So, his ability to draw an audience can convince voters: “Oh, everyone thinks that way. Everyone is upset by trans people. And what we know about social psychology is that most of us will follow what we believe is the dominant belief system. The problem is that internet culture in our current media environment can mislead us on what the majority of people believe. It can shape our attitudes in a way that tells us that what we believe is normal by redefining what is normal.
So I think he is doing both simultaneously. I think he follows what a minority of people care a lot or are indignant. He uses the media, and in particular social media, to make this direct attraction in the middle of the population to say: “You see, that’s what everyone believes.” And then people go: “Oh, well, I’m indignant too.”
I just find it hard to believe that most people before four years ago were upset by trans people in the bathrooms. We had actually had a decade before that where most people thought: “Oh yes, that’s good. Yeah, that’s good. Let’s put signaling.
Healy: Even Donald Trump, however. I remember this moment when they were asked: “Well, how would you feel like Caitlyn Jenner, a trans woman, using a bathroom?” And Donald Trump said, “Caitlyn Jenner can use the bathroom she wants.” I remember hearing a lot of people after that, when I was a journalist, saying, “So where is Trump about it? Trump has hatred in his heart for trans people, for LGBTQ people? Or is this all that concerns this transactional relationship of Trump with voters, that when the greatest number of voters want a certain political transaction of him, and it is quite easy for him to give them even if it means throwing trans people under the bus, he will. He will switch to Caitlin Jenner and put it back.
McMillan Cottom: Absolutely. I think it is a mistake for us to worry about the measure in which the fundamental beliefs of Donald Trump shape his political behavior. It was very clear that he is engaged in transactional policy. So, on the one hand, I think it can be demoralizing. He’s just doing this because it’s politically opportune. On the other hand, if we were looking for a little hope, I would emphasize that with transactions, you can then change people’s incentives, which means it can happen. It is just that at present, the tools to change them are controlled by non – -test and this control is concentrated with a very small group of people who currently share the political beliefs of Donald Trump.