The New York Times - The Trump Voters Whose ‘Need for Chaos’ Obliterates Everything Else

Political nihilism is one of the president’s strongest weapons.

Sept. 4, 2019

Over the four years during which he has dominated American political life, nearly three of them as president, Donald Trump has set a match again and again to chaos-inducing issues like racial hostility, authoritarianism and white identity politics.

 

Last week, at the annual meeting of the American Political Science Association, the winner of the best paper award in the Political Psychology division was “A ‘Need for Chaos’ and the Sharing of Hostile Political Rumors in Advanced Democracies.” ...

 

It argues that a segment of the American electorate that was once peripheral is drawn to “chaos incitement” and that this segment has gained decisive influence through the rise of social media.  ...

 

[The authors] identified those who are “drawn to chaos” through their affirmative responses to the following statements:

 

•     I fantasize about a natural disaster wiping out most of humanity such that a small group of people can start all over.
•     I think society should be burned to the ground.
•     When I think about our political and social institutions, I cannot help thinking “just let them all burn.”
•     We cannot fix the problems in our social institutions, we need to tear them down and start over.
•     Sometimes I just feel like destroying beautiful things.

A political leader who thrives on chaos, relishes disorder and governs on the principle of narcissistic self-interest is virtually certain to find defeat intolerable. 

 

If voters deny Trump a second term, how many of his most ardent supporters, especially those with a “need for chaos,” will find defeat unbearable?