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Trump’s Code Part 1: Exploring Trump’s ability to move people without evidence, logic or truth [1]
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Date: 2025-03-22
It has been completely baffling. Otherwise sane and intelligent people sign on to MAGA, swallow the lies and smile, and seem to be immune to the facts sitting in front of them in broad daylight. Are they stupid, bigoted, captured in a cult, latent fascists? Is pointing out their obvious shortcomings with slurs and vigor the right way to deal with them?
I was among the many who did demonize them, for too long. But it became just too strange to see fully one-third of the population continue to buy a transparent scam month after month and year after year, and even double down in support. WTF? I went looking and I think I found something.
First, Trump may be incompetent, utterly corrupt, morally repugnant, a business failure, but the Mango Mussolini has one thing he has mastered – the con. He has no peer. Donald Trump is the Luciano Pavarotti of con men. Second, also remember, Trump is a malignant narcissist, a psycho-pathology some experts say is rooted in shame. This will be important later, so a few more words.
Malignant narcissism comes with grandiosity, paranoia, and a lack of empathy. It gets tied to deep-seated shame by psychologists (e.g., Otto Kernberg and Sam Vaknin). The theory goes: a kid is humiliated early (by parents, peers, whatever) and builds a fortress of self-importance to bury that wound. But it’s fragile. Any crack (criticism, failure) risks exposing the shame, so they lash out, control others, or double down on superiority. If Trump’s got this, his “code” could be him projecting that dynamic onto followers – shaming outsiders to bond the in-group, all while dodging his own vulnerability.
Childhood stories from Mary Trump’s book (2020) paint Fred Trump Sr. as a cold, demanding father, mocking weakness and drilling “killer” instincts into Donald. Losing was failure; winning was everything. His public style tracks with this. GOP funding wafflers are characterized as “pathetic cowards who hate America.” That’s weaponizing shame. You’re either with him (strong, loyal) or against him (weak, treacherous).
Grandiosity (“I alone can fix it”) and paranoia (“they’re rigging everything”) scream malignant narcissist. The shame-code could be him outsourcing his insecurity – followers feel it so he doesn’t have to. Decades of “best ever” boasts, thin skin, and a knack for flipping shame onto others. Narcissists don’t self-reflect – they externalize.
A shame-averse core could fuel a code that shames to control. Followers get a tribal hit in pride via his praise, guilt via his scorn, while he stays untouchable. Shame-based wiring might explain why it’s less about facts and more about feeling.
The code of shame flipped into loyalty works like a tribal signal. Trump doesn’t just pitch policy; he frames a world where followers are the “real” Americans, shamed by elites, media, or “weak” traitors, then redeemed by sticking with him. “The Radical Left and RINOs want to destroy our country. Only YOU, the forgotten patriots, can stop them.” It’s not data-driven; it’s emotional; shame (“forgotten”) flips to pride (“patriots”). X replies show it lands. “We’re the last line!”
Why is it fact-proof? Shame’s a gut punch, not a debate club. Brené Brown says shame thrives on identity, not logic. Once followers buy into “we’re the righteous underdogs,” then facts contradicting Trump feel like attacks on them. Cognitive dissonance kicks in, and they would rather double down than admit shame. Think 2020 election claims: courts tossed 60+ cases, but “stolen election” persists. Admitting otherwise shames the tribe.
Trump’s language – short, repetitive, loaded – sticks like a jingle. “Losers,” “disgrace,” “winning”. It’s shame or glory, no gray. Rallies hammer it: January 2025 in Georgia, he calls dissenters “snakes we’ll crush,” and the crowd roars. Facts don’t dent this; they’re “fake news” from the shaming enemy. Studies like NYU’s 2023 work on polarization show in-group loyalty trumps evidence when identity’s at stake.
Arguing stats misses this. The game is not rational, it’s visceral. Followers aren’t “immune” to facts; they’re wired to a code where shame’s the stick, Trump’s the carrot. He’s their shield against humiliation – why ditch that for a spreadsheet?
