Obama vs. Trump. Logic versus unreason?
If Donald Trump is illogical, why do his voters like him?
That question came to mind while watching President Obama鈥檚 Rutgers University commencement speech on Sunday. Mr. Obama criticized Trump and Trumpism in the address without naming either, and one of his sharpest jabs concerned anti-intellectualism.
鈥淔acts, evidence, reason, logic, an understanding of science 鈥� these are good things. These are qualities you want in people making policy,鈥� said Obama, to applause from the crowd.
But there鈥檚 a strain of anti-intellectualism in today鈥檚 political debate, said the president. Ignorance or not knowing what you are talking about is not challenging political correctness, according to Obama. It鈥檚 just dumb.
鈥淲hen our leaders express a disdain for facts, when they鈥檙e not held accountable for repeating falsehoods and just making stuff up, while actual experts are dismissed as elitists, then we鈥檝e got a problem,鈥� said Obama.
Lest anyone be mystified as to whom he was talking about, the president then threw in a reference to outsiders. You鈥檇 never want to board an airliner piloted by a nonpilot, he said, but this election cycle voters seem eager for a nonpolitician to pilot the nation.
Geez, put it that way and it sounds pretty bad, doesn鈥檛 it? Are Trump voters choosing to reject logic, or what?
That鈥檚 not what they think, obviously. They鈥檇 frame their choice differently. Maybe they are looking for action, or an emotion above all.
According to a fascinating look at Trump followers by the Monitor鈥檚 Patrik Jonsson, they say that The Donald has touched something deep inside them, something that transcends political reasoning.
He makes them feel as if America can be the biggest and baddest once again.
鈥淲e need a leader, not an ideologue,鈥� one Trump voter in Georgia told Jonsson.
In that context the coherence of Trump鈥檚 debunked statements about seeing Muslims celebrating 9/11 on New Jersey rooftops seems less important, perhaps.
Of course, many Trump voters might take issue with the 鈥渄ebunked鈥� in the above sentence. That鈥檚 another reason they鈥檇 reject Obama鈥檚 critique. They don鈥檛 trust the authority of mainstream experts.
This disbelief in traditional sources of authority is one of the strongest predictors of a Trump voter, according to political scientists Eric Oliver of the University of Chicago and Wendy Rahn of the University of Minnesota. That鈥檚 an element inherent in political populism, the pair wrote in March at The Washington Post鈥檚 .
Trump voters are farther over on the 鈥渕istrust experts鈥� scale than all other Republicans, according to Oliver and Rahn. They鈥檙e in a different universe on this question than Clinton supporters.
That means that in the end, Trump voters may see themselves as the rational ones in the national political discussion, as opposed to Obama Democrats.
