FEAR OF EDUCATED PEOPLE

A STRATEGY FOR EDUCATING VOTERS ABOUT CHARACTER 
Most American voters observe Trump’s character in his words and actions daily. For sure, Democrats and some independents don’t like what they see. And there is increasing evidence that some who voted for him previously are beginning to wonder if they made a mistake. We know this because his approval ratings have dropped precipitously in his second term and a few in Congress have dared to incur his wrath by supporting policies Trump doesn’t like.

These are positive, welcome, long-overdue indications that voters are beginning to evaluate politicians’ behavior, stability, and temperament (i.e. character) — not just policies and rhetoric. The challenge is to educate all American voters about character. Most voters, including those who have never been to college, don’t have the awareness or inclination to evaluate Trump’s performance in terms of mental health, psychology, character, fear and shame. They prefer conservative news platforms, tv sound bites and social media. But frequency of street protests, and declining approval ratings give ample reason to believe that some voters are open to learning how character issues apply to politicians. It would be a matter of great neglect and poor character if Democrats do not amplify the issue of character to build understanding of who Trump and his political allies really are and why they do what they do.

How to educate the public about character is a major challenge. Non‑college voters tend to rely less on mainstream media and more on local news, social networks, and peer‑to‑peer communication for political information. The best strategy for reaching them, therefore, is through their preferred media.

Being media savvy, educated voters have the ability to covertly infiltrate social media favored by Trump supporters and seed it with doubt and facts that have the potential to cause MAGA voters to abandon support for Republicans in the 2026 midterm elections which are widely viewed as a referendum on President Trump’s second-term performance.​

Midterms typically serve as referenda on the sitting president, with the incumbent party losing House seats on average (e.g. Republicans lost 27 house seats in Trump’s first midterm.). Republicans hold slim majorities (House +5, Senate +6 post-2024), making 2026 a high-stakes test of Trump’s popularity.​

Trump is so fearful of a blue wave in 2026 that he warned his Republican base in January 2026 that a Democratic takeover would lead to his impeachment, framing the midterms as existential while urging redistricting. Fearing defeat in 2026, some courageous GOP lawmakers have already begun distancing themselves from Trump on issues like war powers, Obamacare subsidies, and veto overrides, signaling anxiety over voter backlash in swing districts. They will likely be primaried by Trump but at least they are showing that they have some character.​

Democrats need to flip only 3 House seats for control; Republicans will be defending 22 Senate seats in red-leaning states. Because Trump’s base turnout drops without him on the ballot, he has good reason to fear all Democratic efforts to create a blue wave. Democratic election strategies will no doubt include these issues:

  • Affordability & cost of living
  • Housing
  • Immigration (moderate framing)
  • Outreach to young men
  • Kitchen‑table economic issues

Republican strategists and candidates are rhetorically prepared to handle these issues. But there are three issues that they are not prepared to counter: Trump’s fears, shame and mental health. These issues should resonate with the following referendum-driven voters:

  • Independents
  • Moderate voters
  • Occasional / low‑propensity voters
  • Working‑class voters (all racial groups)
  • Rural and small‑town voters
  • Suburban swing voters
  • Younger voters, especially young men

How to reach these voters to create doubt in their minds about the fitness of Trump and congressional Republicans to serve is the challenge. It is a heavy lift but not impossible. It can be done by exploiting the facts about Trump’s fears, shame and mental health. MAGA supporters and independents who voted for Trump previously need to be disabused of the belief that he is a smart, fearless leader. They also need to be gently educated of the fact that they choose a fearful loser — not a winner who would protect them.

Trump has already acknowledged awareness that heavy Republican losses in 2026 would result in his impeachment. This fact is not lost on incumbents in Congress who have decided not to run again. This trend and Trump’s declining polling numbers clearly show that some voters are beginning to wake up to the fact that something is not right in the MAGA world. What they need to know is that what is not right is that Trump and his congressional allies have serious character issues (e.g. mental health, fear and shame) that affect the well-being of all Americans — including MAGA supporters.

If voters become educated about these issues, Trump’s act as a brave, strong leader will be blown — even if he is not ultimately impeached. Democratic politics and congressional mathematics might protect Trump from impeachment that results in removal from office, but those factors would not be enough to protect him from the shame of becoming irrelevant and impotent as President. Being a lame duck president is not his style.

Weather they win big or little in 2016, Democrats have the potential reduce Trump’s influence by bringing his shortcomings into clear public view. Shortcomings like TRUMP’S MENTAL HEALTH, HIS FEARS, Social Dominance Orientation, and shame are his handicaps. Whatever the strategy might be, it must be carried out covertly because the risks of offending the MAGA world about their leader are very real.

NOTES TO READERS:

  • More about this strategy will be featured in this website in the future.
  • Readers who are eager to know what such a strategy might look like can send an email to 

Not being much inclined to internal perspective, Trump may not be able to articulate his handicaps, but his rhetoric, his behaviors and his policies all show that he is always at work managing his fear and shame. And, from his constant verbal attacks on Democrats and other educated elites, and from his punishing policies against Democratic states, we find abundant, clear evidence that is not just Democratic policies he fears. He fears the fact that, because they are educated and smart, they have the resources necessary to at least disable him.

and all his other fears will manifest in ways that have the potential to crush him emotionally. The same would be true for the Republican party and the MAGA world. 

Highly educated liberals/progressives do not yet have a vision for this as a strategy. But if they did, it could be a winning strategy that would cause enough defections from Republican to Democrat to radically change Congress.

In his 2016 Nevada Republican caucus victory speech, Trump said: “I love the poorly educated.” This might appear to contradict what he has said about his own intellect, but there is a canny logic to this statement. Here is the full quote:

“We won with young. We won with old. We won with highly educated. We won with poorly educated. I love the poorly educated.” He immediately followed by describing them as “We’re the smartest people, we’re the most loyal people.”​

This remark highlighted exit polls showing his strongest support from non-college-educated voters, framing their backing as intuitive strength over intellectual credentials. This populist affirmation countered perceptions of his base as unsophisticated, reinforcing loyalty by elevating gut instincts that affirm him as their best choice for president. His base knows their own education limitations but that is not a problem as long as he, a stable genius, is their president.

By praising “poorly educated” supporters as “the smartest people” and “most loyal,” Trump validates their instincts over formal education, fostering identity fusion and R-WA submission. This counters mockery by Democratic/intellectual elites and, positions Trump as the populist defender/advocate of his base which is mostly comprised of poorly educated, middle/lower class people. Republican House and Senate candidates in 2024 largely mirrored Trump’s playbook by prioritizing gut-level issues (e.g. economic populism, border security, anti-wokism, etc.) that energized non-college voters, rather than pivoting to court college-educated ones.​

With this strategy in mind, it is predictable that Trump would fear educated people​. Educated people do not vote on gut instinct. They vote on the basis of character, policy, logic and reason. Knowing this, Trump works hard to demean intellect — except his own. 

RESOURCES FOR FURTHER STUDY

 

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