Where’s Mommy?
Can the authoritarian Daddy be mediated?
As noted in my essay, Finger on the Button of Shame, the common authoritarian mindset may be understood in a very simple way: I’m a twelve year old child in a dysfunctional family who loves Daddy even though he hurts me. This is why MAGA support for Donald Trump is so difficult to shake. Daddy is seen as the ultimate protector and exemplar. Accepting an authoritarian leader as Daddy establishes the authoritarian follower as a child, a dependent who cannot function without Daddy’s guidance, and fellow followers as siblings. In a way, then, the authoritarian world is a metaphorical family. The bonds of this family are unusually sacred since this family is built from popular myth and not fact.
I have found this metaphor very useful. It greatly simplifies understanding authoritarian behavior and supports reasonable predictions regarding their next actions. Try it the next time a MAGA Republican follower says something inscrutable. Wouldn’t a twelve-year-old defend their embattled daddy in this way? Wouldn’t a twelve-year-old repeat an irresponsible rumor in this way? Would a twelve-year-old respond to reason or just pout? Test that metaphor to its limits and let me know where it fails to explain and predict.
This capability is essential if reasonable people are to thwart the dangerous Republican…
