Book contents
- Trump and Us
- Communication, Society and Politics
- Trump and Us
- Copyright page
- Dedication
- Contents
- Figures
- Tables
- Acknowledgments
- Part I Feeling Conflicted
- Part II Feeling Ignored
- Part III Feeling Trapped
- 4 Trump’s Passions
- 5 Trump’s Stories
- Part IV Feeling Besieged
- Part V Feeling Tired
- Part VI Feeling Resolute
- Index
- Communication, Society and Politics
5 - Trump’s Stories
from Part III - Feeling Trapped
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 24 February 2020
- Trump and Us
- Communication, Society and Politics
- Trump and Us
- Copyright page
- Dedication
- Contents
- Figures
- Tables
- Acknowledgments
- Part I Feeling Conflicted
- Part II Feeling Ignored
- Part III Feeling Trapped
- 4 Trump’s Passions
- 5 Trump’s Stories
- Part IV Feeling Besieged
- Part V Feeling Tired
- Part VI Feeling Resolute
- Index
- Communication, Society and Politics
Summary
How did Donald John Trump become president of the United States? That question has bedeviled reporters since November of 2016. The obvious answer – that Trump received the most Electoral College votes – is inadequate for many. “Why Are Conservatives More Susceptible to Believing Lies?” queried Slate, drawing on social science research suggesting that while “finding facts and pursuing evidence and trusting science is part of liberal ideology,” conservatives place their faith in faith (and intuition) and thus are more likely to have difficulty “judging accurately what is true and what is false.” With conservatives coming “disproportionately from rural areas and small towns,” Slate reports, their “social networks remain smaller” and hence they are prone to accepting “misinformation and outright lies.”1 “Nearly 80 percent of white evangelicals plan to vote for Mr. Trump,” observed opinion writer Daniel K. Williams in August of 2016. “Are they dupes or hypocrites?”2 In providing evangelicals with at least two options, Mr. Williams was more generous than many of the nation’s scribes.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Trump and UsWhat He Says and Why People Listen, pp. 96 - 114Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2020