Former GOP media consultant Matthew Sheffield has written a lengthy essay explaining why arguing with diehard fans of former President Donald Trump is a fool's errand.
In particular, Sheffield argues that non-MAGA Americans make a basic error when they try to win over these Trump fanatics by using facts and logic, which he says are completely useless in such discussions.
"Trying to use logical persuasion with your Trump-worshiping friend or relative is not likely to work, not necessarily because they are stupid, but because they have a completely different moral and epistemic viewpoints than you or almost anyone else," Sheffield contends. "Facts [for Trump supporters] are not based on science, reason, or history. They are based on authority."
Sheffield dubs this framework as "moral authoritarianism," as whether one's actions are deemed moral or ethical is determined entirely on the person who is taking them rather than the actions themselves.
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He then goes on to document the lengthy history that such thinking has throughout the history of Western Christianity, which led to European monarchs proclaiming themselves to have been divinely chosen and sanctioned.
"This is, unfortunately, why trying to use rational thinking or fact checking to help your MAGA relatives come to their senses is not likely to work," he argues. "Not only are they consuming information sources which filter out anything remotely critical of the dear leader (talk about media bias!), they also simply do not think the same way. The idea that everyone has the same moral stature or authority is anathema. It literally must not be believed, because to do so is to invite spiritual and psychic death."
Sheffield concludes by arguing that there are ways to help people out of Trump's orbit, but he warns that they are extremely hard to pull off.
"Attacking their belief in the leader himself is ineffective, because submitting to Trump has become part of their very self-concept," he warns. "Helping people out of a cult begins by understanding why they are in it."