Conservative details what really fuels Trump voters’ 'core identity'

During his appearances on MSNBC, Stuart Stevens — a veteran conservative strategist/consultant and outspoken Never Trumper — has been arguing that when independent voters get a really good look at presumptive 2024 GOP presidential nominee Donald Trump, incumbent President Joe Biden will enjoy a major surge. Stevens predicts that the election will swing in Biden's direction around October.

Polls released in June, however, are showing a close nailbiter of a race, with Trump slightly ahead in some national polls and Biden slightly ahead in others. Whatever independents ultimately decide, Trump continues to be extremely popular with his hardcore MAGA base.

In an article published by The Atlantic on June 16, Never Trump conservative Peter Wehner describes "motivated ignorance" as a key factor in the support that Trump still enjoys. According to Wehner, Trump's diehard supporters are oblivious to reality.

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"Motivated ignorance refers to willfully blinding oneself to facts," Wehner explains. "It's choosing not to know. In many cases, for many people, knowing the truth is simply too costly, too psychologically painful, too threatening to their core identity."

Wehner argues that MAGA diehards who refuse to pay attention to facts are "blind to the cultlike world to which they belong."

"Still others have convinced themselves that Trump, although flawed, is the best of bad options," Wehner explains. "It's a 'binary choice,' they say, and so, they have talked themselves into supporting arguably the most comprehensively corrupt man in the history of American politics, certainly in presidential politics."

Wehner adds, "Whichever justification applies, they are giving not just their vote, but their allegiance to a man and movement that have done great harm to our country and its ideals, and which seek to inflict even deeper wounds in the years ahead. Many of them are self-proclaimed evangelicals and fundamentalists, and they are also doing inestimable damage to the Christian faith they claim is central to their lives."

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Peter Wehner's full article for The Atlantic is available at this link (subscription required).