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Who could foresee that Freud's (192) discussion of group psychology would become pivotal in understanding the culture wars of recent years? Pamela Cooper-White, chair of the Department of Psychology and Religion at Union Theological Seminary, probes the dynamics of the Trumpian right in America, where White nationalism has hijacked Christianity and turned it into the
worship of narcissistic masculinity (e.g., “I alone can fix it”). The contagion fueled by social media's algorithms has led the alt-right to believe they are united with a band of brothers in behavior that, individually, they would consider un-Christian (e.g., trying to hang the vice president). Collectively, such bizarre behavior ends up being deemed sacred because of the group's allegiance to its leader—just as Freud explained and just as happened on January 6, 2021. Feeling part of a noble group fuels the individual's ego ideal, which fuels devotion to the group's version of reality. Maintaining this idiosyncratic reality requires the kind of continual input that Fox News provides, reassuring Trumpites that the agreement of their comrades authenticates their allegiances. Chapter 1 of the book describes this White, Republican, large minority of exceptionalists, ignorant of history, whose fuse has been lit by the claim that their just reward is being stolen from them.
In Chapter 2, the author examines the unconscious attractions that fuel the alt-right's explosiveness and cohesiveness, linking these to a psychoanalytic understanding of the group's power to blur critical thinking in favor of collective paranoia. A demagogue's narrative, in which fabricated enemies are said to be thwarting the group's preordained ascendancy, fits the paranoid paradigm, persuasive because embracing this paranoid narrative has the realistic effect of making the group feel righteous. Buying into the lie does feel better.
Despite Cooper-White's cautious wording in an effort to avoid seeming harsh, there is no escaping the r