Ep. 132: Sheldon Solomon Explains How Death Anxieties and Existential Angst Helped to Elect Donald Trump

The Chauncey DeVega Show

Psychologist Sheldon Solomon is the guest on this week's episode of The Chauncey DeVega Show. He is a leading authority on social psychology and helped to develop what is known as "terror management theory". Dr. Solomon has written numerous books and articles including In the Wake of 9/11: The Psychology of Terror and The Worm at the Core: On the Role of Death in Life. During this week's show Sheldon and Chauncey discuss how existential angst and death anxieties influenced Trump's voters, Trump and destruction, how emotion can overcome reason in political decision-making, can any headway be made in bringing Trump's deplorables and other supporters back to normal society and reason, if individuals and cultures truly change, as well as the lack of expert voices on the role of psychology and politics in the mass media. On this week's show, Chauncey shares some thoughts about being an only child and product of the working class, explains how White House spokesperson Sean Spicer is an anti-Semite and Holocaust-denier, and offers some thoughts about the new Star Wars: The Last Jedi trailer and also the amazing second season of the Hap and Leonard television show. Chauncey also reads a newspaper story from the Chicago Tribune about how "hillbillies" were overrunning the city during the 1950s.