Relational

I get most puzzled when Trump supporters aren't moved by blatant reversals like failure to repeal Obamacare, or cuts to farm insurance. It takes me back to the Rodney King riots, and the question, "Why are you burning down your own neighborhoods?" The people who did the burning had reached the end of a long unfolding experience of humiliation, pain and desperation. The people who asked the question took a snapshot of the situation, summarized it and judged it. Relationships yield a shared history, an understanding of where powerful feelings and complex motives come from. People with no relationship have no understanding of that kind of ambivalence. In particular, powerful people have a tendency to treat others as objects, not as those whose experiences yield conflicting feelings and needs.