When prophecy fails - Why Trump's clan keeps believing

[packman]

Around the presidential bully pulpit, Trump's acolytes on Fox News turned the volume up to 11. Who can forget Trish Regan's possibly career-ending claim that the virus was a Democratic scam designed “to demonize and destroy the president”? Small wonder his evangelical base took it all as gospel.

So when reality hit, then what? According to the latest Pew survey, nearly two-thirds of white evangelicals believe that Trump "has accurately assessed the coronavirus risks." How can that be?

The answer may be found in "When Prophecy Fails," the classic account of true believers who refuse to give up their beliefs even when faced with definitive proof to the contrary. Seven decades ago, social psychologists Leon Festinger, Henry Riecken and Stanley Schachter discovered a small cult called the Seekers who believed that a flying saucer would rescue them from a gigantic flood that would destroy the Earth on December 21, 1954.


https://religionnews.com/2020/03/23/when-trumpian-prophecy-fails/

[ffr]

1. It's a narcicistic cult. The rapture they speak of is days away. They should prepare for it.

The next world has a place for them.

[orwell]

2. Well when you start with the premise...

...that a bearded white man sits on a throne in the sky and cares about whether your college football team wins or loses on Saturday afternoon you are not dealing with a lot critical thinkers.

Just sayin...