Charisma. I have always associated that word with a positive meaning of attractiveness, though in thinking a bit more deeply about charismatic people I don’t necessarily equate it universally with doing good things.

Originally Posted by perotista
Then I found this: a special power that some people have naturally that makes them able to influence other people and attract their attention and admiration.
Clearly, Trump has this power over a fairly sizable number of people, but for the life of me I can’t understand why. To me he is such an obvious shallow con man, ugly, unprincipled, lying, and evil, that I was repulsed the first time I saw him appear back in the 1980s. To say that Trump is charismatic seems like a perversion of the meaning of the word, but how else to explain the power he has over so many people?

I have a theory that understanding comes from an alchemical reaction between knowledge and experience - we can learn things by reading or being told about them (knowledge), but it takes the addition of experiencing those things to create and understanding of them. I do not understand Trump followers because I can’t find even a whiff of inclination in myself to believe his lying and gaslighting. That leaves me with trying to explain his power intellectually, which is not very satisfying or useful in arguing with his followers.

It might be that focusing on Trump is looking through the lens backwards. The more substantive issue might be the mental disorder that the folks who worship him are suffering from.

The obstacle remains that I don’t have any relevant experience to draw upon to understand that problem, either.

My old signature line was, “You can’t solve a problem until you understand what the problem is.” Frankly, I don’t understand Trump followers. I am pretty sure that the problem isn’t with me, though (but how do we ever know for sure?)

You never change things by fighting the existing reality.
To change something, build a new model that makes the old model obsolete.
R. Buckminster Fuller