end of Barack Obama or George Bush had it surfaced weeks before the election.

While dozens of psychologists have analyzed Trump, to explain the man’s political invincibility, it is more important to understand the minds of his staunch supporters. While various popular articles have illuminated a multitude of reasons for his unwavering support, there appears to be no comprehensive analysis that contains all of them. Since there seems to be a real demand for this information, I have tried to provide that analysis below.

https://www.psychologytoday.com/ca/blog/mind-in-the-machine/201812/complete-psychological-analysis-trumps-support