Spent about 30 seconds reading the fiery Twitter responses to Nate Silver’s extremely mild and hesitant heresy. Nate is a longtime loyal Democrat, a solid Hillary supporter. He tries to be data-driven, but all of his data is shaped toward the need for the Party to win. Today he said that the Party would have a better chance of winning without Biden, which is an unbiased and blazingly obvious judgment based on data. It’s a practical fact. The Party roasted him over the coals.
This year’s cult structure is WEIRD.
Trump’s cult is straightforward and historically normal. THE BIG MAN is the universe, and his followers will die to defend THE BIG MAN. The cult closely resembles Hubbard or some megachurches, which isn’t surprising considering the members.
Biden’s cult is inverted. The followers don’t seem to like Biden much, and don’t cling to his every incomprehensible mumble. The total focus of the cult is NOT TRUMP. It’s a logical negation. Despite the lack of personal loyalty, the members don’t want to remove their unloved leader to achieve their stated goal. Nate reminded them that the best way to reach the stated NOT TRUMP goal is to pick another leader**. Now it’s probably too late.
Normally when cults or tribes compete, each is militantly loyal to its own MAN. In this case we have one normal cult and one negated cult, both loyal or antiloyal to the same MAN. I can’t think of a recent historical parallel.
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** Later thought: The same thing happened in 2016. Bernie was INFINITELY more popular and charismatic than Hillary. His rallies drew overflow crowds, while Hillary’s rallies had a hundred union members who were forced to attend. Bernie could have landslided Trump with no trouble at all. But the party openly and brazenly cheated Bernie, throwing away primary votes in broad daylight, in order to keep the hated unwinnable OFFICIAL NOT-TRUMP in place.
Polistra's Mill 