Flies in the Ointment for Presidential Cognitive Dissonance

In the face of numerous reports of President Trump failing to appreciate military sacrifice and misrepresenting the truth about important matters, many writers have expressed bewilderment at how his roughly 40% base of support seems undeterred. Part of the answer may be cognitive dissonance.

Cognitive dissonance is that unease you feel when your beliefs and your behaviors conflict with one another. Like when you consume some unhealthy food or substance even though you know it will make you less healthy. Or when you steal a box of pens from the company’s office closet even though you know stealing is wrong. Or when you flash an angry look at a bad driver and then realize it was a frail old lady who’s just trying her best and might be a little scared of your driving.

The most common ointment for soothing the discomfort of cognitive dissonance is to concoct ways to justify the mismatch between your beliefs and your actions. Those justifications can sometimes involve tortured reasoning, but they may feel like they work at the time. However, a far more safe and effective way to ease that cognitive dissonance is to stop doing those objectionable things, and perhaps even find ways to undo their harm.

Many of the Americans who still support President Trump may be experiencing some cognitive dissonance as a result of his transgressions, past and present. When they apply that justification salve to soothe their mental discomfort, there are at least seven flies in that ointment that may get in the way.

Donald J. Trump

Source: Library of Congress/Unsplash

Seven Flies in the Ointment:

1) Among those who consider themselves strong supporters of Trump, 67% of them think that wearing masks in public during COVID-19 is a good idea. But Trump himself admitted to “playing down” the dangers of COVID-19 even when he knew that “this is deadly stuff.”

2) Among those who consider themselves strong supporters of Trump, I’m sure most of them think that disrespecting military sacrifice is a bad thing. But Trump was recently reported to have made comments widely perceived as doing exactly that.

3) Among those who consider themselves strong supporters of Trump, I’m sure most of them think that refusing to pay your contracted workers is a bad thing. But Trump is alleged to have done that.

4) Among those who consider themselves strong supporters of Trump, most of them probably know that injecting disinfectant into a human is a bad idea. But Trump has expressed interest.

5) Among those who consider themselves strong supporters of Trump, I suspect most of them think that accepting dirt on an American political opponent from another country is a bad thing. But Trump is apparently open to it.

6) Among those who consider themselves strong supporters of Trump, most of them likely think that telling lies to the people around you is a bad thing. But Trump routinely makes false claims.

7) Among those who consider themselves strong supporters of Trump, I’m sure most of them think that adultery is a bad thing. But Trump's alleged affairs are well-known.

When someone who supports Trump—perhaps it’s you—considers the items on this list, they may experience an upswell of cognitive dissonance. How they deal with that upswell is what matters.

There are three basic ways to deal with cognitive dissonance:

1) Change your beliefs: For example, you could decide you no longer hold the moral beliefs with which the above-mentioned behavior conflicts.

2) Justify your beliefs and behavior: For example, you could tell yourself that you believe White Christian American culture is so in danger of having its dominance erased by a Democratic President (even though no president has ever done that) that it is worth overlooking Trump's behavior.

3) Change your behavior: For example, you could reject Trump’s actions and refuse to vote for him.

Carried out strongly enough, any of these three methods will likely reduce that person’s upswell of cognitive dissonance.

In principle, one can imagine trying out each of these 3 methods. As a student of the mind, I find myself deeply curious about the power of imagination. For instance, if a Trump supporter—or a supporter of any politician whose behaviors clash with their beliefs—pretended to embrace option 3 for a mere five minutes, how might it affect their thinking? If they set a timer and conducted a temporary thought experiment in which they imagined rejecting that person's behavior instead of justifying it, what would happen? When the timer went ding, the spell would be broken and they could always go back to option 1 or 2. But during those five minutes, they just might learn something about themselves.