In this fascinating 18 minute interview, Republican insider and political operative Tim Miller describes how something caused him to step outside himself and look with fresh eyes. IMO, the something can be called moral courage.
Two critically important points bubble up in this interview. First, one cannot escape human cognitive biology and its power to rationalize inconvenient reality into fantasy. Second, human social behavior is reflected in an insatiable human need to belong to a group, tribe or cult. Fear of being ostracized by the social group and pushed out of the room, e.g., in RINO hunts, is right out in the open in this interview.
Miller does not speak in terms of either cognitive biology or social behavior. Neither term is mentioned. But that is exactly what he is talking about. T**** and what Miller calls the evil (~1:18 - 1:29) he inspired in the Republican Party flows from both human cognitive biology and social behavior. This is the best interview I can recall that clearly points directly at those two key sources of political thinking (reasoning) and behavior.
This is a truly great interview.
Two points exemplify what I am talking about.
- Cognitive biology: Miller is openly homosexual, but he nonetheless worked hard for Republicans he knew to be bigoted homophobes. The interviewer asked why he did this. The response is pure cognitive biology. He compartmentalized and rationalized the disconnect to make inconvenient reality fade into a non-issue. At ~3:49 - 5:15, Miller said he told himself a BS story that allowed himself to keep working for Republicans he knew would take his liberties away if they ever got the chance.
- Social behavior: At ~5:16 - 7:06, Miller described another Republican operative he knew well who fell into T****'s orbit. She could not bring herself to publicly or privately admit that T**** lost the 2020 election. Her fear was that if she spoke the truth about the 2020 election, she could be "cast out of Trumpworld." In other words, her need to be part of the tribe or cult caused her to deny what was and still is the inconvenient, unspeakable truth about the 2020 election in Trumplandia. She could not break free of that deep human need to be in good standing with the social group she became attached to. Tribe (or cult) loyalty demanded that truth had to fall to the lie.
One other topic Miller discusses is the overriding lust for power that drives some Republicans who support T****. He discussed Lindsey Graham who in 2016 said he hated T**** as a racist and demagogue monster (~9:20 - 11:11). But after T**** came to power, he reversed himself and is now a staunch T**** supporter and defender. Graham's lust for power and the spotlight caused him to simply blow off his political principles. Miller knew that after T**** won the 2016 election, Graham would flip, calling it a disease that is not uncommon in Washington. The disease is a need to be near power. Not in power, but near power. That too, is cognitive biology.
This interview exemplifies beautifully how the profound moral rot that T**** inspired and fought for has transformed many good, informed elites who know better than to support evil. The rank and file never had much of a chance. They were duped, abused and betrayed. Early on, ~2016-2017, that absolved them of some responsibility for their mistakes. But now, like with the elites, they have no excuse to absolve them. Their mostly understandable mistakes are now inexcusable sins.
Acknowledgement: Thanks to PD for bringing thus interview up in one of his comments here.
No comments:
Post a Comment