To Stay in Power

If Americans take Trump's rhetoric at face value, they will find themselves living in a paranoid society willing to trade fundamental freedoms and principles for a sense of security.

by Michael Corthell

( I first wrote this in 2018, I'm editing here to add President Trump's latest Tweet storm dated 12-26-2020 to show just how far down the rabbit hole he's gone: ''Time for Republican Senators to step up and fight for the Presidency, like the Democrats would do if they had actually won. The proof is irrefutable! Massive late night mail-in ballot drops in swing states, stuffing the ballot boxes (on video), double voters, dead voters, fake signatures, illegal immigrant voters, banned Republican vote watchers, MORE VOTES THAN ACTUAL VOTERS (check out Detroit & Philadelphia), and much more. The numbers are far greater than what is necessary to win the individual swing states, and cannot even be contested. Courts are bad, the FBI and “Justice” didn’t do their job, and the United States Election System looks like that of a third world country. Freedom of the press has been gone for a long time, it is Fake News, and now we have Big Tech (with Section 230) to deal with. But when it is all over, and this period of time becomes just another ugly chapter in our Country’s history, WE WILL WIN!!!'' https://www.thetrumparchive.com/ )

The world, Donald Trump wants you to know, is ''a horrible, horrible mess'' and as he continues using the power of the presidency to stoke the fears and anxieties of the entire country (and the world) we have to ask ourselves why?

No national leader has weaponized and wielded fear quite like Trump. He is a master of playing to our anxieties and phobias. The America manifested in his speeches and tweets is a dystopian hell-hole, with much of the Third World a shit-hole according to him. He shapes public opinion by emphasizing dangers—both real and imaginary—that his policies are sure to fix - again, according to him.

''He is a master of it to a degree that I have never seen,'' says Barry Glassner, a sociologist at Lewis & Clark College and the author of The Culture of Fear. ''His formula is very clean and uncomplicated: Be very, very afraid. And I am the cure.''

Donald Trump’s leadership approach is less of the exception and more the rule throughout history. ''The whole aim of practical politics,'' said H.L. Mencken nearly a century ago, is to keep the populace alarmed (and hence clamorous to be led to safety) by menacing it with an endless series of hobgoblins, all of them imaginary.''

The why, you ask? To be number one, to stay in power, to be 'King of the Hill' (no matter what it takes) because he is a raging, sociopathic narcissist. 

Why should you care? Because it all could unravel, our society that is. Fear on this broad of a scale can have very severe consequences, as you can see below.

''Violence is Driven by Anger, and Anger is Rooted in Fear''

No emotion is more powerful or motivating than fear. If you doubt that conclusion, ask a violent person to look beneath his anger and describe his feelings. If they are honest, that person will describe his fear. Fear of poverty, fear of loss, fear of enslavement, fear of death etc.

The image of self needs a stable sense of security in order to function. There are two types of security: physical and psychological. If there is a threat to either, then the process of fear begins to become evident in a persons behavior.

Worrying Anxiety 

Anxiety is associated with fear. Being worried isn't exactly the type of condition people associate with anger. The stereotype of anxiety is that it causes shyness and a general struggle to be social and around people, and in some cases this is true. But in some people anxiety can provoke an aggressive, violent response. Aggression and violence may not be "common" in those with anxiety, but they're very real and can be extremely problematic for those that suffer from them.

Fight or Flight Response

Anxiety is the activation of the fight of flight response. It's a response designed to keep you safe from danger, and it is supposed to only occur when you're faced with fear. Anxiety occurs when the response is malfunctioning. While the fight/flight response doesn't necessarily "cause" fighting, it does prime the body for a fight, so that those that are slightly more prone to fighting (either because of genetics or upbringing) feel more anger and aggressive.

General Anger/Negative Emotions

While some evidence suggests that the hormone released by stress (cortisol) reduces aggression, stress itself has been linked to an increase in aggression. Once again, this tends to be more common in those with naturally aggressive tendencies, but not necessarily. If you experience anxiety (even from problems at work or struggling finances), your body may essentially be priming for anger.

Anxiety and Fear of Specific Issue

Anxiety is still fear, and fear can cause people to respond in violent ways. One study showed that certain types of social anxiety could evoke an aggressive response in males in relationships. They explored a type of social anxiety fear known as "fear of negative evaluation," but it stands to reason that other types of fear (fear of abandonment, etc.) could also cause violent responses.

Society in General/Fearmongering Propaganda

Fearmongering or scaremongering is the spreading of frightening and exaggerated rumors of an impending danger or the habit or tactic of purposely and needlessly arousing public fear about an issue. This is an insidious political tact that is used quite extensively (and effectively) in our modern world.

Again, why should you care? Do you value peace and prosperity?

(author's note: Living Wise Magazine is positive publication, and you may wonder why this article is published within it. I simply answer that by saying that any fair warning, is fairly positive)

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15 Examples of Fearmongering Propaganda Through the Use of Fallacy(lies)