Shame thrives in comparison. Shame says you are less than, defective, exposed. It’s relational: someone (real or imagined) sees you as unworthy. But here’s the kicker – it is contagious and manipulative. A leader can wield it, pointing at “them” (elites, traitors) to shame “us” into line. When Trump’s “losers” and “weak” jabs at opponents, that is shame as a weapon. Followers feel it vicariously, then dodge it by aligning with his “strong” side. X posts, like “Cowards can’t stop us”, mirror this: shame the out-group, bond the in-group.
Flip it, and shame becomes glue. If followers feel shamed by the world – “forgotten,” “deplorable,” then Trump’s praise (“beautiful patriots”) flips it to pride. It’s a transaction: he absorbs their shame, they give loyalty. Joseph Burgo’s work on shame and narcissism, says this is a classic move. Shame-averse people (maybe Trump himself) offload it onto others to feel big. “Only I fight for YOU against the disgusting swamp.” Shame is on the swamp, and followers are cleansed by his fight.
Why does it stick? Shame’s silent power is it shuts down reason. A 2021 study in Personality and Social Psychology Review found shame spikes defensiveness. People cling to beliefs harder when their identy is threatened. Trump’s code taps this: “They’re rigging everything” is not a fact to debunk, it’s a shield for shame.
It’s a loop, because shame from outside (media, libs) tightens the tribe. Trump’s shaming of dissent keeps them in. It’s less about truth and more about survival – emotional, not literal. That’s why facts slide off: shame is not arguing, it’s feeling.
Why shame? American society is awash in shame. James Gilligan, the godfather of shame research, says virtually every act of violence has a connection to shame. Shame rips at the young, causing high suicide rates and addiction. Where did it come from? The 1930s Depression recorded shame at about half the level of today. People were dirt poor, had none of the luxuries we now take for granted, yet somehow thought much better of themselves. Why? Why now?
There are three streams that feed the shame reservoir.
Consumer capitalism itself requires the hype of advertising to produce the demand it needs for it to operate at scale. Advertising is a master at twisting shame into a sales pitch, especially for stuff you don’t need. It’s less about the product and more about planting a seed: you’re not enough without it. Shame in ads hits subtle but deep. It is about identity gaps. Show a “better” version of life, imply you’re falling short, then offer the fix. Think luxury car commercials, with sleek BMW rolls through a pristine suburb, the driver is confident, attractive, admired. The subtext is, “If you’re not driving this, you’re less successful, less respected.” It is what is called “social comparison shame.”
You’re inadequate next to the shiny ideal. Nobody says out loud, “You’re a loser.” The visuals do it.
Tactics lean on shame’s triggers. Beauty ads, like L’Oréal’s “Because you’re worth it,” flip it positive, but the flip’s built on a jab. Without this cream, your wrinkles or dull skin shame you. Diet ads say it visually. Before-and-after shots scream fat you is unworthy; fit you gets love. Apple’s minimalist iPhone spots shame the cluttered, outdated “other” you might be stuck with. A fashion brand says “Upgrade your vibe.” Don’t be the loser in last year’s threads. It’s emotional judo. Shame’s fear of exclusion, being the odd one out, gets weaponized. Ads don’t sell toothpaste; they sell belonging.
The genius is deniability, since ads cloak shame in aspiration. Buy this watch, be powerful; skip it, stay small. Trump’s code shames overtly, ads do it slyly, letting you shame yourself. Both bank on the same dynamic, the message that you are not enough alone. Followers dodge shame via loyalty. Consumers via wallets.
Income disparity. Grotesque income and wealth inequality is a defining feature of the United States in 2025. The gulf between the rich and poor is immense, even more so when compared to other developed nations. The Gini coefficient, which compares the distribution of income across a population to a perfectly equal distribution, shows that the America’s tradition of equality is a relic of the 1970s. Today the US is the extreme outlier among developed nations.
