This article is meant to detail my and others’ interpretation of a small group of Trump supporters who follow Trump and his cabinet members with no questions asked. This is not about Trump himself or the Republican Party; it is the new generation that has risen up and wants to make America great again in the name of President Donald Trump. Obviously, not all Trump supporters are like this, and there is plenty of blind support for left-wing politicians as well, but this group of people will be the focus of the article.

With this new generation of Trump supporters, I have found that there is a strong cult of personality when it comes to the president’s aggressive policies foreign and domestically. Mainly I see this with the current southern border wall crisis in the federal government. There are many studies and statistics from credible sources like the sources from the DEA that detail the ineffectiveness that a longer border wall would be when it comes to illegal immigration and the drug trade. However, according to some Trump supporters, ‘Trump says the wall will fix these problems, then of course it will work!’ This is confusing to say the least.

We live in the day in age where we can find credible resources on basically everything in the world, but people still believe anything they see on the internet without fact checking and cross checking with other credible sources. Psychologically these people have a few traits about their rationality and personality.

Neuroscientist Bobby Azarian said in Psychology Today, that some Trump supporters suffer from Authoritarian Personality Syndrome, Social dominance orientation and relative deprivation. APS is a well-documented condition that is characterized by the total belief and obedience towards an authority figure.  Social dominance orientation is similar to APS except it has to do with social/political hierarchy. And relative deprivation is the experience of being deprived of something to which one believes they are entitled.

Again, this is a small group of people I am talking about; not every Trump supporter falls in this category, but there is no denying that there is a cult of personality in our country and it is prevalent. I am not saying Trump is wrong with his policies per say; I am just saying people follow him like he is the one true answer to every political and social problem. He usually uses ethos and pathos arguments and that really speaks to the American people.

Trump is not the first American political leader to use authoritarianism as a tactic, but in my opinion, we have never had a stronger cult of personality in American history. These people are fully entitled to believe anything they want; I am just here to point out the group mentality and the possibility of finding the real truth to these current issues. If you a part of this demographic, I am by no means attacking you for your beliefs, quite the opposite. I am acknowledging your right to your political belief, and you can support the border wall and other Trump policies until the day you die. Just realize that there is other interpretations and facts out there that can lead to inner enlightenment on our current political system.

Jordan Boyer is a senior history major. He can be reached at 581-2812 or at jtboyer@eiu.edu.