John Quiggin: Shibboleths: "I was reminded of... 2011, ab...

John Quiggin: Shibboleths: "I was reminded of... 2011, about when the baton was being passed from Palin to Trump...

...There���s very little in Trump���s consistent denial of reality that wasn���t evident back in 2011. Trump���s change has been to make obvious what could previously be ignored. The eagerness with which virtually all Republicans (including Republican-voting ���independents���) have embraced Trump refutes my suggestion that they will ultimately be turned off by this stuff. It���s striking that around the same time, Jonathan Haidt was getting lots of praise for The Righteous Mind. By taking conservatives��� self-descriptions as accurate, and ignoring evidence like the prevalence of birtherism, Haidt concluded that liberals had a caricatured view of conservatives, and their values of ���Loyalty, Authority and Sanctity���. Now, it���s obvious that, for practical purposes, the caricature is the reality...

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