The Gini Coefficient, a measurement of income and wealth inequality, shot from under 35 in 1980 to 42 in 1993, the fruit of “Supply Side” economics. It has persisted and mestasticized.
Extreme wealth and extreme poverty are married. A country does not have one without the other. But more, far more, comes with income disparity such as the US exhibits. The influence of inequality on societal health is documented in the work of Richard Wilkinson and Kate Pickett, two British epidemiologists. Their book Spirit Level (2009) is an exhaustive study of income inequality versus a host of metrics of personal and societal ill-being. Drug use and addiction, mental and physical ill health, violence, imprisonment, poverty, obesity, suicide and more were tabulated by country. The statistical correlation to income disparity is undeniable. A cross-check of these results using US states instead of developed nations, confirmed the correlations. So stunning and convincing were these findings that mainstream economists and politicians summarily ignored them.
Further, and most germane to this discussion, the phenomenon of shame is generated by comparison to an ideal or to another. The clear implication is that the connection between income disparity and societal ills runs through shame. Tellingly, as another writer observes, the US’s “massive and escalating inequality [comes] along with a strange political consensus (challenged only sporadically) that this either cannot or should not be substantially addressed.”
Personal debt has a special place in both the typical American household and the typical American economic crisis. Debt itself is viewed by many as intrinsically shameful. The debtor is weak and needy, while the creditor is strong and substantial. Absent the moralizing, debt is just a contract like any other contract, and one side is not superior to the other. A successful contract is as much the responsibility of one as the other. The direct link between personal debt and a rightward shift in politics was revealed in an MIT study of Hungary.
“Specifically, by charting the pattern of political shift in relation to the prevalence of debt, the study suggests that about one-fifth of the total political shift rightward in Hungary at the time [of the study] can be attributed to the presence of personal debt.”
In a corporate board room, however, stigma does not attach so tightly to debt. Households may feel it hanging over them, but in corporate business and investment, debt is just a tool. It is simply the source of leverage for investors. For corporations, debt financing is preferred, since interest is deductible. Taking on debt also allows a corporation to make payouts to its owners (stockholders) that are unrelated to profitability or value produced. The owners are liable only to the extent of their equity. Defaults or bankruptcy do not follow them back to their personal lives. When a business bond or bank loan turns sour, it is routinely renegotiated, in and out of bankruptcy court, with little concern for any moral failing.
Coming out of WW2, household debt was very low. Then it got high in time for the GFC. A healthy level is below 50 percent of GDP.
For a household or small business, debt is the explosive charge waiting to be triggered by a job loss or business setback. The loss of a job while carrying a mortgage or student loan is a different experience than it is without the debt load. The loss of a market is an order of magnitude more harmful to a company financed by rolling bank loans or one paying off big capital expenditures financed by debt than it is to a solvent company.
In summary, a reservoir of shame has grown to enormous size; it is fed by (1) consumer capitalism and its nonstop promotion of status anxiety, (2) terrific income and wealth inequality, and (3) debt as a stigma in many households.
“[This] reservoir of underlying shame creates opportunities for manipulation,” as David Keen says. (Shame: The Politics and Power of an Emotion, Princeton University Press, 2023.] It is an emotional tension that needs to be expressed or released. The political opportunist will provide an outlet for that release with targets different – often far different – than the causes. Trump, with his hyper-sensitivity to shame arising from his own malignant narcissism, can recognize and mobilize the shame for his own malignant ends. More of that later.
The question becomes, “Why now?” Trump has been scamming people and exacting his retribution for decades. Mass advertising has been with us ever since the rise of consumer capitalism after WW2. High personal and household debt has been with us only since 1980. Income disparity began surging also beginning with 1980 and the Reagan presidency.
The GFC turbocharged the shame and Trump took advantage
A crash like the 2008-09 Global Financial Crisis, with millions losing homes and jobs, cranks shame into overdrive, both for individuals and in the societal currents that bubble up after. It’s a perfect storm for the dynamics we’ve been digging into, especially how Trump’s shame-code might latch onto it.
