# What's missing/awry/disturbing about people's lives that MAGA/hard-right populism is so attractive? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [February 6, 2026, 2:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-missing-awry-disturbing-about-peoples-lives-that-maga-hard-right-populism-is-so-attractive/1027436 "2026-02-06T14:20:02Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 1\ **Showing post:** 30
**Author:** ![Wesley\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wesley_clark/32/20581_2.png) [@Wesley\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wesley_Clark)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2026, 5:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-missing-awry-disturbing-about-peoples-lives-that-maga-hard-right-populism-is-so-attractive/1027436/30 "2026-02-06T17:28:23Z")
Its Right wing authoritarianism and social dominance orientation > [@Resolved: You cannot understand Trump's support without understanding RWA and SDO](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/resolved-you-cannot-understand-trumps-support-without-understanding-rwa-and-sdo/1017933): > > For anyone who doesn’t know what right wing authoritarianism (RWA) and social dominance orientation (SDO) they are personality metrics. People high in RWA tend to see the world as threatening, they feel that social cohesion is necessary to keep society safe and stable, and they see marginalized groups as threats. They do not want an egalitarian society because they think it’ll cause society to fall apart and will make it easier for foreign and domestic threats to hurt them. People high in SDO … People who feel they are the ‘default’ americans (white, christian, patriarchs, native born, cishet) feel they are the default Americans and entitled to rule. America is rapidly becoming more multicultural and secular. The % of Americans who are white is going down The % of Americans who are chrsitian is going down Feminism is growing rapidly The immigrant population is going up Alternative lifestyles like LGBT are going up This makes the ‘default’ americans feel they are losing control over power. Also they are terrified that once they are the minority, that they will be treated the same way that they treat minorities when they are in power. They are terrified they’ll be treated the same way they treat black people, women, muslims, etc when white christians are the minority. In 1970 about 81% of Americans identified as white christians. Its currently around 40%, and among Gen Z only about 27% identify as white christians. People high in RWA also feel the world is a dangerous place full of dangerous out-groups (muslim terrorists, latino gang members, black people in the inner city, sexually predatory transgender women, etc). They feel they need a strong military, a strong police and large amounts of guns in civilian hands to keep society safe. They see the left as defunding the police, weakening the military and passing gun control, making them helpless in a dangerous world. Also people on the right side of the political spectrum more strongly support the concept of a behavioral immune system. To them diversity isn’t just a novelty, its an infection or sickness in the social body that is going to weaken social cohesion and cause social collapse. > **[Behavioral immune system](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Behavioral_immune_system)** > > The behavioral immune system is a phrase coined by the psychological scientist Mark Schaller to refer to a suite of psychological mechanisms that allow individual organisms to detect the potential presence of infectious parasites or pathogens in their immediate environment, and to engage in behaviors that prevent contact with those objects and individuals. > The existence of a behavioral immune system has been documented across many animal species, including humans. It is theorized that the mechan... Donald Trump is their great white hope of bringing America back to the 1950s when white christian men ruled and everyone else stayed in second place. Donald Trump can rape as many children as he wants, as long as he says whites are better than POC, men are better than women, christians are better than every other belief, etc Trump will continue to have a basement support of 30-40% of the country. --- _[View the full topic](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-missing-awry-disturbing-about-peoples-lives-that-maga-hard-right-populism-is-so-attractive/1027436)._