Our Mass Hysteria

Charles Blow dissects Trumpism.

we are now living in an age of political mass hysteria, one that, while led by Donald Trump’s election lies, encompasses the fanatical campaigns casting trans people as groomers, history teachers as indoctrinators and Covid precautions as politically toxic.

This all raises, to me, a profound and frightening series of questions: Can a lie, in periods like this one, simply be stronger than the truth? I have faith that history will properly diagnose this moment, and that many who now occupy high places will be brought low by it. But, in the present, without the perspective that time and distance can provide, is fantasy more seductive than reality?

Is it, on a base level, more exhilarating to destroy something than to hold it together?

It’s not only that Trump desired to deceive; his followers desired to be deceived. The havoc Trump unleashed landed on fertile ground, receptive and wanting.

For many Republicans, the truth — that the country was becoming more brown and less white, that the electorate was moving away from them, that they were losing control over American culture — was no longer tenable. Untruth, therefore, grew more alluring.

For conservatives, lies that offered comfort became more digestible than truths that demanded adaptation.

the more these Republicans are condemned for their Trump fixation, the tighter they will cling to it, just as soldiers close ranks when they come under attack. Many of them are titillated by the vexation of liberals: Anything that leaves liberals straining for explanation and flummoxed is wanted and worth it.

For them, Trump provided another way to recast racism as patriotism. For them, he gave derangement direction. For them, he made mass hysteria chic.