Why Conservatives Resent Progress

What RFK said here is true, but I think it might be useful to ask why certain people want to prevent our society from moving forward.

I would suggest that this is the notion of fear.  If you look at Trumpism as a whole, you have the fear that people of different skin colors, religions, sexual orientations, and countries of origins may be gaining at your expense.

Now, fear is not in and of itself, and bad thing.  Without it, our ancient ancestors wouldn’t have survived the legitimately dangerous situations that presented themselves.  They would have, for instance, been eaten by wild animals, thus removing their DNA from the gene pool.

Yet an unnecessarily high level of fear translates into the tribalism and racism we see all around us, and it opens us up to having our lowest, most reptilian emotions stirred up by would-be dictators like Trump. We need to recognize this for what it is.

This is why I tend to cut Trump supporters some level of slack; they are simply wired in such a way as to be particularly susceptible to messages that stimulate hate and fear.