Mike Barnhill
Ashland
Dear Editor:
John Dean, former White House Counsel for U.S. President Richard Nixon from July '70 until April '73, is known for exposing the cover-up of the Watergate scandal. His sworn testimony before Congress that not only did Nixon know about Watergate, but suspected there was taped evidence - and he was right. The focus of his testimony ranks in the Top 4 televised events in history, 1) Kennedy Assassination 2) Moon Landing 3) 9/11.
John Dean has authored several books. His latest is titled: "Authoritarian Nightmare; Trump and his followers." In it, Dean states, "Donald Trump makes the problems Richard Nixon created almost inconsequential. Dean co-writes the book with Bob Altemeyer, who has been studying authoritarian personalities for more than 40 years. Forty years of social science and 40 years of political experience adds up to a tremendous summary of how Trump has been able to become POTUS without previous political experience.
The book summarizes that there are multi-personalities aiding Trump's rise to power. Two of the most prevalent are those who are themselves afraid to lead and those who just don't seem to care who they follow, but feel safe being led by any authoritarian type personality. The first group will generally focus on only one aspect of the leader's political views. It may be anti-abortion, Second Amendment Rights, segregation, immigration protection, national defense, allegiance to only one political party, or any number of reasons. They may have conflicting views on all subjects mentioned, but normally focus on one main issue.
The second type of follower is the one who blindly follows and rarely if ever "verifies" what the leader is saying. They either are "non-readers" or "none-listeners" who only believe what their leader says. These types can be labeled "willful ignorance" types. Who, even when shown evidence and proof of wrongful deeds by their authoritarian leader, absolutely refuse to acknowledge it.
Charismatic leaders, who preach well, but seldom deliver much are found throughout history. As a former leader of the United States once said, " It's OK to believe, but always "verify" that belief before totally accepting it as truth.