Individually, the GFC was a shame factory. Losing a job or home isn’t just logistics. it’s a gut punch to identity. June Tangney says shame ties to who you are, not just what happens. In 2008, foreclosure stats hit 3.1 million homes; unemployment peaked at 10%; People didn’t just lose paychecks, they lost “provider,” “homeowner,” “stable.” A 2011 study in Social Science & Medicine found shame spiked in evicted families, self-blame (“I failed”), even when banks tanked the system. Men especially -- tied to breadwinner norms – reported humiliation; one guy in a 2010 NPR interview said he “couldn’t look my kids in the eye.” That’s shame’s signature: inward collapse, outward silence.
Scale that up, and society festers. The GFC left a collective scar. Trust in institutions (banks, government) cratered. It was fertile ground for shame to morph into rage or tribalism. People felt exposed, duped by elites, abandoned by bailouts. Wall Street got $700 billion via TARP, while Main Street drowned.
Enter Trump’s code speak, years later. The lingering wage stagnation, rural decay, the lingering fallout from the GFC, fed his 2016 “forgotten man” pitch. He didn’t just promise jobs; he shamed the culprits: “crooked” elites, “disastrous” trade deals. “They sold you out, I won’t.” Post-crash shame finds a vent. Trump absorbs it, points the finger, and makes followers “winners” again.
Trump’s shame-based code to his base isn’t a secret handshake, it is a visceral, repeating pattern in how he talks, framed to hit their emotional wiring. It’s less about explicit policy and more about a consistent form: language, tone, and structure that turn shame into loyalty.
First, the backbone is binary framing. Everything’s us-versus-them, winners vs. losers, patriots vs. traitors, strong vs. weak.“The Radical Left wants to ruin us, but WE will crush them.” It’s simple and stark. The shame is on them, the pride is on us. “Us”, “Them.” No nuance; shame hates gray. Studies show binaries boost in-group cohesion when people feel threatened. Post-GFC, with lingering economic shame, this lands hard.
Second, shame projection. He names the enemy, the elites, the media, RINOs. Then he tags them with humiliating labels – “pathetic,” “disgusting,” “low-energy.” GOP dissenters are “sniveling cowboys who hate you.” It’s not random; it’s shame outsourced. Followers don’t feel defective; the “other” does. X replies show it sticks. Projecting shame reduces personal stress, and Trump’s base gets that relief vicariously.
Third, redemption flip. He shames the out-group, then lifts the in-group. “You’re the forgotten no more -- I fight for YOU.” “Only YOU, the real Americans, can save us from these clowns.” It’s a two-step: shame’s out there, pride’s in here. This mirrors cult tactics. Psychologist Robert Lifton calls it “loading the language” to bind followers. Post-2008, with millions shamed by joblessness, this “You’re enough with me” hits like a drug.
Form-wise, it’s repetitive and rhythmic. Short bursts: “Crooked Hillary,” “Sleepy Joe,” “Winning bigly” stick like ad slogans. The chants (“Lock her up!” “Build the wall!”) reinforce the loop. It’s not a lecture; it’s a call-and-response. Emotional not intellectual. Research says repetition with emotional charge bypasses logic, embeds in memory. Shame is sticky; this makes it stickier.
Delivery’s key too: blunt, mocking tone. Trump doesn’t whisper shame, he sneers it. Mocking a reporter on X: “Sad – little man, no guts.” Followers laugh, bond, feel above it. The shame is public here. It is humiliation as theater.
The form is not accidental; it is honed from decades as a con man. Post-GFC, it found a shamed audience ripe for it: economically bruised, culturally dismissed. “They” get the shame; “we” get the crown. No fact-check breaks that. It is a feeling coded to fit their wounds.
As Mark Twain said, if I’d had more time, I would have made it shorter. Maybe there is a shorter version coming, honed by your comments. Part 2 is How to break the code, neutralize the shame, and perhaps even put it to good use.
@demandside.bsky.social
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